I got a good soaking while seeing to the geese - I hadn't cleaned their sawdust out for a couple of days, due to Mr Goose's aggressiveness, and not only did it need cleaning out, but they needed some fresh sawdust as well. This involved lugging the enormous bag of sawdust from where it lives underneath the tarpaulin at the side of the house up to the goose terrace and goose island. Once there, a fresh batch of sawdust had to be manhandled out of the bag onto the floor of the goose house, then spread around. By the time I'd finished and got back in the house, I was covered in a soggy mess of rain and wet sawdust. Stuart was unimpressed by the fact that I'd grabbed his coat as I went out of the door, and it was therefore his coat that was covered wet flecks of sawdust. I swear I didn't do that on purpose though...
After a lovely hot bowl of porridge, we decided that we'd made a mistake when we went to the pet shop yesterday. We had looked long and hard at the coats section. I can barely believe I am saying this, but, yes, we looked at dog coats. We had eventually decided to give them a miss though, both because winter seemed to be on its way out and because Reggie (even at 18kg) still has some growing to do. However, having both witnessed his extreme reluctance to budge from the front door step this morning, we agreed that rain does not seem to be his favourite thing.
We therefore hopped in the car and headed once more for Montecatini and Arca Planet. This time we went armed with the information that we'd been missing yesterday: Reggie's size. He measures 55cm from the base of his neck to the base of his tail, and this piece of information allowed us to make an informed decision as to which coat would be the most suitable for him.
Thankfully, amongst the pink hoodies, studded jackets and camo-coats there were some more sensible options that we felt were more in tune with our (and Reggie's) lifestyle. We ended up buying him a reflective, teflon-coated, wind-proof, rain-proof hiking jacket. Yes, a hiking jacket:
This time, in a desperate attempt to assuage the guilt (slightly), we left the pet shop with a packet of a new flavour of 'Catisfactions' for Lucca and Florence - the same cat treats that are sold as 'Dreamies' in the UK.
We drove from Montecatini to Pescia and parked the car next to Lidl then took Reggie for a walk along the river. We were slightly disappointed that, by this time, the rain had dried up, so there was no need for Reggie to wear his new coat. Hmm. Never mind, we were sure there would be plenty of need for it in the future.
Off we went for a walk, but this time, instead of walking our usual stretch of river, we walked south down the river - a stretch of the path we have never walked along before, and which we enjoyed immensely. The river was really raging today after the rains of yesterday, and the three of us watched in amusement as two ducks were swept along on the waves. We couldn't work out if they were having great fun, imagining them shouting to each other 'woooo!! look at me!!', or whether they had actually wanted to go in the opposite direction and were being swept further and further from their intended destination.
Anyway, with those distractions, and the distraction of walking a new section of path, we had been walking for a full hour by the time we got back to the car - pooch thoroughly pooped!
We headed home, but not before stopping off at Amanda's to buy something nice for lunch. Today we chose a serving of pork and olive casserole with some roast potatoes. Delicious, and such a lovely treat - it's like having someone else make a home-cooked meal for you.
After lunch, I settled down at my computer to do some work on updating our website while Stuart headed upstairs to start the clean and tidy-up before his Mum arrives tomorrow (converting what has become the cats' room back into the guest room) and then tackle the tricky task of cutting his own hair. It might not quite be Nicky Clarke, but he always manages a decent cut, which never ceases to amaze and inspire me (it doesn't quite inspire me enough to take a pair of scissors to my own hair, but still it's very impressive, not to mention thrifty).
At around 4pm we decided that, since Reggie had been napping pretty much since we got back from our walk this morning, we should take him out for another breath of fresh air. It still wasn't raining, but we decided to put his coat on him nevertheless. He looked like Super Dog!
We walked up the donkey track and back again, then retired back to the house where Reggie was relieved of his coat (although I think he really quite liked it) and we settled down to our evening - starting with a glass of wine and the sampling of the marinated garlic we made last night. The verdict? Not quite as good as the ones we've bought from the supermarket, but pretty close. We've uploaded the recipe to our website here if you're intrigued or tempted!
Now it's time to settle down for some dinner followed by a bit of TV and an early night before the start of a new week.
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