Midge alive

In a surreal event today we got a call saying midge was not dead. She is in hospital and in a particularly nasty scam some criminal had informed people midge was dead, then, knowing she is under sedation, began removing the contents of her home. So, the criminal knew her. Knew she was in hospital and under sedation. And also didn't care about the feelings of her dispersed family. Midge lives in Inverness but most of her freinds and family live down here in Somerset. So my partner, her brother and her son are now unravelling the grief they had begun.

Midge RIP

Had to drive my partner to get something from a different town. I'd already got the dog food. Yesterday kipper and his two dogs had stayed over the night which was good for Dook. Shep husks are pretty basic dogs. Not far off wolves so they lack a lot of dog skills. In a group of mixed dogs they want to be leader of the pack or fight it out. Our sleep,was only broken by a single fight on the stairs.Dook is the hardest if the daftest of them all. We took them up the fields and let them run wild, tumbling over each other at speed as our boots and trousers soaked .
Back home I'd promised a freind a lift so kipper was gone by the time I got in. I knocked myself out for the long day ahead. Various favours meant I didn't get loaded up till after twelve and drove to London , already tired.
I recognised the artist who answered the door from previous jobs who looked none plus send at a joiner arriving to unload stuff for a days work at 4pm. After some negotiation we broke the ice and I unloaded. A fireplace top, a tiny job that due to scale had somehow found its way to the back of my priority cupboard needed completion so the painter could complete his job. Them London tradesmen, arrive at 8am but they're off home by three. So I hope I left it all fit and ready for him.
As the artist wanted to be out by 6 I just unloaded all the component pieces of a bookcase in French oak. I'll assemble it in a week once the carver who, despite my leaving messages and generally coaxing him on has failed to deliver the top detailing. Mastercraftsmen sometimes permit themselves a more flexible adherence to punctuality.
The drive back was a smooth 3.5 hours. Dropping in to collect some bits for a freind.
No rest for the wicked so I knocked myself out with a pair of beers only to hear my partner shout up at threeish that her surrogate mother had died. She'd been on the way for some time but the shock is never diminished. I got up to comfort her and me, her and the dog took a drive to special places. The night roads empty somehow seem right. It'll take time. She visited her up in Inverness in a psychic imperative a couple of weeks back. A series of strokes and now Midge is gone. Original hippy, Isle of Wight festival, saw Hendrix, freind of peter Gabriel and a thousand other tales. I only knew her in her later years but she had lived a condensed life.  She was loved.
Where she came in to our story, well my girlfriends, was as a saviour on several occasions and as a surrogate mother. Some teenagers and mothers just can't get on and my girlfriend found herself homeless. Sleeping in barns, then living in a tent, trying to complete her schooling. Her life could have been so different if she could have found a way to bridge that gap from school to college because she surely had the talent. These years of homelessness were brought to an end when some New Age travellers took her under their wing and taught her how to build benders, scrapping and other ways of getting by on nowt. Sadly drugs were creeping in to what was once the new Albion. Thatchers war on these medieval brigands saw their caravans smashed up and torn apart. It was from here that Midge took my girlfriend in and tried to educate her in the rights and wrongs of hippydom.
I won't go on as these aren't my stories.   But it's now 6.30 and were awake and drinking tea. Sleep. Please bring us a few hours oblivion soon.

Focus

Focus is the secret, focus on anything. All we do is trivial in cosmic terms. Even the work of Nobel prize winners. Nothing really matters. But if you can convince yourself, and it helps if you can find a group of believers, then focus on something and explore your testing of it to its limits you can find a happy life. I have episodes like this. I also have periods where I find no point in anything and slump in to self destruction.

Dook dilemna

There's this secret path to the river I take, well not many people go that way so I use it as somewhere to let Dook off the lead. Often if he walks past people nothing happens, especially if they don't try to touch his face. A couple were walking up and Dook jumped up in greeting. The man, quite normally reached out and Dook bared his teeth briefly. The moment was over and I apologised profusely.
Essentially its either euthanasia or constant muzzle in public places, lead of course too. What to do?

In with the tribe

It is the over riding story. There's the pack. The accepted and acceptable. Then there are the weirdos. People like myself. At some point in early childhood or even puppyhood you react in a manner that the tribe dislike. A dog bites a hand that moved too quickly and they must from then on wear a muzzle .this informs the tribe that the dog is bad. From there on each interaction begins with the assumption that the dog is bad.
Children have a moment when n adult loses their temper and calls them a bad boy. From then on the pattern continues. The teacher encourages this feeling of being bad. I know personally that deep down I feel bad. And as life churns on these people find themselves with teachers, social workers, magistrates, judges, prison officers. Once you are in the bad club it is usually for life. A few recover but you are talking low percentages. From then on its crime, drug addiction.
I've always felt this strong tribe thing. The in crowd. The acceptable. Then the rejects. With people it is mental hospitals and prisons. With dogs its lethal injection.

Madness, self destruction and joy

We went to see the dog behaviourists and they were very helpful. If we work at it we may cure Dook of his violent outbursts. We walk with him muzzled and. Pedestrians tend not to want to say hello as much which is great. He hasn't bitten anyone for days now and seems to be getting the message. His beauty was always a danger. It draws people in, wanting to rub his face. Do you want strangers rubbing your face. I love him now so I won't let him down.

Dook