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by Cody Jones
Recently we all (Mum, Alan & Whitney) went for a day trip down the coast to a place called Canal Rocks. You can tell why it is called that if you look at the photo of me and Mum resting on the top of the rocks (click here for photos). It was like an adventure playground. I actually had a chance to test my skill at rock climbing and, surprisingly, I was very sure footed. Mum doesn't like it really high up, so Alan and I went up higher. That was sensational!
Life at our new house just keeps on getting better. The last few weeks we have been up to so many exciting things. Gail and Alan went away for the weekend about two weeks ago now and Nank and I went to stay with Nat and her dog, Kelly. We were a bit naughty whilst we were there and rearranged Nat's garden just a tad. We added some wonderful new features whilst Nat was away at work - we removed all the bark off the wood that had been used as a border for the flower beds, then made that bark into nice small convenient bite-sized pieces. For ease of watering the plants in our arid state, we excavated small archaeological digs down to the roots of a few of the larger plants. We are such considerate dogs, aren't we? Oh, well, we had to do something constructive with our days, after all.
For the last two weeks we have had visitors from Perth on holiday. One is John Poller, who is the head radiographer at Sir Charles Gardiner Hospital (Mum trained race horses for him a few years ago). John's wife stayed the first week and his brother stayed the second week. The best part of all this is I have been allowed to take John for walks twice a day. I have been trying to teach him to chase other dogs but he doesn't seem to be able to run fast enough. John brought his crab boat down with him, so us dogs have been learning the art of crabbing in the Collie River, as well as out on the estuary. Nank is a real little salt. He loves it and runs around supervising Mum's driving and navigation skills. He is also fascinated with watching those pesky seagulls. He nearly fell in the first day--he must have thought he could walk on water. John just caught his back legs in time to stop him going into the drink. He stands on the front seat with his feet on the side of the boat and the wind in his hair. He thinks he's so good.
For myself I have taken up the relaxing position of bait supervisor. As they bait each net, I check that it is securely attached to the crab net by picking the bait cage up in my mouth and shaking it violently. I can't understand why these distrusting people think that some one as pure of heart as myself would be trylng to steal their precious bait. Oh, well, nice try! Every now and then when the crew have left their allotted stations I test my skills driving the boat (click here for photos). As a legacy of my terrifying experience as a puppy when I fell into the horse swimming pool and nearly drowned, I ensured that there was no chance of a repetition by wearing my life jacket. The next job for Nank and me is to check the size of the catch when the nets come up, because there are big fines for taking undersized crabs. After a dozen or so runs with about ten pots a run we usually have a dozen or so crabs and head for home before it gets too hot for us deckies, heading for the boat ramp with me and Nank checking the clearance on each side, whilst Whitney kept a look out up front. Poor Whitney wasn't that keen on the boat trip and kept a very low profile until land was back in sight--maybe she was a little seasick.
Almost every night after we have been out in the boat we have had the good old Aussie BBQ and we have had lots of yammy bones and tasty morsels from our new friends the Pollers--oh, boy, they can come again.
That's it for this time--I am just so busy with all these extracurricular activities. Hope the extra photos compensate for the lack of words.
See ya later, guys.