This week we moved to a new location. Firstly, I must point out what a thrill it is to be in a place with cupboard space and room to put things. For the entire month of June we were living out of suitcases – we had a couple of weeks sharing with some Uni students (see Adventures of an Urban Nomad – Student Digs) and then almost three weeks visiting family in Melbourne and Perth.
This is quite an unusual housesitting arrangement. Normally, the homeowners go away and we move in to look after the animals and the house. In this instance the lady who owns the house is still here. Fortunately, the house has a separate wing originally built for her parents-in-law. She lives there and we have the main house.
The reason we’re here is that she has 14 dogs, a couple of miniature horses, 4 chickens and 3 ducks. As you can imagine this severely limits her ability to do any travelling. As she has children and grandchildren spread across the world from Sydney to London she rarely gets a chance to see them. Having us here gives her the freedom to visit them and do other trips as well.
You may have noticed (if you read carefully) that there are 14 dogs. “How does one end up with 14 dogs?” you may well ask. If you hadn’t asked I’d be worrying about your sanity!
The thing is this lady is a very caring and gentle soul who can’t bear to see dogs being mistreated or put in an unhealthy situation. As a consequence she’s become the converse of John West. You’ll remember the John West ads – ‘they pick only the best and reject the rest’.
Well, she collects the dogs that everyone else rejects.
There are blind ones, deaf ones, a spastic one (he has cerebal palsy), a couple of bigger ones but mostly small ones. There’s one that needs eye drops and one that needs ear drops. There’s one who was collapsing and appeared to be having fits but the vet now thinks he has extremely low blood pressure and so is on medication. So, all in all, we have an interesting collection.
They have their beds along the back wall of the house, well protected from the weather. Going outside is like walking through a hospice ward with them all in their beds watching you very intently. During the day when it’s warm they’re up and about and so a visit to the backyard is a Pied Piper experience.
They’re all very cute and lovable but feeding time is a major operation. It’s taken Danita & I a week to get to know all their names and when it comes time for us to move to our next place (end August) I expect we might even miss them.