Well Jason is contracting for a well known oil company. So life is a bit different as I'm doing all the school related trips during the week as he can't get back to do them.
It has been a significant change. Quite unsettling in some ways, but reassuring to know that we are both supporting the family unit financially.
As usual I'm spending lots of time worrying about schools, either schools now or in the future. Because I live in the Consett area I guess I have a general phobia of the more trendy labour council approach to schooling that happens in the north east. I tried to overcome my fear by getting more involved in the process, but it still scares me.
I guess the reason is that I'm never really sure that the children come first. Too much is driven by centralised policies to improve standards. Why on earth teachers can't just teach without all the meddling and paperwork is beyond me.
I have one vaguely bored child who is underchallenged, and one struggling child who could do with more individual attention. The underchallenged one doesn't rate as a genius so won't get extra help, the struggling one isn't classified as having special needs so equally can't get any help. Thankfully both of them are well behaved.
I'd like to send them to private school but I don't have a spare £20K a year to fund that, and due to the above reasons neither of them is likely to get a scholarship. I can't reduce my earnings enough to qualify for a bursary. So every now and again my fingernails take a battering as I have a serious fret on the subject.
Wednesday, November 14, 2007
Wednesday, August 29, 2007
Finally did the ironing
As I have finally caught up on about two months worth of ironing I thought I would celebrate in print and update the blog a bit.
The summer holidays are almost over. I'm hoping the new uniform I ordered from M&S will turn up before the start of term. I've got the permanent laundry marker pen at the ready to write names on everything having lost a brand new pair of shoes last year in the first couple of weeks. I don't know who got them, but they got a good deal! The ones that came home instead were certainly in the well worn category.
After school logistics are about to become a nightmare if Jason takes on a contract job. I'll have to ponder how everyone is going to get from A to B to C if we are both working most of the time. I could do with a tardis or some similar porting device, or someone will have to give something up! Arrgh I can hear the complaints already.
The summer holidays are almost over. I'm hoping the new uniform I ordered from M&S will turn up before the start of term. I've got the permanent laundry marker pen at the ready to write names on everything having lost a brand new pair of shoes last year in the first couple of weeks. I don't know who got them, but they got a good deal! The ones that came home instead were certainly in the well worn category.
After school logistics are about to become a nightmare if Jason takes on a contract job. I'll have to ponder how everyone is going to get from A to B to C if we are both working most of the time. I could do with a tardis or some similar porting device, or someone will have to give something up! Arrgh I can hear the complaints already.
Wednesday, June 13, 2007
If its not the fish its the garden or the boiler or something
Well the fish pond project was finished very quickly and we purchased 10 baby koi...little did I realise how much there was to this fishkeeping lark. For some reason Jason seems to have a view that pond + fish = success. In reality the pond went very murky after about 2 weeks so we now have a fountain, pump, filter, uv light gizmo to kill algae plus about 4 different types of koi food and various koi related pond treatments for water quality, biofilter activation and first aid.
Once we got the pump and filter and the water cleared we realised that two fish were gone! The mussels (of which there are two) seem to be quite plump so I'm wondering if they somehow liquified and digested the two fish. Another fish was spotted in distress...did anyone tell me...not until it was too late..so we were down to 7 baby koi. Now I can see the contents of the pond it is obvious that 5 koi are getting bigger and two aren't so now the two smaller ones are in quarantine in the old goldfish tank in the kitchen....requiring more special treatment and food that is broken up into little bits.
So much for the pop them in the pond and let them get on with it approach. Oh and there have been visits to the local garden centres in search of pond plants, so we also have water hyacinths, water soldiers and other green stuff floating around in there...oh and the water quality test kits - this is not a cheap venture by any means.
And then there was the boiler. 3 weeks without one so far, but hopefully only 4 more days to the new boiler and I'm planning a seriously long bath. Thankfully I found an old milk churn on Ebay so we've been using that to cart boiling water from the kitchen to the bathroom to have a 3 inch deep bath. After one episode of carrying boiling water using saucepans I decided there had to be a better way. Have you tried avoiding two children ('why are you carrying that saucepan mum?') the dog ('am I going out now')and three cats ('is it dinner time') whilst opening and closing three doors and navigating steps out of the kitchen and into the bathroom, all with that lovely sloshy boiling water? I don't recommend it.
