Posts tagged ‘water’
Snowbeards.
Mingus at the river.
Phoenix contemplates the new snowiverse.
Yes, like the whole of the rest of the UK, the snow has finally arrived here in Wolfvalley. Approx 6 inches fell overnight with mild drifting creating around a foot of depth in places, rendering the road/lane impassable (no change there then…) and once again transforming our valley garden into a “Winter Wonderland”; to whit:
Early morning sun across the garden valley.
The bottom of the garden.
The lane - a dog-only zone for today.
Arctic romp.
At the garden gate heading into the woodland.
Phoenix waiting at the gate...
Phoenix in a snowy point.
Phoenix catching snowballs.
Mingus makes snowy progress.
Mingus the Snowbeard.
My, what snowy eyebrows you have.
It's never too snowy to dig for voles.
But this is the result - A Yeti? or a small breed of Highland Cattle perhaps?
Phoenix in the Redwood Grove.
Our river - almost monochromatic today.
The weir & water glinting blue in the sunlight, as viewed through the trees from the bridge at the bottom of the garden.
Birch trunk in the snow.
Beach ‘n’ Bubbles.
Mingus - a sandy-nosed headshot.
Mingus - watery silhouette.
Bubblicious with Adam.
...and with Fred.
Phoenix & Freddie.
Further Weekend Antics…
After spending all of Saturday at a hot, crowded urban dog show, we thought it only fitting to head out to the beach – in this case Crow Point at Braunton Burrows – for some doggy (and human) down-time…
Mingus tries for lift-off using his newly retro-fitted "Helicopter Ears."
After combining forces to dig a huge sand-pit comes a rare moment of stillness.
Phoenix: sandy + wet = happy!
Mirror Phoenix.
Adam commands Phoenix with the power of his Blackberry...
Mingus shows that he can do sandy & wet just as well as Phoenix.
Adam teaches the dogs a new trick...
Once More Unto the Beach…
“Experts” tell us that today may be the last scorching hot day for the foreseeable, so the only possibly course of action was clear: head to the beach!
The scene of today's adventures - at Northam with the golden sand of Braunton Beach in the distance.
Mingus head shot.
Mingus sneaks up on some fast-moving seaweed.
Mingus self-stacking (sort of).
and Phoenix nearly manages the same trick.
Follow the leader.
The big boing!
Hungarian Wirehaired Sea Otter?
River beds, Jazz names and Birmingham.
Mingus: pausing briefly before investigating another exciting dead thing (today's, rather randomly, was a mole).
First off, Mingus’ lovely mum, Anora (Starshot English Miss for Morehay) won another Championship Show Best of Breed at the National Dog Show in Birmingham last Sunday, against some very stiff competition from some very fine dogs.
The judges lovely critique read:
“At three years old she is mature and of excellent breed type. So well proportioned all thorough. Pleasing feminine head, excellent angulation both front and rear giving free sound movement where she excelled. It was a pleasure to watch her striding around the ring with reach and drive. Best Bitch. Best of Breed.”
Unfortunately we weren’t at the show, but if we had been we’d have been hopping up and down with excitement….which is pretty much what we did anyway on hearing the news. We’re absolutely thrilled for Anora, Jacqui & handler Emma.
Mingus stands to attention on hearing news of mum's latest big win.
Down here in Devon we’re in the midst of an almost-drought. Bits and bobs of rain have come to nothing, and the river has virtually disappeared altogether, exposing the slate river bed with just a small funnel of water off to one side.
Phoenix picks her way across what's left of our river.
Mingus continues to develop rapidly. He seems to have pretty much settled into his shape and proportions now and looks like an almost exact blend of each of his parents, which is just fine with us!
Mingus on point.
When we chose his name we (mistakenly, as it turns out!) thought that:
1) Charlie Mingus was pretty much a household name
and
2) That our favourite hippy chick musician Joni Mitchell‘s Jazz influenced 70’s album “Mingus” was almost as well known….
Instead out we find ourselves explaining anywhere between 1 and 100 times every day what our boy is called and why.
In the reeds.
