" I may be gone some time."

Just a quickie to say ...
I'm working really hard on learning how to do this blogging thing. There's so much fun to be had ...if you understand how! I've started making another blog for my piccies and I'm going to try to get the size right from the start this time, cos I just CAN'T get it right here!

Here's one from the achives. A feezing cold and fiercly windy but incredibly beautiful November afternoon at Boscombe.

Well I've had a most productive and pleasant day. The kennel routine went well, plus a nice new bed for Hugo and three dogs groomed before it got too hot to be pleasant for them. If left to my own devices, I manage perfectly fine without getting wound up. I should have been a hermit! LOL

Then I got on with the rest of my life........

First things first .... Kudos to Kev, who came up with the answer for removing the filter from my lens. What a guy !!

Virgin Mobiles haven't faired quite so well in my estimation. I did receive a call from a techie manager, before I called them and gave them a piece of my mind! He did make me go thru some diagnostics before finally agreeing that it ( or I ) was a lost cause and he did arrange the courier to pick up and replace the offending BlackBerry phone. So, with luck and a following wind, on Thursday I should be in possession af a receptacle for my calls.

Thor is my Icelandic horse. Not sure I've introduced him before. He's a sweetie and will feature here largely, regardless of his diminutive size. Today was the day of the farrier. I will post a pic, but it is a very old one. I have lots of pics of the farrier at work. This one is not a great pic, but it makes me smile every time I look at it. My farrier has been my farrier for er.... 17 years, he's a hunk, funny and very very good at his job. His heart and soul and a very large part of his wealth, are in my horse's feet. His company name is "Hoof Hearted" ..... and so that is the title of this particular pic. ;o)

With the farriery completed I shot off to the shops and was a very bad person. I treated myself to a new bag. I'm sure I'll live to rue the day ... but hey!

I nipped home to see to the doggies and heaved dear Minty into the car and off to the vets. Minty is a 13 year old puppy of mine who comes to stay here at Muttlins, with her friend Nonny (an eight year old puppy of mine), usually a couple of times a year. This year she's having nursing care. She ruptured a cruciate ligament a while ago and had to have it replaced. She was eight weeks into her recovery when she ruptured the repair! So only a week before her holiday she had to have a second operation. Today was the due date for her post-op re-examination. My wonderful vet rubbed his chin and frowned. Not a good sign in such a cheerful chap. Well ... Minty is quite an age for such an injury, and it seems there's a chance she may not get perfect movement back in the limb. The vet gave me instructions for the next two weeks exercise and physio regime and wrote up his notes to Minty's own vet , many miles away. We're up to three ten minute walks a day, stretching exercises and two swimming sessions a week. We HAVE to get some muscle back onto her wasted little leg.

I don't know what the temperatures were today, but it was very very hot and by the time I got home at about half sixish, I was drenched and drained if that makes sense, and was so grateful to sit down with me lappy and me blog. I figured out how to become a Follower. Now I'm off to try to understand how to do the links thing so I can join in some of the fun here. The next job has to be making my page fit .... I really must do it!! LOL

Oh ... BTW .... Mom phoned me twice today, but not much sense could be made of either. I don't mind a bit, cos she was back to her bright and chirpy self again. She can talk nonsense as much as she likes, as long as she's smiling!

My watery grave

I'm shattered.
The past few days have been much too awful to blog. I'm being used, abused and taken advantage of and they ain't gonna be satisfied till I've accomplished the impossible.
Had to escape to Poole again this week.   It has the most wonderful relaxing effect on me. Even playing in Photoshop with the pics I take there engrosses me enough to forget the grief I'm getting from the family, and the demands of chums.  I'm thinking it might become appropriate to change me will and have my ashes scattered in the harbour. Living here's way too expensive to contemplate, but I could definitely be dead here ;o)

I took snaps of kids playing in the water while the almost full moon rose. As I left the waterfront and headed up the hill for home, the moonshine caught my eye and I stopped, got the gear back out and set up the tripod again!!  Grinning.

An unexpectedly nice day.

