Who would have thought that the two pets – OrangePekoe the cat and Granville the dog -would provide so much amusement. Here we are, three months into a possible year or maybe two in this location, and we’ve been amused.
Or not, as the case may be.
There are three spots where we take the cat and dog – Owekeeno Lake at the east end of the village,
the access (where small boats can be launched to get to the lake),
and the government wharf, also called R.I.C (because it was the site of the Rivers Inlet Cannery decades ago).
The cat, formerly an outdoors cat, cannot leave the house because most of the dogs in the village torment and attack any cats. Orange Pekoe dislikes inside life, but she had an unfortunate encounter early during our stay in Wuikinuxv, and was chomped rather badly.
She has healed well, with a permanently tender spot on her haunch. This does not cripple her. She leaps and bounds with the energy that she always had.
She has a favourite spot – the corner viewpoint on top of two packing-crates. From there she looks out the front windows watching all the action in the road below.
Her curious and adventurous spirit is often on show when we take her for an outing. Log walking is a favourite activity, at the lake and at the access.
Fish gazing is a favourite pastime, especially at the access, where the salmon that had spawned floated belly up.
Walking along the fence or the curb is what she does at the wharf.
She’ll often look over the side of the wharf, checking what’s on the next layer (usually crab shells left there by seagulls)
We keep her on a leash, because she likes to run into the woods.
Cats, for some reason, do not come when called. The leash keeps her attached to us.
Dogs, on the other hand, do generally come when called. Granville runs around without a leash at the lake,
the access,
and R.I.C.
Favourite activities include log walking,
grappling with large sticks and small branches,
climbing whatever she can scramble up, and wandering around on the dock checking what’s in the water.
Nigel takes Granville to the wood-shop when he goes there to work on his projects. This is a favourite outing, we think, because she spends hours waiting for the resident squirrel to appear; one of the few times she is motionless.
Most of the time, Granville is in motion. A favourite for us, as well as her, is letting her run alongside the vehicle when we drive out towards the lake or R.I.C. There are no houses along these roads, so she does not distress people. This dog loves to run. She can move at speed for a couple of kilometres. Nigel has clocked her at 30 kph, but she lopes along comfortably at 20 kph. It’s quite impressive.
Granville gets an occasional walk around the village. There are some very rough and snarky dogs in the neighbourhood, but she has made friends with the monarch of the glen. Tokyo is an old dog who seems to keep tabs on the village. He often joins Granville and us when we are walking along the road.
Following OrangePekoe’s example of sedentary bliss,
Granville curls up in a warm spot for a snooze after a bit of activity. Nothing compares to a snuggle in a corner of the couch.
We two adults also enjoy our outings. Thanks to the animals, we get out fairly often. We meander around at the lake
or R.I.C, accompanied by OrangePekoe and Granville.
We’re very glad to have two accessible and very pretty places to go for a change of scene and where all of us can re-balance our minds while we stretch our legs.
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