School Trip to an Asylum

Well, the title sounds like a Goosebumps level horror novel, but I assure you, a good day was had. 

Long story short, my neice had to do an assignment for her high school photography portfolio - the theme of which is nature reclaiming old ruins. She was technically late on the project and my mum had offered to help her out, which actually meant that she wanted myself to help out. I was a bit salty about it originally, as I felt obliged to give up a planned quiet day (well, a trip to the vampires at Scotblood and a movie type quiet day) in order to prevent a falling out. 

However, I can't say no to my neices and nephews. They are my Achilles heel. And photography. On a cool dog walk? Well, so long as I survived the ghosts to get to the vampires on time, I was game.

Hubby and I trawled the internet to see if we could still access Banchory Hospital, the abandoned asylum. Its featured here a few times as the perfect place for a spooky walk that was injury and bad weather friendly. Well, we discovered that the planned demolition was on hold until March 2023, so we had time for visit.

I love my photography, so we discussed framing and leading lines. My neice didn't have her camera, and so borrowed mine which, whilst a little dated these days, is a bit more high tech than what she's used to. Or perhaps too old school as she really struggled with a manual zoom and having to look through a viewfinder. I'm not averse to crawling about in mud for a perfect photo, so it was funny to watch her try and work around not having a screen to get those shots without crawling about. Strangely enough, the tripod was also a highlight for her.

Whilst digital is a brilliant thing, the phone camera generation have really missed out on the basics. 

It wasn't all work and no play, as you can see with the ghost shots. I got my mum and neice to stand in as my ghosts whilst Missy waited perfectly still. My neice, who has played about with the effect before, loved the outcome whilst my mum was just amazed at the whole thing. My mum took a lot of "behind the scenes" photos and in them I'm in full director mode. Even as stills with no sound you can see me pointing out shots and indicating details to try and capture. 

Misson successful.

And yes. We did get to the vampires on time. 

Today was a wee trip to Perth to see the girls. No photos. Just lots of tea, cake and good company. The perfect sort of day.

That's all, been a busy weekend, but a good one. 

Up and Down the Country

A very, very quick post as its been a bit of an all-over-the-place kinda week. For the bulk of it, I've was down in Birmingham for a work conference. Owing to train strikes, my team drove, which was pretty horrendous as six hours is a very, very long time when your tired and in the car.

Whilst there, I was also partaking in a poster competition where I had to present about a project I'd been involved in for 10 minutes, including a Q&A. I placed third, so was very pleased with my podium finish! Although I was not so pleased about being called up on stage to receive my certificate - I'll always prefer the comfort of the shadows to the limelight!

It was a very late finish by the time I got home Thursday. My sister was there along with my hubby to congratulate me. We had organised a sneaky crafts weekend with hubby's parents long before I knew I was going to be at the conference, so the quick turn around was not something we had planned for!

Hubby had a half day at work, so Missy and I were treated to pancakes out before my sister broke her wool ban and visited hobby craft. It was only three balls, so I think she can be forgiven!

Then it was time to get up the road. Missy enjoyed having company in the back and we all chatted and caught up with life on the journey.

The main focus for the crafting was resin. So Saturday morning was spent mixing colours and hoping for the best as we poured the goop into various moulds. We then managed a nice afternoon dog walk before going out to see Disney on Ice. You really couldn't have asked for a nicer day!

It was an early start back today. Partly because my house hasn't been properly tidied since before I left for Birmingham, and secondly, my sister was doing the double journey and going home to Manchester. At time of writing, she's still driving home, and I don't envy her in the slightest for such a long journey. 

Overall a great wee weekend! Just a pity I could do with a few more days to finish recovering from the week! 

Pets as Therapy

Our friends over at Dog Furiendly have been working with Pets as Therapy recently, and asked us to write up a little article about the process. I've realised that we never really shared the end-to-end with you all, so for something a little different, and hopefully interesting, this was what we had to say!

 After years of being told that Missy had a perfect temperament for it, we took the plunge at the start of this year and had her assessed as a therapy dog. 

 So, who are Pets as Therapy? 

Pets As Therapy (PAT) is a national charity that send volunteers and their pets to visit care homes, hospitals, hospices, schools and prisons. Their aim is to simply bring smiles to many faces and give people of all ages a chance to chat to someone — and stroke and cuddle a friendly dog or cat. 

Who can apply? 

