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Wednesday
Category: House, Garden and Dogs
Wetlands and Dogs
These last few days Benji has been very reluctant to go out for out early morning walk. I can understand this – it has been very cold. I thought that I would leave the walk to later in the morning – say 8am instead of 6am. I also thought it might be a good idea that we go to the Wetland instead of a local walk. It was a cold but lovely morning this morning and the ponds at the wetlands were like glass – no breeze at all – not a ripple.
However I decided it was not such a good idea. There were a good number of people about and all of them had a dog, or dogs/. Benji does not get on well with strange dogs so the walk really wasn’t much fun for him. I think we will just stick to the local area in the morning and go to the wetlands in the afternoon when it seems to be a lot quieter. The interesting thing was that all the people with dogs this morning were males. If I want to go to the foreshore I have to remember to take bags with me as the council has not yet replaced the dog waste bags that it removed for the upgrade.
Benji is a rescue dog and we have not known what his true age was. In October of this year it will be
four years since we adopted him. At the time I was told he was three years, so plus the four we have had him, that would make seven. I always felt he was older and it turns out I was right – he was born in November 2010, which means he will be nine years, not seven, this year. All of this is academic because in the end I don’t care what age he is, he’s my boy and I love him dearly. However, it may go a ways to explaining why he is so reluctant to get out of bed and get out of the house at 6am on a winter morning – and – I shall have to take the pace at which I walk into consideration and slow down a tad. Of course the reluctance to get out of bed and get out of the house on a cold winter morning could simply be a kind of human trait, since sometimes we are pretty reluctant to do similar ourselves. I had out longer than usual last night and he actually did slow down and he seemed to me to be a bit tired, so I lifted him up on my shoulder and carried him for a while. One of the neighbours asked “who was taking who for the walk?” After a little while I put him back down and he seemed to have a lot more energy
This coming weekend is the weekend of the Whyalla Show (Fair). The RFDS will be on display again this year but I will not be attending this year as I will be in Adelaide for a Presbytery Meeting. We have Yogi here! Jim took what is believed to be a slight stroke and was taken to hospital. Fay is spending much of the day there so she asked if we would look after Yogi for a few hours. I said I would and went down and collected him at 8am this morning (Wednesday) I said before that he has not been a well dog and he has certainly lost a fair bit of weight and he is crying a lot, but that could be because this was all so sudden and he is anxious and does know what is happening. At the moment he is a sad little dog, but Benji and me will look after him for a bit.. Yogi was only here for a few hours and he “cried”much of that time. I held him up on my lap but I had to be careful and not put Benji offside.
As it turned out, Jim did not have a stroke – not even a minor one. He underwent a brain scan an ECG and various other tests and when they proved negative he was allowed home. When I took Yogi back home Jim was
sleeping. He will check in with the hospital every few days for a little while to make certain everything is ok. However they really don’t know what caused the turn he had. Fay was chastised by the doctor because she drove him to the hospital instead of calling an Ambulance. Her comment was that the ambulance can take too long to arrive and is was quicker to drive him to hospital. That’s a worry…
Wednesday
Beach, Wetlands and Dougal is Back
On Friday I set out to Port Augusta -80 klms away. Annabell had been sent a cheque from the UK and it was in Pounds Stg. – no one here would even look at it because it was a foreign currency cheque. Added to the fact that it was a crossed cheque, meant that the trip to our branch in Port Augusta and back was necessary. We set off around 9:30 – oh “We” that’s me and Benji not me and Annabell – but I did the medication in her eyes before we left. Benji really likes road trips. He gets his car harness on, is clipped into the seat and he settles down. He watches me just to make sure I am concentrating on driving and not being distracted. We have this all worked out, I drive, he supervises – it’s a good arrangement.
The bank was a great help even if it did take up more than an hour of our time. The cheque had to be confirmed by Adelaide which required a confirmation email, paperwork to sign and wait. Left said bank, got Benji out
of the car and took him for a short walk. Back to the car, seat belt on and I went back to the bank. The email had arrived from Adelaide and I had to sign an agreement that meant I paid the fee of $15 for the clearing of the cheque and the depositing of same in Annabell’s account. That done, I drove round to Big W and did some shopping, then went for some lunch. I had fresh cooked chips (French Fries- sort of) and a bottle of water. The Benji had cooked Chicken and share of my water. I have a collapsible silicone bowl that I keep in the car for just such times We sat on a bench at the jetty and watched the world. That done, another short walk then headed for home. I would liked to have stopped in at the Arid Lands Botanic Garden, but no dogs are allowed, so that was out.
