Better a crown than a cone?

Gail and I both smiled at this photo in Saturday's 'Times'.

We are pleased to read how King Charles appears to be responding well to his cancer treatment. But Gail and I are quite sure that he and our terrier loving Queen Camilla would have preferred to be joining  the Aberdeenshire WFT gang on our muddy tramp around Bin Forest yesterday morning, rather than being stuck in some palace Down South reading get well cards.

Clockwise from front: Nobby, Merin, Agatha, Rupert

Scoring a treat from Anny

Poised for lift off...(the pink boot belongs to baby Margot)

Impressing Agatha with my jumping skills

Waiting for Gail to stop taking photos

Attentive foxies. Left to right: Merin, Nobby, Agatha

Team photo: Rupert, Nobby, Agatha, Jinx, Merin

Nobby and Gail's Big Adventure

It's a dual purpose post today, with a special adventure for YAM-aunty's Final Friday Feature, in which we get close to nature for the LLB Gang's weekly blog hop.

Carry On Camping!

Golly gosh I was so excited when Gail told me we were we Going Camping this week.

I've read all about our friends Rosy and Sunny and their exciting adventures in the magnificent and luxurious 'CeCe' motorhome.

I've seen with my own WFT eyes the more modestly sized but still wonderfully comfortable electric van, the 'Grey', so cleverly converted for cosy domesticity by our friend YAM-aunty.

Imagine my consternation when Gail, after burrowing around in the back of the box room, excavated an elongate black bag and announced that this was going to be our accommodation on Monday night!

The plan, I learned, was to meet up with our friend Imogen at the Ballater Caravan Park. Imogen was riding the c.45 miles out there, her bicycle fully loaded with her camping gear as a trial run for a forthcoming solo expedition to France and Spain, and Gail would drive us out to meet Imogen, carrying an extra blanket for our friend in addition to our own kit. Apparently this was to be a 'test' for me too.

We arrived first and, ignoring my offers of assistance, Gail erected the tent. I tried not to look too envious of the more substantial accommodations parked nearby.

Imogen showed up shortly after and I noted that her tent was even smaller than ours!

Gail claimed it was quite a deluxe camp site, with excellent, clean and modern bathroom facilities. I was not so sure about my bathroom option...

Fortunately, Gail decreed that, as it was not raining and I was dry and relatively clean, I would be allowed into her tent with out the need for pre-bedtime ablutions. 

I was a Good Boy over dinner in the nearby pub (The Balmoral Arms) and did not even complain when Imogen and Gail refused to share their big and juicy venison burgers. A fellow diner commented that I matched the carpet...

Soon it was bedtime, and inside the tent I experimented for a while with various sleeping positions, but decided eventually that I might be more comfy on the mat beside Gail rather than lying draped across her chest.

It was dawn before I knew it, and oh what fun to be enjoying breakfast, listening to the birds twittering away and sniffing the cool clean Highland air.

And what a lovely surprise, a chance encounter with a familiar foxie friend, Merin (who lives quite close), out on an early walk through the campground with her owner Claire.

After breakfast, our 'mobile homes' were collapsed and packed away, and while Imogen headed back to Aberdeen on her bicycle, Gail and I enjoyed a short walk up Craigendarroch Hill.

You can see the Ballater camping ground in the distance below.

When I asked Gail if we could go camping again she declared that I had aced the test and so another outing in the tent is a distinct possibility.

Hooray! 

Who needs blue sky anyway?

Yesterday morning Gail took this photo of me, posing nicely at the summit of Craigendarroch (a small hill overlooking the pleasant Deeside town of Ballater).

Can you believe what her new Google Pixel 7a phone camera suggested, totally unasked, when it saw the picture? 

Does Google think we live in the Caribbean? 

Gail says I should be grateful it didn't suggest erasing the dog in the foreground.

As for what we were doing in the Ballater area, well for now, all I'll say is, it was a new and exciting experience for me. Come back on Friday to find out more...

A sad goodbye to Molly and Lightning

Last week was a such a sad one in our dog blogging world. We had to say a final goodbye to two favourite pals. We only knew Molly and Lighnting 'virtually', but they were all too real to their loving and now bereft humans. 

It's clear that Airedale Molly and Siberian husky Lightning lived their best lives, and for beautiful, moving tributes written by their closest companions, click here and here. 

Gail tells me she has always fantasised about owning a husky, if only her circumstances would make that a sensible option. We sometimes see a magnificently handsome one, white like Lightning, in Duthie Park. He is called Luigi, but we don't have any photos of him. Luigi is a rescue dog who apparently had bad experiences early in his life, and as a result he is 'reactive' to exuberant little fox terriers so I'm not allowed to get too close to him. 

Did I say little? In fact I am on the large side for a WFT, but of course much smaller than Molly was, and it seems surprising that so many folk ask if I am an Airedale.

Did you know that Gail's 'first dog', pictured below, was in fact an Airedale terrier!

The wheelie dog was a much-loved present from Gail's granny, who came from the part of the world (Yorkshire) where the Airedale originates. I suspect that Gail's concept of a perfectly shaped dog has its roots in this toy, and I am proud to be thought a  'dog flap friendly sized' cousin to the largest of the British terrier breeds. 

We so enjoyed sharing just a little bit in the lives of dear Lightning and Molly, and gosh we are going to miss them. We send love and big hugs across the Pond to those they left behind.

A sparkling birch tree and a question of ethics

Happy Nature Friday friends! 

This week's offering is the birch tree we pass on the way to Duthie Park each day. It has just burst into leaf and in the early morning, if the skies are clear and a breeze blowing, the leaves sparkle and dance in the sunlight, a quietly lovely spectacle set against the austere grey of the granite buildings.

You might be interested to know that the building just beyond the tree is the 'Inn at the Park', the place where Gail and I attend the fortnightly pub quiz, along with our friends Kirsty and Cathy (aka 'Team Indecisives').

I appreciate this off topic for the LLB Gang's Nature Friday blog hop, but I want to talk to you today about an ethical dilemma prompted by one of the quiz questions this week.

You will remember that my role in the quiz team is as their much-valued mascot.

And you will know that, obviously, consulting eternal sources of information such as Google and Wikipedia is strictly forbidden during a pub quiz.

So what do you think about this? When asked "how many teeth does a dog have?", Gail decided to try and open my mouth to check that her team had the right answer.

Yes, I know, shocking behaviour, utterly shocking. 

Rest assured friends, I was resolved to protect the integrity of the competition and totally refused to unclench my jaw (even when offered a treat). It is surely incumbent upon any respectable mascot to ensure his team does not cheat, don't you agree?

I am relieved to tell you that 'Team Indecisives' answered correctly - us dogs do have 42 teeth. It would have been embarrassing for them to get this one wrong, as Kirsty is a vet.

Now veering even further off topic, Gail is insisting I tell everyone how her team of three late middle aged(?) ladies scored a record breaking (for them) 8/10 on the sports round on Wednesday, helped by Gail knowing that renowned 1970s and 80s football manager Brian Clough played for both Middlesborough and Sunderland in his professional career before he became a coach.

And no, I have no idea either why Gail seems so ridiculously proud of knowing this piece of esoteric sports trivia.

Sometimes one just has to humour one's humans, I find....