The month of May disappeared in a flurry of ? I have no idea, though we did have visitors for a few days and the need to have a 'general tidy up' before their arrival accounted for a couple of days. Why I persist in having a general tidy up for visitors escapes my Significant Other ... but then again women and men think differently!
This morning, the first Saturday of the month, was once again Market Day for our nearest town. We arrived almost too early as several of the stalls were still in the process of being set up. Down the far end of the Town Park our favourite stall was ready for business. There the most delicious, and reasonably priced, home baking and jams are sold. While there is no standing order, we always buy an apple pie, with little pastry leaves for decoration, and a carrot cake iced and decorated with generous walnut halves. Significant Other prefers what I dub 'Men's Stalls', you know the ones that sell metal things ... gardening tools, tools for fixing cars and other, to me, uninteresting pieces of metal.
While I browsed the DVD's for sale the dog tied to the table-leg barked as he dared another small dog, in a handmade coat, to enter his territory. Laughingly the dog, named Mr Alfred, mistress said he was jealous of the handmade coat. Mr Alfred is a rather rotund King Charles Cavalier Spaniel, and did not object at all to a pat from me.
A trip to the chemist left me sitting in the vehicle waiting. The local owner of several Native Wolves, also known as Dingoes, pulled in alongside and he entered the Chemist. Within two minutes one of the Native Wolves set up a strange eerie howling, such as one would expect to hear in the wilds of Canada or Alaska! The other soon joined in! It felt like being on a movie set making it not difficult to imagine a brown bear crashing through the Bougainvillea growing on the verandah posts of the shopping complex.
The owner of the Native Wolves returned, and, laughingly, I called out that he had been gone too long and the dogs were missing him.
That small comment began a fascinating conversation about Dingoes ... this chap is writing a book about his 30-years experience with these Native Wolves.
As is the case Significant Other returned and the conversation switched to more mundane male topics. Even the dogs became disinterested and began their howling again. Seeing an opportunity to become better acquainted with these animals I asked permission to pat them. Permission was given to pat one ... what an amazing experience!! After initially sniffing me [I had forgotten that Mr Alfred and I had become friends earlier, and no doubt that smell was still on my hands], this friendly Native Wolf almost drooled as I patted his long nose and smooth head, sitting down to allow me to touch more of him.
Dingoes have no doggy smell, and while there are too many bad stories in circulation about their destructive behaviour to farm animals, in reality it is the half-breed [half dog/half dingo] that cause many of the problems.
My morning was more rewarding that I could have imagined!! I look forward to the book that is being written being published and for sale.
We own a purbred Kelpie that is the spitting image of a dingo. The breeder thinks that somewhere along the mother's lineage there was a wild visitor in the mix as every so often she has one of these "sports" in a litter. Lol, neighbour (and friend) nearly shot our bitch one day when she strayed into his property amongst his cattle. Fortunately our coolie cross dog raised his head above the long grass, and he has distinctive markings, so that identified her and saved her.
ReplyDeleteCheers,
Robyn