We got woken bolt upright at one in the morning by the dogs going mental and Smokey howling up on the roof. Gary and I sprang alertly into our Home Security Team Procedure: leap naked from bed, grab golf club and torch, trip over shoes lying in middle of floor, then run out on to the kangaroo flats wildly waving the torch while exchanging terse, highly-coded SWAT team communications such as "Ow!", "Stop shining that in my eyes" and "Who left that lying there?", while the dogs helped by entangling themselves around our legs. Smokey sat on the roof, calmly watching the madness below.
We spotted some headlights close by, so Gary jumped into the ute and gave chase - he accosted two aboriginals in a ute (the bloke was hiding with the passenger seat laid back, the woman was driving); they were acting really suspicious, and Gary basically told them to get lost. We don't know what they were up to. The odd thing was that Gary said he could smell sandalwood incense really strongly, and later we wondered if they'd been out looking for sandalwood trees (they give off a strong smell when cut). It's illegal to cut down wild sandalwood, but there's a huge illegal trade in it in WA and it's worth over $15,000 a ton, so now we're wondering if that's what they were doing. Anyway, they took off and we rang the cops just to let them know. The dopey thing is, anyone driving around at night around Meeka is going to attract attention - they'd be better off doing it during the day!
But it was good to see all 3 dogs in action - Vincent had his neck fur all ruffed up and was doing his best to be Big Scary Backup Dog while Honey led the pack and Bandit tried to see what all the fuss was about. Smokey looked hilarious from his sniper position on the roof!
It's hot hot hot but we're plugging away at our shed extensions and landscaping. Next week I'm ordering our solar lighting equipment and 12 volt fridge (the crazy fun just never stops out here at bush camp), which is part 1 of getting ourselves off the genny. Next week's projects also include - try not to get overwhelmed with excitement - making my worm farms and teaching myself how to make scones.
Dog training is progressing fitfully. Vincent is such a great dog - he really wants to be a good boy and watches me intently, working out what he should do. He LOVES his soccer ball and brings it back to me, rolling it forward so I can kick it for him, then headbutting it as it flies past. Bandit is naughty but improving. I use sign language with all three of them now without even thinking about it, it must look funny. I've caught myself nearly using dog sign language on Gary when I'm talking with him!
Lordy lordy lordy, time to go back to bed, hopefully that's all the dramatics for tonight. At least we haven't got Mr. Rooster waking us up at four am anymore - he's nicely frozen, waiting for winter weather roasting. The dogs are still chewing on his feet; the yard looks like a charnel pit, with bits of dead horse and god knows what scattered around. One day I'm sure the dogs will come bumbling back in with a human skull or someone's leg...
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