Out Again!

I have recently spent 2 nights in Toowoomba with my mum. I took her for a haircut and to have the dressing on her leg changed. While I was away 'stuff' happened. 

John tells me that Cleo has again been out late at night. He says he must not have checked the gate latch was down when he came in from work.

After dinner, he was relaxing, Bo had been outside, come back and was curled up relaxing also. Cleo often goes for a late night walk after dinner, so John thought nothing of her not being there.

Then he heard the gate and it is our lovely neighbour with Cleo in arms! She had found her wondering around their house yard. She had put her over the fence, but Cleo seemed disorientated so she brought her up to John.

Seconds later Cleo was curled up asleep on 'her' lounge!

Who did it?

Our old beagles are slower in lots of regards; walking, more sleeping, stiff joints and more. But they can still get into mischief!
I was away overnight in Toowoomba and John was home alone with the girls. They are normally fed at 6:30pm. It's the same every night! John showers and then its dinner time.
This story is from John:
"The girls were under my feet very early tonight, they thought it was dinner time before 6pm. I went and had my shower. When I came back we no longer had any tissues in the kitchen. (There is a box kept just for incidentals etc, it has been there for months untouched!) Some one had shredded the box and there were tissues all over the kitchen. Luckily the box was nearly empty."

Who did it?

John says Cleo and I say Bo; but we will never know!

Not Hungry???

Something happened last night which hasn't happened for so long it's hard to remember.
Cleo didn't eat her dinner!
She had the same as usual served up; half a tin of sardines and oil, quarter cup of dry and couple of  meat balls.
We separate them to eat as Bo gulps hers so fast, that she is then looking to eat Cleo's.
Cleo didn't eat any of it, not even the sardines!
She took herself off to investigate something in the yard, but when she returned, Nup, not having it.
We put it up and away. She didn't seem to mind.
She happily ate the small amount of left over cabbage and beans from our dinner! Bo gets most of the leftovers as she vaccuums the dish.

It will be interesting to see how she goes today. She doesn't seem unwell. It;s just unusual!

Walk First!

Today was John's first day back at work. As his alarm went off, my personal alarms (ie the girls) didn't budge. They were happy to wait for some sign of movement from me!
When we got up at 6am it was still raining so our walk was postponed. Cleo was not happy! A little rain has never bothered her. (Actually heavy rain doesn't worry her either! She is known to sit out chewing a chicken wing oblivious to the rain. Bo would stay under cover.)
I went off to Aqua and they still hadn't had the walk. I left them inside, but wondered if it was safe backing the car out. I parked in the driveway and went to close the garage door, turned around and there she was, Cleo, outside the yard next to the car. She is pretty easy to catch these days so I was able to shepherd her back inside.
My fault, I need to walk them first. That is the way the mornings go.
We have been out for our walk now. We went to mail a parcel. The deed is done. Sleeping is now the order of the day.

Sleeping Arrangements

Another cooler morning, Yah!
I tried to sleep in as it is Sunday and cooler, but there is no stopping my alarm system! First Cleo and then Bo. I gave each a few pats and let my head fall back onto the pillow. I was able to stay there 'til 7am.
Bo has her new bed under the window and she alternates sleeping on it or on the floor boards under the dresser.
Cleo sleeps on one of the lounges, either of the singles. She curls herself up, or on her back, paws in the air.
At some stage during the night she does a nocturnal walk as I hear the doggie door swing back and forth.
If it is hot she likes the floor boards also for the coolness.
During the day she has taken to sleeping on the floor in the second bedroom. We often find her there if she is not on the couch.
If we go out and it is hot we don't ever find the girls inside when we return. On hot days they take themselves under the house to sleep in the cool dirt. They have made 'nests' for themselves in different garden beds and it depends on the suns position as where they kip.
On cooler days they may stay in. When we open the front door we often have Bo greeting us from one couch and Cleo the other.

Bo taking up a 3 seater couch! She can't always jump up now.

They have sleeping positions all over the house and the yard.

2012 beginnings

Well hasn't the year flown and this is my first blog entry for 2012. The girls have not been enjoying the ultra hot weather we had been having up till a couple of days ago. We have been walking every day though. They know the alarm goes at 6am, or if it doesn't I don't have to worry as they come in and let me know it is time to be up. I have just about got them used to using the back door to go out, there are no stairs there. I leave the leads and my hat ready to grab on the way out. Cleo always leads the way down to the front, occasionally checking to see that I am indeed coming too.
At the gate she is often impatient to be off and pulls on the gate to see if she can help us get out any quicker. It's either that or she would like to take herself out!
Once out they start sniffing to see who has been past while I look around and think how lucky we are to live in such a lovely place. Most mornings there are birds singing and flying about. We have magpies, butcher birds, rosellas, our native miner birds, crested pigeons and we welcome back 'our' tawny frogmouths and kookaburras. One morning there were two wild ducks sitting on top of the power poles!
I haven't mentioned the crows because they are not quite so charming. They have been in this morning with bread (who knows where they get it) which they drop into our birdbath to soften. Not so many years ago the sound of any birds in the yard would have had both girls out there chasing them off. It isn't a matter of such urgency anymore.
Some mornings we have seen other dogs walking their owners. Cleo doesn't often see them, but she scents that they have passed. It's funny as she often wants to follow where they have come from rather than where they are going!
Bo loves her new bed, but sometimes the wooden floors are cooler. We are all grateful we haven't had to try out Cleo's Christmas present, the storm shirt.

I hope all pet owners have had a great Christmas and New Year and 2012 is kind to us all.

Truly Locals

The alarm went off at 5:55am, but I didn't stir except to turn it off! This meant when I did get up 30minutes later the sun was not only well and truly up, but was starting to warm up.
Cleo, Bo and I went out for our walk, me knowing it would not be as long as some of the walks have been when the weather was cooler.
We head through the park which is always a favourite, but there is no food found today. Most of the shops up the road will be closed till some time in January, there is not much motor traffic around. There are quite a few people out walking their families or their dogs, or both in some cases.
One family pass us and the woman turns back to me;
 "How old are they now?"
"14 and 12"
  "Wow, we have seen you walking them since they were pups".

Yes we are part of the local scenery!