Personally I'd be happier if the whole house got put back into Victorian mode and then I wouldn't need a boiler and I could be complaining about the range and the back boiler instead. I know this house must have had both of these things as we found some of the pipework. It is rather ridiculous that we get so stuck because one gadget breaks (ie the boiler) in the past houses were far more self reliant. I went to Beamish Museum last weekend and that just proved the point. Ideally I'd have a hybrid house with just enough of the old technology to keep going if all the new stuff failed.
And then there is the garden. I got two bags of seed potato this year and they are taking over. I ran out of space in the vegetable patch so popped them into the flower beds as well. The whole garden is now a giant potato patch. Should be fun when it comes to harvest time.
Once we got the pump and filter and the water cleared we realised that two fish were gone! The mussels (of which there are two) seem to be quite plump so I'm wondering if they somehow liquified and digested the two fish. Another fish was spotted in distress...did anyone tell me...not until it was too late..so we were down to 7 baby koi. Now I can see the contents of the pond it is obvious that 5 koi are getting bigger and two aren't so now the two smaller ones are in quarantine in the old goldfish tank in the kitchen....requiring more special treatment and food that is broken up into little bits.
So much for the pop them in the pond and let them get on with it approach. Oh and there have been visits to the local garden centres in search of pond plants, so we also have water hyacinths, water soldiers and other green stuff floating around in there...oh and the water quality test kits - this is not a cheap venture by any means.
And then there was the boiler. 3 weeks without one so far, but hopefully only 4 more days to the new boiler and I'm planning a seriously long bath. Thankfully I found an old milk churn on Ebay so we've been using that to cart boiling water from the kitchen to the bathroom to have a 3 inch deep bath. After one episode of carrying boiling water using saucepans I decided there had to be a better way. Have you tried avoiding two children ('why are you carrying that saucepan mum?') the dog ('am I going out now')and three cats ('is it dinner time') whilst opening and closing three doors and navigating steps out of the kitchen and into the bathroom, all with that lovely sloshy boiling water? I don't recommend it.
Personally I'd be happier if the whole house got put back into Victorian mode and then I wouldn't need a boiler and I could be complaining about the range and the back boiler instead. I know this house must have had both of these things as we found some of the pipework. It is rather ridiculous that we get so stuck because one gadget breaks (ie the boiler) in the past houses were far more self reliant. I went to Beamish Museum last weekend and that just proved the point. Ideally I'd have a hybrid house with just enough of the old technology to keep going if all the new stuff failed.
And then there is the garden. I got two bags of seed potato this year and they are taking over. I ran out of space in the vegetable patch so popped them into the flower beds as well. The whole garden is now a giant potato patch. Should be fun when it comes to harvest time.
Saturday, May 26, 2007
Think I'll get them flippers
The kids just did their latest swimming badges. They achieved 1 mile and 3KM respectively, probably considerably further than I could swim. They are both, quite rightly, proud of themselves.
Croc charms have been selling well, but I need to list a load more on Ebay really.
Can't wait for the Northumberland County Show on Monday. www.northcountyshow.co.uk
The poultry section has been cancelled as there is bird flu in North Wales (!!!) not the really dangerous sort (unless you are a chicken). So alas no Buff Orpington review is likely to appear on this blog anytime soon.
The new Koi pond in our garden has been the focus of a lot of attention recently. Having clearly ignored all the advice on how and where to build a pond (it is under a tree, in the shade, no shallow shelf and no pump or filter) I am now trying to sort it out so that the fish survive the first few months. So far we have a solar pump/fountain, various floating plants, some weed stuff and these barley pellets that soak up nasty stuff.
We've also got water testing strips that detect 5 types of nasty from ammonia to nitrates and some special potion that contains bacteria to sort out any excess nasties. All of which adds up to some serious purchasing. I haven't seen the fish all week as the water has gone a bit cloudy, well I did see one gold one. I guess Kois are shy (or depressed, or quietly dying down there).
