Winston Rees 13/3/2010 - 2/12/2024

Last year at this time we had a strong feeling we were approaching Winston’s last Christmas. He was coming up to 14 years old (about 100 in Dog Years), and he was getting quite confused, and losing power in his back legs. In January we changed his medication, he had a bad reaction to it and did not get up for days. We thought then that his end was nigh; but he bounced back amazingly when we stopped giving him the new drug. His legs regained their strength and we were once again walking around the neighbourhood.

About 3 or 4 months ago we could see he was really slowing down; and we decided to pencil in a date to be his last day. At times it seemed too hasty (usually when he was sleeping peacefully) or much too optimistic (when all his legs skidded from under him and he hit the deck). As the date arrived we all felt we had got it pretty right. He gave us so much for so long; and he was entitled to a rest.

We found Winston at a farm in the Derwent Valley in 2010. We’d been dog-hunting for a while, ideally for something beagle-sized. His parentage was vague, and the breeders told us oh yeah, he'll be about beagle sized, yep. Very soon he developed the massive feet and big honker of a dog that is destined for largeness. He was a fit 44kg at his peak. We were sold a bill of goods. But we are so happy he found us; he gave us so much love and happiness over an extraordinary lifespan.

A velvety soft bag of nonsense, the day he arrived. Elf considers what we have just done.

Marcus was 8 and Michael was 6 when he came to stay. Of course they were inseparable. We tried to walk the boys to school with Winston. He would not accept that we were leaving them at the school gate and going home without them. It was a disaster. I took him to puppy school, at the Hobart Obedience Club. We left after 10 weeks with no diploma but many new friends.

This is a very doggy neighbourhood, and Winston quickly became close to a pair from over the valley, Cougar and Mochi. Cougar was a retired drug sniffer dog, Mochi a spaniel pup Winston’s age. They were great mates all their lives; Winston is the last to go.

He was wonderfully gentle and… retiring. Which is to say he was scared of cats, getting in the car, the sounds of the saucepan cupboard, and things that moved suddenly in the wind. We had Hattie cat when he arrived, and he always gave her plenty of space. He was not jumpy or snappy; he just quietly moved away from things that alarmed him. He was always great with small kids, and we had visitors say ‘thank you, my kid is scared of dogs and Winston has helped them move past that’. He was just a big soft silly boy.

All his life, his unusual shape and scale prompted strangers to stop and ask “what is he?” Just yesterday on his last walk, some passers by told us he was probably half husky or malamute; but they had not seen his glossy black early years. At the very popular Kingston dog beach a man once declared him “Best On Beach” – quite an honour.

This morning Winston was put to sleep at home, and he went with a peacefulness and gentleness that suited his life. We have 14 years of stories which we’ll keep telling to keep his memory alive.

Point to Pub/Pinnacle 2024

On Sunday morning Elf walked 10km uphill with her workmates, from Wrest Point Casino to the Ferntree Tavern in the 2024 Point to Pub. Michael and I set off at the same time and walked the same route but kept going to the top of Mt Wellington/kunanyi in the Point to Pinnacle.

Michael is an old hand at walking up the mountain but this was his first P2P. I have just dug through the records to find this was my 4th after going with Elf in 200o and on my own in 2001 and 2009. Michael and I finished in just under four hours (03:56:36 for the record). 

It was mild and a bit muggy, and rain was predicted so I was carrying a raincoat and thermal top. You don't want to be wet on the mountain when the wind gets up, things can turn serious very quickly. It was a warm day but it's 5-8° cooler up there than down in town. Anyway I didn't need them, the weather was pretty much perfect all the way to the top. Elf was a bit too warm down at Ferntree, and when he got back to Wrest Point later it felt like Sydney down there.

The route for everyone starts with a gradual climb into town along Sandy Bay Road, then a left turn at Mr Pizza [it closed in 1987 but lives on in my heart] and then a quite steep stretch up Byron Street which always spreads out the field. Michael and I left Elf and her crew behind here.

At the Aberfeldy Hotel [now The Chowk] you stop climbing and turn left into Davey St. Nearly all Hobart's major city streets start flat and end up in the hills; Davey St becomes Huon Road which once was the highway to the Huon Valley. After a flat stretch we climbed steadily and were going well when we got to the Skyline Servo where the first water station was. We'd decided to rely on water stations rather than carry our own and that worked out well. The Skyline is up the hill above our house pretty much.

