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Monday the 25th of December 2022 - and the 14th blog!
Photos from a wonderful Christmas! (The last photos this year.)

We arrive at my son's house and as usual, their Cavalier King Charles does not exist for my two!!!
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My grandchild has been given a Gaming stool which was hidden in the shed so he sits in it before it is carried inside.
.Solo is so tolerent! (He wears a light coat inside as he has a painful hip or back that is from a bad fall last winter and seems to have come back again after a jump that failed and he fell down on his back on the hard kitchen floor. Warmth always helps such pains.)
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Here he is comforted! They always sit on their travel rug.

Difficult for my grandson to reach the presents under the tree when Dasher has to kiss him all the time! He is a VERY loving dog and a small human within his reach is a dream come true!!!!

Solo is wrapped up in Choko's rug beside my chair as we eat!

Dasher is always hoping for titbits and food accidentally dropped and here he is looking at me across the table!

Thursday the 15th of December
More snow!
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Dasher can still find plenty to sniff at, even when everything is covered in a thin layer of snow!

Wearing his Santa costume all December! Thank you so much Dorthe for sewing it for him!
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Dasher looking cute beside me while I eat breakfast!

Friday the 25th of November
Solo is 10 years old today - I can hardly believe it!

Tuesday the 22nd of November
They don't hesitate to walk into the snow if the smell seems worth it! However by Wednesday, all the snow had melted away - luckily!

Monday the 21st of November
Boy did we get snow last night!!!

Early morning and it is still snowing
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See how deep it is up to his hock!
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Above, the dogs run by the house wall where there is no snow!

A petunia on the patio is still surviving!
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Above, the dogs get exercise by running around the house 5 times.
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Above left: Dasher finds something to sniff up in the apple tree!

Dasher gets snow in his ear?

Saturday the 12th of November
The dogs and I visit for the day a big summerhouse the family has rented for 4 days! Some 600 meters from the beach.
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Walking to the beach.

On the beach - no sun but not cold or windy.
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There is a swimming pool in the summerhouse that the Grandchildren just loved! (And scared me, see left!)

Solo is cringing! Even though the water is warm, they have no intention of swimming!

Solo gets a good hug! They have known each other "forever"!

Sunday the 6th of November
Solo enjoys some family love!
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Tuesday the 11th of October
I go to a familiy birthday party with the dogs. There is another dog there, a lovely Cavalier King Charles called Choko, which took Solo a few visits to accept as all non-sighthounds are TRASH in his eyes and should be banished from this earth! Now my two are thoroughly used to him, so they totally IGNORE him, which only makes him MORE fascinated in them! But first, we have to travel there!

Waiting for the bus.
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Above left: Travelling on the bus to the train station. Right: Waiting for the train at the station.

Above: Travelling on the train. (We get a lift from the station, but no photo.)

Above : Arriving and Choko naturally wants to greet his playmates, but Dasher just turns away! .Dasher and Solo do their best to pretend that Choko doesn't exist!
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Above right: Later on, Choko cleverly finds a toy and shows he is ready for play, but Solo is NOT interested!

They couldn't care less about his silly toy!
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Above left: Enjoying Grandchild adoration! Right: Trying to ignore Choko.
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Choko checks out their travel rug! Right Solo enjoying his two favourite persons!
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Choko is always sniffing poor Solo! He cannot understand why they do not want to play.

Above: A sunny morning walk next day. Coats from Togs for Dogs!

Friday the 7th of October
Solo is saying: "Get a move on, I'm standing beside it, right?" Whilst I want to take a "pumpkin photo"!
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A cardboard box came today but it was NOT the Hike food they had hoped it was!
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So Solo wrapped himself up under the warm blanket! While Dasher sits and thinks about it!

Above, sleeping together in the kitchen, I lift up the blanket and here they are!

Above, Solo has taken Dasher's favourite toy!

Thursday the 29th of September
Solo looking funny with his favourite rope!

Wednesday the 14th of September
A delivery of dog food from HIKE this morning. Solo was not in ANY doubt as to what was in the box when we got home from the dog walk! (He swiped the other little parcel, which was carefully laid in top, over to one side!)
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They help unpack!
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Above: THIS is what they are looking for! Hike always put a free treat with the order!!!

Monday the 12th of September
Starting a mad game!
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Right: Solo munching a plum! I have to dash out and pick all the windfalls every day before they come out or they will eat themselves silly with them otherwise!

A dog circle!

Dasher seems almost completely deaf now and only can hear me if I really shout very loudly - the poor soul. But I use a lot of sign and body language. Early this morning, he never heard me enter the kitchen and I found him still asleep in his dog bed like a baby!

