Everyone needs a Marley

I felt really blue and fed up when I got up yesterday morning.  I had, had a fab Saturday with all 3 of my best friends - lakeside shopping with Emma in the day and bingo (yes bingo - such fun!!!) with Natalie and Belinda (and our other friend Lorraine) in the evening, so felt a bit flat on Sunday.  Anyway I sat in my pj's on the sofa having a coffee, watching TV and feeling sorry for myself (the boys were at their dad's for the weekend) when Marley jumps up for a cuddle......

Just look at that face!!

and those eyes!!

How could I feel fed up after a cuddle like that!  So Belinda rang and off we went to the meadows......

Which is now a lake!!

I cannot believe we went from this last week...

to this......

Marley gradually started to enjoy the water so long as there was a stick to chase, Busta on the other hand was not so keen!  Luckily half the meadow was high enough not to be affected by the water and so Marley and Busta had a fab time playing their favourite game of tug of war!

It was such a beautiful day yesterday, a welcome relief from the snow and wind and rain and the sunshine was so warm, albeit short lived now that we are in stormy weather again today!

I will leave you with a photo of Marley playing his favourite indoor game, which basically involves putting a tennis ball in my lap and waiting for me to throw it off for him!

TTFN 

the REAL Marley and me xx

The face of innocence!

This is the face that greeted me when I walked into the front room earlier

and this is what was on the floor next to him.......

A very chewed up tealight!!!

I've had two tealights on one of my side tables for weeks with no problem and then I caught him eyeing them up this morning and warned him away but when my back was turned this afternoon he just couldn't resist!  I will so look forward to waxy poos over the next couple of days!!!  He once ate a WHOLE bag of sugar that he dragged out of a kitchen cupboard, and his poo's ended up looking like green jelly!!!!!!

So the snow is hanging about and I am not enjoying it one little bit!  I have been lighting my fire for coming up to 3 months now and am just about sick of it (oh how I long for central heating!!!), Marley loves it though....

I don't think the cats are enjoying it either, they are spending a lot of time indoors snuggled up somewhere warm and I feel so heartless when I have to turf Maisie out of a night, but if I don't (which I didn't the other night) what greets me in the morning is deposits of poo and vomit NICE!!!  Poppy and Dotty seem to be very toilet trained but then they are only 1 and 3 I suppose and Maisie is a granny at the ripe of age of 17 if only they sold incontinence knickers for cats!!!

Poppy curled up on the sofa next to the fire

Poppy coming to see me in bed last night!

The other thing Maisie does if you let her stay in overnight, is that she insists on sleeping on my pillow right next to my head!  I have on many occasions woken up to her looking at me nose to nose breathing in my breath, it is seriously a very frightening experience!!!

So onwards we go in the horrible weather!  I have been trying to cheer myself up with the thought that by the time the snow goes we will be in February which is nearly March and April and we can hopefully start looking forward to some warmer weather....well we can hope!  

I think I will leave you with a nice summery photo to warm your cockles!!!

How lovely to see a bit of green!!

TTFN 

The REAL Marley and Me xx

It's Snowing!

Happy Snow Day from Hazel Cottage

 that is the actual name of my house and purely a coincidence - it wasn't named after me!!

So it arrived today in full force!  I am not a lover of snow, not the actual stuff which can be quite fun, but the chaos is causes.  If I can't travel, I can't work and I don't get paid!  Still having made it to work this morning at least and with the kids home from school early I decided to make the best of it!

Marley LOVES the snow!

Marley behaves like a dressage horse in the snow, he loves it and so does flash she was doing a good job of chasing snowballs in her garden this afternoon!

So because I am such a fun Mum (!!) I dragged the sledge out from the back of the shed, wrapped us all up and headed on over to Natalie's, which is 2 streets away, for a cuppa!!  I left Marley at home in the warm with a lovely chew, I didn't think I could handle him on the lead whilst pulling the sledge!

Bobby

Bobby and Charlie

So whilst I have made the most of the snow today I am not looking forward to it tomorrow or the next day!  Please let it thaw Sunday night so that normal life can resume on Monday!

TTFN

The REAL Marley and Me

xx

No words.........

Other than, it was my fault!!!

When will I learn?!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Marley - The most neglected dog in the world!

If Marley could talk - or type - this is what he would say to you.....

My favourite armchair!

"My name is Marley and I am the most neglected dog in the whole world!  I am allowed to relax and sleep on the sofa but I am not allowed on the beds - surely this is an infringement of my canine rights!!!  My master feeds me the most expensive food there is but she only feeds me twice a day can you believe that!  Therefore I have to eat every thing in sight to keep myself going, she often harps on about chocolate and raisins being poisonous but I don't know what that means so I just eat them anyway, how does she expect me to survive otherwise!

I am allowed to go on three outings a day THREE!!!!  What I don't understand is why I can't go out ALL day, I mean I go to the door every single time my master moves but she doesn't seem to get it!!!  And when we do go out to see Flash or Busta, what is the problem with rolling in fox poo we LOVE it!!!!

