I just happened to glance at eBay today and spotted a secondhand bark collar for sale. I really need another remote collar but there have not been any secondhand for weeks. The rechargeable bark collars retail at £120 and the auction accepted offers so I bunged in and offer of £45 and it was accepted. The seller is sending the collar out today via Royal Mail so it may take a week or so. I have two regular barkers now that Isabella has found her feet. She and Luis echo each other when I go out into the camping which is very annoying as Isabella has a loud bark. At present, I have to choose which dog has the collar and whichever one I pick, the other barks! This will sort ’em!
Another leisurely start to the day as it was 05:32 when we left. It was cool so I was up for some brisk walking as I had on only a thin fleece and a T-shirt. I paid more attention to gathering them together and intend to fix some regular gathering points where we all stop to catch up otherwise we can get a little strung out and I lose track for the vanguard.
After our walk, I rode to Krios and met up with Gregor and his dogs on the way back. We had a brief chat but I was uncertain if the new people in Z1 would leave so I left so I could be back if they did. I opened the office and hid the card machines which were very obviously positioned on the desk. Greek banks are very greedy as I discovered from my conversation with Maria yesterday. Not only do they charge something like €50/month for the wretched machine but the transaction cost is significant. Considering it costs very little to actually process the transaction, it’s robbery! I took one machine out of service and into a cupboard, the other I hid with all the routers and IT equipment so I can use it under dire circumstances or for taking virtual payments from Booking.com customers. They can pay in advance when booking so we receive a virtual card which we process through the POS machine as if the customer was not present. During the summer, it makes sense to use a card machine but cash transactions are preferred in any case.
As it turned out, I was alone in the office until Bona appeared so we had a short chat discussing which of the accommodation required cleaning. It appears that Z1 are staying on as are Z6 so they have nice clean sheets tonight. They’re using their sleeping bags anyway…
I went back to release the dogs, make breakfast and prepare the Doggy Dinners. I try to get this done early in the day so that I can process it and for it to cool in time. I made another sloppy batch so have some rice in the Pot as I find this ensures a calm evening and Isabella doesn’t spend her time eating carob pods. She’s almost at the end of her last batch of food and the current one has more protein which should help. The present food is low fat and also low protein intended for older animals which a more leisurely lifestyle. Isabella rarely stops so is perpetually hungry. The combination of additional rice and a higher protein diet should help put more meat on her and reduce her carob habit.
In preparing for winter, I removed the gas struts which hold open the large roof vent at the rear of the van. The plastic hinges failed a while ago so now the roof vent has two settings: summer and winter. In summer it’s off and in winter it’s on. Easy really. The gas struts no longer have a purpose due to the broken hinges so I’ve removed them to make it easier to manipulate the roof light. I also cleaned off the mountain of dust settled on it and then put it back.
I vacuumed out the van and mopped the floor too!
Other than mopping up after leak in the gentlemen’s facility and resetting the fuses in the Community Room, I’ve fed the dogs and prepared supper for myself. I need to go and finish skinning the squash I started earlier.
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