30 bassets and Molly the Superdog invade Llanwern

So I can't remember if I told you about Ruby but just in case, the other week we got a call from an animal charity to say there was a Basset in a pound in Yorkshire and if she wasn't given a rescue place by 6pm then she was going to be put to sleep.  This was 4pm.  Mummy didn't hesitate, she said tell them she's safe, we will get her.   Even if it meant we got in our car right now and got drove to Yorkshire we wasn't letting her get put to sleep just cos the pound was full.  So the lady phoned the pound and said we would pick Bella (for that was the name the pound had given her) up in the morning.   But then at 6.30 we got a call to say there had been a mistake and Dogs Trust had been in to the pound but they only had three rescue places and they had accidentally been given our dog.   Well we tried to phone the pound and Dogs Trust but nobody was answering cos it was too late and we were all ever so upset cos we knew that a healthy dog had lost that precious rescue place.    Well the next morning Miss Susan managed to get hold of Dogs Trust and explained the mix up.  As you can imagine they were as upset as we were when they realised a dog had died that needn't have and they said we could have our Bella back if we came to get her straight away so they could go back to the pound and rescue another dog.  So Miss Susan sent her friend to fetch Bella and Bella went to stay at Miss Susan's house for a while.

Couple of days before our party we found a lovely home for Bella with a lovely lady, her children and her sweet old Basset.   So we asked very nicely and some of our wonderful helpers managed to transport her all the way from Lancashire to South Wales.    I keep banging on but we don't half have some amazing people who do these things for us out of the goodness of our hearts.   So Mr Pete met Mr Tim who met Miss Rachel who looked after Ruby overnight.  At this point I need to tell you that the other Basset in her new family is also called Bella and seeing as she didn't answer to anything anyway seeing as that is the name the pound gave her then the new family asked us to start calling her Ruby.  Then Miss Rachel and Mr Martin, who were coming to stay with Martin's family near us the night before our garden party, brought Ruby to us on Friday.   Mummy called her RubyBella then changed it to Rubella then changed that to Measles.  At that point I said she had to stop.  So she did.

We all went for a nice walk to meet Katie and Bryn from school and Ruby was a good girl.  She is very confident and just joined in with our pack.   That night Ruby and Lotty slept in Tom's bed with him and Ruby slept right through.

On Saturday it was our garden party.   The sun was shining when we got up.  The forecast was for rain so we put both the gazebos up and moved the furniture in the conservatory just in case it rained later.    Then Louise came with her three hounds and Katie helped her ice the cupcakes.   We had to do a bit of quality control, just to make sure they were ok to eat.   She even brought little rice paper toppers with our logo, Daisy, on.   They were the best cupcakes ever.  Then Sam, Ryan, Aimee and Elle came at the same time as Mr John so that was another five hounds.  And then it was time for the party.   All together we had 30 bassets and Molly the Superdog.    Everyone was very well behaved though, well almost.  Lotty was embarrassed cos her boyfriend Bertie was being a bit pervy with all the girls except her.  I told her it was her own fault cos she's been in a funny mood ever since she had those two fits last week.   

After an hour or so the sky was getting blacker and blacker and then suddenly it really started raining.  There was thunder and lightning and hailstones the size of cats (maybe, small cats anyway).  We all sheltered though and after half an hour the sun came out again and it was lovely and warm and we all played on the agility course and ate our picnics.    It was lovely to see so many of our own rescue dogs at the party too; Ruby, Poppy, Snoopy, Bertie, Fred, Tonks, Flippy and Floppy.   Even Jefferson came.  He was allowed to sit on the table so he could watch everybody and we had to be careful not to jump up and hurt him.   Ruby stole Heidi's prawn sandwich and Lotty stole Cheryl's cheese sandwich.   I didn't steal anybody's sandwich.

After the party Theresa, Douglas and Poppy took Ruby back with them cos they live near Ruby's new family and they were going to take her to her new home on Sunday.   We had the best day ever ever ever and we can't wait to do it all again next year.

On Monday Bryn had his school concert.  His band played Californiacation by the Red Hot Chilli Peppers.  I'm not sure this is an entirely appropriate choice for twelve year olds to play but ho hum, they were really good anyway.   Only Mummy left her phone at home so she couldn't video it.  She was so cross with herself.

Ooh I have to tell you, remember Uncle Jack?  You know, Uncle Jack.  No, me either.  Well anyway, he died in a plane crash and this bank in gawd knows where has been trying to find his next of kin.  And you'll never guess, go on have a guess.  Yep, that's right.  It's me.  All I have to do is give my bank details to this bank and they will put 5.5 MILLION EUROS in my bank.  I'm so excited.  I love Uncle Jack.  I wish I'd known him when he was alive, I bet he was a fun Uncle.  A funcle if you will.