Looking at this there aren't many flat bits!

The runners started an hour after us, and the leaders passed us when we'd walked about 8km. 

I find running culture very foreign. I love a quiet morning jog on my own, but I actually recoil from organised serious running. The Point to Pinnacle wouldn't exist without that culture so I do appreciate that it provides this event for walkers, alongside the hardcore "World’s Toughest Road Half Marathon". 

I stopped for a toilet break at The Springs and Michael waited for me. According to the stats we were 657th at 15km, going past the Organ Pipes. By this time some of the runners were jogging back down and yelling encouragement, which was nice.

After we restarted I don't think many people passed us, and we were travelling well. I was often surprised to see a KM marker coming so soon after the last one. Going up past the Chalet and around Big Bend we passed heaps of people and I realised we had a good chance of getting in under four hours. 

At the end we were 521st and 522nd of 1045, i.e. right in the middle of the field. We passed 135 people in the last 6km! Here's us (on the right) trying to make sure we get in under 4 hours.

And here is the king of the mountain casually strolling over the finish line.

Things were pretty well organised at the top. Buses were waiting with our gear and others were ready to take us back down, that seemed to go smoothly at the pinnacle. Not so much down at the pub; where Elf had a long wait for her bus. We all had vouchers for drink and food, and the pub elected to only offer beer – which seems shonky.

But reunited down at the casino we were given a good feed, a choice of drinks and even an ice cream. Then we just had to walk up one more hill to get back to the car. A god day anmd I'm glad we all did it together(ish).

Birchip, Victoria

I have never been to Birchip, Victoria, but I have flown over it in my mind thanks to the satellites; and this is what I saw and heard.

• Watercolour paintings 70x70mm
• Animation added in Adobe AfterEffects 
• Sound elements from the incredible free archive at freesound.org 
• 405240__guyburns__small-town-5.mp3
• 649815__fran-freesound__fran_lamp_car_approaches_dirt_road.wav
• 156828__the_yura__small-tractor.wav
• 231303__metalman101__cockatoo-flyby-01.wav 
• 636863__alex_hears_things__early-morning-birds.wav 
• License: Creative Commons 0

Instagram plug

I have a big post to write about a trip to Melbourne Michael and I just made. We had a really good time although it was quite flat out. That is coming soon.

Meanwhile … I don’t know if I have plugged my Instagram on here. It’s social media and so it’s not everyone’s cup of tea, but this is how I do it: it’s a photo album of things I see, occasionally things I paint, and once in a blue moon, things I animate. 

There’s no FOMO because I never go anywhere exciting; but do let me know if you think I’ve missed a good letterbox somewhere in Hobart. There’s usually no people in my photos, so it’s not a good way to catch up on what the family are doing etc. And I usually write nothing at all but I’m always happy to answer questions. Here’s my posts for May.

Tiny home improvement

We have suddenly become the owners of a lot of power tools. Mum and Dad are on the move to a smaller home and Dad has to find new homes for a lifetime of tools.

We have just a small tin shed, which has had a variety of garden stuff crammed into it over the last 15 or so years. It leaks so its not a great power tool destination, but I think they will be fine if they are up high.

I was cleaning it out yesterday and on the spur of the moment I decided to turn some old decking into a floor. Its sitting up on some risers made of garden stakes. I took this very much D grade handyman job into the realms of C minus by adding a shelf.

It's a measure of my very limited abilities that I am quite pleased with this improvement.

Overdue life update

It's high time I get some fresh news in here, its been a long long time.

A quick wrap on the end of 2023

Elf was quite sick of her job at a small insurance law firm, and at the end of the year set about finding a new one. She had two interviews and was offered both jobs; and chose a firm called TFR. They are in a classic old Macquarie Street sandstone palace very close to my office. It's a full time job (the previous was 4 days with occasional bursts of 5).

Marcus was dispatched for about 10 weeks at the end of the year to New York, working out of his Hong Kong company's global HQ. He loved New York to bits, and definitely enjoyed not being hot and humid every minute he was outside. He went skydiving! His cousin Karri flew over to explore NY, and stayed with Marcus a few days. Then they went on an adventure by train up to Niagara Falls. After that they flew home together for Christmas in Hobart.

