Small Dog's hero.......

Clean sheet..........

I've decided to go right back to basics before installing a new blog background, which I still haven't decided upon yet.

This is the real life equivalent of stripping off the wallpaper, sanding down the paintwork and all the other boring but entirely necessary DIY tasks involved in redecorating a room.

Only in my blog's case I've sloshed on a quick coat of white to give me a blank canvas upon which to try out some new decor.

This is most definitely NOT displacement activity (ok yes it is) and is absolutely essential (it's not really) as I can't see beyond what I've had in place for the past 5 1/2 years (this is true) so I need to go back to basics (probably for the best but doesn't guarantee success).  

Small Dog has suggested a Yorkshire terrier theme but she's been overruled and is now sulking in her basket.

Any suggestions....?

Normal service will be resumed......

If you've visited this blog this morning you may have experienced some rather strange visual phenomena.  This was due to my messing around experimenting with some new blog backgrounds, none of which was quite what I'm looking for.  

It was a tad nervewracking changing the HTML code round the back end, then quickly whipping round the front to see the effect, then back again to restore the status quo.  At one point I inadvertently put two lots of template code together and the resulting horror was terrible to behold.

Thankfully I seem to have managed not to break the internet, and, more to the point, I didn't accidentally delete the entire blog.  However I'm no nearer to finding just the right template so I'm going to stop faffing about and go and do something useful, while I have a proper think about what I want

In the meantime.........

Playing catch up........

Despite the fact that the sun is shining fit to bust this morning I have a distinct 'end of summer' feeling.  This is augmented by having the first Christmas charity catalogue drop though our letter box, not to mention the shops being full of 'back to school' stuff and spotting the first falling leaf yesterday.

Ho hum.
 
In addition, despite having had some of our summer holiday (more of which anon) I feel tired out physically, mentally and emotionally.  Not what I would expect after time away in our lovely little caravan.

However, we decided to cut short our holiday and come back 4 days early, because of an unfolding family crisis at home.  So rather than staying away, feeling worried, stressed out and useless, we packed up and headed back on Thursday.  Since then we've been on the go non-stop and I'm definitely feeling the effects, culminating in a marathon 12 hour sleep last night which has gone only some way to restoring my equilibrium after several days of being in energy deficit.

Therefore, today I will be easing gently back into the saddle, tackling a mountain of dirty laundry, a medium-sized hillock of post/emails, a small mound of orders and assorted other stuff all clamouring for my attention.

So, while I play catch-up, here's something to keep you occupied, should you feel inclined.

For a bit of relaxing displacement activity during a lull yesterday, I was looking through my ClustrMaps stats and decided to check from which American states I'd had blog readers.  If you click on the map it will take you to the stats, and on the right of your screen you'll find the countries listed, along with the number of visitors from each state/region/county for each country.

I have had had visits from people in 51 out of the 52 states.

Which state is missing?

No prizes for getting it right, just kudos aplenty.  I spent a good 15 minutes trying to work out the renegade state without success.  

Yes I know I could simply have Googled the answer but that would have been cheating, and completely outwith my ethos of displacement activity yesterday.

EDIT - I stand corrected!  That will teach me not to not Google.  I  had idly counted all the names in the ClustrMaps state list (leaving out the US forces overseas) and got 51 and from somewhere in the dim recesses of my memory dredged up the other 'missing' state as I was fairly sure there was an even number.  However there are still 51 names in the list so I'll change the challenge from find the missing one to which one is masquerading.


I'm off to stand in the corner for the rest of the evening wearing a humongous dunce's hat....

Online Show 13-15 August......

We're taking part in the second online show this weekend.  The show will be 'unlocked' tonight (Friday) and run for two days.

Look for us under Diminutive Dolls & Toys - (second page -Dealers II)

Also, for blog readers only, if you place an order from the show, or from the Diminutive Dolls website this weekend only, and mention Small Dog, you will receive a Gift Certificate valid for £5 OFF any of our new range of toys and kits which will be launched in October.  If you wish to order from the online show AND the website I will combine postage so please email me before placing your order.


And don't forget to mention Small Dog......

Trying to cram a quart into a pint pot.............

I've just been surveying some of the stuff we've got to attempt to pack into the car and caravan before we go off on our hols.

Ay carumba.....

It fills one entire end of the dining room.

Thusly.....

Most of that pile consists of the awning, which as I've mentioned previously, is a big bugger.  It came with the caravan and was originally packed in one humongous bag which PP and I couldn't even lift between the two of us.  So when we unpacked it in order to see whether all the bits were there, we repacked it in several smaller bags.  We can now at least lift them, but they seem to have expanded exponentially and take up proportionately far more space than they did before.

Anyway, that's the least of it.

