Minnie & Maisie Meet Uncle Patch
A saint between two sinners!
Patch Trying to escape the girls
Showing Patch the sights of Bridlington
Patch was my eldest son’s dog, I say ‘was’ because sadly he passed away recently after a short unexpected illness.
He was a rescue dog and from the day that my son and his girlfriend chose him he didn’t disappoint.
When he used to come and visit us, he loved it. He used to sleep in his own little bed in our room at night whereas at home he slept downstairs.
He was such a happy go lucky friendly dog and I think forever grateful for his freedom from the rescue kennels, but it was a bit of a shock the day he came to visit and found Minnie in situ!
I can’t imagine how he felt when he returned some weeks later to find Maisie here too!
Patch was a really good dog and put up with being ‘played’ with during his stays with us. He was tolerant with the girls and he let them play with his toys but he drew the line at them sharing his food! In fact he would eat Minnie and Maisie’s food as well as his own if we didn’t watch him.
Minnie and Maisie loved it when he came to visit,. Maisie would totally abandon Minnie, Patch was her new best friend. Minnie would be shy around him, flicking her tail and staying submissive and gentle, Maisie however would leap all over him inviting him to be in her ‘gang’!
Going on our hol’s!
Shortly before his death, Minnie & Maisie went on their first ever holiday with Patch. Andy my youngest son booked a 5 day break for us all at the Lake District August 2015 and we stayed in a 4 bedroom flat above a pub (perfect! ) Our aim was to climb Scafell pike, the highest mountain in England.
Considering none of us had ever climbed a mountain before I thought this was a BIG ask, but hey we would give it a try.
The morning after we arrived, we decided to climb a smaller mountain and see how we got on and half way up it I knew for sure there was NO way I was going to climb Scafell Pike!
From the ground looking up at ‘our’ mountain it looked lovely. I was picturing a steady incline with a gentle walk on a trodden path right up to the top……..WRONG. It was terrible. The first part was ok, we were all walking and chatting and the dogs were having a great time. It would have been obvious to anyone that we were novices, we didn’t have the right footwear, we never took a rucksack with all the things you are supposed to take, water, food, tent, whistle etc (we did have a compass ). All we took was a bowl for the dogs, a little bottle of water for the dogs and a packet of two fingered kitkats for us.
I was always of the opinion (what do I know) that water run off a mountain, I was wrong. I have never seen so much mud. We couldn’t avoid it, we had to splodge through it and so did the dogs. They thoroughly enjoyed it. Maisie especially, she was like a pig in muck! finding the deepest mud baths and literally wallowing in it.
We were up to our knees in mud. I didn’t want to give up and be a ‘party pooper’ we were only a third way up at this point so I ploughed (literally) on! What made the mud worse was the poo, sheep poo, loads of it. It had been dropped on top of the mud, they was no way to avoid it. It was bad enough us having to wade through it but the dogs were not just wearing it they decided it was scrummy and were eating it too. yukkkk!!!
Anyway to cut a long story short, me, my hubby, Lola and the dogs did not continue this torturous assault course to the top, we made it nearly to the top but it just got too slippy in the end. The last stretch involved being on my hands and knees, I’m sorry but I drew the line at that. Lola had already lost her shoe in the mud and was reduced to tears, all I wanted now was a lift from a passing helicopter to the bottom!
Patch being a slug!
Maisie being a pig!
Minnie’s a goat
Having a great time
Wiping the mud off!
Eating sheep poo!!!
Happy day’s
Lola & Minnie
Eating More Sheep Poo
After getting back down the mountain we made our way to the nearest pub to wait for the others who had actually gone to the top (my excuse anyway!)
We were absolutely filthy and fortunately it was a beautiful sunny day and we all sat in the pub garden. Even if it had been throwing it down there was no way they would have let us in!!!
Then while my husband went to get refreshments, when I looked down, to my horror I could see armies of sheep ticks on Minnie & Maisie’s hair. The garden was packed with people so I had to stifle my squeals. They are gross things, fortunately for me they take a long time inching their way down the hair to the skin to get their blood fix. I didn’t know what to do, I didn’t want to infest everyone around us so I didn’t feel right in flicking them off ! I also didn’t want to tell Lola what the problem was because she would have screamed and abandon them (exactly what I wanted to do).
So I zipped my lips and kept my watch on the ticks. M & M both wanted to be picked up, not a chance, no way. Minnie and Maisie looked like they had been sprinkled with black glitter, Patch didn’t look like he had a single tick on him!
Lola was sitting beside me waiting patiently for her much needed glass of lemonade when she said, ‘oh nanny you have some little black bugs on your back. I had to force myself to keep calm and keep my voice on an even pitch. Standing up I casually asked her to brush them off with her hand for me. But she said they were stuck on my T-shirt, the little blighters were clinging on! It took all my will power not to rip off my T-shirt in the pub garden and de-tick myself right then and there regardless of all the people surrounding me, one thought that ran through my mind saved me from embarrassment ‘had I got a clean bra on?
So I waited for my husband to come out, he sat beside me and I whispered about the ticks hoping for him to extract them from my person….he shot up as if I’d bit him and moved to the other side of the table shouting ‘urgh’. So if all the people weren’t looking at us before they certainly were now!