Tag: Maltese Terrorist

Dogs, ramps, vets and cyclones – no change!

by edgar62, posted in House, Garden and Dogs

Yogi2The Terrorist is not a well  little boy. At the moment he is not too bad but we have had to curtail our walking for the moment. I cannot take Chienna out because he would go  slightly spare and I would have to take him, but then after about ten minutes I would be carrying him. I don’t mind that at all, but it is not good for him. Anyway, I saw a dog ramp in a catalogue the other day so I will dig that out and have a serious thought about it. Actually, as an aside to that I have ordered one so it will let him get up onto his bed without any trauma. It should arrive within a week. He has slowed down quite a bit and he has difficulty jumping on to the raised bed. I will make an appointment with the vet and let  him have a look and see if we can  determine the cause of the problem – other than just getting old.

Summer is “officially ” over and we are now into Autumn.  Cannot say that I noticed all that much difference. It’s still sticky at night and I still have the overhead fans on and I still get up in the morning drained and slightly washed out. Herself suggested that I should have a bowl of water on the floor to  overcome the dryness of the fans but knowing me I’d probably get up during the night and step in it or kick it over. My room is the warmest and I have not been to bed in 90 days. – Let me qualify that – wearing shorts and a Tshirt, I lay down on the top of my bed and sleep, I don’t actually pull back the covers and get into bed – too warm for that,  and it’s only really a problem if we have a sudden change and the temperature drops more than a couple of degrees during the night.  The latest suggestion is that the Australian  weather has been on steroids this summer. Well that works because it now appears that a good number of our athletes have been. Certainly  Cyclone Rusty was a bit of a fizzier but now on the opposite side of the country a new cyclone is building up in the Coral Sea. Between fires, floods and cyclones it has been an “interesting” summer.  However, I believe summer is over when I can go back into bed again.

Still waiting to see the Vet about the little man. At the moment he seems ok and I have  made a temporary step for him.  During the course of today I will wander around some of the hardware shops( actually there is only three) and see if they have any polystyrene that I can  have  and make into a step for him. The photograph is the dog that I was looking after for a few days – an affectionate little thing – and I finally managed to sort out the orientation.

Dogs, Pounds and Rescue.

by edgar62, posted in House, Garden and Dogs
This is my Main Man – the MalteseTerrorist!
“If you pick up a starving dog and make him prosperous, he will not bite you. This is the principal difference between a dog and a man.”
    -Mark Twain

This is Australia and we have a Socialist Government. Actually we have two Socialist Governments, one State and one Federal and one is about as bad as the other because both love to pass legislation that takes the fun and excitement out of everything – except crime. We’re good with crime, we smack people on the wrist hand them lollies and give them suspended sentences. And for those of you in a more enlightened society where you send criminals to prison,  a suspended sentences is where the Judge tells you how naughty you have been, you look contrite and say you are sorry and the judge tells you she/he cannot be swayed by this  (and then is) so he has to make an example and sentences  you to three years – suspended. This means you walk from court free, even if you have been drag racing, crashed into another car and killed someone, you can still walk from court free on a suspended sentence.

I have two dogs a Foxy Lady and a Maltese Terrorist. The foxy Lady does not like going in the car – we do not know why, but the little man does and when he is in the car he likes nothing better than to curl  up on my lap and go to sleep. He is not a barking, head out of the window sort of dog, he just likes to be comfortable and comfortable is sleeping in daddy’s lap. Legislation says that this is illegal. All dogs must be restrained  or kept in a dog carrier when being transported. Tried both ( to obey the law, of course) and the dog carrier just upset him and the restraint, using the seat belt clip,  had me pulling the car off to the side of the road and getting out and  around to the other side and releasing him because he just about strangled himself trying to get across into my lap. Ok, I confess, I is a criminal – I breaks the law – I have an unrestrained dog in my car – a full size, dangerous, bite your head off, Maltese Terrorist. As you can see by the photograph, he is definitely dangerous.  The only time I restrain a dog is when I am transporting a dog down to Adelaide for the South Australian Dog Rescue.(SADR)

The sad thing about this place is that people just wont get their dogs desexed and let them have litters, which they then dump on the RSPCA. They can’t cope  so they go to the pound – which is a KILL pound. Ten days and then the animals are put to sleep. The  SADR rescue do  what they can and try to find the dogs new homes – mostly out of here, so when I am going down to the State Capital, I generally have a couple of passengers with me.  I remember taking one dog and told the SADR that ” if this dog gets Dognapped on the the journey, don’t blame me – he was such a lovely little fellow. It’s ok – he arrived safely to be handed over to his new mummy.

