A kennel extension

It sure is interesting to see how the other half live. For instance I've noticed a few of my peers actually sleep outside their parents kennels, often on the ground and on leads of course... as I'm the only dog that hangs around and does not annoy passers by. They, on the other paw, bark and carry on as if their world is about to come to an end because someone dares to actually walk past their kennel or in (say) 'Harry across the road's case if someone actually dares to move within his field of vision.  Even in the dark Harry gets worked up about a bush tailed possum arguing with a small dog (syndrome) in the neighboring houses backyard. Whilst Dad a I thought it was pretty funny (I wanted to join in but he wouldn't let me) we're pretty sure the rest of the camp didn't think so. Harry's parents must be deaf, because they don't do anything about him. Harry has Bull(tish) breed in him so I don't trust him. And he's from Queensland, which explains a lot. 

Yesterday was hot, today is windy and cooler so less flies according to the hardware shop lady. And she would know because she's been here 10 years! That's more than my entire life! And I've snapped at a lot of flies in my life, can't imagine how many she's caught and consumed!

Anyway Mum and Dad went to her shop to get some stuff and after a walk around the block and being accosted by two extremely viscous behaving kelpies inside a ute (bad dogs in my book) we then we all headed up to Emu Bay where there is a fab beach in which we played fetch with a ball in the warm, clear shallow water. Too windy for frisbee.

We then stopped at the lavender farm because they have a Cafe and thus the only food available for about a 50km radius.

A couple of toasties in a nice shaded area and we headed out west of the island to a strange place called Parndana which its only seemingly redeeming feature is a brewery with a boutique at the front. Well that's why the tourists go there. The locals are all living a great existence in a close knit country town in the middle of the sticks. Literally.  As all the trees in the area are dead sticks due the fires a few years ago, all sticking above the new growth below. Good line Mum.

Back to our kennel where Mum and Dad performed a miracle and doubled the size of it by adding walls to the outside roof and installing flooring so the black dirt doesn't get into everything. So now I have a choice of two types of beds, three different types of flooring to lay on. Luxury! I still prefer the dirt outside though.

I then took Dad for a ride on his bike along the flood levy which runs along the beach. This was fun but this old sea dog was feeling a bit weary after all that walking around a flat town in the middle of the sticks, so I stopped, called him back with my mind tricks. "Go around" I commanded (like he likes to think he does to me by yelling so) and we trotted home to lounge around in our dirt free kennel extension for a while.

Mum wandered over to the communal parent peeing place and ran their chameleon coatings through a machine that brightens the colours and removes the wonderful smells, makes them wet and then hung them up on the lines, all whilst I watched and studiously took it all in. They used to do this at my old home kennel as well - can't quite understand why - partially because, being a dog I'm colour blind, but more so because they keep changing their smells back to that soapy, yucky, perfumey stuff. They may take me on amazing life experiences - but why not make the most of it and smell like an old bone on the way?. Upon reflection though - the parents of those "bad dogs" do tend to smell like wonderful, rancid bones - so there may be a connection there... I guess should go and ask Harry, but I can't because he's outside my invisible yet solid inclusion zone around the kennel.

We all jumped into the car and headed into town where Mum and Dad left me in the back seat and went inside a place next to the parked car and then appeared in the window, seemingly watching me whilst they consumed cocktails and beers.

I gave up trying to coax them back to me and eventually just lay down and went to sleep. Then they had the audacity to come back, pat me on the head and say "stay there whilst we go off and have some serious parent time". It was like we were at a casino. 

Apparently (so the story goes) - they could've bought me into the outside areas of the restaurant and I would have had to have sat under them on the cold concrete or they could go inside in the warmth and leave me in the car. They didn't ask me. No consultation. They just went right in and left me there. With the windows down (a bit). With the misty rain wafting in. For an hour or so (I lost count, was too busy sleeping), whilst they went off and had a fabulous meal accompanied by exclusive wines (vineyard in Adelaide Hills linked specifically to that restaurant in KI) where Mum had so much food envy over Dad's seafood pasta she intends to repeat the whole thing in two days time. Except this time she's having the seafood pasta. Can pretty much guarantee Dad will not have the eggplant thing she had and I'm hoping they'll invite me along for the sit under the table experience. The car's actually not that bad when I consider those two idiot cousins of mine earlier in the day and how they look at the world.

Back at the now extended kennel, the wind is really picking up and the walls are a flappin' as the trees which protect the kennels site are roaring away overhead. We're really happy with the extension as it doubles the living space in so much as we can walk in and the dirt drops off the paws before going inside - the chameleon coatings have been moved inside to continue drying under cover and we now have the most salubrious kennel on the whole site. No one else has an annex. They don't have retro fittings on the outside of their multi-thousands dollars worth of off road palatial kennels, with their built in hot water showers, peeing posts, laundries, hot tubs, saunas and casino gaming rooms (and goodness know what ever else they've paid umpteen dollars for). We have the only annex (aka kennel extension) in the whole block. And so we win. Assuming of course the whole thing holds together in the incoming storm from the southern ocean. 

It does seem that kennel envy is a big thing on the road, they don't say it, but they flaunt it at every possible opportunity. If all else fails - we do at least, have the best jockey wheel of them all.