Hounded.

I managed to take a half decent photo of Skye a few days ago as she bathed in the evening sunset. She really isn't meant to climb the furniture but if you've ever tried to train a husky to obey you, you'll understand why we gave up. To be honest, we more than gave up - she now has her own chair. I read somewhere once that huskies prefer to be companions rather than pets and they weren't far wrong. Total diva.

Notice how she wears two tags; one blue and one pink? Well that's because myself and Adam had a huge argument over what colour collar and lead she should have. Initially it was all blue which I liked as it has obvious links to 'Skye'. One day I came home from work and everything was pink. Much to my annoyance it turned out that Adam's mum had replaced the blue theme with pink as she believed that blue wasn't right for a girl. Yes she's our dog and yes, I did calmly walk away...... using every last ounce of strength. Needless to say I'm too stubborn to completely give in and now she wears both tags and I switch her lead to the blue one when I take her out. Job done.

Browsing through the app store, I just installed an app called 'Woof' - kind of an anonymous Facebook for dogs. Don't worry, I took a look more for humour purposes than anything else and my preconceptions were confirmed when, after just 10 minutes, a 6-month-old dachshund called 'Macbumhole' added me. Oh the joys of the modern age.

Talking of dogs, I've been walking to and from work for the past several weeks due to the current insane traffic build up. They've shut a couple of main roads  (why they don't just do one after the other I'll never understand) and as a result, the whole city's traffic is trying to get down one road during peak times. I live a five minute drive from work and it was taking just over 50 minutes to get in - absolutely crazy. Now I'm walking, it takes just under twenty minutes; I feel great for it but I have to walk through the dreaded woodland and at this time of year it's comparable to running the gauntlet. Now there's a five minute window in which, if I hit the woods, I walk right into some local guy and his seven yappy Yorkshire terriers. It may not seem a big deal but believe me, it is the trauma of traumas and I curse myself repeatedly if I time it incorrectly.

To begin with, you have no idea they are there until you hear the most deafening whistle and three or four of them dart out from the bushes in front of you. They're soon joined by the others who then circle you at break-neck speed, periodically weaving in and out of your legs the whole way down the track. During this, their owner merrily picks his way through the undergrowth oblivious to the drama unfurling. It adds on a good 10 minutes to my journey time and never fails in further ruining my already sorry looking shoes.

On the bright side, it has become quite the joke at work now and my colleagues have already started keeping tally of our encounters (one look at my shoes provides a tell-tale sign). I suppose the only other alternatives are cycling and public transport?

I think I'll just take my chances with the dogs.

Oh Sunday.

I've had the ultimate relaxing Sunday; slept until late morning, enjoyed a full-english breakfast and basked in the sunshine of the garden. Adam's mum is looking after Skye this weekend, so I had the ideal opportunity to have the ferrets in the sun lounge for a much needed runaround. They really are the most adorable little creatures, dooking and jumping through their tubes - it's just a shame that Skye doesn't really share the same opinion.

We made the spur of the moment decision to drive over to Sainsbury's yesterday evening to buy some cocktail equipment and a basket load of spirits. I'm not 100% sure where the incentive came from but I'm pretty sure it had something to do with an old Desperate Housewives re-run that happened to be on TV at some point. Needless to say, we now have the urge to build ourselves a minibar though I haven't the faintest idea where we could put one. Adam will find somewhere, he always does. He turns this house into Mary Poppins' bag - give him an hour of rearranging and I reckon he could find room for a small African republic upstairs. Having said that, I'm dubious as to what lurks underneath each of the spare beds.

And now Sunday, the day of rest is almost over. I'm contemplating prizing myself from the sofa, ready to navigate the stairs to bed but part of me despairs at the idea of wasting the final precious moments of the weekend. I'm a nightmare that way. I've always been a night owl, absolutely detesting the idea of going to bed - unfortunately for me, this often results in too many late nights and I'm one of the most loathsome of humans first thing in the morning. I've noticed that my work colleagues have started giving me a wide birth when I first walk in at 9am. To be honest, I've tried convincing myself that it's down to how busy everyone is. I know I'm wrong, but a little self-delusion never did anyone any harm, did it?

Mustering.

