Tuesday, September 14, 2010

Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow

 We were tricked Yesterday.  Instead of the rain predicted, we got another beautiful day.   So we headed to the river again.  This time we had the whole track to ourselves.  Bella and I ran free for over an hour! 
When we came home, SHE did some pruning and general garden tidying.  We played with the gorilla and supervised.
While pruning, She found our new duck......Bella is getting slack with her burying.  It's hardly covered.
Blue bug who was unearthed last weekend during another pruning session, was found again.  He's been buried twice this week.  However, the yellow bunny is nowhere to be found.  Bella has really hidden him well this time!
Today the rain was back.  It rained all night, cleared up and then we had a deluge! 
Tomorrow, we are going camping for THREE weeks.  SHE's heading to Virginia and Texas.  So we'll be roughing it.  No computer.  We don't mind camping.  There's always something happening and new dogs to meet, play with, and we can bark as much as we want because we're way out of town.
We'll be in touch when we return. Don't forget us.  Love ya, Daisy, Kendra & Bella

Sunday, September 12, 2010

Great Weekend

 Hi Everyone!  We've just had the BEST weekend... Glorious weather, so we were outside and busy.
 We stopped by to see Millie.  There were the usual games.  Millie has been busy edging the patio and pruning all the pot plants--her Dad isn't impressed.

 We went to the river TWICE--Saturday and Sunday.  It was all happening there.  People were out enjoying the beautiful days:  walking, kayaking, cycling, picnicking.  One man who was picnicking was  foolish kind enough to give me some of the meat off his sandwich.  Naturally, Kendra & Bella forgot their fear of people to get some too.  Then we had to be roughly dragged encouraged to continue our walk.
 There were times when no one was around, so we got to run around FREE.    Our river is very high, with all the rain.  We went down to the beach, but didn't get in the water.  We met loads of people who naturally, thought we were cute, beautiful, wonderful......We ignored the admiring people as there was so much to smell and other dogs to meet.
 Kendra was allowed a bit of freedom.  As usual, she headed off in the wrong direction and was extremely slow, so she had to be shackled hooked up again. 
 Here she is nearly slipping her collar.  But, even she had a great time.
Then we woke up to this.  Welcome to Monday.  Oh well, Spring is unsettled weather time.  Hope you had a fantastic weekend everyone.

Friday, September 10, 2010

Today

 Today is going to be sunny and beautiful.  We had more rain last week.  This is a picture of Kendra and I on the last sunny day we had.  We love sunny days.
 I know we complain about the rain AND our city's reservoir dam has increased from under 10% full to over 80%, but we're tired of the rain.  We're used to drought.  We've had a drought since before I was born, with only occasional rain.  This winter has been so rainy.   Even the farmers are starting to worry that their bumper crops will go moldy before they can be harvested.  (Farmers can't win. When the rain stops, there is a huge locust plague predicted.)
The good thing about drought is that every almost every day is beautiful.  We say almost because last year we had a huge dust storm.  Some poor farmers' paddocks ended up here.
 Glove prints left when the gloves were removed.
 Windscreen of the car. (The triangle emphasises the dust.)
That wasn't too pleasant.  The spa cover and car were both under shelter!  So everything was thickly covered.  We were tracking in dust for days.  Luckily that's very rare.
But today will be beautiful.  Hopefully everything will have a chance to dry off and we can go for long runs along the river!
Have a good weekend everyone!!!!

Tuesday, September 7, 2010

You won't believe this!

