Gilbert the Good – my weekend

 

Gilbert the Good – my weekend

                        We had a busy day on Saturday and it was fun.

We went out early as usual as it was going to be hot later on and it’s not good for us dogs to be out in the heat, even in the woods.

 We couldn't go in the ponds, though, as there are signs up warning of DANGER from blue-green algae. The humans found out more from AI:

Blue-green algae (cyanobacteria) is extremely toxic to dogs. It grows in stagnant lakes, ponds, and slow-moving rivers during warm weather. Ingesting or swimming in contaminated water can cause rapid liver failure, neurological damage, and death within minutes to hours. There is no antidote.

My humans have spoken to some people whose dogs died because of this, and they were very sad.

When we’d been home for a couple of hours, we had visitors! Bethan came to see us with Charlie and Jack. Robert stayed at home because he had banged his head and felt a bit dizzy. Anyway, he was company for Lolly.

It was Charlie’s birthday earlier in the week - he was eleven years old. That’s the same age as Roxy. He had a birthday party before the end of the school summer term. He’s a keen cricketer so the venue for his party, Lord’s Cricket Ground, was perfect. I don’t understand cricket, but I’m just a dog, so that’s understandable. I like ball games, though.  Roxy and I have a ball each and we chase them for a little at the beginning of our walk and then carry them the rest of the time. 

Jack made lots of fuss of Roxy and me, while Charlie played with Herschel and Jellicoe. Everyone in our house was tired the next day, and we didn’t go out. Bethan and Charlie went to Lord’s again for the finals of ‘the Hundred.’ That was cricket, too, and my humans sat and watched it on the television. They wanted to see if they could see Bethan and Charlie in the crowd. They didn’t!

The women’s match wasn’t very exciting, but the men’s final was gripping – well, that’s what the humans said, anyway.

 We didn’t go out as early on Monday, but we still weren’t allowed anywhere near the ponds.

In the afternoon, Roxy managed to find her way past the fence into the garden pond. There’s no blue-green algae in there, just lots and lots of duck weed. The humans were thinking of removing the fence, but they're thinking again now . . .

She only paddled, but her fur soaked up a lot of water which then dribbled all over the house.

On Friday, Susannah and Frankie and Arthur are coming back from their holiday in Devon. They’re going to stay on Friday night and go back to London on Saturday. It will be nice to see them again. I like playing with Arthur – he’s fun.

TTFN

Gilbert