To add a new challenge to our lives the combi boiler has been condemned by our friends at British Gas. It seems the heat exchanger has given up and because the boiler is 20 years old the part is hard to get, and would cost £600. So we'll probably go for a more efficient boiler and spend close on £2,000. We've had a look at the ground source heat pumps but they would require planning permission and 80 metres of trench to lay the pipes. It would easily cost £15K for that option, and the rest.... The air source heat pump would cost about the same so they are all out of the question until the kit gets a lot cheaper (it should be cheaper now seeings as how the government keep on and on about carbon footprints and the environment). Still you have got to be rich to be green.
Croc charms have been selling well, but I need to list a load more on Ebay really.
Can't wait for the Northumberland County Show on Monday. www.northcountyshow.co.uk
The poultry section has been cancelled as there is bird flu in North Wales (!!!) not the really dangerous sort (unless you are a chicken). So alas no Buff Orpington review is likely to appear on this blog anytime soon.
The new Koi pond in our garden has been the focus of a lot of attention recently. Having clearly ignored all the advice on how and where to build a pond (it is under a tree, in the shade, no shallow shelf and no pump or filter) I am now trying to sort it out so that the fish survive the first few months. So far we have a solar pump/fountain, various floating plants, some weed stuff and these barley pellets that soak up nasty stuff.
We've also got water testing strips that detect 5 types of nasty from ammonia to nitrates and some special potion that contains bacteria to sort out any excess nasties. All of which adds up to some serious purchasing. I haven't seen the fish all week as the water has gone a bit cloudy, well I did see one gold one. I guess Kois are shy (or depressed, or quietly dying down there).
To add a new challenge to our lives the combi boiler has been condemned by our friends at British Gas. It seems the heat exchanger has given up and because the boiler is 20 years old the part is hard to get, and would cost £600. So we'll probably go for a more efficient boiler and spend close on £2,000. We've had a look at the ground source heat pumps but they would require planning permission and 80 metres of trench to lay the pipes. It would easily cost £15K for that option, and the rest.... The air source heat pump would cost about the same so they are all out of the question until the kit gets a lot cheaper (it should be cheaper now seeings as how the government keep on and on about carbon footprints and the environment). Still you have got to be rich to be green.
Friday, May 04, 2007
Ebay overdose
The last fortnight has seen me having a real splurge on Ebay. It started with Crocs (www.crocs.com) then jibbitz (also on the crocs website) then something called Shoe Doodles (same as jibbitz really). Which has led me into my first wholesale for resale purchase. I am currently holding 137 Shoe Doodles of assorted designs 'in stock' ready for purchase (Free Postage) from fellow Ebayers.
So far I've sold 11 within 24 hours of starting to list them. If they don't go on Ebay I feel the swimming club may have the opportunity to take them off my hand. I haven't listed the sparkly ones yet, as we rather like them here (Elinor and I that is).
Basically Crocs are a bit like jelly sandals, they are very comfortable and have lots of holes in them for airflow. The holes can also be decorated with little charms. 3 out of 4 occupants of my house now have Crocs shoes!
Thursday, April 19, 2007
New lodgers ...trouble with rodents
Well we went on holiday for a week, the cats and dog went to the kennels and when we came back the mice had moved in.
After 24 hours it was obvious that every four legged furry animal had developed an obsession with staring intently at the floorboards. Now if it was just one cat doing it I would have thought that it was the naturally odd sort of staring that cats can do from time to time (some sort of meditation ritual they go into), but this was serious stand near the skirting board staring.
Then the dog was spotted standing on three legs for long periods staring at the floorboards. Not normal.
It doesn't seem to count that most rooms have ultrasonic rodent repelling gizmos plugged in. The mouse/mice have invaded through the small kangaroo sized holes in the bathroom and kitchen walls. Holes which are apparently necessary (and semi-permanent it seems) until the bathroom project is finished (8 months so far). They are in the kitchen wall as well because the pipes go in under there somewhere.
How the dog hasn't chewed up the pipes already is anybody's guess. But now he is also in search of a rodent they are likely to be both chewed and dug up, which could also result in a flood. Does that count as pestilence and flood? Bring on the plague of locusts (no don't).
