In my last post, I wrote about an unfortunate encounter the dogs and I had with a pervert who is helping to build a new home on our street. That experience freaked me out a bit, and I hoped it was a “one off”. Unfortunately, it wasn’t.
Yesterday, I walked Noyzi and Charlie again. It was a relatively pleasant day, although it was a bit cooler and more overcast than it was on Thursday. I was taking the dogs out later, because I got busy on a music project and had technical difficulties that delayed me. So, it was around 1:45 PM when the dogs took their walk yesterday. I was relieved to see several people working on the house yesterday when I passed it. There were even a couple of teenagers doing some work there.
My usual route takes me over a bridge that spans over a creek. I was happy to see the ducks in the creek, so I took a few photos. The ducks usually seem to come out more at this time of year, which results in some very nice photo opportunities.
As I passed the house again, on my way home, I looked up on the balcony, and there was that guy again. I wasn’t sure it was him at first, but he smiled at me and said “Hallo.” He had his pants up, much to my relief.
I said a curt “Hallo” and hurried home. I took a shower, changed into something more comfortable, and ate lunch. As I was cleaning up the lunch dishes, I noticed the trash receptacles were stinky from salmon packaging Bill threw in there. So, even though the bins weren’t full, I decided to empty them. As I was walking back to the house, I looked up, and I saw that worker, once again, very confidently lower his pants while standing on the unfinished balcony.
My jaw dropped as, once again, I witnessed this man apparently urinating up there, his junk on full display for everyone to see. Across the street from our house is a home with a balcony. The male half of the couple living there was on the balcony putting up a shade. He was fixated on the shade, and apparently didn’t notice what was going on across the street.
I watched the worker for a minute or so. He was not at all in. a hurry or worried about who would see him. As I passed the house yesterday, I confirmed that anyone could see him standing there with his private parts hanging out. There is no solid barrier to block the view.
I looked outside again a little while later, to see if he was still exposing himself from the balcony. I didn’t see him then, but when I went out on our front balcony, I looked over to that house and took a photo. I looked down, and the guy was there by his car, looking up at me. I wonder if he thought I took a picture of him. I didn’t… but below, you can see what the balcony looks like from our house, and from just under it, where I saw the man’s genitals.
From my house’s front balcony. There is no barrier preventing anyone from seeing on the balcony.This was about where I was standing when I saw the man peeing. He was between the two far left pillars on the balcony. The scaffolding did not block the view.
I told Bill about what happened, and I’m considering filing a police report. I don’t want to invite trouble, but that house is right next to a school. There are kids and elderly people who live in this neighborhood. Above all, I DON’T WANT TO SEE THIS PERSON’S PRIVATE PARTS! It’s annoying, creepy, shocking, and disgusting. I shouldn’t have to tolerate that shit. It’s a CRIME.
We did have a good wine stand last night, even though it was a bit chilly. That very friendly elderly German couple joined us last night, and we tried to speak terrible German with them. I showed them some pictures from our wedding, and a few from my horsey days. The lady saw a photo of my mom and asked if that was my sister! I’ll have to tell her about that. It will make her day! I got a couple of photos of a plane passing, too… We’re right on the flight course to Frankfurt.
Today, I have plans to go on post, get an eye exam and a passport photo, and pick up a couple of items I need. Texas has told us we can renew my driver’s license by mail, since we’re still living out of state. That’s a relief, because I don’t want to have to go back to Texas just to update my license, and I don’t particularly want to trade my license for a German version. Let me just say, it was a real PITA to get a live person in Texas to tell us this was going to work. AI is a pox on customer service. But at least I’ll still be legal to drive after my birthday in June.
Featured photo is of a creek that runs thorough my neighborhood on my usual dog walking route.
You’d think after so many years living in Germany, I would have gotten to the point at which I’m completely used to anything that might come up. But, sometimes I still get unpleasant surprises. I’m a little shaken up right now, although no harm was done.
