Friday, 30 June 2017

Seriously had enough now!!!!!!!!!


Note to readers (my lovely Baggees): For the avoidance of any doubt - every character in this blog is me!!! No Baggy was harmed in its writing.

Baggy's daily state!
Depression (Black = really bad/Grey = not great/Blue = okay/Yellow = sunny day): Black.
Anxiety (From 1 = barely any to 10 = gibbering wreck standard): 9.
Tears: Yep.
Overall day: 😕

Well baggees, that's been a roller-coaster two days! Yesterday was a good day. Busy but good. Furry Mama took Minty Mutt to Dunwich beach in Billy Bob Jalopy. She had one plan, he had another!

They wandered along the cliff top, with Archaeologist Annie imagining the huge town that has fallen into the sea. Visited the monastery that went the way of every other monastery in Henry VIII's England. Looked at the standing archaeology.




Then headed off to do a round walk. Minty Mutt stopped dead and looked at Furry Mama.
"What?"
"I don't want to go that way?"
"Why? Are you in pain?"
"No. I want to go in the sea".
"Oh. Okay then."
They set off again, back the way they'd just come.
Furry Mama stopped the mutt from trying to take the short route to the sea - straight over the cliff edge!









They then chilled on the beach for ages!




When home again,  Creative Clara went into over drive trying to get ready for the vintage fair, while Minty slept.

Today. Well, today was a disaster. Nine hours at Ipswich hospital. Number one furry was seriously poorly. In agony. Baggy met him at A&E. A work colleague gave him a lift there. Baggy has never seen him in so much pain. They instantly gave him a massive painkiller and said it was a kidney stone! Hmmmm. Clever Bird wasn't sure how they would have missed that after months of tests! She started wittering to the Doctor. He vanished. He returned. "You have an infection". 

Blood tests. Two hours later - the results. Definitely an infection. An hour later, Cal was on two drips. One antibiotics, the other painkillers. Six hours after arriving in A&E he was sent to a surgical ward. Half an hour later, he was told he was staying the night. Furry Mama decided to go off and buy him some food. A Doctor arrived. Furry Mama stayed. Clever Bird started wittering again. The Doctor was a gem (and a top Urology Consultant), after a long time, lots of questions, lots of tests, lots of proddling, he concluded that Cal does not have a kidney stone, or a kidney infection, he has a prostate infection. He still has a chest infection. He is not well! He is on four weeks of antibiotics and must rest for at least a week, but the Doctor decided he could go home, or he would probably have been stuck in hospital until Monday. He has to go back for ultrasounds and various other tests fairly soon. He is worried that he won't be earning any money again. Baggy's words, "I couldn't care less, I don't need money, I need you!"

They got home at 11am to a very frantic Minty Mutt. Calum went straight to bed. Baggy shoved a pizza in the oven and polished off half a bottle of wine, so if Creative Clara is slurring her words, she apologises baggees, but it's been a "time"! Especially, as while in A&E, Furry Mama got a call from the vet booking Minty Mutt's surgery for 13th July! No vintage fair tomorrow either! It's midnight, no way is Clara getting Baggy up at 5.30am, especially as Calum would insist on helping her! Thank goodness for happy pills baggees, Hormonal Hannah has only had a mini melt..........................


Wednesday, 28 June 2017

Busy, busy, busy, Baggy.


Note to readers (my lovely Baggees): For the avoidance of any doubt - every character in this blog is me!!! No Baggy was harmed in its writing.

Baggy's daily state!
Depression (Black = really bad/Grey = not great/Blue = okay/Yellow = sunny day): Grey.
Anxiety (From 1 = barely any to 10 = gibbering wreck standard): 1.
Tears: No.
Overall day: 😹


Furry Mama was up, out and walking Minty Mutt at 6.15am! By 8.30am Baggy was in Sudbury waiting for her dental appointment - she's got to have one of those weird thingies that protect her teeth when Hormonal Hannah is grinding them all night. As the dentist pushed the mould on Baggy's bottom teeth, he started talking about an incident at his University. Meanwhile Baggy was trying not to gag - "Think about anything except the thing in your mouth", thought Clever Bird as Freda Fretter started to panic.
"......we used to work as each others dental assistants. On one occasion my assistant used the wrong putty to take a mould. He used the stuff used for (something or other)..." Baggy didn't hear this as she was trying to stop Freda from having a total meltdown.
"....it wouldn't come off! It took over two hours of delicate work to get it off". By now, Freda is feeling decidedly sick.

As the dentist started to remove the mould, it got stuck! Waaaaaaaahhh! "Don't panic Freda".
"Easy for you to say Clever Bird, it's not stuck in your mouth. Oh, okay, it is but......."
The mould came out. And breathe Baggy.