I'm quite happy that this is giving the cats something to do in the house. It stops them wanting to go out and kill birds, or worse still play with the traffic, but I am very concerned that there is so much floorspace the little brown furry thing will be very hard to get rid of now it is in. I do have 5 humane traps set around the place, but what self respecting rodent is going to walk out of his/her hole and investigate a mouse trap if there are 3 cats and a Jack Russell waiting?
I've been checking on the internet and apparently peppermint essential oil is good for repelling rodents so 100ml bottle is on order and I'll see how it goes. The trouble with living in an old victorian house is every room has mouse sized gaps, you couldn't possibly seal them all up.
We did once have a visiting rat. I caught it eating my packed lunch and freaked out, it also ate the rucksack that the lunch was in, so I called in the council pest controller. He did the business with little boxes full of poison and a few months later we found the poor thing curled up dead in its nest in one of our sheds. On reflection I decided not to do that again, hence all the live catch traps and repellent.
I had to put a bet on it I would give the cats and dogs odds on that they will be eating something furry before it can get into the mouse traps or be suitably repelled. I just hope we can do that before they start attacking the wiring or the new plastic plumbing pipes.
Mice are supposed to be clever, you think they'd have smelled the other animal residents and gone and tried out next door (no pets, bigger house), or better still the woods over the road. The house will no doubt be very minty by the end of the week, as I'll be spraying all the floorboards.
After 24 hours it was obvious that every four legged furry animal had developed an obsession with staring intently at the floorboards. Now if it was just one cat doing it I would have thought that it was the naturally odd sort of staring that cats can do from time to time (some sort of meditation ritual they go into), but this was serious stand near the skirting board staring.
Then the dog was spotted standing on three legs for long periods staring at the floorboards. Not normal.
It doesn't seem to count that most rooms have ultrasonic rodent repelling gizmos plugged in. The mouse/mice have invaded through the small kangaroo sized holes in the bathroom and kitchen walls. Holes which are apparently necessary (and semi-permanent it seems) until the bathroom project is finished (8 months so far). They are in the kitchen wall as well because the pipes go in under there somewhere.
How the dog hasn't chewed up the pipes already is anybody's guess. But now he is also in search of a rodent they are likely to be both chewed and dug up, which could also result in a flood. Does that count as pestilence and flood? Bring on the plague of locusts (no don't).
I'm quite happy that this is giving the cats something to do in the house. It stops them wanting to go out and kill birds, or worse still play with the traffic, but I am very concerned that there is so much floorspace the little brown furry thing will be very hard to get rid of now it is in. I do have 5 humane traps set around the place, but what self respecting rodent is going to walk out of his/her hole and investigate a mouse trap if there are 3 cats and a Jack Russell waiting?
I've been checking on the internet and apparently peppermint essential oil is good for repelling rodents so 100ml bottle is on order and I'll see how it goes. The trouble with living in an old victorian house is every room has mouse sized gaps, you couldn't possibly seal them all up.
We did once have a visiting rat. I caught it eating my packed lunch and freaked out, it also ate the rucksack that the lunch was in, so I called in the council pest controller. He did the business with little boxes full of poison and a few months later we found the poor thing curled up dead in its nest in one of our sheds. On reflection I decided not to do that again, hence all the live catch traps and repellent.
I had to put a bet on it I would give the cats and dogs odds on that they will be eating something furry before it can get into the mouse traps or be suitably repelled. I just hope we can do that before they start attacking the wiring or the new plastic plumbing pipes.
Mice are supposed to be clever, you think they'd have smelled the other animal residents and gone and tried out next door (no pets, bigger house), or better still the woods over the road. The house will no doubt be very minty by the end of the week, as I'll be spraying all the floorboards.
Monday, April 02, 2007
Gone gardening
Spring is bringing out the gardener in me. I'm still not brave enough to battle the way into the front garden, our front garden is inconveniently on the other side of a busy road, but I am on track for getting things in the ground on time in the back garden.The picture on the left is of a Mantis Rotovator, this saves so much time digging, theoretically you can use it between rows of plants for weeding! But from personal experience that usually results in my plants looking like a hurricane has hit them and all their tops get chopped off.
