Good deeds

Eldest daughter made pancakes this morning once I'd prised her away from the television. They were actually much better than mine, probably because she followed the recipe properly. I've always viewed recipes more as guidelines.

I have a feeling that there are going to be rather a lot of interruptions in this post because the baby won't settle.

It's not actually my baby but the one I'm babysitting or rather the youngest of the five I'm babysitting. That's the thing about being in a babysitting circle you do have to occasionally do some babysitting. Still I can't complain because at least three of the others are asleep and the fourth is reading in her room. So it's just me and the youngest who as I type is rattling a red star around as though it were the most fascinating thing in the world, so intent is she on trying to make sense of her world.

We bought a car today. A red estate car which the wife has already informed me will not be used for transporting the hounds. In addition to the wife, the sister, three daughters, a goldfish and an invisible cat, I share my home with two rescued greyhounds. One of these is an ex-racer of Irish extraction and the other is a Glaswegian beauty who was slung out of her home for falling pregnant. In our desire to do a good deed we invited her into our home as a companion for the "Old Fella" but frankly I think he'd rather we hadn't. Having been assured that she was about his age, we quickly discovered that she was much younger and a bit of a floosy. It's easy to see now how she got pregnant. On her first night with us we were woken by the sound of a grumpy, grizzled hound telling her to get out of his bed.

The two of them have come to a truce over bed sharing and now like nothing better than a trip to the local lake for a squirrel hunt. They have been quite succesful in their endeavours though you should have seen the one that got away!

The baby is now making soft gurgling noises as she explores a fabric book with her mouth. I wonder if she would like to try going back to sleep?