Despite the sun's sudden emergence from what seems like an eternal hibernation, the air has remained bitterly cold over the past few days. English weather is a trickster; it tries it's damn hardest to dupe you into throwing on jeans and a t-shirt, only to find yourself cutting glass the minute you step outside the front door. It can be both depressing and amusing.

I took advantage of the beautiful sunset and took Skye for a woodland walk yesterday. It was so nice amongst the trees; waves of golden light flooding through the bare branches, spring draughts whistling through the undergrowth. I managed to snap a few photographs before becoming genuinely concerned by Skye's persistant attempts to hang herself from various boughs. Suicidal hound.

I've found myself rattling around the house on my lonesome quite a lot lately due to Adam constantly being at work. I'm 9 to 5 and he works shifts; unfortunately, his shifts are awkward times meaning that I am either at work or in bed by the time he finishes. I'm often banging on about how I love my 'me' time but, like all human beings, I'm also inclined to moan when it swings completely the other way. I guess you just can't win in these little old minds of ours. I suppose I also resent (a little) the fact that I am always left with the dog to look after despite being reassured by Adam that he would ensure he would undertake the majority of her care. Yes, I was the one that wasn't too keen on getting a dog - not because I don't love them but I've grown up with them and know just how much attention a young dog needs. Suffice to say, I gave in to Adam's constant badgering and now he is almost always at work.

Oh well, Skye is happy enough - I'm sure I can push my selfish needs aside for the time being. We were thinking of taking her to the beach on Saturday. No doubt you'll see us on some news report; found frozen to death in some northern cove. We should question our mental sanity really but I'm sure she'll enjoy it.

In the grand scheme of things, life is good. During a week of crazy news involving parents murdering their own children in house fires and countries attempting to provoke war, all we can do is take a breath and muster the strength to soldier on, enjoying everything we are blessed to have.

After all, it really isn't too much to muster.

Poodle parlour.

I'll admit, I've come home from work to many strange scenes over the past few years but Adam bathing the hound yesterday was one of the funniest.

It's odd really, I've never quite grasped the concept of bathing a pet unless they are overly dirty but who am I to criticise? It provides fantastic entertainment.

The (not so) great escape.

This dog is crazy. I know that much is true.

I have to say thank you to those that commented on my last unnecessary crisis post. It reinforced the fact that what I was trying to convince myself was true and I've remained pretty calm about it ever since. That aside I've discovered that, on Friday, 'C' broke up with her life partner of all of two weeks and a good friend of hers advised me that she is beside herself. True to form, love (or the idea of it) will probably eclipse everything and she'll end up backsliding her way through her review period...... and out of the door. Like you all said, we're in charge of our own destinies.

We went on a small shopping trip around the city yesterday. For once, the sun decided to make an appearance; albeit a cold one and we've been meaning to go out and find the last few homely items for a while. We've been hankering after a new wooden coffee table as the glass one is driving us to distraction - I can spend literally 30 minutes cleaning it and as soon as I come back into the room, the dust has settled again. Adam came across a nice solid wooden one in TK Max. It is dark wood and rustic themed but it had a small gash on the side; he pointed it out to the manager who happened to be loitering nearby and she gave us £20 off. Not bad for a day's work! We also managed to sniff out a decent wooden mirror to go above the fireplace. I'll admit, the room has started to look a lot cosier since - as practical as glass is, it will never look as decadent as wood!

Wow, after rambling on about wooden tables and lounge mirrors, I almost forgot to share the complete trauma that occurred yesterday as we were getting in the car to go shopping! No wonder I'm so poor at blogging - I leave all the juicy bits out.