I do extreme gardening. This means:
1. Rotovate almost everything
2. Plant things
1&2 can happen in one weekend
3. Ignore everything for weeks
4. Admire how the weeds are nearly as big as the plants I planted.
Somehow it seems to turn out ok. I really annoyed my dad last year when I ignored the potatoes he'd given me for months, and then got about four times the quantity of spuds as a result.
The classic example of extreme gardening is our 12 rhubarb plants. I've been ignoring them for years and they always come up like huge triffids. If I can see them over the weeds I might even take a picture.
Sunday, March 25, 2007
Harmoniums, Hens and Sewing Machines
My collection of reed instruments is growing apace. We are the proud owners of an old Alexandre harmonium..aka pump organ...courtesy of a bit of an Ebay moment, ok so two notes don't work but hey what do you want for £1.
Of course I've now got my eye on bigger and better harmonia and I've browsed the web merrily wondering how hard it is to fix the notes that don't want to work.
Found a good few websites so there are people looking after these things, despite the terrible prices they seem to fetch on Ebay. http://www.reedorgans.co.uk/
The harmonium works like a sort of horizontal accordion. You have to pump a foot pedal which inflates a bellows arrangement which in turn allows the notes to sound. Rather a good noise comes out of ours. The bellows are in tact, but it could do with a little TLC as the previous owner has knocked it about a bit.
And for my next Ebay trick I purchased an old Singer sewing machine, one of the pedal type (see the link between harmoniums and sewing machines, type in pedal and then check the distance and voila a completely insane purchase) and I have hauled it back to my house full of underappreciated things that really shold be worth more money but aren't.
The sewing machine is great, complete with its oak table, original instructions, all the various attachments for quilting, variable hems and other things I don't think I've ever tried. There is even a spare drive belt (old leather strap thing). It looks to be from the 1920's/30's and seems to have been much better looked after than the one my grandma had.
I am currently resisting the temptation to acquire big fluffy chickens called Buff Orpingtons. I've been looking at the possiblity of installing chickens for a while. We do have the room, but we don't yet have a fully fenced off area in the garden.
Having spent today lunching with a large crowd of Buff Orpingtons (and blue ones and jubilee ones) at Harperley Hall POW Camp I am quite struck on them. They are huge, and very amusing. I'm not sure they could fly if they wanted to. Knowing us they'd end up in the house, but not for lunch.
Saturday, March 17, 2007
I've finally discovered the point of ironing
For as long as I can remember ironing has been a way of reinforcing creases. Thanks to my new 'steam generator' iron I think I just removed all the creases from a garment!!! My linen clothing will now be crease free, until I get in the car, sit down or bend, at which point all the creases will reappear.
Seriously I don't like ironing. I have tried not to wear anything that needs ironing for the past 8 years (the advent of children). But our old steam iron stopped working and Jason spent £5 on a new one from Tesco's. As a result the minority of my clothes that do need ironing became completely unwearable as even I won't go out in massively crumpled clothing. Alas I am not the shape for lycra, so something had to be done.
The new iron has an extra kettle like attachment so I can just steam away all those stubborn creases in about a third of the time it used to take me to iron a basket of clothes. Never thought I'd be happy doing the ironing. I don't think this 'happy to iron' feeling will last long, but it is worth noting just for the shock factor.
Seriously I don't like ironing. I have tried not to wear anything that needs ironing for the past 8 years (the advent of children). But our old steam iron stopped working and Jason spent £5 on a new one from Tesco's. As a result the minority of my clothes that do need ironing became completely unwearable as even I won't go out in massively crumpled clothing. Alas I am not the shape for lycra, so something had to be done.
The new iron has an extra kettle like attachment so I can just steam away all those stubborn creases in about a third of the time it used to take me to iron a basket of clothes. Never thought I'd be happy doing the ironing. I don't think this 'happy to iron' feeling will last long, but it is worth noting just for the shock factor.
Friday, March 09, 2007
Current grumbles
In no particular order - and just to get it out of my system.....
Kids who hang around the area and vandalise the local church, and harass my elderly neighbours.
The fact that the local council, the county council and the police have replied to my email about said youths within 24 hours of me sending my email...but they have all told me that there are not likely to be any resources (police) or funds (the money bit) to do much about it!!!
