A year without Bob The Dog

From the first moment we saw you, we knew you were the dog for us and we called you Bob.

You put weight on very quickly, maybe a little too much.

You loved life in South Africa, your home. You loved rolling in hippo poo a little too much, you loved barking at the crocodiles and chasing the monkeys.

You didn't complain when we left South Africa. You jumped in the box off on a new adventure.

You loved your early morning trips into the desert and swims in the lakes.

The indoor dog parks and swimming pools, refusing to go home until every ball had been thrown.

You were just as happy with your move to the UK, with your cat by your side.

Your first walk on a street made you jumpy, the noise of the traffic, the sirens, the pelican crossings. Going in coffee shops had you over excited, the fuss from other people overwhelmed you, but you soon got used to it all. 

You enjoyed trips to spend time with your other family.

But most of all, you loved the freedom of the long walks and the sunny days. You never really got used to the cold and the rain in the UK. The missed the heat of Dubai and South Africa.

You were my best friend Bob. It's been a year since you left us. A year that we've thought about you every day. You were more than just a dog Bob. You were there throughout our expat journey, you got me out of bed on some of the hardest of days, because you wanted a walk, you wanted to play, you wanted to be with me. You got me through covid when I couldn't get back home to Dubai.

Run free Bob.

14th February 2010 - 29th September 2023.

6th - 8th October 2023 Post Comment Love - Goodbye Bob.

Welcome back to #PoCoLo with Stephanie from Bosworth.Life  and I.

Post Comment Love #PoCoLo is a friendly weekly linky where you can link up any blog post you've written this week and all we ask is that you leave a comment on either mine or Stephanie's post which you linked up through and at least one other post. We'd also love it if you could RT us on Twitter when we tag you to help us reach a wider audience.

14th February 2010 - 29th September 2023

It was with a heavy heart that we had to take Bob the dog to the vets last Friday to say our goodbyes. I've linked up this week with Bob's story.

I'll be catching up with reading your posts, sharing and commenting over the next few days. 

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Bob the dog - 14th February 2010 - 29th September 2023

Bob came to live with us in South Africa in 2013, moving to Dubai in 2015 and onto the UK in 2020.

We've had 10 glorious years with Bob, so many adventures and memories and we'll never forget Bob who bought us so much joy.

Bob was taken poorly in July this year, a trip to the vets for an anti sickness jab to make him comfortable, but we really thought we'd be saying goodbye to him back then. He recovered and was back to walks and running off lead, but he had slowed a little.

Mid August his was back at the vets with the neighbour as we were in Australia, another jab to keep him comfortable until we got home. Again he rallied round, but his walks were shorter and he didn't run when he was off lead.

Then the difficult decision had to be made when he was ill again the end of September.

Goodbye Bob, you'll never be forgotten.

Meeting Bob for the first time.

Putting a bit of weight on

Lasy days by the pool

1st beach trip to St Lucia

Camping trips

Crocodile and hippo watching

Flights to Dubai

Out in the desert

Soft play

Dog parks

Last walk in Dubai

1st walk in the UK

Up the Malvern Hills

Old man

My heart is broken

In an English Garden - July 2021

My friend introduced me to the PlantNet app. For a gardener like me who has no idea what they've planted, despite having good intentions to label the seed trays, it's been easy for me to identify the plants as they've grown and whilst I'm supposed to sow seeds in the place where I want them to grow, we don't have the right garden design at the moment to allow that. 

Turns out these are cabbages. I thought I'd bought cauliflower seeds, the app identified them for me.

I planted them out next to the rhubarb, the one beet and one carrot that have seeded, sadly something is eating them now.

I had several pumpkins, also identified by the app. I grew them from seed from a shop bought halloween pumpkin from last year. only this one has survived, I think it's because it's in a pot that the slugs and snails can't climb up.

We also had more tomatoes last year than we could shake a stick at and this year only 4 and a handful of flowers so far.

All the potatoes, rhubarb, onions and peas cropped at the same time and the freezer is now full of potato bakes and stewed rhubarb, along with wild blackberries which will be added to the apples to make many crumbles for winter, from our DIL's tree once they're ready in abundance.

The washing has been on the line most days, which isn't something we could do in Dubai as it was too hot to be standing outside pegging it up.

We've got the outdoor furniture and patio umbrella up now and I'm outside as much as I can be, even when it rains. If it's heavy rain then I sit in my shed and Peter has a large enough shed he can work in. He's currently making a birthday present for our almost 2 year old grandchild.

Peter's shed

My shed

The dog and the cat are enjoying being outdoors also, but often fight over the bed, currently the cat is enjoying my chair pod that's in the conservatory, but as the garden is North facing it keeps quite cool, but we do have to heat it in the winter. 

Work wise there isn't much to do in the garden right now, other than some weeding and mowing the lawns. So I'm doing some garden design and scrapbooking gardening tips and 'things to do' with my Gardeners' World subscription.

Week 12 One Daily Positive - Eating in the garden, cut flowers and a tidy house

When I mention a dog walk, it's because it has lasted more than the usual 30 minutes, often up 2 hours. The starting point is always the front door and the dog dictates whether we turn left or right off the drive and I sort of follow his lead, literally. Sometimes we end up on the hills or down the retail park, in town, over the common, or just round the block which varies in size also. I have a little bag with treats, bags, hand sanitisers etc which contains £20 and I have my card linked to my coffee app on my phone. 

