{"id":754,"date":"2016-05-02T14:42:45","date_gmt":"2016-05-02T05:12:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hsedr.org.au\/?page_id=754"},"modified":"2016-05-02T14:42:45","modified_gmt":"2016-05-02T05:12:45","slug":"sandys-sagas-1-may-2016","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/hsedr.org.au\/index.php\/sandys-sagas\/sandys-sagas-1-may-2016\/","title":{"rendered":"Sandy&#8217;s Sagas 1 May 2016"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Sandy&#8217;s Sagas<\/p>\n<p>Hi Hope Springs Honey&#8217;s,<\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s Sandy here &#8211; and the Dog Mother has let me know that it is the usual practice for the dogs in residence to let the Hope Springs Community know what we&#8217;re up to &#8211; so I&#8217;ve been invited to introduce myself and share my farm stay with you all.<\/p>\n<p>I&#8217;ve been here for two weeks now &#8211; and I&#8217;ve got to say that it&#8217;s quite different to where I was living before &#8211; which was somewhere near the sea-side. I know this because I could smell the sea air.<\/p>\n<p>Now I&#8217;m in the countryside and its opened up a whole lot of new experiences for me.<\/p>\n<p>There are some things I really rather like &#8211; and some others I&#8217;m not so taken with.<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-756 alignright\" src=\"http:\/\/hsedr.org.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/Perfume-Bottle.jpg\" alt=\"Perfume Bottle\" width=\"239\" height=\"218\" srcset=\"https:\/\/hsedr.org.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/Perfume-Bottle.jpg 180w, https:\/\/hsedr.org.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/Perfume-Bottle-150x137.jpg 150w, https:\/\/hsedr.org.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/Perfume-Bottle-130x118.jpg 130w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 239px) 100vw, 239px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">We have a couple of yoghurt drops each morning &#8211; and I&#8217;m very fond of those and will acquiesce to a sit which is what they cost. I quite like going down the back and having a little wander about &#8211; the chickens look quite interesting and I&#8217;d actually like to get much closer to them and really check them out &#8211; but there is some concern that I might like them a little too much. I get a bit of a run up sometimes &#8211; but then I come to my senses and slow down again, particularly when the extra exertion makes me cough. One of the things I am rather enamoured of is duck poo, I tend to use it as a coat conditioner &#8211; and I really don&#8217;t think you can have too much of it. As well as providing some additional colour and texture to my coat &#8211; it does have the most delicious aroma &#8211; that wafts around me for hours &#8211; though apparently that is quite subjective &#8211; the Dog Mother does not share my joy at this heady fragrance.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Dinners good &#8211; home made meat and veggies, with a side of Science Diet biscuits &#8211; and a good sized meaty beef neck bone each week. Apparently I&#8217;m supposed to eat that outside &#8211; but the rug seemed like a much better place to sit and gnaw one&#8217;s bone &#8211; to my mind.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">The first night &#8211; the Dog Mother let me share the bed with her &#8211; because I&#8217;d only been there a very little while &#8211; and felt somewhat discombobulated at the idea of sleeping in a brand new place. I now sleep in my own bed in her room and I have a plump new pillow, a matching blanket and a teddy for company. I&#8217;m the last one to settle down though &#8211; I don&#8217;t go to bed until everyone is in bed.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Of an evening, I&#8217;ll generally curl up on the couch with Mel who&#8217;s a similar age to me, and sometimes Maisie.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">I&#8217;ve been going out for a walk on alternate days and have visited a few different places along the way. There&#8217;s Hender Road, a leafy, shady country lane &#8211; where I see new born calves and lambs, cows will walk along with us on their side of the fence and horses stick their heads over to say Hello. I found this walk very interesting and spent a great deal of time sniffing fox scents. I heard the Dog Mother telling the Dog Father that it probably stirred up some genetic Border Terrier instincts &#8211; as Border Terriers were originally bred to run with the hounds on a fox hunt &#8211; and had long legs to keep up with the larger hounds &#8211; but compact bodies so that they could fit down fox holes to flush the foxes out.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">I also heard her tell the Dog Father that a Wombat burrow would be more suitable to accommodate my current girth &#8211; and I thought that rather uncomplimentary &#8211; and in fact &#8211; downright rude &#8211; she might like to look in a mirror &#8211; and remember she&#8217;s not as svelte as she once might have been, either.