Wednesday Safety Lesson!
Category: House, Garden and Dogs
So True….
Wednesday
Benji, Walkers and a mean daddy.
Benji has almost recovered and his fur is starting to grow over the closed / healed wounds. All this is good. What is not so good is that a new person has moved into the area and he and his wife / partner have two big white dogs – Pitbulls – and they were out with them this morning and he was struggling to keep his under control and with the size and power of that thing I was concerned. The reason Benji got attacked is that the German Shepherd broke out of the harness. These things are a lot more powerful than a German Shepherd. Yes I am quite sure that the harness in this instance would not be a flimsy thing, but can I really take that chance. That dog was really trying to get away and my concern is that he might be powerful enough to do just that. If that happened neither Benji and I would have any chance at all – and there were two of them.
That being so, I have decided tomorrow to go for our morning walk to the Wetlands. There are numerous paths we could take so we can be out of the way. I might even start to introduce Benji to gravel. I don’t know, Benji is not in any way an aggressive dog – perhaps these other dogs are just jealous of his good looks :o)
Annabell has not been so good these last few days and she has another infection. I had her up at the hospital and then at the doctor the following morning. I will just have to keep an eye on her over the next few days. Still some time before we head back to Adelaide. Her doctor is going to contact Flinders and find out some more information. I have to head off to Adelaide in two weeks for the quarterly conference – leave Friday – back late Saturday afternoon. Gives me the opportunity to get some shopping done on Friday afternoon. Annabell wants me to get some things for her at Salisbury and at Spotlight.
A telephone call from Adelaide today and I believe I might be going to Adelaide a lot sooner than expected. The Senior Elder that I spoke about some weeks ago and said that she had stopped her medication but that she was still with us, may not be very soon. She has been moved to Palliative Care and has a few days at the most. Mind you I had a friend who had brain cancer and was given nine months, died 16 months later. Cathy saw her son married and her grand-daughter present her with a great-granddaughter and that’s all she wanted so she stopped her medication, When she stopped her medication and it was expected she would last no more than a few weeks ( over four months) I was asked to go to the funeral in Adelaide and represent the church.. The week after I head back down for Conference and probably two weeks after that – the Clinic with Annabell. A very busy month.
Bit of an upset last night. I snuck out the back door and went for a walk. Benji was not impressed that I had gone out without him. Annabell says he barked at the door for ages, then lay down at the door whimpering. Poor thing – the ghost of his past must have paid him a visit. Anyway I wont do that again. So why did I do it in the first place? Well, he has recovered from the attack so that’s good. However, we are not sure what he has done but he seems to have done something to his back lag and he is limping badly. I have to lift him in and out of the car, or on and off my lap in the house. We don’t know what he has done and his back leg has been stretched, prodded, pulled and poked and he never batted an eye, but he was limping badly and and seemed to be in some discomfort. So we have been keeping an eye on him and I have been taking him out in the walker. That, let me tell you, is hard going. It is low and plays havoc with my arms. I already had him out, so I went out on my own. Yes, I know, I am just a cruel and thoughtless person.