Anyone can apply, so long as our pet is at least nine months old, and you must have known them for at least six months. They are looking V for volunteers of all ages and walks of life. PAT Pets should be friendly and calm, healthy and well-groomed, and love being fussed over. Breed doesn't matter, with mutts just as welcome as pedigrees. 

It should be noted (at the time of writing) that PAT will not take dogs that are raw fed, owing to the poor health of a lot of the people being visited.  

Signing up

We knew from friends and relations that they operated in our area, so we went ahead and sent in our application, which is all done online. 

There are two types of membership, a solo volunteer or a joint volunteer account. For the humans, two different references are required per person volunteering, passport style photos, and there is also an annual volunteer contribution (payable once the assessment has been completed and passed). For the dogs, proof of up-to-date vaccinations are required as well as assurances that your dog is fit and healthy with a note of any medication your pet is on. For example, Missy is on antihistamines, owing to both a dairy and an environmental allergy. Lastly, we had to take Missy’s "passport" photo:

 

The Assessment 

 Once our application had been processed, we were granted an online account to track our progress. The first step was the assessment. 

Using our postcode, we were assigned to the nearest assessor and made contact. As covid was very much a concern at the start of the year, we had scheduled to do an outdoor assessment at a mutually agreeable location. Of course, it decided to both snow and rain on us that day and so, masks on, we relocated to an indoors location. 

Both dog and owner are assessed, so Missy got to do it twice as my husband also wanted to volunteer. 

 So, what is involved in an assessment? 

During the 45 minutes, the following must be demonstrated:

Walking on a relaxed lead, without excessive pulling and without the use of head collars, harnesses or check chains.  At the same time, the owner must demonstrate control of their dog on the lead whilst holding a conversation with the assessor. 

 The dog must be comfortable being stroked and handled and having their paws, tail and ears checked by both the owner and the assessor.

 The dog must be well groomed with short nails. They must also take a food treat gently without snatching from the assessor. 

 The dog must also display an appropriate response to a sudden noise or disturbance in the room whilst being tested. 

 Lastly, the owner must demonstrate that they can restrict their dog by holding its collar or holding him/her firmly and remove them from the room. 

 What behaviours will result in a deferral? 

 Jumping up

Pawing, or putting paws up

Pulling on the lead

Reluctance/backing away when being fussed 

Vocalisations, such as barking or growling

Mouthing

Licking

Taking food greedily

 It sounds a lot to cover in a short space of time, but the assessor was great at keeping all of us at ease and explaining simply what we had to do and why. Missy aced the lead walking and disturbance test (simply lying and the floor and looking rather perplexed at why the bottle full of treats had been thrown upon the floor). She allowed us to swiftly (and unexpectedly on her part) remove her from the room (I led her out whilst my husband showed off and simply carried her out the room). 

There was only one area I wasn't sure on - Missy’s absolute apathy about being handled. She'll very gently take her paw back once she's determined you've held onto it for long enough and will simply stand there stoically whilst being brushed. Such indifference proved to be a laughing point with the assessor, who claimed to have never met a dog so passively disinterested in being groomed. 

 We had a chat about what sort of volunteering we were interested in. I explained that we know from experience that Missy likes to snuggle up to the knees of the elderly and be petted, so we were leaning towards care home visits over classrooms, which we felt would be too over whelming for Missy. Our comments were met with nods, so there was clearly a box there that was ticked that we didn't know about. 

 After that, all three of us were handed our proverbial gold stars and we were told we had passed the assessment with flying colours. 

 

 Visits

 Once the assessment is processed, and the references supplied at the start have been received, you receive your welcome pack. All three of us received our ID batches and the paperwork explaining that we were approved by PAT. Then it was time to organise a visit. 

Whilst occasionally there will be an email sent from the area coordinator asking for volunteers for a specific event, your mostly left to organise things for yourself. From your postcode, you'll get a list of what's available in the area and from there you just email/call and organise something that’s mutually convenient. 

 I will stress two things here: 

One, you are under no obligation to purchase any of the PAT uniform for yourself or the dog. We haven't bought anything (if your representing PAT at an event you can borrow a uniform). Although I will confess the little dog vest is calling out to me! 

Two, it's entirely down to what suits you - you can visit places as often or as little as you want. And if somewhere didn't feel right, you’re under no obligation to go back. The only rule is that visits should not exceed 2 hours without a break for the dog. 

 The area rep also gave me a really good piece of advice: bring your own treats, and pretend the dog has allergies, otherwise people will try and fees them all sorts of things they shouldn't. 

