Home: For dreams of going to

by edgar62, posted in House, Garden and Dogs
She was overweight and I was bringing her weight down.

On 29th April I wrote about the WaWa escaping from her harness and how she thought my chasing her around Fairclough/ Busch  Streets at 6am was a great game. I also mentioned that when I got them both home I adjusted her harness. Well,  I caused the hurt and the cut that needed to be seen by the vet.  I adjusted the harness and  inserting my fingers at the  top I thought it was just right – not too tight. I was so wrong. For over ten days the harness was over tight and cutting into her skin underneath her right leg. Of course, I happened to be away for much of that time and Annabell never noticed as the WaWa never complained nor gave any indication that she was hurting. It was only on Friday, after I had been home for a few days that I noticed how very subdued she was and went down on the floor to look at her. That’s when I discovered what had happened. You have no idea how shocked I was when I looked at the damage. I wrapped her in a towel and with Annabell holding her, I drove to the vet only to discover that he was closed. I then went to the other vet and she said she was  busy and wouldn’t even look at her. I brought her home and Annabell and I looked after the WaWa until I was able to get to our own vet ( who was back)  first thing this morning. Advised to gently wash the area, dry it and administer some cream. Keep the harness off ( of course) and keep her inside for a few days. Felt really bad knowing that it was my fault but she is very forgiving and I still get licks and snuggles. Wearing the collar means that she can’t get into her food too well, so I sit on the floor and hand feed her. Last night, after I fed her she came over and sat on my lap, so I was on the floor for a bit. But I think that means I am forgiven  and that makes me feel better – not less stupid – just better.

The “Lady Nelson”at Mount Gambier

A little while ago there was several peals of thunder and now the wet stuff is coming down like it’s in a hurry to get to ground. This is good and it will save me watering the plants later on today. It will also be good for the farmers and allow them to get the seeds into the ground. A few more extended showers and that will set everything off to a good start.

Still no indication  about the fate of Arrium, so there is still a great deal of uncertainty in town. There are many houses for sale – seven within the area I walk the dogs and about 40% of the shops in the Mall are closed up and empty. I understand there a few businesses interested but not willing to commit until the decision regarding Arrium is made. This is just dragging on and on. A decision was promised for April and here we are – almost June already and still no decision, which is not helping the town move forward.

At David Jones, Adelaide

But it seems to me that we have this  head in the sand, good news week kind of mentality. What I mean is “Bonga Bonga Manufacturing Something Co. is closing down with the loss of 150 jobs.  Arrium employs 10 new  people ”  What the paper leads with is , “Whyalla turns the corner as Arrium starts hiring again.” Somewhere on page 4 is the report on  Bonga Bonga. – Good news week.    Don’t tell them what they need to know – Tell them what they want to hear.

The  first of the Bronzes I saw a year or more ago was the Rabbit and the Dog having tea. Then there was another one ( which I seem to have lost) of a photographer standing, then the recent one of the Dog as photographer. I find now  that I go wandering and looking for more when I visit Adelaide and I must find the missing Bronze when I am next in the city

Home; a place for coming from!

by edgar62, posted in House, Garden and Dogs
Coonalpyn in the Mist

The last post I wrote was on the 28th April, almost three weeks ago. I took off to  Mount Gambier and was there for a two day conference – two days to get there, conference, two days to get back, change clothes and off again for two days in Adelaide. Poor Benji – this is not helping his seperation anxiety one little bit. The WaWa is not too bad since she has Annabell but Benji is my dog and he does not like me being away from him. Anyway, I did bring him back two new toys and a new collapsable, silicone water bowl for when we are out walking in warm weather.

