Montefalco and a happy Wilf.

Sunday saw us making good use of the beautiful weather and heading off to the local hilltop town of Montefalco. A trip there lets me buy the papers while the 'font' has a cup of coffee at the bar on the main square. As well as being on a save the planet kick (hence the chemical free home made mosquito repellant that can also double up as a marinade) 'we' are also apparently on a cut down on caffeine routine. I tasted the evil decaffeinated brew that was proffered and instantly went up to the counter and ordered a double espresso. The caffeine free route is one best travelled without me. Like all Italian towns Montefalco was completely devoid of people on the streets at 10.30 am. It felt as though it has just been decimated by some chemical or biological disaster- all the signs of habitation were there but all the people had gone.

The town boasts a new and rather chic hotel on the main square. It is perhaps over designed for our primarily agricultural region but a welcome addition nonetheless. The floors are made of that high gloss white cement that you find in hip hotels in South Beach or West Hollywood. I couldn't but help notice that every visitor left behind a trail of footprints which required the constant attention of some poor young thing with a bucket and mop. No sooner was the floor clean than another tourist would come wandering off the street with dusty size 11 feet and so the process would repeat itself.

Wilf has been down with me at the pool since seven this morning sorting out the pool chemicals. Digby is catching up on his sleep under the kitchen table. For Wilf any trip poolside is an opportunity to pick up a ball and drop it in the water with a satisfying splosh. I am then expected to pick it up and throw it. He then returns to drop it in the water and so on and so on. He never tires.

For the sensitive souls who visit this site I would recommend a blog http://www.29blackstreet.blogspot.com/. It is very beautifully written and the latest post has a rather thought provoking piece of 13th century eastern poetry that we enjoyed - maybe surviving the attack has made us both more grateful for all life brings.

Perfection - Italy on a sunny summer morning.

Anyone who has more 'mature' dogs will know the morning walk routine. A mad rush out of the front door followed by a quick sprint down the road and then a slow gentle,middle aged, amble back. I call it our morning 'rosh' - rush out, saunter home. I reckon that the walk up the hill ( at young dog speed ) takes us ten minutes and the walk back ( at mature dog speed ) half an hour. This rate of progress certainly doesn't give me a good cardio workout but Digby's hips aren't as good as they used to be and we all adopt a pace that fits in with him- I worry a bit about the sudden rate of deterioration in his rear quarters. Although he's only just over eight years old, violent exercise seems to take its toll on him. His big brother of course is built like a bulldozer and would rush around at high speed all day so the trick is making sure the little one doesn't get over tired while the big one gets enough exercise to keep the weight off.

This morning we walked up to the sun flower fields. The boyz love walking through them - from a dogs perspective it must be like going through the rain forest with tall stems reaching to the sky in every direction. Somewhere on the journey home the two troubadors found an old soft ball - by the time we were home the stuffing was spilling out of it and it had morphed from being a ball into a health hazard. Wilf is pretty good - he let's his little brother have the occasional turn at savaging it.

It's heart breaking to see that eight more British youngsters have fallen in Afghanistan. It's proving to be a bloody week. I wish the government would take the time to explain why we're there. Is it because we don't want Al Qaeda to turn the country into a base to undermine the whole region , or is it because if Afghanistan collapses Pakistan can't be very far behind? If it's ethically justified countries like Britain and the US have a moral duty to expend blood and treasure for the greater good , but the number of fatalities in Afghanistan have now overtaken those in the Iraq war.

Wilf, an orange ball and a swimming pool.

Wilf is the perfect dog - alert,obedient,and full of character. He simply adores playing ball and particularly the variant of the game where he picks up the ball and drops it into the pool with a satisfying splosh. This morning he carefully placed the ball on the pool edge, stared at it with eager conviction and then pushed it over the edge with the tip of his nose. We must have spent twenty minutes repeatedly playing this twist on the drop and throw game . Wilfs energy levels were barely dented by all this frenetic activity and he would have carried on and on had it not been for my calling it quits .

Down by the pool.

