A few weeks ago Dirties ventured out to the far away land of Hermitage of Braid, a magical place of babbling brooks and green, sun-dappled meadows and DOGS! Upon meeting at the Pleasance there was already a DOG (named Alva) there to greet us, as well as a number of eager Dirties ready for a day of meadow-raking. The DOG was really what caught my eye though
We arrived at the hermitage a bit early and were introduced by Rose to a wonderful game known as “Elephant, Palm Tree, Monkey, James Bond, Toaster…” The name actually goes on forever. There were a lot of ridiculous faces and people getting very confused at somebody yelling “toaster” at them. I frequently got distracted by the many DOGS walking past and abandoned the game to go and chase them.
When the ranger arrived we headed off to the wildflower meadow we’d be raking, a project we’ve been doing for a few years now. While collecting tools a very smiley collie DOG came and jumped on me which made me very happy. The aim of the project is to get rid of all of the grass that could rot down and provide nutrients, so that the wild flowers, which prefer poor soil, have a chance to grow. Everyone started in a line at the top of the hill and raked the grass down, with some people removing the huge piles of it. This often involved Morna and a giant tarpaulin running at you at high speed.
While this was going on, I took on the very difficult job of entertaining the DOG. We played fetch and wrestled a bit and had many games of tug of war, most of which Alva won. I was completely knackered by lunch but I powered through for the DOG’s sake.
Break from DOG babysitting for lunch, lots of lovely sandwiches and cheese and odd combinations of spreads. Quite a lot of us spent quite a long time dozing in the sun, it was such a lovely day. Afterwards it was back to raking, going over the whole field for a second time to make sure we hadn’t missed anything. I spent most of my time having a nap with the DOG.
We finished pretty early and headed to the pub for a well earned pint. I got to go in the car with the DOG. The DOG fell asleep on my lap! It was the best.
DOG
Love Becky x
Dog Count: 12
Photos by Matt 🙂
