What makes living here worthwhile.....

Early morning sunrise at the southern most tip - Cape Aghullas

Slightly more north but still Cape Aghullas

A Rock Kestrel on an early morning hunt

On the road to Fraserburg to fetch our new pup.

The Teekloof pass on the R353 to Fraserburg.

Just to give some idea of the diversity & beauty to be found in this troubled land. For most people, once you have lived in Africa for any period of time, it will always call you back!

The character is emerging (with the teeth!) :)

The food is disappearing & the weight & size are climbing rapidly but best of all is the character finally comming to the fore!

 Sleeping seems to have a priority - if there is no food in the offing!

 The frown wrinkles are so typical Ridgeback. Strange little bugger tho' - he sits flat on his backside & not on his haunches.

Just checking out HIS kingdom! He is now over 4Kg so that all seems well. More deworming at the end of the month & booster shots - vets really know how to charge! ;) Bought some leather work gloves today to try & reduce the loss of my blood from his teeth!

Sleep is out the window.....

Well, we been & done & got 'im! Shinga has arrived - 980Km round trip to the Northern Cape (first time I've been there * hopefully the last?). Only 6 weeks old when we picked him up & 1,7Kg's of razor sharp teeth & a 4 hour "sleep" clock!

He started out with us as "Tippex" 'cos there were 9 of them in the litter & we needed to remember which one we chose so the breeder stuck a dab of tippex type corrector on his head! He has now been renamed to Shinga - an Ovambo name for a Cheetah - more in hope than anticipation as he does sleep a lot! But, bloody hell, when he wakes up & feels it's playtime (normally about 2 in the morning!) he tends to rip into the nearest member to his mouth. From this you can deduct that he is sleeping in "our" bed! It was either that or no sleep at all as his lungs are well developed & he is obviously missing his old pack.
 Ah well, sleep - who needs it? I weighed him again in 3 days after we arrived back & his weight is up to 3,05 Kg so growing he definitely is!

He has found a home in a carboard box - ONLY during the day! Producing it at bedtime creates a major panic so we don't even try anymore.

Someone once said "Happiness is a warm puppy"! Very true even when you have to get up at some ungodly hour, freezing cold & maybe rain to make sure he pees & poops outside. It seems that the colder it is, the more misrable the longer it takes for them to find that "perfect spot"! :)

Once I get the little bugger to stand still (without falling asleep) I will post some better pics. For now, note the size of his forelegs! Gonna be a strong boy - I hope!

You were right Ditch, hard to do but now it's done I'm glad! ;)

To get another one or not........

I have been struggling over this for some time now, do I take the plunge & get another Ridgeback or not? I must admit I'm very tempted - but the old thing comes back - do I really want to chance going through that again? Split in two minds, some pups have come up for sale (albeit 300 odd Km's away) & the urge is strong. Then you think back to 'The Boy' & is there a place for something new? I dunno! I do have another week or so to decide. Most probably end up with a headache! ;)