The two boyz were raring to go at five this morning despite having stayed up until midnight to welcome the wanderer home. I half opened my eyes at first light to see two faces peering up at me from the side of the bed. They know better than to bark or scratch but will sit silently, staring fixatedly until one of us stirs. Their silent presence is usually enough to get one of us up to open the door and let them out. Who needs alarm clocks when you have PON's?

Wilfs absolute favourite game is to bring a ball down to the pool and carefully jettison it in the water for me to retrieve and throw back to him. He is simply transfixed by the sound the ball makes when it splashes into the water and will stand and stare at it floating on top of the water - for him it is an absolute marvel.We must have repeated the 'splosh and throw' exercise at least thirty times when I went in for my afternoon swim yesterday afternoon. Digby is altogether less keen on going near the pool as it full of that dreaded element ...water!

"It's not what you look at that matters,it's what you see"

Wilf at the top of the stairs - asleep with toy.

What more needs to be said ? After a heavy day of guarding the family out in the fresh air what could be better than a quick pre-dinner snooze with a toy?

As windy as Scotland .. who would believe it?

Fresh air this morning and lots of it .Overnight a gale has blown up from nowhere and the wind is blowing constantly at about 50 miles an hour. It still makes me laugh to see the boyz ears flying straight up when they turn head on into the storm. They seem to find the tempest enervating whereas we just find it cold - oh the joys of having a thick double coat! On the plus side the sun is out , the air is crystal clear and the clouds are scurrying across the sky.

Tomorrow we are heading to Rome to the IKEA just off the motorway. We are about to have a stream of visitors from the US and need to stock up on all fresh pillows and towels for the summer.Please may the weather improve soon - people always expect the weather here to be perfect and it would be such a shame if it turns out like Chicago in February.

8 year old Polish Lowland Sheepdogs

The boyz got three walks today plus a couple of hours quality time in the olive groves. There was a time when they would have been zipping around like fireflies but age has caught up with them and naps have suddenly become a priority.This is Wilf settling down for a pre-dinner snooze in the courtyard.Come to think of it dogs and humans travel the same trajectory in life!

Swift Wind Turbines - any thoughts?

We're alone here while the rest of the family is back in the UK for a few days. Of course the weather has chosen this particular moment to worsen dramatically. All afternoon a gale has been rushing down from the mountains s sweeping washing, garden furniture, watering cans and anything else that hasn't been tied down away. The boyz managed to spend a couple of hours with me out in the fields but Wilf's glum appearance finally convinced me it was time to move indoors.

Is anyone out there an expert on wind turbines? I saw an advert for a company in Edinburgh called Swift Turbines. They make a small wind turbine that can fir on the roof and produce 2000 Kwh of electricity a year. My first thought was it might work in Scotland but not here. However, after enduring the winds and weather here this winter I'm hastily changing my views. Solar power would be the obvious answer but to generate a meaningful amount of power I'd need to cover the roof with a mass of unsightly panels. Thoughts anyone?

Wilf returning from his early morning boundary check

Still cold here. The sun has returned but with it a piercing wind from the north. All in all it's been a miserable winter. More and more foreign registered cars have been appearing on the roads over the last week so it looks as if the expats who live in Holland and the UK have decided to head south away from what must be an even worse winter up north.

The locals are now talking about 'the crisis' and the slowdown in the local economy.The bar in the village is notably quieter than usual as people cut back on their breakfast espresso .The restaurants around here are absolutely dead midweek and their owners are all praying for an upsurge in tourists at Easter to compensate for the absence of neighbourhood custom. Naturally, no one has thought of discounting their prices to attract tourists so I am afraid that they will be disappointed. It is interesting that the recession that has been engaging the attention of the rest of the world for the last year has only now percolated down and registered on the local consciousness. The local wine producers continue to expand but I can't believe that demand for their products from the US and the UK is going to be that strong this year particularly as they have raised their prices by 10% from last years levels. The little manufacturing companies around here have been busy selling to Germany for the last fifty years and have simply not been prepared for the 40% fall in German machine tool orders and the consequent cancellation of orders.

