Our beautiful Tilly died...

I guess if you're not a dog or pet person, then this might miss the mark with you but on Wednesday our 13yr old sprollie dog died. She'd been getting gradually getting slower and increasingly deaf but until the weekend had been in pretty decent health. Sunday night she seemed to be having some odd breathing patterns and by Monday evening we were concerned enough to book her into the vets the following morning. After a few tests, we were told she had pneumonia As such, we assumed (were told it was likely) that after a 24hrs of treatment and antibiotic at the vets, she'd be home with us again for lots of TLC. The next day there was no real improvement and so a different antibiotic was going to be tried (it still sounded as though things would be ok). Then a few hours later I was called to say that things were looking much worse for her. Scrabbling around, trying to get someone to cover me so I could head over to her, I got a final call......I was too late! She'd had a 'fit' and had died.

To say we're all a little lost without her, is an understatement. She gave us so much love and many an adventure. She's been to the French Alps with us, all manners of social and music events (including foreworks - she loved them as a younger dog). She has helped at least 3 children to learn to walk (they used her as a walker). She loved the water (river, lake or sea) but was never a fan of surfing. Canoe or speedboat, she just loved paddling her paws and snapping at the swell. She's helped numerous children and adults alike to get over their fear of dogs. She has been a shoulder to cry on for not only myself and L but even my mum (who is also really going to miss the old girl). Yes, she shed sooooo much hair and would dig holes in the sand behind me as I power-kited (usually resulting in me falling down one) but she was part of out little pack for over 13yrs and so will leave giant hole.

Too many memories to list them all ...

Over one year old...

Not even sure how this has happened but my wee-dude is now  over 1yr old. It took a lifetime for the dude to join our little family and now he's here, time is just flying by. He's turning into a proper little Weedude and is taking life by the horns - I need to start learning a few things from him. The down-side to this enthusiasm for life, are the number of bumps and bangs he's attracting. In fact, he pretty much has a black eye at the moment, after hell onto a piece of wood he was carrying to him mum yesterday.

Summer has pretty much ended and the days are getting shorter and the start of the day is definitely darker. I missed the last weekend of the season at the lake, as the house was full of the sniffles and temperatures. So sadly, I'll not be behind a boat (unlikely) until April next year - unless the guys at ExeWake are running in the colder month.
I think in the next couple of week the clocks go forward and so we're going to have to cope with a little person that thinks 5am is getting-up time. Pretty sure I'm not going to enjoy that one.

In other news, I have done something I could have never imagined happening. We have acquired a tiny little caravan. It's a 3m folding job and we've called her Kitty. I think she's about 35 or so years old. Very basic and in need of a little love but she has everything we need for 3 of us to sleep in and even room for the dogs if they're not in the car overnight. There is power, gas and even a funny little corner shower if we're willing to give it a crack. I just need to tidy up the electrics, get some gas and we're good to go. In fact, we're off on our first little adventure in her in a couple of weeks. Heading to Woolly for surf, beer and fresh air.

Think that's about it....apart from L being back at work and so the pennies are coming back in.

10 months of dadlife...

Bleddy hell, I'm still coming to terms with this entire dadding lark. Don't get me wrong; it's a brilliant happening but (obviously) it's a huge life changer.
Summer is about to hit and there are so many things/jobs that I want to get done but days just vanish and weekends just seem to slip away. I get up earlier and seem to go to bed still at the old regular time (most of the time) but the available hours seem to have shrunk. Even the most mundane of tasks now seems to be quite a challenge - hoovering the house now take a modicum of planning, rather than a simple fly around with the vacuum.
On a less boring front, the wee-dude is now 10-months old and has added to the challenge/joys of growing up. He's found his voice and can be VERY vocal when his needs require. Taking him swimming and he needs to make eye contact with everyone and wave at the majority (be be honest, this is the same wherever I take him). He can neither walk or swim but seems to think he can do both. He refuses to sit down for any length of time and always wants to move.
Outside of dadding (not sure there is such a thing now), I'm still managing to get a decent level of training in but my running has struggled to keep up. Wakeboarding is still happening and in fact I'm off to the lake after work (meeting L and the weedude there) for a bit of a rip and then a spot of camp-style cooking. Haven't surfed for a while but getting to the coast is a real challenge at the moment (time and money) but the gym and lake are keeping me sane.
Summer is just around the corner and by all accounts this week is set to be a cracker - which is why I'm at the lake tonight and this weekend.
All-in-all, things are ever evolving but good.