 So, where have we visited? Covid put us to a rocky start, but we have stuck with the original plan of care homes. Each visit has had at least one stand out moment for us, but our first is probably my favourite:

On our first visit, we were a bit unsure about the process as we were mostly met with "oh, a dog, very nice, there, there". It just didn't feel particularly rewarding. That was until we met a very elderly lady who was stone deaf. She was absently watching the TV and, upon spotting Missy, just came to life. There was a delighted cry as she moved with a speed I did not expect and bodily hugged Missy. There was laughter and tears and many treats given. The staff explained that she had grown up in a farm and absolutely loved dogs. The visit only went up from there as we met a gentleman who used to breed greyhounds and multiple other characters who were happy to share stories whilst fawning over Missy. 

 Is it worth it? 

For myself and my husband, it's been a very rewarding experience. Firstly, we like people. We like talking to people and helping out where we can. So, this kind of volunteering is naturally really rewarding for us. 

However, we're also ridiculously busy people, and the flexibility has allowed us to fit in volunteering when it suits us. And that's been absolutely brilliant. I don't feel I'm letting anyone down or having to fit things in when it doesn't suit. Which makes me enjoy the visits more. 

 Lastly, we did get the opportunity to meet some other local PAT volunteers at Dogfest as we helped out at the stand. They were all lovely people, and we are very much looking forward to getting to know the community better!

 And what about Missy? As far as we can tell, she loves it. She drags us out the car and to the nursing home doors and wags her tail for the residents. Cuddles, treats and much praise are reward enough for her.

 

 To find out more about PAT, including testimonials and how to volunteer, check out their website at: Pets as Therapy

 

A Scarily Good Time at Duncarron

It's that time of year! The most wonderful time where there's parties for hosting and pumpkin seeds for toasting and guising out in the gandigow

There'll be scary ghost stories
And tales of the glories of
Halloweens long, long ago

No, sorry, sorry, got carried away there.

Well. Halloween this years been a bit odd. My eldest neice and nephew are too old to have family parties, and this year have made plans with friends. There was a brief glimmer of hope I may have seen the youngest ones, but alas, circumstances beyond anyone's control squashed that hope.

So. What are two Xennials that refuse to grow up supposed to do? (I finally found a generation category I fit into. All the rubbish stuff that's happened to millenials that I've experienced, whilst still having an Internet free childhood).

Well, we decided screw it, kids or no kids, let's dress up and go have fun anyway.

Duncarron were having a Halloween event that had been chalked up as a possible idea for all. So, I made Missy a new hat to complete the pirate outfit, we donned our own and away we went. 

We got there good and early before the worst of the crowds (read kids), so we could do the axe throwing and the archery without feeling like we had to hurry. We also did the pumpkin carving and (I at least) did the ghost house as Hubby hates them and won't go near one. There were nerf wars against the undead that were very popular with the kids that we didn't participate in (well, we all know its more fun being the zombie!) 

And it turns out Missy has a following from the pirate event last year. Cries of "Pirate Dogs back" followed us everywhere as we went about chatting to the employees and volunteers. It's safe to say we're becoming regulars! 

Although Missy needs a more effeminate pirate costume. Everyone assumes she was male! Perhaps some pink trim? Or a purple wool to the coat? 

On the theme of making things, I also managed to make my eldest neice a Monster High costume (Frankie Stien, specifically). 

Pop over to Instagram for the full look! And not a bad outcome seeing as I had the two dogs! Wee Ben went back on Thursday, he'd lost his target weight of 0.2kg and apparently has stopped begging at home. I'm waiting to see if it's because he's in a huff or if he's actually turned over a new leaf! 

Well, that's all for this weekend. We have a nice walk planned for tomorrow as well as seeigg friends, hence the early post. 

Till next week! 

Chaos at Cammo Estate

It's been another busy little week for Wee Ben. We're on day 12 now and, despite a few bumps in the road, it's going well. He has gotten comfortable enough to start pushing boundaries, and we've had to push back, but it's nothing out of the ordinary. We've also realised his eating schedule runs much later than ours, do we've ended up organising a "midnight" snack for him, which he heartily eats. Its all about compromise!

Although I think Big Sis' hope that he'd return from Bootcamp nice and trim isn't going to happen. His day 1 and day 7 weight was exactly the same, so he isn't pining away at least.... 

It's been a miserable week weather wise, which hasn't really helped to enamour Wee Ben to all these walks! We had to fend off zombies one day when a mist rolled in and didn't depart again. Missy was on the case chasing everything that moved and Wee Ben stuck by me, safety in numbers and all that. 

