Warren had taken Lucy for a couple of short walks last week and then she did the big walk 5 Kms on the treasure hunt) on Sunday between us, with lots of stopping. The stopping was to wait for the kids to find what ever they were looking for in the treasure hunt.
Warren went off to tennis on Monday as usual so it was my turn to take her for a walk on my own. We want to teach her to sit on command so it was a walk with a learning component.
A pocket full of treats and we set off. Over the road we trotted, she walks along reasonably well but of course has no idea about heel or even walking on one side but that will come in time we hope.
Kitty corner was a big white bull dog who wanted to talk (bark) Lucy gets freaked out at new noises but I was able to coax her along although she was pulling back on her lead. I dont really like choker collars but it does keep her safe, otherwise she would slip her collar and who knows where she would end up. We got past him okay at least she didnt lay down which she does when she is really frightened. She flattens herself as low as she can get and makes herself heavy.
We turned up the road and had several practices at sitting at the kerbs before going across the road, we came back on the opposite side. A guy was putting up a new fence and using a post hole enforcer to put the star pickets in, making quite a noise. Of course it freaked Lucy out and she stopped, I am trying to persuade her and suddenly the npise stopped.The guy who was about fifty metres away realised what what happening and stopped so she could continue without the noise. When we got to him, we had a chat and he got down to Lucy's level and gave her a pat. Then we continued on, that was so nice of him.
Yesterday I was out all day and Warren went to take her for a walk, the opposite way and they got three houses away from home and she lay down and flattened herself, she wasnt going that way. He turned and went the usual way and down the end of the path two hundred metres from home she did the same thing. He told me that he wasnt going to pick her up and carry her o they returned home.
This morning it was my turn again and he told me to pick her up and carry her past whatever if she did that again. It was the white bull dog that did it, yep, shes trying to make herself small even though he wasnt barking as much as Monday. I did carry her for a few metres and then went on and she was fine. A stretch of long grass freaked her out and she lay down but I waited her out. I wondered if she could smell something in there. Coming home she almost pulled me up the slope and then she was looking for Warren.
Wednesday, 17 August 2016
Treasure Hunting
Sunday was a joint birthday lunch for Warren and Aidan, their birthdays are nine days apart. As the kids were going to a trampolining place near Sheridan's in the morning it was decided to go there for lunch.I had already decided that I wasnt going to cook for everyone but buy a platter from Subway so it was easy to change. Lucy went with us to meet the family.
The trip was a bit much for her, almost an hour in the car and then up hills and several roundabouts, just before we got there, she lost her breakfast. Luckily for all of us, we were only a couple of hundred metres away and it went on her mat not on the seats so very easy to clean up.
After lunch, Sheridan brought out her phone as she had a clue to start the treasure hunt. We needed to walk to the dog park and the kids had to look at the background on the video and then find a "gold Coin/pieces of eight". The three smaller boys. eight, nine and ten, had a ball running from one t the other and finding the pieces. We wound our way back home while they located all the pieces. Jordan had helped Sheridan with the videos in the morning. The kids had a ball once they found all eight then they got the treasure which was a box of poppers, balloons and glow sticks.
It was a great activity and we all got a good work out as it was about a 5 k walk with a big hill at the end (up to the house!)
Lucy came too and did very well as it was the first big walk she had done on the lead.
When we got to the edge of the dog park, one of the kids saw an owl in a tree it was only a couple of metres of the ground. Warren said that it was a Tawny frog mouth owl and they usually were in pairs. I had not seen one in the wild before and it really blended in with the tree. Once the kids got their next clue and went around the back of the tree there was the other one of the pair, so the birds were up about the same height but on each side of the tree.
The trip was a bit much for her, almost an hour in the car and then up hills and several roundabouts, just before we got there, she lost her breakfast. Luckily for all of us, we were only a couple of hundred metres away and it went on her mat not on the seats so very easy to clean up.
After lunch, Sheridan brought out her phone as she had a clue to start the treasure hunt. We needed to walk to the dog park and the kids had to look at the background on the video and then find a "gold Coin/pieces of eight". The three smaller boys. eight, nine and ten, had a ball running from one t the other and finding the pieces. We wound our way back home while they located all the pieces. Jordan had helped Sheridan with the videos in the morning. The kids had a ball once they found all eight then they got the treasure which was a box of poppers, balloons and glow sticks.
It was a great activity and we all got a good work out as it was about a 5 k walk with a big hill at the end (up to the house!)
Lucy came too and did very well as it was the first big walk she had done on the lead.
When we got to the edge of the dog park, one of the kids saw an owl in a tree it was only a couple of metres of the ground. Warren said that it was a Tawny frog mouth owl and they usually were in pairs. I had not seen one in the wild before and it really blended in with the tree. Once the kids got their next clue and went around the back of the tree there was the other one of the pair, so the birds were up about the same height but on each side of the tree.
