Baby sitting

Dear Family and Friends

I neglected to tell you that we were asked to babysit, Toby, that is. Craig, Michelle. Brea and Caitlin plus both boyfriends had planned a week at Merimbula. The person they had arranged to come and stay was unable to come so they rang us on the Saturday night to ask if we were in a position to come and look after Toby. So we said YES!!! LUV to. I think it was the Friday that we had called to say hello to Toby and as usual he got excited to see us. We had a lovely week with him. We also had Natalya and Lachlan stay with us for two nights as it was during their school holidays and it gave Justin a chance to do his own work. Toby was happy to see them also. Dale, a friend, came out to see us and Toby, bringing with him the usual bag of goodies that Toby has come to expect, from Dale. The McDonalds leftovers!!!. Toby sat beside Dale on the couch for ages, he was so happy to see him, and I think Dale was equally happy to see Toby.

It never fails to make us laugh when Toby backs up to a chair, or a lap and sits down lifting both back legs off the ground and at the same time leaving his front legs on the gound. He will sit this way for ages just to be near you. It's a big dog version of sitting on your lap. Toby does the same thing whenever Dallas or Leanne and Tim come home. He plonks himself on the couch between them and sits their for ages. Ken found a web site just recently where Great Dane dog owners have sent in pictures of their pet dogs and there are more than one picture of Danes sitting on couches and on the lap of their owners. He becomes too heavy and in the long run you have to stand up to get him off because he gets too heavy.

The week went by all too quickly and before we new it Craig, Michelle and the crew all arrived home and it was time for us to make our farewell.

Oh how mixed up Toby must be. He lives with us, makes friends with our family members and our visitors like Dale. We go away for a holiday and Dale comes and feeds him. After a while we come back and all is back to normal. Then we take him out and leave him with the Ryan household and we disappear. We're gone for a while and Toby settles in and grows to love his new family. They treat him really well and he feels loved and wanted. He's allowed to sleep inside, sometimes even in the girls rooms. Perhaps he wonders where we are and why we haven't come back to get him. Then one day we come back and he gets excited thinking his holiday with these nice people is over and he will come home with us. But no we go and leave him behind. We visit a couple of times and then one day we come and move into his new home and his new family, who he loves very much disappear and leave us to look after Toby. Perhaps he wonders where his new family are. Then after a little while his new family comes home and they are excited to see him and he is excited to see them.

Then we load up the van and say our goodbyes and leave.

Soooooooooooooo confusing.

Today is Sunday and we went to Worship at the Salvos. We arrived at 10.00am but the service had started at 9.30am so we missed half of the service. We caught up with some people we knew from when we were officers at Bairnsdale.

This afternoon we spent doing housework, both inside and out. Ken has polished the outside of the van and it looks good, I did the inside and it looks good too. Just in case we sell it on Tuesday and if we don't we have a lovely clean van to set off in.

That's it for now

Love to all

Ken and Lyn