Latest Picture Of Jack

Taking A Break

Hello friends,

Wanted to let you all know that I am taking an extended break from my journal.

I need to do this.  Over the past many months the time spent on the computer has crept up and up.  When I began my journal I never thought it would take over my life in quite the way that it has done.  Other things that I should have been doing have been sadly neglected and I want to focus on those now.

Regular readers might remember that I started a rug for Nathan's room many months ago.  It remains less than half completed. I want to finish it.  I had further information in for the family tree so I need to spell check it all now and print that off.  I want to print off Pip's Tale.  Yes, I will be adding the final two chapters and then printing it off because both Mike and myself wish to keep it.  There are cupboards and drawers sadly in need of cleaning out, a half-finished piece of knitting and other things.  I also need to get myself fitter by not spending so much time during the day sitting in front of my computer screen.

When the warmer weather does arrive I shall wish to be out in the garden, pruning, weeding and planting up so I want to get all of the other outstanding things out of the way first.

For those of you following Pip's Tale, keep an eye out over the next few days because I will be continuing and finishing that.

This break, of course, means I shall also be turning off alerts. I cannot take this leave of absence and do the things I need to do if I still have to spend several hours per day dealing with those. This does not mean I do not care about you.  You are all special to me and I enjoy sharing in your lives.  You have become and will remain my friends.

I am not giving up my journal, just taking time out and I may well pop back unexpectedly from time to time during this break  but, in the meantime, I need to concentrate now on other things.  Time passes all too quickly and I have been putting things I need to do on hold for far too long. When the time is right and I have done what I need to do, I shall return hopefully to do regular entries. However, like I said I might pop up occasionally with photos or brief entries even whilst taking time out ~  I shall just see how it goes.

So, in the meantime, I wish you all well.  I hope that life treats you kindly and I shall look forward to catching up with you farther down the line. 

God bless you all.

New Chapter added to

THROUGH A DOG'S EYES

P.S. I shall still be online picking up e-mails from my long standing internet friends some of whom I have known for ten years,  banking, shopping etc. so if any of you wish to e-mail me from time to time, please feel free to do so.

Signature courtesy of Donna (D's Designs)

Aaaaaahhhhhhhhh!

I have some delightful photos for you today.  We looked after Daniel whilst Nathan went swimming and decided to introduce Jack to him properly.  Jack loved him immediately and he loved Jack!  You would be surprised at how much Daniel smiled and gigggled.  Unfortunately, we did not get a smiling shot but we did capture some charming moments that we will treasure.  I have a feeling that you will like them as well.

Why no pictures of Nathan I hear you ask.  Simple. Nathan does not stand still long enough when he is here and neither did Jack.  They chased each other up and down the hall and around the rooms.  It was impossible to get a decent shot.  We are so happy that Jack loves both our wonderful boys and that he will grow up with them.

Tomorrow we are having both Nathan and Daniel for most of the day, whether we get any pictures remains to be seen. I imagine with feeding and changing the boys, feeding the puppy and generally keeping things running smoothly there may not be time.  Just think tomorrow I shall be the only female surrounded by five males.

Hope you are all having a good day.

P.S. Jack & Daniel gives me another Jack - Jack Daniels lol!

I Hate Baths!

 

 

Jack had the smile wiped off his face, so to speak, this afternoon when Mike gave him a bath!  In fact both he and Jesse have had a good wash.  Jesse gets very dirty playing in the fields and poor little Jack looked like a mudlark as our garden is like a swamp.  As we live towards the bottom of a hill, all the water seems to collect here.

Jack is the only dog we have had whose eyes appear blue in the flash of a camera.  Even Jesse's amber eyes usually appear green in photos.  Jack has unusual eyes, they are a sort of blue/grey and very human looking, not like dogs eyes at all.  Still, he is a baby and that could change.  He is nine weeks old today.  Strangely, he looks much bigger and older in the pictures than he is.  He is already developing adult looks though and we think he will be a very handsome dog.

Mike is somewhat wet as you can see and this was before he bathed Jesse. You should have seen him afterwards.

Still, Jack soon realized it was all worth it in the end.  He had a good game afterwards and a good brushing and is now sound asleep.

Whilst I was drying him I got to thinking of all the things to do with Jack.   Jack Spratt, Jack O Lantern, Jack and Jill, Jack of all trades, Jack be nimble, Jack and the Beanstalk, Jack in the box.

If you can think of any more Jacks, please leave under comments. 

Hope you are all having a good Sunday.

 

Another Chapter Added

THROUGH A DOG'S EYES

Saturday Smiles

WOMAN V MAN

Marriage - Part I

Typical macho man married typical good-looking lady and after the wedding, he laid down the following rules:

"I'll be home when I want, if I want and at what time I want
and I don't expect any hassle from you. I expect a great dinner to be on table unless I tell you that I won't be home for dinner. I'll go hunting, fishing, boozing and card-playing when I want with my old buddies and don't you give me a hard time about it. Those are my rules.

Any comments?"

