Walking with Greyhounds, swimming in the rain again

[bunn]

On Sunday, I took Theo out on a social walk organised by a local greyhound rescue. I wouldn't normally have taken him along, since he's a Greek Harehound and very definitely not a sighthound, but Julie, who runs the course he'd been attending and also organised the walk, suggested that we give it a go.

I wasn't entirely sure how he would react to encountering a huge bunch of greyhounds and lurchers. I thought he might be a bit wary, and was prepared to hang back a bit and take it slowly.

He LOVED it. Even though it was a grey old misty day (so no photos, too mirky for that). He was all over the place wagging like mad, sniffing all the dogs (well, apart from the single Afghan, which surprised him a bit), having a little bounce with some of them. He was SUCH a happy hound.

Conclusion: Theo is a scenthound, but having been raised by a sighthound, he considers sighthounds to be His People.

I didn't take Rosie, because she can really only handle very gentle bimbles now, and also she hates other sighthounds and believes she should be the only one. And she also hates rain, and has decided she will only go out if it's sunny. So many opinions!

We seem to have cleared the last of the Shop orders before Christmas OK, and I've made some progress on a new way of tracking stock that I hope will free up some time next year!  And I made a Christmas card, as usual, featuring the Pigfaced Packing Orcs.


And today I went swimming, despite the gloom and wind, in a little sheltered bay where the water wasn't *that* cold, really, a mere nine degrees of so. 

If I don't manage another update this month, I wish you all well and I am still reading your posts even if I don't always manage to come up with a comment.  Also, apologies to anyone who saw this when I was fighting the editor and it was doing weird stuff. I'm still not entirely used to Dreamwidth.

Comments

[lferion]

That is a delightful card!

I wish you the very best of winter holidays <3 <3 <3

[bunn]

And a very happy winter holiday to you too!

[puddleshark]

Conclusion: Theo is a scenthound, but having been raised by a sighthound, he considers sighthounds to be His People.

LOL.

Bless him. I'm glad he's a happy lad.

[bunn]

He's a fool of a hound, really, but fortunately my expectations are low :-D

[saelind]

Oh I love this card! And it sounds like Theo had a wonderful time <3

Happiest of holidays to you!

[bunn]

Happy Holidays!

[sally_maria]

Love the orcs...

Great to hear Theo was having fun, and Happy Christmas to you.

[bunn]

And a Happy New Year to you!

[chainmailmaiden]

I loved the card when I saw it on the newsletter. I imagined the packing orcs defending themselves against the evils of the icy frost rime (Which I still think was ok :D )

Hope you all have a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year too :)

[bunn]

That rime! It haunts us still D-:

Happy New Year!

[zdenka]

Aww, I'm glad Theo had such a good time!

[bunn]

He had a lovely time and was very tired afterwards.

[anerea]

9° is... "refreshing"! Utterly marvellous! (I'd need a wetsuit for that — do you swim in a bathing suit?)

Theo's jaunt sounds such fun, thanks for sharing the tail wags and smiles!

And I just love your Pigfaced Packing Orcs!

[bunn]

I have been swimming in a wetsuit jacket, wetsuit shorts, and thick boots and gloves. I find that my fingers and toes feel the cold the worst, particularly my knuckles, but gloves are the answer to that. But some of the other swimmers were in just bathing costumes (though with gloves and woolly hats) and only one had a full wetsuit.

The problem with full wetsuits is that they are hard to get on and off, and of course you're standing there in the chilly breeze (colder than the water!) while you wrestle with it.

[anerea]

Your component swim wear sounds very sensible! I'm so with you on the wet wetsuit removal! (Ha! This just reminded me of a time I was changing at my car after a surf. I'd forgotten my bathing suit so was trying (and failing) to keep the towel over me while I squidged my arms out and pulled the top part off half bent over into the boot of my car so no-one could be offended by a glimpse of one of my girl-nipples. Just as I was contorting myself into a cramp, two guys walked past with their wetsuits peeled down around their waists, and I just thought WTF am I doing! This social world of ours is totally nuts sometimes!)

Those who can swim in such cold water in just regular bathing suits are my heroes. I used to cope really well with cold, and was usually the one jumping kalgat into any wilderness body of water regardless of temp, until the iron deficiency, so I'm hoping I'll be able to acclimatise again once I sort that out.

In the mean time I like my shortie, although I may learn from you and add booties and gloves come winter.

[hhimring]

I love those orcs.

Glad Theo had fun!

Happy Holidays!

[bunn]

A happy holidays to you too!