Digbys thought of the day: " Not all those who wander are lost ".

The reality of dog ownership

The boyz have discovered the irrigation system. We have set the automatic sprinklers so that they come on to water the newly installed lawn twice a day. Ordinarily the two troubadors have a healthy disregard for water believing it to be the root of all canine evil. Not so today. The two of them have been racing between the sprinklers trying to keep ahead of the jets of water. They have failed miserably in their attempts to outrun the water and we have now found ourselves faced with two sodden, vegetation covered dogs wanting lunch. Never, ever believe that mischief is far from the minds of your dogs!

Nobody does 'glum' better than Wilf..

Wilf has had a sore tummy. We don't know whether it was an indigestible lizard that he managed to stalk and eat, the builders sandwiches or something unmentionable discovered and swallowed on the morning walk; but whatever it was he has been off his food for 36 hours. For Wilf to be off his food is a serious matter and boy, he let's you know it. Not that he complains. He simply lies in one of his favourite spots and refuses to move - the only sign that there is sentient activity in this immovable ball of fluff is the occasional movement of his eyes behind his fringe of hair. Thankfully, he is now much improved and the offending substance has worked its way through the system - somewhat explosively! It was almost exactly a year ago that he swallowed some poison left by hunters in the fields to kill foxes so we are both well versed in detecting the signs of distress. To celebrate his improved health Wilf managed to find a pile of manure that one of the local farmers had dressed his olive trees with. When he returned home from his lunchtime explorations he looked as bad as he smelt but after a bath he managed to eat a full bowl of kibbles. We can all relax.

Glad to be out of London

Phone calls from friends in London say the place is under a tight security blanket - particularly the financial district. Travelling in London is bad at the best of times but with a strong police presence for tomorrows G20 meeting getting around is taking even longer. Am glad to be out of it. Hope that the leaders can get their act together to agree something but French President Sarkozy's announcement that he will walk out if he doesn't get what he wants doesn't make me optimistic. This reflection on the world economy is occasioned by articles in this mornings local paper saying that hotels and B&B's in Umbria have had very poor bookings for the upcoming Easter holidays from Brits and Americans.They are hoping that there will be a last minute rush of bookings. Feel like telling them not to hold their breath.

Digby looking for love and Wilf ready for action

Bees are a subject I know absolutely nothing about. In Scotland a bee was a bee. Here in Italy the bees are enormous and there are at least six different varieties in our fields. I say this after this mornings walk. All of a sudden all the buds are bursting into life and the shrubs along the drive are thick with loudly buzzing bees. I counted six varieties on the lavenders and rosemary. Thankfully,the boyz and the bees seem to have a mutual disinterest in each other. Wilf once got stung by a bee in France - but that was because it was walking on the ground and he chose to settle on that particular spot for a nap. He has learnt to look first and doze second.

No builders showed up today

With the light rain that was falling this morning the builders naturally felt that the weather was too severe to work outside. As a consequence the garden remains an obstacle course of partially dug trenches, random holes , tractors and piles of stone. The boyz have been contentedly sniffing and marking these excavations all day. I'm betting that there is a 50-50 chance that the construction crew will show up tomorrow. If they arrive they will be dressed as if they are about to go on a polar expedition with padded overalls, mittens, hats with ear muffs, and scarves. This heavy layering would be fine if we were back in Angus but the temperature here is a balmy 19 degrees - about as hot as it gets in Scotland in August. When we lived in Edinburgh we used to see shocked Italian holiday makers wandering around the town at the height of the summer wearing every piece of clothing they had with them to stave off the cold. Lots of Italians come to Scotland in the summer to get away from the heat - indeed the place becomes a little Italy at the time of the festival. What their travel agents fail to explain to them is that summer weather in Scotland is rather like March back at home - you get away from the heat but get hypothermia in the process. Pity the intrepid Italian tourist who makes it to the far north or Orkney- what must they think?

