Our First Guest For The New Year....

Hello Dhaaarlings...

Imagine my surprise!

 I had just managed to stay awake long enough to see in the New Year and listening to the distant echos of fireworks... when I suddenly...

BANG! CRASH! SCRATCH SCRATCH.... THUMP!

Well... Before I knew it... Master Spot (our Jack Russel Terrier) was going ballistic! Barking madly and scratching at the door to get out and investigate the kurfuffel...

I was soon in hot persuit... grabbing the torch and heading to the site of the disturbance...

I'm thinking is it a possum that had slipped in a drunken leap between the fence and the shed roof on it's way home from some New Year revellry?...

Is it some form of alien invasion?... looking skywards for the mother ship...

But as I approached the ancient old lavender bush in the corner of the yard I suddenly heard twigs snapping and loud and heavy panting...

My goodness I thought.... I've stumbled upon some lucky couples' new year tryst.

I shone the torch in the general direction of where the noise was coming from but could not make out what was causing it.

Intrepid spot... being much smaller in stature that I... had already leapt headlong into the bush and himself had dissappeared...

Much to my consternation I heard much licking and continued heavy panting... then a sudden growl... (not Spot's) 

followed by a yelp...(that was Spot's)...

Eventually after several approaches from different angles... I finally discoverd a very frightened Staffy...

Meet Max!

Fortunatley Max had a name tag on his collar and his owners telephone number engraved upon it.

He was terribly frightened and had obviously run away from home with all the noise from the celebratory fireworks... and somehow fortunately in all his confusion... ended up in our back yard.

Max's "Safe House"....

Half the big old Lavender bush in the backyard...

Max and Spot soon became very good friends...

After he started to settle i phoned the number on the tag and to my dismay got a recorded message...

I left my details and asked fo them to ring back as soon as possible regarding the whereabouts of Max... Who by this time... was happily wolfing down some dry kibble and a lot more water...

Within minutes the phone rang and it was Max's owner... She explained that they lived only two streets behind us but that she and her patner had gone away to the beach for the New Year and had left a friend to call in on the dogs... to feed and water them while thay were away... (apparently thay have two  dogs)

She went on to explain how frightened of Fireworks Max is and that how worried she had been about him panicing...

She went on to say that they would not be travelling back until later today and that the friend that had been calling in on the dogs had gone away herself and there was no one else that she could contact to come and pick him up.

I suggested that Max could stay here for a sleep over and that she could call by and pick him up on her way home later in the morning...

She seemed very greatful at the offer and her sense of panic dissipated with much thankyouing...

So Max stayed the night... Spot had a new found friend... and I had a very interrupted sleep from Spot wanting to play all night....

The owner eventually got here to pick him up this afternoon...

So Max has gone home now... Spot is frantically searching the place for his dissappearing friend...

And I am finally going to get some sleep!

It is turning out to be quite an eventful year already darlings...

 and it is only day one!