Spring has sprung

Damson blossom

Following a dry and relatively mild winter, spring has arrived this year with a vengeance.
The primroses on the bank along the drive have been flowering merrily since early February, vyeing with the snowdrops for sheer showiness: for the first time we have had daffodils, crocuses, primroses, snowdrops and aconites all blooming together. No sooner had the snowdrops fallen away than the hyacinths leapt into bloom.
Now it is the turn of the blossoms. First to flower was the Victoria plum tree closely followed by the yellow and greengages and, latterly, the damsons. Judging from the tiny buds appearing already, apple and pear blossom will not be far behind.

Hyacinths surround the mulberry bush

The orchard is a magical place; often in the early mornings we will see muntjak deer picking their way daintily across the grass, nibbling here and there - occasionally rose bushes, but that's a small price to pay for sight of them.... Or a hare will spring onto the lawn, sit bolt upright on its haunches and sniff the air before bounding merrily away again.... Pheasants strut archly across, the cockbirds ruffling their plumage and letting off their shrill cry. When the dogs hear that sound, their heads snap round to try and catch sight of the teasing birds....  In the ash and beech and chestnut trees the woodpigeons go about their canoodling and preening whilst the jackdaws dive noisily down to the ground to pick up yet more makings for the nest they are hopelessly building in our chimney yet again. We lie in bed drinking tea and listen to the sound of their labours trickling down the chimney to the fireplace below.... when I go down I find not just twigs but dung, loft insulation, horsehair, pig wool, straw, leaves, bits of ribbon and string and sometimes balloon! One day I expect to find an egg or two as well!!!


Victoria plum blossom

Now that the clocks have gone forward we awake to the increasingly loud and varied dawn chorus... and as I go about the yard during the day I wonder "When will the swallows arrive this year?" because then it is not long before spring gives way to summer......

There is a different air about the place this year - more peaceful in the absence of lots of little trotters helter skeltering about the place. The pace of life is a little more restful too now that we don't have to pack up and go off to markets and food fares..... Spring may have sprung with a vengeance but we are definitely a little more retiring ......

Bye Bye 2016

Bugler

Jaunty

Skipper

All at #TeamGunner want to say a big Thank you all for staying with us through the past year and wish you all a very Happy, Healthy and interesting 2017.
xxxx
Here's to you allxxxx

The (last) Calendar Picture - December

Master of all he surveys! 1601 hrs :  5.1.2012

The last calendar picture..... so appropriate.... Gunner as ever, me behind him, looking out into the .. well, whatever it is he sees out there. Always looking out, always looking ahead, computing everything in that amazingly handsome head. Here he is standing at the top of one of our fields, looking down across his territory - the fields and hedgerows where he'd trained as a youngster, where he'd (dare I admit) chased those rabbits before he learned not to, from where he'd herded the piglets back when they wandered too far away..... The fields where he'd demonstrated to Jaunty and Bugler what it meant to 'sit', 'stay', 'fetch' and 'give' and, in the distance, the fields where - before those two came along - we'd walked and hunted for hours alone together, teaching each other little things about the way we saw the world.  We couldn't do it now - many of those fields have been subsumed into someone's "shoot" and he doesn't approve of spaniels "running around"!!! Ah well. Memories crystallised simply because they are unrepeateable.
So... on this winter's evening - and it could just as easily have been the week before - Gunner gazes at the sun setting at the end - or the beginning - of another year..... and my lens betrays me watching him yet again..... whatever the future holds......
        "A (man) is not dead while his name is still spoken.
         While we remember the ones we have lost they stay alive in our hearts and our memories.   
         They live on in the stories we tell......"

It is 16 months since he left but it seems like only yesterday... it will always be only yesterday.

The Calendar Pic - November

Gunner & Waifa nose to nose 11-4-2009

They were never friends. By the time Gunner came along, Puddy Cat - as she was now known (nee Harpo - but that is another story altogether and told very much earlier on in this blog) had become Prima Donna of the yard. She was ever aloof, flicking her tail and strutting off if any creature dared confront her or - horror - try to sniff her.
As she matured and mellowed she did select The Big Boss as her Special Person but that was a long time after this picture was taken.
Somehow, however, with his gentle unassuming way, Gunner slowly found a way to be in Puddy Cat's space without intimidating her.  Gradually she came to accept him and allow him to be where she was. He would hover around her and watch as she moved from place to place without ever quite getting close to her.
We have a beautiful scenic view through our dining room window. It's one I often glimpse through the adjoining door as I am preparing dinner in the kitchen. On this early spring evening the sun was particularly strong and casting shadows across the carpet; I glanced through the door and was amazed to see the two creatures motionless and totally engrossed with each other. It was such an eloquent scene; even when I fetched my camera, focussed on them and took the shot neither moved.
What were they saying to each other?
I never saw them so close again.

