Winter Wonderland...

Well, it's December already (where has the year gone??) and brrrr....has it turned cold this weekend?!!! I had a busy day at home on Saturday and it was gone 3pm before we got down to the beach to give the dogs a run.... the thick freezing fog hardly moved all day, it was FREEZING!!! They all enjoyed themselves though and it didn't keep them out of the water either! Sorry no pics, it was just too foggy and don't know that I could have operated my camera very well through the thick gloves, scarves, hat etc anyway lol

I picked up a load of cheap lamb bones in Morrisons on the way home so they had those for tea as a little treat, we usually get bones from the butchers in Chorley mid week but they sometimes have them in morrisons too.

Mmmm...tasty...

We don't tend to get a lot of frost/snow where we live because we're on the North West coast of England so directly in the path of the gulf stream, it tends to remain much milder in this area compared to places further inland but we do get quite a lot of rain! The North West of England has the perfect grass growing climate which makes this the dairy capital of the UK although even here there has been a large number of dairy farmers de-stocking and leaving the industry. The cows are obviously all indoors now, feeding on the silage (which is effectively just pickled grass!) that has been harvested over the summer. I do wonder who will manage the land once all the farmers have gone? I don't think people fully appreciate what an important role they play in our landscape and environment.

Sunday was a beautiful day, very cold but dry with sunshine and beautiful clear blue skies, a perfect winters day. We had a leisurely start before driving over to Harrogate for the NAWS agility show. I didn't leave home 'til 9.30am and it was still - 4°c!! It was a lovely scenic drive over the A59, that route over the Lancashire/Yorkshire border takes in some of my favourite places and scenery in the whole of England. Again, I don't know how much longer this scenery will remain this way as large numbers of upland hill farmers de-stock and leave the land. It's the grazing sheep and cattle that maintain the landscape as we we know and love it. Without them the scenic rolling hills will soon return to scrubland and gorse and eventually thick forest and the fell walkers paradise will be lost. Sorry...am being rather gloomy today aren't I!

A few pics along the route...
Pendle Hill







Near Skipton...

(p.s. I wouldn't normally recommend taking photos while driving!!)

I was sorely tempted to stop and just spend a day out walking with the dogs but we carried on to the show. I had 4 runs with Fi and not a clear run among them but I was really really pleased with her. She hasn't done any agility training for over 2 months and hasn't done any agility since she last competed at NAWS a month ago but she was totally hyper and ran much better than she had done last time. She was fast, focused and driven...running on and working ahead really nicely and really 'attacking' the contact equipment, she was like a little bomb and really enjoying herself, it rather caught me by suprise! lol I am in desperate need of some training (yes me...more than the dog...as usual!), as Fi's confidence grows my handling skills need to improve dramatically! Nat and Kai were brilliant and won the jumping and came 2nd in the agility (this is their 2nd show), Sharon and Max were also fab again with Max coming 2nd to Kai in the jumping. Brenda and the lovely Bryn (Faith's brother) came 2nd in the class C agility but I didn't get there in time to see it...wah!!! I also met a lovely young choc tri Canen lad called 'Rio'...he was making his debut and came 4th in the agility, always nice to catch up with the 'rellies' :)