The Dubious Saluki

[bunn]

Not at all sure about going for a walk yesterday.  She was keen to set off, but then she heard the wind roaring in the heights, and became doubtful and discouraged.  I had to be very cheering indeed to get her past this point.


As LoA has pointed out in the past, if a dog did this in a fantasy story, particularly such a poetic and elfish-looking dog, then ignoring her reservations would be a foolish thing to do, and would be certan to result in wandering into a parallel universe or being eaten by a dragon.    Perhaps both.

I ignored her anyway, and went to look for bluebells.  The wild ones are just starting to come into bloom, although their fat waxy Spanish cousins in the gardens have been flowering for weeks. 


Plenty of celandines in flower, although the light was not right for catching celandines at their golden best, so this photo also has a dog in it.
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The escaped daffodils in the woods, left behind by abandoned flower-farms, are still flowering their yellow hearts out, although some of them are starting to look a tiny bit ragged.


I photographed this because I thought it might be a Random Mine, but the Heritage Gateway says not.    It is just an old Nissen Hut (from the first or second World War, I am not sure which, is there a way to date Nissen Huts?)  and an almost equally elderly tractor.   There is a Random Mine somewhere behind it, but not in view.



More escaped daffodils, this time trying to mingle inconspicuously with the wood anemones.


And here is a photo of Brythen Being Good.  It is not a photo of Rosie.

This is because Rosie was down by the river, where she had found a very dead sheep that had been washed onto the bank.  It was, apparently, the BEST THING EVER.  This just goes to show that her initial reservations about the walk were based on her wild imaginings about things that might go wrong, rather than any genuine prescience about the Awesome that was awaiting her.

Comments

[heartofoshun.livejournal.com]

I'm falling in love with your dogs!

[bunn.livejournal.com]

Excellent :-D

Brythen loves you too. Brythen loves all humanity, and wants to lean against their legs and grin toothily at them.

[sihaya09.livejournal.com]

What a cutie!

[bunn.livejournal.com]

AND she knows it! She is a cute princess :-D

[wellinghall.livejournal.com]

Is "The Dubious Saluki" going to be a series of strange pictures, as in "The Doubtful Guest"?

[bunn.livejournal.com]

:-D she looks a bit like the Doubtful Guest too! Must be the nose. Thinner though...

[marycatelli]

Daffodils are particularly charming when feral in the woods.

[bunn.livejournal.com]

They make surprisingly good woodland plants. You'd think they'd feel the lack of light, but apparently not.

[marycatelli]

A lot of spring flowers are woodland. They grow up quick and get it all over with before the trees are fully leaved.

[topum.livejournal.com]

I share something with Rosie. I now really want to know how a dead ship washed onto the river bank looked.

[wellinghall.livejournal.com]

I think Rosie was more interested in a dead sheep than a dead ship.

The satirical Radio 4 programme had a take-off of another Radio 4 programme, Down Your Way, in 1982. It interviewed an Argentinian in the Falklands who was looking out for sheeps; that is, English battle sheeps.

[topum.livejournal.com]

Ha ha, Well I am not exactly like Rosie so it made me think about how a dead ship washed onto the river bank would look, sheep are a bit less interesting to me. But now I am imagining how an English battle sheep would look like. Interestingly Google does find some good images for this. I think I am now fascinated with the English battle sheep like that Argentine you mentioned even though I am Danish.

[bunn.livejournal.com]

Plenty of dead ships further downstream. This is a bit far inland for ships though. Maybe the odd decaying small boat?

I did once find a random wandering kayak which the floods had stolen. It was still floating though, and I did not fancy plunging into the flood to retrieve it!

[seascribe.livejournal.com]

Her coat is so fancy!

[bunn.livejournal.com]

She is a princess! (I suspect her of looking down her long nose at her coat, and complaining that it is not couture. Poor pink-nosed princess, I am too downmarket an owner for her. :-D )

[venuslover20.livejournal.com]

Awee pretty doggy!

[lindahoyland.livejournal.com]

Beautiful photos.

[wellinghall.livejournal.com]

My general view is that, if it hasn't collapsed into a little heap of rust, it is probably a WWII Nissen hut.

[bunn.livejournal.com]

It's hard to tell. You'd think all the old iron bedsteads would have done that already, given that they are all fine twirly bits and the weather in the valley is so damp - and yet the hedges are full of them!

[bunn.livejournal.com]

... or are you suggesting that it's the quality of the metal used that has improved in the period between the wars...?

[wellinghall.livejournal.com]

From my (limited) knowledge of such things, I think the quality was pretty poor in both wars. Many of the WWII huts that are jot being actively maintained have rusted a lot in the last 70 - 80 years; the hundred-year-old ones from WWI have had even longer in which to deteriotate.

A separate point is that a lot more were made in WWII - maybe something like 5m, cf 100,000 in WWI.

[bunn.livejournal.com]

It probably depends if it has been moved. This part of Cornwall was, I think, a lot more economically active during the first war than the second, because the mines were still going then. So a lot of the industrial junk lying around tends to be late 19th/early 20th, as the place was such a backwater after that.

But there were american troops stationed briefly in Gunnislake during the second War, and also evacuees from Plymouth, so it might be something to do with them. Although the Americans were supposed to have stayed in tents, so I don't think were here all that long.

I expect the parish archive people would know, I should probably ask them.

The Nissen hut that is our local polling station is in superb nick, I am sure it will see another century out if it continues to be maintained! This one looks older, but it could be that it's just not cared for so carefully.

[wellinghall.livejournal.com]

Mm, interesting - thanks for the info.

A classic example of well-maintained Nissen huts is the pair used to build the Italian chapel in Orkney. They have been very well looked after; but on the other hand, they have had the Orcadian climate to contend with.

[bunn.livejournal.com]

The curved shape must make for a pleasing chapel, and no doubt the lack of insulation is expected in a place of worship!

[wellinghall.livejournal.com]

Both of these are true.

There is more at:

http://www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk/eastmainland/italianchapel/ (although I don't think anything can give the feel of actually being there).

[bunn.livejournal.com]

That is lovely: what an enchanting building.

[penichops.livejournal.com]

I agree. I would have turned for home terrified of what Rosie's third saluki eye was seeing !

You're the bravest person I know

[bunn.livejournal.com]

:-D But I know that Rosie's saluki third eye hallucinates all sorts of non-existent terror. And she did enjoy the dead sheep, which she smushed her muzzle into, and then smeared liberally down my leg. Drat her.

[wellinghall.livejournal.com]

Mm, Google does give some interesting images for that.