Day 23 pootling on - Baggy is on a mission to get stuff done while she can.

Furry Mama has just taken Minty Mutt for a walk. It's a lovely, if overcast day, but everywhere is very wet and Minty does like to walk through puddles. So The Domestic Goddess had extra work by the time they got home. How is it possible for one dog to make so much mess? Wet mud dripped all the way through the kitchen. Then before Furry Mama could get anywhere near him with a towel, Mint had already gone into the sitting room, had a shake (mud splats up the door and all over the television and sofa), laid down, not just on one but on both rugs (covered in wet mud), before deciding he needed to lie on the Tudor-brick floor (well at least that washes down). If Clever Bird had any common sense at all, she would have made Furry Mama shut Mint outside the back door, left his collar on and gone in and got a towel and dried him outside. But no, she took the collar off in the garden and let him straight in. The Goddess cleared it all up.

Mint vaguely dried off, Furry Mama decided to boot Gloria Gardener back outside to pick up the four week's worth of dog poo that is in the garden because Baggy couldn't find the strength for Furry Mama to do it. Clearly Minty Mutt's rule is to poo in the middle of the track and on the step and the little patio, anywhere in fact that will ensure that his humans stand in it! The minute that Baggy had collected her two carrier bags and taken Gloria outside, she heard Mint barking his head off guarding the house (probably from the postman). So back in she went and got him to join her in the garden (we don't want to annoy the neighbours). Gloria stuck one carrier bag inside out over Baggy's hand to start poo-picking. First of all she cleared the eight dead mice and voles off the patio (poor little souls - Furry Mama loves her cats, but.....), then started on the poo. She must have bent down to pick up a poo that was actually a leaf at least once every three times. Having almost filled the first carrier bag, Gloria got distracted by a noise. Baggy turned round to see Minty Mutt disappearing into a large mud hole he was digging under the wild rose bush, well on his way to Australia. Nooooooooooooooooo! Both bags dropped. Minty told to stop. He raised his eyebrows, looked all innocent, grinned and started digging again. Arrrgh! "Right, get back inside", says Furry Mama. Gloria returns to her carrier bags. Baggy picks up the "picker" bag and puts it back on her hand, the wrong way round Clever Bird! Yuck! Baggy goes back in to wash her hands and realises that the house is once more covered in mud. Way to go Clever Bird. Despair.

Right. Tough. Back outside. More leaves picked up. Two poos trodden in. No swearing. No really. Another carrier bag filled up. The smell is awful. But twenty minutes later the garden is clear-ish of poo.

Minty Mutt wiped back down again by Furry Mama. The Goddess re-wiped the floor. Vacuum got back out. Clever Bird told off. Clara wrote and typed. Baggy is now sitting down and having a cuppa before phase 2 of "getting on with stuff".............