BBC NEWS Science/Nature Pet dogs can 'catch' human yawns
I'm intrigued by this dogs copy owners business .
Alice is certainly cottoning on in our household . She got me up at seven , ideal timing as my belly was starting to growl , and once the coffee pot was gurgling and the breakfast tray was laden and she had been out and I was heading back upstairs with a low carb Morning Shine bar and a bowl of Rachel's honey yoghurt with berries slung in for good measure ( ok I'm not a low carb purist but so far I have managed to shed half a stone , a miracle for diet hating me ) , not to mention the toast and marmelade and other carb laden goodies for D , and my hefty pile of Migraine Defense pills , Alice made it clear she was not about to settle back for another three hours sleep ( her usual morning now ) . Her tummy growled in synch with mine and I realised all was not well . She was like this a lot when she first moved in with us , so I took her upstairs to keep an eye on her . Her former good mannersand shyness have now deserted her and she pushes past me to take a flying leap onto the bed , causing Pearl to stretch and retreat to the knicker drawer which is slightly ajar ..... the whole bed heaves . Water beds were not invented for the greyhound and I live in fear of a sudden collapse . Doesn't bear thinking of . I don't often go there . Water through the ceiling , ceiling collapse , insurance company producing a pet damage exclusion clause ? No thanks .

Dog settles , breakfast consumed , I finish the exquisite book I am reading " Love in the Present Tense " By Catherine Ryan Hyde .
Off to my first CatCall of the day by 8 45 .
Alice's tummy is still gurgling like a drain and she refuses her fish and rice , carefully produced for the greyhound with Issues .
I return , we decide to walk her now before the planned trip to purchase the Intense Truffle paint needed to complete the bathroom , namely to re-paint the roll top bath , to complement the Something Hessian paint which now adorns the walls ( deliciously , looking like light coffee flavoured ice cream ) . The hessian on the bath is not quite right . The intense truffle will be perfect but they just sold the last tin in B and Q as we arrived . As D arrived I should say in the interests of accuracy . I was at home reading Love in the Present Tense . Natural Hessian .

However Alice has been listening to the radio on the subject of Dog is like Owner and has decided that Dog with Tummy Issues should stay in bed . She refuses to budge . We use the Walk words . We mention getting her collar on . We give her a little push , many cheery words ... a pull .
She stares and pushes further down into the duvet .
She closes the eyes firmly .
We get the message , I am having a Pyjama Day , Nat has them all the time now its the Summer Holidays , I'm fine here thank you very much , sigh , its a shame I can't come on the Walk but hey enjoy yourselves , Sigh ......

We go to town .
There is no Intense Truffle paint . Anywhere .
The bath remains hessian .
But we have delightful Trufffle towels in readiness ......

I try to get my migraines under control ....

I seem to be on a major migraine offensive . So far I am not sure to what end .
Above is Nat gearing up to pricking my finger for the York research programme . I have been selected for one of the groups and a sample of my blood is now winging its way to the Intolerance Testing centre . Sounds simple . I should tell you that without Nat it would not be happening ... it took three stabs of that green lance to get the requisite blood onto the wand , and Nat who insisted I kept on stabbing , kept on squeezing for more blood long after I would have wimped out .

I have also started the Migraine Defense , the food supplements I ordered on the internet . I am still within the first two weeks of trialing these and documenting the results in a diary , so far four days no headache , six days with headache , business much as usual but to be expected as it takes two weeks for the stuff to get into the system . What I do like is the melatonin which I started before the package arrived and which does seem to help with sleep and prevent my waking with a headache quite so often . But it makes it more difficult for the dog to rouse me during the night so we have had one or two mishaps in the wet carpet line . Swings and roundabouts . A wet carpet is nothing and Alice doesn't seem too bothered ..... think she makes less of an effort to wake me anyway when its lashing it down outside . And of course we desparately need a new carpet or two anyway ....but need to wait till tiny greyhound is completely sorted before taking that step ?

And , I have started a low carb eating regime ( me , on a diet ? never ! )

Monday sees me taking part in Bioline or some such ... part of a long running medical research project where various health checks will be done so will be curious to see their pronouncements about aspects of my physical state ...

Interesting article in the news about dogs copying their owners yawning . No wonder Alice has transformed into such a sloth , slobbing on the sofa most of the time , grumbling if she is disturbed for more than half an hour out of twenty four .