This morning, the weather is really nice. The sun is shining, and the temperature is mild, and almost pleasant. I had a relatively good time practicing my guitar and banjo, so I was in a fairly decent mood.
The dogs were ready for their daily walk, so I took them on our usual short route. In retrospect, maybe it would have been better if we’d gone for a longer walk. Then, today’s altercation would have been easily avoided.
Noyzi and Charlie at home.
When I walk the dogs, I usually make a point of trying to avoid other people. Noyzi gets scared, and spooks when he’s around strangers. But today, I was just wanting to get back to the house, because I am doing laundry, and I don’t like to run the dryer when I’m not at home.
As I was crossing the Dorfplatz, I was thinking about this blog, and how I used to write in it a lot more than I have been lately. I started thinking about how, sometimes, I wish I were in my own country… not as it is now, but the way it was before the Trump regime began. I even had a thought about how living in another country can be inconvenient and annoying, and the charm can start to wear off after some time has passed.
I was still deep in thought about that when I turned onto Ellengasse, a narrow pedestrian thoroughfare that runs from my street to the Dorfplatz area. A bunch of teenagers and a couple of adults were coming down the hill.
I thought nothing of it, because we often run into people on that little street. Some of them come from the school that was recently repurposed from being an elementary school to being some other kind of school for older children.
After today’s incident, I’m guessing maybe kids with special needs are being taught there. I did hear someone screaming like a banshee the other day when I passed. It didn’t sound like a normal child at play’s scream, but more like wailing. (ETA: My German friend has now confirmed that the former elementary school is currently being used as a school for kids with special needs.)
A tall boy said something to me in German. I could hardly hear him and didn’t understand him, anyway, so I just kept going. People I don’t know often say stuff to me. I usually just kind of glance at them without saying anything. I just want to mind my own business and get to wherever it is I’m going.
But then, all of a sudden, the whole group started YELLING! There was one older woman in particular who seemed especially hostile as she shouted at me. I was very confused, and probably returned some hostility with my eyes.
I couldn’t begin to understand any of them. Even if I spoke fluent German, I think it would have been hard, because they took me completely by surprise. I wasn’t thinking of them, anyway. I was thinking about going home to my laundry and taking a shower. And I was thinking of Noyzi, who was getting spooked by the sudden commotion.
I stood there for about a minute, with them yelling at me, and with me probably looking puzzled and really pissed off, not understanding them over the noise, and due to my lack of language skills. Sudden verbal assaults aren’t so great for language comprehension.
Then, probably to their surprise, I shouted back, “I AM AN AMERICAN!! I don’t understand you!” It was the first time I’ve ever yelled back at Germans who were yelling at me. 😳ðŸ¤
I probably looked pretty angry, because I was. Seriously… I was just trying to go home, using a route I’ve used thousands of times. I was minding my own business, doing something perfectly legal, and not expecting to be attacked simply for walking my dogs up the hill. And I had no idea what the issue was, and didn’t want any trouble with them.
A young, handsome, adult male, who was probably a teacher, then grimaced sheepishly and said, “There’s a girl in our group who is very afraid of dogs. Would you please take another route?”
I probably still looked irritated, as I turned and walked Noyzi and Charlie the other way so the group could safely pass. Being shouted at really puts me on edge. Although in fairness to them, I do look like I could be a local.
As the group passed, the young male teacher kept looking over at me. He appeared to be rather nervous, as I walked the dogs away from Ellengasse. He repeatedly said “Thank you,” adding “She’s autistic.” I got the sense that he was a little embarrassed… as was I.
I said, “It’s okay. I understand.” After they passed, I continued the way I had been going before our unfortunate altercation.
And I do understand… but I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t still a bit unsettled and upset by that experience. I’m sorry I reacted that way. I’m sorry that, yet again, I have offended someone by my mere presence with my sweet, gentle dogs, while simply taking a walk in my own neighborhood.
