One of the problems of having little dogs, especially a Shih Tzu with short hairy legs, is mud. Poppy on the one hand, can saunter through a muddy field and is easy to clean up. Lily, the Shih Tzu on the other hand, comes home with muddy legs and belly, with a bath (which she hates!) often the only solution. Consequently the Hatton field, where we love to walk, has really been out of bounds for the past few months because of the very rainy weather, with even the path squelchy and muddy.
Now that the weather has dried up a bit, the field is starting to dry up too and is becoming more accessible for hirsute, vertically challenged dogs. It is great to be able to wander further along the burn again, hear the gurgling water and enjoy the signs of spring. We have to enjoy it while we can, because when the grass becomes longer in the summer, it becomes another no-go zone for our little dogs. They don’t like ploughing through an eighteen inch high jungle. Well, would you, with undergrowth over the top of your head?
I have enjoyed spotting the occasional crocus, the odd clump of snowdrops; now the daffodils are coming out and the cheeky little yellow flowers of the celandine. Come June, my favourite month for flowers, I will be looking for the appearance of the purple orchids and of course the buttercups.
One thing that really saddened me about my walk in the field yesterday was the amount of rubbish lying about near the path. So I decided to document it, and then pick up at least some of it after I found an old carrier bag in my jacket pocket. There were cigarette packets, cans, bottles, plastic bags, and bits of a torn up football. I expect some of the other canine users of the field had really had fun with that. I have watched pupils getting off the school bus in the afternoon and just tossing an empty can or bottle down the bank and into the field, rather than using the litter bin or taking it home. We are lucky in Hatton that HARA, the local residents’ association organises village clean ups. I expect there will be one soon. But for now, there is a little less litter in the field.