Up and out nice and early, as were the mosquitoes. Ursula and I walked the dogs all off-lead until 07:15 when we came back to Grammeno. The morning started bright and sunny however I knew that the forecast was for changeable weather from the afternoon onwards. Following a cup of tea, Ursula went to find Tony and to go to the bakery and I got on with feeding the dogs and cleaning their compounds.
I decided to use the cooler morning to finish off the Boris enclosure fence. I suspect that Antonis didn’t really have his heart in it the day he erected the fence. There were several aspects which required a little tidy-up including the top wire which wasn’t at the top of the chainlink due to the corner post not being quite tall enough. As a consequence the top of the chainlink was unsupported and leaning inward. The junction with the south boundary fence also had an interesting arrangement involving lots of twisted wire as well also the connection with the gate post. All the posts and supports were fine, just that Antonis doesn’t really like the fiddly bits. I decided to extend the corner post by inserting a length of smaller post inside the main post and raised the top straining wire so that it met with the top wire of the chainlink. I also undid the nasty jungle at the junction with the south boundary and inserted a galvanised tube through the end of the chainlink rather than the wire knitting arrangement that was already there. Also the bottom wire on the south fence was not at the bottom of the chainlink. Small white dogs can then dig a bit and push under the chainlink. Not that she is trying to escape anymore as she realises she’s on to a good thing. I had already purchased a crimping tool and the correct crimp rings to attach the top and bottom wires of the chainlink to the top and bottom straining wires.
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The showers and cloudy conditions began as I was working on the fence but I managed to finish it off.
The inclement weather consisted of a few claps of thunder to make the dogs bark, followed by a few minutes rain. The rain amounted to 1.4mm, doubling the monthly rainfall so far. Most of the dogs had the sense to go into their houses except Boris who decided to remain outside in the rain. Now wet, he has subsequently gone back into his house.
The forecast for tomorrow looks less inviting however.
Ursula is slaving in the camping kitchen to prepare a sumptuous repast for the three of us which we plan to consume up here due to the unreliability of the weather. I have got the candelabra out but had given the butler the afternoon off so we’ll have to do without him.
I should tidy up a bit in anticipation of the arrival of my guests.
The meal was wonderful and Tony and Ursula have now departed to perform some quiet contemplation in their cabin. They reported that their bedsheets were changed today and the room was also cleaned. Impressive service having only been here a few days.
Antonis called by earlier to drop off some of the items he’d purchased from the pharmacy. I am nearly out of saline for Dave’s drip and also needed some more transfusion sets and needles. These he brought but the chemist had no 1ml syringes or sufficient saline. He will also bring the vaccinations for Dave, Pea and Princess. Princess and Pea require a booster as it is their first vaccination and Dave got missed out when I did them all at the end of April as I was one shot short.
Antonis told me of an encounter with a Bulldog at a property he was visiting yesterday. The dog, I understand, belongs to the son’s girlfriend however they are unable to look after it themselves for some reason. Consequently the father feeds it and the neighbour exercises it. The dog resides in the back garden on a 5m chain. Antonis was measuring up for some windows however the owner had failed to mention the presence of the dog in the back yard. Neither Antonis nor the dog saw each other immediately and were equally surprised when they did. Antonis has been coached by me on ways to deal with unexpected encounters with dogs but this time he was caught unawares. The dog ran towards a rather startled Antonis who, still keeping eye-contact with the dog, walked backwards in the direction he had come. A large pot, containing a cactus, caused Antonis to fall over with his bottom receiving a number of cactus spines. He hurriedly removed himself from the garden and returned home to remove the cactus spines by means of sticky duct tape which he applied to the offending area. The spines fortunately came out and Antonis proudly showed me some of the punctures to the skin of his lower back. I think we need for him to brush up on his dog encounter techniques before he returns to that house to install the new window.
There was only an English couple I met as I walked across the beach tonight following Ursula. Tony was quite relaxed after the meal so had decided to engage in some deep contemplation in their cabin. Ursula found it hard to contemplate as deeply so came up just after seven. We waited for all the people to leave the beach before setting off. Unfortunately Micky and Five were quite active in the bar area which caused a certain amount of doggy excitement as we passed. Our walk was uneventful other than my conversation with the English couple and all but Princess and Luis were allowed off the lead. Those two can be quite a pain should anyone appear. As it turns out, no one did. We met Maria as we came back into Grammeno. She had just returned from carrying (!) Micky back to Georgia’s house where I guess he had been incarcerated. I noticed a bit of noise as we were returning across the beach. My conversation with Maria was quite brief. She appeared to be avoiding my questions regarding her health. I finally cornered her and she confessed to not feeling that bright. Certainly I’ve seen her look a lot better and suggested she might consider taking things more easy.
The weather for tomorrow still talks about rain and thunderstorms so it looks a bit like a repeat of today. At least the night should be dry as well as the morning and the evening. The middle of the day less so.