Spud the dog provided this weeks photo opportunity without me having to move off the back doorstep.
Here he is, expectantly waiting for Tom, who is up the ladder ( I may add Mr Uhdd is footing the ladder, we’ve had enough accidents of late) to retrieve a large number of tennis balls that are stuck in the gutter of the barn, following ‘over enthusiastic’ throws by the boys (actually more accurately hits rather than throws, as Tom tends to strike the ball with a hockey stick for maximum projection, I personally prefer the winger-dinger but rarely manage a throw of barn roof trajectory, I throw like a girl even with a winger-dinger)
How many can you see up there?
There was some discussion today, after Spud had been rampaging through my flower beds in a desperate search for a ball; that we should make an Internet purchase of 72 tennis balls for the princely sum £60, to keep Spud in his ball habit, and save my flowers, but the proposal was rejected by the keeper of the purse on the grounds it was an extravagant amount of money to end up on the barn roof and that food on the table would be a better use of funds.
more, more, there must be more balls
A plus side of the retrieval of the balls is that rain water can once again flow into the water butt, the garden is on to a winner, more water, less dog
Uphilldowndale 
First! Oh no, let’s not start that here.
Waiting as we do for our ‘Spud on Sunday’ update and once again we are not disappointed!
Wonderful photo and story.
Second – if he ^ can, I can!
Spud looks like he’s barely restraining himself from launching up the ladder – wouldn’t be the first time a Spaniel’s done something silly.
LOL, not sure we’d get as many competitors playing ‘the first to comment game’ as played on Gadgets blog (I found myself first once, in my excitement I was struck by writers block, oh, for all of three nano seconds, by which time five others had posted ahead of me.
When I was young the family border terrier joined my dad on the roof whilst he was fitting a new aerial. I don’t think has the right skill set for ladders, deary me no, that would be another accident in the making.
I can’t believe we are on #29, and there have been no duds in the bunch. Spud always delivers, every Sunday! Buying that many balls would just result in more balls landing in the gutters, I am sure.
Spud is such a bundle of energy it almost makes one tired to look at him. Pity all that energy is nontransferable. I’ll bet that in the second picture, his tail was going 90 to nothing. Hope you are well on the mend and back to normal soon.
Too bad you don’t live close to me — I scoop up tennis balls by the handful at my tennis club. Some players are snotty and don’t want to play with a can of balls more than once, so there’s always plenty to go around. My dog Harry has at least 2 dozen tennis balls scattered all over the house.
Sixth! (The eight-hour time difference puts me at a bit of a disadvantage in the First game). 🙂
Looking at your happy little Spud always makes me smile.
I’m surprised Spud doesn’t just head on up the ladder, he looks like he could. Must be a well trained doggie. What ever he is, he’s just gorgeous!
Wonderful, as always! xx
You can buy three tennis balls for a pound at the Pound Shop. Do you have one near you?
They don’t last even ‘one game’ I’m afraid, there is no economy, just a lot of broken balls!
Miss Sadie and the Cowboy are working on a design for a barn rain gutter with an automatic ball return. They are pretty sure they see a fine entrepreneurial opportunity here. On the other hand, they were pretty sure they were going to make a killing in frozen Asian Carp fillets, too, and look how that turned out. Speaking for myself, I cannot imagine how anyone in your busy household has the time it must take to keep Spud looking so luxuriously well groomed, but I am in awe of the dedication.
Grooming? What’s that? He has an occasional visit to the doggy parlour, but it’s been a while since he’s been there. It must be the frequent pond shampoos that give him that silky look.
Have you thought of selling the pond water as “all natural high-gloss hair rinse”? Could be a money spinner, there …
Now the spring has stopped running, because of the dry weather we’ve worked out Spud is emptying the pond, every time he takes a dip he brings a couple of bucketfuls back out with him
Spud needs one of these – do watch the video btw, because it’s very funny.
Hi Spud! Flighty pointed me to your blog – nice to meet you. Tennis balls are ok but I favour pebbles myself. I love to chase after them but I’m not very good at taking them back. My cousin, Russell loves tennis balls though and he sometimes chews them up before returning them.
Hi Carlie, you look very sweet. Spud like pebbles, he brought one back this very morning, when he threw up on the lawn!! Why he eats pebbles I don’t know.
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