A sunny start to 2019

Christmas was a pretty drab affair this time around, from both a weather and Beagle perspective. Two new solid memory foam dog beds appeared, and though they’re clearly more comfy than than older beds they replaced (as indicated by a dramatic reduction in the late night bed telling-off routine), they hardly made Beagle eyes light up with joy. Even worse than that, after December 25th the daily “Advent Biccie” program abruptly came to an end, and was not re-instated despite howls of protest from the Beanster.

Advent Biccies should be for life, not just for the lead up to Christmas!

There were however two highlights over the festive period. The first was the introduction of a completely new food item euphemistically labeled “beef rings”. I believe these are actually sections of bovine trachea and they’re so disgusting I couldn’t bring myself to photograph them, but they loosely resemble pieces of vacuum hose that have been given a makeover by the guys behind the Alien movies. The interesting thing about “beef rings” is that there seem to be strict rules about when and how to eat them. If I just grab a couple out of the bag and hand them to Beanie & Biggles, then they just get grabbed and munched noisily on the spot (the cracking gristle noises are not for the squeamish). However, if I serve them up in doggy bowls along with kibble, then both our pups carefully lift the rings out of their bowls, set them to one side and munch through their kibble before chowing down on the rings. They’ve done this several times now so it’s definitely a thing, and they make me feel like a lazy waiter who’s delivered soup and a bread roll together in the bowl rather than presenting the roll on its own side plate. Who knew that Beagles really do have table manners?

The second highlight came with an Amazon delivery just as I was on my way out to the gym. I’d ordered a 12kg sack of kibble and a bag of fish cubes, and as soon as I took possession of the boxes the officers from the local Beagle customs office came to make an inspection. I fully expected that I’d have to move the boxes to the kitchen for safe-keeping, but other than a brief sniff Beanie and Biggles didn’t seem particularly interested, so I just left them in the hall and got on my way. Some short time later Susan heard rummaging noises coming from the hall, but didn’t immediately go to check. When the noises continued and grew to the point that they could not be ignored, Susan found the box of fish cubes doing a tour of the hall as first one Beagle then the other attempted to access the contents. We don’t think anyone succeeded, but there was a sizable hole in the cardboard box and when Susan rescued it, both pups immediately turned their attention to the box of kibble. You know it has to be Christmas when you get a few minutes alone with a box of fish cubes :)

In all respects 2019 started much better than 2018 ended. The drab grey weather cleared and when I took the pups to Loudoun hill for their first big walk of the New Year, it was packed with families. To a Beagle, families mean one thing – lots of dropped food and other tasty items. We went up, down and around the hill a couple of times and by the time we’d finished anything that could be eaten (even though it really shouldn’t be) had been consumed or formally reserved (peed on). The temperature was low throughout, but it felt much warmer in all that winter sun, and the sunset was spectacular.