Bobo & Chino enjoying some down time in the playground at Bonnybank Boarding Kennels.

Murphy a German Shephard with a touch of Alaskan Malamute.

He is a very Handsome boy.

Whilst out walking with Sapphy last week

We spotted this wild mink

 Lurking on the burn in the undergrowth

They are of course voracious animals who can

Decimate the local wildlife

Bad news to all who resides along

The riverbank

Just when we thought the weather couldn’t get any worse,

This is the scene that greeted us this morning

 just outside Bonnybank boarding kennels

Full-blown blizzard conditions

the wind was so strong that when I took this picture

I had to brace myself against the road sign

if I hadn’t I would have been blown straight over the top of the hedge.

Minutes after taking the first image a school minibus ended up in the ditch and had

to be dragged out by a council lorry,

this caused a traffic jam down our wee country lane,

Oh deep joy!

So after a few weeks of spring like weather

This part of Ayrshire

Wakes up this morning to a blanket of snow

A very unwelcome visitor

At Bonnybank Kennels we’re a wee bit tyred of snow!

On the windswept foreshore  just under the ruins

Of the ancient Castle

Here’s a sight you might happen upon

Jack a feisty Westie aboard his

All-terrain perambulator

 At the helm “Douglas”

Keeping a watchful eye on the proceedings

 Dexter a lovely gentle Golderlander.

Due to an Achilles tendon injury Jack is limited to light exercise

But no self-respecting Westie would want to be sitting indoors

Watching loose women on day-time TV when he could be out taking in the sea air

Jack is quickly gaining celebrity status amongst

The dog walking fraternity in the local area

So after a bracing ride/walk

The intrepid three head for home

Are we there yet ?

What’s for tea dad ?

Leaving the kennels in the capable hands of Alison and Andrew

Sapphy and I took a rare opportunity

and sneaked away for a precious few hours

to enjoy the wonderful crisp winter sunshine last week.

Despite the sub-zero temperatures Sapphy was soon taking an early morning dip in the Loch

How privileged are we to have this stunning scenery right on our very doorstep, absolute heaven!

Come on dad hurry up this is soooo… boring

All too soon it’s time to head for home

Let’s hope we can sneak away again soon

My Little Olympic Champ

This Is Sapphy our Labrador puppy the new addition to the Bonnybank family.

I say puppy, in fact she’s 11 months old and she is now just approaching

that awkward adolescent stage of her life,You know the type of thing, the defiant glare when asked to… Come! … Sit!

Then of course I had that unsavoury task of introducing her to our Cantankerous old lady “Poppy” our beautiful Birman cat, a sprightly 14-year-old but with health issues, although of course as a puppy you don’t understand the delicate nature of cats, you just think this is another Four-legged friend to have a role around the carpet with…. “Wrong”

Cats really don’t appreciate having a big Black, cold nose sniffing their bottoms, or that great long wet tongue licking their face; Sapphy was indeed on a very sharp, and painful learning curve.

But time passes by; now of course they are the best of friends, except for that one little niggling dispute; who gets to sit in front of the fire, once of course this was Poppy’s realm; she’d sprawl out and have a good old snooze in front of it without fear of being disturbed.

The very notion of having to share my fire with that big black thing is just “Outrageous!!”

Now the thing is with Nash

He loves nothing better than to dash and crash in the snow

He loves to frolic and slid then bounces from side to side

Nash is in heaven when you throw snow balls

Then he runs and the snow squeezes between his toes

Then ends up froze to his nose

And he is so sad when all the snow goes