Cavan Calling: I have always been a cat person and was never too keen on dogs, seeing them as noisy, hairy smelly creatures - which, of course, they are. Tony, however, likes dogs and after years of persuasion I finally caved in, writes Steph Booth

Now we have three. Millie, our youngest dog, was acquired after our move to Ireland. She was born on the same day we moved into our new home and Tony somehow convinced himself and me this was a clear sign she should come and live with us. Dogs love going on walks, and as more often than not I walk on my own they are good company. They are quite prepared to sit and admire the view and listen to my thoughts on any subject as we tramp across the countryside. It's wonderful - they never disagree with me.

It is has been quite upsetting, then, to discover Millie has developed a problem with her hips that makes walking painful. Like all Springer spaniels she lives to run and Tony and I are just crossing our fingers it is a problem that can be fairly easily remedied. The vet in Manorhamilton, Tom Flanagan, has been brilliant and organised an appointment at UCD Veterinary School for her. He assures us if anyone can help they can.

Short walks are now the order of the day. My son Sam was over recently and he also enjoys walking, but given the wet weather he needed some Wellington boots. This meant a trip to Harold Johnston's shop in Blacklion. It is the most amazing place. You can get through the door only if there aren't too many other people inside, as the place is piled floor to ceiling with boxes of every shape and size. There are racks of clothing and varied heaps that, to the untrained eye, would appear randomly placed.

Not a bit of it. Harold knows where everything is - and he sells just about anything you might ever want in the way of clothes, boots, shoes, blankets and so on. Harold is also an expert on local history and has found a willing audience in Tony, who loves his stories. The deal is reciprocal as Harold is fascinated by Tony's theatrical stories and the pair of them can spend quite some time nattering away to each other.

Tony has recently become particularly glad of an excuse to stop and chat on his daily visits to Blacklion. We have now reached the point of putting up curtains and blinds and I am even attempting to construct bookshelves in my study. Tony is glad to be out of the house. I have done bits and pieces before, but this is my first big project. Tony thought it a huge joke a few Christmases ago to give me an electric drill as a present. This from the man who, after I put up some shelves in our home in Cheshire, offered to make sure all the screws were tight enough. He explained his hands were stronger than mine. Handing over the screwdriver, I went to make myself some tea. There was an unnaturally long and deafening silence before Tony finally called to me, "Steph, which way do you turn the screw to tighten it?" I had not realised until then what a good command of Anglo-Saxon I have.

To be fair, once I managed to overcome my fear of it, the drill has proved extremely useful. With Sam here to help me, we put up blinds and curtains in the garden room. We were both a bit tired from the stress of measuring and spirit levelling, but decided while we were on something of a roll to put up the curtain track in the sittingroom. My measuring had been perfect all day, but when we stood back to look at the curtain track it was very definitely not horizontal. How do things like that happen? Just when that well-earned glass of wine is only minutes away, some gremlin intervenes and whatever can go wrong, goes wrong. Is that what is called Murphy's Law?

Anyhow, as the nights draw in we can close our curtains and snuggle down in front of the fire. All we need now is a local source for crumpets. Our friend Susan Robinson e-mailed me to say they can be bought in the Dublin branch of Marks & Spencer. While I'm glad of this information and will definitely use it on my next trip to Dublin, I hope it will be possible to locate them nearer. It won't be a proper winter without crumpets toasted on an open fire.