Jumping Waterfalls…

From time to time I feel the need to have a clearout, this also includes my beloved iMac.  Today was a bit of a slow day, and that slowness was reflected in my computer.  It felt sluggish, and every time I went to Amazon the screen would lock up and I would have to switch off via the power and start up again.  I thought it may be chrome screwing things up, therefore uninstalled it, and installed a fresh download.  However, this was not the solution.  Chrome and Safari had also been partial loading sites, especially WordPress, and what was on screen seemed to be missing frames and general formatting.

Enough was enough.  I have 5 drives attached to my iMac, music, current photography, archive photography, expansion (documentation etc) and of course, the time machine.  With all these drives and an automated back up all I needed to do was a restart with a few buttons pressed and the process of formatting and reinstallation would begin.

Needless to say, I am back up and running, and my machine is running at top speed now.  Just an hour out of my time, I say an hour, but the machine did all the work, all I had to do was put in my passwords, and boom! it was done.

I am at a loss as to what the problem was as I use a program to clear memory, check for malware and viruses, and boost the running.  Apart from tracker cookies, nothing was ever found.  My iMac is early 2009, so maybe it’s an age thing?

The Air Raid Sirens Cut Through The Scaffold…

There is a field we take the dogs to so they can have a run about without the distraction of other dogs (usually), and Mazikeen can get all that pent up energy out by constantly running the whole time.  But the Hades had me in his sight.  We had done one circuit of the fields with several to go along with ball playing, but then the ambush!

A woman that goes there around lunchtime appeared through the bushes waving like we are long lost friends, and just to confirm, this was 9am.  Thankfully she was far enough away not to see my eyes rolling.  There was nowhere to run, and small talk joined this ever-increasing throng.

Her mutt was off his lead.  Mazikeen was off hers until I saw her, and being a responsible dog owner, put her on hers.  I hate when dogs come bounding over to my dogs with the immortal words from the inconsiderate owner “he only wants to play” or “it’s okay he is friendly”.  Quite frankly, I could not give a rats arse if he had a Nobel Peace Prize, keep your dogs away until I decide that I want my dogs to play with your rabid animal.  My dogs look to me for protection and that is what I will always do and stand between the oncoming hound and them.  Harper dropped her football and walked behind me as he bounded over.  He went to take her ball, to which my raised voice “No!” stopped him in his tracks.  He then decided to take a leap at Mazikeen, but she is super fast, and leapt backwards, again behind me and gave him a sharp bark, her version of “No!” My dogs know that safety is behind me, they have been trained well.  Unlike this woman’s dog, which she freely admits bites her to get his own way, and has bitten her husband many times too.  The dog is not bad, it just has little or no training and does not know what boundaries are.  She had asked my advice one time as my dogs sat next to me waiting for a release command.  I explained that she needs to be the Alpha in the pack reward training needs to be done, but she came out with an excuse of “but he won’t listen to me”.  At this point I gave up, why impart wisdom to the deaf?

Now, this bloody woman admitted that her dog does not get on with other dogs “when he is on his lead”, which means he does not like other dogs, full stop.  Last time her dog made a snarling face at Harper.  Now, Harper can hold her own, she is 22kg of solid muscle, but, with it, she is also a softy.  I moved her back away from him, as I could just imagine the problems if her dog did snap at one of mine due to its untrained temperament, my actions would be quick and harsh to it, nevermind Harper defending herself too.

I decided enough was enough, and after giving her my death stare started to move away with one eye on her teeth bearing dog.  Her parting words were, “I’ll let you go as you seem to have your hand full”.  I was close to saying, “yes, I have, keeping my dogs safe from your rabid mutt that should be on a lead and muzzled”, but decided to hold my tongue, knowing that this was her replacement for her son who had died about two years ago.  I can be cruel, heartless and downright callous, but I thought better of it, this time at least.

Evocative Titles Hold Their Own…

I decided that the common garden and dare I say, run of the mill titles in my posts needed a touch of intrigue and a dash of mysticism added to them.  With this in mind, I am mixing it up, my post titles will be a little odd from now on.  Let’s see how creatic=ve i can be, or not!

What’s life without whimsy?

So on and on the story goes…

An ode to an odd day…

M flew out to visit his parents yesterday morning.  We had to be up at 4:45 in order to get him to the Airport for 6 am check-in.  Not a hard feat but, all the same, I would have prefered to have been in my pit for a little longer.  The journey to the airport was its usual run and nothing new, however, as soon as we arrived the rain started.  M does not like flying at the best of times and in bad weather, he hates it.  The disabled assistance at the airport is my saviour, I handed him over to the company and from that point, they look after him for the duration of his journey, at the other end they collect his baggage and hand him over to his friend, thus no worries for me.  I returned home well after sunrise in torrential rain.  I was not aware that a so-called Indian summer included monsoon rainfall.

The rain, it never stops, but I do have places to go!  Dog walking, a rather wet affair, the girls were not too impressed in the end, well, I say the girls, I really mean Harper, she is not a lover of rain, however, the pup carried on like it was a normal thing, a Springer is only at home digging in the dirt.

I finally managed to get out and get some groceries, and of course the obligatory treats for the hounds.  But then the day seemed to grind to a halt, constant rain battered the windows and a feeling of being lost in my home started to consume me.  I needed something to do that I could relax with, yet my mind became vacant of all thoughts relating to that.  I have a mountain of things I will be doing whilst M is away, but I really wanted to try and relax over the weekend.  The mind-numbing silence was broken only by the persistent squeaks from the dogs’ toys.  Then the inevitable, the squeaking stopped and the deafening sound of silence was all consuming.  My only solace, Spotify!  However, even the throws of death metal indispersed with softer rock started to invade my physical space.  Finally, M called and a sense of normality prevailed, at least for a short while.

The Last Night of the Proms was on TV, as I have always watched it, last night was no exception, thus I opened a beer, sat on the floor so the animals could claim the sofa as their domain and mentally transported myself to the Royal Albert Hall amongst the throng of the Prommers.  But as with everything, it is all over too soon and my bed called to me.

The night was filled with the dogs cuddling up to me, or a more precise description would be lying on me, and Mazikeen feeling it appropriate to rest her very hairy neck and face across my nose and mouth, rendering breathing an impossibility.  A massive bed devoid of souls on M’s side.  This was a new fresh hell to add to my continuing saga.  Finally, they relented and let me sleep until 5:20 when it became toilet time for the pup.  Deep joy enveloped me having to drag my carcase out of a warm bed to stand naked in the cold of the hall whilst she did her pee, the rain still pouring and the winds whipping everything.  I managed only to stay in bed then until 7:30 when the dogs had finally decided it was time to rise.