This afternoon- Sunday – we took a walk down to the beach. I didn’t stay there long because I only had a single waste bag with me and the Council have not seen fit to replace the bag dispensers. The area was almost empty. There was a few children in the new play area with parents close beside on benches, but otherwise, not busy at all. As you can see from the photograph that the beach is all but deserted I used the bag I had and decided to drive back to the wetlands. The wetlands has become very popular and the Kiosk was crowded again. I managed to get a place in the car park, got some bags from the dispenser and set off. Like Friday, it was another warm and sunny day – bit cool at times but generally a good day for walking. We did find the birds. I have asked some people who know these things and I am informed that the birds are “Feral Geese, Domestic, Non-Native” No one seems very sure where they came from, but they are there and settled in by the looks of things. Apart from the geese there are Muscovy Ducks and an interesting little bird – black and white with long pink legs – which I discovered are called Black Neck Stilts – apparently native to much of the USA but we do have them here in Australia..
Annabell is improving, just in nice time for the grocery shopping tomorrow. She goes to the supermarket, I do all the other jobs, post office; newsagent,: chemist then meet up with her
to help her finish off and then checkout. After that – generally a coffee before we head home. Ina has has to be taken to Adelaide for check-up and more tests. She is not a well lady. Sam is taking her down tomorrow (Wednesday) and later on this afternoon he will bring Dougla round here. Annabell and I will look after him until they get home – they hope Friday but probably Saturday. I don’t mind, Dougal is no trouble and he and Benji get on well together.
Dougal came to visit not long after I brought Annabell back from her Coffee Morning, and after a little while I got both Benji and Dougal ready and took them down to the Wetlands. We had a good wander around the wetlands and although it had been my intention to stop off at the Kiosk, the fact that there were people with dogs there already deterred me from doing that. However, we did go down to the foreshore and had a wander and a play on the beach. I understand that Yogi is not a well dog at the moment. I hope he gets better soon. Still, he has a good Vet. – not the same Vet as Benji, but a good Vet.
Wednesday
Wednesday
The Sands of Time and a Crazy (Confused) Dog
Tomorrow (Saturday) my son and I along with another person will be running an RFDS fundraising event at a local hardware store: We did this and I tell you it was the coldest I have ever been all winter – thus far. It was freezing cold down there with practically no shelter from a cold, biting wind. I did have a jacket on but it was a light jacket and not a lot of help. Still we got through the day. Otherwise it has been a pretty quiet week. Last week one of the coffee days was cancelled because of the lack of numbers and the evening group has also dropped in numbers – not quite as bad as the Wednesday morning group, but still down from when I set up this place for them coming here. I set out the room for seventeen ladies now there are only about 11 of them. This week Annabell will be part of the missing number as she drops out for the two meetings. On Monday (tomorrow) I have to take her to hospital for 7am and she will undergo an eye operation. It’s day surgery and she should be out in about three hours and I’ll take her
home and watch over her for the rest of the day. I was told for at least 24 hours after the surgery. I am also responsible for getting the drops into her eye three times a day. I was given instructions about washing hands before administrating the eye drops, use A bottle first – wait ten minutes, wash hands (in case I may have touched something) and use the B bottle. I have to administer the first bottle for a week only and the second until finished. So, for the next week or so I am Chief Cook – and bottle washer, as well as being chauffeur, although my driving duties are somewhat curtailed until such time as she can go out without dark glasses.
You gotta love the timing – as I am in the process of re-decorating and painting. I did stop painting for a few days whilst she recovered but I am back into it again and hope to have everything finished by this evening. True, I get almost as much paint on me as I do on the walls, but still, I find it enjoyable and therapeutic with the added joy of pulling one end of the
blue masking tape and watch it all fall off. I know, I know – small things and all that :o) I did finish the painting this evening. cleared up and tidied up put things back together for the moment until everything has to be moved for the new floor covering to be laid. Presently I am sitting in front of the computer with a coffee which I will sip quietly whilst contemplating Annabell”s words to me – “You know the bathroom is looking a little jaded. Could do with a lick of paint”.
I had come to the end but something happened this morning that I want to mention. Because of the painting I had taken Benji’s bed into my room and that’s where he slept these last few nights. Generally he sleeps at my back so I felt a little bit abandoned. Anyway, I got up this morning and made ready to take him out. He didn’t want to go. Fair enough, it was a tad cold. Sat at the computer and after a few minutes he started pawing at me. I asked him if he wanted to go out – the ears came up and the tail wagged, so I took that as a yes and off we went. We walk some 1.75 miles in the early morning, come home and he has his after walk treat, then he heads to bed. He wandered over to the area where his bed generally is – no bed.. So I took him through to my room and he went into his bed. I left the room, he followed and went back to sniffing the area where his bed should be. I think there might have been some message in this so I went to the room (he followed) picked up his bed, brought it back to where is should have been. He had a sniff, jumped into his bed and promptly went to sleep. Perhaps it’s me! Perhaps I’m just a slow learner and should have realised that the bed should have been available right after he had taken his human for a walk. It’s a worry.