Sunday, 14 August 2016
Lucy the Escape Artist!
Friday Warren usually goes to tennis and with me going to work, he hummed and harred about going as it would mean Lucy being left on her own for the first time, but figured she needed to get used to it some time.
He took her for a short walk, gave her a bone to chew on outside and left for tennis.
When he came back about three hours later, our neighbour called out to say Lucy was over with them.
It appeared that Lucy had been quite happy with her bone for awhile and then started looking for Warren. As she had been over the road for a couple of visits, she used the crossbars on the fence to get a hoist up, over she went and trotted across the road. Our neighbour felt a cold wet nose on the back of her leg and it was Lucy.
We (Warren) are now adding to the fence, making it higher and the addition is going on top of the cross bar so she wont be able to get a lift up.
There's no whimpering at night any more and she is walking on a lead quite well but isnt up to walking on one side or anything like that. We are teaching her to sit on command at the moment, she has come a long way in a short time.
He took her for a short walk, gave her a bone to chew on outside and left for tennis.
When he came back about three hours later, our neighbour called out to say Lucy was over with them.
It appeared that Lucy had been quite happy with her bone for awhile and then started looking for Warren. As she had been over the road for a couple of visits, she used the crossbars on the fence to get a hoist up, over she went and trotted across the road. Our neighbour felt a cold wet nose on the back of her leg and it was Lucy.
There's no whimpering at night any more and she is walking on a lead quite well but isnt up to walking on one side or anything like that. We are teaching her to sit on command at the moment, she has come a long way in a short time.
This is her bed at night, we shut her in there and we do have to lift her in as she would rather sleep on the carpet but once she's in, she curls up straight away until morning.
We are going out later and we will take her with us.
Back to Work
I had the opportunity to work for a day on Friday, as I had nothing planned, I agreed to go in. It did mean that I had to leave home at around six thirty in the morning! I must admit it was nice driving at that time of the morning, quite a difference in the volume of traffic.
I was filling in for a guy who does mainly year tens, elevens and twelves which was nice. I didn't work with any of them last year but I had the year before. It was nice catching up with work mates and students that I had known.
The big difference though was the maturity of the kids plus their size. Two boys in particular, they are twins and I used to tell them apart by the character more than looks. One was a little more out going than the other and they were little boys, now it seems as though they have grown about six inches in nine months and have filled out. They are no longer little boys but young adults, I guess they would be sixteen or seventeen. One of their class mates turned eighteen the day I was there so they may even be almost eighteen.Pretty much all taller than me too.
The kids that I knew all seems happy to see me which was really nice. I enjoyed my day of work and I get paid for it at some time.
I was filling in for a guy who does mainly year tens, elevens and twelves which was nice. I didn't work with any of them last year but I had the year before. It was nice catching up with work mates and students that I had known.
The big difference though was the maturity of the kids plus their size. Two boys in particular, they are twins and I used to tell them apart by the character more than looks. One was a little more out going than the other and they were little boys, now it seems as though they have grown about six inches in nine months and have filled out. They are no longer little boys but young adults, I guess they would be sixteen or seventeen. One of their class mates turned eighteen the day I was there so they may even be almost eighteen.Pretty much all taller than me too.
The kids that I knew all seems happy to see me which was really nice. I enjoyed my day of work and I get paid for it at some time.
Friday, 12 August 2016
A "P" day
Yep, A P day standing for Picnic
We took Lucy out in the car,she had travelled ina car before but not ours. We didnt go too far and we wanted a quiet place with few or no other people and dogs around. Warren looped her lead around a piece of rope and that then over the tow bar so she could go for a bit of a wander but as can be seen she didnt go far. Her picnic of a chicken neck was demolished before I had even made our coffee.
Later at home I settled down to make a pair of PJs, almost got them finished.
Very bright fabric with animals and their names on them. At Spotlight when I replaced my needles, patterns were on sale for $5 instead of the usual $15 to $18 so I grabbed a couple. So much easier than draughting my own (we were taught to do this at school)or tracing patterns from a book.
While i was sewing, Warren did some work on Project one. He took down the old curtains and curtain rod and replaced them with the new curtains. Old ones were short and new ones are to the floor. I had taken off the single letters and I am considering taking down the kids names, but they are still there for the moment. Waiting on an electrician to come and fix the fan and light in that room.
The tri bed, chest of drawers have gone to a better home and a broken fan gone to the bin. Still a bit to go such as the big heavy steel filing cabinet. I;m sure there is plenty of shredding that could be done to empty it.
Thursday, 11 August 2016
Lucy the thief!
The foster care told us that Lucy was a bit of a thief and that at her place she had had a stash of stuff, pens and bits and pieces.
