Video - Freya Turns One Year Old

Video–The Usual Morning Line-up

So here’s the promised cheerful post! Things are still kinda busy around here, with some big decisions happening and plenty of “are we doing the right thing?” moments. But I’m confident that it’ll all work out eventually.

 

So anyway, we spent a week caretaking a friend’s place at the beginning of the month (oh, wow, is it nearly February already?!) and here’s the video I finally put together of our time there. It was heaps of fun getting up at 8am every morning to let the ducks and chooks out, milk the goats, feed all the animals, all before coffee.

Bella, the beautiful old dog who appears in the video, passed away last week. She was such a good dog while we were there, didn’t pine for her owners like we were expecting, just took the whole thing in her stride. She had no problem with us bringing our dogs into the house, never stole our food, never caused any problems whatsoever. She was a sweet old thing, spent most of her time sleeping in the corner, but was always happy for a pat. One night I was walking from the house to the bus, and I ended up with Bella trotting on one side of me and Sparkie on the other. There wasn’t anything going to sneak up on me with the dogs like that! She will be missed by both her owners and by us. R.I.P Bella!

 

You know what this means right? Yes, we finally brought a new computer! Two of them actually, second hand. One of them’s a bit dodgy, but they both came with three month warranties so we can take it back. So yeah, expect a lot more photos around here!

Carry On

We’re staying near a river, with friends, and in the afternoon Jessica came to get me for a swim, saying that they were going to swim across the river. Now, this is the Murrumbidgee River we’re talking about here; a wide, fast flowing, deep river. But who cared? Not me. After what Joy said to me, I was beyond caring about anything. That’s what depression can do. Anyway, after a few false starts, we finally took off across the river – Jessica, me, Chantel, Chana, and Edward (15) and Peter (12). We reached the other side, pulled ourselves onto the bank. It had been a long way, and we were all tired. I was all for taking a longer break, but the boys wanted to get back. We jumped back in, started swimming, and that’s when things went bad. For the full, extremely detailed story, read River Rescue. Don’t worry, we all survive. And we all learned our lesson – no more swimming across the Murrumbidgee!

I also learned something else – life is too short to be depressed. If I’d died that day, I’d have died seething and bitter. I’d have died holding a grudge against somebody I’d never even met. Joy and Roy and all their circus friends are not worth that. I think all the sulky stuff got washed away down the river, because right now I feel better than I have all year.

Two Weeks In…

…and it’s shaping up to be a miserable year. This post is basically me talking about how bad I’m feeling right now. So please, nobody tell me about their own life’s troubles. I’m perfectly aware that some other people’s lives suck worse than mine does right now.

 

---

I finally got fed up with Joy ignoring me and told her that “because you have ignored all my emails for the last three months, I'm assuming you are no longer working for us. Please remove the Superdogs page from your website.” That was all. And the next day she emailed back, told me I was aggressive and demanding, and that it would be a pleasure to stop working for us. By this point I was just so over people mucking me around. So I emailed back, apologized for any unprofessional behaviour on my part, and just coz I was getting mad, I asked her about Naracoorte. We have two different stories about that. Joy says she was negotiating prices with the organisers of the Naracoorte Show, but nothing came of it and the show date came and went. The organiser said he had deleted the email from Joy, and never responded to it at all. So I explained this to Joy, and asked her who was telling the truth? She didn’t appreciate that at all, and said “the reputation you have made for yourself as difficult and aggressive is well earned,” signing off with “please never contact us again.”

 

As much as I was enjoying the Service Dog Training, something else came up and I decided to cancel it. I finally decided which path to take at The Crossroads, and I’ll explain it all when my head’s in the right place.

 

Right now, I keep asking myself if I’ve made the right decisions. Is Joy right? Was it wrong to ask about Naracoorte? I can’t help thinking I’ve made a terrible mistake. Maybe several mistakes. Maybe I’ve burned bridges that I might want to cross later. I’m looking ahead at the future I’ve just created for myself, and I wonder if it’s really what I wanted. I certainly didn’t mean for anyone to consider me “aggressive and demanding.”