Another glorious morning. So nice to get out early with the doggies in shorts and a T .... that's me in the shorts and T, not the doggies.
Had a little problem with my connection last night. Technology and I do not sit well together, you may have gathered. As a result last nights blog didn't get posted. So here it is ;o)

Well aren't I the brave bunny then!!
Three whopping gert fillings and no valium!
I just couldn't cope with the prospect of such a lovely day being ruined by the recovery! Didn't get anywhere near panic either. I was in the chair for nearly an hour and the only discomfort I felt was an ache in my jaw from having me mouth open for so long. LOL It was so nice to be able to go shopping afterwards and drive straight home.
I treated myself. Called in at the charity shop and bought two tops with sparkly bits .... now there's a rarity. I don't do bling! They are my colours tho...kind of muddy brown and green. And I don't do pink either, but I did today. Must be your influence Willie!! Way too big it is, and just a little bit fluffy. So right for being snuggly in when the temp drops a little bit on these gorgeous summer evenings. PINK !! Me in pink! I can't believe it. Bought a sweet little bracelet too. What ever's the matter with me. I don't wear adornments! They just don't look right with Riggers.

So that all went well.

The saga of the BlackBerry continues. Even tho yesterdays techie promised it'd be able to receive incoming calls after what he'd done .... it didn't. I phoned today to say I didn't want it and was gonna take advantage of my right to return it within 28 days. What a lovely lady. She went thru the procedure one more time and agreed ... there's something wrong with the phone. So they'll send a courier to collect it and deliver a replacement for me. How good is that.

No joy yet with releasing the filter off my lens .... but it'll have to let go eventually! Me being a bit of a Pollyanna I thought this is an ideal time to try to get along a bit better with my prime lens. So I took some snaps of my garden and some of the doggies. Got a lovely one of Gracie. Haven't got the one of the garden I've been trying for. I'll give it a go in the morning light tomorrow.

Mom and Her Wonderful Hubby had a lovely day. WH's nephew picked them up this morning, went on down to Poole and picked up another uncle and his lovely wife, and took them all back up to West Wellow for lunch and the afternoon. They had a great time. Uncle did really well, considering he had a pacemaker fitted only a couple of weeks ago. Bless him, he's a trouper.

Right....I'm off to bed with a bit of supper.. a bowl of strawberries and blueberries... how decadent is that!! LOL

Found a little visitor in the garden when I went out with the doggies for a last wander around. Judging by his smile, he was happy to be here ;o)

.

Arrggg !

My lovely new Blackberry won't work, I've got a polarising filter stuck on me favourite lens, and I've a dental appointment this afternoon.
Things'll look up soon !    LOL

Love TBB's expression in this pic ;o)

Kids or Crumblies?

Honest ... It must be just like taking three kids out. I have to go around the house to check the windows are shut and the dog's got water and the doors are locked. Then I have to go back in to get the walking sticks and a cardie. They need to be manoeuvred into the car, slowing the topple in and hoisting the legs up. Then there's the 'find the seatbelt' game. There's much passing back and forth of handbags and jackets and a general difficulty in getting settled and organised. Finally we set off to pick up our friend..... and go thru the whole process again.

Once we arrive, naturally all the disabled parking spaces are taken so we have to block the carpark whilst we disembark right outside the entrance. The temptation to linger for a ciggie when I've parked the car is strong, but I resist and catch up with the three of 'em before they cause havoc, or get separated. Trying to get two of 'em back together is bad enough ... three would be impossible.

Naturally the restaurant is at the far end of the garden center, well it would be wouldn't it? Good for business. Bad for herding giggling very old folks. Fortunately there wasn't a queue. They aren't good at decision making at the best of times, but being confronted with actual food, as opposed to a menu, was almost more than they could cope with. There was much mind changing as the line behind us grew.

Eventually we got thru and seated, and I spent minutes collecting condiments and cutlery, water and napkins and the like. It really must be like having three kids! They even got naughty. Wonderful Hubby was feeling good about himself, having received cards and phonecalls from his offspring telling him how GREAT he is and what a brilliant Dad he is .... it being Father's Day. So WH was winding the ladies up something wicked, and there's nowt worse than TWO ladies getting flattered! I couldn't help but laugh at them, and be grateful that there wasn't anyone sitting at the table next to us.