I do sincerely wish my German was better. But sometimes, I also kind of wish I could just go home and be in my own country, where this kind of unnerving thing is less likely to happen. On the other hand, I’m a lot more likely to be shot by a rando in the USA than I am here. I guess being shot is much worse than being screamed at by total strangers in my neighborhood.
It’s not the first time I’ve been yelled at by random Germans for doing something perfectly normal in a situation that wasn’t quite normal. I don’t know what my facial expression was… I’ve been told that when I’m upset, I look pretty mean… and I have a feeling I looked angry when they started yelling at me. I don’t take kindly to that at all, even though they had a good reason to say something to me.
But Jesus Christ… what if I was deaf? Or had some other kind of disability that made it impossible for me to understand what the problem was? There was a time in my life that a confrontation like that would have made me burst into tears from humiliation and fear. I was once that fragile, years ago… before I got chemical help for depression.
Anyway… now I can go take a shower and spend the rest of the afternoon recovering from that incident. Living here does give me a lot of empathy for people in the United States who can’t yet speak English, as I feel bad for not being fluent in German. On the other hand, it’s never effective to yell at people if you actually expect them to listen. Especially when they’re total strangers.
I guess it just goes to show you that even on a fifteen minute walk in your neighborhood, unusual, unexpected, and unpleasant things can still happen.
New Year’s 2024-25 has come and gone, and now it’s back to the grind. We had a pretty boring holiday. It was the usual drinking of beer and wine, listening to music, eating too much… basically like every day at our house, except there were fireworks and Christmas trees. But I did take some photos and videos, which I will dutifully share here for the interested. Here’s a video of the scene when the clock struck midnight.
Crazy! This wasn’t even all of the footage I got.
On New Year’s Eve, we had quesadillas, mainly because we both ate heavy leftovers for lunch and weren’t very hungry. And, as usual, there were lots of people outside in the frigid weather, setting off the fireworks they’re only allowed to use at New Year’s. I tried out my new camera, which wasn’t that great at catching the fireworks. I need to play with the settings a bit.
I think we got to bed at about 2:00 AM or so… then we slept in until about 9. It was cold, but sunny… unlike this morning, which is cold and rainy. Bill cooked a lovely New Year’s Day dinner. He used the sous vide to cook prime rib, baked some potatoes and cloverleaf rolls, and, of course, served black-eyed peas and green beans.
I couldn’t finish this.
One other thing that happened is Charlie finally got up on the bench. If you know us, you know that Arran and Zane, our beagles, used to get on the bench with us all the time. Charlie has been wanting to get up there, too. I finally gave him a boost. Now, we have a monster. It’s like Charlie won’t do anything like that on his own until we give him “permission”. Then, once he has “permission”, he takes the initiative.
Below is a video of their budding bromance… I swear, I think Arran is lurking in Charlie’s soul.
Charlie has turned into a cuddler.
I’m usually relieved when the holidays end. This year, I’m pretty nervous about what the future holds. But at least we had relatively pleasant 2024 holidays. There was no drama. And Bill’s last present to me arrived the other day. He bought me a Bodhran drum from a shop in Ireland, which I’m sure I’ll be beating on a lot, as things get weirder. It’s always nice to have new musical instruments!
Happy New Year, everyone. Hope it turns out okay for all of us.
Bill came home from the United States on Wednesday. He has to leave again for Stuttgart tomorrow. However, he was around this weekend, and we were able to attend Breckenheim’s annual Dorfplatzfest, which is a fun event that celebrates our little suburb of Wiesbaden. Since we didn’t have anything else to do, we went to the Fest on Friday and Saturday nights.
The first night, there was live music provided by a local band featuring none other than our neighbor, Dr. Blendinger, the veterinarian who, along with his veterinarian wife, owns the veterinary clinic where we take our dogs. Dr. Blendinger is also a singer-songwriter and guitar player. He wrote a song about Breckenheim, which he sings every year. There’s a snippet of it in the video below.
