HANGIN' OUT AGAIN, WITH DOUG THE DOG

 POST # 669

On October 30th, I enjoyed a sunny ride  across to Vancouver Island, en route to my current location, here in Nanoose Bay. Pam picked me up at the ferry terminal and we headed back to her place.  I was last here, almost exactly one year ago to take care of Doug the dog.  You can't really tell from the photo, but he was truly happy to see me.  His mind appears to be elsewhere.  Perhaps he was thinking about the fact that Pam would be leaving the next day, and he wasn't too happy about that.

The next day was Halloween, so I asked Doug if he would be kind enough to show me his scary Halloween look, and he was happy to oblige.

I guess that his look worked, because we never even had one visitor the entire evening.  I think that it wasn't his look that caused the lack of visitors, but the fact that it was a very rainy night,  which didn't make it very inviting to go out trick or treating on the local streets.  We enjoyed a quiet evening at home, as the rain poured down.

There are two times each day, when I have Doug's full attention, and those two times are breakfast and dinner.  As soon as I grab his food bowl, he's right there next to me, waiting and drooling for his meal.  Moments after I put his bowl down, the food has disappeared.  

It must be time for our afternoon walk, so I'll get Doug ready, and off we'll go.  Thankfully the weather today has cooperated, so I won't have to take an umbrella along with me.

grateful for every breath,

Paul

The Thoughtful Wanderer

RHUBARB RAMBLINGS AND THE TWO AUSSIE DAVIDS

 POST # 668

A very long time ago, when I was still a child, we had a great rhubarb patch in our garden at home.  My sisters and I would take advantage of this fact, and occasionally pick a stalk to eat.  Back then, it was normal to get a cup, put some sugar in it, and then dip the rhubarb into the sugar prior to eating it.  The idea was that because the rhubarb was sour, the sugar would help make it more palatable.  In fact, it seemed to exaggerate the sour taste, at least for me it did.  I'm not sure what effect it had on my sisters.

My dad on the other hand, used to sprinkle a bit of salt upon his rhubarb prior to eating it.  At the time it seemed like a strange idea to me, but somewhere along life's journey, I decided to try some rhubarb with salt.  And I've never looked back.  

Why so much talk about rhubarb today?  Well, I just finished the last three stalks here at Mary's place.   The plant is now done for the season, so I'll have to wait a long time until I can once again enjoy the taste of rhubarb with a sprinkle of salt.  And every time I do, it makes me think of my dad.  I'm glad that he showed me the best way to eat it, all those years ago.

Today's date also takes me back to the year 2002.  I've written about this before, but I'll state it again.  I was living in Dawson City at that time, and I phoned my friend David Jones in Melbourne to wish him a happy birthday (the 29th in Australia).  After wishing him a happy birthday, I asked, "what's new?"  That simple question was the beginning of a very big adventure.  David had just purchased a sailboat in Durban, South Africa, and right then and there he invited me along to help sail it back to Australia, an adventure that took place from March 6th to April 17th, 2003.  It most certainly was a memorable journey on many fronts, and was without doubt the biggest adventure I had been on up to that point.  So today is once again his birthday (in Australia), so I'll make sure to send him a note to wish him a happy birthday.

And speaking of Davids.  I sent an email yesterday to another David friend of mine in Australia, whom I hadn't heard from in ages, and lo and behold there was an email in my inbox today from him.  As it turned out, I managed to send the email to him on his birthday as well, so that was good timing.  It was great to be back in touch after all of these years.  Having had my yahoo email account hacked many years ago has caused some problems, and my lost contact with him was no doubt a result of that misfortune.

Soon I will be heading back to Canada to begin my next house sit back on Vancouver Island once again.  In the meantime, I will enjoy Mary and Dora-dog's company for a couple of more days.  And of course, I can't help myself, so here is the latest photo of Dora-dog just after we had returned from our daily walk.

grateful for every breath,

Paul

The Thoughtful Wanderer
 

SHE'S BAAAACK!!!

 POST #667

She's baaaack!!!  And Dora-dog is one happy bonehead indeed.  Mary arrived back from her vacation to Hawaii last Saturday morning, so I took Dora-dog for a ride to the Shell station to meet Mary after she exited from the airport shuttle bus.

Now I know that Dora-dog enjoys my company as well, but Mary is still number one in her books.  And that is as it should be.  After all, it was Mary who rescued this frightened young puppy from the animal shelter way back in February 2018.  Who knows where she may have ended up if Mary hadn't adopted her back at that time.  

She's had a good run since then, but a very large part of her happiness is the fact that she gets to spend time each and every day with Mary.  

Here is a link to a post that I wrote one year after Mary adopted Dora-dog.

https://wherespaulnow.blogspot.com/search?q=dora

They've come a long way since that time, and I'm pretty sure that they would both agree that it has been a wonderful journey for each of them.

And one more photo of Dora-dog, as you can see.  Her number one human is back on the scene, and  she is very, very happy about that.

