Early Risers.

[iL Dottore]

Morning All,

 

let’s hope George gets the treatment he needs and makes a full recovery.

 

Fortunately, Mrs iD and I don’t have to worry about covering vet bills  (which is just as well given that Lucy’s last little adventure cost north of £900), so the only criteria we have in regards to vet care is: “will it keep Lucy/Schotty happy and free of pain”  Our dogs are getting older and there will come a day when they’ll be blind or deaf or incontinent or suffer from dementia BUT if they are happy, enjoying their existence and are in no pain then we’ll just manage it.

 

We have an acquaintance who has a 14 year old Kooikerhondje (also called Lucy) who is partly deaf and blind (she recently had eye surgery), slightly demented and occasionally incontinent of urine at night. And she is the happiest little dog - quite content to explore our house by smell and then curl up for a snooze when she (and mistress) came to visit.

 

I hope that my Lucy (and Schotty, of course) will grow equally old equally happily. But we are adamant that if either doggie is so ill or in such pain that treatment will bring no benefit or quality of life then we will say goodbye. No matter the (emotional) cost to us.

[Kelly]

Morning all.

 

I've actually remembered this place exists, plus am awake in the morning.

 

All is mostly good here. Poppy is her usual one moment snoring, next moment tigger impersonator (though in truth she is nowhere near as bonkers as she used to be, when she used to use the living room for wall of death antics). The house move preperations took another step forward, and one backwards yesterday when we got over to my flat finally. Managed to do more packing and tidying, only to discover the cieling in the bathroom had collapsed, due to a leak upstairs most likely, that will be fun to deal with, wet sand and ceiling board everywhere, making the wet room unusable. Hopefully by the end of the month or early next month should be ready to move the big items across and then it will just be final clearing and tidying ready to hand over the keys and bid farewell to what is quickly turning into a headache of a housing association.

 

I hope George the cat makes a good recovery. Vet bills can soon add up, pet insurance is definitely worth its while, though with pre-existing conditions the 200/m for medication will still need to be found (though it should be noted you can get just the prescription from the vet and order online far cheaper than directly from the vet and perfectly legal, I believe Natalie does this for Bracken's insulin injections?).

 

Also hope Keith's head isn't too sore after his mishap, ouch!

[Barry O]

Ey up!

 

Managed to stop a six last night by catching the ball with my forearm. Ouch!  A ibuprofen tablet was taken and I slept well.

@AndrewCsorry to hear of the health problems  with George. Hope it all stays calm.

 

@Erichill16 was it planned or have you had enough?

 

Not a nice thing to be greeted with @Kelly.. hope youcan conclude the move as soon and as painlessly as you can.

 

Visitotochez Baz expected today. This may involve sawing and fitting of bits of wood  to provide the base for things we don't talk about here.

 

Lots of missing ERs at the moment, I hope they are well!

 

Mugatea to drink so TTFN

 

Baz

[grandadbob]

Good morning all,

Quite frosty here and currently 2°C.  A fine, dry, sunny but cool day is forecast.

I was having a good night's sleep until the foxes started "enjoying" themselves.

Brownie points were awarded yesterday for oven cleaning.  The new one is a lot easier to clean than its predecessor.  We're still waiting for the new hob ordered at the beginning of November. Delivery date keeps getting put back, now expected on 10th February.  The supplier showed me his order book the other day with loads of appliances overdue.  Lots of customers with holes in their kitchens and many cancelling orders to try obtain  elsewhere although in most cases they can't get their preferred option.  Various reasons including shortage of chips, lorry drivers, Covid & Brexit.  Good job our old hob still works.

 

16 hours ago, Barry O said:

Now to winthe lottery

 

I don't normally do the Eurolottery but "invested " £5 last night and have won £6.70!  Yippeee!

 

Today we're picking up Abbie to visit a local cricket club to have a look at their function room in which we're hoping to hold a 50th birthday party for Nicki in April.  Finding it hard to accept that my "little girl" is reaching that milestone this year. 

 

Have good one,

Bob.

Edited January 12, 2022 by grandadbob

[monkeysarefun]

After outliving 3 dogs I saw the light and got a parrot. I've had him 11 years now and with 30 to 40 left in him he'll probably outlive me and hence become a family heirloom.