We had a little wander around after a very satisfying lunch. Our friend took advantage of one of the wheelchairs, WH claimed he wanted one too but I told him they didn't have any electric ones and I sure as hell wasn't pushing them both!

We managed to get back to our friends house without losing anyone or anything, despite a couple of attempts. Bless 'em they'd laughed so much they really were genuinely tired. Hardly surprising with a collective age of 265 !   Now why can't they be so full of the oh-be-joyfuls like that ALL the time !!

I didn't buy these this trip, but on a Crumblies jaunt to another garden center much earlier in the year. They're Iceberg, the climbing variety. Despite the doggies trying to dig the Blood Fish and Bone out from underneath them, they seem to be doing quite well so far. I like them so much I've made them VERY big :o)

Lunch for how many?!

Get me! Time for two blogs in one day. I must have forgotten to do something.

I'm very proud of myself. Mom managed to be in her most infuriating frame of mind and I didn't even begin to feel cross or even frustrated. I just gathered up the information and filed it.
She called me fairly early this morning with a really silly question...one that made absolutely no sense at all. We worked our way around it. Then she asked what was happening about lunch. So she took the phone to the diary and she read what it said for today. 'Wonderful Hubby going to shops to buy pies for lunch.' Even that wasn't quite clear enough and there was a bit of verbal fluff before Mom was happy that she understood what was happening.

When I arrived there was a liver and bacon casserole defrosting, a freshly made chicken casserole, sausages, enough mince and onions defrosted to feed a family of five, half of Thursday's lasagne and ... the meat pies.

I've done everything I can think of to avoid this and now, finally, come to the conclusion that nothing will stop this from happening. So we just have to roll with it. At least there was only one pudding. Last Wednesday there were seven! LOL

One of Moms favourite places. Christchurch harbour.

Coffee time.

So did I mention about me £4.99 BlackBerry?
You know how when the PC won't do what you want it to, you feel inclined to defenestrate it? Well I nearly did it to BB.
It'll be pilot error for sure, but knowing that doesn't help.
One of the reasons I got it was because the monthly tariff was half what I was paying. It did mean that I got only 100 minutes of calls instead of 300, but I rarely used 300 and I thought, if I am diligent and answer ALL my incoming, I shouldn't need to make so many outgoing.

Problem.
Somehow I've managed to set it to "Forward all calls" and the voicemail is picking up everything, immediately. Bugger.

I ransacked all the instruction info and found zip. I scoured the help menus and found zip. I went on line and found zip. I phoned tec help and got zip. I called the Virgin Mobile shop in town and even they couldn't help. For some reason I can't make the menu where you alter the setting do "Save" I fear I must grit my teeth, whats left of 'em, and travel far into the big town. I do not like doing this. Its all too busy busy busy for my liking. But I can't help but think that it'd take James at the VM shop less than two minutes to get the setting put right. He tried so hard and so often to talk me thru it, but it just wasn't happening for me. Still, we had a larf.

Whilst trawling thru all the folders trying to find something that looked like it might help I found something called "Status" or similar, and in it was a list of contacts with my 'device'. These contacts had titles, sometimes numbers sometimes letters. One recent one was entitled "Thick client" I had to laugh, and I'm still chuckling ;o)

Here you are Willie. Have a nice sunset from Cobbs Quay.  I'll see if I can get some new snaps for you over the weekend ;o)

48 hours of havoc.

Funny few days. I do get very upset by my dentist. I'll never understand why because he has yet to hurt me. He even anaesthetises the spot where he's going to inject the anaesthetic. Where they write up any allergies at the top of your card, he's got on mine, in red, penicillin and pain.

The morning's chores never get done right. I dash from having done half of one job to start another, only I forget what it was and dash back, get halfway and ... Blind panic basically.

I have to take a vallium just to get me there. I honestly believe I'd just not turn up without it. This time I panicked about the vallium well before I started panicking about the dentist. I discovered the pack I had was out of date, with only two days to get more. Our surgery ain't the fastest at repeat prescriptions. Then of course there was the flat tyre making getting into the village a nightmare. The RAC were frantically rescuing single mothers and their hoards of kiddies from the sides of motorways. Well, I could hardly whine about them taking 18 hours to get to me, snug at home.

