The trials and tribulations of the renovations of barn and brain in rural Cheshire.....

Tuesday, 29 January 2008

Figgis is home and most is well


Figgis is home from Blackpool and has settled in very well. My shingles are still shingling which isn't very well. The chickens are laying prolifically so very well but Fifi isn't very well. All the cats and dogs are very well but the emptying of Colin isn't going very well because we aren't very well. I'm sure we'll get well soon.

Monday, 21 January 2008

A rash decision

Shingles. That's Doc Simon's decision. On my face, right over the new operation scar. Just how sore can we make it. Having cut right back to nearly zilch on the trickcycle pills I've now got to max back up to sort the spots. Oh well, if this is the worst 2008 is going to throw at us - and it should be gone in six weeks.....

Monday, 14 January 2008

the return of my Independence Day


I have wheels again - here's my new car......ain't it rinky dink! It'll be with me in a fortnight so I can take to the road again.

Sunday, 13 January 2008

Seeing in 2008



With our bezzie mates Del and Sharon.....



and the dogs are dressed for winter.....




What's the old saying? Never work with children and animals? Strikes a chord.

Friday, 11 January 2008

It's been so long...



and now it's very late so just a quick one to say Vegas was excellent and yes, we did meet Elvis - lots of 'em in fact. Our poker came on in leaps and bounds too with both of us making most final tourney tables. Experiencing hold 'em withdrawal now.

Back soon with all the Vegas and New Year news.

Wednesday, 12 December 2007

Hurrah, my laptop is home and well

Been laptop-less since I came out of hospital so have had to beg, borrow and steal to get online - until now! I felt limbless without it. What a world we live in, when gadgets are so sorely missed. But I love 'em! There's some software still to be re-installed, most importantly Photoshop, so can't upload any pictures yet.
Bertie's settled in very well. He and Morris play pat-a-cake every day until Mo gets a little enthusiastic and Bertie gets a soggy neck. Bertie now has a 'safe' tower with scratch posts, hidey holes and a fur-lined bed that towers five feet above the dogs. He loves it, they're frustrated.
My head is healing, although there was a hiccup the other night. I'd been bothered for a few days by something sticking out of the end of the wound and, like you do, piddled with it incessantly. Well, I pulled it a bit too hard and this fishing-line type wire kept coming out of my head, still attached to something inside. Nurse Fifi cut it off, stemmed the flow of blood (ok, the trickle) and dressed it to prevent infection. It was, of course, some internal soluble stitching not doing what it says on the can and all is ok now.
I've also got upper back issues. When I came round from the op I had an incredibly painful neck which has been troubling me ever since. Dr Embryo asked the physios to have a look at it whilst I was still in hospital. Granted, they did - look, that is - and then went away again with no advice or treatment whatsoever. It feels like somebody needs to whack a vertebrae back into place then all will be well. Finally unable to take the pain any longer I went to see Doc Simon who confirmed that anaesthetic-ridden bodies on op tables are indelicately pushed and pulled into place so, because my head was gripped tight in a vice, the rest of me was probably dumped out of kilter. The other, slightly shocking, thing he told me was that this second aneurysm was in a really difficult place to get to which made the op even riskier but I didn't know that beforehand. Just as well really as my worry level was sky high anyway! He also confirmed that Nurse Fifi had done just the right thing post-stitch-piddling. I now have yet more pills to add to the daily intake and some physio to try before anyone gets whacking. Small price to pay for life.
Christmas cards have all been written and posted (smug) and all the Christmas wrapping is done (even smugger). Fif and I are going away for stress-avoidance reasons. We thought we'd got the avoidance sussed this year but there're always those who wittingly or otherwise upset the apple cart so we just booked it, will pack it and then **** off for ten days. And boy do we need it! It's been a tough time.

Thursday, 29 November 2007

Bertie Eric leaves Morecambe




Meet Bertie Eric of Morecambe, soon to be of Boosh Barn. From Saturday Bertie Eric will be joining our menagerie which is fast diminishing.....Delius has gone feral and never comes indoors now, and Babooshka, Fifi's pride and joy, has gone missing. We've leafleted, postered, petlogged and searched high and low but still can't find her. Given that she appeared a few weeks ago with a different (and v. chav) collar on the chances are she's been stolen but we live in hope that she'll be home soon.
Bertie Eric is a lilac point Birman whose dad, Tyson (aka Baygazer Heart Throb) has just been made Supreme Champion, as was his grandma before him. He's coming home on Saturday so the pups have been read the riot act.
Morris has been to the vets; there's a bit less of him now but he hasn't calmed down yet.....still a cheeky chappie and Holly is still melting hearts with her melted chocolate eyes.
I'm bereft at the moment. I managed to leave hospital with no viruses but my laptop wasn't so lucky. Not only was it completely bug-ridden but it caught fire...well, smoked profusely and the adapter melted into the socket. I am without technology whilst the little samsung is in hospital but am now able to use Fifi's new laptop bought because hers also caught fire, well smoked profusely and, sadly, irreparably. It's also still early days post-surgery. I tire easily and have the added benefit of a common cold which, when sneezing and coughing, emphasises the soreness of my head. You just never know what's coming next.