Being dragged through the haystack backwards

It’s been a bit of an emotional turmoil, the last few days. Mavro the black one, was really bad, the day the vet came. He was just lying there. I thought that’s it. Without going into details, he wasn’t put to sleep but was given a dose of sleeping and hydration fluids to see how he fared, knowing the next day, there would be no vet to complete his journey to Dog Heaven. Between us all, we spent the next twelve hours by his side. I left feeling emotionally exhausted. The next day when I was picked up the owner, they  said he was running around. Not completely well, but loads better. He has been eating chicken exclusively since he became very thin, and that day he was back on the chicken diet. He is not going for walks anymore, there is plenty of room for exercise in the complex, but he is still too weak and wobbly to go on regular walks. There was a moment, not stage managed where all the dogs came in and saw him, lying there not moving. We let them all in to see him, so they could say goodbye. It makes me tearful to think about it. They all sniffed him, almost paying their respects. I think dogs can feel death, and most of them left after taking a look. Here is Rita today, in someone else’s enclosure.

The co worker is cutting the flowers down, they are dying anyway and most have seeded. The remains will be carried away  and left away from the Palace. It’s hard work and it’s hot now. My favourite walk is with Maloney, Aloni, Choca and Rita. This is the first one of the day. Unlike all the others they just walk. They rarely stop for a sniff and a spray break and cover great distances. Today, we got to the Prophet Elias church, something I did with the owners house dogs, but that took twice as long. Maloni loves going in the garden undergrowth, and often comes out looking a mess covered in seeds, all clinging to his fur. Sometimes he growls when I brush him,  in an effort to get rid of them so I leave him to sort himself out. Later on he comes back and lets me finish the job off, then he goes in the garden and gets messy again. 

On the way to the Palace, we picked up the smallholder who walks to Mega Livadi. I asked the owner of the Palace to ask his advice, on what we could grow on our patch, and I could understand a lot of it. He said he could help, he is over eighty. He is a lovely bloke. The Palace owner has put another ten coffees worth of money in Marinos’s till. I found this out today. This caused some amusement as you can imagine. The roses in the Palace garden are doing well, I am going to try and scoop up some dropped Donkey droppings that are around here, for them. I am also going to show the owner, how to prune the dead flowers out, something I was taught in 1976.

Finally there has been some discussion about the space being used in the car park, by the cat feeding and sleeping arrangements. In an effort to prevent any removal, I have slimmed down the profile of the setup, while retaining the features. Below is a photo,  the canes are surrounding a rusting scooter that is near the setup, and now acts as a shelter and sun shade. I hope it’s all retained.