I have to take the vallium as I leave home, otherwise I'm likely to fall asleep driving to town. So the effects rarely kick in before he's halfway thru the job. Then by the time I'm staggering back to the carpark I'm half in shock and half comatose. I have to build in two extra hours to sleep it off before driving home.

When I get home I'm completely useless for the rest of the day. Sleepwalking till bedtime usually. Then as I come round from all the chemicals, I wake up. And this is the worst bit. The stuff in the dentist's chair is a piece of pee pee compared to the fearsome tantrums I have as me poor old body screams "WTF was THAT all about?"

So by 4am I'm in pieces.

As a result the following day is pretty much a write off.....and the one after that I'm wracked with guilt for ever starting smoking in the first place, getting nothing done for two days and longing for the inevitable full set of plastic gnashers.

I have an appointment each Tuesday afternoon for the next three weeks. I'll be in therapy before this round of torture treatment's over.


Never mind .... while there's mutts like this about the place I can't help but grin most of the time :o)

A day full of goodies

Don't you love it when you have a "lucky" day ?

It started out in the normal way, then when I collected the day's post I actually opened it for once. Generally I put it on top of the heap of other unopened post because I really don't want anything else to think about, other than whats on the top of my mental list. Two letters were junk and one was my mobile bill. No problem ... I even filed them :o) Out of the mobile bill fell a flyer. I don't normally read flyers, but this one caught my attention. It looked very much like they were offering me quite a good deal, and as I've needed a new phone for a long time, I thought I'd at least phone 'em up and see if I qualified. I did. My blackberry will arrive tomorrow, and my mobile bill will be less than its been for the past three or four years :o) Thanks Virgin. And God for making me open the post.

When I checked my emails for the Virgin details I found one from Sinsburys saying how sad they are that I haven't shopped with them for a while and offering me £10 off my next online shop. Well thank you very much Sinsbury, and a wink in God's direction.

Because we had heavy rain last night I'd decided to light the incinerator today. Very low risk of setting anything inappropriate alight. I had a look at the approaching weather. Rain ... heavy rain too by the look of it. Great ... doubly a low risk day. So I did ... light it, that is.

Whilst that was doing its thing I loaded the truck with broken electrical goods and last weeks household rubbish that I'd forgotten to put out for the dustmen. By the time that was done the incinerator had burnt down so I was safe to go to the tip. I pulled the truck up at the front of the house just as it started to spit with rain .... perfect ... that meant the fire would go right out, and I didn't get wet whilst loading the truck. Two more thank yous went skyward.

Walked to the back to close the tailgate and noticed a tyre was flat. Couldn't really curse could I. He'd given me a darn good day up to then. For a nanosecond I considered putting the spare on myself...no... not ... you know what I mean. A bit longer for phoning the place I buy my tyres. Then remembered I had breakdown cover attached to a bank account. Got to be worth a try. Guess what!! They're on their way to me right now. Okay so I won't get my pills from the surgery, or my shopping, or to the tip.... but hey .... I won't have to jack the truck up either :o))). And I get to sit and have a cuppa here :o) Shall I find a picture? Hmmm ... what of this time? .... errrm ...

I like this. A great big rusty old lump of metal, that looks like delicate lace in the setting sunlight.

Heaven help me!! What's the matter with me Mom! She's trying to drive me to distraction, I swear.


A couple of times when we've been shopping she's looked longingly at the stacks of PorkPies and sighed wistfully saying she wished they didn't upset her tummy so badly. Last time she had one for tea we ended up having to call the doctor out, she was in so much pain. After investigation it transpires that she has teeny weeny gallstones. She knows if she avoids fatty foods she'll be okay, and she knows that anytime she feels the need, she can have an operation to remove the offending bodypart. Well naturally, when her sweet cleaning lady told her, by way of reassurance, how simple and easy the operation had been for an acquaintance of hers, she wanted the operation too. Mom does like to experience what her contemporaries do, and she so loves the idea of going into hospital. Laying in bed and being waited upon is like a blissful holiday. Eventually we persuaded her that it might be best to see if she has any trouble from it again before she decides to have surgery. So we are careful about what she eats. Well, low fat isn't too hard is it! Even she herself was being very very diligent, nearly to the point of obsession.



