Our pond

Isn't nearly as big as this (ha ha, bet that thumbnail got you going!). But it seemed appropriate to have found this reservoir - and to blip it - on the day that our water company declared this area to be suffering an environmental drought. We'd heard of Burrator Reservoir, & when we realised how close we were to it on today's pond-weed-collecting mission, we decided to take a look. On seeing the vast expanse of water I laughed, & said: "Drought? What drought?" but then I noticed that the water level was a good couple of feet below the high water mark; the reservoir's capacity is just over one thousand million gallons, but without knowing how deep it is I had no way of calculating how much water I was looking at: it looked like an awful lot to me, but what do I know? What puzzles me though, is if we're in an 'environmental crisis', then why hasn't a hosepipe ban been imposed? Do all the rivers have to dry up - & the wildlife die - before the water company dares to inconvenience its customers? We do pay the highest price in the country for our water, so perhaps they're trying to keep us sweet, but I would far rather a little inconvenience at this stage, rather than them leaving it until irrevocable harm has been caused, & then finding ourselves under even more stringent restrictions. But like I said, what do I know?

Anyway, I like to think that for all we 'wasted' a hundred or so litres of water in filling our pond, at least we've done our bit to provide a safe haven for whatever creatures find their way there - and who knows, perhaps we'll have done our bit to prevent another species from becoming extinct? And, we bought a second, larger water butt last week; it's not 'plumbed in' yet, but we have left the lid off it to collect some of the rain that's predicted over the next few days.

Things we've learned about Jack:
Rescue Remedy doesn't work for car journeys. We dosed him up in advance of our drive to the pond lady, but he was every bit as bad on the journey: whining, wriggling, & puffing, & making it a miserable journey for all of us. And when we stopped on the moor to give him a run, he was a nightmare: panting, trembling, & pulling so hard on the lead that he was almost throttling himself. By the time we got to the reservoir, which was our third stop, he had calmed down a little, but was still hardly the model dog.
He doesn't like being left in the car, even when he can still see us both. Whilst we were collecting the pond plants, he managed to set the car alarm off. Twice.
What he'd really like in life is to stay home all day every day, with both of us at home with him. That is not going to happen.

p.s. As far as I can make out, that's Sharpitor Tor in the background
p.p.s. I tried to submit this last night, but got a message that there was 'an issue with the date' & it had to be reviewed by the moderators .... yet on querying this this morning, the reply was that they had no record of such an issue - nor of my blip, & that I'd better try submitting it again!