A Big Catch-Up

Oooh I have been *very* rubbish at keeping this up to date. We have been a very very busy family so I'll try my best to get you up to date with what's been happening here....

Wednesday 15th October - We went for another walk with friends to a lovely place called Barton Farm Country Park in Bradford-on-Avon. We went with Wendy, Wiggle and Sir H and also met up with Ange and the very beautiful Minnie-Moo for the first time. There was a lovely river for the dogs to play in - Bran was very brave with the water this time and had great fun splashing with the others. Flora decided to be very stupid and threw herself in at a point where she couldn't get out by herself so I needed to lie in the mud to pull her out. Bran very helpfully sat very close to my head so that I couldn't get up easily after pulling her out so I very nearly ended up in the river myself!! We walked through lots of fields and eventually came to a lovely pub called The Cross Guns. We (people) sat outside and ate chips and drank coffee and hot chocolate whilst the dogs sat very quietly, looking cute and trying to beg chips. We walked back along the canal together before collecting yummy cakes from Wendy and heading home.

Auntie Wendy tried to drown Bran!

My babies



Spot the difference to the above photo


Watch out! Here comes trouble!!


Abandoned Puppy!

Minnie-Moo

Sir Henery being a hippo


Me and Ange and Wendy with dogs


Flora and her beloved Wiggle

Sir Henery does running :oO

Patiently waiting

Sophie and her bestest friend

Friday 17th October - Our Kevin cat was put to sleep :o( Kevin was an indoor cat and Bran used to have lots of fun standing behind the stairgate and barking at poor Kev, who would sit and stare disdainfully at the dogs and smack them on their faces if they came too close to the gate when he was sitting on the other side of it! We all miss him lots xx

Sunday 19th October - We went on yet another big walk with lots of friends at Brean Sands. It was Bran's first visit to the beach and he loved it! He seemed to be a little bit overwhelmed by the number of people there so stayed very close to his mummy, but he splashed in the sea, chased Flora and said hello to everybody there. He was very very cold, wet and tired at the end of the walk so was quite pleased to see me produce a fleece coat for him to wear on the way home.

Sophie "walking" Morse

Excellent heelwork, that puppy!



My family (minus one 2-legged boy)


Daisy and Duncan

Snoozing and snuggly

Sophie "walking" Morse again

Me and Andrea with our dogs

Monday 20th - Wednesday 22nd October - I took the children to visit friends up in Cheshire/Staffordshire (including a fantastic day at Alton Towers!!) so Bran and Flora had a little holiday at a very special place called Nanny's House. Bran had never been away from us before so I worried lots about how he would be, but Nanny reported that they were both very very good and they were certainly thrilled to see us when we got home (well, me and Sophie anyway as Jacob stayed up North with our friends)!! Strangely, Bran has become much more cuddly since we've returned and whereas before we went he would only get up onto the sofa if at least half of it was free, he will now squish up into the smallest spaces xx

Saturday 25th - Monday 27th October - Our friends Jenny and Bethany came to stay for the weekend. They hadn't met Bran before but Jenny already loves Flora and always calls her Big Dog! Bran was very pleased to have extra people in the house as that inevitably means extra attention!! When they left on Monday evening, Sophie went with them and so me and the dogs are all on our own for a whole week!!

Tuesday 28th October - I had to leave the dogs to go out and do shopping on the afternoon, but I took them to Nanny's House for us all to have tea in the evening. They both adore my dad and so gave Grumpy lots of kisses and cuddles.

Wednesday 29th October - We went to visit Wendy, Wiggle and Sir H "in residence". Bran and Flora paid no heed to the fact that they weren't at home and that Bran had never visited Wendy's house before and played as comfortably and as madly as if they had been at home!! Poor old Henery and Wiggle just looked on in bemusement! We then took all of the dogs out for a lovely walk on the Marlborough Downs. We walked through the woods so there was lots of sniffing to be done and they all had a really lovely run.

Flora looking gorgeous

Running like the wind!

Bran looking very handsome

Bran and Wiggle

Very attractive Autumnal foursome

Having fun

The very gorgeous Wiggle showing just how much better he is since going to live with his new mummy

Doggy Mix-Up!

Flora and Bran do running

Flora and Wiggle do running!

Thursday 30th October - Mr Branston Beans was officially 6 months old. I spent most of the day saying "HOW???" or "WHEN???". I can't believe it. 6 months!!!

Friday 31st October - Halloween for Bran started with his 6 month health check at the vets. We walked through the park where 2 not very nice jack russells kept running up and snapping at him :o( Bless my brave little boy who didn't pay them any attention at all.

When we arrived at the vets, Bran entertained himself by playbowing and enticingly barking at a 16 year old westie who was really above such things and a very old labrador who couldn't even stand up. And then he improved when in walked a man with a 5 month old staffie! They had a lovely, loud play until Bran was called in to see the vet. She was very impressed with him and wanted to take him home :oD She said that he was fit, healthy and perfect. He weighed in at 22kgs and she was pleased that he is so in proportion given the lab tendency to gain weight.

