Ducks, walk, and hamster

The ducks appeared in our yard again today so I watched them to see what they would do and they went to our pond. We have a tiny pond that only fits one duck at a time and the drake was the perfect gentlemen and let his girlfriend go first. She spent a little while having a bath, drink and whatever else – maybe there’s food in it for them although I’m not sure what – then she hopped out and the drake had a turn. Daniel took this photo of them just after the female had hopped out and the drake – you can just make out his green head behind her – is sitting in the pond.

We obviously need a much bigger pond.

I went for a walk with a friend and her dog today along the coastal path just past the new harbour. The cliffs on the north east of Scotland are very striking with jagged rocks towering over a clear blue sea. It’s very pretty.

There was even a waterfall.

The dog was wandering off-leash and ventured part-way down a grassy bank having smelt something that she then proceeded to roll in and eat. Thinking it was probably a dead animal we tried calling her back but she was having too much fun. When we did retrieve her again we discovered it was much worse than a dead animal; it was human faeces. The dog’s fur, usually an attractive charcoal colour, was smeared in chocolate brown down one side. How glad I was to be a cat-owner at that moment. Fortunately we found an accessible bay and went down to wash her off in sea water.

Our new hamster Angelina is such a cute little thing and has settled in so well. Her pedometer has been recording her run each night and some of the distances are extraordinary. The record so far is 20,529 revolutions of the wheel which works out to 12.76 miles. She seems very happy, as far as it is possible for me tell. She’s quite friendly and will walk out onto my hand. Here’s a photo of her eating a walnut.