I’m kind of glad we don’t live closer to the Dorfplatz. It’s probably annoying when there’s a Fest and you don’t feel like a party…
There were brats being fried on the grill, as well as a wine stand, and a stand for beer drinkers and teetotalers. Yesterday, there were even a couple of bumper cars for the kids! I was surprised to see that!
We enjoyed yesterday more than Friday night, because we ran into an American couple who were housesitting for another American couple we know who are on vacation. It was fun chatting with Americans, especially since this is their first time in Europe. We brought Noyzi and Charlie with us yesterday, mainly because they blocked the door and wouldn’t let us go without them. Noyzi gets nervous at events, but he also loves going to them, and meeting new people. Charlie had no problem at all fitting in and was charming everybody he met!
Below are some photos from the event. We were blessed with decent weather, although we did have a few rain clouds last night. Next weekend, Wiesbaden Wine Week starts. That will be a lot of fun!
Breckenheim has a great mayor!Brats!Bumper cars!Noyzi and Charlie were having a blast.
I also swabbed Charlie’s mouth for an Embark DNA test. It’ll be interesting to see if he’s got anything in him besides Eastern European Village Dog, like Noyzi.
He sure is CUTE!
I will try to hang in there this week, while Bill is gone again. When he comes back, we can plan in earnest for our long anticipated trip to Iceland at the end of the month! I like August better already.
Yesterday morning, we added a new family member to our household. Our new street dog, Charlie, flew from Pristina, Kosovo to join us here in Germany. So far, he’s fitting in beautifully, and getting reacquainted with Noyzi, our sweet, gentle, relatively giant rescue dog, who is also from Kosovo.
Noyzi and Charlie are both about six years old. They were both rescued in 2018, when they were puppies, by our friend Meg, an American who has rescued many street dogs in Kosovo. When we took in Noyzi in 2020, Charlie was also supposed to find a new home in Germany. However, his home fell through, and he spent the next few years in limbo, being cared for by a foster family in Kosovo. Kosovo, like a lot of Eastern European and Balkan countries, has a pretty big problem with street dogs.
A couple of years ago, when Meg visited Noyzi at our home, she told me about Charlie. At the time, we still had Arran, our very devoted and extremely jealous beagle mix, who was having trouble adjusting to Noyzi’s presence after we’d lost Arran’s buddy, Zane, to lymphoma. I remember when Meg first told me about Charlie, and I had this feeling we were going to end up adopting him. But, at the time, Arran was still very much with us, and he would NOT have appreciated another dog coming to live with us at that time.
We lost Arran to lymphoma on St. Patrick’s Day, 2023. In the past, we’ve been quick to adopt new dogs after we’ve lost one. But it’s harder for Americans to adopt pets in Germany, thanks to shelters not trusting us to take them with us when we leave. Now, of course Bill and I would not consider abandoning any of our animals in a shelter unless there was an extremely good reason and no other feasible alternative. I would actually say never— but I’ve learned it’s best never to say never. However, not every American who lives in Germany is as dedicated to their pets as we are, so the rest of us get a bad rep.
I do want to write a quick word about this issue. Sometimes people who work with the US military or government do have to re-home their pets due to situations beyond their control. Sometimes they have to move to places where it’s impossible to bring their pets with them. And sometimes it’s simply much too expensive to move the animals. The costs can suddenly change, as can the rules for shipping pets. Shit happens. But because so many Americans have ditched pets at pet shelters in the military areas of Germany, Americans are often discriminated against when they try to adopt from German shelters. I know there are exceptions, though… especially when Americans can get a German to vouch for them. And I also know there are Germans who would vouch for Bill and me.
In any case, although we knew we wanted to adopt another dog eventually, we weren’t in a hurry. Losing Arran left a big hole in our hearts. But then last fall, Meg asked me if we would be interested in adopting Charlie, who was still waiting for a home. I asked Bill, and he quickly said yes. So the process of moving him to Germany began. I knew Noyzi wouldn’t mind it if Charlie came to live with us. He loves other dogs!
