What a comedy of errors!

So we headed down to the beach house this weekend. It was so nice to wake up on a Friday and not have to get up! Bliss! Until the cat woke me up at six thirty anyway...

So, Him came home just after eight, and Jr Her didn't get up until nine, so I had time to potter around and get stuff done. I packed all our sheets, clothes and towels into one suitcase, and Jr Her had her case, then I filled the clothes basket with kitty litter, cat food dish, coffee, long life milk, sugar, lap top, cords, reading material, etc, locked up the house, and loaded up the car.

I had the kitty carrier under arm but decided to sit Roger in the car and see what happens. He settled himself on the car seat between Jr Her and Ozzie and there he stayed for the entire journey.

We got to the winding area outside Yankilla and Ozzie puked. Jr Her advised it was only a small amount and all was okay. When we arrived it was pouring rain, windy and freezing cold. There was no undercover parking for the car so we had to dash out to open the house door, and couldn't get the key to open the door, as we were trying to open the first glass door, not realising there was a wooden door further along.

Eventually we figured it out and got the house open. We let the animals inside and quickly started unpacking the car. That's when we found the dog had vomited quite a bit, and it was all over the upside down picnic run he sits on, the bag with the litter box in it, and the floor of the car. Him left the blanket outside, handed me the litter box minus the plastic bag around it which had vomit on it, and we went inside.

I went back out to retrieve the blanket and discovered it had been folded up over the vomit then it had blown away in the mud. I retrieved it and put it in the laundry.
Ozzie makes himself at home

Wild weather outside the verandah

Anyway, we explored our surroundings, seeing what was available. My heart sank when I realised my outside dog had nowhere outside to sleep. It was windy wet and cold everywhere. What do we do? He is not house trained! We left him downstairs for now, putting up a child safety gate so he couldn't get upstairs, and put our stuff away. My mother rang and while I was on the phone to her I was downstairs trying to do something with the animal mess, and Jr Her jumped on the bed in the laundry, so the dog promptly jumped on her lap.

Here I was, talking to mum and the kid was lying with the dog on the bed! I cracked it at her and she didn't even bother getting the dog off, saying he was sitting on her and she couldn't move. I grabbed his collar and bent my fingernail backwards, making my nail bleed.

I hung up from mum and spat it. Anyway, we got him back upstairs, and unpacked. A bit later Jr Her exclaimed "Oh, that's disgusting!" Going back downstairs I find the dog had weed on one of the downstairs director's chairs. Sigh. This was getting worse!

I cleaned that up, putting the dog outside for a while. We left him outside and piled into the car to head into Normanville to the shop. The little cheap shop at Yankalilla had cheap dog toys so I bought him a squeaky duck. We found a few other little knick knacks as well and headed back home.

When we got back I looked around for somewhere to house the dog overnight. I decided to put him in the spare bathroom (there were two downstairs) and put the child gate across the doorway.

Back upstairs, we couldn't get the air conditioner to work. It was bloody freezing, the wind was howling and the rain was so hard it was blowing across the balcony onto the glass doors upstairs. Nothing seemed to work and we settled into an uneasy afternoon. Him was tired and cranky so he had a shower then put himself in our room in bed (where it was warm) to read. Jr her set up the laptop to watch some movies. I read.
(Him trying to get said airconditioner to work)

When we went to town earlier Jr Her and I had bought lasagna and salad so we had a late lunch, therefore skipping dinner. Him wasn't hungry.

Him fell asleep at six and I made fruit toast for Jr Her and I. I decided to put Ozzie out for a wee and stood in the freezing rain until he did something. I made a big fuss of him, and let him back inside. I did this about every hour or so and I do believe I house trained him...

About half past eight I was buggered and sick of sitting around. I had a shower and sent Jr Her downstairs for hers. She came back complaining that she ran out of hot water half way through. I thought there may be a fault with that shower or something.

She went back into her room and watched movies on the lap top. I put Ozzie into his room and put up the gate, worried about what would happen during the night but powerless to do anything about it.

I crawled into bed and the cat came too. He was lovely! Ozzie and Him played the whole time so nicely! They really had a good time.
This is where he spent most of the time

But with the wind and rain and rattling of doors and stuff I just couldn't sleep. It was a very long night...

