137. Oxenwood - UK - House and Pet Sitting - Episode 48

Oxenwood is a cute little hamlet WSW of London and rural. The nearest town with a  supermarket, Hungerford, was 5 miles away through farmland and down single carriage laneways.

The house we stayed in was a 3 level semi-detached place.

This is Rosie.

Rosie is a seasoned labrador in that she eats anything, won't get out from under my feet in the kitchen, doesn't listen unless there's food involved, but is loving, affable, boofy and beautiful. Here she is enjoying her bone, the best half of £4.50 ever spent. 

Here's Tilly. Tilly has been learning earnestly from Rosie and will also ignore any requests to 'come here', 'sit', 'stay' and 'don't eat that dead rabbit or roll in that rotting fish'. Tilly likes to play tug, but as she's stronger than any human, wins every game. The other half of the best £4.50 ever spent is in her mouth.

And this is Button. He would have to be the most chilled cat we've ever met. He would have a morning play fight with Tilly, launch himself at her throat with paws wrapped around her neck, mostly toothless and clawless. We only heard one small yelp. Not sure whose it was. 

Button had to be forcibly removed from various activities as he thought everything was a game, or perhaps fair game, despite being pushed off the kitchen island bench, dining table and out of my suitcase. Button would have helped himself to anything we ate or drank otherwise. Having removed the furball, gently or otherwise, he would return enthusiastically, purring loudly and looking for scritches. British Shorthairs - gotta love 'em!

These guys are Indian runner ducks who were, and shall remain, nameless. Paul cleaned and refilled their pond and they went ballistic for about an hour. The owners thought they were fine, but there was no water in their pond at all. It was entirely dirt.  They looked forward to their fresh morning top up from the hose and were quack quack quacking in full appreciation.  

Missing is Rocky, a gerbil, who lived in a cage in the son's (Albert) room. He was skittish, Rocky - not Albert, and I frequently saw only his tail disappearing into his hidey hole. 

We didn't get out and about too much while we were there, as we'd seen places around the area on a previous visit and my 'driver' hadn't been available due to his video work demanding more hours in the day.

Until next time...