Flamin’ heck! What a week! We’ve had extreme weather, we’ve had extreme cooking (more on that later), we’ve had extreme panting and we’ve had extreme drama! It’s been so flamin’ hot that I’ve been having to take them out quite early in the morning and then waiting until early evening before attempting another walk. Generally, I’ve been taking them over Hilly Fields – I rather like that particular walk because I spend the vast majority of it off lead. The only down side is that a) those flamin’ rabbits have brilliant hiding places and I they’re flamin’ quick too, and b) they don’t seem to be able to keep up … I mean, it’s hardly surprising with him but even Daddy Richard can’t keep up with my lightning speed! I have to run up and down all on my own. Not that I mind really, because it has now become clear to me that humans do not seem to get the same pleasure out of sniffing someone elses poo … or even sniffing each others’ bottom as I do! It gives me an opportunity to go and have a jolly good sniff without interference from them. I do find it a bit disconcerting though that several times recently I have come across a black Labrador in Hilly Fields that is running loose. He isn’t very friendly and, despite both Daddy Richard and him trying to get close enough to read his tag (he was using my flamin’ treats too!), they haven’t been able to. I’m sure he shouldn’t be running around up there on his own but if we can’t track down where he comes from, there isn’t much we can do.
I can’t remember what day it was, but early one evening last week we were walking down Bay Pond Path (I had taken them on a Salisbury Road, Dewlands, Ryders Way, Green Lane, Church Lane and Bay Pond path walk for a change) and there were a few fishermen dangling their rods in the pond. This isn’t an unusual sight, but in all my times of walking down there I have never seen anyone actually catch a fish … or who has caught a fish there at some point whilst they’ve been there. Well, would you Aunt and Uncle it, we came across this chap who seemed to be on the verge of catching one! I stopped to watch and see whether this fishing lark is actually worthwhile and, would you believe it, he only went and landed it! It turned out that it was a ‘common carp’ (I’m not sure that is all that complimentary to call it ‘common’!) and that the fisherman’s name was Bailey. It was flamin’ huge! I have to admit I was quite impressed and so, when I got home, I took to Doogle and Fidopedia to learn a bit more. It is actually called a Cyprinus carpio which I think sounds much better! Apparently they are common in Europe (which I guess is where they get the name ‘common carp’) and are part of a Christmas Eve dinner in some parts of Eastern Europe. I did discover that they are not good for me to eat because they are too bony and that humans find that they often taste of mud because they are bottom feeders (not that kind!). Anyway, it was all very exciting … especially when he dropped his phone and stabbed his hand on the point of the railings trying to catch it! Claret everywhere, what a complete plonker! (Do you get it? He plonked his hand on the point of the railings!)
I have to confess that with all this heat I have found that running around is quite tiring. Talk about extreme panting! Sometimes I have just found it easier to plod along through the fields rather than making myself even hotter. If I am honest, I didn’t think much of not being allowed out during the day, but I’m beginning to understand – even in the evening the pavements are so flamin’ hot, and during the day they must be even hotter! During last week there was another extreme … cooking! Now, I think I may have mentioned before that he is rubbish at it. He practices all the time, so he must be absolutely rubbish! Well, last week he was doing extreme practice. He made jams, he made cake, he made summer pudding, he made bread, he made gingernuts, he made all sorts of things. Apparently it was to put in the Gardeners’ Club Annual Show … I hate to mention this, but why on earth would anyone want to see the rubbish he turns out? Anyway, it did mean that there was the odd treat coming my way as he cooked all this stuff. I mean, I don’t like to mention this but … he wasn’t very happy with his first batch of gingernuts so I ended up with quite a few of them … and I hate to admit this, but they weren’t harf bad! Mind you, I never got to taste the rest, so I’m sure it was rubbish.
On Thursday I got to go to see my personal therapists, Emily, Katie and Zoe at Hydro Hounds. Now don’t take this the wrong way but, boy oh boy, do they know how to give a boy a good time! I get properly stroked and petted when I’m with them. We went in Daddy Richard’s car because that’s where my blankets were and, frankly, I couldn’t wait to get there. When we eventually parked (he was driving and it seemed to take an age for him to find a parking space!) and got out of the car, I pulled him along the pavement as fast as I could. When we finally got to the door I ran straight through it and into the arms of Katie! I didn’t even bother look back, I just took them straight through to the back for a good time, if you get my gist! Hydrotherapy has a number of advantages at the moment. Obviously, there is the good time I have there but there are added benefits (not that like … you with those naughty minds!). When we arrived on Thursday I had a small red stain on the top of my head. Katie asked what it was and he said, “Ah! That’ll be the blackcurrant jelly. He stuck his head in the dishwasher just as I had finished making it. We call him prewash!”. Katie did seem to think that was quite amusing until she found a bit of a sticky patch elsewhere. “Ah,” he said, “that’ll be the mango chutney!”. What this led to was a rather refreshing shampoo and comb through which I thoroughly enjoyed! Another advantage is that, with this hot weather, they just give me a towel dry so that I still have a bit of moisture to keep me cool after my wimming session. It is all rather good and thoroughly enjoyable! I think that, when I eventually have to give it up, I am going to miss my sessions at Hydro Hounds with my personal therapists, but that won’t be for a while yet because I need it up to when I have my other hip done and then afterwards to build up the muscle.
Another good thing that I have noticed recently is life on Bay Pond. Since the disappearance of the swans a couple of months ago and then the unfortunate loss of goslings by the Canadian geese which resulted in them leaving too, the pond has been pretty much devoid of life. There was one couple of mallards and that was about it. Suddenly, in the last few days, loads of new ducks and other birds have come back to the pond. It is so nice to see some life at the pond. I know there are fish in there (as I have now seen for myself) but you can’t normally see them and having some birds on top of the pond makes all the difference. In these days of extreme heat, it is good to see that they are enjoying the water and keeping cool.
