We live in a flat

Many Adults, 1 Boy & 1 Dog's Montessori Life in a Singapore flat

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Author: weliveinaflat Page 27 of 31

Growling Mother, Snarling Child

En route to the park on the hill, we were about to cross the carpark behind our block when we bumped into Donna’s mother, Dior. When I say this, most people probably think the dogs will greet each other with joy but no. Alas, somewhere in their common history at the shelter, the two dogs develop an antagonistic relationship. Today, Donna snarled at her mother on sight. Dior’s human had to pull her back too. We couldn’t even have a conversation with the two dogs leaping around brandishing invisible doggy light sabers at each other, probably.

And I wonder every time, is there anything we can do to start getting the dogs to tolerate each other so that the relationship improves over time?

Note: I would like to amend that we met Dior twice. The first time Donna was interested because she clearly recognised Dior but she did not behave aggressively until Dior growled at her. She was aggressive the second time they met.

The coast is clear, says Inspector Grass

During our doggy patrol, Donna reports that the the coast is clear, failing to note the Indian man right behind her!

Did I mention that my dog will look anywhere but to the front when I have my camera phone pointing at her? I’ve never been a great photographer and I overcompensate with quantity in hopes of striking quality. = = !

Today I got lucky and got a snap of her looking directly at the camera phone as she surveyed her surroundings from left to right, lip-licking tongue and all. I love the weird expression so I made it into the blog background :P. The green makes the blog look fresher doesn’t it? ;)

A nomination

I’ve only started this blog very recently, so I was surprised that lifeinthedoglane nominated this blog for Versatile Blogger Award. I thank you so very much lifeinthedoglane! Please go visit her.

To spread the love, I’m suppose to list 15 blogs/bloggers that I’ve recently discovered or follow regularly. Hence here are my nominations.

 

Finally, part of the requirements include sharing a list of 7 things about myself.

  1. I largely don’t do the things I said I’ll do but I’m highly productive when it comes to spontaneous projects that were never planned and not in the list. Now you understand why there is a queue.
  2. I’m going to make a whole flask of green tea everyday and make sure Mr P drinks that rather than the chockful of sugar bottled stuff from Pokka. The next is to just see if I do do it or not. 
  3. I am pretty good at boiling and steaming things. I don’t have complicated tastebuds but I like fiction and non-fiction that talk about complicated foods like The Last Chinese Chef.
  4. Through association by marriage I have cousins going by the rather unique names – Earth and Prime.
  5. When my friend exclaimed how glad she was my dog Donna had a real name and not something like Pepsi or Hotdog, I conveniently forgot all about my imaginary Chihuahua who was unfortunately named Chicken Legs.
  6. My dog has apparently trained itself to perk up and drop toys at the study door when I am late taking her downstairs during the regular walk/ loo break time slots. And no, she still does not poop on demand. She just likes to go out.
  7. I would love to go to Norway this year but my savings is dwindling. So no.

The end.

More high density living coming our way

The trees lining the open-air carpark behind our block have been labelled for their imminent removal. The plot of land was planned to be re-developed to support three new blocks of flats (a hell of a lot more people) and a multi-storey carpark.

We will miss this carpark. Its presence has after all ensured that we get an unobstructable view all the way to the city for the past year. Unfortunately, once the three 32-storey blocks are up, our wide view of the surroundings will be sliced up. :(

Other then that, I will also miss the chance to bump into Donna’s mother, Dior, and her owner infrequently, since they seem to like doing laps around the carpark.

Otherwise, the carpark is a place we pass through to get from one place to another. I was never that interested to get to know each and every tree even if we do walk Donna here occasionally for her loo breaks. But since it will be gone soon, we decided to spend more time just trying to see if there is something special in a rather ordinary carpark.

While my impressions of the carpark will be the overall spread of towering angsana tree branches and foliage overhead, Donna’s recollection of this place will likely be the sights and smells underfoot.

She will never spy the unexplainable junk left in the crock of tree branches, as surely as she will never sniff the fungus climbing up the tree trunks over her head.

