Chop Chop

After talking to doggie friends about the pros and cons of adult neutering I've decided it has to happen. The jury has considered, the verdict has been given, and the execution will take place tomorrow. I hope it doesn't change his personality, but I do hope it will alter his bad habit. I can't have him being a threat to all females. On Sunday we braved the heat, my weekend guest and me, to walk along the river from Snape, and there Hugo encountered Pablo, a whippet of identical size to him whose coat was a beautiful chestnut brown. They frolicked together as we settled ourselves, very carefully, on a small jetty and watched a couple of canoes drift past. So different from when the Owl and I hired one last year, thinking we could pither about gently but being told we had only a very narrow channel to negotiate, and could just go to the Maltings and back. And so we puffed and panted, heaved and weaved, and finally disembarked tired, aching and frazzled. This lot seemed to have the entire river at their disposal, and in the hot sunshine they weren't making much effort to get anywhere. But the peace was shattered when Hugo followed Pablo up the steep steps to his home perched high on the cliff, and was firmly chased off with lots of barking from his attacker. We decided it was time to leave and tried to get up, but it was only after a frantic, ungainly struggle and helpless, near hysterical laughter that we made it. Once upon a time we'd have leapt to our feet but alas no more. Life can be cruel.

The heat is lovely but crushing. I've been removing dozens of poppies that have finished flowering, poppies that self-seeded and created a glorious addition to the garden. I've tried to mark one of each kind with a bamboo cane - pale pink, dark pink, mauve, lilac, small, frothy so that I can collect the seeds and plain - and spread them across the back where the nettles are growing with such fecundity. You always have to think ahead. My weekend guest bonzai-ed my front garden, or at least pruned the wildly overgrown shrubs that I tend to leave. It all looks much better out there now, and you can both see and walk. Same time next year, OK?