TOMMIE

My name is Tommie and I am a dog. Dad and I are off on another adventure soon. We always pretty well are. Dad and rust never sleep. But this will be a big one because we’ve sold our house. I will be sad to leave Blackheath. I’ll miss brown dog who lives next door, and Stuart and Snez but not their dog Freddy. Talk about small dog syndrome. He's like Napoleon stuffed into a terrier. I want to growl back but I like Stuart and Snez too much and they dote on him. Thats him in the photo. Miserable as usual.

I will miss sleeping on the deck in the old leather lounge watching the rain come down and barking at the postie and all those bones I’ve buried over the past 5 years. Maybe brown dog will find them. I hope so. I will miss the morning ritual where I get fed and then do my circuit of the neighbours, say good morning to brown dog and visit old Bern who was a nun for 30 years. I'll miss checking that my bone stash is OK. I've got them everywhere. 

I hear Dad talking about how we will sleep under the stars, camp by beaches on lonely Western Australian coasts, visit the aboriginals all through the desert country, make a home on the road. Something about wherever a hat is laid is a home.  It does sound exciting.

Dad wants to be the Electronic Swagman which probably makes me the Electronic Swagman’s dog, but I am happy to just stay as Tommie. People like that name. It sounds friendly and little kids find it easy to say ... hey Tommie ... Especially the aboriginal kids in Hermannsburg who have never seen a dog with as much fur as me. They think I’m a snow-dog and they are right. My mum was an alpine dingo or half one anyway. My Dad, the dog one, was a red cattle dog.

Anyway. This is my first Dog Blog. I’ll get better at it over time. Dad reckons he wants to stay on the road for 10 years. Thats a long time. I’ll be nearly 20 then. 

Its not how I thought it would be. I imagined getting old in Blackheath with walks to the park, getting warm by the fire, little treats for afternoon tea. But no. Dad says we are off to explore the parallel universe that lies at the heart of Australia. I don’t know what a universe is let alone a parallel one. Truth told I am a little scared. 

Anyway. We will be here for a few more months. I just wanted to start talking to you. It will be exciting on the road but it is exciting here too.

woof woof

Tommie