English as she is spoken!

Difficult to avoid the irony!

(Of an Englishman helping Americans to ‘Ramp Up Their English’! 😉

Good followers of this place will recall that in March I published a ‘thank-you’ piece showing my appreciation for Rogue Valley TV and John Letz.  Here’s how I opened that post:

Huge thank you to Producer John Letz and the whole crew.

A week ago last Saturday Jean and I travelled down to Ashland and to the studios of Rogue Valley Community Television (RVTV). This is how RVTV describe themselves:

Based at the Southern Oregon Digital Media Center, RVTV provides access television and streaming media services for the citizens and local governments of Jackson and Josephine Counties. Please visit rvtv.sou.edu for more information.

John Letz, the Producer for Adventures in Education and Ramping Up your English, had read my book and thought it might make a good programme.

Anyway, leaving the irony to one side, John recently sent me a link to the 30-minute episode that is included below.

To be honest if you are comfortable with your English then I strongly recommend that you skip this video unless you can’t live another minute without peeking into the Handover household and our dogs.

Mind you, even if you want to skip the video I can’t let you get away entirely Scot free. For at the 3:30 minute mark in the video John sets out the definition of pet:

PET: A dependent animal with a close emotional connection to the pet-owner.

I wonder if John had this in mind (photos taken yesterday morning in our bedroom):

p1160542oooo

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p1160547Please give all your dogs out there a big hug! Now! 🙂

21 thoughts on “English as she is spoken!”

      1. Wow! We used to have a dog that is now living with our friend nearby. It was a tough decision but the dog was having a tough time adapting with a toddler and I couldn’t give her all the attention she needed. We miss her so much but my friend posts videos of her everyday and she seems happy and getting lots of attention and love.

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  3. I am a New Zealander living among Americans, midwest Americans at that. I look forward to reading more of your site. I have two dogs who guard my stock and me, tag teaming through the night, one in and one out, they have some kind of weird system that has me woken by the one by the bed half way through the night, I go to the door, the outside one (who is by then waiting at the bedroom’s french doors) comes into the house and the inside one goes out. So there is always a dog guarding the inside and a dog guarding me. Very sweet. Nine dogs is quite a team! I am happy to stick with two. Have a wonderful day. c

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      1. they leave me about three or four hours at a time – so the hand over is only once then once again just before dawn- to a large extent I am complacent with this – I allow it to happen – Is complacent the right word?

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  4. I think a better word than complacent is complicit – (though it has taken me a full days work for my brain to wander back to this and i have to admit to being a wee bit pedantic about getting the right word) Though the dogs and I are strangely devoted – ,as long as you can factor in all the other animal souls the dogs and I interact with all day. c

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    1. I’ve been back to your blog (and subscribed) and I see what you mean about all your animal souls. We have a wonderful relationship with the wild deer and feed many twice a day. Watching them build up their trust has been a very beautiful experience; to the point where one female deer would let me stroke her neck as she ate the cob put out by us on the ground. Unfortunately she became a victim of a speeding vehicle last Spring but her offspring are almost as tame as ‘Doris’. (We named her two years ago.)

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  5. I love the pictures, Paul! They are beautiful and convey the deep feeling that you and Jean have for your furry friends. I immediately gave Mags a big hug! 🙂

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    1. The pictures could have been better if the ambient light had been less ‘orange’. Wouldn’t disagree, however, with your sense of connection we have with our dogs. Thank you, Susan.

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