Old life – new life.
10 October 2024 | 
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Old life.
Our Brandir is still going strong. Of course he gets older every day, but it goes so slowly that it is almost unnoticeable. He still walks well, eats well, still gets up several times a day, still jumps in the car (sometimes it doesn’t go completely smoothly anymore) and is cheerful and happy. He still goes to hydrotherapy every week with Corinne Somers in Rucphen and once every 3 weeks he gets acupuncture and various Chinese herbal mixtures of Victoire Koperberg-Weijers (Acuvet).
Here he is lying in the late afternoon sun, the beautiful colors represent his colorful life.
But life goes on, so on August 6 we left for Hermannsburg where we spent a few nice, but warm days with Sonja. Sonja really didn’t expect to see Brandir again, and had already said goodbye to him in Tüttleben. So you see, the wonders are not out of the world yet!!
On Wednesday we went for a nice walk at the lakes where Brandir had so much fun as a young Deerhound together with his sister Bernice. I don’t know if he recognized it, but miraculously he even went into the water, something he never does!
From Sonja we went on to Göhlsdorf where we have to take care of the coursing for already many years. Unfortunately there was no show this year because it was the same date as Donaueschingen. Very strange because it is about 700 kilometers apart so they don’t have much competition from each other!! Just over 80 sighthounds had been entered for the coursing, 10 of which were Deerhounds. The course was not too long because of the warm weather but luckily there was a nice breeze so it was doable for the hounds. Charlaigne didn’t run well and finished eighth, Crumbaugh was sixth and miraculously Cranston Argyll was third!
It was again a very pleasant and sporty weekend.
Friday, August 23, for the first time in I think 13 or 14 years, we left for Leek. We had reserved “Landgoedcamping Nienoord” which is just around the corner from the coursing area. The problem is that you are no longer allowed to camp on the coursing grounds, not even the employees and the board, so you have to stand or park in the parking lot or drive back and forth to a campsite on the day. So we had chosen this nearby campsite which was also within a good walking distance through the forest, so that I could walk out the hounds well after the course, back to the campsite. Ideal!
The atmosphere and overall experience of Nienoord is no longer there. Everything has changed; the environment, the people, the terrain. In the past, there were always gigantic mud puddles on the coursing field, which resulted in the most spectacular images, but now the site was drained and there was not a puddle to be found. Very boring! But the hounds had a nice walk, there was a nice track and there was good turning.
The annoying thing was that Cranston and Crumbaugh were running together and at the end of the course they were at each other’s throats. Cranston has a problem with Crumbaugh while Crumbaugh has no harm in it, but when Cranston hurts him, he does react. So from now on, Cranston will only run training sessions and test runs to avoid a fight.
Crumbaugh was, as usual, first of the three.
New life?
Shortly after Leek Charlaigne went into heat, but the male I had initially selected was no longer available so I had to go to his father. Actually not so bad, because he is already 7 years old, has beautiful offspring and is doing well in terms of longevity. He is also good in the field of Factor VII, Hart and DEPOH.
After some back and forth writing, progesterone tests, I left on Wednesday morning, September 11, for Horley in England where we had the ‘date’ with Hyndsight Endlessflight in the course of the afternoon.
After a long day I ended up back at “The Black Horse Inn” near Maidstone around seven o’clock. What a lovely, cozy pub this is! Dogs are very welcome and they are really taken into account. This time I had left Charlaigne in the room before it would get really ‘cozy’!
In principle, I would go back again on Thursday and I had planned a nice route along the ‘Hever Castle’ where coincidentally a ‘Handcraft Fair’ was also held. You could walk beautifully around the lake and in the beautiful gardens and there were very beautiful and nice objects to admire at the many stalls of craftsmen. But on the way to the castle I got a call from Hector Heathcote that he was stranded on the Isle of Wight and that it could be very late tonight before he got home. If I could tomorrow. No, that wasn’t possible because my train was booked and I had to be back home by Friday evening. So now let’s hope that everything went well and that a nice litter will be born.
A bit difficult to carry but these larger than life hares, made of chicken wire!, were a lot of fun. In the end, the right hare made of sheet metal was allowed to go home.
We spent more than 3 hours in the gardens and between the stalls at the Hever Castle, a really nice location to spend an afternoon.
The house next to The Black Horse Inn is called Turnham Friars and is largely still in its original state. Most of the windows are still stained glass and even with all kinds of images. These windows are a gem!!
On the return journey, this beautiful old-timer was parked next to me at the French customs of the Eurotunnel.
On October 5, OWRV ‘t Haasje held its club championships. Cranston ran the training and Crumbaugh and Charlaigne the competition. As usual, Crumbaugh won and was captured on camera by Alisha Frijters.
And then it was October 9, a day with two extremes.
First thing in the morning I went with Charlaigne to the clinic for an ultrasound. Soon the puppies came into view. After counting several times, the doctor came up with 9 embryos, 1 of which had a heartbeat but looked a bit strange. So we’ll have to wait and see if that turns out to be something. But at least Charlaigne is pregnant and now let’s hope that everything goes well.
I had an appointment with Victoire for the afternoon. She has been treating Brandir for years with acupuncture and since his diagnosis of cancer in his liver on June 21 (16 weeks ago!!) also with Chinese herbs.
Together with the hydrotherapy that he has also been doing with Corinne for 2 years, these therapies have kept him going. But….. Now his body is really spent. Brandir is a bit short of breath and in pain, he is occasionally nauseous and does not feel well. Victoire was also very worried and we agreed that we will give Brandir his rest in the very near future. When is not yet known, but it is a matter of days.
At the end of the afternoon we had a bottle of bubbly, on Simon’s birthday, the puppies and on Brandir.
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