Bringing a dog to Germany from Kosovo isn’t a matter of simply putting them on a plane. They have to have a special blood test before they can come, and there’s a waiting period. Then there are the actual logistics of the move, which involve traveling through several countries by car, or flying on a plane. When we adopted Noyzi, we met Meg in Slovenia. That was quite an adventure, as she was bringing other dogs who would be adopted by Americans. You can read about that saga by clicking here.
Charlie had already taken and passed the blood test back in 2020, but because so much time had passed, he had to have another test done. And then we had to coordinate logistics for getting him here. At first, we thought we might have him by April, but that didn’t happen. The weeks went by, and I wondered when we were going to be able to meet Charlie. Not that his foster family minded, as they were very attached to Charlie. Now that he’s home with us, I can see how they got so attached. He really is adorable!
Meg finally decided to go to Kosovo this month, although her plans for how to get Charlie to Germany were kind of fluid. Would she be driving or flying? She worried about the temperatures, as it’s not safe to fly animals in very hot weather unless the airline has temperature control in the cargo hold. Lufthansa is usually pretty good about this, as are other European airlines.
Then there were our schedules to consider. Bill left this morning to go to Texas and Utah and he’ll be gone for ten days. We have plans to go on vacation at the end of August-early September. We wanted time to break in Charlie and allow the people at our Hundepension to meet him. And then there’s just the reality that dogs don’t live as long as most people do, and time was getting away from us. So Meg decided that she would fly Charlie to us yesterday, since she has plans to go home to the United States for vacation.
Meg booked an early flight from Pristina to Vienna, then onward to Frankfurt on Austrian Airlines. I remember when she sent the itinerary, and I was a little skeptical that she’d be able to make the layover, which was only 35 minutes. If she hadn’t had Charlie, yes… it would probably be possible. But he had to go through security again once they landed in Vienna. Then there was the big IT Windows screwup that affected air travel everywhere.
Charlie about to be loaded on his flight to Frankfurt from Vienna…
Fortunately, Austrian Airlines did a great job in getting Meg and Charlie on the next flight, which arrived in Frankfurt yesterday morning a few minutes early. But they didn’t get Meg’s bags on the plane, and then they had to wait for the cargo folks to get Charlie to the baggage area. That took over an hour. But finally, they showed up, and there was our sweet new rescue dog, sitting quietly in his kennel. We loaded him in the kennel in our car, drove home, and prepared to introduce him to Noyzi.
It was interesting to wait for Meg in the arrivals hall. We saw a lot of stories in action. The cutest one involved a little girl with a rainbow painted on her forehead. She held a sign that read “Hallo Papi.” When her Papi finally showed up, she ran to him and he swept her up in an embraced, then kissed her mother. It was so sweet to watch!
I also watched a dog reunite with a man who must have been her favorite person. He came into the arrivals hall, arms outstretched, and she ran to him, showered him with kisses, and then greeted everyone else in their party. Then the whole group left the airport with great joy among them. I think if you need a pickmeup, hanging out in an arrivals hall could be an interesting pastime.
Anyway, back to Charlie’s arrival home. We think he and Noyzi will co-exist nicely. Noyzi is kind of a loner, and he spends a lot of time in his “bedroom”, which is also our entertainment room. But he likes other dogs, and doesn’t seem to be the jealous type, as Arran was. Noyzi is the biggest dog we’ve ever had, while Charlie is the smallest! They look like Rocky and Bullwinkle! Charlie also has hind dew claws. We’ve never had a dog with those before, either.
He’s got dew claws on all four legs!
When we got Charlie home, I called Noyzi down from his room to go outside. We brought Charlie out to the yard, only letting him out of the kennel when Noyzi was there to meet him. They touched noses, sniffed butts, and Charlie went around to inspect his new surroundings. He was definitely a lot less nervous than Noyzi was when we brought him home in 2020! He was delighted to meet all of us, and very quickly made himself at home.