Mount Gambier was cold, but it generally is this time of the year. Annabell told me that it was raining at home. I had no rain to speak of other than a few


Still a touch of blue there

showers in Adelaide and some early morning mist in Coonalpyn and Tintinara. It was cold and I didn’t really didn’t do a lot but I did get out to the Blue Lake, which it was still marginally Blue but starting to fade and not the vivid blue of my visit last November. I had intended to get to Bunnings but ran out of time and had to get back to the hotel ready for the first meeting that  afternoon. It was almost 9pm before I got “home” and called Annabell to let her know I was still around. The second meeting started on Saturday afternoon and was supposed to finish at 2:30. At it happened it finished at 4:40 and I was only able to get as far as Naracoorte (115klm) before it got dark and I  called a halt for the night. I had intended to get to Tailem Bend and Naracoorte was about 230 klm short. This meant that I had to make 800+ kilms if I wanted to get home on Sunday afternoon.  Starting to get a bit tired I called a halt every hour or so and used my facecloth, soaked in cold water, to wash my face, not to mention the coffee at Port Wakefield, the Tin Man and Port Augusta. As it was it was getting dark before I pulled into the driveway. Annabell was not at home.  Knowing that I was away the boys had opted to look after her during Mother’s Day and dinner was at Andrew and Trishs’ place. I could have gone up and joined them, but I decided not to and to let the boys look after her.   The dogs, however, were happy to see me and the WaWa is now my new BFF.

Is photography going to the dogs?

Monday I spent  sorting things out and repacking and Tuesday I took off to Adelaide. I miss Annabell – of course – but I also miss the dogs and I have come to think of both of them as  My Dogs. They will always be Benji and the WaWa but I feel that the WaWa is now my dog  as three months has now turned in to 14 Months and no contact nor any indication if Sooa will return.

The meeting in Adelaide was interesting and I have organised with the CEO to have a meeting with himself and  one of the advisors and discuss how we will

Thw WaWa with her collar – not the best because she wouldn’t stay still. Benji looks on bemused

procede with the restoration of two of the  graves in the West Terrace Cemetary. Both of these graves are of two of the three founders of the Church in South Australia ( 1860) and both have been neglected to the extent that both are on the endangered list. After the meeting in early July and the CEO has an opportunity to inspect the graves, we  should be able to come up with a plan and hope that Mount Gambier – and Queensland – will also get inhvolved and these graves can be protected. For me it has been a frustrating sort of time in that I really didn’t get time to do the things I wanted to do. I wanted an archway for the garden and had fully intended to get out to Bunnings but didn’t , either trip. Also I want to get the WaWa to the vet as she has a bad cut. My vet has gone to see his sick mother again and the clinic is closed – the other vet was too busy to even have a look, so, tomorrow I will phone the clinic. If there is no reply I will make a second call and take the WaWa to the vet in Port Augusta – about 50 miles away.  The Vet was

In Adelaide

open so I took Kongsoon (The WaWa) over to see him. The wound is not as bad as it looks so, with a slight washing and application of some cream it should start to heal up without causing her too much concern. – Mea Culpa…..

Travelling, Easter and a great escape

by edgar62, posted in House, Garden and Dogs

I made an interesting discovery today – the WaWa is not a good  distance traveller. The Beach or the Wetlands are ok but travelling the 20 miles to the lighthouse are not so good and after a while

Out at the lighthouse area. Wawa wont look at the camera..

she starts to get a bit unsettled and fractious.  Perhaps if we  persevere and extend the distance a little at  a time, she might settle down over the longer  drive. At the moment the Beach and the Wetlands are her limit.  We drove out to the Lighthouse and spent some time around there.  It was fairly busy with  quite a lot of tourists and shack people there for the Easter break. That being so we did not spend a lot of time there – although there were no dogs, which was good.     We did go down onto the rocks and I carried the WaWa over some of the area – I mean, she does have wee legs :o) She is getting as bad as Benji and will not look at the camera. However, Benji seems to blend in with the surrounding rocks, so it’s not a good place to photograph him. On Tuesday we went down to the

A stark reminder who owns this land.

beach, which was surprisingly quiet. There were some people there but I expected a lot more since it was a warm, sunny day and it is the school holidays. Today, on the other hand, (Wednesday/Thursday night/morning) it has been chucking it down all night. No dogs out  today and I think they are so upset about that  they have just stayed in bed. I seem to be the only one of the three that is in any way concerned about not getting out.

This Saturday STRATCO, our local hardware store, are holding a Barbecue and Cake Stall. We (RFDS) have been asked to do the Cake Stall. It’s not our usual thing, but we did this some months ago and it was very successful and STRATCO  negotiated with the car club who brought some vintage cars along inspection. There were  games and face-painting for the children – so all up, a fun day. I missed the last one since I was out of town.  Annabell  is doing a load of baking for this and   I’ll take her stuff down on Saturday morning. Some of it has already been pre-sold. Annabell is a good cake maker.