Wednesday
Benji, walks, weather and Glasgow
Two weeks since Benji was injured in an attack. He is recovered fairly well and we are out walking again, but on a different route. Actually we are back on the original route which is in the opposite direction from the area where we were injured. He still has antibiotics to take twice daily and I will take him back to the Vet on Tuesday as a follow up when the antibiotics finish. Apart from the surface wounds there seems to be no internal damage, for which I am most thankful. After three days in the stroller, he was ready for walking. He was glad to get out again and enjoying the walks and the fresh air. We stick mainly to the Ada Ryan Gardens and the Wetlands during the day when there are very few people with dogs around. Since we are surrounded by National Parks and Conservation parks, there is not many places we can go to. There are a number of places further down the coast that are pet friendly and the nearest of them is 70 miles away (think Glasgow to St. Andrews) so just going there and then coming back again seems to me very wasteful. In order to justify travelling that distance it is necessary to make a day of it. At the moment I am not happy going off and leaving Annabell. Yes the boys are here and that’s fine when I have to go to Adelaide for
Presbytery, but leaving her on her own while I go off on an unnecessary road trip with my dog is a different matter altogether In fact it almost ranks as being self-indulgent. When we have to go Adelaide and the Clinic, John usually looks after Benji, makes sure he is ok and feeds him. With the dog door, Benji can get in and out as he needs. When we come back from our afternoon walk to the Wetlands we go in the back gate and I take his harness off. Annabell’s comment is “What kept you? The dog was in ages before you!” Me: “Ah yes, but he has a private entrance”
The weather over the last week has been great and the boy and I have got out and about. However, with the cyclone in Western Australia and the effects reaching to us, this will change over the next few days with forecast rain and high winds. Well yes, it was a bit on the windy to very windy when we were out walking this morning but we didn’t get blown away and made it back to the house safe and sound. Sitting hear I can hear the wind rushing through the carport. It’s not constant and comes in waves. Anyway, a very warm welcome to Bogie. He is lovely and I did reply to the post but it seems to have vanished into some void. I am finding this with a lot of
things recently. Fortunately not the photograph I found and thought about Anabel Marsh – because I thought only a Glasgow person would really understand what it is all about. The photograph is real but it was part of an article I read about photographic mishaps and when I saw that one, Lobey Dosser was the first thing that entered my head. Weird, I know, but there you are.
As we move further into April the weather is starting to cool down in the mornings. This morning was positively fresh with a fine – but slightly damp – mist for a little while. Good for a 50 minute morning walk. I still have my Glasgow Street Director ( yes it is out of date,) and Queen Margaret Drive to the Broomielaw is about two and one half miles, so there and back is as much as I do in a day. :o)
Had Benji back at the Vet. He is very pleased with him and now that his fur is starting to grow back no more treatment will be required, but we did discuss how lucky we were that the teeth of the big dog did not damage anything internal or we would have been in strife. However, that has never happened to me in this area in all the years I have been here and I find that it has made me wary of other dogs and has made me change where I walk and and be in a position where I can see what is well ahead of me. No, we do not go out in the early morning dark any more. Sunrise is now our time.
Wednesday
Benji, Walks and Photographs
One week today since Benji was injured in an attack. He is recovered fairly well and we are out walking again, but on a different route. Actually we are back on the original route which is in the opposite direction from the area where we were injured. He still has antibiotics to take twice daily and I will take him back to the Vet on Tuesday as a follow up when the antibiotics finish. Apart from the surface wounds there seems to be no internal damage, for which I am most thankful. After three days in the stroller, he was ready for walking. He was glad to get out again and enjoying the walks and the fresh air. We stick mainly to the Ada Ryan Gardens, the Wetlands, the lighthouse and Stoney Point during the day when there are very few people with dogs around. Since we are surrounded by National Parks and Conservation parks, there is not many places we can go to. There are a number of places further down the coast that are pet friendly and the nearest of them is 70 miles away so just going there and then coming back again seems to me very wasteful. In order to justify travelling that distance it is necessary to make a day of it. At the moment I am not happy going off and leaving Annabell. Yes the boys are here and that’s fine when I have to go to Adelaide for Presbytery, but
leaving her on her own while I go off on an unnecessary road trip with my dog is a different matter altogether, I think the term self Indulgent kind of fits the bill. When we have to go Adelaide and the Clinic, John usually looks after Benji, makes sure he is ok and feeds him. With the dog door, Benji can get in and out as he needs.
The weather over the last week has been great and the boy and I have got out and about. However, with the cyclone in Western Australia and the effects reaching to us, this will change over the next few days with forecast rain and high winds. Well yes, it was a bit on the windy to very windy when we were out walking this morning but we didn’t get blown away and made it back to the house safe and sound. Sitting hear I can hear the wind rushing through the carport. It’s not constant and comes in waves. Anyway, a very warm welcome to Bogie. He is lovely and I did reply to the post but it seems to have vanished into some void. I am finding this with a lot of things recently.
