We are blessed to be living in the midst of a scenic drive right now. Seriously - to get to several main roads in multiple directions we have to undertake 'The Comeragh Drive' with mountains, valleys, ancient stone bridges, the odd waterfall and every imaginable shade of green. Not to mention traffic jams of every descriptions - so far geese, sheep, cows - we're not ruling out anything on that front. Speaking of having an open mind... we can now assure you all that the Legend of the Black Lagoon does exist... and it goes something like this. On Saturday (7 Oct) we piled the doggies into the car and jolted up the rutted lane from the cottage to the forestry area and mountains just above us. Utterly isolated, always just us, the dogs, the heather and the sheep. The dogs are incredibly adventurous and seriously well behaved - we simply tell them to "Go Play!" and off they caper, running and jumping and having a grand time altogther - and when we finish our walk after 45 minutes or so, we give 3 blasts on the whistle and they all return to us. At least, that's what usually happens. On this particular day we had 3 out of 4 return. 75% is not good when it comes to members of the furry family - so we kept whistling and calling for Ringka - the missing culprit. Not panicking per se... not yet at any rate. After rewalking the whole area and hearing a bark in the far distance on the other side of a fenced off wild growth forest area we figured she'd had a mishap somewhere in there and couldn't get back. James the Dog Rescuer decided to go into the forest. Me - not so keen - on either of us heading in there. If there was such a thing as a dark and stormy forest... this was it. He continued in and I continued back to the car with the other 3 dogs (no point losing another one) and, who was on the OTHER side of the gate, sitting as sheepishly as a dog can? Missing one of her protective boots? Not a peep out of her. 'Missing' Ringka of course - She must have ranged far and wide, confused her way back to our original call site - and arrived after we departed. Now obviously I was hugely relieved and gave a long blast on the whistle informing The Dog Rescuer to stand down search and rescue operations in the Forest from Hell. He came into view shortly thereafter covered in stinking, sticky mud up to his chest... Apparently the forest is fenced for good reason as he'd taken a step forward onto perfectly normal ground and sunk right down (thank heavens the dogs have never come a cropper in this way... we'd never know where they'd ended up - pretty sure dinosaur bones are at the bottom). Anyway... long story short, the creature from the black lagoon stripped off all his muddy and horrible gears - including the wellies that may well have been his downfall as they tried to fill up with mud. We weren't even worried... I gave him my pathetically small jacket to tie around his waste just for a bit of warmth during the 10 minute jolting drive down the track to the cottage - and off we went. And coming up the road the other way came two white, fluffy and curious Maltese dogs and a well dressed country couple that we have christened Reginald & Majorie. We had to stop the car to ensure the Maltesers didn't become intimately acquainted with the inner workings of a Nissan Leaf and (as you do in the country), the gent leaned down to my window for a chat once he'd retrieved his Maltesers. I made it a very short chat for obvious reasons. We have since imagined their conversation thus: (in a particularly posh English accent mind) "I say Marjorie..." ("Yes Reginald?")... "You know I think the man in that car was naked Marjorie"... ("Don't be ridiculous Reginald... Whatever makes you say that?").... "Well, he wasn't wearing any clothes Marjorie".... ("Reginald - you have been taking your medication haven't you dear?")... "Of course I have Marjorie!"... ("Well Reginald, was the woman naked?").... "Don't be ridiculous Marjorie, of course the woman was wasn't naked!"... ("I should think so Reginald - you know I don't approve of you looking at naked women.)... "I say, Marjorie..., ("Yes Reginald?)... "I don't think I want to bring the dogs up here again... ("Well quite, Reginald)... "Aside from anything else Marjorie, he had 4 naked Labradors in the back of that car... ("Oh Reginald!) - In any event we doubt we'll see the lovely couple and the pretty white dogs anytime again soon... We'd be suspicious ourselves to tell the truth!