   I've managed to wrest this computer away from that blog hog Daisy so I can tell my story. It's MY Gotcha Day today. Ten years and one day after Kendra joined the family, I came to live here.  I was 5 months old, living with my mother, show dog father and a brother--there were eight in my litter.  I was pick of the litter BTW.  Then my brother started to have problems with Demodex mites and so did I.  There went my career. 
 I was taken to the vets, had an operation and started a 90-day course of poison.  A week later with the stitches in my stomach, I was placed in my crate and driven several hours to an airport.  My human family and I flew several hours to another state.  Next, I spent two days driving across the state, staying overnight in a motel bathroom.
At one of our rest stops, I met a stranger.  She cuddled me and my crate was put in her car.  It wasn't too bad because I was in the front seat and she talked quietly to me and patted me until I went to sleep.  I woke up when the car stopped.  My crate was placed on the verandah and suddenly two strange scotties were looking in at me.  Well, I wanted them to know I wasn't a wimp.  So I snarled and growled at them.  Everyone disappeared.  So I followed them inside and found out it was dinner time.  After dinner, I explored everybody and everything.  My crate was placed in a bedroom with the door open, so I could retreat whenever I felt the need.  I took over adjusted very quickly to my new home. 
It was a stagnant  in a rut quiet home and believe me, I arrived none too soon.  They needed a good shake up and that's exactly what I did.  No more lying around.  I badgered Kegs Daisy until she was playing wild games of bitey face and chasies.  No more leaving things on the floor. Of course we needed more daily walks. 
 I stayed away from Kendra, she sort of scared me.  She was always trying to get my food.  But Daisy and I have become inseparable.  She's taught me all about cats.  Now Kendra has taught me how to bark at people and look fierce (but I still don't annoy try to get her to play games.)  I love cuddling with our human.
Now one year on, they don't even remember life without me!
Oh, and after the 90 days of poison and another six weeks of injections.  I don't have the demodex problem any more.  So they stopped calling me scabby scottie.

Monday, September 6, 2010

Kendra's Gotcha Day

 Today, the 6th of September is the eleventh anniversary of Kendra coming to live here.  Since she's sort of a bah humbug dog, I, Daisy, will recount her story.
 Kendra was 15 weeks old before she came to her forever family-- running wild in a pen with some Westies.  She was the puppy prospective buyers are warned to steer clear of.  The breeder's story was that her husband was ill and hadn't had any time with the puppies.  He was the main socialiser.  So Kendra was terrified.  After being trapped in a corner and caught, she cuddled into our human's arms and went to sleep.  There had been an 11-month wait for a female puppy, so we think she had been rejected by more discerning people.  Anyway, she'd found a family of suckers.
She joined another supposedly perfect scottie who was very gentle with her.  But no attempt of socialising with  people was successful.  She just hates people.....and loud noises....and change.....etc.   She has always held a jaundiced view of the world. Our tradition of early morning walks started  because she became upset if there were other people on the street. She eventually accepted them on the early morning walk, only. 
 This shows her first haircut.  We don't get skinned cut that short anymore.  Kendra loves other dogs and doesn't care about chasing cats or birds.  She loves being at home doing her own thing.  She acts quite vicious if anyone comes to the door, and has been known to go for ankles.  However, at the vets, or when trapped so someone can pet her, she goes into THE ZONE and ignores everyone.  Therefore, she is the best behaved of us at the vets.
 Kendra loves food......no one gets between her and food.  Her stomach clock is always correct--except with Daylight Savings. She always gets hers first.....she still thinks is the top dog.  She loves chasing a ball, killing cushions and the gorilla.
 On walks, she has to stay on the lead because she becomes engrossed in a smell,  heads off in the wrong direction,  spends most of the time rolling or may bolt if frightened.  Usually she just plods along.  She has become more at peace with the world now and  will occasionally go on daytime walks.  She determines our walks.  If she comes it will be a slow, short walk.  Sometimes she gets to the end of the driveway and refuses to go further.  We leave her behind and go off on longer, faster walks.  She doesn't mind  and is happy when we return.
Kendra likes hiding in out-of-the-way places and becomes decorated in cobwebs and leaves.  She also loves sitting in the front window ready to bark at anyone who dares walk passed the house.  Kendra is a fantastic watch dog.  Even people who know her won't come in the yard.  In the past few months, she is starting to move closer to the 'regulars' we meet on walks.  Maybe after eleven years, the world isn't quite so frightening.  Hope that explains why you don't see her as often as Bella and me.  (Oh we celebrated by taking her to the river for a long walk.  There were no other people. Then came home for treats.....roo tendons.)

Saturday, September 4, 2010

Rainy again.

 It's raining again, and cold and muddy.  Winter has returned.  But last week was beautiful.  We went for lots of walks-- on both sides of the river.  Most people are at work or school so we can run free!  Anyway, because of all the rain, we need a good laugh.  We thought we'd share it.  Can you guess what this is a picture of?  It's where we walked.
It's our hill!  Yes, we have a hill in our town and this is it!

Friday, September 3, 2010

Another Millie visit

 We stopped by to see Millie the other day.  She is one wild child.  She's like an in-your-face blow-fly.  I finally had to growl at her; but she just growled back and kept going!  We were a bit suspicious when we were put on the bench for a group shot; but relieved when Millie jumped down and couldn't get back up.  We just sat there and watched her go crazy!
Not even Bella wanted to play with her.