His new bride said, "No, that's fine with me. Just understand that there will be sex here at seven o'clock every night ..........whether you're here or not."

(DAMM SHE'S GOOD!)

************************************************

Marriage (Part II)

Husband and wife had a bitter quarrel on the day of their 40th wedding anniversary!

The husband yells, "When you die, I'm getting you a headstone that reads:

"Here Lies My Wife - Cold As Ever "

"Yeah?" she replies. "When you die, I'm getting you a headstone that reads:

"Here Lies My Husband Stiff At Last"

(HE ASKED FOR IT!)
 ***************************************************
Marriage (Part III)

Husband (a doctor) and his wife are having a fight at the
breakfast table.

Husband gets up in a rage and says, "And you are no good in bed either," and storms out of the house.

After sometime, he realizes he was nasty and decides to make amends and rings her up. She comes to the phone after many rings, and the irritated husband says, "what took you so long to answer the phone?"

She says, "I was in bed."

"In bed this early, doing what?"

"Getting a second opinion!"

(YEP, HE HAD THAT ONE COMING, TOO!)

****************************************************

Marriage (Part IV)

A man has six children and is very proud of his achievement. He is so proud of himself, that he starts calling his wife, "Mother of Six" in spite of her objections.

One night, they go to a party. The man decides that it's time
to go home and wants to find out if his wife is ready to leave as well.

He shouts at the top of his voice, "Shall we go home 'Mother of Six?'

His wife, irritated by her husband's lack of discretion, shouts
right back, "Anytime you're ready, Fatherof Four."

(RIGHT ON, LADY!)

************************

Marriage (Part V) The Silent Treatment

A man and his wife were having some problems at home and were giving each other the silent treatment. Suddenly, the man realized that the next day, he would need his wife to wake him at 5:00 AM for an early morning business flight.

Not wanting to be the first to break the silence (and LOSE), he wrote on a piece of paper, "Please wake me at 5:00 AM." He left it where he knew she would find it.

The next morning, the man woke up, only to discover it was 9:00 AM and he had missed his flight. Furious, he was about to go and see why his wife hadn't wakened him, when he noticed a piece of paper by the bed.

The paper said, "It is 5:00 AM. Wake up."

Men are not equipped for these kinds of contests.

God may have created man before woman, but there is always a rough draft before the masterpiece.

 

 

J-Land News

Wonderful news about our friend Linny who was so desperately ill.  She is now back writing her journal although she can only use one hand and is having some memory problems.  Please go and give her a great big welcome back at

~~ Life with Linny ~~

Another journaller has, very sadly, lost her 20 year old daughter in a car accident. Please friends, go and give her some support.  I can only imagine what she must be going through .  When things are really bad you need all the support and love that you can get. Here is the link

Tiny Drop Big Ocean

Thank you.

Happy Valentine's Day

Wishing each and every one of you a very Happy Valentine's Day

                   

I hope that you all have love today, from wherever that love comes, partners, family or friends.  It is nice to have a "special" day but let us not forget that we should love each other every single day of the year.

Sugar has done a beautiful Valentine Entry for many of the pets that belong or belonged  to J-Landers. She has worked hard collecting photos and arranging the layout so please stop by and have a look at all our wonderful animal friends and I am sure she would be happy for you to leave a comment.  Go on, you know you want to have a look...........here is the link

MY BELOVED FURR BABIES

There are several of my animal friends on there, you can either try and guess which ones they are (those of you who have known me a long time will recognise most of them) or to find out which ones you will have to read my comments. lol!  I say comments because I have left two, one identifying my current animals and a later one because Sugar so kindly added our beloved Pip.

Have a happy day everyone.

Valentine's signature sent to me by Sandra.  Thanks so much my friend.

Jack

Well, I promised you some pictures of Jack before we had him.  Yes, I did know he was coming but we had to wait until he was old enough to leave his Mother.  The breeder kindly supplied us with some photos as he went along.

The first one is a bit out of focus, nothing we can do about that as obviously the breeder took it and not us.  Here is the litter that Jack was part of

Jack is on the top right hand side.  He was the only boy out of a litter of eight pups.

Jack is the son of Nina Falconmoor Payout (Nina) and Ghostland Sheppey Lad (Shep).  We know what his mother looks like because Mike has seen her and taken her picture.  As you will see she is brown and white. We have not seen Jack's father because he belongs to another breeder but have been told he is black and white.  As you can see, there is only one pup in the litter that favoured its mother as to colouring.

 

Jack is settling in well but, as all puppies, he is a real livewire. So far he has had the insoles out of Mike's shoes, taken the lower leaves of one of my houseplants, ripped up some newspaper and loves to hang on Mike's trousers - when he is wearing them!  He will quieten down as he get older.  We tried him on his lead in the garden this morning and he managed quite well until he got bored and decided to roll in the mud.

Now here are some pictures of him before we had him.  The first ones are when Mike went to view and decide whether he was suitable for us.

These last two were taken when Jack was between six and seven weeks old.

