YOU’RE NEVER TOO OLD TO LEARN LOL

I am now at the tail end of my housesit in Lighthouse Beach and I have to say it hasn’t been in any way dull lol….

So far, I have had a couple of lovely visitors, a rush visit to the vet thanks to Frankie deciding he needed to lick incessantly at his rear left paw, flushing out a poor Bandicoot who had taken up residence in the yard; not to mention a squeal as he poked his head nose first into the shrubbery which sent alarm bells off in my mind for fear he had been bitten by a snake or some such. Of course I had to be sure so a vet consultation was a non negotiable expense that thankfully was a waste of money. Frankie was merely being a drama queen. I should have been irritated at his histrionics but the relief that he hadn’t had a run in with anything deadly was too overwhelming, not to mention his use of those soulful brown eyes of his 😀

That was enough excitement for week one and two … the upside of course was the joy Frankie got from wandering freely around this lovely yard, exploring and playing solo footy with his Catchit Balls in between guilting me into participating ….He also had a great play date with a little JRT/Mini Foxy belonging to one of said friends whose company was a delight to his human 😀

Unfortunately, Frankie’s options for playdates with other fur children is a bit limited by his understandable reaction to larger dogs due to the attack he suffered in the first three months of our time together. He has never forgotten and so he reacts defensively. To my mind that is a totally understandable response to the trauma of two big dogs dead set on harming or killing him. The fact he refused to move, protecting me at all costs has left me a tad traumatised also. I know his instinct will always be to put himself between me and the big dogs. Sweet and loving but scary too. Now we avoid as much as possible any unexpected contacts with larger dogs, often crossing the road to give my beautiful boy the space he needs to feel safe.

Anyway, apart from a couple of glitches, we have had the best time here. The beach is a five minute walk away… sigh bliss… and Frankie has charmed many humans and small dogs alike with his friendly and confident greeting. I also have the use of the owner’s second car whilst here… such a lovely gesture. I hadn’t taken advantage of it, preferring to take my bus into town. Better for Frankie as its a cool alternative and familiar. As always I combine shopping with a walk along the rock wall with Frankie so that he gets pleasure out of the whole, often busy and chaotic, visit to the main town. Last Wednesday I decided was the day to go in. I wanted something from the Discount Vitamin place and I know they are welcoming of Frankie, having been there with him before. I figured a lovely walk for us two both through the town and along that lovely rock wall would be a great way to enjoy a beautiful sunny day and the car was a lot less of a hassle traffic-wise.

Beat laid plans of mice and men eh? Well there was something I didn’t know about the car. I found out the hard way and will not soon forget the lesson lol. I pressed the button to unlock the doors, wrestled Frankie into the back seat. (That was a challenge as he doesn’t like the back seat, much preferring to be as close to me as possible at all times.) I finally got him safely restrained and comfortable, tossed my handbag and keys over to the front passenger seat and closed his door. No windows open as I needed to put said key in ignition and turn to accessories for that to happen.

I whipped around to the driver’s door, pulled on the handle and…nothing. Still securely locked! Ugh! Never mind, there is always a spare key for the car left in a certain place so all good right? Umm nope, sigh I had locked the house up behind me (or so I thought). Now what, I asked myself, trying desperately not to panic. My boy had no fresh air coming in but at least the car was in the shade and the day was not as hot as spring/summer days are.

I calmed myself and tried to think of a way into the car without smashing the window… same for the house lol… as it turned out I had neglected to lock the back door (something I am pedantic about doing) so I managed to gain entry and raced upstairs to the hiding place(not going to say where on here lol) usually used to keep spares, already feeling a great sense of relief that all would be well. Umm no spare key!Argh!!! Now what I asked myself. I couldn’t get my mobile phone without unlocking the car and the keys were inside.

I called NRMA, in my stressed state, of course I went totally blank on the owner’s last name. Thankfully, they could look them up from the registration of the car and the address. By this stage I was outright panicking. The last thing you want to do is leave a small child or, as in my case a little dog. The lovely lady on the other end assured me that a technician was on his way and stayed on the line with me. It still seemed like an eternity until the tech guy got there and my furbaby was now lying down with a depressed look … not himself at all. It took a bit of doing as I was not a fan of him breaking the window to get in if at all possible, it not being my car.

He did a fabulous job and Frankie by then was up and wagging his tail enthusiastically, none the worse for his experience. My nerves however didn’t fare quite so well. It seems this particular car, along with many others will lock automatically if you do not leave the driver’s door open. I had never had to worry about it before and my old bus is old school lolol… by the way I am grateful for that, more so after my experience with automatic locking cars :s

I thanked the NRMA guy profusely, got my boy out and retreated to have a strong coffee and settle my nerves before heading finally into town. I can tell you that the car keys are always either in my hand or if I have one, my back pocket lol.I will not forget that lesson in a hurry. I have to say that when I let the owners know, feeling really bad about the whole thing, they told me it had happened to them not once but twice and as for the spare key, the hubby had accidentally taken it with him on their trip! LOL interesting times we are living in eh? Anyway all’s well that ends well. Ironically what I went into town to get was not available haha

I hope your last couple of weeks have been less fraught with unexpected challenges and filled with joy, which is what the majority of my time here has been.