Poor old Podge!

My poor old dog. His back legs are getting a bit weak and wobbly, and he keeps falling down the stairs and making me scream as he lands in an upside down heap at the bottom. Two days ago I screamed AND burst into tears. He just gets up and walks away! Anyway if this is what he does when we are in the house, how many times does he do it when we are not there?

The solution? Colin went to Argos yesterday and bought a stair gate. The dog is not happy. Usually at night he comes up with us and sleeps on the floor beside Colin's side of the bed. Last night we shut the stair gate and he couldn't come up. For at least an hour he prowled back and forth, back and forth, from the bottom step out into the dining room (where his feet clippity clop on the laminate floor) and back like a caged jaguar at the zoo. I think he eventually jumped onto the sofa in the living room and slept. We already bought a carpet runner for the dining room because he started to slip while he was eating his dinner, until all 4 legs were splayed out under him and he couldn't get up cos it was too slippery. Bless him! I have left him at home today sulking cos he can't go up and lie on the bed all day.

We have started thinking about a Christmas meal for the people who use The Consulting Rooms. We are probably going to go to moules a go-go. We have been before and the food is great.

I have now joined a third swap on swap-bot. I am in the CTnY's summer birthday surprise and reader's delight bookswap and yesterday I joined a bookmark swap where you send 1 handmade and 1 shop bought bookmark to your partner. I am ready to post off the first two swaps, and am waiting for a package to arrive for my birthday next week. The third one hasn't been allocated yet but I have made my bookmarks already. For the bookswap I am sending this book, which I really enjoyed. And I'll put in a little something extra too!