‘Just naming storms is a very negative view,’ I thought as I stood on the deck looking at a beautiful morning dawning across Pewsey Vale. ‘Surely heatwaves and nice days deserve a name too.’
My mind was clearly over-active this morning. I’d recovered from ‘Clock Lag’.
The dogs were circling. Moog stopped and looked at me, most likely thinking, ‘Forget naming heatwaves, it’s getting light, it’s time for breakfast.’
Little did he know that he was in for a much-needed deep-grooming session with Karen this morning.
There is a reason he gets called ‘Muddy Moog’. We’ve never had a dog who manages to get so scruffy and dirty. He must have had a misspent youth trying to learn dog agility, when all he really wanted to do was chase anything that moved faster than a snail. Self-preservation was low down on his list of priorities.
No matter what the weather is, he manages to get debris stuck in his coat. The slightest sign of water and he’s soaked through, and given the chance he would just drip-dry.
Karen had gone to work when I got back from table tennis, so I was greeted by a ‘not-so-muddy Moog’. He had been bathed, dried and groomed, and looked very smart.
“We’d better go on a clean walk today, mate,” I said to him after admiring Karen’s handiwork. “We ought to try to keep you looking smart for at least the rest of the day.” In truth, he would need to be wrapped in a protective suit to keep clean. He can get scruffy just walking around the house.
The beautiful morning was short-lived. By mid-morning clouds filled the sky, and once I’d had my lunch it was raining again. I definitely wasn’t walking Moog in the rain today. We would wait until it stopped later.
I’d been beaten by everyone I played at table tennis, and I was thoroughly disappointed with my performance. So I decided I ought to achieve something today, and I consulted ‘the list’.
Karen had thoughtfully listed a couple of jobs I could do indoors that didn’t need good hand-eye coordination or good footwork, the two skills I severely lacked this morning.
I chose to put the whiteboard up in the study. After my recent ‘successes’ with putting up mirrors and pictures, I thought this would be a quick win. My shrewd plan was to pick a job with an end. The whiteboard was a fixed size, whereas the list was endless.
I went to find the drill. What to write on the whiteboard could wait until tomorrow.
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