Still, we’ve recently learned that we’re in good company. Danish supermodel Helena Christensen‘s son is also named Mingus, as are a select handful of other online dogs around the world, including a Vizsla. There’s even a highly successful Beagle and Foxhound breeder & show judge in Australia who’s kennel name is Mingus. On that basis we’re pretty sure that by this time next year everyone will want to be called Mingus….possibly.
Venturing forth with a captive stick.
The Ever Changing Mingus.
When we first met (and show stacked!) Mingus at the tender age of 4 weeks he was very compact and stocky, beautifully and correctly proportioned. At around 3 months he looked very long-bodied and short in height, no longer stocky at all. By 4 months he suddenly looked very tall and giraffe-like, neither compact nor stocky. Then, at 5 months, everything started to come back together again, but he was all frame and no body. Now, at 5 and a bit months, he is once again starting to look compact and stocky as he gradually fills out – such are the ways of puppy growth – so we just wait for those deep ribs to spring to complete the picture.
Mingus surveys his kingdom.
This week at ringcraft everyone commented on how big he’d gotten and for the first time he was a fair bit taller than the adult female English Setter there. Judging by his knuckles he’s certainly going to finish larger than both of his parents, but still be moderate in size…which is just what we were hoping for.
A while back, whilst trotting around and investigating the pond, Mingus found himself on the opposite side of the water to us. Rather than trot back the way he’d come he simply plunged into the water and swam directly across to us (the pond is 6 foot deep and 150 foot long…) He’d never previously gone more than about ankle deep in water, so it came as something of a surprise to us – as well as to him – that he could indeed swim so well. On arriving at the other side he looked enormously pleased with himself and has been pretty keen to get wet in the pond and the river ever since.
The mysteries of the deep.
Full Wire Jacket (…Almost)
Phoenix is now 8 months old and her wire coat has suddenly started to develop really nicely – something that we realised we haven’t really managed to capture or document properly – so today we took advantage of a brief break in the endless July rain to head out to Crow Point armed with a camera…
As soon as we hit the beach we met up with two local Vizsla girls and their human companion, so we all had a good chin-wag about all things Vizsla whilst the three girls had an extended sandy romp. Then it was on to the main business of the day: sloshing through sea puddles, lots of digging and hunting for driftwood, watching seabirds in the distance and all the while wondering why the salt water tastes so odd.
Bright sun, strong breeze, sandy nose.
Sandy-wet-wiry muzzle.
Taking a break from digging and stalking gulls.
On the trail of something super interesting.
Gale Force Day at the Beach.
Ears-A-Flying.
Paddling.
It was so windy on the beach it felt like we were on Tatooine, Luke Skywalker’s home planet in Star Wars; sand was blowing everywhere and formed small columns on the beach that scattered towards the sea. Phoenix seems to like crunching sand.
The Life Aquatic.
Bubble-licious.
Phoenix’s fascination with all things watery continues apace… Tim has recently been doing some work at the river in the garden and this has afforded Phoenix an unparalleled opportunity to indulge and expand her favourite aquatic pastimes. A recent development is shoving her entire face underwater and blowing bubbles through her nose, with satisfying gurgley results. She has also taken to “harvesting” flowers of Water Hawthorn. To reach these Phoenix often dives headlong into the pond (which is a good six feet deep and 150 feet long) grabs a stem with flower attached and swims back to shore where she can eat her prize with a satisfying crunch.
We’re Not Scared of Sinking Sand.
By the Sea.
On the Beach.
WOW what a warm and calm day it was today, too good to be stuck on the internet. So we packed a flask and some water and headed out to the beach again. This time we touched down on Northam Burrows which, when the tide is low, is really like being on another planet. The sea was at least a mile out, so we were walking on the seabed with all its little pools and strange patterns on the sand. We ignored the story our friend Robie had told us about her plunging hip deep into sinking sand and just strode on to the horizon without a care…
Larging it with a Spaniel.
Crab Hunting.
Driftwood.
Phoenix swam with a spaniel, splashed in the sea, dug in the sand, hunted for crabs and met a Weimaraner and a Pointer together, making three Pointer Sisters but with better hair.
Seaweed Hostage.
The light was fantastic today with lots of warm tones being emphasised because of the low sun. This meant that Phoenix’s coat was radiating an intense copper glow. She looked great.
Belatarr Hungarian Wirehaired Vizsla. 