Exactly three weeks after we rehomed Sambo – the 13th of August – Gyvie ran away. We are travelling towards Townsville, with just two puppies left. The others are already with new owners. Asta, the puppy who was born outside in the hollow by the prickle patch, is ours to keep. The other, the only black and white in the litter, Dixie, is off to Cairns, our next stop after a week in Townsville with relatives. Anyway, we were halfway between Mackay and Proserpine when Gyvie got outside early in the morning. He headed straight into the bush and disappeared. Jessica and Chana took their dogs into the bush a few hours later, when we were packing up and Gyvie still hadn’t returned. By 1pm, we were driving out onto the road, minus one family member. We don’t have a good record with cats on the road. Cloudy, our first travelling cat, ran away into the bush just out of Home Hill. Misty, Gyvie’s mother, was left behind in Gympie and picked up by another family. And then Gyvie ran away. It isn’t the first time he’s been missing. But it’s the first time we left him behind for good.
You all know how I felt about Gyvie. But the last month or so, I felt I was getting less attached to him. I dunno why. But it wasn’t as hard to leave him as it was to get back from the Gympie Show and not find him. Run free, Gyvie! :(
The puppies are now nearly 11 weeks old. We took them to the beach in Bowen, and they loved it.
We’ve been using harnesses for them instead of collars, because Asta in particular can slip nearly anything. Asta had Gyvie’s old harness, and Dixie was using Tess’s Halti. They were getting too big for this make-shift gear, so we took them into a pet shop in Home Hill and brought new, real harnesses. Both the puppies were very well-behaved, even when the shop owner’s big husky came out to meet us. They stood nicely while we tried harnesses on them. They barely even spooked when a tour bus roared past in front of them on the walk back across the road.
Before leaving Roma we got new tyres on the bus – well, on the front anyway, and put the old ones on the back. Daddy says it’s a bit easier to drive now.
<< you can sorta see the shiny new tyre on the front here
Tomorrow my Auntie Beth and Uncle David fly into Townsville, where we arrived last night. We haven’t seen Auntie Beth since March 2011, and we haven’t seen Uncle David since October 2010. Really excited about seeing them again! Sparkie’s canine freestyle routine is good, I just have to remember what trick comes next. It’s pretty much ready though. We’re using a shortened version of Newsboys’ “Shine.” Jessica’s putting together some routine too, and I think Chana started working on hers yesterday. Maybe they didn’t realize we had a performance coming up?? But that’s usual for them. :)
Here’s some random pictures from our trip.
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