I think an engineer has bought the house over the road. I saw him out most of this week rebuilding the front garden and planting flowers. The reason I noticed this is that wherever he went and whatever he did he used a tape measure – I mean  the distance between the plants  was precisely  measured. I thought it was bit overmuch but who knows.

I have the WaWa on a diet and I really didn’t realise how much weight she had lost. 6am this morning, at the corner of Busch and Fairclough Streets, chasing a WaWa who escaped from her harness and thought my trying to catch her was a game, was interesting! I had to tie Benji up to the fence and go after her on my own. Took a while, but she came to me and I was able to get her home – making sure I didn’t tug her in any way until we did get home- and I did adjust the harness.

Benji & The WaWa

In a discussion with Annabell I used the term “my dogs”. She responded with “you don’t have dogs – you have a dog”.  She is, of course correct, the WaWa is really not mine. It certainly feels like it and the WaWa is acting like it is, but  it is still Sooah’s dog. I was asked to look after it for three months – over a year ago now. It’s a very frustrating situation and the best we can do is simply to act and treat the WaWa as if she is part of the family but keeping at the back of my mind that if Sooah returns we will  have to give  the WaWa back to her. Neither of us are too happy about that after this time, but that was the arrangement, however, the general consensus within the church is that she may not be coming back. Struth, it’s like a Norwegian Saga – it’s never ending.

Dogs, Emus and Daleks

by edgar62, posted in House, Garden and Dogs
Friendly ?!!?

On Saturday 8th April, there was a tribute music festival to a local singer who died recently and, whom I am ashamed to say, I never heard of. Anyway, the RFDS was asked to provide the Barbecue for the event and we were happy to do this. I was not rostered on but I went  up in the early afternoon to see how things were and if they needed anything. Everything was ok, but I was still very concerned because over in the far corner was this creature. They said it was “Friendly”but I  was unaware that there was such a creature in the universe as a “Friendly Dalek”.

The warm weather looks to be over and we have started to hit the skids as the temperature for the coming week does not rise above 26c. The mornings have been a bit on the cool side so I should think about changing into a heavier jacket when I take the dogs out. Probable a good thing that the trip to Quorn took place when it did and when the weather was warm and sunny.

After church today we had a management meeting, so it was a while before we came back home. One would have thought that we had been away for years,  WaWa went ballistic, the tail going like crazy. I bent down to pet her and she practically  jumped into my hands, so I picked her up.  The tail was still going and she licked my face and my head and my ear and my face, then my neck and all Annabell could do was stand and watch in amazement – this was the WaWa that just two months ago would have torn my fingers  (and she did)  to shreds if I tried to touch her.  After a little while I decided enough was enough and I wanted to go and look after Benji – he is not being neglected. The WaWa is an “inside”dog and I

Driving to Quorn

spend a good amount of time outside and Benji is always with me. The beach is with both but Road Trips are me and Benji. In fact it has been warm and sunny outside and the Benji and me were working in the garden for the morning and early afternoon – until Annabell came back from the Coffee Ladies. Next week is to be in the mid 20c, so we might be able to get out and about for a few hours. I think sometime next week a second trip to Quorn might be on the cards. This might be the last one because I think  the lady was only booked in there for four weeks and that’s almost up. We don’t know what will happen after that. Quorn only accepted her on the understanding that it would only be for four weeks. At the moment Quorm will be very busy with the Easter Traffic and the Pichi Richi Heritage Steam Train  running over the entire long Easter weekend.

Whyalla News Photographs

Victoria may have Kangaroos, but we have visiting Emus. Thus far this week we have had three  different pairs of emu wandering the streets. The police, along with Wildlife Protection have had the task of getting them back into the wild. Motorists were not “emused” at the traffic chaos they caused. These photographs are from the” Whyalla News” Whilst they were here they decided that since it was a nice day they would have a wander around the beach – more problems for the local police. There was one just around the corner from the house that the RSPCA and the Wildlife people were trying to get into a pen and then back into the bush. And no I did not take the camera  since I figured Cortza and her people had enough to do without me getting in the way with a camera. As it turned out the Emu had a slight injury which  Cortza wanted checked out by the Vet before they released in back into the bush.