On Friday morning he went off to go and pick Grandma up from her house in Leicestershire. He left quite early because he needed to be back to setup ready for the Gardeners’ Club Annual Show which was on Saturday. Apparently they had a good trip because he left relatively early (I took Daddy Richard out for a walk on his own which meant that I got to spend some quality time with him) and they were both back by 2pm. That meant that he could hide away in his study where he allegedly had loads of “stuff” to print in readiness for the show.
I have to be honest, I was a little worried about Grandma when she arrived. She didn’t seem quite as sprightly as she usually is and was complaining that her legs were hurting. In the late afternoon we, (myself, Daddy Richard and him) went out for a walk around Green Lane and Bay Pond before he went off to go and setup the White Hart Barn for the show the next day. He seemed to be gone ages and I’m sure that Grandma thought she was never going to get any dinner but he did arrive back eventually and they had dinner. Grandma said she didn’t think that she could use the stairs to go to bed so Daddy Richard and him setup a bed in his study and Grandma was first to bed. We could hear her groaning about her legs but didn’t take too much notice. Eventually Daddy Richard went to bed and then so did he. They hadn’t been in bed for many minutes when Grandma started to scream and cry about her legs. It was obvious she was in a lot of pain. He came downstairs to see if he could help and I went in to see what I could do. I removed her slippers from the room as I thought that might help … apparently it didn’t. After a while he called NHS Direct who he said were absolutely superb. After qualifying the problem and talking to Grandma, they decided that an on-call doctor should come out and said that they would send a message and that the doctor would call to say what time they were coming.
Eventually, a doctor did call but she wasn’t very helpful. She said she could arrange an appointment with Grandma’s doctor’s surgery in the morning but he explained that she was 130 miles away from her own doctors surgery. The doctor then said that she could arrange an appointment with his doctors’ surgery in the morning. He explained that NHS Direct had said that a doctor would come out. The doctor said that she wasn’t coming out in the middle of the night and that if he thought it was that urgent they could take their chances with A&E! He was not happy about that at all. He called NHS Direct again and explained what the doctor had said – they took details and said that it shouldn’t have happened. They then said they would call an ambulance but that, as it was not a life or death situation, it might take a while but one would arrive as soon as they could. Twenty minutes later an ambulance arrived with two fantastic paramedics in it. They spent the next two hours trying to move Grandma. They gave her gas and air, morphine and other pain killers but eventually he had to take all the other furniture out of his study so that they could get a stretcher in there and take Grandma out to the ambulance. They left for the hospickal at just after six o’clock in the morning – I had been up all night! Throughout the entire night I had stayed right by Grandma’s side to try and comfort her whilst he was making phone calls and trying to get some help. She is still in the hospickal today, but she is really improving and may come out tomorrow. It turns out that she had a very serious bacterial infection that was causing the pain in her legs. Hopefully it will be better and she will be able to come home tomorrow.
After the ambulance left on Saturday morning, he finished the printing he had to do for the Annual Summer Show, got a shower and got dressed and then went off at quarter to eight in the morning to do whatever he was doing at the show. I didn’t see him again until almost six o’clock in the evening when he wandered in saying he was cream crackered! Fortunately, at about ten o’clock in the morning Nana and Grandad had arrived (amazing how these things just happen at the right time!) so I spent the day with Grandad which is always good! I have to confess that I did push out quite a few ????s to make up for my lack of sleep overnight and Grandad said I was very well behaved! Anyway … and you won’t believe this … he had only gone and won a cup for his cooking! Actually that was the fourth year in a row – I think the judges can’t taste very well because if they only knew what I know about how rubbish he is. Although they keep changing each year and he is still winning. There must be something wrong … he got over double the number of points to his nearest rival! Anyway, they both went to see Grandma in the hospickal while Nana cooked the dinner. When they got back they had dinner and then Nana and Grandad left. He just kept falling asleep on the sofa – I don’t know why he seemed so tired … after all, he’d been out all day and if he was that tired surely he could have stayed at home and pushed out some ????s himself! He claims that he had to go because he is Show Secretary of some such rubbish. Sometimes I despair!
Sunday went very quickly indeed. The day was taken up with me taking them for a walk and a run around Hilly Fields and Tylers Close field and then a combination of visiting Grandma in hospickal and packing away all the bits they had got out for the show. Now, I think I may have mentioned this in the past, but he isn’t all that clever … about as tasty as a fruit cake without fruit, if you get my gist! Every year, he lugs all this stuff down to the White Hart Barn that is in the various ‘show boxes’ of equipment that is used for the show. Half of it (actually most of it) is never used and just gets carried down there and then carried back again. It isn’t beyond the wit of man (well, clearly it is this one!) to work out that it could all be consolidated into a smaller amount to carry – it took me to show him what I mean. As he was bringing the boxes back in, I very helpfully picked up a bag of large paper clips, that have never been used since he has been involved in the show, and put them by the patio door. Next, I found a file that had entry cards in it from 2012 … hardly useful now, so I took them into the lounge. Then I found some masking tape that is never used because it marks the tables, so I took that and put it in his study. Eventually, he got the message and has now consolidated three large crates of ‘equipment’ into one small one that actually contains the stuff he needs. Honestly, I don’t know what he would do without me! Auntie Sue and Uncle Malcolm came for dinner last night but, as usual, he forgot to take a photograph! I suppose I’m going to have to find a way to remind him to do that too! It’s all too much so, for now, must paws … ????