Morning! Polish Lowland Sheepdog hinting that it's time for (another) ball game

The 'Foxy Knoxy' murder trial continues to dominate the press here with its tantalising mix of drugs, sex, violence and the antics of the pretty American defendant. As one of the defending attorneys is also an MP the proceedings have to be held at the weekend so she can attend to her parliamentary duties.After the Saturday hearings the Sunday papers in Perugia have acres of salacious coverage of the previous days testimony. The latest twist is that a tramp claims to have seen the two young defendants together 'arguing' outside the murder scene when they claim to have been safely tucked up in bed in a different part of town. The most lurid discovery this weekend is that the murder scene has become a tourist venue and person or persons unknown have broken in and stolen the victims mattress and curtains. At any gathering around here the trial will eventually slip into the conversation. Locals appear fairly evenly split between the view that a nice young couple like that couldn't do such things and the opposing view that they are drug crazed soiciopaths. Whatever, a murder is a fairly rare event here in Umbria and the press will continue to milk it for all it's worth.

Weather has turned beautifully mild although it's a little wet and windy. This means that the builders will not show up until the skies have turned blue again.

Digby oblivious to the fact he is blocking the tractors

Gardening with two attentive Polish Lowland Sheepdogs

What's up?

Nothing good to eat here then!

Why not stop that and come for a walk?

The builders arrived this morning at 6.30. The boyz were (as always) delighted to have company and started to pester the team laying the new stone in the courtyard within five minutes of work starting. Wilf is of the opinion that all of humankind has been placed on the planet to play with him and views it as his pre-eminent canine duty to bring a ball to be thrown every two minutes - this is of course cute the first dozen or so times but quickly becomes irritating for even the most dog friendly of workmen. Digby is much more likely to find a spot where work is just about to take place and make that his position of choice for a morning nap.To allow work to proceed according to something approximating budget and schedule the boyz have been relegated to working with me in the garden while I pot out the new seasons geraniums. Why all Italian houses become a riot of red geraniums every summer is one of those cultural shibboleths that we are happy to adhere to although the process of getting the pots filled is both expensive and time consuming.The terraces are now brimming over with a hundred fresh plants . The next job is to start work in the gardens where we only allow cool blue and white plants - red is a very hot colour and when it's 35 degrees a not very restful colour. The two dogs have very quickly discovered that plants are not good to eat and their interest has very quickly waned - annoying the builders is much more interesting than being with family!

Polish Lowland Sheepdog after an ice storm

Here are pictures of Wilf on this mornings walk. It was so cold I thought that my fingers would fall off but he considered the sub zero temperatures to be a great excuse for playing catch and charging across the fields chasing non-existent animals. His little brother sat patiently by the front gate until his elder sibling returned.

Hello!

On the look out for porcupines

Just back from a bracing walk. Wilf as always charged ahead in a frenzy of delight and expectation while Digby sauntered gently along behind - the chances of the little one staying at home with his sore leg were exactly zero. He was going to join his big brother come hell or high water and we weren't going to stop him. The presence of Digby and his sore leg on the walk meant coming to a halt with Wilf every hundred yards and then waiting while his brother caught up.What should have taken twenty minutes took forty five this morning.

Thankfully,the Rimadyl anti-inflammatory tablets work quickly and have no side effects so Digby's leg should be back to normal within a few days . He does however get tired quickly. Polish Lowland Sheepdogs are prone to hip problems and I fear that Digby is getting to an age where sore legs and hind quarters are likely to become more frequent.

Great morning for checking on porcupines

The porcupines have been back in the garden leaving a swathe of destruction in their path. They have now turned their attention to the roses along the driveway which are looking very bedraggled. Porcupine infestation is not something dealt with in Scottish gardening books so a trip up to the local farmer for some advice is on the cards for later in the day. The boyz have been happily following scents all morning. Wilf has now come in and been caught snuggling up to a Teddy he had as a puppy - no matter how much bigger and older they get they still remain little boyz at heart.