Our Diary ...

Hope you enjoy our July News  - our photos of the Three Musketeers examining how to get through to the 4th Musketeer...

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missed the June newsletter

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Taubera's Monthly News Page

JULY UPDATE 2008

 

Time flies and it is hard to believe that half the year has passed us by already and before we know it I will be wishing you all a Merry Christmas…………and then a Happy New Year.

 

Nothing much has happened at Taubera chows excepting that Xenophobia seems to have crept into our home as swiftly as it hit in the surrounding Townships. Yep – that’s Xenophobia Chow Style.

 

Here I was very proudly boasting about how well Annie (that is the rescue chow we took into our home in March) had settled down in our home and how well accepted she was by all…………….. Well I am afraid to say – I now need to change my story.

 

It all started a month ago when I was getting all the dogs into the front garden to “pose” in front of the window, which they had broken, the story of which was featured in the June Update. The story had been written and I now just had to get the photos taken and mailed to Vanessa to put onto the website. It was a Sunday morning – I had just arrived home from work and decided to do the photos and emailing before going to bed. Leaving Dave to carry on having his Sunday lie-in – I unsuspectingly marshaled the fluffies outside into the front garden armed with my camera. This is Toffee’s kingdom and she has in the past invited all her visitors into her garden with a great deal of delight and hospitality. Well – not this time – to my horror – when Toffee saw Annie (the immigrant) she decided this was one visit too many and proceeded to prove to Annie that she was top dog and had no right to even try and enter her domain………….

 

I realized that as the fur flew and blood began to pour and Sihn Jin and Mei Li running around like children who were witnessing a “barney” at school for the first time, that I was not going to handle this by myself. I screeched down the passage to get Dave to come and help me separate the two – lord alone knows what the neighbors thought as my adrenalised screech must have been heard by the entire neighborhood.  Fortunately Dave must have heard the tone of desperation and came tearing down the passage to help. All I saw were slippers flying as Dave crash tackled Toffee in an attempt to separate them. I am sure I do not have to tell you just how well they hang on to one another when they have a Barney………….Anyway we got them separated and cleaned up, war wounds inspected and treated and both were none the worse for ware.

 

We then realized that Toffee was dominant in her domain – the front garden and that we would not be able to let Annie go and “play” in front anymore.

We thought that was the end of the story...

I am afraid not. I again was caught unawares when Toffee returned from the parlor two weeks ago. Here she was – bow in hair – all brushed up and beautiful being brought in by the helper (fortunately a man). Usually we let Toffee make a detour through the side garden (where the rest of the dogs reside) to get to her domain – the front garden. Well this time I am afraid that Annie decided that she was going to impress on Toffee her dominance in her own domain – tit for tat – in other words and the two of them were at it once more.  With a lot of help from the gentleman who had escorted Toffee through the gate  – we eventually got everyone into their own domain; war wounds inspected and patched up once more.

 

So now everyone lives happily ever after in their own kingdom – Sihn Jin and Mei Li can enter Toffee’s kingdom without any problem but Annie cannot – much to her disgust – so she voices her displeasure whimpering away until her friends return from their adventures in the front garden  - sigh…………

 

That’s all for now

Chow greetings till next time.

 

 

Our June Review...

 

June 2008

 

Revamping the home – “Chow Style”

 

Painting:

After a geyser mishap we had to re-paint the ceiling in the passage – and you then know what follows – because that area is now nice and newly painted the rest looks drab and dirty – hence the extensive painting excursion. I thought I was really being innovative using the Gardner by the name of “Professor” to paint the ceilings for me as that is the most unpleasant part to do. I did not take into account that my darling Sihn Jin would take exception to having him so close to me in the home – so the noise level was very high – and I had to make sure that I stayed away from “Professor” as much as possible - because when I was trying to supervise and instruct him on what to do – Sihn Jin would warn him off in no uncertain terms and make as if he was going to attack him if he got any closer. It got to such a stage that I had to get other people to give him his wages and food so that Sihn Jin did not think that I was being threatened in any way. The long and the short of the story is that I was not able to warn “Professor” on the extra skill needed to paint a home when you have dogs in the home who must investigate and supervise and do quality control inspections on a regular basis. Hence the wonderful white paw prints all the way down the passage on my beautiful tiled floor. This I only discovered when “Professor” was long gone – I am sure pretty relieved that I had not discovered the paw prints before he left. It was pretty easy to find the culprit. Annie – was sporting the most gorgeous French Manicure on both her front paws – the nails were beautifully tipped with white paint – so if you want your chows to keep up with the Harvey’s with their beautifully French manicured chows – you can save yourself a fortune by laying down a painting tray with some White PVA – about 1cm in depth -  and coax your dogs through the tray slowly so that the paws get a good coating - this gives the nails a good French manicure…………… you can then decide if you will leave the paw marks on the floor/ paving as extra decoration or clean it up before the paint dries……

 

Glazing:

If you feel you need to have new windows fitted in the home – as your old ones are dirty and are too lazy to clean them - or - they have been chipped by the garden service with their lovely edge trimmer – or - the putty on the outside of the windows has been scratched away by your beloved chows letting you know they have now overstayed their stint outside and now need to come inside once more – I have a solution for you.

  1. Make sure you are fully insured for breakages.
  2. Plan out the exact position of where to place your furniture in relation to the window so that your beloved chows can perform their daring stunt to perfection without injury.
  3. You then organize a stray dog to take a walk along the street past your home – and wallah!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The stunt begins.

It starts with 3 Chows running from window to window in the home – howling and egging one another along – ending up with a crescendo of noise and speed and  momentum resulting in the couch at the end of the drag car speedway being used as a buffer to stop their forward motion - the couch shudders under the forward motion, tilts backwards towards the window – one enormous crack and – hey presto – an insurance claim for a smashed window – extra ventilation I know – but not much appreciated in winter.

 

Gardening:

As “Professor” did not really make a success of the painting I decided to buy some pansies, sweat peas and Azaleas to give the garden a revamp and some colour for winter.

These were all duly inspected by all 3 chows and Sihn Jin decided that the Azalea needed pruning before it was planted in the designated plant pot – duly supervised and helped by Mei Li. I did however note that the pruning continued once the plant had been repotted – so let us hope that the poor Azalea survives…….

Since the repotting of some shrubs and planting of the seedlings I have had 3 plant pots up ended already – one every morning to greet me when I arrive home from work – so before going to bed I have to replant the seedlings, scoop up all the soil spilled onto the paving, sweep up the residue and then carefully inspect the grass to find the shrubs, bulbs and seedlings that they did not think suited the pot I had them in - moving them to a “new location”……………they seem to have taken a particular dislike to my poor tulips this year who are desperately trying to reach the sunshine – but as soon as their long thin leaves become visible they are picked – bulb, roots and all and unceremoniously dumped – high and dry……..

Who said you could have a spotless home, beautiful garden and animals all at the same time – but that is why we love our beloved chows so – they keep life from being dull.

 

Till next time.

Chow for now.