Hello everyone

Well, talking of Halloween, something else happened today when I took Billie (the dog I am minding) out for her walks. The morning walk was okay - in fact, it was wonderful - I felt glad to be alive. (which I don't always feel!) The Autumn leaves carpeted the whole street where Billie lives and we had a great time running through them! I was glad I had brought my camera along. The colours were amazing!

The evening walk was not so good! We took a little detour to another park I know. I thought it would be a nice change for Billie. Her people had warned me not to let her off the lead,especially if I took her out of her usual environment, but I thought she would be safe enough in this little park. It's more like a big round garden and it's called 'the Ring' for that reason. There are only two gates so I wasn't too worried and decided to let Billie off her lead for a little run! It was NOT a good idea! A banger went off (sounded like a gunshot to me, so can't imagine what it sounded like to Billie since mutsies have such sensitive hearing!). Well, the poor thing lost her reason and bolted for one of the gates! I bolted after her! She was running down the road and images of her getting squashed by a car kept flashing through my mind. (Her owner is 76 and told me if anything happened to Billie, she would go to the grave herself!).

Although she is old and has arthritis, the fright must have given her enough adrenalin to scoot away from me - there was nothing for it but to jump forward and grab her fur! She pulled away and I landed flat on my face! Nosebleed, grazed chin, cut lip and frayed jeans!! Luckily, my teeth were okay and my nose wasn't broken! Thankfully, Billie seemed to realise what had happened and came back for me, licking me and looking very contrite! I don't know what I'd have done if she hadn't come back! It doesn't bear thinking about! It wasn't her fault but I certainly felt like a right idiot! There were kids playing football and they had a great laugh! :-( I guess it was funny seeing a 13 stone, size 18 woman making a running jump to catch an athritic dog who was hobbling quickly away from her! I learnt my lesson though - I should listen to the dog's people! They know their own animal, after all and why should I know any better!

Nancy, I know how you feel about Margox. We had a lovely dog called Trixie for 16 years, in the family home. My father (RIP) adored that dog and was devastated when she died in January 2001. Dad was also diagnosed with cancer the same week, and losing Trixie did nothing to help his spirit. We were all really upset about Trixie but nobody showed any grief over it because they felt it would trivialise Dad's news. Once, I did express my sorrow, and my brother, in his shock and anger over Dad's diagnosis, told me I cared more about the dog than about Dad.(Not true) I know he was upset and didn't mean it but it has stuck with me ever since. Anyway, that same week, I found a little Jack Russell on the roof of our apartment block. I called him 'Fiddler' as in 'Fiddler on the Roof'and I told Dad about him. It seemed like fate, and I hoped that Dad would take him in and the dog would help to take his mind of his illness and off Trixie's death. Anyway, Fiddler lived there happily for 6 months, but Dad got iller and Mam couldn't cope with a lively pup so I had to find him a new home. My brothers' all have children and dogs and cats and gerbils so I had to put him into kennels for a while. I eventually found him a home with some people who lived across the road from my apartment. He lived there for 3 years and the best thing was that I got to take him out for his walks every day. I also paid his vet and food bills as his owners were elderly. Unfortunately, the man of the house died and his 78 year old wife was hospitalised so I had to find poor Fiddler another home. I eventually found him a home with a lovely woman and her family and he has another little terrier called Jasper as company. They keep me updated on his progress and have said I can see him whenever I want but I don't because it would break my heart to leave him again. I really, really, really miss him and that's why I have taken up dog walking in the local area. I know some people will say,'it's only a dog' but dogs can become like family too and like my father before me, I always feel a connection with them. (My hubby thinks I am crazy!) :-)

TVC15 - We do have pumpkins here now, and people cut the faces out and have them in their windows. It's a fairly new thing in Ireland in the past few years though - we certainly never had pumpkins when I was a child! I didn't even know what one was until about 10 years ago, in my 20s and I only tasted pumpkin soup for the first time last week! I liked it! I am glad your cats don't get upset about the noises of Halloween but kids probably don't get up to as much devilment there as they do here! The bonfires are a nightmare too, and last year in our local area, somebody blew a banger off in a dog's face, injuring him dreadfully, someone else set fire to a donkey in a field and my brother took in a dog who had a damaged eye - animal rescue think it was banger or firework damage! I wish it was all over for another year, if not forever!

My Gosh JawJaw! I don't blame you hating Halloween. What a horrible experience! The cheek of these people thinking they have the right to come near anyone elses's place and distress innocent people! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH! It makes me so angry.

Dotsie, do you mean, they wrap the toilet paper around the trees??? I don't really get that one! Why? I think I would prefer it to bangers and fireworks though! :-) All in all, Halloween sounds nice in your neck of the woods. I guess the trick and treating part is cute though. We do that here too. My 6 year old niece Amy is dressing as a Spanish Dancer, My 3 year old niece Sarah is dressing as Peter Pan (she said she doesn't want to be Tinkerbelle!), my 5 year old nephew Conor is dressing as Harry Potter and his little brother two and a half year old is Spiderman! Soooo cute!

My gosh! Just realised how long my post is! I do go on, don't I???

It's 10 pm here so I will say 'Oíche Mhaith' = Good night!

Clairey xxx