Rest Day

Harley didn't get up to any great mischief today.

He made life difficult for Adoring Husband while I napped this afternoon, but that’s more about AH than it is about Harley haha.

BGWLBH and I drove out to Howard Markets at 6.30am and even though there were already a LOT of people there, we were able to find what we call a “Rock Star Carpark” space right at the entrance.

We regrettably started with a coffee. Our bodies are not used to milky coffee so we suffered a few hours later.

I was well restrained with my purchases and came home with worm castings fertiliser, a macrame angel to hang under the Bali hut, some coriander relish and hot mango relish. BGWLBH bought a watermelon, some mini succulents, some books and a candle - the proceeds of which support rescue animals.

Just as we came to the end of the stalls, the weather became very dark and gloomy with the wind picking up considerably so our departure was perfectly timed.

On the way home we stopped at the butchers and supermarket for a couple of items and we were home by 9.30am!

I had some lovely play time with Harley, helped AH pull apart the garden covers and watched a couple more episodes of Portrait Artists before making a grazing platter for lunch.

Chicken wings, 2 x cheeses, grapes, stuffed bell peppers, guacamole dip, cucumber, snow peas, mango, strawberries, kiwi fruit, dragon fruit, watermelon, mushrooms and rice crackers.

After another play with Harley, I went down for a nap at 2pm, slept soundly for about 40 minutes and then dozed on and off for an hour. My knees and elbows have been giving me curry with this crazy weather and I’ve struggled a bit with the pain so it was difficult getting up after my snooze.

I wasn't hungry but I prepared crispy skinned chicken with a salad of lettuce (from the garden), radishes (from the garden), shallots (from the garden), tomatoes (from the garden), cucumber, avocado and a spicy dressing. Sweet potato discs done in the air fryer.

Dessert was paleo apple pan tart.

BGWLBH and I played ‘Sequence’ after dinner and I won best out of three.

In bed early with Harley settling nicely. Even after my nap, I still feel like I’ll sleep well tonight.

I have a lot of washing to do tomorrow but in between I’d like to attempt an acrylic portrait. We’ll see how I go.

Nite all.

Indoor Pool

Harley’s main event for today was, using only his front paws, and without tipping it or up ending it, to completely empty a 2 litre bowl of water and spread it over a 10 x 10 square foot area of the house.

In effect creating our own indoor swimming pool.

Then … while I was attempting to mop the water up with towels, he would jump up, grabbing the towel in his teeth and proceed to hump it.

I was laughing so hard I couldn’t even be angry at him, but I did call him a few choice names!

How could this innocent little soul …

Be so naughty?

We went for our first walk with the harness and leash this morning. He was a bit hesitant and we only walked to the first corner on our side of the street and back - about 5 minutes.

He was frightened by a top notch pigeon that landed close by us and I spotted a cat on the road ahead of us  which I thought might provide a bit of excitement, but the cat climbed down into the drain before Harley spotted it.

On the bright side, no holes were dug today and he kept himself amused for most of the day with his toys and a big bone that I gifted to him mid morning.

No rain today and since Tuesday we collected 87mm in the gauge.

I seemed to spend a lot of time washing dog beds, blankets and mats, mopping the floor, cooking, emptying and refilling the dishwasher and stopping Marley from rounding up Colli - who actually fought back and snapped at him for the first time today!

I did manage to squeeze in a couple of episodes of my Portrait Artist of the Year show and I ordered some fish beads to complete my latest masterpiece (said with tongue firmly in cheek).

Got an early start tomorrow to attend the Howard markets so I’d best get some sleep!

Nite all.

Rained In

Due to the wet conditions, we didn’t pick up the FROG box yesterday, so today during a break in the weather, BGWLBH and I drove to Craignish to collect it.

Adoring Husband wasn’t up to the task because the Parkinson’s symptoms have been giving him grief for a couple of days.

It’s very chilly tonight!

First day of Summer and I have the comforter over me in bed. Unheard of!

This is what Harley did today …

No more dill in the garden.

It’s my own fault for not checking on him when I knew he was being too quiet.

He has many noisy toys, a dustpan brush that he bangs about, a bone that he tosses onto the concrete, little plastic blue cups that he rolls on the concrete so I can always hear what he’s doing. When he goes quiet I get up to check on him.

I didn’t do that this afternoon.

It could have been worse so I’m not particularly bothered.

I almost completed my octopus art today. Just a couple more things to glue into place. So far I’m pretty happy with it and will take a pic tomorrow.

I cooked fried rice, charred zucchini and banana, chilli pomegranate chicken for dinner tonight.

Harley slept until 5.15am today so I’m pretty chuffed with that! Won’t be long and I’ll have him on my timeline!

It’s now 8.20pm and I think I’m ready for lights out.

Nite all.

Magpie Lullaby

It has been raining all day.