Michael lived at a residential college for his 2nd year of his arts degree, not far from our house. It was a mixed success. It did him good to get out of the house for a while and socialise with a different group, but it wasn't a great year academically. He was also doing front-of-house training at a social enterprise cafe called Hamlet, and doing a lot of driving practice on his Ls.

What was I doing? The usual, I guess. My job is undemanding but not stressful and I am happy with that balance. I work in a small team of 4 in an office big enough for 16, and we all get on really well. I think we generate a lot of turnover for the agency so the rest of the place tends to let us get on with it. I've got my little paintings, occasional outdoor soccer on Sunday and indoor on Wednesday.

Winston is a big old dog now. He'll be 14 in March. He is on 3 daily medications to help his arthritis and his laboured breathing. His back legs are prone to weakness. Normal stairs are impossible for him now, but if they are widely spaced like our front steps he can push himself up with his back legs together.

Ruby and Coco have settled into a steady life of minor crime which does not vary much from month to month.

Early 2024 news

Elf's new job was very quiet to begin with until the boss came back from an extended Christmas break overseas. Now it is very full-on, and the earlier start means we can't walk in to work together (we have been, but I have to scramble at the home end then kill time at the work end). But Elf is glad she made the move, she is enjoying the people, including two she knew socially already.

Marcus had such a busy time in Hobart over Christmas that we didn't see all that much of him. But we had seen him in Hong Kong in August, and we will again, so the most important thing was for him to go back to work crammed full of happy memories and re-connections with his mates here. He has just been to the highlands of Vietnam for 4 days with two friends, and he loved it. He is learning plenty at work and is given plenty of responsibility. The next big thing is another work trip to London. While there he is going to get together with cousin Miah (now studying music in Liverpool) and together visit the Swiss cousins in Winterthur.

Michael has had a really progressive few months. He didn't pass his first driving test, but he and we were keen for him to try again pretty soon. He did the test in Marcus's car this time; and passed! So he's under his own steam on four wheels now. We had only just got home from the test, flushed with success, when he took a call asking him to come to a job interview, his first ever. The interview went well and he's now been offered that job, as a dining assistant at a fancy hotel on the waterfront. He'll seat diners, set and clear tables etc. The job was organised through Hamlet – hopefully he'll start work soon. Michael's also doing a new course at Hamlet, currently he's making a lot of coffee. He's taking a year off from his degree and living at home. It's lovely for us and our many pets to see him every day.

Winston had a bad time in January. 5 months ago we switched him from one of his daily medicines to a monthly injection. In retrospect he had an awkward few days after each of those vet visits. This time his back legs collapsed and he seemed really poorly. We had his harness on him around the clock as he could not get up unaided. (I thought we were seeing his final days; as once we all went back to work he would be alone at home and I didn't think that was fair to him in his immobile state. The slope of our yard meant at times he was tumbling right down to the front gate with no way to get back up.) 

Meanwhile Elf never gave up; she had faith his strength would come back. He did seem a fraction stronger each day. On occasions we would see Winston lying down, then later see him staggering along somewhere else. Then one morning we finally saw him get himself up off the bed! (It was an excellent omen as that was the day Michael aced his driving test.) 

We have sworn off that new medication and he has continued to be a basically healthy but quite old dog. He's still keen for walks, and people still stop us and ask "what is he?" – although often afterwards his legs are quite weak for hours. I do not think he's going to see another Christmas really, but for now he's living his best elderly life.

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As mentioned above, Miah is on an exchange studying music in Liverpool, UK. The circle of cousins is widening – although she will be back later in the year. And Bea in Switzerland intends to study marine biology in Townsville. Marcus has learned that he is entitled to work remotely for 2 months of the year as long as he has access to fast secure internet - maybe he'll be able to do that from home? Not sure yet.

My mum and dad are moving into an independent living unit at Queenborough Rise in Sandy Bay. The process is underway but might take a couple of months. They are doing a good job sorting out decades of collected stuff; their own and their parents'. They'll have much less space, but there is an enclosed garage; mum has a plan to keep making art there. They had a general garage sale over two weekends in  November; now it's time for a specific art studio sale, which will be over the next two weekends. 

And that brings us more or less up to date!