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">We&#8217;ve also walked along a linear track, traversed Winery Road in both directions and had a lovely nature walk at the Laratinga Wetlands. I&#8217;m really not yet convinced of the value of this walking palaver. I like the idea of a walk but the actuality of it&#8230;&#8230;.lets just say the novelty wanes quickly. I find it a little uncomfortable to tell you the truth, gravel underfoot when you&#8217;re carrying a few extra pounds and are not used to walking regularly is rather &#8220;Ouch-y&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Also, I&#8217;m not sure of the purpose of walking for half an hour in one direction &#8211; just to turn around and walk back again. Does that sound sensible to you?<\/p>\n<p>The other thing I&#8217;ve decided &#8211; I really do not like &#8211; is cough medicine. I&#8217;ve had to take quite a firm stand on this &#8211; as the Dog Mother has the mistaken belief that she should shoot it down my throat twice a day. Wretched stuff &#8211; I&#8217;ve had to clamp my teeth and mouth together very tightly to try and prevent this indignity!<\/p>\n<p>A funny thing happened the other evening. This man &#8211; I&#8217;ve later learned &#8211; is called the Dog Father has returned from A-trip &#8211; wherever that is. Well, the other dogs seemed to know who who he was and were beside themselves with excitement at his return.<\/p>\n<p>Maisie (the brazen little hussy) literally threw herself into his arms. I acted with a little more decorum &#8211; as a lady of seniority, breeding and maturity &#8211; should. I watched him from under my eyelashes when he thought I wasn&#8217;t paying attention. He does seem rather charming, I must say and has gone out of his way to chat to me and find out what I like.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-755 alignleft\" src=\"http:\/\/hsedr.org.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/Sandy-225x300.jpg\" alt=\"Sandy\" width=\"225\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/hsedr.org.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/Sandy.jpg 225w, https:\/\/hsedr.org.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/Sandy-113x150.jpg 113w, https:\/\/hsedr.org.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/Sandy-98x130.jpg 98w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 225px) 100vw, 225px\" \/><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Today, I remained at home with the Little Snow as a very long walk was partaken of. On his return though, the Dog Father took me on a special jaunt down the back and up the next paddock to look for a miscreant puppy belonging to the neighbour &#8211; who had absconded. The Dog Father recognised that some situations called for a senior, dignified and calming presence &#8211; and that the young puppy lad might come to me. I&#8217;m glad that he has the foresight to recognise the value of senior dogs. We didn&#8217;t find the young Whipper Snapper but I was able to newly anoint myself with my favourite Eau De Duck Doo.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Well now then, it&#8217;s time for a Nanna Nap on the deck in the sun &#8211; and then it&#8217;s bone time again &#8211; so Toodles for now, My Dears.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Sandy&#8217;s Sagas Hi Hope Springs Honey&#8217;s, It&#8217;s Sandy here &#8211; and the Dog Mother has let me know that it is the usual practice for the dogs in residence to let the Hope Springs Community know what we&#8217;re up to &#8211; so I&#8217;ve been invited to introduce myself and share my farm stay with you all. I&#8217;ve been here for two weeks now &#8211; and I&#8217;ve got to say that it&#8217;s quite different to where&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"parent":732,"menu_order":1,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hsedr.org.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/754"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hsedr.org.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hsedr.org.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hsedr.org.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hsedr.org.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=754"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/hsedr.org.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/754\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":757,"href":"https:\/\/hsedr.org.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/754\/revisions\/757"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hsedr.org.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/732"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hsedr.org.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=754"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}