Cops, gorillas & puppies

A rather eventful few days here, what with Jim's dad being woken by armed police at 1:30am, a man size gorilla delivering doughnuts and Macy's first puppy class.

I shall begin with the incident with the police! On Sunday night Blackie had gone out for one of her two hour wanders and as we were preoccupied by the dog, we had failed to notice her slip out until it was time to go to bed, but as it was a mild night and we're in the middle of nowhere, we decided to go to prop the door ajar with a shoe either side and leave her to return when she fancied.

We went to bed and all was well until I was awoken at 1:30am by the sound of heavy boots on the kitchen floor above us. The military police had driven past, seen the door ajar and decided we had befallen some terrible fate (I think it's fair to point out, police here are a little short on any real action!) So the cops had let themselves in and wandered through the house until they came across the bedroom that Jim's dad was sleeping in, where upon he was awoken by a torch in the face!

Meanwhile I had heard this unfolding, shaken Jim awake with a cry of "There's someone in the house!" (Yes dear, of course there is!) and Jim had run upstairs in his underpants to confront the policeman whilst mumbling an explanation about the cat! Thank heavens no one got tasered!

As if this little drama wasn't enough to convince Jim's dad that Ralston is populated by lunatics, a colleague of mine popped in to deliver doughnuts yesterday whilst dressed as a gorilla - all to raise money for the BFBS charity appeal, the Big Salute!

Tonight our evening's entertainment was the start of an 8 week puppy training course in Medicine Hat, which was a real eye opener! There were 11 puppies in the class. Two beautiful looking Huskies, one very noisy angry German Shepherd, three golden labradors, a surprisingly docile Rottweiler, a couple of muts and a Boxer. I left Jim to concentrate on the training information and I spent most of the class people watching! Although there were some very nice dogs (two of the labs and the huskies) there were also some ones I really didn't like and Macy was quite subdued, hiding under our chair and despite the almost constant racket she only barked once.

Photos in this blog - Macy being taught to greet the cat with slightly less enthusiasm. Macy and the class instrctor at puppy training. A TV schedule that made us chuckle!