I think we are up to approximately 50mm of rain in the last 2 days.

Because of this rain, there has been a magpie sitting under our carport singing, whistling, warbling, talking and mimicking Harley’s squeaky toys for most of the day.

Very entertaining and quite beautiful.

Harley has been much better today, doing his ‘business’ outside instead of inside. He spent most of the day sitting on the back step chewing sticks, dog bones and his toys.

Due to the rain, we girls cancelled morning coffee at the park and due to our low energy vibe, did absolutely nothing all day.

Now it’s time for me to sleep because I expect Harley will have me awake at 4.30am and it’s now almost 11pm.

Nite all.

Sleepy Time

Harley slept from 9.30pm until 4.25am.

That was a good stint.

I do miss my mornings in bed.

He’s getting a little bit out of control and naughty so instead of making the excuse that he’s a puppy, I need to get serious about the training.

Today he found an ant nest and the ants attacked him. He was getting distressed so I put him in the pool and washed all the ants off.

He pulled more of the under lining from the couch in the family room.

He chewed the corner of a scarf that I have draped over a stool with a plant on it and almost knocked it over.

He found the feather duster and was chewing it.

He tried to hump the mop while I was cleaning his pee off the floor.

He knocked a table top off a stand outside.

Just to name a few annoyances.

Lucky he’s cute and cuddly!

It was nice in the pool today.

It was also nice in the art room where BGWLBH and I got arty farty. I worked on a project that I’d started a while ago and she started and completed three or four projects today.

She’s very clever.

I cooked a lamb roast tonight with LOTS of vegetables and home made gravy. It was delicious.

Now it’s almost 10pm so I’d best get some sleep while Harley is out to it.

Nite all.

A Machine

Harley has become a veritable peeing machine!

The first two days he did all of his toileting outside and for some reason he is now peeing in every room, on every mat, on his blankets, on his snuffle mat and I am spending all my time catching him mid stream and taking him outside, but it doesn’t seem to be having any effect!

Boy dogs marking their freaking territory!

Ugh 😩 

I have an idea that I will try tomorrow.

He slept from 10pm til 3am - toilet - then slept from 3.10am til 4.15am.

I want him to sleep longer lol.

We’ll get there.

BGWLBH and I headed into The Bay for Christmas lights, hooks, more pool cleaner pipe, lotto tickets, dog chew toys and to make a hair appointment.

We were home by 1pm and I threw together a quick lunch.

For tonight’s dinner I roasted a chicken and served it with leftover salads and I topped up the potato salad with some fresh boiled potato and mayo.

I was so tired this afternoon, I fell asleep on the couch for about 40 minutes. I didn’t feel better for it.

I’ll be sleeping as soon as I end this post.

Nite all.

Too Old

I am getting way too old for this sh&%.

It has been a huge weekend with my niece, her partner and my sister.

After five nights with a new puppy settling into our home and short bursts of very interrupted sleep including Friday night when Harley suffered a horrendous bout of diarrhoea and had me up at 3am cleaning out his sleeping cage, bathing him (for the first time) and washing all of his bedding, this weekend with my sister absolutely wore me out!

Thank goodness BGWLBH and Adoring Husband gave me the opportunity to sleep for a couple of hours before the expected time of arrival for my niece. 

BGWLBH prepped all the food as instructed while I collapsed into bed and slept for an unsettled 2 hours.

When my niece arrived, it was a fabulous surprise to see my sister appear from nowhere and it was quite shocking to realise that it had been 9yrs since we’d hugged each other. There were many tears.

We spent a good 5 hours in the pool sharing a platter of nibbles and many alcoholic beverages, laughing and mucking about like crazy people.

We had a barbecue for dinner with all of the prepped salads and all of us were exhausted in bed by 8.30pm!

Harley had me up twice during the night and I was out of bed at 4am.

I prepared bacon and eggs for everybody this morning and we all took advantage of the weather and the pool again, playing catch with a giant exercise ball in the water.

At lunch time I phoned to order some fish and chips for our lunch and AH drove down to pick it up while we set the table with leftover salads.

I think it was around 2pm when they all said their goodbyes, climbed into the car and headed south. There were more tears.

I collapsed on the family room couch and slept soundly for a solid two hours until Harley raucously woke me up with a start!

BGWLBH and I shared tea and cookies while we debriefed the weekend, and the rest of the afternoon was spent attempting to tire out Harley who was full of beans!

It was every man for himself at dinner time and it’s now 10pm and I’m totally exhausted.

It has been a fabulous but tiring weekend.

Harley is sleeping in my bedroom tonight (in his cage) and I’m hoping that he won’t be disturbed at 4am by AH and Colli and that I might get a little more sleep.

Fingers crossed.

This is my sister laden with empty stubbies and alcoholic beverage bottles on Saturday afternoon.

Nite all.