I’m told my blog is fifteen years old. And whilst not a lot has been posted on it recently, I do refer to it often. Every time there is a question about when was it ‘such and such’ happened, this blog usually has the answer. It is stuffed full of memories.

Never more so than since Boxing day, the 26th of December 2021, when we had to say goodbye to our beloved dog Spud

Spud and his antics were a very important part of this blogs narrative.

His death, was both peaceful and timely, we miss him so very much, his absence ambushes us painfully time and time again.

We buried his ashes in the copse at the bottom of the field, I can see the spot, from my desk as I type. Near the Buckthorn tree

I made a little wreath of winter greens and trimmed it some of his favourite things, a feather, he loved a feather.

An apple, which the black birds then ate, through the short winter days. Spud couldn’t resist an apple,

even climbing trees to reach them and leaving them as trip hazards through the house

A tennis ball, he was obsessed by them; we figured that if another dog passing along the footpath might take his ball, it wouldn’t be unreasonable, for Spud had more than his fair share of tennis ball acquisitions in his life time, on one occasion bringing home from his Devon holiday, nine more balls than he started with!

He adored a beach so a seashell was included too

We’re indebted to our local veterinary surgery, who whilst working under sever staffing pressures and Covid restrictions, made it possible for us to have the time and privacy to discuss an end of life plan for Spud. He had become slower and achy, and when in November he started showing symptoms of Horner’s Syndrome, the suspicion was that something serious was developing. We knew that that putting him through any invasive tests and procedures would not be in his best interests and it was agreed just before Christmas that he should be kept comfortable at home, being spoilt and eating lots of turkey.

Nearly five years ago, Spud had a very nasty and complicated break to his leg, something called Springer Elbow, whoever knew… The very skilled vets at Pride Veterinary referral center, meticulously fixed him up with metal plates and screws, this along with kind, skilled canine physiotherapy (which Spud and I enjoyed in equal measure) gave him a good quality of life, far more active than we could have imagined.

Here is his last visit to a beach, September 2021 Calgary Bay, the Isle of Mull.

He would have had a good zoom around given half a chance, but we’d learned, even if Spud hadn’t, that charging around too much made him rather sore and stiff, so we just allowed him a modest zoom. You can see he enjoyed it.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/9623286@N08/52094153263/