While the Cat's away...

 

 

 

This morning

was one of those beautiful starts to the day

when the mist hangs

on the hillside.

 

As Mike is away,

I thought I would post some photos from our morning walk,

that way, he can share them,

as can you of course.

 

We, (me and the hounds),

were out the door by seven o'clock.

There's always a possibility

when out so early,

that we might spot some wildlife.

 

Fortunately, only I saw the hare.

 

I think I may have seen some baby wild pigs too.

Something made me turn around and look behind me.

Two little pigs were scurrying along the track going back the way we had come.

Of course I might have been mistaken,

they were running away from me

 quite small,

quick,

and not close enough to clearly identify.

I couldn't be sure.

But Arthur picked up an interesting scent

when we went back along that way.

 

When I'm on my own, I make the walks short,

and then only if it's cool.

Five dogs are too many for me to walk all at once.

So 2 or 3 have to wait while the others have a short walk.

 

Then we all go into the paddock together.

They all had a run around.

Then the girls,

Indie and Jess,

stopped for some quiet time,

girls together.

I thought.

How nice to see them like that.

It was only when Jess got up and moved away,

that I noticed that she had been chewing on a chew,

which is why Indie is so close.

She was waiting patiently for Jess to finish with it.

 

 

Danny is always alert,

on the lookout for anything that moves.

 

By now,

Paddy is ready to go home.

He has made his way to the gate,

and is saying,

'Time to go now'.

He wants his breakfast.

 

While Arthur

would be happy to

stay a while longer,

in the nest of long grass that he's made.

 

One last photo

on the way home.

 

All the mist cleared,

and it's back to being a hot day now.

I think we will be waiting until it cools a bit

before venturing back out today

for our next

trip to the paddock.

 

 

 



Morning Walk



All these photos were taken during this mornings walk.

I thought Mike might appreciate them seeing as he's missing our walks with the hounds.

Even though most of the photos are of flowers.

I took a circular route

near the top of the hill.

The grapes are getting bigger,

and there's lots of them this year.

The hounds caught an interesting scent.

It's certainly thick enough to hide an animal or two in there.

This bird caught my attention.

It's call was a 'click clack' sort of sound.

I tried to get closer but it would fly a bit further away.

I don't know what it was.

I looped the hound's leads over a post to follow it,

but it got away without me getting a decent shot of it.

Turning round,

I thought the hounds looked sweet waiting for me

amongst the flowers.

Here's Rufus.

I tried to upload more photos,

I had some of Paddy.

But Blogger had had enough.

Me too,

I'm off to bed.

The computer is acting up again.

River Reflections

These photos were taken on two separate occasions

just a couple of days apart.

Of course we were out with the hounds on both occasions.

Can you see the sundial on the far side of the river?

I liked the look of this truck

with it's reflection.

The river is so still.

Unlike here, where Jewel is doing her usual mad splashing in the water.

Here's a barge heading our way.

Jewel's keeping her eye on it.

The hounds aren't usually bothered about the barges,

except once they've passed,

and the bow wave comes

and splashes us if we don't move.

Either way, it often makes a lot of noise as it runs

along the banks.

Arthur gets excited when this happens.

Maybe he doesn't see what's happening so well.

I especially like to walk down by the river

when there's no wind.

That's when the reflections are at their best.

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.

Meeting People, Making Friends

I tried writing and publishing this post last night with no success.
So it comes to you with fewer photos.
I've been experiencing problems trying to move the photos around once I've uploaded them
so I changed to using the new editor.
More problems!
I haven't been able to upload ANY photos,
neither would it save any text.
So I gave up and went to bed.
I am still experiencing problems with uploading photos this morning,
and when I tried to revert back to using the old editor
all I got was a jumble of computer text!
So enough of my Blogger problems.
Lets just hope it's all back to normal tomorrow.

The top photo was taken last week when there was a bit more snow around.
It looks across the river to our village and the vineyards running up to the top of the hill.
We often walk the Hounds through these vineyards.
The other day Mike heard a man working in the vineyard say to his colleague,
'Ah, the English.'
He gave us a cheery hello as we walked by.
Yes, I think we are quite well known in the area,
as being the English couple with their 'wind hunds'!
Pronounced, 'vinthunt'.
What a lovely name for them don't you think?
The other morning a man and woman were just starting their work in the vineyard.
She stopped to say hello to the hounds
and we chatted for ages.
It was easier than it often is to hold a conversation as the man spoke good English.
We are still struggling with German.
They explained how they are pruning the vines ready for the grapes to grow this year.
The grapes start to form about April and are harvested in October.

Yesterday was a good day.
We set off to meet someone Mike had only conversed with over the internet.
Unfortunately it was a grey damp miserable day,
but a warm welcome greeted us.
The couple and their daughter that we were meeting
are in the process of moving from England to Germany.
We were able to give them a hand,
and met what I think are going to be very good friends!