I got a phonecall from HWH at 9 this morning. We would have to cancel the lunchdate with Joyce...Mom was poorly in bed having had a terrible night of pain from her gallbladder. Oh poor wee Mom !!! HWH seemed sure that she was pretty much over the worst and didn't need the doctor and he seemed quite delighted to have been able to look after her during her disturbed night. He is the kindest most caring man. Totally devoted to her.

I said not to disturb her if she was resting, and I'd see them later, but she was awake and calling to speak to me. We chatted for a bit about inconsequential things which stopped me from worrying about her. She was obviously fine, bright and in no pain, and perfectly content with the prospect of having a nice stay in hospital to get the problem sorted out. I said I'd see them at lunchtime and she instantly said "Oh no. You don't need to come. Hubby will sort it all out just fine. We're having the gammon joint I cooked two days ago, and Joyce is coming to visit me" I sort of gasped a bit, but she wouldn't hear of perhaps having a bit of white fish instead, and Joyce was perfectly capable of coming to visit. At this point I gave up, which was a good thing, as further light chat revealed that for tea yesterday they'd had a lovely Porkpie she'd got from the butcher.


I'm thinking that I might like to live in Finistere ... you know ... underneath that bit the sticks out of France. It looks a lot like my heath, but it has two advantages. One ... the sea, and two ... I don't speak the language.
 
I had a lovely day cutting grass and grooming dogs :o)
 
 

Hugo

 

Oh dear, I'm not doing very well here at all. I'm not getting to see the funny side of things at the moment. Mom has been a tad difficult the past few days. It doesn't usually last more than a day, but this time ....

She keeps on phoning me, even minutes after I've got home from hers, and asking if I'm going to be doing something or other for her. If I was to say 'I wasn't, but I will if you want' I'd be with her 24/7


We went to see the GP the other day. I have to go too because Mom can't remember where she's going or, if she gets there, what she's there for .... Funny isn't it ... you get blood test results that are normal and you automatically say ' Oh good!' Even tho its not necessarily good news, It means that Mom doesn't have dementia as a result of low B12 or Folate, which means its definitely Alzheimer's. I don't know the facts of all this, but for some reason I thought I'd prefer her to be deficient in those rather than have Alzheimer's. Somehow it doesn't sound as tho it'll be as bad,and she'd get better with some tablets and injections. Haven't any idea whether thats the case or not, but it was a nice idea to hold onto, for a while. Ah well.

By chance we met Mom's best friend. Joyce, and her son in the waiting room. We made arrangements to all go out for Sunday lunch. I think Joyce's black eye might be better by then. Poor sweet lady clobbered herself in the face the day before leaving for a cruise. Joyce has to be the most elegant 93 year old in the county. She's not got airs and graces tho. Sometimes her language is so rich you have to laugh. She was resigned to not being invited to the Captains table due to her flawed beauty, and took her dark coloured evening gowns to co-ordinate with her bruise.

My frugal Mom has turned into a shopoholic. She called me to let me know she'd done the shopping at the greengrocers. That's usually my job as she generally forgets to get real food. When she does think about it she has a habit of buying only root veg for some reason. She can't persuade the greengrocer to cut the flower off the broccoli and coli so she can just buy the stalks, so she won't buy them. I wonder what I'll find in the fridge :o)


I needed to escape last night, so I ran away to sea. Well, Poole harbour anyway. Two young lads were coming back in from a bit of a fishing trip as I left. Good to see they're not all sitting in front of PC's or working hard towards earning their next ASBO
 
 

Cuppa Time

Right, I'm stumped on the design front, so I'll spend this spare moment to explain the purpose of my blog.

I have parents ... four of 'em. I'm very lucky, lots of my friends have none. Dad and His Lovely Missus live about 45 minutes away from me and mostly I only make the journey for fun. He's had his health problems in the past, but both D & HLM require no care from me.. the way they're going it'll be me as needs them! When they're not on the golf course they're doing marathon walks or bike rides. I couldn't hope to keep up wit them. Damn near killed me when Dad and I went to Lulworth and Durdle Door to take snaps. He was genuinely worried about not getting me back up the hill. Well at 87 he couldn't have carried me could he! I'll stick a couple of pics in here later.