At six I went back downstairs and checked on Ozzie. The little trooper had not done a single thing and went out for his wee when I let him out. Then I took his blanket upstairs and he spent the day there.

About mid morning Him and I both figured at the same time there must be a main switch downstairs for the air conditioner, and we finally had heat. Somewhat buoyed we put the dog in his bathroom and headed off into town again for a pie. Back home and the dog again went out for a pee. I went back downstairs and tackled cleaning the vomit off the picnic rug. Sigh...

About mid afternoon the sun made an appearance, and so did the holiday makers. Jr Her and I took Ozzie down to the beach for a walk and the population quadrupled while we were there! We discovered he loves the beach but won't go hear the water (thank heaven for small miracles!). He loved it. Back home Jr Her washed him off in the shower, but used her towel to dry him. Black dog hair everywhere... I got my phone and took more photos while she was doing this.
View from the top of the hill about 300m from the beachhouse



Sunset from the verandah

Then the rain came back...

We were all a bit ready to come home by this time. Our relaxing weekend away was just one thing after another. We were tired from lack of sleep and things just kept going wrong. Like the hot water running out again. I had my shower early afternoon ready for dinner, then Jr Her went down for hers. She came up shivering. The water had run out after only a few minutes and the poor bugger had to wash her hair! I also discovered that there was no hair dryer and we all know what happens to frizzy hair when there is water and no dryer... tragedy! I looked hideous!

Anyway, Him couldn't have a shower but we went to the Normanville Hotel for dinner. Very good food and we settled back home after, reading, watching tv or watching movies on the computer.

Then I made a comment to him that he keeps cleaning up after us but didn't pick up his own stuff and he got offended and went to bed. I knew I had to keep letting the dog out so I stayed up until almost ten. Then put the dog to bed and crawled into bed myself.

Both Him and I were awake at 3. It was actually hot in the place now with the heater on, and still so bloody windy and rainy and noisy with crashing surf etc. We stayed awake until after half past four. Him finally got to have a late shower though, so he was happy

I was awake again at six so I went down and let the dog out for a week. He went properly and I put him back into bed so I could get some more sleep.

I haven't mentioned Roger much. Thing is, he made himself completely at home. As I said, he and Ozzie played so well together. The dog must have thought it was heaven being allowed anywhere in the house (wooden floors) instead of one room like he is here. The cat jumped over all the chairs and goaded the dog something shocking, but it was lovely to see them. I think they had the best weekend of all.

Anyway, Sunday morning came and I had plenty to do. I had done a load of laundry the night before. Oh yes, there's another story. I couldn't get anything to work and found everything had been turned off at the switch. They were hidden too. Even the water tap for the washing machine was turned off. I did a load and put it in the dryer on warm. This morning it wasn't dry to I put it in again. The second load I put through hadn't spun, I had used the incorrect cycle. So I spun that out and when the first load was dry, it got dried too. Then I washed the dog's blanket and put that in the dryer.

I packed up and took the sheets off the beds, folded them and put them into the suitcases too, packed up the food, tried to use the dishwasher but it must have been turned off too because I couldn't get it to work either so I hand washed everything. Dried them up and put them away too.

Then Him swept the kitchen and a portion of the lounge, and I vacuumed the house. Hopefully we left it clean enough anyway. Him drove into town and picked us up brunch from the bakery. We left at 1pm. I wasn't sure how the animals would go on the return trip as Jr Her had been sitting for sometime holding the cat hostage in the car or else he would have escaped. He didn't like that much and was quite unhappy. The dog was left outside too and he didn't like that either.

We needn't have worried. The cat and dog cuddled up together against Jr Her and didn't bat an eyelid all the way home.

We unpacked and moved a few things around at home, as Him bought himself a computer desk and we needed a place to put it. That sorted, we left JR Her home while we dashed across Adelaide to pick it up. The owners were a lovely couple who belong to a caravan club and encouraged us to join up. We just might.

Anyway, here I sit now, half blind from reading this tiny print and freezing my buns off. I think I'll upload my photos, work the cricks out of my neck, and try to get some sleep before work tomorrow. Sigh. So much for our relaxing weekend away. Maybe next time...