Normal service bein resumed shortly.....

"Evenin' all: just wanna apologise for bein out of pawfeel for a while but Her 'puter been out of action and so She not been able to broadcast my news .... not to mention news of the porcine herd and the other anipals here on the Reserve......
However.... She now had the technology issues mended and - I believe -- things'll be back to normal soon --- cos we got ooodles of news -- and new weaners (almost) and new piglets - just this mornin..... and I been so busy beatin.... and the pups are all growin.... and my boy Bugler's been so norty........oh --- so much news ----m be back sooooon.....Watch this space.... " Wags tail and departs stage left.........

So many questionss to answer....

 "Hello all: my boy Bugler & the Understudy keep askin questions: they so nosey: Where do I go? What do I do?  Why's I out all day? Why I so tired when I comes home? Why I suddenly get so much stuff in my bowl?.... they can't imagine. Thank Dog...... But I s'pose in the interests of educatin the next generation, I gotta give some explanation....

So, here I go::::
Well --- we go out early, we hang around a lot, we hunt a lot and then we comes home late. And I very hungry.
That's it.
What? Not enough detail?
*Shouts* - hey You Who is to be Obeyed - they say there not enough detail.... Good Dog, what they want? Blood?!!

 OK .... listen, I'll give it more thought --- then I come back and tell's all... well, mostly all, after all, don't want to scare the youngsters.... don't want to put them off you know...
so I'll give it some thought & be back later..... when I's had a bit of shut-eye and had time to think a bit.... and when my paw feels better.... and when I got time... and have thought about it..
Goes off hummin to self..... Night all.... for now....

Pup Chat

"Hey bruv" said Bugler, when he and Jaunty were messing about on the kitchen sofa one evening: "What d'you think my dad gets up to when he goes out all day with Her?"
"I dunno little pal" said Jaunty, trying to extract his ear from Buglers sharp teeth "but they both come back smellin' of all sorts of strange stuff..."
"He smell like he been runnin' round lots, don't he, but he don't want to run round with us when we bounce at him..... "
"Nah: he can be a bit serious at the best of times - but after he been out all day he just go off into the corner and sleep"
"You're bigger than me - you ask him will you? Ask him next time he come home....."

"Nah, little buddy - you his Bug eyed baby boy, you snuggle up to him and ask him nicely - bet he'll tell you....."
"Ohhhhhhhhhh, I don't know...... he Very Important Person.... I a bit shy you know......"

"Well, if you want to know what goes on when he go away, little fella, nobody else gonna be able to tell you.You got enough courage when you pushin me around - if you want to learn what your Dad does, you just gonna have to get his ear when he in a mellow mood........"

"Now shove over there and let me get some shut-eye will you"...............

Fireworks!

Five fireworks getting ready to go off!

Ginger & Mangal are an amazing pair. For a start, Mangal has never 'got on' with any other female. Ginger is his "one and Only". For seconds, whenever we say they are 'over the hill' they prove us wrong. This last litter are their 13th. That must be some record. Each 'season' we question whether we should put them back together again and then we say : "Well, Ginger will let us know if we are right or wrong." Meaning if she doesn't have any piglets, or just one or two, that'll be the end of the line.  So far, she's winning - but how many litters can a lady sow have? Certainly in the commercial world she'd be well past it..... But that's a different world from ours here......

Who's more suprised - spaniel or squiglet?

This time round she had 7 - but sadly, being a large lady and having built a deep nest, she squashed two. The remaining 5 are very lively - at odd hours of the day. They like early mornings and late afternoons (most piglets like the middle of the day for running around!) and are amazingly courageous for their size - see here, one little chappie coming out to talk to Jaunty - I don't know which was the more surprised... Ginger was not in the least bit bothered..... mind you, all of a sudden, she gruntled and all the piglets ran back into their house..... quickly.... they're two weeks old and behaving like piglets at least a week older...... maybe well named as "Fireworks"... I sense they are going to be trouble...... They will be out on the bridleway in a day or two.... much to the delight of the walkers.....

Deja Vu

 When you've got a dog and his son you keep looking for similarities and differences, things the youngster inherets from the father. It is tempting to romanticise and see 'the future' star in the young dog... clearly the  youngster is going to be Oh so much brighter, faster, cleverer than the father. That's why we breed them.... There is absolutely no logic at all. We humans just want it to be that way. We breed 'the best' to 'the best' to get 'even better'.
Obviously.
Well... maybe once in a million times....
So, of course, we all asume we are that one in a million.
And obviously the son of The Bestest Gundog is going to be The Very bestest Ever Gundog. We wouldn't have bred him otherwise.