I then went shopping in the afternoon with my friend Sarah and baby Sam for a while and so to make up for leaving the dogs on their own, I snuggled on the sofa with them all evening and sharing yummies with them. I even slept on the sofa so that they wouldn't be on their own all night and Bran wouldn't need to go into his crate again. Spoiled? My dogs?? Never!! ;o)

We met the House of Bejo!

On Thursday we went for a very lovely walk at Coate Water Park with Cheryl, Georgia, Ella, Lizzie and Henryno.

Flora did her usual trick of screaming like a banshee whilst still secured in the car and being onlead until we got to the safe offlead area. Bran just seemed a bit overwhelmed by it all and trotted along like a good boy.

The 4 big dogs (for reporting purposes, we'll class Henryno as a big dog even though he is really a little dog although he is nearly 5 months older than Bran!) had a fantastic time racing in and out of water and mud and long grass and trees and barking (Flora and Henry). Bran seemed to have a lovely time too and did lots of sniffing and pottering but refused to go in the water further than dipping his delicate ickle toes in. He seems to have missed the point of being a labrador!! He had a little chase after the others every now and again, but would then come back to his mummy.

Flora, Lizzie, Henryno and Bran
Muddy Lizzie 2 seconds after arrival

Big dogs racing through the grass

Bran walking nicely with Sophie

Getting a helping hand

Family racing!

Bran very bravely keeping well away from the water

Henry sneaking a sneaky sniff!

Lovely Lizzie

Enchanting Ella

Handsome Henryno

Gorgeous Georgia

Ickle Pickle

Day 60

I can hardly believe that my little Pickle has been here for nearly 2 whole months! It feel like 2 minutes...

Bran has had the excitement of getting used to the car because it is finally back on the road - woohoo!!! Unfortunately, the boot is too high up for him to jump into so he is needing help in and out. Given his current weight, I may be employing the use of the dog ramp again.

He's been to visit Nanny's house a few more times and has decided that he absolutely loves it there. He is a very good boy and does not go up the stairs, even though there is no stairgate blocking his path to adventures. He loves that Nanny has carpet instead of slip-slidey laminate because he can get a proper grip when launching himself at Flora!! They race around practically non-stop when we are there.


We had a rather norty few days a little while back. Unfortunately, I had no photographic evidence of Flora standing on the patio table or Bran dragging plants through the house on the first day, but caught them bang to rights on the second day!

What the day started with the arrival of - bleurgh!!

Norty digger

Norty Chewer

Plant Knock Overers

My little angels :o)

My little devils >:o(

2 seconds later - wrestling in the vines!

Yesterday, Bran got to meet a tiny baby for the first time. The baby in question was my best friend's month old little darling, Sam. Bran has met Sam's older brother, Zack, a few times now but Sam was a new visitor. He wasn't bothered at all, but Flora thought that he was the best thing since sliced bread!!

Auntie Loobie also came to visit yesterday and brought Bran a lovely surprise - a bigger crate! His "old" crate was 2 1/2 foot long but he'd got to a point where if he stood with his nose at one end and his tail straight, it touched the other end!! The new crate is 4 foot long so gives him a bit of growing space, although it is almost half the size of our lounge!!! Auntie Loobie was just a little bit stunned at how much Bran has grown since she last saw him, I think. I took some measurements a couple of days ago and these were:

Neck: 16"

Height to shoulder: 16"

Neck to tail: 23"

Weight: 19.2kgs

So he's now just 2 inches shorter in height than Flora and just 4 inches shorter in length. He's gained another 4.2kgs in just over 2 weeks and is just 6kgs short of Flora's weight!!!

Auntie Fi has come for a visit today and unbeknownst to Bran she is going to be inflicting pain shortly. Mwahahaha!! Actually. He's going to be microchipped at long last :o) That'll save my mum panicking quite so much when he bolts for the front door as she arrives!!

He has some *very* exciting times lined up over the next few weeks! On Thursday we are going to meet my friend Cheryl and her little girl Georgia for a walk with their 3 dogs for the first time. Next week we are going for a walk with Auntie Wendy, Wiggle and Sir H, my friend Ange and the famous Minnie-Moo and my friend Helen (gundog training guru!) with her lab boys Bert and Barney. And then.......we're going for a group walk at Brean with lots of our friends from The Refuge: http://www.rykat.org/forums/index.php?act=idx next Sunday. The children and I are then going away for a few days and Flora and Bran are going for a short holiday to Nanny's house!!! Bran's going to be a social butterfly!

A rare moment of peaceful togetherness

The more normal moment of togetherness

My very handsome little man

Day 44

It's been a fairly quiet weekend here, so I thought I'd just show you some of the photos that I've taken instead...

Killer Puppy

Strange Sleeping Position

Big Boy (notice that he is snoozing on the sofa next to Sophie who has a plate of food on her lap!)

Gorgeous Boy

Sunbathing with Mika

Silly Boy

Guarding the Washing Machine

Hoooge Ears

My very handsome, grown up boy

The only other big significant marker from this weekend is that today Bran moved up to eating from a large food bowl and is now eating in the hallway rather than his crate - a move which hasn't dampened his appetite at all!