A government who thinks keeping kids at school to do pointless subjects until they are 18 will make any difference...the local kids causing the problem are about 14, they are at school.
The fact that these kids are really quite clever. They know the police are unlikely to come, they have specially selected easy targets. They know to go home by 9pm (seems to be when they disappear).
These kids know they are being given useless qualifications now that everyone passes pretty much everything (they are not stupid), they know they are not likely to get a job even if they do pass their exams, and they know they shouldn't be getting away with this.
By trying to be fair the government is effectively disabling everyone who uses the education system.
I spend quite a few spare minutes wondering where would be the best place to move to...globally. Unfortunately the Orkneys were well featured in the Telegraph the other week, so that means half of London will be buying it up shortly.
Kids who hang around the area and vandalise the local church, and harass my elderly neighbours.
The fact that the local council, the county council and the police have replied to my email about said youths within 24 hours of me sending my email...but they have all told me that there are not likely to be any resources (police) or funds (the money bit) to do much about it!!!
A government who thinks keeping kids at school to do pointless subjects until they are 18 will make any difference...the local kids causing the problem are about 14, they are at school.
The fact that these kids are really quite clever. They know the police are unlikely to come, they have specially selected easy targets. They know to go home by 9pm (seems to be when they disappear).
These kids know they are being given useless qualifications now that everyone passes pretty much everything (they are not stupid), they know they are not likely to get a job even if they do pass their exams, and they know they shouldn't be getting away with this.
By trying to be fair the government is effectively disabling everyone who uses the education system.
I spend quite a few spare minutes wondering where would be the best place to move to...globally. Unfortunately the Orkneys were well featured in the Telegraph the other week, so that means half of London will be buying it up shortly.
Friday, February 23, 2007
Half term - itis
Half term started with a virus, my back had been hurting all week, and by Friday I couldn't move. So missed a day of work and spent most of the weekend feeling out of sorts. My Saturday snooze was disturbed at 11am by the kids announcing that they had 'found a dog in the road'. Thankfully the dog hadn't been hit by anything, but it had attached itself quite firmly to the children, more particularly to the tennis ball Elinor was holding.
The dog was a smooth haired border collie, and it spent most of the day behaving extremely well; being nice to cats, children and Fudge (who being a JRT was not so good in return). She happily fetched endless tennis balls and sat properly on the dog mat, which is much better than the normal dog of the house. I phoned the police who said I had to take her to them sometime before 5pm. Poor dog, I thought. Not believing that anyone could have lost her on purpose, but rather surprised that nobody had been around looking for her.
Anyway in the meantime the children of the area had invaded the garden and started making things with the sundry piles of building materials, which had spread from the garden to the surrounding road. This, as usual, put me into a very bad mood as I can feel the damages claims coming in from the less tolerant neighbours, and anyone unlucky enough to have their car parked in the area. I still haven't got over last year's smashed car window incident which cost me £60 for the Autoglass people and much aplogising for my hooligan 5 year old son's behaviour (he did shout Scooby Doo as he threw the stone that broke the windscreen - apparently).
So, having tried to get the dog to take me to her home (complete failure, she dragged me to the end of the road, grabbed a stick and dragged me back to my house), I gave up and took her to the police station. Sadly she wasn't microchipped but apparently it is against the law (isn't it always) to keep a stray dog without the written permission of the council! So we left her there, well I shoved her into the kennel and she whined a lot. The policeman on duty wasn't optimistic but I made him promise to ring me if anything happened. So that was my quiet Saturday.
Sunday we went off to my mum's for lunch. Came back to packing for the annual Crieff expedition, and a telephone message to say that the dog had been collected by her owners, who are hopefully microchipping her for next time. Packed up all our animals for their holiday at the kennels, and tried to keep the kids indoors.
Thinking about it the rest of the holiday was a breeze compared to Saturday...the kids have been to kids club and done Ceilidhs, Discos and Fashion Shows. I've polished off a few glassess of red wine and Jason has complained about his golfing ineptitudes.
Trouble is that it is Saturday again tomorrow. I think if I can get the kids to the 8am swimming club session my day will be a lot more peaceful.
