Wrong beds

The original dog in the manger!

The thief

Yesterday was 'ladies who lunch' day in Chester, which was lovely,  as always. Driving back along the A483, I heard the faint ringtone on my mobile, but couldn't do anything about it until I got home. Once home, I let the dogs out and went into the kitchen to put the kettle on, noticing idly that there were a couple of bedraggled and half eaten slices of bread spilling off a plate on the draining board. The dogs came back in and I remembered the missed phone call. It was Keith.

"Nothing important," he said, "just to tell you that the little white so and so (aka Jake) pinched my sandwich when I wasn't looking!"

It seems that Keith had been sitting at the computer, just biting into his sandwich when  his mobile rang and, as reception  is often somewhat variable, he stood up and wandered over the the window while he was answering it. In a flash, Jake had reached up on his back legs and pulled the sandwich off the computer desk. Luckily, Keith managed to grab it off him before he could tuck in.

I am hoping that Keith didn't wrestle him to the ground for it and then finish eating it himself but actually, that's a question I don't want to ask, in case I don't like the answer...!

Chez le medecin

Diagnosis agreed with by GP.

Blood taken for blood tests, including liver - rather worrying!

Appointment for ultrasound sent to local hospital.

Disappointingly, the doc didn't suggest that I should desist from all housework, cooking, dishwashing etc until further notice.

I did try it on Keith but he wasn't having any.

Total time at surgery - two and a half hours. Oh well, I wasn't doing much today.

Ill

A few months ago, I was ill with what seemed to me to be a gall bladder related problem - pain under the ribs and around the shoulder blade and vomiting. When I told Elder Daughter, I got the typical response, "Go to the doctor."

Do I really need to?" I asked.

 "You'll be sorry if you don't and then you get a full blown attack," was the reply.

Why are doctors so bossy?

Well, according to the age-old wisdom that daughters should follow their mothers' advice and not the other way round, I didn't. I just hoped it wouldn't happen again. When it comes to ostriches and heads in the sand, I hold the gold cup.

Fast forward to last night, sitting at Dad's, watching television and becoming increasingly aware of pain under the ribs and around the shoulder blade. After downing a couple of gallons of Gaviscon, I gave in and announced that I was going to bed and that I would be fine after a good night's sleep. And so I would, I expect, if I had managed to get a good night's sleep. Instead, the pains got steadily worse, there was no chance of me finding a comfortable lying position and I soon lost count of the number of times I vomited. (Bet you really wanted to know that, didn't you?)

So after spending a night in which I increasingly doubted whether I would ever see morning - well, you know I'm prone to exaggeration but the thought did cross my mind - I got up this morning feeling somewhat better and well enough to drive home. Staying an extra day would have been awkward as I had a number of appointments arranged for tomorrow.

However, I have to reluctantly  concede that Elder Daughter was probably right (OK she was definitely right) and I should pay a visit to the doc's. It's either that or live on dry toast for the rest of my life.

OK folks, so when your offspring tell you to do something, just do it!

Bristol snow

This is where I am this weekend.

And this is how it is looking this evening.

This is how snow looks in Bristol and I'm hoping the forecasters are right (for once) and it will all be gone for my journey home tomorrow.

Bald patches

When Jake checked in at chez Jennyta, his coat had been clipped almost into non-existence and he had purple patches on his right side, which I assumed were patches of skin pigmentation and which would soon be covered once his hair had grown back. A month later, most of his hair is growing nicely, but not the areas over the purple patches, so when I took him to the vet's today for his injections, I asked about the problem.

"Well," said the vet, "it could be one of three things; an under-active thyroid, Addison's disease or...

seasonal alopecia. Most likely to be that," she said, "as he doesn't seem to have any other symptoms. Of course, if you wanted to have the tests for the other conditions... " and she read me out the respective costs.

I remembered that Keith had said that Jake had had similar patches last year, so it seemed that the alopecia was the most likely.

Relief!

AND, he didn't try to career round the waiting room like a mad thing because of the smell of cats - like SOME dogs I could mention! (Are you reading this, Paddy?)

Multi-tasking

It's a habit I got into in my teens, when I regularly did my homework whilst also watching the television, much to the disapproval of my parents, and maybe they were right. Maybe if I hadn't,  I would have ended up with three 'A' levels at grade A and gone on to be a brain surgeon - or maybe not, but I have continued with the habit ever since. During the years when I was working full time and had four growing children, plus a dog, two cats and numerous rabbits and other small vertibrates, it seemed the only way to get everything done in the measly twenty four hours a day, seven days a week that I was allocated but, truth to tell, I still find it amazingly difficult to focus on one thing at a time. Even accepting that we women find multi-tasking so much easier than mere men - yes, Yorkshire Pudding, it's true so live with it! - I can see that concentrating on one thing at a time would probably be a better way to go. At least that way, when I asked Keith a question, I would actually listen to the answer and not have to repeat the question five minutes later.
Anyway, this morning, after the usual dog-walking duties, I have been mainly listening to Radio 4, drinking coffee, responding to emails, in between reading blogs, stroking dogs and buying and downloading 'Clever Dog'  by Sarah Whitehead for my Kindle via Whispernet.
And the handy thing about a Kindle is that you can be reading it while you are waiting for the kettle to  boil and listening to the 1947 film of 'Brighton Rock' by Graham Greene.
Yes, I know - doing everything at once and nothing well...