Two departures in one day - one permanently.

A couple of days ago I had 2 departures from my life - one an 'Au Revoir', and one a 'Goodbye and good riddance'!

The first farewell took place early in the morning, with the alarm going off at 04.30, and by the time the sun was creeping up over the horizon, we were at Harare International Airport, dropping my daughter off for her flight to Johannesburg and then on to Cape Town.

Such is life.

We got her luggage checked in, and soon it was time for her to make her way through the gate and head for the UCT - another year of study ahead. (Leaving me once again bereft of a free workforce).

As an aside, there is a sign at the airport put together by another earnest Zimbabwean sign-writer. Regular readers of the blog (and there are over 200 blogs at this time - look at the top right of this page for all the old posts) will know I just love Zimbo signs! Here ya go:

Prohibitation? Scary stuff!

The other departure from our household was a fellow who has been (I think) setting off our burglar alarm with monotonous regularity over the past couple of months - tripping the motion sensors.

Roland.

Roland Rat.

Who decided to march across our lawn one sunny afternoon, as the doves were coming in to drink from the bird-bath, and the day was generally winding down. He was spotted by my youngest two dogs Blue and Honey, and they took him on at once. The matron of the family - Caramel - arrived a couple of minutes later and joined proceedings. After a noisy and protracted fight with my 3 Dachshunds, Caramel got him by the neck and he came off second best, dispatched to that great big grain bin in the sky.

So here is the Chief Huntress, and she really was not much bigger than her quarry. Take into account that she has a slipped disc in her back, is now somewhat portly in appearance - and only arrived as the fight was in full swing, and I think you can see how effective she is.

In fact - I think that tip-of-nose-to-tip-of-tail, Caramel is quite a bit shorter than her adversary.

She sat there for ages, just willing the rat to move. It didn't happen.

Both my other dogs, Blue and Honey, were bleeding from bites to the face, and sore for a couple of hours. They soon recovered, and were back a-hunting the next day for any siblings and offspring that Roland may have had.

Life is good!

Have a great day