The dog was a smooth haired border collie, and it spent most of the day behaving extremely well; being nice to cats, children and Fudge (who being a JRT was not so good in return). She happily fetched endless tennis balls and sat properly on the dog mat, which is much better than the normal dog of the house. I phoned the police who said I had to take her to them sometime before 5pm. Poor dog, I thought. Not believing that anyone could have lost her on purpose, but rather surprised that nobody had been around looking for her.
Anyway in the meantime the children of the area had invaded the garden and started making things with the sundry piles of building materials, which had spread from the garden to the surrounding road. This, as usual, put me into a very bad mood as I can feel the damages claims coming in from the less tolerant neighbours, and anyone unlucky enough to have their car parked in the area. I still haven't got over last year's smashed car window incident which cost me £60 for the Autoglass people and much aplogising for my hooligan 5 year old son's behaviour (he did shout Scooby Doo as he threw the stone that broke the windscreen - apparently).
So, having tried to get the dog to take me to her home (complete failure, she dragged me to the end of the road, grabbed a stick and dragged me back to my house), I gave up and took her to the police station. Sadly she wasn't microchipped but apparently it is against the law (isn't it always) to keep a stray dog without the written permission of the council! So we left her there, well I shoved her into the kennel and she whined a lot. The policeman on duty wasn't optimistic but I made him promise to ring me if anything happened. So that was my quiet Saturday.
Sunday we went off to my mum's for lunch. Came back to packing for the annual Crieff expedition, and a telephone message to say that the dog had been collected by her owners, who are hopefully microchipping her for next time. Packed up all our animals for their holiday at the kennels, and tried to keep the kids indoors.
Thinking about it the rest of the holiday was a breeze compared to Saturday...the kids have been to kids club and done Ceilidhs, Discos and Fashion Shows. I've polished off a few glassess of red wine and Jason has complained about his golfing ineptitudes.
Trouble is that it is Saturday again tomorrow. I think if I can get the kids to the 8am swimming club session my day will be a lot more peaceful.
Tuesday, February 06, 2007
Old pics
I found this postcard and thought I'd put it onto the blog, if you know me you will know where this is :-)
Saturday, January 27, 2007
Private healthcare - the animal perspective
Cinders (cat) got run over yesterday, thankfully a lady stopped and took her straight to the vet. The lad that hit her was apparently going too fast, he knew he hit her but didn't stop. Even though she was lying in the road, stunned, and clearly not dead. She was extremely lucky as she only has a snapped tooth and cuts on her chin - she also bit her tongue. So I am now feeling considerably poorer and Jason has been threatened with some radical personal surgery if he keeps letting the cats out! I have some strict rules about which cats are let out and when, ie they go out if they are hungry, and not for too long, and are called back in for food. She is currently lying on a towel in our bedroom (she really likes towels), trying to lick all the sticky plaster stuff off her leg from where the vet put a drip in to stop her getting shock.
The vet that had her didn't want me to take her home, they had her in a little cage on a drip and she looked really fed up - not eating or drinking. They said the vet was busy and wouldn't be able to see if she needed an operation until either tomorrow or Monday! Anyway this morning I asked for a price .....feeling the £ signs ticking away, plus I also think most animals like to be in familiar surroundings not shut in a tiny cage in silent room. Cost for admission, 1 night's stay, some antibiotics and painkillers and a saline drip £107! Costs to stay overnight for Sunday and Monday another £120, cost for operation ??? Anyway I didn't get that far as I phone my normal vet and told them what was going on (bear in mind I used to have a lot of animals and have spent a fair bit of time at the vets in the past 14 years since moving here).
My vet said that it was fine to bring her in first thing Monday, remember the other vet said they wouldn't be doing anything until Monday anyway. So I phoned the first lot back and said I was coming to get her (didn't give them a choice)...10 mins later my vet phoned me to say that the other lot had been on the phone checking that I had made an appointment, the first vet had said they were really worried, thought she needed to be hospitalised etc (1 vet giving the other a guilt trip, and giving me a guilt trip too).
