BORIS

July 2004 – 7 July 2018

(14 years)

This morning, Sascha took me to the vet in Chania to find that Boris had died in the night.

Antonis helped me take him in yesterday and he was treated with a nebuliser and other medications to help his breathing. Unfortunately, he did not respond to the treatment so the vet decided to keep him in and leave him on oxygen all night. Sadly, he didn’t make it…

I was concerned that he might linger on and that I would be called upon to take the decision to end his life. Fortunately, Boris kindly took that decision for me. His legs had been playing him up for several months and poor Boris was finding it difficult to chase after his ball. He took it all in good spirit especially as he’d always been so active. In Hindhead it was always sticks on the Common as balls were too quickly lost.

The other dogs seemed to sense what was happening. They’d seen me tending to Boris on Thursday night, then take him off to the vet on Friday morning. When he didn’t return with me on Friday afternoon, they were very subdued.

He will be buried next to Dave tomorrow morning at sunrise. Ironic really as Dave and Boris never really got on all that well…

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With a high of 35.1℃ it was warm today so lots of people were in the sea and on the beach. Fanis, Eleni and Dimitra their daughter have a tent right on the front by the beach. I went to talk to them this afternoon and was pleased to see that Eleni has stuck with her Whole-Food Plant-Based diet which she appears to have been following for almost a month. Her priority is to lose weight however she says she has much more energy and feels a lot better too. We chatted for quite a while and Ursula is going to send her encouraging emails and some useful recipe ideas. Ursula has recently completed a cake-making course where the cakes are made without using traditional ingredients. Sugar-less jam and lots of ideas using non-wheat flours.

The camping is busy this weekend. The North Poles left this afternoon opening up the area to the north of me to small tents. There are not that many at present but I’m sure that situation will change. No groups yet either. There are tents to the rear of T2 as I can hear them pumping up mattresses and getting out their stuff. Without the caravan, there is now more scope for tents. I sent a picture to Erica and Janne of the place once occupied by the caravan. They were obviously delighted by its departure but concerned about what might take its place.

Whilst collecting some items from Sascha’s car, Mikhalis appeared with a basic air conditioner which works by pumping water over straw trapped between some plastic sheeting. A large fan blows humidified air through some louvres. Sascha has fixed his air conditioner so no longer needs the device so gave it to the camping to try out. They said it makes too much moisture when they tried it in a wooden cabin. I’m going to try it on my decking to see how well it cools.

I’d planned to go out to case the Promontory and dig a hole for Boris. There are a lot of people around me so I’m not sure if I should slope off in case the dogs make a fuss. We may need to apply some flexibility to the morning’s plans.

Tonight is an action-replay of the beans Sophie and I enjoyed last week. I’ve not been eating anything other than tomatoes, cucumber, olives and peppers lately. It’s been too hot for other food.