Journal Entries
Dog Observations: dirty dog (1 in what may possibly become a series)
Posted Nov 27, 2006
I've not mentioned the dog here before (except as a passing statistic on my PS). So there's maybe a bit of background that I need to explain. So, let me digress for a moment...
[Blimey, it turns out that this goes on a bit...]
Now, I'm not particularly what you would call a 'dog person'. I've been allergic to cats (especially) and dogs (occasionally) all my life. One or two key events have left me not that fussed about pets in general:
When I was at the impressionable age of four, we had a cat which _we_ had to get rid of because of _my_ allergy. She went to an aunt & uncle who lived on a main road, and she promptly got run over. 
I've had a number of other pets who have died untimely deaths and/or have been way to vicious to have a relationship with (ham(p)sters, fish, rabbits, a chicken(!), some more cats and a dog).
It's the missus who comes from a family of dog owners... However, you wouldn't really call them 'dog people' either.
So, there it is. I'm not what you would call a 'dog person'. And neither - really - is the missus. And neither - really - are the nippers.
So what are we doing with a dog then? Well, to be honest the dog is 'functional'. For two reasons...
1. The dog sleeps on the stairs: I work away from home a lot. The missus wanted to feel safer in the house, particularly at night.
2. The dog runs on the moors: We like to get out in the middle of nowhere. Realistically, we'd be too busy to get out there if we didn't have a good reason to.
So having come clean about all that, it may come as no surprise that there's the odd twinge of guilt at the Paff residence on occassions when the dog hasn't had a proper walk in a week and we start to wonder whether we did the right thing getting him.
I was having one such guilt-trip last weekend...
The weather wasn't up to much, we were trying to get the house sorted before a visitor comes to stay this week, and, blah, blah, excuses, excuses. To make matters worse, the dog stank. I didn't want to be anywhere near him. He was rank. Eau de stagnant pond et deer poo. Anyway, I took the dog out for a wee (him, not me), and on the way back in he looked over at the frisbee hopefully. It was raining. I went in, said "In. Bed. Down." and went back up in the loft to get the spare quilt down or something.
A bit later the stench was unbearable. Me and the missus gave in and bathed the mutt. It took ages, but I tell you, there's something therapeutic about washing a dog. There's something slightly less therapeutic about cleaning up the dog hair and water on the floor and up the walls. But it was done.
So, I took him out for another wee. It was still raining, and we still went straight back in. But I got to the door, patted him on the head, scratched his chin, gave him as close to a cuddle as an allergic person is ever going to get. "Bed. Down. Good boy." Went and got a treat for him.
So it turns out I do like dogs. I just don't like smelly ones.
Paff
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Latest reply: Nov 27, 2006
So the Beeb doesn't want my quality pic then...
Posted Nov 23, 2006
...Oh well...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lego_Star_Wars#Making_Your_Own_Scenes
A couple of minutes work and there it is.Paff
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Latest reply: Nov 23, 2006
Moving about on the see-saw
Posted Nov 23, 2006
What's going on here then?
It came to my attention this evening that I hadn't posted on hootoo for 2 weeks. Yes, OK, I've been doing some <./>photographers</.> type stuff, and I've been on holiday for a week, but I've just not really felt the _need_ to even have a look at hootoo.
I popped in today and found that my lead-balloon of an entry in PR had got a bunch of comments on it that were 5 days old... I got all excited, replied (in a suitably excited fashion), then put my head in my hands and thought "why am I here?"
Now, I came here to write some entries. But I unsubscribed from PR about 9 months ago, and haven't written anything for that long either. I wrote some AWW stuff last year, even some 'poetry', and even had an idea of a bit of fiction I was going to try out. I've even got a bunch of journal entries that I wrote offline that I can't be bothered to cut-n-paste into here.
So, what's going on here then? Am I just finding a new place to sit on the see-saw? (And can I be bothered right now to explain the see-saw analogy?) Or am I about to get off the see-saw? (And doesn't the word see-saw look odd?)
Dear oh dear, I should get some sleep.Paff
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Latest reply: Nov 23, 2006
Nipper Observations: Life, don't talk to me about life (7 in a series)
Posted Oct 30, 2006
Eldest nipper has (a) started moping about, as you do, at that age (he's 12, for those of you who've just tuned in). And has simultaneously (b) moved from 'Harry Potter' onto the likes of 'Hitchhiker's Guide' and 'Restaurant At The End'.
Put these two things together though, and what you get is a kid who has recently established an affinity with Marvin The Paranoid Android.
Now here's the interesting thing. When I (and most other 30-somethings-plus) quote Marvin, it goes like this [now, you've got to hear it in your head for it to work... listen...]
"Life, don't talk to me about life."
[OK? You got that?]
Now this is how Eldest Nipper says it:
"Life, don't talk to me about life."
[Hear the difference?]
Yes. Interesting that, isn't it? When I say it, it's in voice of Stephen Moore. But when eldest nipper say's it, it's in the voice of Alan Rickman.
Hmmmm.Paff
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Latest reply: Oct 30, 2006
PC gone mad
Posted Oct 30, 2006
We all have these stories. Here's the latest...
Youngest nipper's school harvest festival. Usual kind of thing. Although let's not forget that this is the middle of rural Devon, so we're not talking about mums popping down the shops for a tin of beans. No, we've got veg pulled out of the field that morning, milk direct from the cows udder, jars of homemade jam containing fruit straight off the hedgerows that weekend.
So, anyway, head-mistress stands up in front of this incredible display of harvest offering and says:
"We were going to send all of this produce down to the old people's home as we always do. However. This year we're not allowed for health and safety reasons. So instead we're bringing everything back to school and would ask you to buy the stuff back. Then we'll send the cash onto the home."
You know where this is going... For 2006 instead of literally hundreds of pounds worth of harvest type stuff being donated, the school is sending £47 to the old people's home.
What a waste.Paff
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Latest reply: Oct 30, 2006
aGuyCalledPaff
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