Just over a week ago when we were immersed in a DIY & decorating frenzy, Biggles got around 5 minutes unsupervised access to our utility room. This is where we keep our bins, the fridge-freezer, and crucially, several months’ worth of kibble. As I’ve noted in previous posts, my boy has a history of not fully capitalizing on moments of opportunity, but this time he got it (mostly) right:  he ignored the bins and the fridge and focused on the three 12kg bags of Burns Alert sitting in the alcove under the boiler. Being Biggles, he still targeted the only bag that had been shipped in a heavy duty woven plastic sack, rather than going for the other two which were otherwise unprotected, but to his credit he nibbled a hole through both the sack and the bag within and made a fair dent in the contents before his 5 minute free-for-all was up. He would have got longer than 5 minutes, but unfortunately the rhythmic battering of his wagging tail against a radiator caught my attention.

Some dogs might regard a big score like that as the achievement of a lifetime and retire from the world of competitive naughtiness, but not my boy. After a few hours of downtime (absolutely unavoidable as his bloated stomach struggled to process the bumper intake of kibble), he was right back to pushing the envelope. Could he sneak back into the utility room for a second go? How many socks could he nick from the bedroom? And how many sheets of sandpaper and rolls of masking tape could be ruined while left unattended on the kitchen floor? Yep, no resting on laurels for The Bigglet, it’s “Excelsior!” all the way.

When life presents you with an old pipe that’s big enough to take your take your head, what you do?

If you’re living life the Biggles way, you just stick your head straight down it, no questions asked.

Beanie hasn’t been idle this last couple of weeks, either: she’s discovered that our miniature strawberry plants are now bearing fruit, and she’s been picking that fruit at every opportunity.

The strawberries really are small, but they’re meant to be super-sweet and full of flavor. I can’t say whether that last part is true or not, because of course I haven’t got to taste any of them yet. Somehow I don’t think that’s going to change any time soon!