Not to mention........

Which started off in kit form and took almost 2 hours to assemble.

*sigh*


Small Dog has retired to her basket, seeking an oasis of calm in the midst of the maelstrom and after a burst of activity earlier I've run out of energy completely and have resorted to doing 'easy stuff' like charging my Kindle and organising the packing lists.


At the moment, I can't actually imagine how it's all going to fit in.  Compared to some of our camping friends (you know who you are) we're positively minimalist but the prospect of being able to double our living space by taking the full awning has gone completely to our heads.


For example we're planning to take not just one, but two BBQs.  One is very small and uses charcoal, the other is the one we spent 2 hours assembling and uses gas.

Also, despite the fact we have a perfectly good fridge in the caravan, we're also taking a 12v coolbox which will live in the awning and perform the function of cocktail/drinks cabinet.  A vital piece of kit as I'm sure you'll agree.


Naturally, Small Dog has her own complement of camping necessities.  Her folding camping chair, her small basket, her new (as yet untested) pup tent, as well as her food/water bowls, leads, harnesses, coat, jumper, pyjamas, fleecy blanket for chilly nights......the list goes on and on.


Then of course, in the spirit of glamping, we have to decorate the awning, so we're taking rainbow rope lights, solar fairy lights, holiday bunting etc.


That's all before we even think about clothing, food, drink........if we can slide even a waffer-thin mint into either the car or caravan after we've finished packing I'll eat my hat. 

Probably one of the three I'm taking. (count them.... straw panama hat , Australian bush hat, eyeshade cap)



In fact we're going to have SO MUCH STUFF I have a premonition that fellow campers will be wondering whether the Clampetts have arrived........ 

3 more sleeps...........

....till we go on our summer hols.

After a fairly frenetic few weeks, to say I'm looking forward to it is a gross understatement.  We're in the final throes of getting the caravan packed up and have been working through our comprehensive packing lists, which now include a beach shelter affair for Small Dog to give her shade in the sun and protection from wind and rain on less clement days, of which there are forecast to be several.

She had her pre-holiday wash and trim yesterday.  If you happened to be out and about in St. Leonards, anywhere within a 2 mile radius of here between 2-4 pm, you will almost certainly have heard her protesting, and if so, thanks for not calling in the RSPCA.  She now looks less shaggy dog, more shorn lamb, although we keep seeing bits we've missed during the fracas.

We'll be taking our full caravan awning for the first time, as we're going away with friends and might possibly need a good sized party space. 

*cough*

I have never put up a full awning before, although I've watched it being done on campsites, usually accompanied by varying degrees of domestic disagreement amongst the participants, so I'm not  holding out much hope for it being plain sailing.  We unpacked it on the patio over the weekend and there really is an awful lot of it.

Undaunted, I found an online video which shows 'just how easy it is' to erect.....

I have watched this video several times now and if you don't have to put up an awning any time soon I don't recommend it as it's quite boring.

However, even as an awning virgin I can see several points on which we might differ when we do it for real ourselves.

Firstly, the two lads have a beautifully sunny day with not a breath of wind.  Their caravan is perfectly level and they have acres of space by the side in which to lay out all their poles.

Secondly, they've definitely done it before.  At no point during the process do they trip over each other, get in each other's way and start grumbling, install the poles the wrong way round or make any of the myriad mistakes which the beginner is bound to do.

Thirdly, the pegs slide in with just a few smart taps with the hammer.

Finally the whole process seems to take barely half an hour and they don't even break a sweat before they're both sat down relaxing and enjoying their perfectly erected awning.

Hmm.

I know for a fact that it's likely to take the two of us about 2 hours.

Minimum.

We will start off well enough, but after about 20 minutes we'll be snarling at each other.  At some point one of us will get trapped against the side of the caravan under the awning by a sudden gust of wind, unable to move or breathe.  

As neither of us are strapping 6 footers, we'll have to take a stepladder to be able to reach the awning rail at the top of the caravan and much time will be spent trying to find a level piece of ground on which to place it.  Obviously, the only level ground will be at least 2 feet away from where we need the stepladder to be.

If  by some miracle we do manage to get the structure up without major incident, the final pegging out process will be sabotaged by stony ground, which bends our pegs, breaks our mallet, snaps the ties and generally saps our will to live. 

Very probably, by the end of it all, we won't be talking to each other and Small Dog won't be talking to either of us.  We'll all sit with our backs to each other until we've simmered down enough to attempt to be civil to one another.

Meanwhile, we will have afforded fellow campers much in the way of amusement and schadenfreude, although it will take several hours until the sight of even one smirking face doesn't send me into paroxysms of suppressed rage and even longer before I can even begin to see the funny side of it.

If ever.