Curses! The dratted porcupine chowed through the fence again last night and ate every last green tomato in the garden! It also ate some young bromeliad shoots, so it is increasing its food repertoire, despite my leaving food and water under the front hedge so it doesn't have to go to all this trouble. It also ate the bok choi. I have now officially given up with vegetables and will probably plant roses instead.
The other side effect is, of course, that Monty takes the gap and disappears down to the rocks in search of companionship and a dip in the sea. It became apparent that he had gone when he didn't return from being let out at 6am. He Who Can Fix Anything, who is as devoted to his dog as a mother is to her child, watched the last laps of a motor race he was watching on TV, then set off in search of Houdini.
He returned 20 minutes later with what was barely recognisable as a white dog. Monty had obviously run through every burr-bearing bush between the boardwalk and home, and he was bedraggled from swimming in the sea, a frond of soft seaweed twisted into his tail like a fashionable hair adornment. And I almost bathed him yesterday! HWCFA proudly announced that the people whose dogs Monty had joined down at the rocks had declared Monty to be 'a real character'. One would swear he had just received the results of an IQ test revealing that his child had a score of 140.
I had to cut all the burrs off with scissors, leaving him with almost shaved legs, and then bathed him to get rid of the salt and seaweed smell. He is now back to his beautiful, shiny white coat and thoroughly satisfied with his escapade!
We'll have to mend that hole before tonight. The fence is now so patched it wouldn't be out of place in a shantytown.
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