Poor Tommy.

I was up in the night with Tommy who was being sick again. It started on Friday morning and is getting to be a bit of a worry now although I am wondering if it has something to do with the medicine he is having for his arthritis. When the vet started him on it she said that it may make him sick and if so there was something else that she could try him on. He is usually fine and has no problem with it but I have noticed that when he was getting to the end of one of the other bottles he had a bout of sickness so I’m wondering if perhaps in spite of a vigorous shaking every day if maybe some part of it remains in the bottom and it is that which is causing his sickness.

It was perhaps just as well that I was up and about early as it was the Grand Prix from India today and it was broadcast at 8:30 this morning and whilst I do record it I do prefer to watch it live if I can. I can’t say that it was an inspiring race but when it’s in progress there is always the chance that something will happen to raise the entertainment value so I still enjoyed it.

This afternoon me and Vicki took two friends to a local garden centre where we had lunch and then looked around. The trip was really to buy Christmas decorations although I did notice a few plants found their way in the shopping trolley. Whilst there I also noticed on a couple of occasions the annoying habit of referring to Christmas as the ‘Happy Holiday’! 

The Loch Ness monster is sighted!

Today I was downloading the pictures I took on our holiday to Scotland and found this video on my phone that I had forgotten about. It shows the Loch Ness monster leaving the Loch near to Fort Augustus for a few brief seconds before turning and plunging back in to the murky depths of the loch. For those that don't know a 'loch' is just another name for a lake and is how they say it in Scotland and Loch Ness is famed for it's monster.


Also today I sorted out some papers and other documents to send to the accountant in the near future, this is not something I can get enthused about.

Home time.

Today we leave for home which is around 400 miles away. Last night we stayed at a bed and breakfast house, Tommy was made most welcome as were we, they even let us take him in to breakfast with us which was good of them. Today the weather is not so good which makes going home a bit easier.

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The Lochness Monster.

Whilst at Fort Augustus today I think we spotted the Loch Ness monster, it was a big black hairy beastie. Its a good thing I was quick with the camera because I bet you wouldn't believe it if you didn't see it for yourself.

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Loch Ness.

Today we are traveling to Fort William along the shores of Loch Ness. Here you can see Tommy at Fort Augustus.

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Ballater Station.

This is Ballater railway station, no longer in use as a railway station.

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River Dee.

I posted the wrong picture earlier, this is the River Dee, the other picture was taken from the bridge over the river entering the village. When Queen Victoria visited Ballater she liked it so much that she bought nearby Balmoral Castle which is still a royal estate to this day.

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Evening Meal.

Tonight we are treating Tommy to a night out at a local hotel, not that he will be doing much eating but at least he gets to come in and watch us eat.

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Ballater.

The River Dee at Ballater.

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Inland Drive.

Today we are taking a trip inland. At the moment we are having lunch while watching some people play with gliders.

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More beach.

Tommy says you can never have to much beach to chase seagulls on.

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Time for a walk.

Tommy has found this nice beach where we can go for a nice walk and a paddle.

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Nairn.

Today we are visiting Nairn, the picture you see is of the harbour.

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Lets play stickie!

One of Tommy's favourite games is to play stickie on the beach.

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Time for a paddle.

We have had another good day, in the picture you will see Tommy having paddle, I didn't join him.

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Pet cemetery.

We found this pet cemetery at Cullen. We were fortunate enough to meet the local guy who looks after it and so found out some interesting things. Apparently its been there for over 25 years and it seems that at one point there was quite a battle with the council who wanted to close it down on the grounds of health and safety. Any way it seems that due to a letter of support for it from the Queen its been allowed to stay.

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Dog walk.

Today we are taking a driver down the coast where we will stop off at various places that take our fancy. Here you can see Tommy at one such place.

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View from the tower.

This picture was taken from the memorial looking out over the harbour.

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MacDuff harbour

Today we took  a drive into the village and had a walk round the harbour and boat yard. We also walked up to the memorial tower you can see on the hill in the background. Tom always enjoys a walk around a new place.

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We've arrived.

Well we arrived ok and Tom has checked everything out and seems to approve. I'm sure on a better day than this there will be a view of the sea. At the moment we are relaxing and recovering from the journey.

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Almost there.

We're almost at our destination, about another fifty minutes driving according to the satnav. We stopped a while back and had lunch at a diner, I think I will be ready for a whisky or something along those lines when we get to where we are going.

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Half way there.

We have just arrived at Callander and its pretty grim weather wise. Callander is a bit off of our route but we like to come here and as we are in no rush made the detour. The good thing about the weather being this way is that it can only get better, or at least not much worse.

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We're off.

We are two and a half hours in to our journey north to Scotland and have stopped for our first comfort break at a service station on the M6. 

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First sightings of Christmas.

Last night on TV I saw my first advert advertising a product for Christmas, if I recall right it was something to do with Disneyland, Paris. Then today I had to call in and get something from the garden centre and there in the main isle was a fully decorated Christmas tree and off to the right I could see the Christmas shop open for business.

Have you spotted anything to do with Christmas yet, and how do you feel about it being thrust up on us this early in the year?

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Bad People!

I saw this picture on someones facebook page today with a warning to keep an eye on your dogs. Apparently some dog hater has been distibuting these titbits in the park in the hope that someones dog picks them up!

This coming Saturday Vicki, Tommy and myself are off on holiday to Scotland for a week. Usually we go over to the west coast but this time we are going east for a change. Also we are hiring a caravan and not a cottage on account of us having spent all our money on renovating our house. If you want to take a look at where we are going click [HERE]

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Fruit Picking.

Today is fruit picking day, by fruit I mean apples and pears.

The pears won't keep the same as apples and as no one bothers to preserve them in some other way I just pick a few for immediate use over the next few weeks.

I pick and store some apples although no one usually takes any from the store and so I prune the trees, thin the fruit, pick and store the apples before throwing them on the rubbish dump as they rot. The only reason I bother is that if I didn't you can be sure they would want some so its all just to cover my back really. 

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The Tree (October).

Below is the picture of 'The Tree' for October.
Here in parts of the UK the past week has been one of the warmest of the whole year so if feel kind of strange because the leaves are starting to turn, indeed some are even falling from the trees yet as you go about the work in the garden it is more like mid summer so it feels strange to be doing autumn jobs when the weather kidding me in to thinking I should still be doing summer work.

January

February

March

April

May

June

July

August

September

October

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A little joke.

My wife had a 'near death' experience today....she thought she could hoover while the motor racing was on!

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Back to flyball.

Shortly Fallon Tess and I will be off to flyball training, due to other commitments and Fallon being I'll last week we haven't been for two weeks but I'm sure it won't be to much of a problem as we have played on our little flyball run in the garden. It's been very warm here this past week and promises to be the same again today if so I think there will be a lot of tired doggies by lunch time.

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