Look at the poo Flash rolled in today, it's stuck in her collar and everything - what's not to love?!!

And can you believe that sometimes my master leaves me at home on my own for 2 hours!!!!!!!!!!  How dare she that is pure neglect I should be going EVERYWHERE with her!!!"

So....that is what I think Marley thinks!  He is the most well looked after and loved dog there is next to Flash and Busta and yet he behaves like he's on the brink of starvation and locked in a cupboard all day!  I still love him but seriously sometimes he's impossible to live with!

On a brighter note, look what I got free with his food this month (that costs me £50 per month BTW!!!!)

My very own James Wellbeloved Flask - what more could a girl ask for!!!

TTFN

The REAL Marley and Me xx

The one with the Christmas pudding!

Raisins in any shape or form are highly toxic to dogs!  Especially when they are consumed in a family size (serving 8 people) Christmas pudding!

Queue call to the vet to see if I need to take immediate action or if I can wait to see if he shows any symptoms of dying!  So off we speed to doggy A & E!  Marley thought it was great, what an adventure going out in the car in the middle of the day!  And how fabulous to arrive in this building where there are lots of people so pleased to see him!!!!!!!!!!

Now please note that Marley opened the cupboard door where the f***ing food waste bin is kept while I was upstairs for about 15 seconds and in this time managed to drag the bin out of the cupboard and pretty much swallow the pudding whole!

So the procedure involved Marley having an injection to induce vomiting, apparently he brought up a significant amount of unchewed Christmas pudding as well as some turkey - so festive!!!  Then he was given charcoal to soak up any toxins that might be floating around (they has to mix in food because apparently charcoal in the only thing in the world that he won't eat!), he had to have a drip to ensure he was hydrated and had to have an overnight stay.  Marley was in heaven having undivided attention!!!!!!

So when I call the lovely vets in the morning the overnight nurse told me what a treasure he was (!!!) and that he was doing well and was full of beans so much so that when she let him out in the yard for a run he went straight for the black bin SERIOUSLY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Several blood tests later he was back home not feeling sorry for himself particularly but in amongst his usual boundless energy he did actually sleep quite a lot over the next couple of days as well as finding some chocolate coins from somewhere WHERE THE HELL DID HE FIND THEM and consuming them!  this time I decided to see if dying would occur, it did not!!!!

Marley trying to chew his bandage off!

A very tired Marley!!

So the lesson here is that raisins (and grapes) are highly toxic to dogs!  The consumption of them can result in kidney failure and then death, the vets do not know why this happens and you must act immediately!  Apparently just 3 raisins can cause a fatality!  Luckily Marley is right as rain, he never showed any symptoms of renal failure and he may have been just fine without the treatment but I am glad I acted and prevented any harm!

The food waste bin is now on the worktop behind my plate rack where he absolutely cannot reach it!  If he does I am sending him away to a lab for tests because it would mean he had special powers!!!

Happy new year!!#

Oh and ALWAYS get pet insurance!  Marley's luxury stay cost £266 thankfully I only have to pay the £80 excess, thank the lord for pet insurance!!!

TTFN

The Real Marley and Me xx

Old(ish) Dog, New Tricks!

It is just 3 more sleeps till Christmas and Marley is going through an ULTRA annoying stage!  Where do I begin this week!!!!!!

How does he know the sound of the wrapper on a block of cheese!!!!  He can be fast asleep in the front room and as soon as I get the cheese out he is there beside me waiting for his tasty morsel!

How does he know when it's 6.30 am EVERY morning!  How does he know that if he comes to me beside the bed and barks he knows I will shout at him, so instead he thinks it is really clever to shake his head from side to side so that his lips clap together in the hope that this will rise me from my slumber!  I have taken to laying really still with my eyes closed pretending to be asleep until he gives up and slopes back downstairs!!

Marley watching a very interesting documentary about snow foxes!

But this morning was the piniccle of his annoying behaviour!  My elderly cat Maisie got shut in yesterday while I was out at work and did just a little wee on the (new) landing carpet, I couldn't be cross with her because she is 16 years old and they haven't invented tenna ladies for cats yet!  So I mopped it up and then today I will scrub it with biological washing powder because this will prevent any of the cats re-offending!  So there I was at 6.30 this morning comatose after a particularly hellish week, when I was woken to the sound of what sounded like water leaking on the floor somewhere, I shot out of bed to catch Marley with his leg cocked weeing up the landing wall and all over the carpet!  "I am speechless you bastard dog" I whispered venomously in an attempt not to wake the boys up!!!!!!  WTF!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  He went quietly downstairs with his ears down!  Apart from marking his scent where the cat had weed I can only think that the WHOLE packet of willy wonka gobstoppers he consumed contributed to his out of control weeing episode as this is not something he has done since he was a cute NOT annoying puppy!!!

So with Christmas just a few days away I am unable to put ANY presents under the tree until the day because we all know they will be consumed over night, and on Christmas eve he will have to bunk in with me in my bedroom so that he doesn't attack Father Christmas in the night and eat all the presents that are left!

Merry Christmas everyone!!!!

The REAL Marley and Me xxx