Apart from buying milk, it was 2 weeks on Wednesday since I did any shopping, apart from milk, fresh fruit/veg I'm able to roll over till next week. I buy frozen fruit and veg as well as fresh stuff. I do miss having salad items other than tomatoes, carrots and peppers which I use for cooking also, such as lettuce and dips (hummus etc). I did however then have to do an emergency food shop for child 5 and deliver it, so did my shopping at the same time.

I've had my UK invite for the covid vaccine. I phoned the GP surgery to ask if they could somehow get my Chinese vaccine logged on the system. I'd sent it all to them a few weeks ago.

79 Saturday Awake around 4am, some blogging, tea drinking and tv watching occurred. Dog walked, bedding washed, dried, ironed. Did some gardening, dusted downstairs and cleaned the bathroom. We have 3 but I'm only using 1 at the moment and the downstairs loo. Did a batch cook, making enough meals for the next 10 days, not sure I have enough frozen veg etc and I may run out of milk before the week is out, but I do have some UHT.

80 Sunday Finally got round to having the whole house clean at the same time, other than the floors. I've been keeping rooms tidy and clean but haven't had it all done at the same time and it was bugging me. The dog got walked twice as the weather was so nice, but too chilly to sit out in, I used the fire pit but it was too smokey. Cooked a roast and spent the evening reading the Sunday papers.

81 Monday Started the day watching Line of Duty, mowed the lawns, walked the dog, hoovered and mopped the top 2 floors and spent the rest of the day catching up with blogging and social media. 

I've decided I need to distance myself from certain people in order to maintain my mental health and wellbeing, I've feel as if I have imposter syndrome, that I don't deserve the life I have and that there is no or little value to it and I find myself having to justify what I say and why.  I feel sometimes that as soon as I open my mouth a translator is switched on and my words are twisted. But I'm ok with that now. I actually get nothing physically or mentally from the situation, it's all take, especially when it comes to expectations around finances, so no more. 

82 Tuesday Took the cat to the vets and did a food shop while I was out for child 5 who needs some support at the moment. He's on his own in a one bed flat, working everyday, no going out, no socialising. I haven't seen anyone for several weeks and won't be seeing anyone other than garden visits until the week after next. I finished hoovering the house downstairs and mopping the floors and stood on the doorstep for half an hour with a lit candle with the neighbour, no one else came out, but we could hear the church bells and people were up on the hills shining a bright light down on the town.

No contact chip shop order, on dog walk, ordered through door, contactless payment and chips handed over through door.

83 Wednesday A year since I arrived back in the UK to an empty T5 which was shut soon after I landed and Dubai closed the borders on me a few hours later. I did a food shop for child 5 and dropped it off with him in Cirencester. I've not been more than 12 miles in the car since I got back to the UK. We had a KFC for lunch. I returned home with his washing, which I'll drop back next week and will then be able to spend some time with him as restrictions will have been eased. Apart from the fact I left my local area, we were Covid compliant, which is what my son said to me as I was leaving 'Virtual hug to be covid compliant' Spent the evening in front of the TV in between doing the washing.

84 Thursday Blood test at 8.50am ahead of my consultation with the haematologist next week.  The rest of the day was spent blogging, commenting, scheduling posts and some crafts I've been meaning to do for a while. The house is full of child 5's washing, as it started raining earlier, I love it really. The cat and dog are outside every minute if the sun is shining.

85 Friday Not really sure what I did all day. I've nothing to do now until the week after next, clean the house and mow the lawn before I return to Dubai. When I get back in June, it'll will be with Peter as he will have retired and life with be different all over again.

I asked what I did to deserve these and my friends told me it's just for being me.

On the blog this week:

My Sunday Photo - A new building in Dubai

PoCoLo A weekly linky I co host - Planning a return to Dubai

National Day of Reflection - My Covid year

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A weekend on Brean Sands with Bob the dog - Off lead experience

Last month I decided to take Bob away for a weekend to visit the beach before winter kicks in. We stayed at a Travelodge in Burnham on Sea and spent our days on the Brean Sands.

It was quite a difference experience paddling in the Bristol Channel than Bob's first beach trip which was in St Lucia, north of Durban in South Africa, where he paddled in the Indian Ocean and chased monkeys over the sand dunes.

His next beach experience was in Dubai, in the Arabian Gulf, but sadly it wasn't long before dogs were banned from the beaches there.

Bob has had a wonderful life after we adopted him in 2013 and has clocked up some air miles along the way.

His latest beach trip was a world away from South Africa and Dubai, this time it was late September and in the Bristol Channel. He had a wonderful time with miles of empty sand to run off lead and I didn't have to worry about him taking off after a monkey over the dunes in Durban like he did before or have to keep an eye out for crocodiles and hippos.

Now I've discovered we can stay in a Travelodge, it means there will be more beach trips ahead for us. Our tent is on its way over from Dubai in the shipping container so there will be camping next spring also to add to our UK adventures.

Bob's recall has diminished since moving to Dubai as outdoor spaces we have used have been shut down to dog users and the only place he's been able to run off lead for the past 3 years has been at indoor dog parks.

I started off with the short lead to get to open space.

Moved onto the longer lead to let him explore further

Let go of the lead to work on his recall, which he mastered, straight away.

Then let him off lead, knowing I had all day to get him back if necessary.

I always carry a ball and some treats as an incentive to get him to come back.

There were plenty of rest stops.

And food opportunities.

Being a dog owner in the UK is a new experience for us both. Bob hasn't been used to visiting beaches, parks, coffee shops and the sights and the sounds and the smells have taken quite a bit of adjusting to.