New equipment required

Breaking news; Decorating in the home has been delayed until a new roller is purchased.

As the decorating was being done last night, Blue continued the game from the day before, pick up the dusting brush and run for the hills. Now there was a new game, if I stand in front of you when you are working, you have to stop and play with me.

So progress was slow, but after being a bit bored or tired, Blue went to the garden for a well earned rest, he did come in and claim the wallpaper hanging brush off the sideboard, while I was busy pasting the next lot of paper. He does give the game away, subtlety is not high on his list, the sound of knocking of wood against wood and scampering outside, tells you he is up to no good. But again it is just attention seeking so a quick play and safely retrieving the brush allowed work to continue.

Finally the papering was done and time to clear up, it was while clearing up that Blue was noticeable by his absence, maybe he was just resting.

No not Blue, he had found the paint roller and had managed to de-fleece it of half its pile. Unceremoniously it was removed from his grasp and thrown away, as no longer fit for purpose. Then we had a stand off, he was not happy I was not happy, and our mediator was over her Dads.

When Blue is challenged he always comes out trying to front you up, but as you approach he bows down and has this strange groan in his voice and tail wagging, almost as if he is not sure whether we have having a game or it is more serious.

My tone of voice and body language is enough to confirm he is in my bad books, but no more than that, Blue and I do test each other, both having a short fuse, which we now manage and time and distance works well for us both.

Mending the relationship with Blue is most important, but sadly nothing either of us was going to do was going to make the roller live to fit another day.

Ironically  the roller has lived in the house longer than Blue, so perhaps it was time to buy a new one.

We are once again the best of friends and will leave the decorating alone tonight and take Blue for his weekly swim.

Blue has no taste for decorating

Hard going this decoration malaki

At the weekend it was a chance to catch up on some much needed decorating around the home, the task in hand was the hall stairs and landing.

The last time we did some decorating Blue ended up with paint on his tail.

So we began, any wallpaper that was larger than a fag packet, was duly shredded, and scattered as far and wide as possible, in order to stay in touch with the action, bedding down under where the walls were being steam stripped meant a nice soft warm bedding, dampness not being an issue.

Once the ladder was set up, Blue would be keen to go either up or down the stairs dependant on where he was at the time the idea took him, thankfully his skills or desire to climb the ladder did not surface, thus far to date. But that could change over the coming days.

Fetch the dusting brush is a game to relieve boardom, Blue will pick it up and run to the garden, and you have to fetch it back, paying a toll of one treat per item, so we may have inadvertently set up a reward game.

The paint roller was far to fluffy and needed a meticulous trim, and paint brushes have good handles for lifting out of the pot.

Yesterday as the ceiling was being painted, Blue decided to lick the emulsion out of the tray, mistaking the white liquid as his favoured natural yoghurt, though the expression on his face, did show it was not as tasty, and did not return for seconds.

So the decorating may take longer than planned and our Blue may become different colours over the next few weeks, tonight he will likely have his head buried in the paste bucket.