Saturday the 27th of August
Below: Solo enjoying some sun.
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All I could see of Dasher this morning was one back leg and his tail!

Wednesday the 10th of August
Yesterday the dogs and I took the bus to the nearby station, then the Inter City train to Copenhagen, then changed to another train line in order to visit some good friends who had invited us for lunch! The station I had to change at (Ny Ellebjerg) is simply HUGE and still being built and extended and I got lost last time walking MILES to find my way so they very kindly visited it to see for themselves and then made a video film showing me where to go! WHAT a service! It worked well and I would never have been able to find the next train without their help as there are hardly any signs up. I hate this station! The dogs and angels all the way. Below, waiting for the bus to the station.
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Above right: Riding on the bus.
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Above sitting on the Intercity train that I had to run to catch as my bus was late arriving at the station so quite nervewracking but I just made it up on the platform as it trundled in.
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Above left, on the second train called "S train". Right: The delicious lunch!

Above, lying beside me while we ate lunch on the finest carpet fit for kings!

Manday the 1st of August
A mad game together!

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Thursday the 21st of July
We had a couple of days with extreme heat, so Solo did NOT wrap himself up in his favourite blanket, and Dasher lay on his back with his tungue out!
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Tuesday the 19th of July

Dasher eats anything possible and here he is munching on small wizened green plums that have fallen off without ripening. Solo is looking up for "the real thing"! He only eats the delicious ripe ones!
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Above I am crawling around cutting dead flowers down and pulling up weeds and Dasher is convinced there is something edible at the very bottom of my garden wagon! Later, he is checking out a flowerbed for goodies!

Solo has the tradition that after breakfast, he likes to play "tug of war" with me with his favourite rope for 2 minutes, BUT I got busy and forgot and so he went to sleep disgusted at no game - and his rope is just sticking out!

Wednesday the 6th of July

Dasher relaxing in his bed looking silly as he doesn't know his tongue is sticking out!

Dasher in the back garden this afternoon. He finds and eats pigeon droppings! His favourite pastime.

Tuesday the 5th of July

Solo with his favourite toy, but caught sticking his tongue out!

Sunday the 3rd of July

A lovely photo of 13 year old Dasher stading patiently by me in the heat of the afternoon, and taken with my wonderful new iPhone 12 birthday present that can do fantastic portrait photos!

Friday the 24th of June
Photos from a family get-together in Copenhagen:
.Dasher gets hugged and loved.
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Left: Solo's turn for a cuddle. Right: Choko, who owns the house and garden, joins Dasher under the table to catch the crumbs dropped!

NO! You don't walk on the tables when you are a guest!
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Left: Waiting on the platform for the train to take us home again. Right, sitting at my feet on the train.
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Above: Sitting on the bus.

Monday the 13th of June

Did you say it was YOUR chair??? Well bad luck, I'm sitting here now!

Friday the 10th of June
My brother on a visit from America and Solo enjoys an extra cuddle. They've met before!

The dogs can smell when the postman delivers their food from Hike, and get extra excited as Hike always put a little treat for them hidden deep down in the box.
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Dasher waits whilse Solo rummages deep down, finds the treats and dashes off. But I grab them and give him his share!

Above, my rhododendron just before all the many flowers start falling off! It is just so beautiful.

Monday the 6th of June
The dogs and I went to a family birthday party Saturday and had a wonderful time. There were delicious grilled meats, and the next day the dogs enjoyed some of the leftovers! Enough for 3 meals. Here's breakfast! FAR superior to boring old dried dog food!

They both knew when they saw all the signs of me getting ready beforehand, that we were going somewhere!

My son kindly picked us up and here is Solo looking out of the window to be the first to spot the car drive into the driveway!

The fabulously delicious snacks to have with our welcome drinks! Brilliant idea!

Solo quickly finds a good seat!

Also these cushions can be used!
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BUT the dog who owns the house: "Choko" is hated by Solo who only accepts sighthounds! Other breeds are just trash in his eyes! However he puts up with the over-friendly antics of Choko, who cannot understand why Solo won't play!

Wednesday the 1st of June

My fantastic rhododendron on the patio.
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Above and below the dogs running around the house before their lunch.

Below: Two pigeons watch while Dasher licks up their droppings!!! Ugh!

Wednesday the 18th of May
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Above left, they are asking me to put their bed outside! Right, they are so thankful as they love to sunbathe!

Above, Dasher searching the lawn for pigeon droppings, which are his favourite snack!

