Thursday 15 January 2015

Weather, woolies, wonder

I've been busy crocheting. For those who don't know I'll just explain that until a year ago, anything that came under the term needlecraft sent me scurrying in the opposite direction. For a start I've got fumbling thick fingers on large hands that I'm sure have expanded due to years of holding reins and shoveling muck from stables and barns. Not only that, said fingers and hands are now arthritic and don't always obey my orders. So it's really something that I picked up a crochet hook in the first place, and then proceeded to learn from the internet how to twist that, pull that through, wrap that round and repeat often enough to end up with something resembling a coaster for a mug. Truly, it's really something!!
   But stuck in bed with fibro I had to do something and I really do like learning new things, hence the start of crochet. I've made fingerless gloves, hats, wrist warmers and other small items to wear. But I get bored so I've never started a larger project, besides I discovered freeform scrumbles and that was it, never really wanted to do anything more than create those. Until I saw a gorgeous crocheted jacket. I mean it was gorgeously gorgeous and probably would cost not only an arm and leg but a head too if it was for sale in some shop. And good goddess! My word! It was made from crocheted granny squares! Well I never! (Yep, you're right, I was shocked). Granny squares that I've done before, I can do those. If I can do those I must be able to make my own gorgeously gorgeous jacket. Right?!
    So it began, the whirlwind of fingers twisting, turning, tumbling, thrashing out squares a mile a minute....... No it didn't. That's how I envisioned myself crocheting this jacket, in reality , harsh as it is, I'm managing three a day and that's good for me. I've got the two front panels , now need the back and sleeves. Then put it all together, so come May I'll be sweating in my self made heavy Woolie.
         
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Such fabulous weather we've had this week! Tuesday night was given over to thunder and lightening, lightening that lights up dazzling white sheets. There's a name for it but I can't remember. Course,I don't hear the thunder but I do know when it's going on, the whole atmosphere changes doesn't it, but also I can feel it growling in my bones. Not so silly as it sounds, it's all to do with vibration I'm told and that's why I can feel loud noises in my bones. So I'm told. Anyway, that storm on Tuesday was awesome (I'm told that word is so dated I shouldn't use it but do I care?). Tuesday day saw our local area invaded by the hurling, hurting, hurtling {grin} icy white kibbles from the sky and whichever deity was throwing them should be ashamed of themselves, waiting till I trundled out of co-op with my loo rolls under arm before they let fly. I slipped, did a one legged slide that Torvill would be proud of, but managed to keep bum from hitting pavement by grabbing shop window ledge. (So that's what they're there for. I always wondered the use of window ledges!). Considering I had a hole in my woolly tights in a VIP place I can only hope my leg didn't spread too wide. The good people of Holsy don't deserve such punishment.
    The remainder of the day and the next day were spent ouching more than usual, the result of my dancing on ice.

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More wonders of the week.....

Zaffi on his venture outside to toilet nearly got blown away. Literally. Not at all good for a little man with his pelvis fractured in two places. The vet did tell us to keep him mobile every so often for toilet etc but never said anything about flying.  He learnt from it and has been keeping to the area near the back door where it's sheltered from the wind. He's a clever 'un.

There's been so much rain the garden can't absorb any more and has turned into a forlorn, woeful area.  Wonderful to think in a few months it'll be all green with new leaves where plants have survived to bloom once again. The Great Mother's gifts, how I love them.

When I was young, taking the veil only meant one thing - you were going to be a nun.
I went to the village school, which was C of E and invisibly joined to the church over the road by some strong pulley that brought the vicar thrice a day to school. In fact after morning prayers he'd have his breakfast at school, after lunch prayers he'd join in with a hearty lunch. I know after home time prayers, when all us kids had gone, he'd sit with the two school teachers and partake of tea. So school must have been like a cafe for him I suppose. He was a large, big bellied, black robed, dog collared, bachelor who lived in a house made for a family with a dozen children. Such a waste!
I remember the vicar asking me and my friend if we would be taking the veil when we left school, then before I could reply he glared at me and announced " You,of course won't be, because you're the one with the devil on your shoulder. Aren't you! "
He'd told me this before at school and on that occasion made me crawl on my knees for most of the afternoon. My sin? On being asked where mankind came from I said from the earth. I was six years old. Religious people have always caused trouble in this world of mine.



Last wonder.....What Mr Debz and lulu bought me. Isn't it beautiful!

