Bertie spots a spalted beech

Well I just had to take a closer look when I saw this recently felled trunk of a beech tree in Hazlehead Park the other day.

Apparently the dark lines are caused by fungus, and the effect is known as 'spalting'.

Pretty, isn't it? Let's see close up.

Happy Nature Friday friends! On this particular date I am especially thankful to Arty, Jakey and Rosy for their wonderful blog hop celebrating the beauties of our natural world. For otherwise my post today might have been totally filled with photos of Gail and me looking sad and miserable as we mourn the UK's misguided departure from the European Union...

AM I NORMAL? (an elderly male grooming issue)

Friends, and terriers especially, I have a rather personal question to ask today about grooming in one's 'senior' years.

I think you already know that I am a 'home-styled' dog. One might have hoped, given how my owner Gail started hand-stripping and clipping me when I was a pup, that after nearly a decade she would have developed the skills to give me a more professionally groomed look.

No such luck there, but that's not what I want to talk about today.

You see, the fact is, as I get older, I have become more attached to my furs. Or rather, they have become more attached to me, thus the hand-stripping process is now uncomfortable. The furs also grow in greater profusion.

Now my predecessor Hamish the Westie always had a paid-for hair cut, and so Gail is really not experienced in these matters. However, she said this to me the other day, when I was attempting to bite the stripping knife, or even better Gail's hand: "But Bertie, I thought that in older males, the hair normally thinned and fell out more easily".

Not for the first time, Gail was confusing me with her own species.

So my question really is, am I normal? Are there other pups out there whose furs have become thicker, more abundant, and more 'attached' with age?

An important and difficult pawlitical question

Is it acceptable to think that Dilyn, the dog belonging to Prime Minister Boris Johnson and his girlfriend Carrie Symonds, is super cute?

It's something I've been pondering while imprisoned in the kitchen these past two weeks.

P.S. Gail has promised me that the workmen will only be here one more day...

More fun on Morven?

Fellow pups, have you ever been out for a walk and spotted a group who look like they might be more fun that your own human(s)?

It happened to me on Monday.

Making the most of the uncommonly fine winter weather, Gail took me for a hike up Morven, which as you know is our favourite Aberdeenshire hill.

We thought we had the place to ourselves, but as we were approaching the summit plateau, a bunch of young hill runners, accompanied by a sprightly Labrador, sped past, and I decided to join them.

Now Gail claims to be tolerably fit for her age, so I presumed she'd be able to keep up with my youthful new friends. OK, so yes I did hear her frantically calling "wait Bertie, WAIT!" but, well, I guess I'm not the first middle aged male to forget himself in the excitement of chasing after younger companionship...

Did I mention that a gale force westerly was blowing in our faces? ('Fine weather' is always a relative term in Scotland.) So anyway I pretended not to hear Gail and continued up the hill with my new pals.

I could of course have kept up with the runners all the way, but in the end I took pity on poor old Gail, puffing and panting with exertion as the gap between us widened, and I waited for her to catch up.

By the time we reached the summit, my new friends were disappearing over the far side of the hill while I, as usual, obliged with my best windswept poses. (You'll notice that for some reason my walking string is attached at this point...)