Kids, Cats and Horticultural Hounds

There have been a few families here with preschoolers.  They are always fun to watch. In one family, the boy, about 5 thinks he is so cool and his sister about 3 agrees totally. He swims pretty good and the girl tags after her mom using water wings to help.  No fear.  She found an friend - another three year old and the two of them had a most wonderful time running, shrieking and splashing around. I love the sound of children laughing.

There were a couple of boys maybe 18 months old. Sun hats and sandals mandatory, swimsuits optional.  Neither had any fear of the water, cold as it was, until you got used to it.  One of the boys loved to wander down the beach with his mom and collect rocks.  Last week there was a maybe 9 month old in an inflatable version of the Walker (remember them when they had wheels and your kids rode them down the basement steps?).  This version was like a life buoy with a seat that allowed the kid's legs to stick out underneath.  This little guy loved the water and would paddle like crazy to reach his mom or his babushka.

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The hotel seems to support a number of beggar cats.  I counted at least 10 different cats and kittens that show up at meal time and beg food from the guests. They are very friendly and playful and very accomplished at winning hearts and free food.  Not sure how they will fare this winter when the place shuts down.  Maybe they just move down the street to the big hotels that stay open and cater to Germans who come for the winter.

The dog that hangs around the beach can live off its fat for a few months at least.  And the big orange tom I think mooches from the fishing boats as I never saw him at the hotel.  He was up a tree one day stretched out in the sun sleeping peacefully until he was seen by the guests who all stopped to pat him. Two meters up is not enough to avoid being annoyed.

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A week or so before we left, Tanya bought four perennials at the market, took them home and transplanted them.  The dogs promptly dug them up.  Tanya had a bucket 2/3 full of manure which she then  filled with water and left for a few days.  She mixed the manure in the soil around the plants and watered them with water from the pail.  The dogs must have figured anything that smelled that good on top must have buried treasure underneath.  Maybe even a dead goat? Hence the digging.

Tanya tore a verbal strip off their hides.  Half an hour later she found all her shoes and slippers from around the front door in the middle of the street.  I expect it was Volk, He never touched mine, just hers. And you think dogs can't give you the finger?