There is a photograph exhibition in May and I have been thinking of submitting photographs to it. I like my photographs but I’m not so sure others will. I was at the photograph club
last night and photographs that I thought were good were criticized by the judge who found many faults with them. I guess the idea is that the criticizing and pointing out the faults – as the judge sees them – is supposed to assist you in doing better, grow and mature, so to speak, in all the aspects of photography. I shall never succeed in this because I found many of the comments, pointless and excessively picky. Just as well I had no photographs there or he would have had a field-day, What I have is an excellent camera but I don’t know how to use it to get the best out of it. This group is “Competition Based” with only some minor practical nights. They are really very nice people but this is not what I want and really not helping me much. Many years ago the TAFE (Technical and Further Education) ran a number of Community Courses. A course on Photography – a Basic Computer course, the wife of one of the local doctors, ran a course on Indian Cooking, another lady ran a course on Italian Cooking. The fees were reasonable, cooking people brought the ingredients as required each week, and so forth. There were no Diplomas nor Certificates at the end, but they were well attended. But the Government of the day spent money on other things and when it needed money, it started closing down TAFE Campuses. It tore the heart out of the TAFE system and it never really recovered – it still has not.
Wednesday
Fitbit, Stroller and Benji
Every time I went to the door, Benji was there already. It was clear to me that he wanted to go out but I wasn’t quite sure that he was ready for a harness and walking. So, I went to the garage and got the dog stroller out and made it ready for him. I got everything ready to go out and then lifted him into the stroller, clipped him and half closed the overhead cover. Off we went. Since it was a public holiday (Monday) the place was fairly quiet. I also decided to go back to our old route. Yes there is a number of barking dogs but I now figure that they can bark as much as they like – they are behind fences and gates and therefore no problem. Except to Dougal who goes ballistic when a dog barks. I don’t mind
looking after Dougal. He is a lovely dog in the house, but a real pain to walk out with. A short tale for Fitbit users. When I took Benji out on the stroller, I was upset that my Fitbit
did not record any steps. Pushing the stroller means that my arms were not moving and the Fitbit needs movement to record. I mentioned this to my son and he suggested “why don’t you strap the thing round your ankle?” Yes, I dismissed the idea with a quiet chuckle. However, later on I thought about it and decided to give it a try – nothing to lose anyway. So, I did that – strapped it round my ankle ( the strap was long enough) and off we went. Well, was I surprised! I have used that route for a number of years and know how many steps it should be – at least I thought I did. When we came back home and I removed the Fitbit from my ankle I was shocked that it had recorded nearly 500 more steps than I had expected. It was a double shock because I really (honestly) didn’t think it would work, but it did. However, it is back on my wrist where it should be, but worth remembering if I have to use the stroller again. However, I think Benji is ready for walking.
I have no idea why WordPress decided to change a system that was popular and working well. I don’t like the block system at all and I have already outlined the process I go through to get back to Classic. It’s long drawn and convoluted but it works for me – as the saying goes.
Benji is coming along well. His wounds are healing up nicely and he gets his antibiotic medication twice daily. Since his wounds have now closed, I will start taking him out to the Ada Ryan Gardens when the weather is not too warm.
I took Benji out to the Ada Ryan Gardens this afternoon. We had a wander around the gardens and then drove to the foreshore where I bought us Ice Cream. Wont do that again! Since the Foreshore Café was closed down and awaiting repairs and renovations, food vans have popped up. It was to the food van that I went for the ice cream. Turns out they
use a machine similar to that used by McDonalds and it is not REAL ice cream – sort of soft serve stuff. Anyway, it started melting almost as soon as I walked away from the van and to add to that Benji just wouldn’t look at his. Well, he had a couple of licks but that was it. I finished mine (not great) and was left with this other stuff melting and running over my hand. Never thought I would drop ice cream in a bin, but I did, then looked for a water tap to clean my hands. Should have gone to the Wetlands where they serve real Ice Cream. The reason we didn’t go to the Wetlands is that it was a warm to hot(ish) day and I felt the Concrete Path would be too warm on his paws