Sneaky, very sneaky!

by edgar62, posted in House, Garden and Dogs

about 1.5 feet to go - but I have it worried.The weather really warmed up very nicely and then, just as you were starting to welcome spring, it turned on you  and it’s raining again. Was cold yesterday and rained for a good part of the evening and into the nighttime.  The weather has stared to improve despite the drops in temperature and the rain, but at least it is no longer raining every other day. The sun has been out for the last two days and provided it stays good tomorrow I will make a start on the concrete work and start to get the area ready for her  clothes line. Once the line is up I will start work on having the area levelled out so that she can walk on it with relative safety. The badly uneven surface of the crazy paved area is too much for her.

I went across town to the Brick and Paving  supply place and had a look at bricks to  slightly change the shape of the area but the bricks hat I wanted are no longer available, so I will have to come up with another idea. I have completed the cement and he unit is now in the round. With any reasonable luck I should be able to place the clothes hoist in the  area and then it will be a simple  matter of  stringing it all together.  I have not yet decided how I will smooth the area out but I’m working on it.  am also doing the section outside my office, which I have never been happy with. So, as spring comes on and moves towards summer, there is a lot of work that I want to be done, some of which I would like finished before Christmas.

The dogs are well although the little man has started to slow down a little when I take him out for the evening walk.  carry him for a little while to give him a bit of a break. He is nearly 12 years of age now.

All about dogs – past and present.

by edgar62, posted in House, Garden and Dogs
This is my Main Man – the MalteseTerrorist!

I have had both of my dogs for over ten years now. Chienna we bought when she was seven weeks old, Mannie we rescued from the Pound and, according to the Vet. at the time, he was about 18 months to two years. Over the years they have been great associates and I  miss them when I have to go away – even just for a couple of days. Thankfully that does not happen too often these days and the last two meetings have been cancelled.  When I come home after being away for a couple of days I get out the car and into the house and the dogs are going nuts and even my wife tells me “Go out and see your associates before they go crazy” so I do. Once I have settled the dogs down again I can then talk about the trip and the meetings to my wife . Generally, when I am not working, I take the dogs out twice a day – first thing in the morning , sometimes when it’s still dark, and later in the evening after we have all been fed, wife, me and dogs. The little one – the Maltese – is, I think, starting to show his age. Either that or he is a very good little conman because I have to carry him for a little while until he gets his second wind. He starts off well, but halfway through the walk, he starts to slow down and I have to carry him for a little while. It’s ok – he’s not heavy –  Ohhh a song title I believe.. If I am working, it’s only once –  in the evening. In the summer when it’s hot I carry a pack with me which contains two bottles of water and a dish – one bottle for me. In the last 34 years I have had five dogs including the present two. The previous dogs were Misty, a West Highland Terrier  Cross that we rescued, Buster an Australian Cattle Dog that attacked my son, and Scruffy, a bitsa that was given to me. She was a doll and everyone adored her. Unfortunately  I do not have any photographs of Scruffy on line. I must attend to that sometime. I am also Secretary of the local branch of the Royal Flying Doctors Service, fundraising group but , hopefully, that’s about to end soon. I have decided not to stand for re-election but knowing how this group is with no one willing to take a position, I expect I will be secretary again, although I would like to think not.

Do you have to point that thing at me?

Moving forward – slowly.

by edgar62, posted in House, Garden and Dogs

I got the edging but won’t be able to do much on Monday. I have to take herself to the doctor to get the results of her tests. We expect everything to be clear and the tests are just her doctor being cautious. We don’t want to have a repeat of the Staph infection that caused so much damage to her system. So, I can understand, and agree with, her doctor being so cautious. By the middle of  this week I should have much of it done and, at the same time, think about what I am going to put in the inner section along with the  cleaned and  restored Bird Bath. I have a kind of picture in my head what I want it to look like when its finished.

I don’t wish to rush it but I would like to see it completed so I can devote my attention to working on the Washing Area and removing the cement block.  I just hope that when I have actually succeeded in digging  it out, the Chinese person on the other end can speak some English. Once I have dug it up I can have the hole cleaned out and put the unit and my own concrete block in its place and then install the new washing hoist. In the meantime, I am about to go back to the garden centre to get another set of purple carrot plants. The Main Man– the Maltese Terrorist – decided that it would be such a help to daddy if he did some digging; turn over the soil and get rid of these green things.  Dogs – what am I going to do with him??  :o)

This is my Main Man - the MalteseTerrorist!