Unlike a dog he does actually greet me with a cheery "good morning!" each morning, though lately he has picked up "Die, Die,Die!" from somewhere which is a little unsettling when he sits in his cage repeating it in the evenings.

 

Given  longevity was what I was  after I may have been better off getting a Galapagos Tortoise. They might have the same psychopathic thoughts  that my parrot seems to have,  but I can at least outrun one.

Edited January 12, 2022 by monkeysarefun

[Kelly]

30 minutes ago, Barry O said:

Not a nice thing to be greeted with @Kelly.. hope youcan conclude the move as soon and as painlessly as you can.

 

 

 

Indeed not, especially after it is the second such occurance, the previous time, just before the pandemic the ceiling for the gas room collapsed due to upstairs boiler leaking. Took the housing association a good 6 months to fully fix the ceiling, and even then they didn't bother to fix the light fixture until months after when they insisted on a full flat electrical safety test, which was fine (and found one of the sockets in the front room was dodgy!). We'll be back over to the flat Sunday, to ring them on Monday and see what is going on, I've left a key with the neighbour as he's going to get them to check his bathroom.  At least this collapse didn't damage/destroy anything like the last one did!

 

I'll be glad when the moving is all dealt with and then we can focus on sorting things out and settling down properly. I'm sure Poppy will be happier to have me around permanently.

[Kelly]

2 minutes ago, monkeysarefun said:

After outliving 3 dogs I saw the light and got a parrot. I've had him 11 years now and with 30 to 40 left in him he'll probably outlive me and hence become a family heirloom.

Unlike a dog he does actually greet me with a cheery "good morning!" each morning, though lately he has picked up "Die, Die,Die!" from somewhere which is a little unsettling when he sits in his cage repeating it in the evenings.

Given  longevity was what I was  after I may have been better off getting a Galapagos Tortoise. They might have the same psychopathic thoughts as my parrot seems to,  but I can at least outrun one.

 

The problems arise if you had the parrot and tortoise conspiring together against you. Though your last line did remind me of Small Gods by Pratchett, though I don't think a parrot could manage to lift a Galapagos Tortoise to drop on you... well not unless it was a very large parrot or a unusually small tortoise...

[jamie92208]

Good moaning from a cool but bright Charente. Sorry to hear about George's problems and Kelly's flat.  Not nice. Erichill I hope that you are OK.  If it's club politics you have my sympathy. I bear scars.

 

I did a good deed yesterday afternoon and shifted 15 barrowcloads of logs for some friends. Their timber merchant had dumped them in thr wrong place and neither if them can even carry one log up the hill to the house let alone 2 stere of them.  It was hard work but my muscles aren't complaining too much this morning.  We go through nearly a barrow load a day and my next task after coffee is to get 3 more barrow loads from the woodshed to the verandah. Good exercise. Then it's time to ring Brittany Ferries as the amended ticket hasn't arrived. Earlier this week that involved an hours wait on hold.  After an early lunch things get better as I'm off trainspotting with Andy.

 

Regards to all.

 

Jamie

Edited January 12, 2022 by jamie92208

[polybear]

8 hours ago, tetsudofan said:

 

For me it was the other way around, a lump of metal slipped of the roof and bounced off my head:

 

 

Got carted off to the local injuries clinic to get cleaned up and then taken to the nearest A & E to be checked over, waited for 4 hours to see a doctor and then another 3 hour wait for a head scan. Declared fit and well and discharged at 1 am in the morning.....

 

Keith

 

Ouch Now if we were playing "who's got the best scar/wound" then you'd win paws down...

 

In other news.....

Another late start for Bear - but a bit better (or is that worse?) than yesterday.

 

Bear's Daily Newsflash:

Now if this isn't grounds for booting him out; the "agent" excuse is no defence in this Bear's book cos' presumably ND had to sign the paperwork - and as for the admission of not isolating when he knew he was positive....

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/sport/tennis/novak-djokovic-blames-agent-for-australian-paperwork-mistake-and-admits-not-isolating-after-positive-covid-result/ar-AASGqNV?ocid=msedgntp

 

Hmm, nice Surgeon....

