Willis has been plucked

Our puppy Willis has been plucked. Ouch ! I said at the thought of it – but he looks very smart.

Our first dog was a lovely springer spaniel called Ben – mad of course, but with a lovely temperament apart from his passion for postmen (and women). But the hair that came off of him was horrendous. It was like tumble weed blowing around the kitchen floor. We then inherited a lovely little toy poodle called Nina, which our daughter adored and played with endlessly. Dressing her up in baby clothes and pushing her around in a pram. Whist Nina was highly strung and a bit yappy she was a sweet little thing who didn’t know she was small and gave Ben a run for his money. She was always top dog. But the best thing about Nina was that she didn’t shed at all. She was taken to the ‘hairdresser’ every 6 weeks or so for a cut and blow dry and always came back smelling sweet with a ribbon on her collar. So when the time came to think about another dog as our lovely Ben was getting old, and still wanting a bigger dog we decided to get Sam our Standard Poodle. We found Nina to be such an intelligent dog that coupled with the whole ‘no shedding and no more tumble weed thing’ we felt it would be a perfect choice. Sam has proved to be a really wonderful companion and friend and my husband swears he understands every word you say to him.
Well sadly we lost Ben some years ago and then 4 years ago our little Nina died.
Since then we have (sorry in case my husband reads this I have) been looking for another small dog.
I have to admit to being one of those people who love animals of any shape and size. Even spiders don’t frighten me. Over the years we have had three cats, two rabbits, lots of hamsters, guinea pigs, cockatiels and fish but dogs are my favourite.

So when I took Sam for a hair cut in January and I was treated to the sight of two little puppies – well of course I melted. Two of the sweetest little Border Terrier pups were calling to me – ‘take me home’,’ take me home’. Cathy the breeder said they were lovely dogs, very friendly who love children and they don’t moult. They have to be plucked every 4 to 5 months. I did a bit of research about the breed on the internet, we met the mother who was a real little character and we were persuaded to get one of the little chaps.

Hence my little Willis had been plucked and doesn’t he look smart.

Although I must say he looked cute scruffy.

Beautiful Brecon

I have been absent from my computer for nearly two weeks - although checking and responding to the most urgent emails via my phone (isn’t technology wonderful) - I haven’t surfed, blogged, face booked, looked up information that I don’t need on Wikipedia or checked out the latest gaff on YouTube. How have I managed to do this most amazing and liberating thing – a short break in our well loved caravan in the Brecon Beacons with no wifi access.

Les and I decided that we needed to get away for a few well earned days of rest before the start of a (hopefully) busy summer in our B&B. Guilty like many of rushing off to exotic locations or different parts of this great British island of ours – we decided it was about time (24 years of living in North Wales which we know extremely well) that we discovered another part of Wales.
We plumped for the Brecon Beacons and were not disappointed – coupled with extremely lovely warm sunny weather for all but one of our days – Brecon is a truly breathtaking area with wonderful undulating green hills and valleys. We recently had some Australians stay with us and they described the green in Wales as ‘it’s so green it hurts your eyes’. Well we knew exactly what they meant; travelling from our home in Carmel down to Brecon took around 4 hours (3 stops for the dogs and towing a caravan) and the country side en-route was never disappointing.
Arriving at our caravan site we were welcomed with a much needed cup of tea by our friends who had travelled from Milton Keynes. We tried the local pub that night (a late birthday celebration for two of us) and the food was fantastic – and it was in walking distance. Could things get any better?

Our dog Sam who is a Standard Poodle and nearly 11 years old is a seasoned caravan traveller and quickly settled down – but how would our 7 month old Border Terrier Willis behave. Unbelievably he was great – quickly getting used to a new routine (that’s’ of course no routine when you’re on your holidays) and we are now proud to call him a real Caravan Dog too.

Brecon is a lovely little town with many small independent shops and on our first Saturday there was a Farmers Market. They still boast an indoor market place where it was held and the number of stalls, quality of produce and variety was impressive. We feasted on local pies, pates and salads for lunch – enjoyed so much more outside in the lovely sunshine.
We managed to walk every day and visited three of the national parks centres – one of which was called Craig-y-nos and had been the home of the Opera Singer Adelina Patti until her death in 1919. The house became a hospital but closed in the 1980’s and is now a hotel but the grounds were taken over by Brecon Beacons National Park Authority in 1976. The grounds are vast and we spent a couple of hours getting quite lost. The rhododendrons were amazing and I have never seen the formation of branches and trunks like it before.

Another lovely walk was around the Reservoir at Talybont.

Our few days away quickly came to an end like they always do but we realised what a great and relaxing time we had had. Driving back into North Wales we also re-discovered how beautiful it also is. Sometimes we are all guilty of not appreciating our immediate surroundings – its lovely to go away but so nice to come home when you are lucky enough to live in such a picturesque spot.

Needless to say I hadn’t been in very long before the computer went on and I started dealing with emails, calls and of yes here I am blogging again. Happy Holidays everyone.