To insanity and beyond ...: Their logic makes sense in a weird kind of way ....

Haha .... a wonderful reminder this morning from one of my friends on FB “ Not getting what you want is sometimes a wonderful stroke of luck” a quotation by the Dalai Lama.

Yes ... sometimes it is a wonderful stroke of luck .... it forces us down different paths or to choose an alternative to what we thought we wanted ... and that’s not always a bad thing! So much good has often come out of situations where I haven’t always “got what I wanted” ... and I’ve grown and discovered more about my world because of it .. how fantabulous is that!

I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve tried to create something in a certain way ... the number of times where I’ve hit my head against a brick wall because the way I want to do something just won’t work ..... and then .... eureka .... I have a light bulb moment ... and it all becomes clear ... simplistically clear. Why do I complicate things so much!!

I realised ..... to my detriment this weekend .... that holding the hound by her collar when another dog comes along makes her feel insecure .. she can’t respond if the other dog challenges her ... and because she can’t respond, she reacts with excitement, bordering on aggression, to the other hound, even though it’s behaving passively. I have a long welt down my leg because of this excitement .... lesson learnt .... no longer will I complicate the issue by holding her ... in future I’ll use my voice for control as she responds incredibly well to the tone of my voice ... so unusual when I consider how the other humans in this family respond to my voice ... hmmm .....

I’ve also realised that I get “ganged up on” by Gav and Pete when Gav’s with me when I go for my daily fix in the morning.
The two of them were
discussing the possibility that hounds take after their humans ... and came to the conclusion that quite obviously my hound is excitable because I am her human ..... ?? I do not jump on people when I’m excited .... well, not that I’ve noticed. I do know though that my hound is awesome ... so ...... it stands to reason THEN that I must be awesome too! Their logic ... yeah right .... makes sense in a weird kind of way I guess ....

Chocolat and BB on Ladies Bay

The hound has been joined by “Bouncy Bella” on our rambles this week. BB cannot contain her excitement when we walk up her driveway ... I’m not sure if she’s more delighted to see the hound .... or to see us ... whatever ... we get an exuberant greeting before being hauled down the road to the beach! If BB were human, she’d be considered to be ADD ..... she is a hyperactive hound of note ..... everything is done double-time .. double-quick ... and let’s do it again please ... NOW!!

Despite being smaller than Chocoat, she’s incredibly strong and wiry ... no excess fat on her. I can't walk the two of them on my own so Gav joined me this morning and had his hands full going down the stairs to Ladies Bay! BB’s listening skills are not as well honed as the hound’s ..... keeping her on lead until we reach our destination is the only way to ensure she arrives at the same destination as us!! Once safely in the bay we can dispense with the lead and have some fun! The two of them kept Gav well

Paddy ... the Irish Setter .... we met on the beach

amused ... he had to throw stick after log after stick after log .... ad infinitum .. they just couldn’t get enough .... the more he threw .. the more they chased! Hmmmm ..... he got rather wet too .... and it wasn’t because of the rain ....... despite the threatening clouds, nothing materialised.

I had thought that after the frenzy and excitement of RWC ... and of course, the FF’s winning gold ..... and the hype of the election this last weekend, that things would return to some semblance of normality in NZ ... but nope .... it’s now only 4 weeks till Christmas ... things are about to get frenzied once again!!

I took way too many photos today ... but some of them are gorgeous .. lots more below!