Not to give the UK a bad rap but….this has been a very rainy spring, even my doggies are beginning to wonder if they shouldn’t be wearing British collars instead of Albanian ones. We’re well into the third week of  May and I think it’s rained for half of it, which is pretty bad considering we are only supposed to have an average of 300 sunny days a year, with rainfall occurring mostly between late autumn and early spring, did you read that? early spring, that would mean March and April. Well, January, February and March were pretty much a wash out, so I’d say we’ve met our rain quota for the year! Which brings me to my poochies…

Mimi, my 6 year old Schnauzer (seated on the left) and Toby, my 3 year old Schnauzer/Yorkie mix. The poochies traveled to Albania with us in November and have adjusted to life here quite well, for those of you who know my doggies you will see that they are well fed :). The house we live in affords them ample room to roam around, both inside and out, especially outside. The grounds are quite vast for a city dwelling, with fruit trees and a flower garden and they just love to chase away the few stray cats who are brave enough to wonder onto the property.

We also have an abundance of lizards, which keep Mimi especially happy. Toby on the other hand is quite content lying in wait for Mimi to chase them out of their rocks and then attack! Oh yes, lest I forget the 3 or now 4 turtles that mosey on from tree to tree to shrub and rocks. This is a bit of a challenge, not for the dogs, but for me to keep them away from the turtles. Toby especially….there’s a baby turtle and lo and behold the minute I let him loose he immediately finds it, no matter where it is and promptly gets a hold of it and puts it in his mouth. I have no idea what his intentions are because he can barely fit it in there, but off he goes with it in his grip, at which point I have to chase him down and forcefully extract the poor creature from his stubborn mouth. I am sure the little turtle is more than thrilled at having experienced the inside of a dog’s mouth, but nevertheless he survives each time (yes this happens whenever he’s out).

Well the time has come to brave the rain and take the poochies out for their walk. The turtles will be safe today as I’m sure Toby will be in a hurry to get back inside out of the monsoon!

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