Current Bad Habit

Confession time. I have a bad habit that I am currently doing that I really shouldn't. Something that I never did back in Australia or elsewhere, but one which I have picked up here due to the circumstances.

My sin. Testing out my aim throwing rocks.

Innocent enough. Unfortunately my aim is being tested by the moving targets of scampering dogs. To be more precisely one dog, the neighbours across the road.

Explanation. Every afternoon upon coming home I find this bloody dog hiding behind the plants on my front porch. It seems to have taken a fancy to sleeping there. The first couple of times I just shooed it away, with a "piss off". That worked, but then it gets cocky and will run halfway across the street, stop, start scratching itself while smugly looking at me. Cocksure bloody thing! At this point I find the nearest stone to pick up and take aim, by which time it has scampered over to its own house across the street.

I usually missed by a long margin, but still managed to get a satisfying yelping sound out of the mongrel. All you have to do is throw a stone anywhere in it's vicinity and it will run off with a yelp.

That was how it started and unfortunately it never learnt it's lesson. It keeps returning and being more cocky. Although now it will, upon hearing me crunch the gravel walking up to the door, bolt out when I get close to it. My habit is getting worse though. Missing it was not enough. I wanted to hit it. So it has now progressed to me being ready upon walking home, finding a couple stones along the way, and being ready to rapid fire when it flies out.

Yesterday I managed to score. Once at close range and then another at a longer range while it was nearly across the road. Good throws really. Satisfying.

Is this wrong, to enjoy throwing stones at a dog? I mean I don't hate animals. I love them. But up here there are some dogs that really shit me. Maybe that is because there are so many and they make a hell of a noise at night barking and carrying on. Also the dog belongs to the neighbours across the road who really get up my nerves by having loud lotu (prayer sessions) at ungodly hours. Early morning around 6, or at 10 or 11 at night. Because it is still at that time, their singing, clapping and pounding on the floor noise travels straight across to my bedroom, cheesing me off. Taking aim at my dog is a satisfying 'get-back'.

I have been trying to teach Patches to rausim the thing. But so far it is just content to sleep nearby and wait until me or Martin returns home. You would think that my place being in her territory that she would be all over it in a flash, but no, she only starts to chase it once I am throwing stones.

I might have to try that old trick of leaving a plastic water bottle half full of water lying there, to see if that keeps it away. I have never worked out if that works or not. Maybe this is a good time to try and maybe that might stop me from my bad habit.