Sunday night server problems

We are so far out in the country here that we have to use satellite broadband. The best Telecom Italia can provide is a dial-up along the old copper wires with speeds that would make a snail look fast. For some reason every Sunday the server for the satellite provider seems to work really slowly - I guess it's when they do essential maintenance. Anyway, the snow and ice have finally gone - Wilf was out this morning rolling and frolicking in what was left of it - but by lunchtime the sun was out the temperature was rising and spring was on the way. I managed to do some olive pruning but the potholes along the dirt road to the house became the priority - the little cars suspension was finding it hard to compensate for the deeper craters.Off for dinner now with our nice American neighbours , will blog tomorrow.

A picture of happiness

Off to Rome on Monday

Ball retrieved -- time for another throw!

Wilf gets on with life while the local murder trial dominates the press here.

Both boyz seem to be surviving the absence of the family surprisingly well . With the exception of an unsupervised bout of digging down by the pool in search of a mole (which necessitated a bath for both of them) they have been relatively well behaved and seem content to spend much of their time at the garden gate waiting stoically for the missing elements of the family to return. They are also clearly becoming bored with a diet of kibbles and rice ( as far as my canine culinary skills extend - in fact as far as my culinary skills extend ) and miss having hot vegetables cooked for them so a wild and emotional reunion with the culinary side of the family can be expected tomorrow.

Here in Umbria the local murder trial continues to dominate the headlines in the morning press with the court once again in session. Last year a young British student at Perugia university was found with her throat cut. Initially an illegal immigrant was held responsible, and subsequently charged, but then the investigation widened to include the murdered girls American housemate and her boyfriend. This morning the investigating judge has released a ruling showing that the American student was indeed at the house at the time of the murder despite her protestations to the contrary. The sad story hits all the buttons in the popular imagination - murder, sex, drugs, immigrants,satanic rites, violence etc. The trial and police investigation have been going on for more than a year and have attracted a huge amount of coverage. With the formal court sessions due to run for another 9 months I can't help but wonder how long a trial like this would take in the US or UK ?

Feeling better.

The impact of the worming tablets seems to have worn off - Wilf has emerged from his 'sad and lonely' routine and is once again charging around full of vigour. After thirty minutes of ball throwing in the courtyard the boyz have just had a thirty minute walk up the hill from which they have returned happily shaggy and covered in mud - in short Polish Lowland Sheepdog heaven !

The red sky at dawn pressaged what in Scotland we would call a 'dreech' day - wet and windy. The barometer has fallen to its lowest level since we arrived here, so I guess we are slap bang in the centre of a huge low pressure system. The weather has now abruptly changed again and we have blue skies and an eerie stillness.

Boo !

The weather here is wonderful - not a cloud in the sky and air as clear as it comes. At dinner last night one of the guests, a vet, told me that porcupines can run more quickly backwards than forwards. They defend themselves by raising their quills and charging at full speed in reverse towards any adversary. That's how dogs manage to turn into pin cushions if they annoy a porcupine. The only way of dealing with them is to plant solar powered lamps around the garden - they will steer well clear of any light.

Breakfast anyone ?

What a day!

Just finished watching the inauguration coverage on CNN. I wish I'd been there. The last inauguration I went to was Reagan's second term - that is a sad personal reflection of how quickly time passes. Striking how the language of an inauguration , whether the invocations or the speeches, are so rooted in the linguistic legacy of Bunyan and the King James'. Guess the linguistic legacy of the Pilgrim Fathers still echoes through the New Worlds sense of self. Thought the old pastor at the end of the ceremony was absolutely wonderful with his echoes of the civil rights movement- wasn't so sure about the Revd.Warren.

Boyz have been slightly neglected but have now had a well deserved 30 minutes of ball playing.

Sun's coming up - how's about a walk ?

Off into Todi - the boyz had a great walk this morning. The big one has given up on waiting for his little brother and charged out of the house at maximum velocity- Digby did his best to keep up but the torn ligament is cramping his style and speed. He settled for sniffing the wild boar scents. Will post later. We've decided to be in for the inaugural speech - it's apparently been written by a 27 year old.