Homecomings

On Saturday we returned home from a week away camping.  We very fortunate to have friends that stayed at our place to look after all of our pets, which was absolutely wonderful. However, we did notice a difference in the dogs' reactions upon our arrival home compared to when the dogs have been kennelled.

Not a Mexican Jumping Bean, but a jumping Mr Bean.

Normally, if the dogs are in kennels, there is great (and I mean GREAT) excitement when we pick them up to bring them home.  They bounce around like Mexican Jumping Beans  (which is not an easy activity for our extra large pooches) and make overzealous attempts to lick our faces (as you know, Manu is a great 'recycler' and poo-eater, so face licking is a definite no-no in our house).  After all of the excitement, Chamois will settle down and rest, while still keeping her eyes on us and wagging her tail at the merest flicker of interest from us.  Manu's Klingon tendencies are even more exuberant, and you can't wipe the smile from his face.  Manu needs attention....and lots of it.

Getting spoiled...again.

When we have had someone stay at our house, it becomes quite apparent that they were thoroughly spoiled and not given much of a chance to miss us.  I've seen the photos and heard about Chamois sleeping on the bed during a thunderstorm to know this is true.  As we pulled into the yard on Saturday, we did get greeted, but it was only with the usual enthusiasm that we get at the end of a normal work day.  Granted, there was much tail-wagging (so much so that Chamois split open an old scab on her tail, and we were all swatted with the bloodied appendage, ending up with swipes of red across our legs, sides and along the doors of the truck), but the fervent welcome of other homecomings was missing.  At least they were happy to see us I guess.



Yippee! Mummy's home

As always, I can count on my cats for a warm welcome and vocal hello.  No matter if there is no one here or people staying to care for them, they still have the same level of excitement at my return.  This is not to blame the pet-sitters at all.  Anyone that knows cats knows that sometimes they are their own worst enemies, and tend not to get their cuddles from different people.  Fortunately Clawde managed to get cuddles situated himself on the lounge at night, just in petting distance, but good old Purrkins kept his distance.  I'm sure if he was without his beloved mother for more than a week, it would have been a different story.  He ensured that his carers were scent marked as he rubbed across their legs, but he kept his floppy lap cuddles to himself this time.

Purrkins was very vocal when we got home, as was Clawde, with his quiet 'silent' meow's, and both cats demanded lots of cuddles.  Purrkins assisted with the cleaning of the camper by walking all over everything, and Clawde just needed to be where we were.  There were many snuggles that night, and I slept with a cat on my head more than I didn't, continually being stabbed by happy feet and drooled upon with the squeakiest of purrs.

Fish That Won't Die
is still alive...



Gabby the Yabby - that's
as excited as he/she gets

Fortunately the reaction of Fish That Won't Die, Gabby the Yabby and all the chickens were consistent with our every day life - all they care about is getting fed and could care less if we are present or not.

Coming home to pets is a special kind of feeling - there are no recriminations for 'abandoning' them while we were off having a lovely time on vacation.  It's just pure love, living in the moment and being joyful for the time that we share together. 

I've never understood how people can live without pets - that is no life as far as I'm concerned.