Tuesday the 3rd of May
Hurray! Or rather sadly, it is Dasher's birthday today and he's now 13 years old, so I am sorry he's so old as I want him to last forever! Apart from deafness and cataracts, he is as fit as a fiddle and VERY playful, which shows he has no aches and pains. He runs around the house 4 times, 3 times a day at top speed before meals! So he keeps very fit.

Here he is looking all loving as he wants me to do something for him! The Danish flag is because he is a Danish bred dog and we are living in Denmark!

Tuesday the 3rd of May

My strawberries are blooming even though we have not had rain for nearly two months.
Below: A week ago we got new asphalt on the country road nearby - and it was much needed!
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Below: At long last the council sends a man to cut the now long grass on our island! Meantime I had crawled the whole way round picking up all the loose stones hidden in the grass and removing weeds by the curb.

See February for an explanation.
At long last, our island is cut and starts to look nice. But I had to spend a whole day minus lunch, collecting up the hundreds of stones the Fibia company left. No one could possibly cut the grass before they were removed. TWO garden wagon loads! Boy were they heavy!


Above: Dasher running around the house and my wonderful Japanese Cherry tree which I cannot stop photographing!

Above, another day!
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You cannot get MORE flowers on this little tree! Right: Solo belting around at full speed!

They love to sunbathe.
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Above: Solo is wild about a pigeon it the tree that he cannot reach and it will NOT fly away!
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Tuesday the 19th of April
I just love viola flowers and pansies, but these here seem to be all staring accusingly at me!

Saturday the 16th of April
Solo is crazy to get hold of a pigeon that sits calmly staring down at him in the plum tree.

He hasn't a chance of reaching it!

See it above!
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Talk about wishful thinking!

Above, he is sitting on my lap in the kitchen and STILL keeping an eye on it!

Some of my pretty hyacinths right now.

Above: Both playing one of their mad wrestling games!

Monday the 4th of April
One can see that it’s got a bit colder here, after the shoes that are available for Solo to steal!

Monday the 28th of March
Enjoying the warm sun in the lounge.

Below: Solo on my lap!
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Solo steals a plastic bag and he is waiting for me to grab it!

By chance, I spot a butterfly which has fallen down my (luckily empty) rain water measure, so I am able to save it. There are amazingly many of them around right now.

Wednesday the 16th of March
Dasher went mad and frisked around with a toy this morning showing me that although he is nearly 13, he has no aches and pains and is in fine fettle!
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Sunday the 13th of March
Wonderful snowdrops are lasting so well this year.

Tuesday the 8th of March
Beautiful crocusses blinding me in the sun every day at the moment!

...but Solo would sooner be under a blanket in this cold weather!

Tuesday the 2nd of March
We went to a family birthday party last Saturday. Here they are waiting patiently for the bus.

It was a lovely sunny day.
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The dogs got plenty of petting and attention by all.
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Right, Dasher sat behind me on the chair and when I got up he stayed balancing on the cushion!
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Dasher always is hoping we will drop bits of food and is begging at the table too.
.Above Solo is about to sit down on their "travel blanket" on the sofa but Spaniel Choko is always wanting to sniff Solo's bottom, so Solo politely tells him to push off!
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Having a mad game at home next day!

Thursday the 24th of February
Snowdrops in the sun!
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I also have some with double centers - very pretty.
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Solo is in fine fettle now and growling here he wants me to pretend to "steal" his rope!
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Sunday the 13th of February
The new extra fast internet Fibia has slowed and come to a halt outside in an awful mess. See more below.
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Above: See Dasher's nose showing as he lies in the bed underneath!
Solo has been feeling happier and happier with his bad back now all but forgotten, as I can see from his increasingly happy and cheeky behavior plus he jumps up more, finds toys to show me and growls if I pretend to grab!

Dasher says: "Shall we play?" and THIS time, Solo will! See below! They leap on the bed to wrestle together.
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Last picture they both tell each other they are finished!

Monday the 7th of February
The new extra fast internet Fibia is being laid down all around me but unfortunately it cannot be avoided that my lovely area is being wrecked by all the digging. It will take ages to recover -and maybe my box hedge never will as it's roots have been cut over all down one side.

Early morning and they got this far last Friday.

Above: A little later on and the dogs and I just managed to squeeze out for a walk!
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Mind my postbox!!!!

By 2pm they were past me and had done so much...still working a 4pm!

Dasher enjoys a piece of dried cod skin from Hike.

Wednesday the 2nd of February
Last night, Solo flew in the door and sprang straight up on their cage and looked very proud of himself! He IS slowly getting over his back injury and is a much happier doggy.

