Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Tired but here

Well, the settling process has inevitably been a little hard. The Animals I will say are all universally pleased to be here, and delighted to be with us. And I think understandably a little insecure, although despite all the horror stories they seem to be OKay so far (and I was told by several people that cats just don't do quarantine - ours seems to remember us and quite frankly be less traumatised than the dogs. They all do need a lot of attention, but are straight back into their old ways... well, all needing a scratch or notice on average every thirty seconds, which I hope will slack off soon. Last night was restless in the extreme with Roly just not settling. I've had about 2 hours sleep which hasn't helped the book finish. And we've had sets of dog-and-cat visitors all day. We went to the winter Solstice Scottish dancing/ singing do last night (not the night I would have chosen. Can't these celestial bodies show ANY consideration?), which was... energetic (just to watch!) Fun too. James stayed in and fire/cat/dog sat, and shortly after we got in, we discovered Robin-cat was missing. Frantic inside and out search ensued.
HUH. Madamoiselle had decided to sleep INSIDE the cupboard and now that she was comfortable, was not coming when called (that seems to be the main difference - which won't last - the cats now come when called. The right cat to right name. Bizarre!).

Little Robin-cat was admittedly so appreciative of liberty and people and above all CARPET she was actually doing the tail quiver. Bat (once he'd punished us - about 2 hours) was doing the leg-weave, and climbing up your legs. La Duchesse was rising up and head butting. All she wants to do is sleep ON people, Barbs being first prize. Poor B had all 3 on top of her this evening. I am of course a bad man, because I won't have them on the table while I am cooking.

Dogs... well Pugsley says it is really time he was boss dog and he hasn't had to share space with anyone for a while. Wednesday is being smarmy goody-two-shoes (as if I could be fooled). And Roly, is well, Roly. Happiest when sitting on you.

Poor baby, he is very thin. But they're all so obviously happy to be home, to be loved

Oh and they are determined NOT to be left behind ever again. Paddy was trying to lift James's bicycle out of the truck - and 3 dogs and bicycle was probably even funnier than 3 men and boat.

12 comments:

  1. You can't just describe "3 dogs and a bicycle" as a throwaway ending like that. Your public needs more details about which dog did what, where and when... (we know they did it to James so the "to whom" bit may be omitted unless it involved the bike).

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  2. Would that not be to Paddy? ;)

    Am glad your family is complete now. :)

    Much love to you all.

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  3. Imagine if you'd had 2 dogs and a cat you could have called them Bach, Offenbach and DePussy.

    (Not original, wish it was, and I may have said it before.)

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  4. Noticed that chow picture in the last post. How much extra fish will you have to catch now?

    So glad to hear everybody survived the process OK and all are finally there. Back in January, June seemed impossibly far away.

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  5. (Chuckle) I wasn't there, Francis. I was at my desk. I just heard the "GET OUT, OOF. Idiot dogs, Get OFF me. (Woof) (Bark, Bark) Oh come on! don't get in again!" repeat with chorus of excited woofs and some laughter. Repeat several more times.
    It went on for a while.

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  6. Martin, it was Paddy. James would have been a little more pragmatic and less funny. And probably crosser.

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  7. Luneray, I cannot tell you how much it means to us.

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  8. Tantalus, the old ones are best, as I tell my pretty wife as I approach my dotage.

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  9. Abigail, Well, we don't at this stage want to shuffle them to wholly local diet. Our cats have always had a small portion of 'tin' and kibble-on-demand. As quarantine animals I think kibble was it(by the reaction to soft food). I'm hoping to slowly move them onto mostly soft local fish, but a little bought kitty food for any nutients they may miss, and, of course, to clean their teeth. The dogs - well plain fish/roo meat is just WAY too protein rich. So we need to dilute that with some form of cereal - besides hard food/bones for teeth and calcium. I haven't yet found a cheap cereal, and it may be a few years before we can grow it.

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  10. The volume, BTW, isn't a big problem. What is is keeping within the law, which we try to do. The trouble is the law is designed around 'recreational fishermen' not odd 'subsistance' fishermen. So, even keeping rigidly to the catch limits would be easy (but a little wasteful of fuel) there are possession limits. (So for eg, B or I could catch our bag limit of wrasse (probably 3-4kg) every fishable day, but we can only keep 10 per person. That's plenty for dogs, cats and even people for a day or 3 (a fish per dog, and a fish for 3 cats.) And aside from the waste of time and fuel, not every day is fishable - they tend to go in runs of 2-5 good days, 1-3 foul - but when the wind really blows, this could be weeks. Australian Salmon too can be VERY abundant, and then absent. Neither of these species (in THIS area) are at a level where in my professional opinion these limits can be justified scientifically. But regulations are set for Tasmania, and as i said, make no allowance subsistance fishermen with a freezer for good and bad days. I do understant where they're coming from - it is easier for policing to stop people selling. But it's an irritation we will have to live with.

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  11. Different world hey Dave ? Now here all you have to do is slip a fish or two or a handfull of used notes to the local 'lawkeeper' and Bob's your uncle.

    Ooooh, naughty, did I really just say that ?

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