The Labraventures of Carbón, Spanish (ex-) foster dog extraordinaire

[Emily_Babbelhund]

A huge thank you to the @Selina27 and the lovely Cassie for such a great visit!

What a beautiful part of the country and Cassie and her mum live in a very special hidden corner. We visited Cassie's own duck pond and then had the adventure of Cassie's first pub lunch. While Carbon was tucked away under the table, Cassie held court at our table near the entrance. They both did very well, even with a spaniel nearby also enjoying the rainy afternoon in the pub.

Cassie, however, wins all the awards for most expressive face: her sad eyes over the edge of table were so persuasive that she even had the server pleading her case and saying "Can't she have a chip?". What a performance: Meryl Streep better watch her back!

Photos will have to wait as it's an early morning tomorrow, but we did get some of Cassie and Carbon acting like loonies. So more to come!

 

[Selina27]

Thank you @Emily_Babbelhund for coming up, I'm only sorry the weather turned yesterday, but it was cosy in the pub And thank Carbon for his forbearance, he is such a sweetheart.

While Carbon was tucked away under the table, Cassie held court at our table near the entrance

Bit of work to do I think on how to position yourself in a pub!! Tucking herself away and being unobtrusive doesn't really feature in Cassie's psyche

 

[SwampDonkey]

That's because she's a Diva, darling

 

[Selina27]

That's because she's a Diva, darling

Erm…. yeah ! She did lie down quietly, but right where people couldn't fail to notice her and had to either talk to her or walk round

 

[SwampDonkey]

Girls got it all going on some girls just must be noticed

 

[Beanwood]

,Lovely day today, walking with @Jelinga and @Emily_Babbelhund in the beautiful Malverns. The dogs were Rourke, Bramble Benson and Carbon. The dogs loved galloping round the trig point at the top, Bramble was very preoccupied with the scents and smells.

The highlight though came right at the end of our visit, after a lovely light lunch when @Jelinga casually asked Rourke to smile, and oh my word....he gave us the most beautiful smile, curling up his lips and grinning widely! Amazing!!! So we spent a good few minutes asking Rourke to smile, he happily obliged between bringing us one of his large, soft teddies to admire.

A few photos...one of Emily and Jelinga. It was quite a challenge actually because as soon as I asked for a nice composition with them walking with the scenery in front of them, they both erupted into an extraordinary version of Monty Pythons silly walks...I have no idea why?



Starting to get silly.....sigh....



Gorgeous Rourke on the right, and Bramble...



The All Blacks.....




Hoolie around the Trig Point....

 

[M.F.]

That scenery—oh my word!!! Dreamy!

 

[Stacia]

Would you believe that when we met up to start the walk it was snowing!!! It was great to meet Emily and dear Carbon (and of course Kate, Benson and Bramble, but we had met before), the dogs all got on well and after lunch Carbon came into the house and Rourke completely accepted him. Emily was upstairs visiting the you know what and Carbon explored the house and Rourke's toy box I think the dogs all had a good time exploring on the hill, though there were not as many pheasants as I had hope, Bramble did find some and flushed them. They are all lovely dogs and I could have taken any of them home.

I do have some photos of Emily and Kate looking windswept with the mist swirling around, but I don't know how to put them on the forum, despite a lesson from Snowbunny and others some time back!

Bramble is very much like Rourke and I kept thinking Bramble was Rourke! We looked at Rourke's pedigree when we got home and they shared quite a few dogs.

I found another salad in the fridge after you both left I had forgotten, dried tomatoes with pesto and Mozzarella balls!

I had a lovely time with them all and it was a great break from a normal day and quite stupendous that I have met Kate (@Beanwood) and Emily (@Emily_Babbelhund) who I would never, ever have met if it wasn't for the My Labrador Forum.

 

[Granca]

The scenery looks beautiful - and very atmospheric in the swirling mist! What a lovely day!

 

[Jacqui-S]

Looks stunningly beautiful (if a tad nippy).
Friends.
We have a lot to thank the Forum for x

 

[Joy]

Beautiful dogs and countryside.

 

[Emily_Babbelhund]

Friends.
We have a lot to thank the Forum for x

All I can say is this times about a thousand. I'm so very grateful for the lovely people I get to meet and the amazing experiences they share with me. Can you imagine me on my lonesome traipsing around Europe and the UK? How lonely that would be. But thanks to you wonderful people - the ones I've already met and the ones yet still to be met - I've got you along for the ride.

