Cottage Sitting and Aged Dog Minding ...

We had a different w/e looking after old Flint and the cottage of our friends in Derbyshire. Flint is a 14 year old sheepdog and wobbly on his pins - like the rest of us who approach ancient age.

Taking the old dog on his daily perambulations is usually a delight, but this time the hill home proved to be too much. Gasp, wheeze and a slippery, muddy ditch found him collapsed and looking like he had given up the ghost. Not a good situation to be in and especially since our friends had only left for their w/e break two hours before ... Fortunately, he revived after a while so that we were saved from carrying him back to the cottage - he's a big, heavy beast which I have only once tried to lift over a gate much to the distaste of  my aging limbs. All's well that ...

The cottage is warm and snug - with two fires going - and the setting beautiful. Birds abound. Weather wise we had two sunny, late-autumn days; all colour and pale blue sky. I enjoyed playing fireman-in-chief with the outcome, one evening, of filling the lounge with great gouts of smoke more suitable for the production of kippers ...

An excellent w/e with a bit of a scare ...