"I wish you'd saved that story until that thing was out of my mouth", semi-joked a relieved Baggy!

Next stop the opticians. Actually that's not quite true baggees, next stop was a cappuccino and bacon bap, then the opticians. Freda Fretter was on one again, because she didn't want Baggy to have an operation on her cataract. But she needn't have worried, the cataract is still so small as to be irrelevant and is also of the slow-growing variety. Yay. Clever Bird remembered belatedly what it is that number one furry always says to her, "There's no point in worrying about things that may never happen, or things that you can do nothing about". Good advice. Shame Hormonal Hannah can't take it.

Next stop, the holiday cottage. Things to drop off, but more importantly Freda wanted to see whether the first ever guests had left any comments; they had - they were lovely. Phew. They had also left the place looking pretty spotless! The next peops are in on Friday.

Home. Next stop, take Minty Mutt to the vets. Furry Mama got there early, and was seen early. the vet was delighted with Mint. His skin has cleared up and he seemed much brighter. It became apparent that she had thought that Furry Mama was kidding herself that he was still a happy dog. She clearly believed that he was in too much pain to be happy, and that therefore putting him through the operation on his paw would be wrong. Today he was much livelier and more inquisitive and she was much happier that Furry Mama wasn't living on a dream planet. The op. will probably be in two weeks time, because "I think now that it would be well worth doing it". Meanwhile Minty is now on Tramadol as well as his doggy ibuprofen. And yes, it is the human drug, so hopefully he will soon be in much less pain.

Clever Bird then asked the vet whether she thought it would be a good idea or a bad one, to get a puppy to keep Mint company. Without thinking she said, "A bad one", then added, "Oh sorry, I probably shouldn't have said that, a dog behaviourist might say differently, but he seems like a dog who'd rather have you to himself, and it would be unfair to unsettle him". Clever Bird had come to a similar conclusion. She knows from having Minty from seven weeks old, just what hard work puppies are. It would mean leaving Mint to train the puppy, and that wouldn't be fair. Plus Mint is such a sweetheart that he would immediately give the puppy a superior position to himself in the pack hierarchy, which also isn't fair. So no puppy will be joining the family yet.

Creative Clara now needs to get back to researching prices for her new products for Realuv's next vintage fair on Saturday, which is why she failed to blog yesterday in case you were wondering baggees. There's no rest for a Baggy..........

Monday, 26 June 2017

Puppy love.


Note to readers (my lovely Baggees): For the avoidance of any doubt - every character in this blog is me!!! No Baggy was harmed in its writing.

Baggy's daily state!
Depression (Black = really bad/Grey = not great/Blue = okay/Yellow = sunny day): Grey.
Anxiety (From 1 = barely any to 10 = gibbering wreck standard): 3.
Tears: No.
Overall day: 😩

Baggy woke up to an empty bed this morning as number one furry left for work at 5.00am. After having him at home for three weeks, being on her own again was always going to be a struggle for Hormonal Hannah, so Clever Bird got the gang busy. The Domestic Goddess did some goddessing, Furry Mama walked Minty, Creative Clara wrapped the four little Geisha plates she'd sold in Realuv and took it to town to post, then Gloria Gardener decided on a bit of outdoor, dirt-therapy.

The Goddess has sorted out Baggy's woman shed for Gloria, so now she has a place to sit when pulling things up gets too much i.e. frequently.






She can also spy on the man-shed from the comfort of her nest.


Of course the moment she sits down a certain furry mutt appears to guard her. He does seem to have reverted to puppyhood with his dementia! All the things he did as a puppy are now his priority!


  1. Guard Furry Mama and do not let her out of sight.
  2. Meet every available dog.
  3. Persuade every dog to play with him.
  4. Totally ignore every request to leave said dogs.
  5. When called back by Furry Mama, ignore her if there is any sign of another dog anywhere.
  6. When the collar appears, leap up and down like a demented puppy doing over-excited barks because it's time to go out.
  7. Frequently do this to Furry Mama to make her throw his ball.
  8. Bark at anyone who appears as any kind of a "threat" to Furry Mama.
  9. Stick his nose in any interesting smelling stuff: food, the fridge, the bin, the cat.
  10. Sleep a lot.
As a result, Furry Mama no longer risks walking him off the lead unless she sees dogs that he knows. Regardless, he literally hauls her towards other dogs! Clever Bird cannot work out where he finds the strength, considering how much pain he's in! Adrenalin probably. But in many ways, it's lovely to have his puppy-side back.