We've had a busy week. The highlight was a cheeky date night out for pancakes. Wee Ben has far more interested in watching the cars pass by than the food, which makes a change from Missys Paddington level Hard Stare(tm). There was errands too. One evening at hubby's brothers to lay carpet, and another scrubbing the house down for visitors. Our friends with the twins visited and they were very enamoured with Wee Ben. A little dog (check) that doesn't jump (check) and comes for cuddles (check), how greats that?

I asked if they wanted to pick up after him, and they quickly went off the idea of keeping him for themselves. Oh, to be 8 again. 

The week was finished up with much crafting (to be unveiled next week) and a trip for all the fur cousins at Cammo Estate. It was raining, but that never stops Maisie, and the three dogs were happily doing their own thing. 

Wee Ben doesn't particularly like Maisie. She's a bit too in-your-face and bouncy for him. The final straw was when she came charging back to us, misjudged her jump over Ben and basically ninja kicked him in the face. After that her stayed well out of her way! 

Another short post from me. Whoever said that 2 dogs was as easy as 1 was lying! We're all knackered! 

House Guest

I'm starting to think I should open up a kennel and start charging! After having Maisie earlier this year, we have Wee Ben joining us for a stay whilst my sister and her family go on vacation. 

We have previously had Ben over for a long weekend and lessons have been learned all round. This time we put him in the guest room across the hall from us, and also put Missy in there, and he's been sleeping absolutely fine. He's also learned his lesson about food, and whilst still horrendously slow to eat, is finishing his bowl and not playing any daft games about getting different food choices. So it's gone much better already than last time.

We've moved into Autumn and the weather hadn't been great, so we've kept adventuring to a minimum (Ben still dislikes walks, that hasn't changed!). My mums birthday was yesterday, so she came round and we all ate out at the carvery and today was getting the garden put to bed for the year. As I said, no very exciting in terms of adventures! 

I have managed some sewing (amongst the Christmas crafts) - a dressing gown for Wee Ben. Missys was comically large on him, and he could walk right ou the neck, so that wouldnt do. And what better for our little bumpkin but a pumpkin one? Certainly fits the season, and it was nice to get away from the Christmas colours for a moment!

And that's really been us! Just a quick post this week, hopefully I'll have some more exciting tales to tell next week! 

Sailing to New Adventure!

 

We're just back from a very last-minute break to the Isle of Bute. Why Bute? It was about a 2 hour trip to get there, the accommodation was very affordable and we wanted somewhere remote where we could throw our phones in a drawer and just claim bad signal. Our research prior to booking was spending about an hour googling for things to do, double checking the per policy for the ferry and then hitting book.

So we really went into this one blind!

We actually arrived a day early. Owing to weather warnings for the day we were to travel, the host of the airbnb contacted us and offered us a complimentary extra night to avoid risking the ferry being cancelled. Of course, I received this message on the morning of our new arrival date (because I would much rather stress about last minute packing than stress about my holiday being cancelled and being stranded in Largs). So we arrived late Tuesday. Got orientated to the place and went to bed.

Having all Wednesday was a bonus, and we explored Rothesay. There were many highlights; a beautiful walk along Bogany Wood and hiding from the rain and watching the soggy birds in their aviary's at Ardencraig Garden. The old Victorian Garden had been listed as closed, so we were surprised to see it open and were very relieved to wander about the greenhouses as the rain passed us by.

The most memorable highlight though was probably Bute Museum. We enquired about Missy and were told that they were dog friendly on the condition that the dog would go into the Natural History section. This seemed an odd caveat to us, so we obliged and trotted Missy over to the side with all the taxidermy. She wandered straight in and instantly tried to dislocate my shoulder in her enthusiasm to say hello to a stuffed seal.

"Lot o' dogs wont go in there. There 'ackles go right up an' they start growlin'." We were informed by the gentleman at the till. Missy insisted she be properly greeted and then we went about our visit. It was very interesting and focused on the history of the island, including the presence of an iron age fort. I admired some embroidery bits whilst hubby was rather enamoured with the midget submarines but then we did the natural history bit and, honestly, that darn seal. I couldnt get Missy to leave it be. And trust me, at 20kg of solid muscle, "senior" or not, if she wants to stay put then hell nor high water will move her.

It was just weird that she wasnt interested in the rest of the taxidermy. Oh, of course the loose fox tail on the touch table got an excited glance, but the nicely mounted squirrel was clearly too dead to be of interest and the birds failed to gain a second glance. There was even a sealskin you could touch which she casually sniffed and moved away from. But that seal...