It is certainly strange having a puppy in the house again.  It is five years since we had Jesse and we had forgotten what hard work they can be, but also lots of fun and you cannot help but laugh at his antics.  He is strong willed and is going to take a lot of training but we are used to that from the past.

He is also a bit special, not just because he is adorable but also because he was born on Christmas Day and that was my late Mother's Birthday. So he has extra meaning for me. Now we have two December dogs as Jesse was born on the 8th of that month, the day before Mike's birthday.

A strange thing.    In the last three years of Pip's life, he developed totally white eyelashes but only on one eye.  Jack has white eyelashes  - again only on one eye.  This cannot be re-incarnation because Pip was still living when Jack was born but it is strange to say the least. None of his litter mates had white eyelashes.

Jack is not a replacement for Pip.  Pip could never be replaced, he was such a special dog and will always remain in our hearts and minds.  He will always be our number one and there could never be another quite like him. However, we have so much love to give and Pip left such a hole behind that we just had to get another dog.  We did toy with getting a rescue dog from the Border Collie Rescue but you can never be quite sure and we have the two baby Grandsons to think of.  Their safety has to come first.  No, Jack will be a dog in his own right with his own ways but if he gives us half the joy and happiness that Pip did, we will be very pleased.

I hope I will not turn into a puppy bore but I will post pictures as he develops.  From the comments I have had on my previous post, it seems he is already very popular in J-Land.

I have added a new chapter to

THROUGH A DOG'S EYES

New Man In My Life

Yesterday afternoon I was caught unawares. Mike went out for his usual jaunt with Jesse and when he came home, he had brought a friend with him. I am sure you know the feeling. Those days when you look good, have taken trouble with your appearance and the house is all clean and sparkling, you never see a soul. Nobody comes to your door and nobody visits.

Yes, it was one of those days. I was wearing old clothes, my hair was a mess, no make-up. The last thing I needed was Mike turning up with somebody. I hastily dashed around trying to get things done. I had to rustle up something for our visitor to eat and something for him to drink. He was very nice about it and, to be honest, my heart was all a-flutter. There was something about him. I have always been faithful to Mike, all our married life I have never strayed or been tempted to give my heart to anyone else. However, I have always had a penchant for dark eyes and good looks. They say you are never too old and this has proved correct in my case.

Our visitor soon made himself quite at home but every so often a look would pass between us. His eyes would gaze into mine and mine back into his until I had to look away in case Mike should spot something. It was an instant hypnotic attraction.

Mike told me that his friend had nowhere to stay for the night and asked whether it would be possible for us to put him up, something we never do because of lack of space but Mike said we could work something out, it must be possible. I must admit to the feeling of wanting him to stay. We could make space for him, we could get something sorted out and ready. I could imagine him coming into the bedroom at night and I could feel myself wanting to give him a passionate embrace!

So, do you think me a wanton woman? I can see a long term relationship developing here, the way he looks at me. I would certainly like a long term relationship but we would have to be very careful, so careful not to put Mike’s nose out of joint.

Anyway, I think he is handsome and just my type. I have always gone for charm and smouldering good looks.

Becky and the family came over today and I introduced her. He was so charming to her that she was bowled over by him as well!

Mike decided to show him his camera and what with one thing and another we ended up taking some photographs of this guy. We have already sent some to his relations. No doubt you would like to see him and maybe you will understand why I feel that this attraction can only grow stronger and we will end up having a relationship.

 

 

 

 

Yes, this is the dashing young gentleman who has stolen my heart.  His name is Jack and he will be eight weeks old tomorrow - Sunday 12th February.

I bet he would steal your hearts as well.

In my next entry I will post some pictures of him when he was ever younger and before he came to stay here.

Have a good weekend everyone.

 

 

Photos

We looked after Daniel this morning whilst Becky took Nathan swimming. He was unable to go last week as he had a very bad cold.  Daniel was as good as gold and is really moving around now and picking up his toys.  It will not be long before he is sitting up unaided.

When Nathan got back he was his usual bubbly self although he was tired from the exertion.  Those two wonderful little boys certainly brightened  another cold and dismal February day.  They had their lunch here and Daniel enjoyed his meat and vegetable casserole followed by Banana custard whilst Nathan enjoyed adult Macaroni Cheese.  He still loves to dance and likes to clap his hands a good deal. His favourite song is "If You're Happy And You Know It" and he does all the actions.

As usual, we could not resist getting the camera out so I am sharing these shots with you today.

It will be so nice for them when Spring comes and they can get outside.  Becky had to leave earlier than usual because she and Dean were meeting up to go shopping but we thoroughly enjoyed every minute of their stay and are already looking forward to the next visit.

Nothing much

I will be back writing when I can think of something to write about! I really do have writer's block at the moment which I suppose is only to be expected considering the length of time I have been doing my journal and that I posted every day. I am sure you do not want to read about how miserable the weather is, the newspapers full of gloom, doom and tragedy.  So, I am waiting for the muse to hit me again as it will, no doubt, eventually.

In the meantime I have posted a new chaper to

THROUGH A DOG'S EYES