A large framed version of this hangs above our sitting room fireplace. It will always be my favourite.

Gotcha!

Jaunty 23/10/2012

Jaunty 23/10/2016

Four years to the day since Jaunty came to stay. A lot of water has flowed under the bridge in that time! Since day 1 he has been the quietest, best behaved dog in the house and the craziest, bounciest madcap outside. When I went looking for an Understudy to Gunner I could not have chosen a more 'different' character. He's taught me a lot, frustrated me even more and angered me way beyond what is reasonable and I love him to bits! He shows more pleasure from the sheer enjoyment of being alive than any creature I have ever met - it's a real education being with him! No matter what, he is never down cast or dull..... he believes the whole world was created for his personal delight and that nothing in it can possibly hurt him...... he's totally fearless and bold  - not in an arrogant brash way but in a totally joyous, carefree manner. A friend refers to him as "the Rockstar" and that sums him up really. If he was chap, he'd be out on the town every night - debonair, charming, reckless and lovable...... breaking all the young ladies' hearts.
Happy Gotcha Day Jaunty.......

Agility Nut

 Jaunty is a lovely dog and one of the things he loves most of all is running and he jumps for fun. He has a great deal of energy, is fearless and always keen to try anything new. As a gundog he's a bit of a handful; if it's birds you want found, he'll hunt all day but if you need birds to be flushed out in a controlled fashion he is not the dog for the job!
I've always wanted to try 'dog agility' and last summer decided to give it a go with Jaunty - a bouncier, more energetic or willing dog is unlikely to come my way again!
Needless to say, he took to it like a duck to water and quickly picked up the basics. Jumping, climbing, scooting through tunnels, twisting and turning - what's not to like?
Only trouble was and is - if there is scent (of any kind) about - he is easily diverted.

However, we joined a 'proper' club at the beginning of this year and a few months later started having one-to-one lessons once a week. The boy has done well and his handler (!!!) has become a bit fitter!
We had a 'go' at a fun agility competition in the summer. Suffice to say, Jaunty had more Fun than Agility on his agenda. However, there's no point doing weekly training without some goal so we are signing up for the winter series of competitions with 'Agility Nuts' and today went along for our first 'event'. Ever the optimist, I entered the Agility and Jumping events. We spent all day at a superb venue surrounded by Agility nuts of all shapes and sizes (and volumes) and came home, exhausted, with the certain knowledge that there is a lot more to this business than meets the eye - or the nose......
Undaunted, we will continue. The Winter Series runs monthly till March. I am optimistic that by then we will actually be completing the course as laid out rather than as mapped out by the spaniel's olefactory glands.......

October in Gunner's Calendar

'Cocking Day' - Woodhall Spa 2014

I can't help but smile at this photo!

Gunner always had a keen eye for the birds and there was no way one was going to drop in the woods without him keeping his eye on it!

The photo was taken on the last day of the 2013/14 shooting season.  Traditionally this is known as 'cocking day' - when, as the name suggests, only cock birds are shot. It is also the day when, not all, but a number of, shoots  will reward their beaters and pickers-up with the chance to carry a gun. A 'normal' shoot day can be quite stressful; the keeper is under pressure to present the birds, the guns are under a certain amount of pressure to shoot well, beaters need to watch their orders and drive the birds gently in the right direction (those with dogs ensuring their charges work efficiently and under control!.... not always a given), pickers-up have to be sure to gather up all the fallen and, particularly, running birds....... On Cocking Day, however, the pressure is off.  There are no clients or customers and everyone can have a relaxing and enjoyable day....

On this particular cocking day we were at Woodhall Spa - home of the National Golfing Union HQ as well as some rather beautiful woodland. We had some memorable days beating in those woods. The undergrowth was largely composed of dense, tough brambles. Enough to test even the most determined beaters. One year they were so bad that a number of the older men refused to return after the first day of the season. Fuelled by adrenalin, Gunner was unstoppable. Invariably though he ended up splattered with blood from where the brambles had caught his ears, tongue and other more sensitive parts. During the 2010/11 season, memorable for its freezing temperatures & huge quantities of snow, Gunner achieved the dubious distinction of rarely coming out of those woods without having 'found' at least one hare under the snow covered brambles! Not that he was supposed to be looking for hares of course! I loved going to Woodhall with him; he was in his element in those dense, game-laden woods.

Our role on this particlar cocking day was to alternate flushing the birds on one 'drive' with picking them up on the next. Gunner had the time of his life and, as I said at the beginning, was not going to let a single bird get away.

It was a truly wonderful day, made all the more so by the fact that the weather was mild, sunny and dry...... a day to treasure.