Today is lovely and sunny.
I think all the snow has gone now.
Perhaps we can dispense with piling on the layers of clothing everytime we go for a walk with the hounds.
The hounds too have gone for the occasional walk without their coats.
So maybe spring is in the air.
But I do like the photo below of the vineyards.

And as for my 20 minutes a day,
well it has had the desired result.
I am making progress with my quilt,
but I will have to show you that another day,
hopefully when uploading photos isn't a problem.

A Winter Walk

I have been busy over these last few days.

It's amazing that although I don't go out to work,

time still passes at an alarming rate.

I still don't manage to do everything that I want to.

But I did get out for a long walk the other day with Mike and the Hounds.

The landscape has changed considerably since

I last posted any pictures of it.

We have had wind and rain on and off,

mostly on, for... mmmm

ever it seems.

All the leaves are on the ground.

All the days are grey.

But it is mild.

And that is good.

From our house

we can easily see the River Mosel from windows that face in that direction.

We are about 150 metres from the river.

There is a flood plain,

a road,

a bank,

another road, very quiet one,

and a house,

between us and the river.

In the summer we don't see the river from the house,

(but we sometimes hear a band playing on a boat

as it sails up or down the river).

There are trees in the neighbours garden hiding it from view,

apple and pine.

Trees along the roadside,

a hedge along the other side of the road,

and hedge/trees alongside the river.

It is all very pretty.

But we can't see the river.

Now, in winter,

we can,

and hear the boats themselves.

It is very stark in contrast.

And so it is throughout the landscape.

Quite brown.

But still beautiful.

There are still some splashes of colour.

The Hounds always enjoy a new walk.

As we got to the top of the valley,

they were very alert.

They had been smelling deer as we walked.

There are lots in the woods.

Once back down at the car,

we went into a small chapel.

It commemorates the First World War.

It is very beautiful.

As we opened the doors,

the smell of the burning candles filled the room.

It felt very calm and peaceful.

Paintings were painted directly onto the walls and ceilings,

depicting scenes from the Bible,

but also one scene of a soldier returning from war,

and another,

a woman in tears receiving news that her loved one would not be returning.

Outside again,

there is a cross,

standing,

leaning at an angle.

The date reads 1870-1871.

The time of the Unification and the Franco Prussian War.

There are lots of little roads and tracks to explore.

Always something new to see,

or smell for the Hounds.

Who are usually quite tired after their walk.

A warm fuzzy picture of Rufus, I didn't use flash.

While they doze we drink tea with a mincepie.

Misty Mornings

I took this photo of our village in the mist earlier in the week whilst walking the Hounds.
It's been a damp week, not necessarily raining , but muddy underfoot.
And on this particular day, Thursday it started off very misty.
After walking the Hounds all week along the river, I fancied a change so drove them up through the vineyards so that we were overloooking the village.
The Hounds always appreciate a different location,
with different smells.


I found a couple of new places to walk.
One of which took us past an enclosure containing deer.
The Hounds could smell them but they behaved.
The deer were at the furthest side of the field where they couldn't quite see them.
On another walk the Hounds became very alert, sniffing the air and pulling at their leads.
I found it quite spooky because I couldn't sense anything there but knew they must have smelt deer. So I was on my guard as I know what a handful the Hounds can be when they see something they can chase.
As we came to the top of the hill we saw a deer.
It was so surprised at our appearance it just stood staring at us.
The Hounds stared back not really believing what they were seeing.
Until it decided to run away.
We were in an open area so the deer was visible for a while before disappearing into the wood.
Jewel leapt about barking trying to run after it.
The two lads just watched the deer with interest.


Mike arrived back home from the UK later in the day .
The Hounds as you might imagine were very pleased to see him.
On Saturday morning the sun was out so we drove across the river.


The walk climbs up the other side of the valley.
We were able to look down on a small formal garden.

A bit further on Mike decided to take a photo.

You can see from the next photo the path climbs up a bit.

So much so,

that it tired Rufus out!

Sunday Morning Walk

This morning was lovely and sunny as I walked the Hounds.



Can you just see the moon in the photo below?

View across the river, showing one of the many shrines.

The Hounds waited patiently while I took the photos.

Jewel lay down amongst the leaves.

It was one of the things that attracted me to her when we walked her at the kennels.

Whenever we stopped to talk to anyone she would lie down just where she was.

I have been putting their muzzles on them whilst walking them.

People will often be wary when they see them with muzzles.

But it didn't stop a Rumanian man talking to me as I came back from the walk.

He had a bunch of parsley he said his wife was going to make a soup.

He told me they travel, not staying in one place to live.

They are in Germany for work as there is no work in Rumania.

It's amazing the converations I've had whilst being here,

with people who speak little or in most cases no English,

and meeting them for the first time.