Deaf Dog Takes Handler For a Walk

This is Lola my one and only charge for the day as all the other dogs at http://www.appledown.co.uk/ rescue centre had been taken for their walk with a lot having been found homes during the week.
             Lola has been in kennels all her life and is totally deaf, she would like to go to a loving and caring home whose owners have another dog for her to latch onto. Being deaf Lola uses her eyes to take in     the surroundings more than other dogs which makes her very animated on the lead.

Handling a deaf dog is a new experience for me as it's no good giving verbal commands, but of course being a clever dog she knew the signals I gave her when I needed her to stop pulling ahead on the lead. Getting her attention when first out in the field was hopeless, so I let her pull and run about to get rid of the excess energy she had.

After half an hour she slowed down and started to take notice of me especially as I had some treats in my pocket which she immediately latched onto. Gradually I shortened the lead and after a while she walked by the side of me without pulling, so making sure she was looking at me I gave her the thumb up sign which means "good girl" and gave her a good pat, I never had to give the thumbs down sign which meant "bad Girl", once or twice I had to give the "no" sign which is the palm of the hand extended down to the dogs face.

Lola is a lovely dog who needs a companion dog as her ears.

During the summer  http://www.appledown.co.uk/ would like somebody to do some gardening and perhaps painting and woodworking in and around the kennels. I would think this would suit a young person with time to kill or an early retiree with time on their hands. Give them a ring, they would love to hear from you and it's a great spot in the countryside.



Welcome to my blog all overseas visitors.

I thought I would try out the Google translator to welcome overseas visitors to my blog. I am amazed at how many I get and feel frustrated that I can't communicate in their language but perhaps now I can, so here goes.

Добро пожаловать на мой блог гости из России, могут любви и мира заполнить вашу жизнь.

Willkommen auf meinem Blog Besucher aus Deutschland, Friede und Liebe füllen Ihr Leben.

आपका स्वागत है मेरे ब्लॉग आगंतुकों के लिए भारत से, हो सकता है शांति और प्यार अपने जीवन को भरने.

Maligayang pagdating sa aking mga bisita sa blog mula sa Pilipinas ay maaaring pag-ibig at kapayapaan na punan ang iyong buhay.

Сардэчна запрашаем на мой блог наведвальнікаў з Беларусі, могуць любові і міру запоўніць вашу жыццё.

Bienvenue sur mon blogue visiteurs de la France, la paix et l'amour peut remplir votre vie.

Bienvenidos a mi blog de los visitantes procedentes de España, la paz y el amor puede llenar su vida.

If you want to see what I said go to the google translator,cut and paste into the box and translate back to English.

Walking the Dogs at Appledown Boarding Kennels and Rescue Centre

Today (Wednesday 25th January) I took time out to start my 4 hours off per week from caring to be a volunteer dog walker at Appledown Kennels and Rescue Centre in Eaton Bray. Donning my new wellington boots I arrived at the office to be greeted by one of the staff who got my first charge for the day. She is called Sparkle and has only known life in a kennel and desperately wants to find a caring and loving home to go to.

She walked easily on the lead and was a friendly little dog.

Next for a walk was Tina who again needs a nice home to go to.She enjoyed having a good sniff as we walked around the exercise field, a very nice dog.



Last on the list today is Violet a beautiful dog who has a new home to go to.She knows all the basic commands and rolled over for her tummy to be tickled.

I give each dog half an hour walk around the field till 13:00 which gives time for three dogs to get exercise before it is lunch time for the staff. I will post more pictures next week of the training ground when I get permission from the chief trainer.Watching her put two collie dogs through their paces she certainly knows her stuff.



Draught Proofing and Insulating The Loft Hatch Trap Door

After having the loft fully insulated (see my previous post on the subject) it was time to address the problem of a poorly fitting loft hatch trap door. For a temporary measure I had put tape over the gap around the door to prevent the draught but of course condensation droplets formed on the tape where the cold air from the loft hit the tape.

Picture of the old loft trap door.

I thought the best solution was to cover the whole entry with a removable lid so set about making a surrounding frame up.

Showing the first tongue and groove board being glued in position on the frame.

Completed and painted cover looking from the loft side.

When painting the undercoat I added some Thermilate to the paint to improve the insulation of the cover. As can be seen from the picture below adding thermilate gives a slightly rough finish but one coat of gloss covers this completely. The trough is the tongue & groove joint so it gives a bit of scale to the finish.

I wonder if this could be used on the battening of a narrowboat before adding the wooden cladding to stop the often seen line of condensation. It could even be painted on the cladding if you have the time and patience. For more info on this thermilate go to http://www.thermilate.com/

          I have added this to the ceiling of a bow window that always went black and it cured it completely.

