Struggling a bit

It's difficult to walk Betty at the moment....well, give her a good run off the lead I mean.  Where we live it's all narrow little lanes, just wide enough for a tractor, with ditches and tall hedges on both sides and laybys so vehicles can pass or walkers can take refuge from tractors, and lots of farms.  Most of the farmers round here don't mind locals walking their dogs in their fields, provided they're not being used for livestock or have newly planted crops.  There is one farmer who objects and orders people off his land, but he's a minority of one.

However, right now the farmers are all getting their fields ready for crops, so they're spraying with weedkiller first, then a few days later it's muck spreading (we used to shut all the windows when we saw them doing that, but now I really don't mind the smell!).  And then they plough it all in a couple of days later, followed by seeding.

And during all this, we can't take Betty in the fields - we don't want her coming into contact with weedkiller obviously, and we certainly don't take her in a field that's been covered with muck - she adores the smell and throws herself down and rolls around in it.  I may be used to the smell now but I don't want it indoors on a filthy stinky dog!  It takes ages to wash it off her, we know from experience, the smell still lingers on her fur for days, and the college grooming salon has closed for the duration of the virus lockdown.

We can't take her to the beach or the Marshes nature reserve either, not allowed to drive to anywhere at the moment.  So that means right now we can only walk her, on lead, along the lanes.   So shes's not getting much proper exercise and is consequently full of beans at home.  We do play with her every day, she loves tugging toys and chases after the toys we throw, but it's chaos - our house isn't very big, nor is our front garden - husband doesn't like her in the back garden because she tramples over all his veg beds and likes digging in them.  So playing with her results in the house looking like we've had a party for toddlers, or big scrape marks in the front lawn where she's skidded across it chasing her toys, and bits broken off my shrubs after she's crashed into them.  She's a chunky little bruiser who creates havoc when she's charging around.  But she does make me laugh, all the same.

Who can resist that face anyway, she's adorable and I love her to bits.

I'm suffering a bit with cabin fever too, am sure we all are.  Nearly a week into lockdown and still weeks to go.  Wouldn't surprise me at all if it turns out to be longer than 3 weeks.  But I guess staying safe at home is better than the alternative.