Okay.  Just one more photo to re-confirm that Dora-dog is happy.

grateful for every breath,

Paul

The Thoughtful Wanderer

ONE ON ONE WITH DORA-DOG

 POST # 666

                                                              Post walk relaxation

I could probably write an entire blog on the various meanings of the number 666, but instead I'll just say that I am currently one on one with Dora-dog.

Mary is off on a vacation to Hawaii, so it's just the two of us for this week, and as can be expected, we get along very well together, and I think that Dora-dog is enjoying this one on one time with her housesitting human friend.

We get two and sometimes three walks per day accomplished, and seeing as we are both carrying extra pounds these days, it's doing us both some good.

Our time together began with some rainy weather, but the last couple of days have been absolutely gorgeous, and we are enjoying spending as much of it as we can outdoors.

We've got the rest of the week to enjoy our one on one time, and we'll try and make the most of it while it lasts.

                                                Enjoying some late afternoon sunshine

The last time that we were one on one was way back in September of 2019, when I had the great pleasure of removing the cone off of Dora-dog's head.  She was very happy when that happened and here is a link to that blog post.  https://wherespaulnow.blogspot.com/2019/09/so-long-cone.html

grateful for every breath,

Paul

The Thoughtful Wanderer

LEON'S NEW NEIGHBOUR

 POST # 665

Since my last visit here, Leon has a new neighbour.  In case you didn't get a good enough look with the first photo, here he is again.  Leon's owner did mention his name to me, but as of this writing, I have forgotten it.

But what's in a name anyhow?  The main thing to know about this new furball in the neighbourhood, is that he is extremely friendly.  Every day when I look outside in the morning, he is there to greet me at the back door.  I'm not sure if Leon is as happy to see this furball as I am, but they at least seem to respect each other.  I'm pretty sure that if the owner wanted to adopt another furball, this one would be only too glad to accept the offer.  Leon, maybe not so much.

I'm glad that he's in the neighbourhood, and I enjoy our daily visits out on the back deck.  He comes over on many occasions, and I get the impression that he would rather be here than at his own place across the street.  Why that is, I can only guess.

Of course, Leon is my first priority, and he is also very good company.  So the house sitter has had it good lately, enjoying two furballs for the price of one as it were.

However, tomorrow I will have to say so long to the both of them, as I continue on my journey.  As always, it's been great to hang out with Leon again, and I'm glad that he has a new friend in the neighbourhood.

grateful for every breath,

Paul

The Thoughtful Wanderer

THE BRUSHAHOLIC'S SLAVE RETURNS

 POST # 664

Armed with one of Leon's favourite brushes, The Thoughtful Wanderer aka The Brushaholic's Slave, has returned once more for another round of pampering Leon in the way that he has come to expect.

I've had the great pleasure of getting to know and spend time with a variety of wonderful furballs over the many years that I have been pet and house sitting, but without a doubt, Leon wins the award for wanting to be brushed on a very regular basis.

The brushing begins right after he's had breakfast, and continues right through the day.  About the only time that he doesn't request to be brushed, is when he is sleeping.

I'm happy to oblige as I think that I enjoy it almost as much as Leon does.  It's a soothing activity for both of us.

So after breakfast is done, and Leon's had his first brush of the day, it's time for him to take a well deserved rest, and while doing so, he can dream of the future brushing opportunities that he will have the pleasure of enjoying before the day is complete.  He's one lucky furball.

grateful for every breath,

Paul

The Thoughtful Wanderer

"YOU WERE VERY LUCKY"

 POST # 663

On September 18th which was last Thursday, I decided to head over to the local shopping centre to pick up a few items.  I happily hopped onto the bicycle that I have to use, and began my journey.  It's not far, probably about a ten minute ride from here.

I arrived at the intersection pictured above. I approached from the E&N trail at the bottom of the photo, and pressed the button at the crosswalk while I waited for the light to turn green.  A few moments passed, and then it was my turn to cross.  I hopped on the bike and began to ride across Island Highway.  The first lane of traffic had come to a complete stop, and as I began my journey across the highway, a car drove right in front of me and through the red light.  Luckily for me, I stopped in time. I watched the car pass, and the people in it, looked like they had no idea that they were driving through the red light.

Someone in the car next to where I had come to a stop, yelled out, " you were very lucky."  Whether it was luck or good awareness on my part, I'm not sure.  

I continued on to the shopping centre to do my shopping, and as I returned home, I re-played the near miss over in my mind a few times.  One really never knows what's around the corner each and every day, and I am glad that I was able to avoid the potential collision with a car travelling at 60 kph or so.  

Arriving home, I explained the whole event to Silken, and as you can see from the expression on her face, she was quite shocked at listening to my story.  She was probably just glad to see that I had returned home, so that she could continue to be fed and pampered for a few more days by the housesitter.

I also mentioned to Silken, that I will have to say goodbye to her this coming Wednesday, and head over to my next sit, which just happens to be only three doors down the street from here.  It will be a much shorter journey than I experienced prior to arriving at my current location.

grateful for every breath,

Paul

The Thoughtful Wanderer