For added insulation I fitted carpet tile to the inside of the cover.

To fit the cover to the ceiling I drilled the 4 holes as can be seen which slide over the 4 bolts screwed into position around the hatch entry.

Detail of the bolt.

Bolt screwed into position.

As well adding draught proofing tape around the joint where the cover meets the ceiling I added it to the washers to give better insulation to the metal.

And here you can see the cover held in place by butterfly nuts..

      Note to Geoff in Wanaka....Mr Goldsmith our old wood working teacher would have been proud :)





Volunteer Dog Walking

After years of caring for my mother I am able to have 4 hours off on a Wednesday each week thanks to the local carewatch arranged by our community matron Sally,so today with thanks to Dami who is our new sitter I took time out, but what to do. Plan A was to drive over to Marsworth to take a few pictures but after reading Peters blog  http://nbgecko.blogspot.com/  the water levels were low due to the water shortage.
Not being one to waste valuable time and wanting to do something I would enjoy and try and keep fit I decided  to go to plan B.

Remember Millie the beagle I had to give back to the boarding kennels and rescue centre  http://www.appledown.co.uk/  see my blogs for the 6th and 9th of August 2011 well today I went back and signed on to be a volunteer dog walker. I found out that Millie was taken in by an elderly gentleman who is giving her the love and attention she deserved which pleased me no end, so from 11:30 to 1:00 on a Wednesday I will be walking the dogs around a large field and taking in the air. I'll take a few pictures of my charges and put them on this blog. Appledown re-home 400 to 500 dogs per year which is no mean feat. Hopefully they will be a bit fitter after my efforts and I will be knackered.

We didn't have the green thing back in our day.

I thought I would share this with you with thanks to Jo on working narrow boat Hadar who brought it to my attention after her friend Pip Haynes on narrowboat Windsong posted it in her facebook.

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Checking out at the supermarket recently, the young cashier suggested I should bring my own carrier bags because plastic bags weren't good for the environment. I apologised and explained, "We didn't have this green thing back in my earlier days." The cashier responded, "That's our problem today. Your generation did not care enough to save our environment for future generations." She was right about one thing -- our generation didn't have the green thing in “Our” day. So what did we have back then…? After some reflection and soul-searching on "Our" day here's what I remembered we did have.... Back then, we had "paper" bags to put our shopping in, we returned milk bottles (even collected the silver caps for the blind), fizzy pop bottles and beer bottles to the store. The store sent them back to the plant to be washed and sterilised and refilled, so it could use the same bottles repeatedly. So they really were recycled. But we didn't have the green thing back in our day. We walked up stairs, because we didn't have an escalator or lift in every store and office building. We walked to the supermarket and didn't climb into a 300-horsepower machine every time we had to go two minutes up the road. But she was right. We didn't have the green thing in our day. Back then, we washed the baby's nappies because we didn't have the throw-away kind. We dried clothes on a line, not in an energy gobbling machine burning up 220 volts -- wind and solar power really did dry our clothes back in our early days. Kids got hand-me-down clothes from their brothers or sisters, not always brand-new clothing. But that young lady is right. We didn't have the green thing back in our day. Back then, we had one TV, or radio, in the house -- not a TV in every room. And the TV had a small screen the size of a handkerchief (remember them?), not a screen the size of England. In the kitchen, we blended and stirred by hand because we didn't have electric machines to do everything for us. When we packaged a fragile item to send in the mail, we used screwed up old newspapers to cushion it, not Styrofoam or plastic bubble wrap. Back then, we didn't fire up an engine and burn petrol just to cut the lawn. We used a push mower that ran on human power. We exercised by working so we didn't need to go to a health club to run on treadmills that operate on electricity. But she's right. We didn't have the green thing back then. We drank from a fountain when we were thirsty instead of using a cup or a plastic bottle every time we had a drink of water. We refilled writing pens with ink instead of buying a new pen, and we replaced the razor blades in a razor instead of throwing away the whole razor just because the blade got dull. But we didn't have the green thing back then. Back then, people took the bus, and kids rode their bikes to school or walked instead of turning their mums into a 24-hour taxi service. We had one electrical outlet in a room, not an entire bank of sockets to power a dozen appliances. And we didn't need a computerised gadget to receive a signal beamed from satellites 2,000miles out in space in order to find the nearest pizza joint. But isn't it sad the current generation laments how wasteful we old folks were just because we didn't have the green thing back then.

OLYMPIC LONDONS NEW YEAR FIREWORK DISPLAY WATCH IT HERE

I thought I would post this video of London's New Year's Eve 2011 firework display on the river Thames for all to watch. It's the UK's turn to host the Olympic Games and this certainly is a good start to the proceedings. Enjoy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xy_9bx6U8_0