The elephants were cavorting on the decking at 04:00 as it was a cooler night which probably made them wake up a little early. I’ve decided Skinny has become a bit of a softie so likes to come inside regardless of his previous lifestyle. There was no point in trying to go back to sleep so I got up and started the morning routine. I’d planned things for later so was glad to be out nice and early.
We set off for the Promontory expecting to find FreeLoaders as their car was now parked in the Grammeno Beach car park. We didn’t even go down to find out and selected a different route to the end of the Promontory. We turned around and walked back to the beach for the second part of our excursion.
Yesterday’s walk was fraught with complications so I decided to take the coward’s way out and keep all of the dogs on their leads including and especially Isabella! We went to the end of Alonáki Beach and back to the camping. Surprisingly, all were present and correct! I put all but Skinny, Isabella and Luis into the van, fed the cats and set off for the second walk. My plan was to see how far Luis would get with the second walk. Seeing as I had to drag him round parts of the first one, I didn’t have high expectations.
Isabella didn’t chase anything and Luis was a good boy too as he was on the lead. I didn’t let them go until we were well up the river bed and past the dog and the goats. The going was rough but Luis appeared to take it all in his rather short stride. We eventually left the river bed for the service road to the west of the river. It seemed particularly smooth after the river bed. Luis and Isabella were rushing about taking in all the various temptations: rotting carcasses, bleached bones and distant sheep and goats. They concentrated on wearing each other out which was what I was hoping for.
We headed back and returned to the camping without incident. I needed to treat the decking so put Skinny and Luis inside and tied Isabella and her bone up under the awning. I painted nearly all of the outside woodwork and could see I’d need another couple of litres of teak oil to finish the job. I set off for Paleochora and visited the hardware store for the second day running. I bought some oil and a new collar for Skinny. His old collar is not very strong and often springs open when he lurches forward when he’s tied up.
I cycled back to the camping and was waylaid by Litsa as she has a new CCTV camera she would like to add to her setup. It’s a nice little PTZ (Pan, Tilt Zoom) camera intended for indoor use but will probably survive under the shelter of their decking. Manolis was working on a new tap for their bathroom. We tried to sort out the camera but I’d not installed one previously so time was marching on with little progress made. I was mindful of the dogs locked in the van since 06:00 as it was coming on for 10:00. I collected up all the bits and took them back with me to sort out having read the destructions.
I left, came back, let out the dogs and made breakfast. After my earlier walking it was unsurprising that I fell asleep in the warm sunshine to find my breakfast had been ready quite a while. It was 11:30 so I needed to get a move on as my weekly call home was imminent.
I was still eating when I made the call.
I spent much of the remainder of the afternoon messing with the camera and a wireless access point which Litsa asked me to check out. A TP-Link product with not a particularly helpful IOS app. I wanted to see how easy it might be to add the camera to the camping’s CCTV system and managed that too. Adding cameras from the manufacturer of the recorder is easy but not quite so for other products. Quite a successful afternoon all-in-all.
The dogs were mostly quiet for the rest of the day but were naturally more fidgety as supper time approached. As things are, Isabella, Fido, Luis and Oskar are in the van, Skinny is under the chair and Charlie is probably still in the compound unless he’s squeezed himself out of the hole in the fence. The gate is closed but not locked but the dogs suppose that if it’s closed passage is impossible and don’t have the gumption to give it a shove to find out.
I think my supper is nearly ready so I need to add the cauliflower and go inside. After a sunny day, the evening is chilly.
Leave a Reply