Nor the parasitic ferns with their delicate fronds highlighted by the sunlight, until they fall to the ground.

Soon to be gone, to be replaced by new landscaped greenery and young saplings decorating the three new apartment blocks and attached multi-storey carpark that will slowly arise from the construction site in five years time.

Dog walking after sunset

It is dark at 7.30pm over here. I generally do not like walks in the dark. The most we do is go down for a quick pee break on the roof garden on the second floor. But there  are the few rare occasions that we do go for a walk after nightfall. And this is one of them.

Pictured left, she is impatient to go after waiting the whole day, yet patiently waiting for me to tie my laces.

Pictured right, the fitness corner on the carpark roof garden is the penultimate stop for our walks. We usually circle the area, letting her go up two stepped raised platforms, where she practices her sit-stay. The picture looks like robo-dog!


In between, we walk to a park further away, ran one round for me and inspected the grass around the perimeter of the park for her. I don’t really appreciate picking poop in the dark, but has to be done. *pouts*

Do you walk your dog at night or before sunrise when it is still dark? Do you find it boring to walk in the dark?

Silly

Mr P: Oophf, oophf, it’s hard work chasing after a dog.

Me: It’s just lying there like a beached whale!

Mr P: You try reaching her on a stationary bike :D

A fat pigeon

Our main door lies adjacent to the stairs, which is accessible via a fire retardant door.

As you can imagine, the stairs are seldom used since they are mainly there to function as fire escape. Or in the unfortunate case of lift breakdown, then some people may indulge in forced vertical marathons, god bless the poor souls on the the 30th floor!

Donna and I use the stair several times a week. We typically start our morning walks going down the stairs, per recommendation of the doctor to exercise the strength and flexibility my nerve paralysed toes.

I can count on one hand the staircase landings that actually get frequent use, as evidence by cigarette butts, dirty track shoes and impromptu pot gardens. My own blighted wrightia religiosa was and is still banished here after I give up on the fight against the scale insect and its various cronies. Surprisingly, the plant survives to today despite my lack of TLC for it. It must thank the heavens for the constant rainwater it gets I suppose. I left it by the window opening of the staircase.

Anyway, back to the fire retardent door that lies adjacent to my front door. I’ve heard concerns from other people before, how this is potentially a safety hazard. Perhaps robbers can hide behind the door to ambush you when you return home and are busy opening the door, etc. But I seldom look through the glass panel to check really.

The other day, we came back from our evening walk and I saw a movement from a corner of my eye so I looked and found…

A fat pigeon.

It appeared somewhat disoriented as it kept turning in circles.

Perhaps it noticed me staring, I don’t know. But I stayed long enough to assure myself that it could walk in straight lines and it could flap its wings to go up one step before Donna and I stepped into our house.

It’s too bad Donna’s short so she can’t see the pigeon (haha!) because it was gone the next morning.

All the hair

Dog hair will always be a problem when you have a local mongrel in the house. They shed. Everyday.

For a while we got it under control, I brushed her outdoors every morning, and I sweep once or twice a day. Donna is not allowed on the sofa or the other rooms outside of the living room and common corridor.  So yes, it helps that the area of free hair fall is limited.

But in the last week, if Doggy Hair Fall was a game, Donna probably hit her new high score.

Witness.

The floor of hair she leaves behind after chilling out on that spot. And this is after I have brushed and bathed her and clotted the drainage with a thick mound of hair!

And the floor of hair after just a few brushes of her coat. And I didn’t even put any effort into the brushing.

When we do it outside, you can literally see whole hair balls blowing off her and rolling merrily in the breeze!!

Perhaps, it is due to the stress of being poisoned by the hydrangea. I’m not sure. But I do hope she goes back to normal shedding levels soon!

Chihuahuas, an off leash dog, school girls and families we pass by

Having been kept her quiet since her misadventure with a hydrangea leaf, we finally took a longer walk again once Donna has sufficiently recovered. My walks with her typically comprise me time, in which we run along the path to build strength and flexibility in my recovering foot and Donna time, where Donna gets to inspect all the grass, tree trunks and light posts, etc to her heart’s content.

