Me and the Old Boys

You all know I am a nature walker, I love my little hikes in the Connemara hills, but I am also a dog lover. I love my boxer dogs and for me it is not a good walk if they are not with me. 

You have no idea how cool it is to go out with the boys.
We all walk with the same pace, it is quiet and peaceful on the road, it's just us and mother nature.

I usually let them go in front of me, but most of all they love to fit me in the middle, so I am save and sound between them. You never know, someone might try to talk to me...Not a very wise idea if you are a man, my boys get a bit cranky and don't really let anyone come close. Otherwise I keep telling everyone they are just a pair of sofa cushions. 

I know that no one believes me though, especially when I see people crossing the road, afraid to walk past us.

I feel sad sometimes knowing how misunderstood boxers are. Because of their size and the unusual amount of energy, people believe them to be scary beasts.
This is so not true! There is no one more loving and gentle than my two boys.

Once I was asked "Are they wicked?" by a woman with crazy eyes who run fast down the road in case they decided to eat her. The Old Boys didn't even look at her. They simply know who is not fit for consumption ;-)

Anyway, I can not blame anyone for being afraid of dogs. I have great experience with mighty beast (haha) but I still know when to be cautious. I have been beaten by a dog before and I know how it feels. Strangely enough it wasn't any of mine, but one of those sheep dogs that like to bark a lot at passers by, every time you go past their house (you know one somewhere for sure) One day this particular guy didn't just bark but decide to sneak behind me and bit me on the back of my leg. OUCH!!

I am proud to say that my boys have much better manners than this, they would never do anything like that!! They don't bark, they don't jump at people, they are perfectly behaved simply because we walk them every they for 2 hours no matter the weather, we love them, we hug them all the time and we live in harmony.

We love each other very much 

Mr Kitty and The Old Boys

Recently someone inquired how is our Mr Kitty doing so I felt I have to oblige the audience with a few words and photos of our latest acquisition. Latest because he is the last to join the two boxer dogs team we had already.  

He is just over a year now. We brought him in after my daughter's persistent mental warfare for months (which apparently worked we are really dog people here, or that's what we kept saying to ourselves?!) It was for her birthday and he was so tiny, just 4 weeks old and didn't know a thing (genie mac, he was so cute). 

I have to admit that he brought absolute havoc in the house. 

• He climbed and jumped everywhere (that was a shock compared to The Old Boy who was a lively puppy but never did anything so outrageous except once when he was really young and untrained and he reached on top of the stove and pushed a pot of soup on the floor. We found him hiding in the opposite side of the room behind the potted palm. he never did anything like that ever again ) 
• He had a lot to say and all the time, apparently this type of cats are called vocal. From all the cats in the world we managed to pick the most vocal kitten ever (compared to the Old Boys who never ever bark or utter a sound, except when playing, because we thought them not to do it. Fat chance trying to teach a cat not to meow)  
• Last Christmas, he totally wrecked our Christmas tree because he was constantly climbing on it and hiding among the branches. At the end it just broke in two (at least it was after Christmas) The Old Boy never did that, except on his very first Christmas when he gently pushed the tree over to get to all the chocolate decorations, which he unwrapped and ate happily during the night. Well, we never bought any more eatable decorations since then. 
• every time I was washing the dishes Mr. Kitty would climb on my shoulders, digging his lovely
  
  sharp claws from my ankles to my neck and then would watch fascinated until I finish (I can not describe all the scars we got from those so tiny but so piercing and sharp little tools of death)
• he loved to sit on top of the table while we eat and watch with the occasional "meow" (at least the Old Boys sit under the table while we eat, ha-ha) now that he is older he knows he is not allowed on the table and he only sits on the chairs and looks from there. Imagine a pair of piercing eyes staring at you over the edge with a bunch of twitching whiskers  
• by the way, we though Mr Kitty was a girl at first, until about 6 months later when we discovered that certain male attributes are growing, so from Kitty turned into Mr Kitty 
• The Old Boy kept following him everywhere like a shadow. It took him months to find out what the hell was that... 
  

Hanging around with our well trained and behaved dogs was definitely positive influence to Mr. Kitty

• he learned his name and when I call him he responds with a meow and comes, even if not right away. Sometimes he is too far, or too busy I presume, if he is out in the neighborhood, but as long as he can hear me he is home in the next 5-10 minutes.   
• he loves a good treat as much as anyone and at home we have our routines and the tree of them line up together, they all sit like good boys, we wouldn't have it any other way. So cute, two huge boxers and a tiny cat on the side 
• he also likes his walks and quite often he comes with me and the Old Boys for a short walk to the Waterfall. Imagine the look on peoples' faces when they meet us in the neighborhood ;) We are already known to everyone in the village because rain or shine we walk our dogs every single day. Now people say stuff like "You walk your cat too?!????!!!!??!!!"

So more or less this is what I can think of our Mr Kitty right now. This very moment he is rolled up in a ball in the middle of the sofa and he is not going anywhere - there is a wicked storm outside so he is taking it easy today until it is over. If push comes to shove he will share the sofa with me and the Old Boys while we watch some TV. 

Imagine that, a perfect evening....

Mr Kitty having fun

 

My daughter just said a few days ago, that if she knew having a cat is so much fun she would have asked for one a long time ago.

I tend to agree..even though I always considered myself strictly a dog person.... 

Occasional sunny spells

Occasionally after a horrific summer like last one, here in Ireland we get fantastic autumn days, with lovely sunny spells.

Every time the weather is clear, warm and sunny people are up and about trying to get the most of it because you never now when it will get bad again, an here in Galway county, it happens faster than anywhere else. 

Remember The Twilight movies with the vampires hiding out in Forks because it is the rainiest and cloudiest place on Earth, well believe me they should have come here, there is definitely more cloudy and rainy days all year round and the landscape is as dramatic!! 

The occasional sunny spells do bring the spirits up and we get a a lovely break from the constant drizzle and heavy overcast skies. It becomes lovely and sunny and bright. The colours are warm and all I want to do is climb the mountains and walk the forests and swim the ocean and take photos all the time...until it starts again

Forgive me for feeling a bit bitter and sarcastic but a lot of bad weather can really bring you dawn sometimes....

Anyway here are the photos from the last occasional sunny spell 

 Thanks for walking the Bog road with me 

Heather in the summer grass

If I hear the words "purple" and "green" the first thing I think about is purple heather snuggled in the green summer grasses of wild Connemara bogs. 

I can feel the fresh breeze touching my skin, the sun from behind the fleeting clouds is week but almost warm. The smell of bogs and water, grass and wild flowers is overpowering and sweet.

There is nothing like Walking Connemara in the summer.