As I write this, he’s sleeping on the rug behind me. He’s learned to go up and down the stairs, marked a few things in the house, and slept in a bed with his foster dad’s shirt on it. After I finish this post, we’ll take our first walk around the neighborhood. I have a feeling he’s going to charm a lot of people, because he’s got such a sweet, sunny personality. It almost feels like Zane and Arran are both visiting us through Charlie.
Noyzi doesn’t seem bothered by Charlie. The two of them almost had a play session last night, although I think Noyzi might be dealing with a slight case of arthritis. He’s been slightly gimpy lately until his joints warm up.
Below are some of the best photos from yesterday.
So far, Charlie seems very happy to be in Germany. He’s been through some tough trials. There’s a scar on his back from when he was a tiny puppy. Two girls found him and begged Meg to save him. Meg has told me she thought someone had tried to kill Charlie when he was a puppy. Charlie somehow survived, in spite of that person’s cruel efforts to end his life. Obviously he was meant to be here.
I said this when we took in Noyzi… who by all rights should have died on the streets of Pristina. Imagine the odds that a dog from the streets of Kosovo would end up living with Americans in Germany! And yet, here they both are… living with Americans in Germany. Both of them have done what may have seemed truly impossible. I guess their story is a life lesson we can all learn.
Here’s a video of the experience so far…
A video of Charlie’s arrival to Germany from Kosovo!
I just took them on their first walk. They did fine together. Charlie will be one of the locals in no time!
So there we were on a rainy Saturday in beautiful Kranjska Gora, Slovenia. We ate sandwiches and drank local beer as Meg updated us on her progress. She had left Kosovo at about 7:30am and promptly encountered an hour long wait at the Serbian border. I have never been to Kosovo or Serbia, but evidently, it is a very Muslim populated area and Muslims typically aren’t very fond of dogs. Noizy saw some street dogs at the border and barked at them. Next thing Meg knew, a whole bunch of street dogs were attacking her vehicle. Consequently, she decided to sedate Noizy.
Meg is a very well connected person in the former Yugoslavia. She lived and worked in Kosovo and Croatia and can speak some of the language. A vet kindly hooked her up with some squirtable medication. It looked like the type of container I had seen used for horse wormers. You squirt a little in the dog’s mouth and it’s nap time. Evidently, that’s what happened with Noizy. He was soon down for the count, which I’m sure was a blessing, given what came later.
As Meg crossed over into Croatia some hours later, her car began to run funny. She got warning lights indicating that the transmission may be failing. Meg was upset, because she had taken her car to a dealer to have it checked– an Urlaub exam– and it had passed with flying colors. Now, here she was with three dogs, about four hours from her final destination, and the car was acting up. She pulled off at a gas station just beyond a construction zone where the car had been running slowly, got some gas, took the dogs out for a pee, and decided it was time to call ADAC (German auto club). Unfortunately, Meg doesn’t have ADAC Plus, which offers service all over Europe, so they couldn’t help her.
Bill, who was fretting about having to drive all day Sunday to make it to the Monday morning court appearance (that turned out to be for naught), said to me, “I think this is going to turn into a rescue mission”. Meanwhile, Anne and Kyle, who had also come down from Germany to get dogs, were asking Meg if she needed them to come get her.
At this point, I remembered how, back in December 2019, Bill and I were unexpectedly stuck in Beaune, France, because some asshole decided to puncture our brand new tire while we were at a rest stop. We also had to call ADAC. Fortunately, we have ADAC Plus. I am writing this to remind any Americans who are reading this and live (and drive) in Europe to make sure you have auto club coverage AND it covers you everywhere. We have had to use ADAC at least twice during our three tours in Germany and it definitely pays for itself when they bail you out of a vehicular mechanical nightmare in a strange town.