In order to achieve that status he has to inheret much from the father.
We look for signs.
There are some....... (we grasp at straws)

On 6 September 2007  this very blog reported on an incident which could have been Ghost or Gundog. Look back to see the story. It was smart. Tv's switched on in the night and all that.
Just this weekend a similar situation occurred.
We had visitors. One of them retired after dinner to the computer room. Some moments later a large volume of noise erupted. Obviously from the computer room. I thought. At first.
Or!
Maybe not. It gradually dawned that it was totally uncharacteristic of that visitor to make so much noise.
I went to investigate. I discovered the large volume of sound emanated from the kitchen. More precisely, the TV in the kitchen. Actually, now I think of it, a larger volume than I'd ever been able to conjure up from that TV.  There on the floor were the Boy Bugler (son of Gunner) and a few pieces of plastic which, when gathered up, remotely resembled the remote control! Bugler was grinning from ear to ear. "Look what I got, look what I got!" he seemed to say "I switched on the TV".
Jaunty was looking very guilty on the settee with, at his feet, the case which had once contained my specs..... "Nothin to do with me" he seemed to say as he looked at me, pleadingly. "Honest - just a game....I think" his eyes said.....
Back in 2007 I was prepared to think the ghost might have guided Gunner's actions. Here in 2013 I knew no ghost was involved. Something else had guided the pup's actions. Surely it is more than coincidence that the son should replicate his father's 'misdemeanours'....... Did Gunner pass this particular experience on to his son? If so... how? Is it something transmitted in the genes?A kind of family fetish?  Or just coincidence? I'm inclined to think it has to do with the genes ........
I hope it has to do with the genes. I hope that those same genes will manifest in good ways as the months go on..... Obviously I want the baby dog to be a perfect, but slightly enhanced, replica of the grown up dog..... It won't  happen. I can see that already..... There is only one Bestest Gundog.
But let's hope the son comes close....... eventually....   Meanwhile, we have these instances of Deja Vu...    

Stop press

To Ginger and Mangal this sunny November afternoon - between 2 and 4 pm - a bunch of squiggly piglets - their 13th litter.

Mother & babies seem to be doing well.

Father totally unconcerned!

Full story and photos to follow.

Sausages, storms & squigglers

Lunch time & not a sausage left!

It's been a busy weekend. The Bestest Gundog and I were hard at work on Friday bushbeating and picking up birds whilst the Big Boss dealt with packing up pork for our most recent Pig Partners and for Lincoln's famous Sausage Festival at the Castle on Saturday. All against the backdrop of the 'biggest storm since 1987' anticipated to be coming our way "sometime over the weekend......".  It's not easy forecasting demand at the best of times; the vagaries of the weather only add complications. Complexity was multiplied by the fact that, whilst The Big Boss was selling 'prepared' products, Yours Truly was cooking hot dogs with wedgie 'tatoes and onions.
Last year's Sausage Festival attracted a crowd of 10,000 or so on a very cold day.
This year numbers were up by at least 10% - in no small part due to the day turning out to be rather mild with only occasional gusts of wind - which strengthened as time progressed but by then people had already turned out. Not just locals either - many had come from far afield to sample and/or buy some of the best sausages in the country. There was one memorable gust which threatened to blow the whole gazebo away but luckily the combined weight of the Big Boss & I held it more or less in place. After that we fixed it to gas bottles and similar heavy accoutrements and had only minor disturbances! Demand steadily increased from 1000hrs (opening time) onwards. Fortunately I had someone helping with serving because the trickle turned to a torrent. We quickly sold out of every last scrap of food. I looked at my watch and was amazed to discover it wasn't even 1 o'clock. Sadly we turned the remainder of the queue away and posted up a notice advising that we had 'Sold Out' except for Pure Apple Juice and Sparkling Mineral Water. At that time of day it was good in a bad way, or vice versa! By 4pm - the  end of the event - we'd not only sold all the drinks but The Big Boss had done likewise on prepared food too! (Most of the traders reported similar stories) A very successful day - and not a drop of rain from beginning to end. The Gods were certainly smiling on Lincoln Castle and Cathedral.

Delila & Samson's latest offspring

Sunday was quite different. Strong winds from the outset seemed to bear out the forecast. Delila was imminently due to farrow; Monday was 'the day' in the diary. Linda's day off. Well, fed up with frequently being absent on 'the big occasion' Linda had decided to swap her day off to later in the week. Delila must have known.
She was out for her breakfast as usual. Afterwards she started tidying her ark. "Hmm" I thought, giving her a few extra sticks and branches. Then thought no more of it.
A couple of hours later, after exercising The Bestest Gundog's Understudy, I thought I'd just go check she was OK....... and noticed a strange object outside her ark. It quickly registered as a tiny piglet. Quickly I leapt over the fence and went to check on the little thing. It was still warm and half covered in blood; it squealed when I picked it up so I breathed a sigh of relief and quickly tucked it back in the ark between its brothers and sisters, keeping my fingers crossed it would get to a teat in time.
We all had a bit of a laugh about Delila making all that effort to have the piglets a day early just so Linda could be there to see them from the start!!! Sense of humour in a sow? Why not?
Two days later all 9 are alive and squiggling happily. I think the tiniest one on the outside of the others in the photo must have been the one that went outside.... he (or she) is probably going to be trouble.
As for the predicted storms. We had rather too much rain over Sunday night/Monday morning but luckily not the high winds endured by the more southerly counties. The Gods smiling again perhaps.....