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/uknews/surgeon-who-burned-initials-onto-livers-is-struck-off-medical-register/ar-AASFSOt?ocid=msedgntp

 

Not for the news article (which is very sad) - scroll down for an amusing (and unrelated) doggie video:

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/newslondon/man-woman-and-their-dog-killed-after-their-mini-smashes-into-bmw-in-waltham-abbey/ar-AASFcW2?ocid=msedgntp

[TheQ]

Mooring Awl, Inner Temple Hare.

4.5 hours sleep followed by three hours intermittent dozing, with the emphasis on the Dozing.. So not too bad a night.

 

Right stiffness and pain in achilles has spread to the calf..

 

Dreich practically all day yesterday, clear skies and frosty this morning, landrover started before walking Ben. Ben found a smell  interesting to follow and disappeared into an area he doesn't normally go. He spent some time in there snuffling around...

Ice mostly defrosted by the time it was exit stage left onto the road, the wipers cleared that.

 

Drat, I sneezed and moved a lot, it caused the 10G Ohms value  to change by 11 ppm, got to wait for it to settle again..

 

I've got three bits of kit running at the moment, it's a bit busy here at the moment..

 

Time to ... Move something on..

 

 

[AndrewC]

10 hours ago, brianusa said:

 

Something no pet owner wants to learn.  But having a pet is like any other responsibility, they rely on you for their well being and if you care for them enough, you respond.  Its no good having a fair weather animal where everything is OK all the time; its when you are faced with situation like this which costs!  If you love him enough you'll go along with it!

   Brian.

My comment may have come across as a bit heartless. Rest assured as Brian said, we love George enough to make sure he is well cared for and there is no question of dealing with the costs. It was more of a bit of a moan with regards to just how much it was going to increase. We are hoping the vet will allow for a third party source for the prescription. One of his other drugs is available from the vet at around £70 per litre. It is identical to the over the counter laxative for humans which we can get for £9 per litre from the local pharmacy. 

 

One of the big downsides of adopting/rescuing older cats is the non-availability of pet insurance. Our vet offers a policy but has to start before the critter is 18 months old. Most other companies won't insure a cat more than 2. What we did was take the highest quote we could find for a 2 year old cat, and we've dumped that amount into a savings account monthly, ever since. That has taken care of all our vet costs ever since. 

 

When we adopted the last 3 from Celia Hammond, we made the decision to not burden them with George's vet treatments. Then again, he wasn't expected to live for another 10 1/2 years. (so far)  PDSA is a great organisation and we regularly donate to them. They exist to ensure that pet owners on the lower income scales can have some security. Not sure if they'll cover such high cost medicine over more than a couple of months though. 

 

On that note, I'll drift back into obscurity again for a few more weeks. I may have to grab a large bucket of popcorn to watch the fallout from Hornby v Rapido/Studio Canal. 

 

Enjoy the day. 

[TheQ]

12 minutes ago, AndrewC said:

 

 

One of the big downsides of adopting/rescuing older cats is the non-availability of pet insurance. Our vet offers a policy but has to start before the critter is 18 months old. Most other companies won't insure a cat more than 2. What we did was take the highest quote we could find for a 2 year old cat, and we've dumped that amount into a savings account monthly, ever since. That has taken care of all our vet costs ever since. 

 

 

Enjoy the day. 

Many years ago when we had six dogs, the "Petplan"  or equivalent would have cost a fortune. So we did the same put the amount of money into an account and it accumulated.. Needless to say after having six dogs all their lives and only one needing one short operation, there is quite an amount in there to cover anything Ben the Border Collie might need.

 

The only Insurance we had was third party,, you could have up to 20 dogs have them run out in front of a Rolls Royce and a school bus and you were covered.. The Cost? £20 a year...

[The Lurker]

17 hours ago, Tony_S said:

What happens then if there is no record after all these years?

I expect they will have to write off the balances ... we have a meeting later today to find out!

 

[The Lurker]

Greetings all from a slightly frosty Sidcup - but Mrs Lurker doesn't work today so she took Younger Lurker to school and had to scrape the car!

 

Work continues to be an archaeological trawl of old e-mails and spreadsheets - as mentioned above.

I think someone in group finance had a clever idea a few years ago before leaving because I have a record of all the journals I advised them to post since 2008 - and a summary of the 2007 ones too - and the biggest hole dates to 2017 and is not from me! Oh well, that will be10c off the share price!

