Off on a jolly aka having a bit of the Marlborough Spaniel about you still

Millie and Toby looking mighty pleased with themselves

This mornig I let the dogs out to run about the property, as the children got ready for school and on calling them in realised, three where missing, Millie, Toby and Toby's sister with only three legs, Jessica. On close inspection of our gates, I noticed that the wire netting at the bottom of one was pushed back enough to allow a dog to get through, believe me a dog if he/she has the will, can get through a hole comparatively small to their size, so I assumed this must of been the route of escape. I then got told by the children, that when I was at work milking the evening before, Dolly and Jessica had escaped throught the hole and Dad had seen them and recalled them, but Dad, my husband had forgot to tell me about this on my return from work and had not repaired the hole adequately enough to stop them exscaping from it again, if I had known this, I would of gone out side with the dogs, when letting them out this morning and done a full repair later. What's done is done though and my husband should be thankful he is yet to replace his broken mobile phone, or else he might of had a rather irritate wife on the phone this morning, by the time he gets home tonight at 8 pm, any anger about this will of long passed by, best not to hold on to such things for to long.
I called for them up the road and down, nothing, they were long gone (These little spaniels if not mollycoddled and allowed to nuture their instinct, can travel through dense covert the swiftest of any of the spaniels). The problem was, I had the school run to attend to, which meant I could not pursue them at that time through hedgerow and thicket. My main worry was little three legged Jessica, my how she loves to hunt and she does not consider only having three legs should stop this pursuit, which she has already paid dearly for with the loss of a leg. Thankfully she returned about ten minutes after me realising they had escaped, I imagine she could not keep pace and on losing sight of them decided to return home.
Millie and Toby though were still at large. I got the children to school and then had to pop Treacle to the vets for her jab to sort out the very accidental mating with her Dad, Reggie with the second jab tomorrow. Got back from that around 10.45 am, so then sorted the other dogs feeding them etc and by 11 am I set out to start the search for Millie and Toby. Two hours with no sightings, I came home because my tummy rumbling, indicated that sustenance was needed. Thankfully I had returned home then, because shortly after arriving home, a knock on the door was heard and Peter Tucker as I opened the door was stood and told me he had seen the two of them at the end of Snape Lane, he was on his way out and was sorry that he had not picked them up (when I found them and the mess they were in, I can understand why he had not offered them a lift).
I thanked Peter who is a neighbouring stock farmer and jumped in the car to get over to Snape Lane and thankfully I found them ambling up Snape Lane, they looked very pleased to see me for a lift home, after a morning of terrorising the local wildlife. I could not be mad with them, they looked so happy (these two Cavaliers still have the Marlboruogh Spaniel about them, rather than the later King Charles, they will hunt until they drop) and one should never be mad with your dogs when they go off on a jolly. Millie and Toby were on there way home, as far as they were concerned they had got through a hole and were doing what dogs do, hunt. They did not think they had escaped and did not comprehend that I would be concerned for them, their only probable thought on the matter and disappointment is, that they have returned empty pawed back to the pack, but thankfully that human creature seems to have a cupboard that refills with food for them, so not to worry to much about that.
The photos I feel don't really show how truly caked in mud and bits of fauna they are, believe me they are filthy and are equalled by this in odour. It's now 2.30 pm and I have got two dogs that need cleaning up (the utility smells of very earthy, musty, damp dog at the moment), bathed before I pick the children up at 3.30 pm, so I best get a wiggle on. Lol