Monday 28 March 2011

Mad March Hares

After more than a week of lovely sunny weather,
it started raining as I came back after dropping Mike at the airport yesterday.
Typical, I thought,
it always rains when he goes away.
It's not pleasant walking 4 dogs in the rain, day after day on my own.
However, the sun came out later.
And this morning,
it was even brighter.

In fact it was a beautiful morning,
full of promise.
Unfortunately, as I started off on the walk,
I noticed a herd of sheep a bit further on,
so did the hounds.
They were not in a field, but loose,
and I couldn't be sure how the hounds would react.
So I turned round to take a different route.
Only to see a hare,
followed by another hare,
chasing each other around,
seemingly oblivious of our presence.
At one point they even ran towards us.
That was time to turn around again
and try yet a different route.

Greyhounds are trained to chase after
small furry animals.
That's all they want to do when they see one.
A switch goes off in their brain,
and they are not aware of anything else.
They are fully focused on the movement.

Rufus was very interested,
Jewel was too,
and for once she didn't bark.
I'm not sure whether Paddy saw them,
he's often on a different wavelenght to the other hounds.
But Arthur didn't see them at all,
he has poor eyesight.
But I needed to take evasive action,
before Jewel started barking
and got the others excited,
and I got dragged along behind them all!

So we went off in yet another direction.
Luckily there's lots of routes to choose from.
However further along,
a deer ran across the road.
The hounds all spotted it this time,
it was difficult not too.
But maybe our training is having an affect,
they all remained quiet.
Or maybe it was the earlier start.
Maybe they haven't quite got used to the clocks going forward an hour at the weekend.
I think the wildlife isn't used to it either.
I wonder what we'll see tomorrow.

I did manage to take some photos,
though not of the hares,
or the deer,
too quick!

We're still having problems with the computer.
and despite Mike showing me an alternative way to download photos,
I seem to have forgotten.
But I have managed to resize a photo from 5 days ago, that he downloaded before he left,
and I've managed to post that to Blogger.



It's taken from our balcony
early evening.
I was attracted by the lines the jets make
leaving their traces in the sky.

So I will continue to take photos,
and maybe try again to download them onto the computer.
If I can't manage that,
I will look through photos already on the computer,
and start posting them,
now that I can post to Blogger.
Unfortunately,
I think the carnival photos are on the other computer,
which isn't connecting to the internet!

Ahh well,
I'll try again tomorrow.


9 comments:

Kath said...

"A switch goes off in their brain,
and they are not aware of anything else"

Oh don't I know it LOL I have yelled until I was purple and my 2 would not turn back from chasing some poor critter.
I had a picture in my mind of you bringing up the rear of your pack in hot pursuit. It's bad enough being pulled along by 2, let alone 4!

Lovely to have your news. Looking forward to your photos.

Rustique Gal said...

Your walks sound beautiful! I love your sky picture and of course the hounds! I had trouble loading pictures till I just saved them to my desktop and loaded from there. Good Luck with that...
Sherry

Connie said...

It sounds like quite a challenge to keep an eye out for small creatures that the hounds might want to chase while on your walks! I imagine the animals are out more too now that spring is arriving. I like your photo. Must be a lot of jets go by there!

Anonymous said...

Oh my, it sounds like you had quite a workout. That pic of the sky is amazing. Hope you have a nice week.

Tracey said...

My goodness - you did meet a lot of visitors on your walk ... it's lucky indeed that you have so many different walking routes to choose from.

Hopefully all the animals will adjust their clocks soon, so they know where and when they're supposed to be out and about! ;)

Zuzana said...

Oh, what an eventful walk.;) I can imagine all the distractions as all the animals are out enjoying the spring.;)
Love your beuatiful shot, you are indeed living under a very busy sky.;)
xoxo

Sarah said...

Sounds like an eventful walk! Glad you can post some photos now.

frayed at the edge said...

I can just picture you, running after the dogs!! That's an amazing picture of the sky! I hope you get your downloading problem sorted out - I miss your wonderful photos of the scenery round you.

Teresa said...

Hi Lynne!
Gosh, it sounds like every four legged thing within miles decided to go for a walk at the same time you did!

Nice to visit you... hope you're doing well. I'm on the mend.. thank goodness!