East Park at Inchmarlo

The last time Daddy and I went to our new development at East Park it was very wet and I got my feet absolutely covered in mud and cold mud at that.  I didn’t enjoy it.  Today, however, it was a beautiful day and we went back and I, in my assistant Estate Manager supervisory (Canine in Training) role had a look at the site.  There was a lot of activity going on, and I was very pleased at the progress of construction.  Daddy told me that 2 houses have already been reserved.

Supervising the work

Construction progressing

At the Beach

On Saturday afternoon we went down to the beach, and it was an absolutely stupendous day.  The tide was out so I asked Mummy and Daddy to take me down to the sands so that I could walk along on the soft sand which was delightful.  They tried to get me to go into the water but I wasn’t having any of that and the minute the North Sea came near my sensitive toes I ran away. 

As we were going back to the car a man and three ladies were walking towards us and suddenly their faces lit up as though they had won the pools or should I say were at the “Carnival” in Rio.  They came up to us and spoke not to Mummy and Daddy but to me.  But of course I’m quite used to that.  They made a tremendous fuss of me and the gentleman, Tadeu Carneiro, his wife, his daughter and another lady were so excited because they had a bulldog called Lambert back in Sao Paulo, Brazil.  Daddy and Mummy said that they had been in Sao Paulo on the way to Manaus and what an enormous city it is!  They then spoke about bulldogs and one of the things I heard them saying was, “Bulldogs aren’t the brightest in the world” and Daddy agreed!  I’m not exactly sure whether that’s a compliment or not.

They showed Mummy and Daddy a photograph of their bulldog:  he was all white and my goodness he was much bigger and stockier than me but I cannot, with paw on heart, say he was more handsome than I am.  Anyway, it just shows you again how excited people are when they see me.

 

Feeding The Ducks

It was a gorgeous day and Inchmarlo House in the lunchtime sun looked stunning.

Sunny Inchmarlo House

Inchmarlo House in the sun

  After Daddy and Mummy had lunch we went for a walk round the Estate and down to the Heronry so that we could feed the ducks. 

Feeding time

There was only one drake who was looking much more handsome, and, if I may say so, much prettier than all the female ducks.

I'm a handsome drake

But of course we male bulldogs are always more handsome than our female counterparts.  The ducks came over as usual and Daddy and Mummy threw bits of bread through the fence to the ducks which they gobbled up with amazing speed. 

Lunch time

This is lovely

I looked at Mummy as though to say, “What about me?” She gave me a bit of bread but quite frankly it was below my expectations, so I chewed it a bit then spat it out. 

I didn't enjoy that!

It just shows that we aristocrats of the four-legged population are much fussier about what we eat than the two legged ones.

Busy Day at Inchmarlo

Oh what a busy day!  When Daddy was out earlier in the week he met one of the Home Owners from Queen Victoria Park who asked how I was and said that they hadn’t seen me for some time.  As soon as Daddy told me this, I immediately decided that I should go and visit them.  So the next time we went there Daddy phoned the Home Owner’s to say we were in Banchory and would it be convenient for me to call and they said yes, they would be delighted to see me.  So we went in and they greeted me as everybody does – in a very friendly fashion.  After I had run round them a few times and they’d patted me and said how big I was getting and how handsome I was – you can understand that of course – Daddy told them I liked peanut butter.  So Mrs M immediately went into the kitchen and put peanut butter over some biscuits.  As soon as she opened the jar I could smell it and I got very excited.   I sat down and when Mrs M asked for a paw I gave it to her – I’d have given her a hundred paws if necessary – and she gave me the biscuits.  To be more accurate she gave me the biscuits with the peanut butter on them and I licked all the peanut butter off and didn’t bother with the biscuits.  It was a super enjoyable visit.

Giving Mrs M my Paw

Mmmmmmm peanut butter!!!

Later on we went up to Inchmarlo House and we came across the son of a late resident who was planting a tree in her memory, so naturally I had to supervise.  I’m still too young to lift my legs against trees, but when I am able to do it I am going to have a wonderful time at Inchmarlo with the thousands of trees on the site, especially since some of them are over 40 metres high.  Anyway, here we are with Mr C and the new tree which is a Betula Jacquemontii.

The Betula Jacquemontii Tree

When that was finished Daddy and I went into the House and I spoke to a number of my old friends who were sitting in Reception.  One of the Carers took me through to the Red Drawing Room where they had just finished a Sale and then I was taken up to see one of the Residents in her own room.

What had happened was Mrs M had lived in the House for some years but was no longer able to come downstairs so of course she has not had the privilege of speaking to me.  Daddy spoke to her daughter who confirmed that her mother liked dogs – it’s difficult to believe people wouldn’t like dogs, especially me – and when the daughter said yes, Daddy said I will arrange for Humphrey to go up and greet her.  

So Rachel phoned up and Mrs M said she would like to see me so Tommy took me up to her room.  Unfortunately I couldn’t jump up onto her bed – it’s too high for me and anyway I am such a solid mass of muscle that I am not the most agile of dogs.

 After I had finished that visit then we drove back to Aberdeen.  It was a very interesting and very enjoyable morning – and I did like my peanut butter.

New Carpet

Well I’ve got a new carpet!  The back staircase to my own room and bathroom which I have been using since I was knee high to two cans of dog food was covered in lino.  I always found it difficult when I was very small but now that I am almost fully grown another difficulty has incurred.  When I go down the staircase I have to go at an angle otherwise it is too steep and I feel I am going to trip but it is when I come up that I have the greatest difficulty.  For some reason I stop half way up and then decide to make a “lunge” for the top of the stairs.  Unfortunately my claws slip on the lino and I get into an absolute panic before I get to the top.  Daddy says I’m simply frightened but I believe that I’m too sensitive and the noise of my claws skidding on the lino puts me off.

Nearly there!

Daddy and Mummy were very very kind and they arranged for carpet to be laid on the treads so that I now find it much easier to go up without slipping.  Here’s a photograph of me on the staircase and you will see exactly why I’m much happier.  In case you can’t tell I am smiling.

My new carpet

New Development at Inchmarlo

On Sunday Daddy and Mummy went out to Inchmarlo and after they had lunch and spoke to a number of Home Owners we went a walk all the way round Westfield, I am told the weather could be described as cold and bracing and they were well wrapped up with coats and caps and here is me in the altogether striding manfully about the site with no welly boots or anything.  But of course, it’s a dog’s life!

Daddy and I went up to the new development at East Park and we walked on to the site with Jack Crawford, Daddy and myself.  Unfortunately it had been very wet and with these massive articulated vehicles on site scooping up the earth, the ground was absolutely soaking and while Daddy was walking about holding his trousers up so as not to get the mud on his trousers, I did not have wellington boots and was walking in two inches of mud – it’s a dog’s life!

Not Feeling too Well

Not a good start to the morning, Daddy came down and into the kitchen, said hello to me and noticed that I hadn’t moved at all and then he noticed a pile of sick just outside my basket.  He was very nice and consoled me and said how ill I must have been and hoped I was feeling better.  When he walked across the kitchen he found that it wasn’t just sickness I had suffered from during the night because there was a pile of poo at the back door.  He was not pleased but because I was clearly at deaths door – from the way I looked anyway – he really didn’t tell me off too much but had it all cleaned up and into the poo bags before Mummy came down.