Trying to garden with an over-sized puppy lying wherever Gloria digs was interesting. Trying out where on earth to begin was also interesting. There are an awful lot of new trees growing! But she headed for a patch and went for it:

Before

 


After



No baggees, Clever Bird couldn't see much difference either, but look at what she pulled out!


Cup of tea needed, so The Goddess popped inside and made Gloria one. Baggy had a little look at the computer while she drank it. She found Psychic Ploppo doing a search for puppies! Now Clever Bird is not sure that getting a puppy is a good idea - for lots of reasons:

  • The cost.
  • The time and patience required.
  • The cats.
But above all:
  •  Minty Mutt. 
But that's actually why it might be a good idea. Minty Mutt absolutely loves other dogs. His two best friends are miniature sausage dog puppies and he loves playing with them. It might also be a good idea for Hormonal Hannah who is absolutely feeling sick about losing Minty Mutt, and whether that is sooner or later, it is inevitable.  Interestingly it wasn't her who put the idea into Furry Mama's head, it was Calum, who she found looking up rescue dogs on t'internet! He admitted that "it won't feel right without Minty Mutt around". Furry Mama will be speaking to the vet when she sees her on Wednesday...................

Saturday, 24 June 2017

Another day, another beach.

Note to readers (my lovely Baggees): For the avoidance of any doubt - every character in this blog is me!!! No Baggy was harmed in its writing.

Baggy's daily state!
Depression (Black = really bad/Grey = not great/Blue = okay/Yellow = sunny day): Grey.
Anxiety (From 1 = barely any to 10 = gibbering wreck standard): 6.
Tears: No.
Overall day: 💜


When the vet phoned Furry Mama last night, she said that she couldn't see any mites in Minty's skin-scrape when she looked at it under the microscope, but "there were bacteria having a wild party". It occurred to Clever Bird at 4 o'clock this morning that presumably the vet won't operate on Mint's lump, until the skin infection has cleared up. It's going to be a risky op. anyway, as there will be barely any skin to sew up once the lump is removed, so the last thing they'll want is partying bacteria getting in on the act.

So Furry Mama washed Minty's poorly skin with anti-bacterial wash again this morning. Fortunately he loves it. Well he would wouldn't he? He's a boy and it's all round his groin area! Then Clever Bird decided that more salt water would also help. But Furry Mama wanted a beach that was sandy rather than really pebbly, for Mint's sake. They ended up at Pakefield. Baggy's never been there before. Once again there were pebbles, but at least once they were at the sea's edge it became sand - much easier for achy paws.

Minty Mutt was very keen to get in - unlike yesterday! He bit off a little more than he could chew though.

 
 
Bless him, he was a little taken aback!

They all had a little wander up the beach and past the semi-detached Church(es), with their thatched roofs.






With the best lawnmowers ever! Furry Mama loved them.



Time for the usual tea, before heading home and washing Minty Mutt and Billy Bob Jalopy......



Friday, 23 June 2017

Making the most of life - you never know when it might be over.

Note to readers (my lovely Baggees): For the avoidance of any doubt - every character in this blog is me!!! No Baggy was harmed in its writing.

Baggy's daily state!
Depression (Black = really bad/Grey = not great/Blue = okay/Yellow = sunny day): Blue.
Anxiety (From 1 = barely any to 10 = gibbering wreck standard): 4.
Tears: Lots.
Overall day: 💑

When Furry Mama read all the lovely comments that baggees had written about Creative Clara's blog yesterday, she turned into a blubbering mess. Clever Bird decided to re-read her blog, and Furry Mama became even more of a blubbering mess. Clara had only managed to write it because Hormonal Hannah was giving Baggy one of her out-of-body experiences; Baggy's self-preservation method - kind of going into a dream mode and watching things that Baggy can't cope with from afar, as if they're happening to someone else.

Furry Mama gave Minty Mutt his dementia drugs, then bathed his poorly skin. Then as promised she took her two furries to Southwold for a bit of sea salt therapy.








Freda Fretter wasn't entirely sure that this was the best plan for a poorly furry, but actually, it seemed to do him no end of good, and Baggy is just thrilled that after three weeks, Calum seems to be almost fully well again! Apparently, that was the first time that he's swum in nearly 25 years. Baggy was thrilled that she found that little fact out once he was back on terra-firma!

Minty Mutt was encouraged by his Dad's efforts (all five minutes of them), to have another paddle.







Walking on that beach with a broken toe - interesting. Time to dry off the furries. And go for a coffee.









This evening Furry Mama had a call from the vets with a quote for Minty's operation. It will probably be next week. Meanwhile, they will live life to the full.........