Tag: Benji

Settling in: New home: New family.

by edgar62, posted in House, Garden and Dogs
Been a long day. Need rest!
Been a long day. Need rest!

Tuesday and  things are settling down. Benji has settled in well and  has the full run of the house and the yards. We have been out walking but the harness I have is just a bit tight so I will see about getting a new one today.  This has been the October Long Weekend, with Monday being Labour Day and most shops closed. Everything will be back to normal today.

Annabell has never really been a dog person but I have to say that she and Benji have taken to each other. So much so that last night he jumped up on her lap settled down and they watched TV together. I think he might be an NCIS fan. However, I do have a small problem – he gets into the car without any problem – getting him out of the car is something else again. He will  work out fine  – time and patience.

Andrew came round to visit yesterday and take Benji out for a walk – to get to know him. He was quite impressed with  the dog who is both placid and affectionate.  This morning I told him ( Benji, not Andrew)  No when he tried to jump on my lap as I was using the keyboard. He walked away, then took a leap, went over the armrest and landed on the chair at my back – where he currently is – perhaps he figures if he’s at my back and I can’t see him, I can’t say no :o) Seems logical.

This is my Good Side
This is my Good Side

Clever – sneaky, but clever.  I have had to go out a couple of times and all I see is a  furry face at the window when I go to the car and when I drive out. Annabell says he goes to his bed and then goes back to the window when he hears the car again, which means I see a furry face at the window when I come home. We took him out with us to the  Westlands Mall. Herself wanted to do some grocery shopping for the family dinner tomorrow and Benji and I went for a walk around the  area and back to the entrance, keeping in the shade.  He enjoyed that and started getting excited when he saw  Annabell coming back.

I think I am starting to recover  for what was for me a long two days. I still can’t over the fact that I came down the steep descent from Crafers to the City in the dark, when I hate  having to do it (rarely thankfully) in daylight and I have to the same journey all over again in November. The scenery was very different from this part of the world – grass, flowers,   the vines and wineries of the Limestone Coast to the forests of Penola. I didn’t get to see much of Mt. Gambier. I didn’t even get to see Mount Gambier Church since I really wanted to be in Bolivar before it got dark, which, as you know, I didn’t succeed in doing.

Anyway, he has settled in and enjoys his  two walks  each day. I take him out in the morning and again in the evening. The evening walk will get later as it gets lighter mainly to avoid the heat from the sun. According to the long range weather forecast it is to be a long, hot  dry summer with some areas having extended drought conditions.. Let’s just hope that it is not too bad.

 

Catherine, Road Trip and Introducing Benji

by edgar62, posted in House, Garden and Dogs
He was unknown now he is "Benji"
He was unknown –  now he is “Benji”

The drive to Adelaide was uneventful. I took Catherine shopping – mainly to the duty free and then along Rundle Mall before heading off to the hotel. I was staying – she was not. The car came for her at 19:45 and her flight was at 21:45. I did not go to the airport with her since there would be a wheelchair and an assistant waiting for her  at the other end and she would be  taken to the Emirates Lounge and, not being a passenger,  I wouldn’t  be allowed in there. Her bags were checked in for her. It seemed little point in my going out there and having to get a taxi back for no real reason. She will be well looked after.  I  watched some television, sent s few emails to Annabell and  went to bed.

I was up fairly early on Saturday morning, checked out and set off to Mount Gambier arriving there just after 1pm.   The “Unknown” was waiting for me – we had formal introductions ( of course) and he took his place on the front passenger seat – seat-belted and clipped in. After driving for about 15 minutes I had to stop and make different arrangements. For some reason he was unhappy in the front seat, so I set up the carry case with a blanket and set him up in the back seat. Being slightly elevated he put his head on the window and sat and watched the world go by. Then he slept. As a traveler he was very good and slept most of the way.  We were slightly delayed and I had decided that I had to make Bolivar on Saturday. I did but it meant doing something I always said I would never do – travel the  Expressway and negotiate the Steep descent  from Crafers to the end of the Expressway then drive through the city in the dark.   Not the most enjoyable thing I have done of late, but we made Bolivar where we stopped for the night and I was finally able to call Herself and let her know how things were.

We left Bolivar at about 5:30am  and drove to the Tin Man for fuel and a walk.  I was asked – since the forecast was for 36c – why I was wearing a jacket. I answered that my car was almost like an ice-box. I had a youngish dog in the car  and was keeping the temperature down for him.

We arrived home when Herself was still at church so I was able to get him settled in and a wander about the place – inside and out – a bit of food and a drink. Apart from anything else I was slightly stuffed since over 1200 miles in  two days is tiring and my hand feels like it has been  stomped on by half a dozen,  big longshoremen – with boots on. I think I need my head examined, but that is something I have to avoid at all costs – mainly because of a concern that they will find nothing in there.

Oh and I don’t have photographs (yet) since I was too busy concentrating on other things – like driving