 

Not a lot else to report today - so have a good one

[PhilJ W]

Morning all from Estuary-Land. I hope to get down to the MRC this evening as subs are due. A slight increase this year, the first increase for many a long year. First thing though this morning is put the kettle on, be back after muggatee (or three)

[AndrewC]

2 hours ago, iL Dottore said:

Morning All,

 

let’s hope George gets the treatment he needs and makes a full recovery.

 

Sadly, there is no recovery. With megacolon in cats it is an ongoing deterioration. The cat's colon gets blocked then it stretches out like a balloon. The immediate fix is to do a manual cleaning under anaesthesia. The issue there is every time this is done it leaves the cat with further weakened muscles around the colon. George has now had 6. Eventually it gets to the point where there is no way for the poor critter to poo. At that point it is best to put the cat down. Using laxatives, diet, and as a last resort cicipride, the colon can be kept going. This is where we are now with George. There is a last resort of resection surgery but sadly George isn't a candidate due to lack of healthy colon remaining. As Kelly mentioned, we will try to find a less expensive source for the cicipride. Not holding my breath though. 

 

 

 

 

[Winslow Boy]

14 minutes ago, The Lurker said:

Greetings all from a slightly frosty Sidcup - but Mrs Lurker doesn't work today so she took Younger Lurker to school and had to scrape the car!

 

Work continues to be an archaeological trawl of old e-mails and spreadsheets - as mentioned above.

I think someone in group finance had a clever idea a few years ago before leaving because I have a record of all the journals I advised them to post since 2008 - and a summary of the 2007 ones too - and the biggest hole dates to 2017 and is not from me! Oh well, that will be10c off the share price!

 

Not a lot else to report today - so have a good one

 

Oh I do like it when someone has a bright idea and then leaves. At which of course its found that a) no ones understands the 'bright idea' and b) the piece of paper on which the 'bright idea' was explain seems 'mysteriously' to have disappeared.

 

Always remember the best piece of advice given to me by my old mum, ex civil servant, write everything down and that s somewhere there will be a precedence that you can refer.

 

Did pass this pearl of wisdom onto my underlings whether they took any notice is another thing. Nowadays unless it comes on a screen it seems to much effort to actually go and check what their predecessors did with quill pen and parchment.

[Gwiwer]

Good Morning all,  

 

And a good one it appears to be outside the windows Upon the Hill of Strawberries.  Shiny-thing is doing it stuff and the temperature has enough degrees in it to allow the windows to be opened half-way.  

 

Dr. SWMBO has returned to work-from-home with His Pawsship attending her Zoom conferences as has become his custom.  Launwet is slowly becoming laundry and I need to take stock of supplies prior to firming up this week's Ocado order.  There are a few "overs and shorts" still in the system from the festive period and our three days away slightly upset the balance of things.  We even acquired an extra cabbage which no-one claimed upon leaving Somerset!  

 

Once matters domestic are  taken care of it's still my week of Annual Leave and shall be treated as such.  As it's such a good day the cameras might be taken out for a drive to somewhere of interest.  

 

 

[simontaylor484]

Morning all

 

Had a bit of a panic this morning woke up and Rolo the dachshund wasn't in his bed next to the radiator in our bedroom. Started to search the house and eventually found him curled up at the foot of the eldests bed panic over.

 

[Tony_S]

29 minutes ago, simontaylor484 said:

Started to search the house and eventually found him curled up at the foot of the eldests bed panic over.

Robbie had his dog bed in the utility room but he often curled up against the refrigerator in the kitchen. There isn’t a door between the kitchen and utility room. However if the kitchen hadn’t been shut properly he could be found at the foot of the stairs. 
However his favourite place was probably as shown in this photo.

[Kelly]

19 minutes ago, Tony_S said:

Robbie had his dog bed in the utility room but he often curled up against the refrigerator in the kitchen. There isn’t a door between the kitchen and utility room. However if the kitchen hadn’t been shut properly he could be found at the foot of the stairs. 
However his favourite place was probably as shown in this photo.

 

 

Poppy has a dog bed somewhere... but she rarely uses it, we long ago lost the fight over the sofa and the bed. The moment she can, she will go curl up on the bed upstairs at Richard's. She likes her comfortable places.

[PupCam]

Morning All!

 

Up at the crack of sparrows (well for us at least) dropping a wheeled metal box off at the local garage for service and MOT.   