@Beanwood and @Jelinga thank you for the posts and a special thanks to Kate for the photos. See, you can do @snowbunny - style 'walking away' shots too.

Here's one of mine from our walk:


And of course a huge thank you to @Jelinga and the smiling - really! - Rourke for their hospitality.

It really was a forum day for me because after our time with @Jelinga and Kate, I headed over to visit @UncleBob , his lovely OH and adorable Harvey. After an initial grumpy dialogue from Mr. Grumpypantalones, he and Harvey had a blast with the ball.



Then we headed over to Harvey's local garden centre. I don't know if all garden centres in the UK are as fabulous, but I LOVE that place. Massive lit up reindeer (or possibly large chickens or zebras) in the front, winter wonderland inside. And they don't have just plants - they have food and decorations and tons of dog stuff. I even found a Christmas scarf for Carbon, but it had puffy balls on each end that he kept trying to eat. I mean, really - who puts BALLS on a DOG scarf? But maybe that was a sign from the universe that Carbon has plenty of neck accessories.

Carbon getting a little too friendly with Harvey...


Harvey leading the garden centre tour...


Then it was back to Harvey's house where he generously shared his toys with Carbon and the humans had a delicious meal. Carbon was still being a bit hit or miss - I think he is dead tired finally - and his piece de resistance came during dessert. As @UncleBob was offering me a muffin out of a large tin, Carbon stuck his entire schnoz into the tin, nicked a whole muffin and downed it before @UncleBob could even blink!

Yes, including the paper wrapper. All. In. One. Gulp.

All humans in the room remained speechless, but let's just say some of us were less surprised than others.

After a suitable pause for Carbon to clean up the remaining crumbs, we said our thank and farewells. Luckily @UncleBob and his OH have a good sense of humour. But frankly my guess is that Harvey wasn't the only one slightly relived that Carbon and I had moseyed out the door and down the road!

A short drive later and we came to our hotel. I was going for cheap and cheerful and what I got was "Oh my goodness what have I done!?" It is clean, but let's just say I'm really glad I have a dog who can sound scary when he barks. I suspect it's a place that normally rents by the hour, if you get my drift.

Thanks to the power of the internet and my fatigued credit card, I've got something better lined up for us lodging-wise tomorrow night. 'Cause I'm getting way too old for creepy motels.

Lyn's House FREE arrival dinner off-street parking - Cottages for Rent in Royal Leamington Spa, England, United Kingdom

 

[Boogie]

Clever muffin skills Carbón!

That looks very swish - and a meal to arrive too, very nice. Not a creepy corner in sight!

 

[Granca]

What a day, especially the muffin story! I hope you’ve survived the night...!

 

[Emily_Babbelhund]

I hope you’ve survived the night...!

Survived the night just fine, thanks. The room itself was basic and clean, but what I didn't like was the door with no deadbolt opening directly onto the parking area where there were several dodgy-looking men loitering last night. Felt like walking the gauntlet to let Carbon have his last wee.

All fine today, though - I guess dodgy-looking men aren't early risers - and I'm really looking forward to my visit with @Natalie and Monty today. Carbon would be looking forward to it too - if only he understood English!

 

[Beanwood]

Oh My! That sounds creepy... BUT a choice of ready meals in the freezer tonight?....wow! upwards and onwards I say....

 

[snowbunny]

Sounds like my experience stopping over in France with Squidge one time. It turned out it was a trucker stop, so all big burly men ... and me. I tried to make Squidge look fierce, but I don't think anyone was buying it...

Glad you survived the night and you're getting to catch up with so many forum bodies! Very jealous

 

[Natalie]

Yeah and she's about to find out who's the least house-proud member of the forum

Have you ever looked around your house and thought oh my, I really don't know where to start I'm hoping carbon won't notice

 

[Boogie]

Yeah and she's about to find out who's the least house-proud member of the forum

Have you ever looked around your house and thought oh my, I really don't know where to start I'm hoping carbon won't notice

Housework wise I TRY, I really do. But I’m far too easily distracted for sustained effort at something which has zero interest. If I’m interested in something I can do it for 12 hours straight.

I used to have a cleaner when we both worked - which was great and made sure I kept tidy too. But I can’t justify the cost now. When Mr Boogs goes on his next bike ride I’m going to buy in one of those ‘deep clean’ sessions as a treat for the house.

 

[Cath]

Have you ever looked around your house and thought oh my, I really don't know where to start