Tuesday 25th October 2022, 4.25pm (day 4,079)

Thora is, of course, not a mogwai — the creature that spawns the Gremlins in the movie of that name — but she sure looks like one.

Thora is, of course, not a mogwai — the creature that spawns the Gremlins in the movie of that name — but she sure looks like one.

With no posts for ten days perhaps you thought I’d finally given up the ghost, or at least the blog had — but no, ’twas that old staple, “computer problems”. Not entirely solved now, so bear with me, but I shall start on the catching-up process at least. This encounter seems quite a while ago now, but one can see the basic curiosity-mingled-with-sheer-terror that this little dog exhibits, faced with this giant Newfoundland. Yes, they are the same species. That’s genetic engineering for you.

A day at home, between trips away, and watching the beer get delivered to the pub (from across the road, for some reason) was the day’s chief entertainment. Diamond the dog becomes the latest animal to make theblog twice, adopting much the same position as on her first appearance.

Ben gets some Him Time, and seems thoroughly contented by the experience. As the amount of white around his muzzle attests, he’s an old man, and at some later point in our own lives I guess we’ll all crave this kind of attention.

Is waiting a thing that dogs would do if we hadn’t trained them to do it over millennia? Predators learn to wait, I guess. But not for their human master to come back from the bar.

A very limited day in terms of photographic opportunities. It was some cherry blossom again, or pub dog Reggie being mildly exploited. But he doesn’t mind this kind of thing, it’s his job.

Mathilda the cat has appeared on this blog more often than any other animal but definitely moved away, her last appearance (of six) being on 3/3/20. This puss is a tortoiseshell as she was, and appeared today in the same location — but it is not her. I got a fairly friendly reaction however, so perhaps s/he is putting in a bid for repeated appearances, just as Mathilda did.
This is a photowhack — the only picture I took today.

“Please. You’ve gotta get me out of here. I didn’t ask to make my life here, a day’s journey from the nearest grooming salon.”
I might think the same if, like this critter, I was living at Scalderskew in the Lake District — I do not know of a more isolated dwelling in the country. If you’re interested, the most prominent peak in the background is Seatallan.

“I don’t care what my lot are doing. You’re eating. They’re not. I’m going to stare at you for a while.”