Chariot of the Dogs

"What is speed without direction? What is direction without purpose?"

Paul Bamikole

Vehicles are regarded around these parts in terms of utility. Of all the ones we have owned the Musso has been the most useless and frustrating, whilst the MUX the most reliable and comfortable. When faced with the prospect of needing another set of wheels, we tried a few options over a couple of weeks and sometimes even looked under the bonnet to see if there was an engine present, but in the end we settled on another Isuzu in the form of a D-MAX canopy 4x4.

Crazily the main reason was not only it's familial link with our existing chariot, but also how well it could transport 3 giant puppies in comfort and safety to the local swimming holes. So how does it rate with those of the wagging tail persuasion?

Take us to the park, human.

Ensconced in the dog-mobile

I liked the Musso - it was comical

Pins dropping all over the place

"Youth always tries to fill the void, an old man learns to live with it."

Mark Z. Danielewski

It's been roughly 83 days, 14 hours, 12 minutes and 13 seconds since we had Charis101 to ourselves. As sociable as we like to be, that's a long time between drinks of solitude and silence. We have managed to fit in a few things around the hospitality (e.g. six tonnes of wood delivered and stacked, beer/yoghurt/bread making (a few times over), gardening duties (including barrels of vegies and fruit), jam making, weed whacking, car buying, starting a new job, working full time, the odd blog entry, loads of electronics, hosting Christmas merriment, various religious obligations, etc., etc.,), but for the most part it has been a matter of entertaining others as they drift through paradise enjoying the sort of lifestyle we would like for ourselves if we had time!

So maybe today we'll have a quiet afternoon nap to celebrate our anomalous independence? Nope - the chicken house needs cleaning out, tomatoes need picking and turning into Passata, house cleaning, dog walking, laundry, marking/preparation, etc.,

Kelly illustrating the correct pose for visitors

What we will definitely enjoy is the sleep of the just when our heads eventually hit the pillow tonight prior to the always rude 6am wake up call tomorrow.  Sleep in?? What!? Someone has to pay for all this paradise.

Arriving happy as can be at work first thing in the morning

And to those who cannot understand why all the fuss, come visit - but not until we recover a bit, OK?

Stairway Eleven (minus one)

"Love is like a brick. You can build a house, or you can sink a dead body."

Lady Gaga

No stranger to controversy, Lady Gaga has been publicly canoodling lately and may indeed be either building a house or sinking a body. Meanwhile we have been putting gumtree-sourced bricks to good use by arranging them carefully over several days to make the vertical transition to the top deck a little easier for ageing knees (both human and canine).

Mike the architect and chief lackey Paula

Mike and Paula have been sampling the delights of southern Tassie for the past few weeks and are about to head off to the northern parts. When we say "delights" we mean smoke filled sky, rambunctious puppies, fetid road kill and heat beyond normalcy.

We'll be happy when they take the heat with them on their eastern seaboard grey nomad experience. Stay on the left and try to go above 80kph from time to time you rubberneckers!