Collected Cinders, parted with £107, went to other vet - who had stayed specially as the first vet said it was urgent. My vet had a look, said she looked quite perky. He took out the needle for the drip that the other lot had kindly left in, saying that she looked like she didn't need anymore fluid to him. He clipped off some fur from her chin (cat purring at this point), said it was a bit nasty but would probably heal up ok if we keep it clean (as if I'd keep it dirty), said the tooth operation looked a bit pointless as the tooth will probably drop out on its own, and the op would be fiddly and expensive. So I've got an appointment to take her in on Tues evening. Total cost at my vet £24 for Saturday out of hours appointment, 1 painkiller injection and 10 antibiotic tablets. Hmm I wonder why I go to my vet!!!
However the warning sign at Vet No1 was that the first thing they said to me was 'is she insured' and the second thing was ' can you sign this consent form' which gave them authority to do anything without asking me first.
Cat is now asleep on my bed, she has stuffed her face with food and spent an hour trying to lick the nasty sticky plaster mark off her leg.
Jason has been threatened with radical surgery if he keeps letting the cats out, he has also promised to revamp the dog flap to make it less cat friendly.
Cats are banned from going out until this is done.
I am thankful that a good samaritan called Leanne stopped to rescue Cinders from the middle of the road before the next car squashed her flat, and found time to put a note through the door saying what she had done. I am also happy that she went to the vet and that because she received prompt treatment the cat didn't go into shock, but I am even happier that my regular vet is such a calm and sensible practitioner who doesn't just go for the insurance....and the guilt trips.
The vet that had her didn't want me to take her home, they had her in a little cage on a drip and she looked really fed up - not eating or drinking. They said the vet was busy and wouldn't be able to see if she needed an operation until either tomorrow or Monday! Anyway this morning I asked for a price .....feeling the £ signs ticking away, plus I also think most animals like to be in familiar surroundings not shut in a tiny cage in silent room. Cost for admission, 1 night's stay, some antibiotics and painkillers and a saline drip £107! Costs to stay overnight for Sunday and Monday another £120, cost for operation ??? Anyway I didn't get that far as I phone my normal vet and told them what was going on (bear in mind I used to have a lot of animals and have spent a fair bit of time at the vets in the past 14 years since moving here).
My vet said that it was fine to bring her in first thing Monday, remember the other vet said they wouldn't be doing anything until Monday anyway. So I phoned the first lot back and said I was coming to get her (didn't give them a choice)...10 mins later my vet phoned me to say that the other lot had been on the phone checking that I had made an appointment, the first vet had said they were really worried, thought she needed to be hospitalised etc (1 vet giving the other a guilt trip, and giving me a guilt trip too).
Collected Cinders, parted with £107, went to other vet - who had stayed specially as the first vet said it was urgent. My vet had a look, said she looked quite perky. He took out the needle for the drip that the other lot had kindly left in, saying that she looked like she didn't need anymore fluid to him. He clipped off some fur from her chin (cat purring at this point), said it was a bit nasty but would probably heal up ok if we keep it clean (as if I'd keep it dirty), said the tooth operation looked a bit pointless as the tooth will probably drop out on its own, and the op would be fiddly and expensive. So I've got an appointment to take her in on Tues evening. Total cost at my vet £24 for Saturday out of hours appointment, 1 painkiller injection and 10 antibiotic tablets. Hmm I wonder why I go to my vet!!!
However the warning sign at Vet No1 was that the first thing they said to me was 'is she insured' and the second thing was ' can you sign this consent form' which gave them authority to do anything without asking me first.
Cat is now asleep on my bed, she has stuffed her face with food and spent an hour trying to lick the nasty sticky plaster mark off her leg.
Jason has been threatened with radical surgery if he keeps letting the cats out, he has also promised to revamp the dog flap to make it less cat friendly.
Cats are banned from going out until this is done.
I am thankful that a good samaritan called Leanne stopped to rescue Cinders from the middle of the road before the next car squashed her flat, and found time to put a note through the door saying what she had done. I am also happy that she went to the vet and that because she received prompt treatment the cat didn't go into shock, but I am even happier that my regular vet is such a calm and sensible practitioner who doesn't just go for the insurance....and the guilt trips.
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