Yams, Walkies and Snow

During the course of an afternoon, Annabell will ask me if I would like a coffee – chocolate biscuit or scone. Now I know I have casually mentioned in some posts that I like scones, but in a situation like this I will choose to have a scone rather than a chocolate biscuit. You see, I can’t share a chocolate biscuit, but I can share a scone with my Associate. You have to think of these things  :o)  This afternoon, being Thursday, I did as I promised I would do, I got out the Mandoline / Mandolin slicer,   sliced the Sweet Potatoes and put the slices on two baking trays and put these in a 120c oven for three hours. After about halfway I’ll go and turn them.  I just hope, after all this, the dogs like them and they don’t end up in landfill – or I end up eating them myself.  Don’t balk – it’s sweet potato not actual dog food. If this does work, I might give the  Peanut Butter recipe a go.

Benji and the WaWa at the beach

I lift her leash and her tail goes off like a wee helicopter. Last night I put her on Annabell’s lap while I got Benji ready and she was not happy and Annabell says she was watching my every move and when I came back in with Benji on his leash she was straining to get down. Once she was down on the floor she made straight for the door, ready to go. The difference is remarkable and this morning I was sitting on the floor giving the WaWa ear and belly scratches. She is a changed little girl.

I am not altogether sure what is going on but for the last three days there have been police and police cars all around this area. There was five officers went into a house three houses away, two more officers on the street and parked outside our house was one of the police cars. I mean even if you are a law abiding citizen ( is there such a person?)  having a police car practically parked outside your door is a little bit disconcerting.  I thought of an escaped convict but that would have been all over the news and it was not a drug thing because had that been the case there would have been vans and chemical containment vehicles there and there wasn’t – so I don’t know what’s going on. I know their dogs keep escaping but that would not involve what must be half the city police force.

Yes daddy, I will sweep up – but first – The Nap..

Benji seems to have put his paw down in revolt “no more photographs with me and the WaWa”. Every time I stopped to try and take a photograph he  came quickly back and went behind my legs. He did this every single time when we were out yesterday afternoon. On Wednesday morning when the coffee ladies are here I’ll take them both down to the Foreshore and see what the beach is like and see what happens there. If the seagrass problem gets too bad, the council send in front loaders to clear if away and use it – with other stuff – for mulch.

On Sunday I had to quietly call Annabell through – there was Andrew sitting on the chair, the WaWa lying lengthwise along his lap, and he was scratching her and playing with her. When he stopped scratching her belly, she hit him with her paw until he started again. Sadly I was too stunned at what I was watching to get the camera and I was also afraid that if I moved,  it would break the moment. Unreal is a much overused word, but that’s what it was. I have taken advice and early this morning when Benji and I go for our long walk – I  decided to take the WaWa with us. She was willing and walked most of the way . I did carry her for a little bit, but mostly she did it on her own.  The photograph of

This was taken in Neilston not far from Glasgow today.

Benji – I did not set this up, he lay down beside the brush himself. This other photograph is for Denver in Colorado. It was sent to us this morning by a friend who lives in a place called Neilston,  outside Glasgow. I thought you would like and appreciate it  – and my life insurance is up to date  :o)

Update, the house mentioned is now empty and there is a notice on the gate “This property is under Security Surveillance ” same notice as the house the bank foreclosed in another part of our walk route.  It’s really quite sad and the Sacked Arrium Management has a lot to answer for – but then they have gone so they never will.

More winds and faling trees

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A quiet Moment

I was up early and got the brushes, shovels and rake all ready, as well as the suction/blower. I spent yesterday cleaning up, sweeping up and filling the mean, green recycle bin. I put the  dog houses back into place. I had moved them so I could clean up. It was such a lovely day that I broke out the hammock and put up the big double brolly. Had lunch, quick couple of hits with the personal fly spray and into the hammock for a rest and a read, then back to work.  For a while, all of yesterday, the place started to look neat and tidy again.

The Severe Wind Warning was slightly downgraded but we still had winds of up to 95kph and the big gum tree on the corner came down. The Council, SES  (State Emergency Service) and the Police had the road blocked off because only part of it came down and the other part was none too safe. My son asked me to take some photographs but no one

Lovely Day!! (38c)
Lovely Day!! (38c)

was allowed near it. All my work in cleaning and sweeping was to no avail and I had two branches from the other tree (small branches) snap off. Anyway, it will have to stay untidy until I get back from Adelaide. The car is with the Electrical people and they believe it should be ready today.  If not, then I have the use of my son’s car. However, the mechanic said it should not be too difficult and he would get to it this afternoon (Thursday)

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Half his luck..

I have just returned from two days in Adelaide and I have come to the conclusion that I am getting too old for this nonsense. I sat in my Hotel Room, shivering – not because of cold  -just shivering. Herself says it was probably an adrenaline  rush because of the over tiredness. At the moment I still feel washed out.after leaving Adelaide at 2pm and driving 400k  back home.  My Associates were happy to see me as I was to see them. I do wish I could take one of my dogs to the meetings, that would be nice  :o)

It’s all about the dogs

Anything goes wrong and I am up for big bucks. In order to accommodate a dog, I have moved my chair further away from the desk and moved the computer closer to the edge. Yes, I know, people type with dogs on their lap  all the time but for me it’s a new experience – and it’s not my dog. I have been looking after this little fellow  for  friends who have gone to Adelaide for medical treatment.  This is a dog that they adopted but it was a rescue dog who had been abused, chained up and left to fend for itself. It took a lot of work by the South Australian Dog Rescue to  look after him to the stage where he could be adopted. However, he is a very “clingy” dog and hates to be left on his own (Understandable) This was the reason they felt that he would not be put into boarding kennels and decided to ask me to look after him. For the last couple of weeks they have brought him over to get used to my dogs  Not the greatest success and at the moment it’s sort of “Armed Neutrality” – growling but not fighting.  This dog needs to be touched and to be very close to his human – hence him being on my lap. He will not look at my wife at all and was upset because I went out this morning. He is very affectionate but my two are ganging up on him.  I was out working in the garage for a while and decided to come back inside for coffee. I came to the back door and my two were standing guard at the back door and growling when he came near.  The little buggers were refusing to let the  visitor pass. Rather than have a confrontation, I took him  out the gate and had Annabell open the front door and brought him in that way.  Actually, I am , in an odd sort of way, quite proud of my two the way they worked together against what they saw as an intruder.  :o)

Anyway, that was his morning and afternoon and now the little fellow has gone home. Friends came back from Adelaide this afternoon and off he went back home – and I kind of miss him – even after only three days. At least the computer is back in a less precarious position – that’s always something. I took several photographs of the dog and for some unexplainable reason,  this program insists on setting them in  in a Landscape setting rather than a Portrait setting, which is annoying. And yes, I have resized them, cropped them and I open them and they are nice portrait, but when I try to insert one on here it reverts to landscape.  I  guess you can take it  that I am not the world’s greatest photographer – more a point and shoot kind of person.