Lake adventure

 

Perla is still not speaking to Sam the lovely chocolate Labrador. In fact she shows her teeth, growls and tells him to stay away in forceful fashion. She is difficult to settle. She wants to be on the bed, the chairs, tried to settle on the tarp that covers the swimming pool, and wanders disconsolately around. Then she ate some of Sam’s biscuits. Poor Sam. He doesn’t deserve this nasty lady and is still trying to be nice to her.

Given that she only came to us on 16^th February she has hardly had a chance to settle before we’ve whisked her away to a new environment. There is little wonder she is unsettled.

Monday 18^th April

Until yesterday evening, when everything clouded over and the wind turned cold, we’ve had glorious sunny weather and made a start on the gardening. Not sure that “gardening” is is absolutely the right term, but it describes things like weeding, cutting the grass and hacking out brambles. Imagine all of those on an industrial scale!

The tractor trundled out of its two-year enforced lie-up with a splutter and a hiccup, then roared off and tackled the meadows around the house. I pulled out weeds from the cracks in the lower patio and then turned my attention to the brambles – so huge they grow right over the top of the hazel trees and bend them into poor hunched things struggling to grow. Four days on and we still have hundreds of the wretched things to clear.

Yesterday’s adventure involved the lake and Perla. She has discovered there are, or have been, crayfish in the lake. Some creature catches and eats them on the bank, discarding the head and claws. We suspect a coypu but cannot be sure of the culprit and there are some pretty huge frogs around. For some reason, Perla finds these discards tasty, scoffs them down and then goes hunting more. This time she went too far down the bank and either jumped or slid into the water. In she went, head first, and under the surface, then emerged spluttering and thankfully started swimming. Unhappily she headed out into the centre of the lake. Desperately shouting her name, even though I know she is deaf and doesn’t hear me, I waved my arms and thankfully she turned for the shore, swam for twenty yards and then got her back paws on the bottom of the lake.

She trundled out a very sad and sorry girl. We hurried back to the house where I dried her off and huddled her in blankets.  Her teeth chattered so much I squeezed into the basket and hugged her tight. I think she was shocked as much as cold and wet, poor thing.

She woke up this morning seemingly none the worse for her adventure and as I write this she is beside me on the chaise longue on the lower patio, soaking up the sun which has just poked out from behind a cloud. I sit here surveying a scene of utter tranquillity with the leaves on the trees unfurling almost as I write. In the distance a tractor works the fields, but it is far enough away not to be a disturbance.

Somewhere out on the hillside behind me, a lonely dog howls. And howls. It is upsetting. Fortunately, Perla cannot hear it.