Life has changed greatly with a new addition to the household - a beautiful liver and white springer spaniel belonging to my sister and her family, who have gone to Australia for three years.  As she is nearly 13, they decided it would be kinder not to make her suffer the journey, especially as she would be 15 on the way back (or not).  So we are now a multi-pet household again!

Now I am out walking for an hour every day.  We have a lovely wood bordered on two sides by the school and on the other two by fields and she loves following trails, jumping over logs and chasing the wildlife.  I already nearly have enough pigeons for a pie, which saves me money on meat from the supermarket - and it's free range, too.  Yum!!!

The cat has not been keen so far, but she is starting to get more curious, and is now happy to be at ground level for a few minutes while the dog is in the room, and endure a sniffing.  My dream of seeing them curl up together may never happen, but I feel more confident every day that they will learn to be friends.

And the other day, the cat dragged a dead pigeon through the cat flap, so she has already picked up a few new tricks.  Better get that pastry case ready, then...