We hadn't noticed this until yesterday when she decided to grab my knitting from my chair while I was on the computer. maybe she thought that she was home alone a Warren was at tennis and I wasnt making any noise. I had heard the doggy door swinging back and forth so know she had been going in and out. It was quiet so I got up to see what she was doing and knitting stretched from the lounge room through the dinning on to the mat that she likes to sit on and there was my weeks worth of knitting with the bamboo needles that I use snapped in half and the other one with teeth marks. She had disappeared out the door when she heard my chair move.
I just said "No" to her and took it back to the chair .That was obviously not enough as ten minutes later my knitting trailed through the doggy door and was on the back door mat. This time both needles were stuffed. the knitting was then put up high, honestly its like having a child having to put things up.
Later when Warren came home and he had taken his shoes off like usual while watching the TV, Lucy struck again. She had trouble getting his shoe, the new pair that he bought for Kokoda, out of the doggy door.
Hummm, seems she wants something to chew and play with, she does have a couple of toys but not chewy stuff. Off to Pet Barn, I went and bought pigs ears and a kong for her, plus big chewy bones from the butchers. When she came, the foster carer had an opened tin of food for her which we fed her for a couple of nights but phew, did it stink when feeding and the aftermath was worse. No more tinned food for her. i will make up some mince and vegetables as well as the bones.
We hadn't noticed this until yesterday when she decided to grab my knitting from my chair while I was on the computer. maybe she thought that she was home alone a Warren was at tennis and I wasnt making any noise. I had heard the doggy door swinging back and forth so know she had been going in and out. It was quiet so I got up to see what she was doing and knitting stretched from the lounge room through the dinning on to the mat that she likes to sit on and there was my weeks worth of knitting with the bamboo needles that I use snapped in half and the other one with teeth marks. She had disappeared out the door when she heard my chair move.
I just said "No" to her and took it back to the chair .That was obviously not enough as ten minutes later my knitting trailed through the doggy door and was on the back door mat. This time both needles were stuffed. the knitting was then put up high, honestly its like having a child having to put things up.
Later when Warren came home and he had taken his shoes off like usual while watching the TV, Lucy struck again. She had trouble getting his shoe, the new pair that he bought for Kokoda, out of the doggy door.
Hummm, seems she wants something to chew and play with, she does have a couple of toys but not chewy stuff. Off to Pet Barn, I went and bought pigs ears and a kong for her, plus big chewy bones from the butchers. When she came, the foster carer had an opened tin of food for her which we fed her for a couple of nights but phew, did it stink when feeding and the aftermath was worse. No more tinned food for her. i will make up some mince and vegetables as well as the bones.
She was very happy this morning, tail wagging a lot more and she has been for a short walk with Warren. Lucy had not been on a lead before so everything is a big learning curve for her.
We are going out to a park for a lunch time picnic. We want her to get used to travel in the car. She cant be around other dogs yet and shes not that good with too many people around so we will have to pick our spot and just see how we go with her.
Wednesday, 10 August 2016
Sausage roll with a difference.
I bought some mince when doing the grocery shopping with a view to make pasties. We both love Cornish pasties and did have a couple while we were travelling. Most places have pies but few have pasties.
The mince i bought was classed as gourmet mince and had no preservatives in it which is a good thing but I noticed, it said on the pack that it needed to be used or frozen within 24 hours. Yikes, I wasn't prepared with vegetables to make the pasties so I make sausages rolls instead.
I did also buy a huge bunch of silver beet or spinach, not often this is for sale or maybe I just shop at the wrong time and we both like it.
Using Annie the Thermomix, I roughly chopped the silver beet and threw in some mushrooms as well so that it would chop down into manageable pieces, add 500 gms of mince, some tomato sauce, salt and pepper.
It made a fairly solid mound, I had two sheets of pastry thawing and I had seen on TV, some making large rolls using a whole sheet of pastry, I usually make sausage roll size.
The mince i bought was classed as gourmet mince and had no preservatives in it which is a good thing but I noticed, it said on the pack that it needed to be used or frozen within 24 hours. Yikes, I wasn't prepared with vegetables to make the pasties so I make sausages rolls instead.
I did also buy a huge bunch of silver beet or spinach, not often this is for sale or maybe I just shop at the wrong time and we both like it.
Using Annie the Thermomix, I roughly chopped the silver beet and threw in some mushrooms as well so that it would chop down into manageable pieces, add 500 gms of mince, some tomato sauce, salt and pepper.
It made a fairly solid mound, I had two sheets of pastry thawing and I had seen on TV, some making large rolls using a whole sheet of pastry, I usually make sausage roll size.
The guy on TV had cut the pastry first and then spread it like lattice and it looked good so I did that as well.
There was dinner and I have two smaller ones in the freezer for a quick lunch or a picnic.
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