I conceded in the end. It was exposed to the museum and didnt have a no touch sign, so surely a small sniff would do no harm. Well honestly, it was like I'd just handed her Christmas, tail wagging she sniffed all over its face and whiskers before, with a big sneeze, she'd gotten whatever curiosity it was out of her system and she was happy to leave it be.

"Oh aye," our stoic gentleman at the till nodded as we explained why we were now buying the dog a cuddly toy seal, "that things bin petted by 'unners o wains - dunt surprise me yer dogs all keen o' it."

In hindsight, it probably smelled of cheese puffs, or some other greasy afternoon snack!

I've mentioned before that we are terrible at rambling. So much so that I officially banned ourselves from it after cutting myself up on barbed wire carrying Missy over fences. So it was with great trepidation that we started our next day. We warmed up into the rambling with a small circular walk to the Kingarth Stone Circle. We were almost immediatly lost, but between Google maps and Pokemon Go, we figured out the route and safely made it there.

Emboldened, we continued to the next step in our plans; the Dunagoil Hill Fort (aka the bronze age fort we'd seen mentioned at the museum). The directions were a bit vague at best, but we forged on and found ourselves idling at  dead end. The turning circle said "Strictly No Parkining" and yet we had been promised a car park at this point. The heavens had opened, so we squashed ourselves out of the way and enjoyed lunch whilst we pondered our next step.

Just as the rain cleared, another car arrived, pulled up into the layby and some well equipped ramblers emerged. We both squinted at the layby and, sure as day, there was a postage stamp sized "P" on the sign post. The car was promptly moved and we set off in the opposite direction.

There is very little left in the way of ruins at the fort. However, the stunning scenery more than makes up for the lack of obvious history. Missy has mountain goat on her fathers side, so easily ambled over the rocks and weaved through hillocks as we carefully inched our way along.

We found some caves (but didnt explore too deeply in them) and watched the clouds roll across the sea. There may be little in the way of foundations, but you can still sense that this was a place of importance. The rain had yet to return so we added on St Blanes church, which was technically the ruin the car park was for.

A very successful day.

Friday was a bit of a mixed bag. The weather was more severe, with heavier showers, but we decided to make a go of it anyway. It started well; we found the Midget Submarine memorial which hubby particularly wanted to see. We decided that Missy needed a bit of a rest day, so drove over to Etterick bay with the intention of doing the beach walk and seeing the bird hide.

Intention being the operative word. No sooner had we set off when I heard hubby swear and indicate that, just ahead of us, a dog had jumped the wall and was now running rampant amongst a flock of sheep. Well, if nothing else positive can be said of us, neither hubby nor I can just walk away from a situation where an animals welfare is at stake. So Missy was handed over to the kids who were now watching their father chase after the dog and we went to join in.

Let me tell you. I have far more respect for sheepdogs. I find livestock intimidating, and when a whole flock charges towards you, its quite frightening. Nonetheless. It took way longer than I'd have liked, but we managed to coerce the dog to its owner and it was caught. The owner was very grateful, to say the least, and thankfully no sheep were harmed and its the wrong time of year for them to be in lamb. Missy was very unimpressed at having been abandoned with the kids and we went our separate ways. Now 40 minutes behind schedule, we started for the bird hide. And the heavens opened.

You know once your pants are wet its time to give up. So we abandoned the plan, went back to the flat to get warmed up and dry before having another pass at the day.

We had decided to keep Mount Stuart in our pockets as an emergency option. Dogs are permitted on the grounds only, which was why we'd initially held off on it, but we decided that it was worth it to try and salvage the day a little. We got there, paid, took the photo above and then the heavens opened. Thankfully there were plenty of trees to shelter under so, once it passed, we made our way about the suggested trail.

The grounds were absolutely beautiful - autumn is creeping in and everything has begun to change colour. The made our way along the private stretch of beach and looped back through the forest. We hid from some more rain and decided that we should quit whilst the going was good and play board games for the rest of the day.

Which we did. To the background sound of Missys snores. Which is a rather good way to spend an evening, and to finish off a holiday.

We had planned on spending a bit more time on the island today but, after popping into the few shops we had missed in Rothesay, decided that we were simply delaying the inevitable, so we may as well catch the ferry and make our way home.

Would we do Bute again? Absolutely! We've left with a much longer to do list than when we arrived! Although perhaps we'll go again "on season", when more things are open and the weather is (perhaps) a bit kinder!