Watering hole

Apart from 'thrilling' essential (but non-dog friendly) trips such as to the supermarket or the hospital, we don't use the car that often; consequently, Jack hasn't been in the car that often. But this morning we were going across the moor to collect some rocks I'd sourced on Freecycle, & decided it was time for Jack's next lesson in vehicular etiquette; we've now got a new, non-slip seat cover for him, & so whilst hubby was grappling with that, I was grappling with getting the harness on Jack. He knew that Something Was Up, yet in spite of having his harness on he seemed to think that he was about to be abandoned, so that by the time we got him loaded in the car he was a quivering, whimpering wreck. And things didn't improve once we got on the road: Jack kept fidgeting & whining, & when he wasn't doing that he was constantly panting like a train building up a head of steam - & since he was also straining like mad against his restraint, every so often there would be a strangulated choking sound; all of this was going on in my right ear (it wasn't so bad for the chauffeur hubby: don't tell him I said this, but he's 'a little hard of hearing' in his left ear); & although Jack couldn't reach either of us, he still kept kicking the backs of our seats. What should have been a pleasant outing turned into a bit of an ordeal for all three of us, so we were relieved to find this parking spot, thinking that giving Jack a bit of a run around would help to calm him down.
Ha! He was too scared to get out of the car, & no sooner had hubby coaxed him out & given him the full length of his lead than this trio of ponies materialised, sending Jack scurrying back to cower behind the car. Hubby got plenty of exercise, but Jack was having none of it: he wasn't interested in sticks, stones, mud, holes, or anything else hubby tried to tempt him with, & every attempt to haul him over to look at something, Jack dug his heels in & refused to leave the refuge of me & the metal box. There was a really cold wind (hence the waves on the pond) up on the moor, so in the end we set off for home; the journey back was equally traumatic for Jack, punctuated by him having a major panic when we stopped off to collect the rocks & hubby was briefly out of his sight.

What a wimp; so much for our visions of a faithful hound romping around in the wide open spaces we have around here, thereby encouraging us both to get out & about more. Next time we take him out, he's having some of that Rescue Remedy first.

And so much for my blip the other day where I was extolling the virtues of the pair of bullfinches who watch out for one another. The greenfinches I was so pleased to welcome to the diner have turned into a right pair of thugs, hogging the seed feeder, & chasing every other bird off: this morning Mrs Bullfinch was tucking into her breakfast when along comes a greenfinch, but instead of coming to her rescue, Mr Bullfinch flew off in a fright, closely followed by his deserted mate, leaving the solitary greenfinch a clear field.
On a brighter note, Mrs Sparrow has reappeared! Goodness knows where she's been all this time, but this morning there she was tapping out her greeting on my window; I expect she was saying: "Have you met our new neighbours, The Greenfinches, yet? They're a terribly rough family ?.."

Things we've learned about Jack
He's scared of ponies
And wide open spaces
And the car
His wimpiness knows no bounds

p.s. We had been planning on getting a couple of bottles of 'starter' water from that pond, but having witnessed the ponies peeing & dribbling in it, we decided that our pond could do without that sort of start. But we've another Freecycle date on Monday, this time to collect some pond plants; hopefully she won't mind a few scoops of water landing in the bucket along with the plants.