Gotcha 5

This last week has been landmark in more ways than one. Spring has officially sprung, I witnessed the first eclipse of my life and I have now been Tex Saunders for 5 whole years!

As mum and I walk around in the wind, rain and hail I do wonder just how accurate the ‘spring’ bit is.

And here I am witnessing the eclipse.

I’m not totally sure what I am looking at, or even where the eclipsed sun is supposed to be. It just seemed a bit dull and cloudy to me. So I am not convinced that an eclipse did actually happen. Oh well apparently that was my one and only chance.

Anyway I am convinced that I have been Tex Saunders for 5 years because mum showed me the paperwork to prove it. So it seems I have to stay.  ❗

I have to say it’s not so bad, a few beds, a full toy box (well not right now as I have pretty much emptied it, but it will be full tomorrow when a human goes round and picks up all the toys and puts them back for me), 2 square meals a day – what more could a dog ask for? Well 3 square meals a day would be top of my list. Hey ho…

I must say from my perspective Gotcha was a fairly normal day, also for mum really. We didn’t mark it with champagne or anything (my body is a temple after all – not so sure about mum’s  ). For dad 24^th March was more eventful day as he spent the day in Aalsmeer, NL settling Juneau-boat into her new home. Yes she has departed and is now installed in Jachthaven Stenhuis, her new marina.

Here she is preparing for her journey

And here she is, back in the water, in her new location.

I did oversee the crucial parts of the packing process making sure she is loaded with my essentials.

You can see mum was in list mode!

Anyway, back to me… Here are some Gotcha photos taken this week.

Five whole years a Tex Saunders – could be worse I suppose, I do love them and I know they love me very much 🙂  again what more could a dog ask for? (As I keep saying …3 square meals a day that’s what!!!)

Love

Tex

Look what dad did :)

Her own web site 😄

Juneau

Now with the right link!!! (That’s what you get for typing with paws!)

Old dog…new tricks

Less of the ‘old’ thank you. I’ll have you know I’m in my prime and I am still able to learn a few things. All in all it a good job because apparently I had things to learn this weekend.

There is a lot of work going into this whole Dutch-trip lark. Mostly that doesn’t have to involve me because

a) It involves purchasing stuff and I have no credit card

b) I’m not the decision maker here. Which…

c) Means it’s a good job I have no credit card because if I were the decision maker I would have made the decision to clear Tesco out of Bonios a long time ago 🙂

Anyhow, back to the learning bit. I may have mentioned that as well as big boat Juneau there is also this little boat, known to me as the ‘thingy’. Apparently this weekend I ‘needed’ thingy training! Apparently this dog (in his prime) needs a new trick.

I was a bit suspicious when all this stuff got loaded in the car and we head for the river! Mum and I went off for a walk while dad inflated the little boat. Once it was ready to go I got deeply suspicious! Firstly I did not like jetty (just when mum and dad thought jetties would be old hat to me!) This is me approaching the jetty (cautiously).

And this is me when I had made it the four feet along the (actually very stable) jetty. I needed dad to reassure me.

Then there was the thingy (the little white thing in the water), by now it was in the water and I realised I was meant to go in too (the thingy – not the water). Well actually I decided I wasn’t going to go in and there was a small battle of wills to get me in there. At the same time there were many, many treats involved, so I realised I could probably milk this. The pattern is events were…

Trip 1 – Lift (all 30kg of) me in and hold on tight to make sure I don’t jump out. Getting out onto the jetty was no problem 😕

Trip 2 – Me is prepared to crawl in but actually that doesn’t work too well. Cruise on the river – no need to hold on, actually it’s not so bad this cruising in a thingy (even if mum thought it was a bit chilly)

Trip 3 – If there are tasty treats in the bottom of the thingy boat me works out that the easiest thing is just to jump in. Cruising is fun and actually I’m quite a cool Labrador (xGR) sitting in my own Labrador size boat :). But I’m not actually allowed to drive (yet  – )

So here I am being a big brave boy happily sitting in the thingy with mum and with dad.

I think the thingy is heading off to the Netherlands soon so I might not get much more cool cruising in. However the experiment was deemed successful mum and dad seem relieved that, with a bit of a refresher, I will be able to cruise the thingy-size Dutch canals and that we can explore far and wide when we get there. I like the sound of that so maybe teaching a dog (in his prime) a new trick or two is worth it!

I hope your March hasn’t been too big a learning curve for you dear reader.

Love

Tex

PS – I’ll leave you with this picture taken after our cruising experiment. It is of me looking back to dad whilst he’s looking at a Jack Russell who is peeing on my bag of towels 😯