Jackanory... Jackanory .. Jackanory yawn.... yawn...
If my blogs generally put you to sleep,
Then here's one that might waken you up .
Are you all sitting comfortably? Then I shall begin...
Once upon a ... No! Forget that bit , lets get more to the point, or it will turn into one of my shaggy dog stories.
I'll begin again....
I've been a bit slow in my monthly blogs since Christmas. Here, might just be one of the reasons why.
We acquired a new dog in January.
It was Samantha's idea and it was a certainly good one.
He's got us all out walking again, miles a day, including the children who like to be in the garden more with Jack and he's provided a breath of fresh air.
That could be taken literally as he came at the worst time in all that really bad snow and very cold air, that all he's really seen is lots of snow and ice. I've added a few pictures so you can see him playing in the snow.
He could be Jack Frost!
But this morning he's sat outside with me in the sunshine, laid at my feet while I'm having my morning coffee and penning this blog.
Jack is what they call a Labrador crossed with a Pointer. So I'm not sure what that makes him ? A bit of a Heinz 57 maybe? But he certainly looks like a labrador . He's certainly got labrador traits. He's very greedy; always after food in the kitchen, so he's also known as the 'food hoover'. This is great as the children are constantly dropping bits of food. His middle name could be Henry.
He's also malting really badly at the moment, hairs everywhere! He likes to try and sleep on the sofa instead of his own bed. This gets his hairs all over the sofa. So every night we create a modern art installation, worthy of Tracy Emmins unmade bed. I might see if the Tate are interested.
The kitchen chairs are stacked up with Edwards baby Ikea lounge chair on top to try and keep him off the sofa.
The other night we all slept through it, but Samantha heard a big crash in the Kitchen. Jack had managed to somehow get onto a corner of the sofa by wriggling and sent one of the chairs on the barricade crashing off. He settled in for a cozy night on the sofa and yet more hairs!
Jack has come from the kennels as a rescue dog where he'd been for a long time. It was really quite sad, as he's only just over a year old which makes him still an overgrown puppy.
But he's now well and truly 'employed' at SM HQ as Head of Security, although he's pretty useless and never barks. And also more importantly as Chief Children's Entertainer.
Sophie and Edward have taken to him and love playing with him. He's very good and soft with them. Edward is pretty well inseparable from Jack at the moment.
There's a children's program that you might be aware of called 'Masha and the bear.' I'd never heard of it, until I saw Edward watching it all the time .
Its a brilliant Russian made animation series about a little girl who gets up to all sorts of mischief with a bear . The bear seems to be always looking out for Masha. We think Edward and Jack have much of the same similarities as the TV program and Jack puts up with a lot from Edward . This is mainly we think as Edward tends to slip him custard creams, when no one is looking!
Jacks name came from a shortened version of Jackson which he'd been given. We thought about changing it all together , but then thought it wasn't quite fair so he became Jack .
Quick and easy to call and he does come running back on walks.
He does get a few variations now and again .
I call him Wacko-Jacko , Ajax, or Mike, for short. I did actually introduce him to The thriller video on you tube the other day in the office . So maybe he might start 'moon-pawing' when we all go out and leave him in to guard the house.
He's also called "Jack-go to Bed", or "Jack- bed" which Sophie tends to call him when trying to get him to "GO - TO - BED- JACK".
So... Jackson Pollack, Jackson Browne, Wacko Jacko, ' Jack ' a Royal Navy term, "Don't leave me Jack!" Taken from Titanic ... whatever you are called , we all think you're pretty cool and love you lots and lots!
And most certainly its been worth spending a half an hour to write about you on a sunny morning in spring.
We'll no doubt keep you updated on his animal 'human' antics, that will likely fit in with all the other Sophie Morrell animal characters, and so much so, I'm sure that before very long there will be a 'Jack' animal character in print.
On that note , I think it's time for "BED- JACK - anory .... Jackanory Jackanory ... Jackanory.