Now Mom .... thats a different picture altogether. Mom has recently been diagnosed with Alzheimer's. She and Her Wonderful Hubby live about seven minutes from me .... phew. Mom has difficulty remembering what she's supposed to be doing ... well, lots of us do, to some degree. But with Mom this causes serious problems. Its only the watchful eye of HWH that's stopped her from burning the house down, or poisoning them both. So for the past while I've been visiting them everyday to make sure they're still extant and unravel any tangles they've got into.

I never had children, and failed miserably at marriage, so the role of carer is new to me. The first few weeks were a dreadful struggle. Things are beginning to slot into place now tho and I've fixed things so I get a couple of days off each week. Some of which time I plan on spending here, trying to keep focused and mentally filing the strange things that I now have to deal with. I'll attempt to keep a healthy perspective and see the humorous side of the messes we get into. There's been occasions when I've got cross, so either I'll go quiet when that happens, or I'll rant here.

So there you are. This is the place I'll come to sit down a while and try to make sense of it all. I'll make a cuppa if anyone wants to sit down with me ;o)

Perseverance is prevailing.

Today was a spectacular success, in many ways. I'll probbly pay for it tomorrow, but hey, it was worth it. The final triumph was figuring out why some of my pics will load and some won't. Gradually, I'm getting there. Still have to sort out the enormity of my page tho. I'm sure it shouldn't be so huge LOL  I considered filling the right hand side with BIG pics, but it wouldn't happen :o/

I shall sleep with a smug grin on my face :o)

An unexpected conflict.

Well, I'm not much further on with the blog designing, but my filing in my pooter is looking a bit better! I do digress ........ frequently!


Here it is ........ my first blog. At last. And its not at all about what the blog is intended for, which I'll come back to.

I had a rare chance to visit friends on erm....Monday...was it only yesterday! My friend had phoned me a couple of times to tell me about her new dog and how it was settling in. She had a bit of an incident at one point and wondered if it was gonna work out long term. Having owned multiple dawgs myself I completely understood her concern. They can make a mess of each other if you're not careful.

So off I went, to get thoroughly puppied by someone else's puppies. The term "puppy" is a euphemism, they are mostly quite reasonably grown up, in years if not in behaviour.


I adore dogs. I've lived for them for years, many many years. One dog makes me very happy..... a whole heap of 'em and I'm in my element. I'm a strange old bod.

Well, my friend's tarred with the same brush, but she's only got four. She always was the sensible one. Leads a relatively normal life, among the mutts. Unlike me, she controls a thriving business..... I've got control of sweet FA. Unlike me, she's doing up a good solid property ... mine's tumbling about my feet. Unlike me, she kept her hubby ...... well, the fifth one anyway. I can't even get an invite for dwinkies. So when she asks for my opinion I feel so ......... validated.


We sat in the garden and dog watched. Reading body language. Watching for the first sign of trouble. Working out the hierarchy. I'd wondered, on the journey there, if I was going to be able to 'see' what I needed to see to predict failure or harmony. I surprised myself in that I had no doubts about my interpretation of the pack's behaviour. It could well be that I was way off track ....... but I felt totally confident, which is so alien to me, and a little unnerving. So the conclusions drawn from the afternoon were ......... no conflict within the pack ........ but I should consider doing something about that which is within me!!


And now I will attempt to load some pics ... teehee.

                One happy pack ;o)                                              One mucky pup :o/                   

Oh well, I guess one pic loaded out of five is better than none. Doesn't exactly tell the story as intended, but, not a total failure ;o)

Not ready to give up just yet.

Oh !! Isn't it nice here :)

I like the forums, what a nice bunch they are.  I have a follower and an inspiration. Thank you for your help, and what a beautifully elegant blog yours is Valerie.....and as for the content ......... WOW .... that could get even me enjoying food! 
Someone said to me recently that cooking, and I think it was, in particular, baking, is an act of love.  Shook me to the core that little comment did.  It made me wonder about the emotional effect food has on me. I rather think I ought to do something about it! LOL

Gotta go. Its pouring here and half my Flock's outside, drenched. I shall sort 'em out and come back to see if someone in the forums can help me get my background the right size    :)