It was tricky getting in; -2C and all the doors frozen solid but slowly, slowly with the de-icer catchy monkey!

 

Back home for breakfast and, as it's a beautiful day prepare to get Mondog loaded with old shed.    Walk into bathroom, slip on recently washed floor and go-over on my right ankle.  Two impact points; left knee and left elbow accompanied by loud thud as Puppers ends up in a big heap on the floor (I must stop doing this whatever the cause!).  Right ankle really painful and currently slightly swollen.    I can move my foot and toes and just about put weight on it.     We await developments ......

 

Consequently, Tidy Tip runs cancelled and I feel a day of sitting down is in order.     Perhaps I'll investigate the use of the Canon camera body with the Sharpcap astronomy software I use.    A quick Google last night revealed that it's not just plug the USB lead in    Oh well, it's something to do and as you know, I enjoy doing "technical".       With a bit of luck that the sky remains clear, and assuming the foot is OK later, perhaps I might be able to have a better look at the moon this evening?

 

TTFNQ

 

Alan

[polybear]

3 hours ago, AndrewC said:

I may have to grab a large bucket of popcorn to watch the fallout from Hornby v Rapido/Studio Canal. 

 

 

Are we missing a story here?

 

1 hour ago, Winslow Boy said:

Did pass this pearl of wisdom onto my underlings whether they took any notice is another thing. Nowadays unless it comes on a screen it seems to much effort to actually go and check what their predecessors did with quill pen and parchment.

 

Such wisdom is often screwed by the "grown ups" with bright ideas such as "paper days" and the clearing of as much worth-it's-weight-in-gold paperwork as possible.

 

28 minutes ago, PupCam said:

Back home for breakfast and, as it's a beautiful day prepare to get Mondog loaded with old shed.    Walk into bathroom, slip on recently washed floor and go-over on my right ankle.  Two impact points; left knee and left elbow accompanied by loud thud as Puppers ends up in a big heap on the floor (I must stop doing this whatever the cause!).  Right ankle really painful and currently slightly swollen.    I can move my foot and toes and just about put weight on it.     We await developments ......

 

 

SBT's to Puppers  Please tell me it's not your kickstart foot - now that would be serious.....

p.s. Where there's blame there's a claim - was a "Caution - wet floor, which may be slippery" sign warning of impending doom placed in a suitable position?  Thought not....

 

Bear's morning has so far consisted of (a) ironing a pair of jeans (b) printing off a couple of pages of A4 (c) inspecting a partially finished Stuart Turner 10V Steam Engine I purchased off the internet (not the 'bay) about a week ago - very nice work so far, though I've discovered there is no piston in the (finished) cylinder bore, nor steam valve inside the steam chest.  Turdycurses.

 

And finally.....

That's it - bang 'im up.....

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/uknews/novak-djokovic-facing-five-years-in-jail-if-found-to-have-lied-about-positive-covid-test/ar-AASH4ml?ocid=msedgntp

Edited January 12, 2022 by polybear

[iL Dottore]

1 hour ago, PupCam said:

….Walk into bathroom, slip on recently washed floor and go-over on my right ankle.  Two impact points; left knee and left elbow accompanied by loud thud as Puppers ends up in a big heap on the floor (I must stop doing this whatever the cause!).  Right ankle really painful and currently slightly swollen.    I can move my foot and toes and just about put weight on it.     We await developments ......

Oh dear, that’s not good. I think that you have two possibilities to choose from:

1. Keeping the leg and foot elevated, ice packs to knee and ankle (bags of frozen peas wrapped in a tea towel will do the trick) and a NSAID - e.g. ibuprofen. OR
2. A cigarette, a match, a snifter of brandy and a loaded Webley

Personally, I would recommend (1), although some unkind souls (especially close relatives who stand to inherit) might suggest (2).

Edited January 12, 2022 by iL Dottore

[New Haven Neil]

Morning - just.  Out early doors for yet another blood test - think there was some left.

 

Now 10c outside in a lovely spring day - weird.

 

Our old cat used the same methodology as Tony's Robbie....

 

 

Off out again soon to solicitors to alter our wills, one of those things ignored for too long, there have been a lot of changes in our world since we last updated them.  Then Mrs NHN off to blood donors, I'm not allowed to give at the moment unfortunately, not that there's much left in there currently.