 

I’ve tried my hardest to be professional, to keep my reputation clean, to be honest and respectful. The Superdogs was the only good thing to come out of 2011. My sister’s death provided the push I needed to make the team official, to email the Goomeri Pumpkin Festival to line up our first show. I needed something to focus on, something to give me a reason to keep going. My team kept me moving forward, but now, I’m not sure what went wrong. Things were so simple in our early days. It was the family business. Everything was handled in our little circle. There were no misunderstandings that we couldn’t talk through. I like it better that way, and I have no issues with Joy taking her crap and stuffing it somewhere else. But somewhere along the way we’ve made an enemy and I do have an issue with that.

 

So, like I said, 2014 is shaping up to be a miserable year.

---

(Next post should be a bit lighter. We just spent a week caretaking a friend’s house and had to look after chooks, ducks, pigs, goats, a horse, and a really sweet old dog.)

Loose Ends

I entered 2014 with so many cling-ons from the previous year that I’m already feeling bogged down. I threw off the grudges I’d been holding and forgave the people who messed up my year, but there were some loose ends I was unable to tie up. Take the situation with our agent, Joy, for example. Since she growled at me for “speaking poorly” of Roy, back at the beginning of October, I’ve tried repeatedly to contact her via email but so far there’s been no response. That’s the biggest frustration for me at the moment.

 

There haven’t been many interesting moments in my life lately. December was a month of boring, normal life stuff. No surprises, no challenges. It’s been slow and quiet around here. We emptied out our storage shed in Young the week before Christmas. Apart from that, we’ve just been cruising around NSW and Victoria, wondering what 2014 will bring.

 

We spent Christmas and the last week of 2013 by a river, which was great because it was stinking hot most days. We watched the NYE fireworks from a campsite just out of Wagga Wagga, and just managed to avoid the crowd of drunks who staggered through the camp just as we were driving out. I overheard a few slurred comments of, “Happy New Year,” and “Is that a party bus?” A very typical New Year’s Eve!

 

And we still haven’t gotten a new computer, so no photos yet.

The End Of Another Year

So this year was good for the Superdogs, and crazy for everything else. Here is a recap of 2013.

 

In March we sold the bus we’d had for four years in trade for a Hiace Commuter and tents. After about six months we brought another bus. We had issues with van rego, and with so much work to be done on it that we decided to sell it about a month ago.

GENERAL STATISTICS

NEW TRICKS SPARKIE LEARNED: 7

NUMBER OF SUPERDOG SHOWS: 11

MONEY EARNED FROM SUPERDOG SHOWS: $3340

STATES WE WERE IN: 5

OVERALL RIBBONS FROM DOG SHOWS: 15

FAMILY MEMBERS LOST: 0

FAMILY MEMBERS GAINED: 1

 

TRAVEL HIGHS AND LOWS

FAVOURITE PLACES WE VISITED: Amigo’s Castle at Lightning Ridge, NSW, and

LEAST FAVOURITE PLACE: Cloncurry, QLD.

FAVOURITE SUPERDOG SHOW: Mt Isa Show, QLD.

LEAST FAVOURITE SUPERDOG SHOW: Tennant Creek Show, NT.

BEST ACHIEVEMENT: riding the travelator with Sparkie, 26 November.

 

This year’s MOST ANNOYING PERSON award is shared by the two police officers who knocked on our door at 3:45am in a camp spot near Melbourne, to “see if we were ok.” To read the story, click here.

The RUDEST PERSON was a tourist park owner in Cloncurry, who swore at us for calling so late (it was 9:30pm on a Wednesday), and then after messing us around for about fifteen minutes, he told us to find somewhere else to camp. We ended up sleeping in the van on the side of the road.

 

It’s been a year full of ups and downs. People who I thought I could trust have betrayed me. I’ve done things I never thought possible and I’m starting to live a little more adventurously. I’m now standing at a crossroads that’ll decide who I become in life. Either way will require me to give up something, and it’s not a decision I’m taking lightly. But whatever my choice, I know my family will back me up. Which brings me to the most important thing I’ve learned this year - “family” doesn’t always mean the people you are related to.

 

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Our Big Day Out (video)