Oopsy-Daisy

Last week was hectic, and I have much to blog about but my energy has been pretty much sapped lately. So I'll just share a funny little story to let you know that I'm still alive.

Yesterday I arranged for an educator at Moshaweng to give me a ride to the creche at the far, far western edge of the village. We stopped at my house for me to load a package into the bed of her bakkie and then took off, rumbling down the road. Shaka took off with us. I assumed he'd get tired and turn around eventually, but after we had gone pretty far and he was still keeping up with us M'am suggested that we give him a ride in the back. Her dogs did it all the time, no problem. We stopped, I picked up Shaka and loaded him up. We continued on our merry way.

It seemed like Shaka was having a great time in the back at first. He hung his head around the side to catch the wind. He put his paws up on the roof of the cab and looked over. M'am and I thought it was hilarious. We were driving slowly, and watching his antics when he suddenly leaned over one side of the truck, seemed to stare straight at ground for a moment, and then slipped right over the edge. There was one quick yelp and then silence. M'am stopped the truck and I leapt out, prepared for a bloody mess, but Shaka just stood by the roadside, tail tucked between his legs. I called him, he backed away. I stepped towards him, he stepped away. I think he was afraid I'd try to put him back in the bakkie. We left him there, assuming he'd find his way home.

By the time I arrived home that evening, Shaka was there too. With no motor vehicles in sight, he let me near him. I inspected him for injuries and saw nothing too serious. One paw was a little bloody where he lost a nail, so he's limping a bit, but overall he's fine albeit slightly traumatized and probably happy to never ride in a vehicle again.

Shaka's road accident was the icing on the cake of, err, a dramatic week in Loopeng. I'll try to write about that soon, but in the meantime I've still got spiders to ruthlessly murder and papers to mark.