So, the hours stretched on, and it became clear that we wouldn’t be fetching Noizy on Saturday night, as planned. Bill asked Meg if he needed to come to her, but thankfully Anne and Kyle were able to spend another day, plus they’re a lot younger than we are. So they went to convoy with Meg… she followed them with the dogs and they finally arrived in Kranjska Gora at about 5:00am. Incidentally, that also reminds me of the time Bill and I, and his mom, got stuck in Italy and spent all night trying to come back to Germany, where our hotel room was. Yep… this kind of shit easily happens in Europe. We still talk about that situation, even though it happened in July 2009.
While I’m not glad that Meg’s car had problems, I am glad that we were able to get Noizy on Sunday morning instead of Saturday night. I didn’t know quite how large he is, nor did I know how Arran would react to him. He’s also still working on his leash training. It would have been a challenge having him in such close quarters with Arran the first night, especially in a place where walls are shared. However, he has been a gentleman since we brought him home. Arran keeps his distance, but I think he’ll eventually come around.
We spent Saturday night watching for news of Meg’s progress– she had a bunch of people offering advice. I am thoroughly impressed by her ability to make helpful connections!
Saturday night’s dinner. It was a good pizza, but I can probably do without ham for a good long while now.Morning views around the apartment.The pictures don’t do it justice at all…Kranjska Gora is so pretty.An outdoor lover’s paradise, and so close to Italy and Austria. We have to visit again and stay in a different place.Those pylons are removable, but they guarantee you a parking spot for your room.
At about 7:30am on Sunday, I sent Meg a message that we were on our way to her. She was staying at a little gasthaus outside of the town. It looked really nice. In fact, I think I would have preferred it to where we stayed. There was a nice field behind it where people were doing early morning yoga as we approached. I watched one guy do a headstand.
Meg was standing in the parking lot with Noizy, who was a striking sight. He’s a very tall dog… much taller than any of our others by far. And he has bold coloring. It made for a brilliant appearance with the mountain backdrop and fall colors. This was also the first time I had ever seen Meg, too. She turned out to be different than I was expecting.
When I was growing up, I had a neighbor from Pennsylvania who reminded me a lot of Meg and I had imagined her to look like my old neighbor. As it always happens when I form a mind’s eye, the picture I had in my head didn’t match my imagination.
We parked the car and I got Arran out. He went up to Noizy and gave him a sniff, then moved off to smell all of the other stuff. Bill took Noizy’s leash, but it appeared that Noizy was pretty scared of Bill. He backed up wildly. I was really glad he was in a harness. I heard the rush of water and was curious, so I took Arran to see where it was coming from. I also got a video of Arran and Noizy meeting. It wasn’t quite as magic as when Arran met Zane, but at least there wasn’t any bloodshed!
I’ll bet this is nice in the summer.The source of the rushing waters.The area behind Meg’s gasthaus, Garni Hotel Rute.
I could tell that Meg was very sad to give Noizy up. She has a very deep and special bond with him, having raised him from the time he was a tiny puppy. When I see Noizy now and compare him to pictures of him as a puppy, I’m reminded of a very cheesy cartoon from my childhood called Dinky Dog. This could be the story of Noizy’s life!
This theme seems a bit influenced by The Brady Bunch.
A local lady seemed keen to talk to us as we were getting to know Noizy. I’ve got to hand it to Meg, who rather firmly but kindly asked her to leave us alone as we got acquainted and worked to get Noizy loaded up and ready to go. I think some tears were shed by Meg and Noizy. He’s clearly very special to her and I am honored that she allowed us to add him to our family.
Because Noizy seemed really nervous, we gave him a little more sedative, enough to take the edge off for a couple of hours. Then we loaded him into the back of the Volvo. He fit perfectly and slept for most of the way back, even after the drug wore off. We didn’t hear a peep from him or even see him. He was very content to nap the whole way back. He’s a good traveler.
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