Rushing around

A wonderfully quiet night. Oskar in the storeroom again but in a cage next to Luis and Five tied up outside hers to prevent her from rushing around the camping barking.

I hoped Fido would be sensible but kept Pea, Princess and Luis on the lead following the barking incident the previous evening. Fido went out of his way to visit the location where the people were and bark. He was also on the lead for the evening walk.

There were quite a number of stars with few clouds. We got another decent dawn which we watched from the high rocks. They were all a bit crazy with a lot of racing around.

After feeding them all, I went to release Five from outside her house so that she could run around. My part of the deal for having her tied up. Her house is a huge, polythene-covered affair big enough for an elephant.

I then took Dave for his wander after sweeping out the first Small Cabin and making the beds. The daughters of the German couple are staying for two nights celebrating a birthday. I also fixed the power socket which they said hadn’t been working.

Dave and I wandered the camping and then went to the beach. I lubricated the wheels on the sliding gate and later dug out the sand at the eastern end. This builds up when the wind is strong. The gate rides up on the sand and breaks the rollers which support it at the top.

I was just about to leave for Paleochora when Sascha’s friend Martin, who lives in Azogires, arrived with his brother Colin who might be interested in one of the static vans Georgia is planning to sell. I walked around the camping with them rather delaying my trip to Paleochora.

I eventually set off marvelling at my improved fitness as I sped along on my bike. My purpose for going, other than for fitness purposes, was to order some more dog food from Petrakis. Antonis’ cousin works in the warehouse but Antonis does not come to Kountoura so often now that he has lost his workshop. I saw my man Yannis Petrakis who I met shortly after arriving here. He is a helpful and friendly chap whose family owns the store.

I brought Boris into the storeroom last night as well as Pea. Boris because it was cold and Pea for being noisy. The low yesterday evening was around 10C which is why I moved Boris.

My Petrakis visit was not only to buy dog food but also to pick up a bale of straw, some potting medium and some dog meat tins for those special days. The plan was to get it all delivered to the camping in one go. They didn’t have everything in the warehouse but it all got to me in the afternoon.

Dave, Boris, Oskar and Luis all now have straw in their houses. This enables them to dig down when it gets colder and create a bit of a crater within the straw. Luis went into his house and immediately turned around and around until he’d got things the way he likes. Dave, I saw lying on top of his mound of straw. He obviously feels warm enough at present but can rearrange his bedding as often as he wishes.

If the 50% trial works out, the other dogs will have straw too. Hay apparently, is better than straw as it is more durable and creates less dust. I thought about straw last year but didn’t get as far as actually implementing my thoughts. As for the plants, they can wait for another day.

The afternoon passed with a couple of support calls and setting up the straw. Xanthippos came to tell me he’d walked and fed Georgia’s dogs and to remind me to free Five in the morning. He mentioned forecasted lower temperatures for the next few days. It’s cold out of the sun and the wind is also very chilly

I took them out for the evening walk followed by the usual feeding and bedtime routine.

Now reclining within the van deciding what food I should eat and video entertainment I should partake of.