Separation Anxiety

Greyhounds are renowned for suffering separation anxiety . Alice certainly objects to being left alone and usually manages to collect together twelve or so shoes or slippers and lines them up next to her on the sofa pending our return if we leave her for an hour or so .

This afternoon there was a short gap between D leaving the house and my return .
I came in to discover her in her new bed , tucked up with a large cauliflower and a small swede , with a box of shredded tissues at the side for good measure .
Yuk , think how cold they would be . Hardly the bedfellows I would chose .....

I know you wont have the time to read this but ....

Angelina Jolie and the superfast generation Carol Midgley - Times Online

Sitting outside M and S yesterday in the outlet car park waiting for Nat and Kathryn and reflecting that this was the first time I had had five minutes to call my own in what seemed like weeks . probably a gross exaggeration but .... I watched people ..... the world , me included , is in a hurry ..... cars revving past , cross at having to wait for space to park , to get by , men in the car park impatiently waiting for women and kids coming out of the shops , I myself looking at my watch and trying to calculate how much of the twenty minutes agreed had elapsed since I had left the girls .... then wondering if the dog at home would have trashed ... what exactly ? The house ? Not likely ... a shoe ? at worst ..... and stopped myself worrying , wound down the window to enjoy the sunshine and the wait .

So with that in mind , it seemed something of a coincidence that I read this article tonight .
Its worth a read .

Besides my extra duties with M still in hospital and her three cats insisting on going out and refusing to come back in when they should ( why would they ? the house is hot , they dont know where she has gone , they last saw her disappear in an ambulance and I cant help them understand when she will be back . So they go looking for her , is my theory .... ) Im also looking after two matching cats in grey and black with white paws , both elderly , long haired and living in an idyllic spot , house centred around a beautiful courtyard .
The boy cat , who is slightly more into cuddles than his Foodie sister , leads me round the ( extensive ) house showing me places where he has dropped a dribble or a speck of fluff and mooches around nonchalanantly till I clear up . Houseproud he is ..... whereas sister just ushers me straight into the Food dept and heads for the tuna tins and then follows me for a conversation after her dinner .....

But after feeding and clearing are all done we adjourn to the courtyard bench and sit and chat for a while in the sunshine and that is the blissful part of this job cum hobby of mine . I wouldn't change it for anything . Nothing beats those few minutes of rest and recuperation and hanging out with a couple of cats .

This clip is highly unlikely to be of any interest to anyone but me but I wanted to preserve it for posterity .

The view from the garden seat into my Dad's shed , where he has classical music ( playing in the backgound , possibly just audible .

Alice strolling by , not yet having been chased by the cat , but soon after rolling in the cat food and having been wiped down with the Molton Brown hand- wash .

To the left of the shed the Russian vine that conceals the wasp nest .

One of these fine sunny days I will have the presence to have the camera ready as the cat circuits after the dog .

That will be worth pressing the start button for ... greyhound put through her paces by tortoiseshell terror .

Wasp's Nest

Alice whacked after a day out ....

Some weeks are so frantically busy there are no spare minutes for blogging , reading blogs , or even sitting looking at wasps' nests .

Then , out of the blue , there is a spare couple of hours , and the teenage daughter has a brainwave and proposes a visit to the grandparents which involves an early afternoon out of the rat race . How could we resist ?

Alice is now exhausted on her bed ..... the cat having chased her again round the garden , but not before she rolled in some cat food she discovered behind the compost food " put out for the birds " so had to be washed all over with a face cloth soaked in posh Molton Brown hand wash . A faint whiff of bergamot clings with an undertone of ten day old Felix....

Anti Snoring Device

I noticed in the early hours of this morning that Pearl , ( pictured at the top of the blog ) and featured in several other places , though completely deaf , is like me rather antagonistic to snoring . I propped myself up on one elblow to start the usual poking and prodding , which used to bring forth immediate " me ! snoring ! No ! Sorry ..... " with hand caught in the trifle guilt attached . Now its all slightly different with more brute force required , more poking , more prodding , and sometimes the turning over with a definite flounce attached . And within seconds the snoring seems to start up again . (And now to cap it all my blog wont start new paragraphs )....So I prop myself up and stare at the vibrating force next to me . And then I notice Pearl , also propped up , also staring at him , somewhat disgruntled , having deserted her usual post in the far corner of the bed . She stalks forwards stiffly picking her way daintily forwards and positions herself close to the elbow and as her mouth opens slightly I wonder just for a second whether she can be trained to nip as she does in the daylight hours when he behaves against her rules , as the perfect anti snoring device . Just a thought .