Daniel Oakley

Thanks to the folks on Contented Souls for raising our awareness of the difficulty in making comments, we have now fixed the problem. Thanks Sue, on Indigo Dream, for your feedback and for kind wishes re Eddie’s recovery.

We will be saying goodbye to little Eddie on Saturday and I am breaking my heart. Such a small puppy, but a huge character and a warm, snuggly and affectionate little chap. We shall really miss him. No more early morning cuddles as he slides otter like over the duvet, to reach your ear for an eager licking and snuffly greeting. His ecstatic rolling in the scent of the “pack” and finally wedging himself between us lying on his back, all four legs in the air, perfectly content and relaxed. Paul’s half-hearted cries of “Don’t let him attack me” ending in a soft “Eddie, Eddie, Eddie!” and a firm arm holding Eddie down into the duvet. What a softie – and Paul’s not much better!

I have just returned from a working trip up to Fleet near Blackpool to review the SCAS course “Animal Assisted Interventions”. Liz and family very kindly had Jo-Ann (and lab puppy “Edun”) and me (with “Little Eddie”) to stay the night. Liz has two dogs of her own – a Border Terrier called Rhona, and a “ginge” rescue terrier called Teddy. We were joined by Alison and her Buhund for the day.
Eddie loved being part of the pack and managed to avoid most of the bouncy antics from the girls. Here we all are returning from a walk in the woods.

I had to go for a job interview so Ginny, Gary, Hannah and Harvey kindly offered to have Eddie to stay for the afternoon. Hannah kindly let Eddie have a new toy “Mr Snow”

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Thank you for the lovely photos Ginny

Our friends Caz and Simon on Nene Pilot have been having a right old time with their pump-out toilet. They have a huge “L” shaped waste tank that sits along the swim and into the engine room. The tank wasn’t full when the freeze started but over the last few days the contents have obviously frozen and expanded – upwards. Si has been bailling to prevent an overflow in the bathroom, and we have lent them our spare porta-loo. Thank goodness for the thaw!

Has anyone else had any problems in this respect?

Really cold last night and the canal froze. We were all snug and warm on the boat though, and going about in t-shirts with the stove blasting out heat.
Paul’s filling and half a molar fell out last night, so we got him to the dentists for a quick repair. Eddie had been sick in the night so he went to the vet to make sure it was nothing serious.

All was well with Paul and Eddie, so we spent the rest of the day on the boat and had mince pies with the gang in the arm. Eddie had a great game with Patch, Vi’s jack Russel who is very well behaved. He even showed Eddie how to beg for biscuits

And aren’t they cute?

Pual, Eddie and I went up to Chris and Kerry’s to see Paul’s family. It was our first Christmas without Joan, so we all tried hard to make it fun and to distract each other, especially for Ray, Paul’s Dad. Bravely we got a game out and Paul and Chris have a look at the rules.

The game was Scattegories, a new version of a game I played as a girl. There seemed to be lots of opportunities to cheat, so we divided up into two teams boys v girls and gave it a go.

Eddie joined in the fun and he and Josh got on really well. It was hard to see who was more excited!

We had lots of laughs and it was good to see everyone, even though I wasn’t feeling too good. Back home the next day. Thanks to Chris, Kerry and Josh for having us, and thanks to the cat for putting up with Eddie.