Wednesday, November 16, 2022

Country style.


A Russian rocket lands in Poland, the former US President says he'll run again and the meeting between the British Prime Minister and the Chinese President is cancelled at the very last minute. Plenty to talk about this Wednesday morning.

Calm and mild as we head out of the door but the waves are pounding the rocks in white spittled fury. The wee cottage is a hundred or so metres from the waters edge but the the sea is making a deep roaring noise. It sounds as if a heavy goods train is rumbling right by.  There must be a great storm blowing out on the Norwegian Sea. None of this bothers my fluffy companion who is pursuing a tantalizing scent - there have been pine martens about. Her coat is now really getting long. I would trim it but with a Scottish winter ahead who cares if she seems to have doubled in size ? 


One thing the dog guides never tell you is that long damp PON hair takes ages to dry and when it does it's brush resistantly  tangled and matted. The best and only way of dealing with this is to wait for an extremely windy, low humidity day. After an hour in a gale those tangles disappear. Natural dematting makes life much easier for both dog and groomer. Today Sophie will simply have to look as if she's suffering from severe neglect. This suits her fine.

The cafe with the good coffee is busy. After yesterdays downpour folks are out and about and enjoying whatever breaks in the cloud come their way. To avoid the dog prohibition we have a new technique for ordering. Angus stands at the door and shouts his order to the barrista. She then sticks her head out of the door when its ready and Angus, holding one end of the lead, goes in to collect his order. The bar it should be explained is only about ten feet deep so this is not as complicated as it sounds. 

Todays croissant is fresh from the bakers, is still warm(ish) and scores a more than reasonable 8/10. Sophie ,busy enjoying her croissant ends, is oblivious to the arrival of an old Land Rover with three Shelties in the back. They look at her through the windows with thinly concealed jealousy. Their owner, a farmer if the wellington boots and Barbour are anything to go by, returns with a coffee in one hand and a croissant in the other. He puts the coffee on the roof, tears the croissant in three, opens the rear door and throws the croissant pieces into the back. Voila ! Three happy sheepdogs. Four if you count Sophie who has awarded this mornings viennoiserie a 15/10.


Movies I've never heard anything about showing at the cinema , or picture house as it's known here.


 We dine, virtually, here last night. Presumably 'supper' is more 'country style' than dinner  :https://www.friendofafarmer.com/menus



12 comments:

Coppa's girl said...

An 8/10 croissant is a great improvement on your recent ratings. Things are looking up! Will they let dogs into the café when the weather turns really wintery?

WFT Nobby said...

Yes, 8/10, a record for a Scottish croissant?
I'm curious to know if all your PONs have had similar fur textures? I note that in the WFT world there is much variety - Nobby's is thinner, less glossy and waterproof than Bertie's was, but easier to comb.
Cheers, Gail.

Angus said...

WFT - There is huge diversity in fur textures ... and temperaments. Sophies coat is dense and unmanageable. Her brothers coat was finer ( and thinner ) . He would look like a show dog with the briefest of brushings. His sister doesn't do show dog.

Lisa in France said...

Wakanda forever is supposed to be pretty good - and just out very recently, so St. Andrews is keeping up with the times. The discussion about fur is interesting - Cherry hated grooming unless we were paying an arm and a leg to the groomer's, and her fur would mat beyond the reach of the strongest wind. Charlie also hates grooming (it must be us!) and has to get scissored down once a month. You can tell that poodles are water dogs, though, as he can get soaking wet and then dry very quickly. Like PONs, poodles have hair rather than fur, but it seems their fur will just keep growing and growing unless you cut it. It used to be a style where the fur was allowed to form dreadlocks that reached all the way to the ground. Might be cheaper?

Yamini MacLean said...

Hari OM
All three films get good ratings - though if you haven't seen the first Wakanda episode, the second may not make entire sense. Then again, sitting and waiting for them to arrive on streaming channels is good too... YAM xx

Travel said...

Your blog is always a moment of calm, in a world of swirl.

Jake of Florida said...

Much happier to talk about dog fur than "the former guy!" Our three foxies each had/have different textures: Jake so thick it was hard to comb; Just Harry thin and rarely matted; and now Joey, halfway between. Angus, so glad you've found an acceptable croissant!

10NISNE1 said...

3 Shelties?! I would have been as excited as Sophie seeing a Jaffa Cake. :)

Kippy said...

The natural detangling method sounds excellent. I have had two wire fox terriers, one had more “wiry” coarse fur. The three standard poodles-one had rather fine vey curly hair, second had fur that when brushed out, felt like polyester fiberfill and rarely tangled.. Kippy’s hair is curly and dense and tangles easily. This means i can brush it for half an hour and in one hour you can’t tell anything was done. Maybe we need to move to St Andrews.

rottrover said...

If Sophie would like to visit Los Angeles, we are having 80 mile an hour gusts of very dry air today. She could look like the wind blown diva that she is!!

My Rottweilers have very different coats. Otto is double coated and the thick under coat is always shedding. He is very unhappy to heat but loves the wind and cold. Osa appears to have one layer, or a finer undercoat and likes all weather except rain as she is convinced she will melt.

ChicagoGrrrl said...

Do not bother with "Decision to Leave" Someone must be paying off the reviewers... this movie was ridiculous.

Angus said...

Kippy - St Andrews has lots of windy days. Problem is most of them are high in humidity ie heavy rain. Camps Bay might be a better bet.