I was in the house frantically running around getting ready whilst Adam was getting Skye's harness on ready to load her into the car. After about 10 minutes, I left the house, locked the door and walked over to the driveway. Adam is usually ready and waiting impatiently in the car for me but this time, no-one was there to greet me. The car was locked and Skye's harness, lead and seat cover were blowing around on the front lawn. I looked around and listened for voices to no avail. I swear to god it was like the case of the Marie Celeste! I walked down the road both ways to see if I could spot anyone but there was no-one around other than a few kids playing in the street. At a complete loss as to what to do, I sat down on the lawn and waited. Twenty minutes later Adam came running around the corner from the park screaming at me to find some dog treats - Skye had slipped her harness and ran off into the woods! Words can't describe how angry I was. I'd told him countless times to make sure that the car was ready before taking her out and to make sure that everything was done up properly. I obviously chose the worst time to start the debate and was answered with a lot of shouting and swearing - he gets like that whenever he's stressed. He jumped into the car and rudely started shouting at me to get into my car and go and look. I was in such disbelief that as he drove away, I ignored my car and walked into the park towards the woods. After turning the corner who should I see tottering towards me as if nothing had happened? Skye. Her tail was wagging furiously, tongue held to one side and she ran right up to me and started to motion towards the front door. I couldn't believe it. As a child growing up, whenever our dogs escaped, it was always a good day or so before they were ever found and returned. This dog, who has only been with us a month managed to find her way back down the main road, through some woods and back to our front door!

My anger at how Adam had spoken to me after losing our dog still hadn't subsided, so I left it a good half an hour before I bothered to call him and tell him I found her. That might sound mean but you won't believe how clumsy and disorganised that boy is at times; maybe a fright like this might do him good. He does everything at rapid speed without setting aside any time to stop and think - that may be good in some life situations but in many of them it results in mistakes and clumsiness. These things happen, accidents happen but I just knew this was the result of him cutting corners and pulling her to the car rather than putting her harness on inside. He cuts corners a lot and I'm always there to pick up the pieces - the laid back slowpoke I am. Needless to say, we're friends again so all is good.

Now I'm going to take a few more pills in a desperate attempt to shake this migraine and pray to god that it will have subsided by morning. I don't get them often but when I do, the world may as well end. The only reason I am able to type this is because I am dosed up on Neurofen - a welcome break from laying in a dark room with no TV.

Come to think of it, what a poor weekend this has been. Such is life ay?

Skye.

Meet Skye, the newest addition to our rapidly expanding family.

She came to us last Friday after several weeks of 'umming' and 'ahhing' over whether we should take the plunge and adopt a four-legged friend. To be honest, it was slightly more rushed than it should have been but an opportunity landed in our lap that probably would not have arisen again.

She was living with a lady in Barrow after she rescued her from a family that were, let's say, not treating her too well. The lady had raised Huskies her whole life but after her last one died, she had no intention of homing any more. I guess Skye was the exception - she told us that she had to take her in as she would never have forgiven herself had she left her with the old owners. She looked after her over the past year, building her up, training her and getting her back to her ideal weight ready for rehoming. As luck would have it, Adam's hairdresser knew the lady and when Adam mentioned we were thinking about getting a dog, she put us in contact.

Needless to say we have spent a small fortune on dog-related paraphernalia and have had lots of stuff very kindly donated by family and friends. I've grown up always having a dog so the whole thing is kind of second nature to me but I can tell by some of the suggestions that Adam comes out with that it is all slightly alien to him.

She's a two-year-old Siberian Husky so as you can imagine she is obsessed with exercise - she will easily walk two hours a day. It can be quite difficult fitting this in but, to be honest, I'm really enjoying the new routine and exercise - there is something incredibly therapeutic about taking the dog for a stroll last thing at night and first thing in the morning before the regular hustle and bustle of the world takes hold. I'm 9-to-5 but Adam works shifts so she is never on her own long and has a huge kitchen/conservatory to wander around in - we aren't quite comfortable with leaving her in the garden on her own yet as we've been informed that this breed are the Houdinis of the dog world. When Adam is home in the day he takes her on huge walks around the local reserves so by the time I get home she has more or less passed out.

Her whining has been a slight issue and further reading suggests that this is a common trait in Huskies. They whine. A lot. She usually starts at around 5am when she is in the conservatory and it is impossible to sleep so, after a few nights of torture, we finally gave in and allowed her to sleep in the corner of the bedroom. We haven't had any issues since. As strict and condescending as most online Husky forums are, I was surprised to find that most of the owners on there allow their dogs to sleep by them. I guess this is a strange concept to me as all of my past pets have slept in conservatories.

She's a beautiful, kind-natured dog and it is comforting to have an animal around the house once again. The routine that I am falling into is something that is much needed - one of my weakest traits is that I lack motivation and Skye is definitely helping with that. After all, it is those little things that make up our lives and keep it interesting - even if it doesn't feel that way at the time.