A nice delivery man came at 7.30 this morning with a small parcel and a box of dog food from Hike, which he lifted up for me onto the washing machine. Even before the dogs had a chance to really sniff, they immediately KNEW what was in the box...

...because Hike always include a free treat for them both!

Here they are sitting saying to me "Well get a move on! Give us the treats NOW!"
So I get the box down and Solo tries to dig down into it!

Of course they get their treat!

Tuesday the 1st of February
Here today, gone tomorrow - someone did a good job yesterday of clearing away the fallen tree! See below.

Monday the 31st of January
Below: My house survived the storm, but not this poor old tree a few minutes walk away from me.
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Above: In the kitchen this morning I pull the blanket away and see how they lie together underneath it.
.When Solo was first affected by his back, he refused to jump up here and sit like this as he always likes to do. Now he's quite OK with it. Dasher is very deaf, so he pricks his ears all the time to catch what he can.

Mucking about on the sofa!

Saturday the 29th of January
As I write, a terrible storm wind is sweeping over Denmark, so I hope the house is still intact when it should ease off tomorrow after lunch! It will be a nightmare tonight...
Meantime, Solo still has back pains stopping him from being his usual self, despite a painkiller drop in his breakfast every morning. This injury from falling backwards out of the car just has to get better by itself and there are good signs of him getting a little easier for each day that passes. Yesterday morning he grabbed his favourite rope and ran around shaking it as he usually does! This was before the morning pain killer could work!
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Above: He is daring Dasher to touch it!

He sits in his bed growling at me if I pretend to grab it! He loves this game!

Wednesday the 26th of January
Keeping an eye on me as it's lunchtime soon!

Monday the 24th of January
How on earth can this sleeping position possibly be comfortable? (I've just lifted the blanket.) Yet they both often lie in this position!!! Good the bed is big and "Whippet-size"!

Saturday the 22nd of January
The most fantastic sunrise this morning! Looking over the road to my opposite neighbours.
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It looked as if the house was on fire!

Later on, on the bitterly cold frosty walk.

Find Solo!!!

Wednesday the 19th of January
I get up at 1am in the night so the dogs can "go" outside, and Solo comes in SO fresh and happy that he jumps up on their cage just as he used to do before he got backache! I grabbed a shot with the iPad!

Here he is VERY proud of himself! He hasn't jumped up here for about 2 weeks.

Tuesday the 18th of January 2022
and a belated Happy New Year to everyone!

Did you know that dog poo-bags protect against Corona?
Here are the results from the morning walk: One bag with a poo, (Dasher’s), one with an already bagged poo which the owner left behind in the grass, so I just took one of my own bags and grabbed it up - and THREE bags each with a Corona mask in! This because some idiot regularly gets off at a certain bus stop near me and either arrogantly ties their mask up in a tree or throws it on the ground! I cannot stand to walk past this sight every single day for many years, so I clear up after them – and a dog poo-bag is perfect Corona protection!!!
PS I carry them all home in a small bag I have hanging under my coat, so I'm "hands free" to walk the dogs.)

Above: After a walk they sit together on the guest bed in my office and warm up.

The sun at lunch time and Solo creeps around the house.
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Left, mucking about and right, I lift the white blanket covering them and here they are lying together.
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Solo is telling me to leave the computer and give him some lunch!

I promised them a biscuit each if they would sit, and here they are waiting for it!

Early one cold morning, the view of the sunrise from the doorway.

Yesterday evening as I was working on the website for The Italian Greyhound Club, I noticed I could see the nearly full moon move up in the clear shy through the window. MUCH prettier in real life than the “pinpoint” you see here.

Since Christmas eve, when Solo jumped up into the car as usual, (he can never wait, he LOVES car rides!) but unfortunately fell backwards again rather awkwardly onto the driveway because there was a cage filling the back seat, he has been having increasing pain in his lower back. He can make every movement except jumping. I stopped all running exercise but instead of getting better, he seemed to get worse so I took him to the vet. yesterday. The vet. must have healing hands as after a thorough examination down his whole spine, and an injection with cortisone, Solo immediately felt much better and even frisked around the surgery room.
Before I had given him a morning painkiller this morning, he was jumping about, telling me off for being too slow with his breakfast and generally his usual cheeky and entertaining self! A joy to see. So he is very much on the mend, but if he has wrenched a muscle, it could take 6 weeks or more to heal. The vet and I reckon it’s nothing too serious. In the photo above, we are waiting to pay the bill! He sits like an angel in the specal "pet travel bag".

Tonight, Dasher almost gets him to play. He has been dying to play crazy games with him for ages! They run into my office!

Solo actually jumps up on the guest bed and they wrestle for half a minute!
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