Windy Thursday and Peak Crocus

I do my best to be a Good, Helpful Boy, I really do. 

Having learned that, no matter how much of a 'sad face' I put on, Gail will go out for a bicycle ride with her friends every Thursday morning when we are in Aberdeen, I have taken the advice of those who say you should "chose your attitude". So instead of sulking and being resentful, which would be a natural response, I try to act positive and I post on the cycling WhatsApp group a weather report from Duthie Park first thing, thus the ladies know what to expect when they head off for their weekly outing. 

Yesterday I posted this.

When Gail returned home at around 2:30 pm she was looking more than usually windswept and exhausted and said trying to balance on two wheels in 30 mph (gusting 40 - 50 mph) cross winds had made her head feel all fuzzy.

Later, I saw more messages on the WhatsApp group. 

I was a tiny bit miffed to find myself being accused of 'understatement'.

Was it my fault that the windspeed increased so much between my 7 am walk and the time, two hours later, when the ride started?

Worse, Gail seemed reluctant to take me for another walk that day, even though the wind dropped later on. In the end we compromised and I settled for a short stroll, back to the park, where it is now Peak Crocus.

Happy Nature Friday friends! 

Snowdrops or Winddrops?

If my left ear doesn't tell you what the weather was like for my early morning walk in Duthie Park on Wednesday...

....then this video clip of the brave wee snowdrops who've emerged into the stormy conditions (and perhaps are wishing they were back in the earth) surely will.

Happy Nature Friday! And thank you once again to our dear friends Rosy and Sunny for hosting this our favourite blog hop.

 

Tough wire-haired fox terriers, tough owners!

The Aberdeen'n'shire Foxie walk, so often the highlight of my month, was scheduled to meet at Balmedie Country Park (a stretch of beach and sand dunes a few miles north of the city) on Sunday the 29th October.

Doubts crept in when Gail looked at the weather forecast on Saturday night. Would anyone really show up with 30 mph (gusting 50 mph) winds blasting straight off the North Sea and bringing heavy rain? 

Come the morning, the rain at least had not arrived but the wind definitely had. While Gail strapped on my red jacket, she also prepared me for disappointment, saying she feared we might be the only ones mad enough to turn out in these ferocious conditions. 

How very, very wrong, she was. 

One by one, vehicles carrying foxies and their hardy humans arrived in the car park. 

Look, here's Merin! And Rupert! And Jinx! And Dougie! And Edmund! And BEST OF ALL Agatha! 

So we set off through the sand dunes to the sea. The tide was high, driven yet higher by the wind and waves. 

The humans deemed the narrow strip of beach too dangerous given the strong possibility of rogue waves and summoned Rupert, Agatha and me back up to relative safety. 

It was all tremendously good fun! For us dogs anyway. 

While we rampaged around the dunes, the humans managed just snatches of conversation between pulling hats and hoods over ears to protect from the sea spray, foam and whistling wind.

"...you have to take them for a walk anyway..."

"...worst period of gales and rain I can remember..."

"...don't want any of them swept away by the waves..."

"...at least the sand's wet so it's not blowing in their eyes..."

"...sorry, I didn't quite catch that..."

"...all this racing up and down the sand dunes will tire them out..."

"...the dogs are having a great time anyway..."

"...should choose somewhere more sheltered for next month..."

Oddly enough, we didn't meet a single other human or dog during our hour long walk in this normally popular spot. 

All in a day's work

I headed off up my first ever really big hill. (Morven).

I paused to sniff the heather.

I made it to the top and admired the view from the summit shelter

I was stood my ground despite the fierce wind at the altitude of 872 m.  

I avoided the showers on the descent.

I went for a paddle in the river on the way home.

I even swam a little. 

I then photobombed a wedding celebration...

What did you do on Tuesday?