A Mist-erious Place

Last Sunday Leigh and Judith took me and Kaska on a trip to a new place - it is an arboretum at Castle Howard and they welcome dogs even off lead as long as they are well-behaved which of course we always are :-))
But when we arrived a thick mist came down and we could not see very far ahead - not that we dogs need to see when we can smell - it was a good excuse for furtling!

As you can see I did get very wet and muddy but Leigh did manage to get some pictures of things we could see - just:

A ruined castle wall.

A sculpture of a bird in the lake.

Some strange trees.

Toadstools.

Branches with webs.

Spooky sculptured faces.

Sculptured tree trunks

Can you see me under this strange building?

These were what were hanging from the roof - you can tell the age of the trees by their rings.

And Kaska had a chance to have a bit of furtling too - he really enjoyed himself there!

Maybe another day we can go when it's not so misty!

Postscript from Leigh

Just to say thank you to all the blogging friends who have sent kind messages regarding Kaska. For those who did not know he had been living with spinal cord damage for 18 months which was gradually cutting off messages from his brain to his hindquarters. We were so lucky to have him with us for much longer than the original diagnosis. When he was diagnosed in June 2010 we were told he might only manage another 3 months. His determination and courage to continue to try and walk together with the support of his wheels kept him going until this week. Until a few months ago Kaska had been pain free but this began to change and he started a course of pain relief a few months ago. Two weeks back it was evident that things were suddenly getting a lot worse. Kaska could not move his back legs very well - they did support him standing just about but he fell if not in his wheels. He could not raise or turn himself unaided if he was lying down and internally things were slowing down (his bowels etc). The vet prescribed a strong steroid pain killer which was becoming necessary by this time and it was clear we had to make the awful decision to let our boy go peacefully and with some dignity. The vet came out to our house and Kaska was sleeping in his special spot on the sofa so there was no stress for him and afterwards the other dogs came to say goodbye. When he was a tiny puppy we had taken him to Westonbirt Arboretum for one of his very first outings. He had been so excited at the smells he had rushed around snorting away at everything and we decided for his last day to take him to another arboretum. As luck would have it a heavy mist came down and everything was damp there but nevertheless Kaska enjoyed himself. He rode in the pet stroller for part of the way round, and used his wheels for a bit and then we let him have a little furtle around without the wheels. He could not go very far but his snorting was just as loud as when he was a pup. Kaska always lived every moment to the full and he did that Sunday too!