Bed Etiquette - Sleeping with Kelpies

I've just walked into the living room to hear L lecturing Cruz about 'bed etiquette.'

Our rules regarding sleeping arrangements have evolved as the number of dogs has evolved. Their first 12 months were spent crated at night, beginning in the laundry and then progressing to the bedroom.

No more than 2 dogs on the bed at night - this one has actually worked out well. Originally we had Yasser and Bosnich on the bed. By the time Atilla progressed to the crate in the bedroom stage, Yasser was too old and arthritic to get up on the bed any more and preferred his bed at the foot of ours. So Bosnich and Atilla had bed privileges.

Late last year, Bosnich decided that he too was having difficulty jumping up on the bed and would prefer to sleep with Yasser. So now the kelpies have the bed privilege - providing they get off immediately if I tell them to do so, which they both do. Just so they know they share our bed, rather than us sharing theirs !

Bed etiquette has never been raised as an issue with any of the dogs before Cruz - all of them prefer to curl up at your feet and don't move. Cruz on the other hand has no bed etiquette, as L is delighting in telling him.

No end of the bed for him - he's a snuggler through and through, whether the temperature is minus 2 or 35 plus. And he doesn't curl up in a ball like the others, he prefers to stretch his long lanky legs and giraffe like neck as far out as he possibly can, which is usually digging into my back, legs or head. And he doesn't keep still. It's not uncommon to wake up in the middle of the night with his butt on the pillow and his tail across your face. And if you happen to get up in the night you know he's going to be in your spot when you come back, looking up innocently with one eye - you don't really expect me to move do you?

And his reaction to the bed etiquette lecture ?

Victoria Burns - A Black Day

This is the usual view from my verandah - something that I love to sit and look at most evenings with the kelpies by my side, as it gives me a feeling of peace. (Especially after a typical day at work. )This is Mount Disappointment, with Wandong just to the left of the picture and if you continue to travel to the right of the picture and face east instead of north, you can see the mountains of Kinglake in the distance. (You'll have to take my word for it)


The photo below is the view from the same spot last Saturday- one of the most tragic days in Victoria's history. The fire front travelled from Kilmore East, just above Wandong, right across Mount Disappointment to the foothills at Glenvale -only 5 minutes up the road from here. Once the smoke finally cleared in the evening when the cool change moved in, you could actually see the flames. It looked as if the whole of the mountain was on fire, which it probably was. Although I took some photos of the flames visible from our place, I couldn't bear to post them- in fact I ended up deleting them all except for this one, which is defintely the least sensational of the bunch.

From Glenvale, the fire moved across the back of Whittlesea to Humevale, eventually joining up with the fire at Kinglake - and judging by the number of international phone calls we've had the past couple of days, I think the whole world knows what happened after that.

My grandmother always used to say 'there but for the grace of God go I' and it pretty much sums up how I feel at the moment. We were put on ember alert mid afternoon and then upgraded to urgent threat later in the afternoon, but the direction that the wind was blowing meant that the fire front narrowly missed us for which we are thankful but also terrified that this was probably due only to chance.

Two former work colleagues lost their homes, and one also lost her favourite kelpie which I can't even bear to think about what that must be like. Another evacuated and returned home to find hers was the only home on the road standing - another instance of Russian roulette fire style.

Many dog breeders have lost properties and dogs - one lost every single one of their dogs which is so heartbreaking to hear about.

Such is the enormity of this tragedy that six degrees of separation goes out the window - I think just about everyone in Victoria knows someone who lost either property or family.

It makes me wonder how many of us living in semi rural areas actually have a realistic fire plan? Or think that we actually need one ? Coming as close as it did terrified me and we were never in any real danger - I can only imagine the horror of seeing a fire like that literally on your doorstep. Thoughts that I'm trying to push out of my mind now.
Our so called plan was originally to stay and fight if the fire got any closer, then when L came home from work he decided that I should go and take the dogs while he stayed. (Don't know if I could have lived with that or not?) The next day, after the relief turned to disbelief and shock from the amount of devastation and lives lost, we realised that if we had lost power, which is pretty likely in a bushfire, then we wouldn't have had any water to fight fire with anyway as the pump wouldn't have worked. So what dumb bunnies are we!
I think a generator is going on the latest 'wish list'. Plus a more serious attitude to actually developing a plan that is a bit more realistic. Most of us only think of the CFA once a year when making our annual resident's donation. An attitude that is probably going to change for a lot of people now.

My case was packed and ready to go at one stage and when I unpacked it later, I realised that just about every single thing in it was agility related. (What a tragic am I! )

So tonight I am thankful that I have still have my home (even though it's only property in the scheme of things), that my beautiful dogs and horse are safe - even the cranky goat, and all my friends and neighbours are also safe - we were a bit worried about one of them for a while.
I am so sad for all the lives lost that I am still numb all over- and I don't think I will ever feel the same about looking out over the mountains again.

And that makes me feel cheated, as selfish as that might seem - something that I loved has now lost the peaceful feeling that I always associated with it and I don't know if I will ever get that back again.