Sometimes during Donna time, I play a game whereby I drop to walking a few steps behind her and see where she goes. The last two times we did this at the empty carpark behind our block, she invariably chose to drift further and further away from where we live, choosing to walk along the void deck of other blocks that we never walked before.

But this time we were at the park behind our block and so she chose to meander from one plot of grass to another, turning circles as she tracked this scent and that.

Eventually we returned to the footpath that we were accustomed to follow when we run. As we strolled leisurely along, she was in her own world and ignored the runners running past us.

By and by, an old man came up from behind and as he drew up, he asked if Donna was a local dog. I replied that yes, she was. The old man shared that his friend recently found a local dog at the nearby train station and it followed him home. I asked what colour was the dog, remembering that there was a missing tan-coloured dog by the name of Chilli in the neighbourhood. The old man replied that it was white.

The old man then told me that he used to have a chihuahua. It was given to him when the chihuahua’s family had to move. He chuckled as he recalled how the small little chihuahua would know when he or his wife were coming home to their tenth floor flat , even if they were still downstairs! He said the chihuahua would rollover in excitement. He went on to talk about how cheap it was to feed the chihuahua, only 30 cents a day. He fed it bits of chicken and papaya. (Inwardly, I reminded myself chihuahuas are small and probably ate like birds :P) But oh boy was the vet fees expensive when the chihuahua was diagnosed with cancer. And after 3-4 years together, the chihuahua passed away and cremation cost him $350.

Before we parted, the old man reminded me to not let Donna in the grassy areas since there are ticks about. I grinned sheepishly thinking that the grassy areas are exactly where Donna gets Donna time. Luckily, so far we have not encountered mites. We regularly spray her with this insect-repelling DIY spray and we do have Frontline Plus in the cupboard, even if we use it more sparingly.

We continued to meander since Donna still seemed pretty active and also because I was waiting for her to poop. By this time, we had left the park to walk along the train line before we circle back on a parallel path. It was here that I noticed an old lady with an off leash white dog in front of us. It was a small white dog with floppy ears and a fluffy white bobbing tail and amazingly, it kept to within a 1 metre radius of the old lady, who for the most part looked disinterested and just slumped along. We crossed to the other side of the road so that Donna would not disturb the old lady and the small white dog. Eventually we were strolling exactly opposite of the old lady and the white dog. The white dog saw us and for about perhaps 10 metres of the walk, it trotted on its side of the road looking at us and smiling joyfully in the cutest manner.  The old lady turned a corner and for the first time, the white dog left its 1 metre radius as it trotted along still smiling at us. But the old lady soon turned and made a noise and the dog obediently ran back about two metres to her and they continued on.

We eventually came to the corner where we made our turn, just as a man was crossing the road to our side with a tiny chihuahua, only slightly bigger than a fat rat! The chihuahua all but ignored us, while I was the one staring at it. I always did find them funny with their little chicken legs and rodent size.

We continue down the path we turned into and soon encountered four schoolgirls. Two of them saw Donna and decided they desperately needed to take an alternate route to avoid us, while the other two continued towards us as they chatted. It was only when they went past us that they suddenly made a loud whoop and skipped excitedly away to join their other two friends. And all that time, my fear-inspiring dog was too distracted inspecting the grass to even cast them a glance.

A last turn took us back to the path that leads to our block. A family cycled past us and I could hear their conversation. The mother warning her child, “that dog will bite”. Meanwhile an Indian family and their toddlers strolled casually close to Inspector Grass, my grass sniffing dog and I, as they passed us. The mother on the bicycle continued as they cycled across the dog, “some dogs will bite even if you don’t touch them.”

Maybe one day, I should put a T-shirt on Donna before we start out on our walk. It could say, “The ant bit me, it hurts!” or something equally random. :D

Page 27 of 31

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