Wednesday 7 January 2015

The one and only Zaffi . pt 1

Some years ago, six years to be correct, when we lived in the bigger place and had my last GSD lady called Maddy (her quick name, her real registered name too long to keep saying/ writing/thinking), I decided it was time to give another dog a home for life. Maddy was getting very old, very stiff, very near the end and I wanted to have another canine to look after when the horrible time came to say farewell to my beloved lady. I needed to have a saviour, another soul to stop me from drowning in a bi-po depression caused by my loss. Not a replacement Maddy! Heck no, nothing could ever do that!
    I couldn't cope with another GSD, not now my spine had gone and collapsed on me. No, I'd give my love and care to a smaller dog, but which one? From where? Weeks passed by while I searched adverts, looked on the dog homes websites, kept my eyes open as I went about the local area, but nothing caught my interest. If I'm honest my heart wasn't in it. It was acknowledging that Maddy wasn't going to be around much longer and I really didn't want to face it.
    For some weeks, in the post office window, there'd been a scrawled note on a postcard "free to good home, Patterdale x Border terrier dog. 8 months old. Black & tan. House trained. Call ........" I stopped and read it every time I walked past but the thought that niggled me was "what's the catch?" Such breed of dog don't come cheap, even the crosses, especially that kind of cross. So although I wrote the number down I never got anyone to phone for me.
   Weeks went by, Maddy grew older, and i found the mornings increasingly difficult. My heart would momentarily stop, a nervous heat /chill would crawl over my flesh, and I'd literally force myself through the door into the kitchen, prepared for the sight of a lifeless Maddy lying there. On seeing her body rise and fall as she breathed,I too would expel the air held in my lungs until then. On a few occasions she'd be so deep in sleep that she'd not stir, not bat an eyelid when I spoke her name, patted her body, gave her a firm nudge as panic rose in my throat. Then with a heaving motion she'd lift her head off the floor, her deep brown eyes looking at me with indignation, "what's up? I was enjoying my dream!" This followed by the equivalent of a dog smile, as I'd put my arms round her huge, extra hairy, stinky* body, muttering how much I loved her with a voice slightly chokey .
    There couldn't be any more hanging around. If I was to get through losing my big lump of hairy lady, then I needed to find another ball of hair to love. Sooner rather than later. Sadly.
     On my next walk past the post office I found myself rather pleased that the scrawled advert was still there, even with a mobile number rather than a landline phone. Something I'd not noticed before. Within ten minutes I was waiting on tenterhooks for a reply to my text "hiya, is the dog still available please? I'm deaf and unable to phone, deb". I waited, waited some more. Walked back home, looking every few moments at my phone. Holding it up this way, that way, turning round with it, just in case I was missing a better signal. (That's how my brain works,lol). Still nothing. Looked at the inbox just in case a reply has gone unnoticed by phone notifications. No text.
    I was peeling potatoes for tea when my phone did a jiggy dance of vibration across the worktop and I leapt on it, cat with mouse fashion, pulled up the incoming text " Hi, yes he is. Are you coming to see him? " I dashed a reply back "I'd love to, I'll get someone with ears to phone you and arrange it. Thanks ever so much. Deb"
    And so the story of the crippled dog, Zaffi, begins.

* Maddy was a long haired GSD. Her story and how she came to me is another one proving that dogs respond to kindness but firmness, loving but fairness. Maybe one day I'll be able to open the memory box in my brain and tell her story. Not yet. I'm not ready. At the end of her life it became impossible to bathe her, try as I might there was no way I could safely and comfortably , both for her and me, wash her. Therefore, despite having a regular top and tail wash she became a stinky lady. Especially at the very end when she became incontinent. Worth mentioning here is that just a few days before the end, we'd discussed helping her to go over to the Summerlands by getting the vet to come. None of us wanted to cause her suffering and we acknowledged her shame and sadness when she became incontinent. A very clean lady through out her life, she really hated not being able to stop herself from soiling inside the house. You didn't have to be a dog whisperer to see that.
However, she took the decision to lie down and go to sleep permanently, in the garden, in her most favoured spot. Bless her, loving and loyal to the last. 

Monday 5 January 2015

Is it morning yet?

Obviously not yet morning cos it's still black as coal outside. The four legged ones and the two legged one are all slumbering accompanied with twitches, little kicks, jerks, the odd fart (I can feel them vibrating through the mattress) and I'm certain I felt a snore although not sure if it was human or animal. So sleep has descended on the house of pain.

    All bar for one being, who still abides in the land of consciousness. Buggar! I need to be sleeping for I've got to go with the young-man-with-four-legs to the vet hospital in the morning. This morning. At 8.30am. That's in approx 6 hours. So if I put this down now, maybe I can grab 5.5 hours to refill my body with much needed energy.....

     Wish me luck and if anyone has any good ideas for managing to get a half decent sleep, you know where to message me. I'll love you forever if your suggestions works. 😉💖

Saturday 3 January 2015

The House of Pain wishes you happy new year


Calm down, I've not opened a decadent home for the sadomasochist. Although I'm sure it would be a welcome retreat for some. {I'm so not going there!} No, the house of pain (minus Vincent Price) is what our cosy bungalow here in Devon has become since Yule and the young-man-with-four-legs' fall off the bed.

      Poor little soul is in much pain with his back and both Mr Debz and I feel totally useless as all we can do is dish out his painkiller and try to ensure he's comfy. He goes for X-Rays on Monday to see exactly what's going on, which will be interesting because not only will we be able to get a diagnose (hopefully) but after all these years of knowing his back end is fastened to his body by screws, pins and wires, we'll be able to actually see them.
     Anyway, the home walls are resounding with yelps, Ouches, groans and swear words as the three of us go through the days in pain. No wonder the little-girl-with-four-legs is sighing and eye rolling, she's the only one bounding about at the moment. Good start to the new year, not!

      Here's hoping your 2015 will be a good one, with happiness, health and wealth.