and today i have mostly been...

[Welly]

I'd wager a link between an allergy and headaches.

I mustard I wouldn't like being filled up with various different pills/potions so good luck mate and report back.

[steve_earwig]

I just have to remember when to take which potion Ah well, old age here we come

Feeling not so bad today, still something lingering but nothing I'm not getting used to. My wife's mate is here just now and she was telling me her ma had something similar so they did allergy tests on her - the first thing she had to throw out was her feather pillows. Damn, and I bought mine special

[Doggy]

How far can you throw it?



(Make a change form welly wanging)

[steve_earwig]

Is that throwing goose down feather pillows? They were washed this year but maybe I should be pre-emptive and get some new ones. Or maybe I can get some sort of case to put them in, one that won't allow dust/dustmite sh*t/bedbug shavings through. In Croatia? Hahahaha.

Still lurking today, I would prefer nothing at all but at least I can function.

This morning I blew all the leaves from our walnut tree off our better neighbour's barn roof and out of his gutter. Piece of piss with the blower, the only drawback is I then have to pick them all up from our yard. I pulled all the mirabilis out the front because the frost got to it already, raked under the apple tree and then blew the remainder up the yard to collect for burning (walnut leaves are like horse chestnut - no good for composting as they're full of tanic acid)

Incidently, what are Stihl on with these new pully uppy twisty roundy fuel caps? They're a great idea in theory but in practice if you don't line them up completely they just fall off. That's the second time I've poured 2-stroke down my back with the blower

So yes, collecting leaves. It's ok with the blower going but once it's off I then have to hear our mental neighbour's radio distortedly blasting out Central European crappy warbly musick. It's really annoying. Ordinarily I'd have the mp3 player going in my ears but I'm waiting for a call from t'wife (she's out for coffee with a colleague and wants to go shopping after). In the end I pulled out the Einhall genny I bought a few years back and ran that. What I was thinking is I need to buy some sort of stationary engine that I can just get out and fire up, preferably with no silencer. Something on wheels maybe

[steve_earwig]

Is it leaves or leafs? I suspect it's probably leafs, leaves is when someone goes. Ah well, I can't be asked to change it. In Croat it's "list", which also means a piece of paper or a page from a book (leaf through a book?) It also means a newspaper, Jutarnji List (morning leaf) and Vecernji List (evening leaf) are two of the main newspapers here.

Is it just me again then? We'll I hope you're all out enjoying yourself, rather than having problems. No really, I do.

Soooo, yes, shopping. At the till just now I was whistling. I can't whistle very well (you should hear my cousin chirping and trilling) but it's just something I do when I'm happy or whatever, as an alternative to singing, talking to myself, blowing raspberries or anything else I have a habit of doing that might label me as a bit of a nutter when I'm out and about. And I got a bollocking off the wife Tbh it's not the first time but it's hard to remember. Because, you see, if you're working and somebody else is whistling, in Croatia it implies that you're taking too long. She reckons it's the same thing as if you're trying to do something for someone and they're snapping their fingers in your face. Come to think of it I did notice the guy on the checkout was a bit careless with our vittals, chucking it in a big heap faster than we could pack it.

Mad forrin customs eh?

[Welly]

I think tapping fingers is very rude over here, may as well shake your fist in their face. Whistle blowing is a bit hard to define, like you say it could mean you're a nutter, you're bored, happy, taking the piss

[steve_earwig]

I really can't understand it, it wouldn't bother me at all but I'll just have to try to remember. Stupid bluddy forriners

We've just been to the vet's again. Teatime had another punch-up last night and came in with his bad eye running down his face again. I tried to clean it up but he wouldn't let me near it. Wouldn't eat anything, just sat with his face screwed up looking miserable (I was worried his good eye was also damaged but he reacted to me waiving my hand in front of his face). We rang the vet to ask if we could do anything, she suggested an eighth or a Nurofen but I couldn't imagine forcing it down him (hold head firmly in left hand, with that eye? Yeah right) and to bring him in this morning. He then disappeared out again, maybe he didn't like all the activity going on perhaps, me endlessly asking him if he was ok and waiving my hands about, so he went somewhere to be alone. No sign of him first thing but he turned up just before 8 with his bad eye blown up to its normal nastiness again. He still didn't want to eat anything.

At the vet's she cleaned him up and popped some analgesic eye drops in there, plus antibiotic injections and I have some antibiotic drops for it. We again discussed removing the eye, not only is there the optic nerve but there's all the nerves for the 7 muscles controlling the eye and severing them will be excruciating, but if he keeps loosing the eye sooner or later it'll get infected and then he'll be in all sorts of trouble. I've no idea what to do for the best. Back again tomorrow to see if it's stopped weeping, if it doesn't stop then the decision is made for us. When we got home I managed to get some food down him, so that's an improvement.

[Welly]

Eww, that sounds horrid, no wonder you're worried. The injection will help loads though, and quickly I guess.

Our black cat was absolutely terrified at the Fireworks and I mistakenly let him out on Saturday night without thinking; we eventually found him under one of the cars and finally coaxed him out but he was doing that 'belly down' stooping walk thing; poor f*cker. Didn't eat either. Now Fireworks are on my FRO list

[steve_earwig]

Poor puddytat It never used to bother me but fireworks have been on my FRO list since I've know Betty, t'wife's (now 13 I think) golden retriever as she's absolutely terrified of them (or any loud noise for that matter), shakes like a leaf and tries to sit on me whenever there's a loud bang. Not for November 5th of course, that's something uniquely British, but for New Years. They sell them in supermarkets here, I think they're not meant to sell them to kids but either nobody cares or the idiot parents buy them and give them to their demented offspring anyway. The result is we get stupid kids walking up and down the road letting them off starting before Christmas, I always hope for screams but it never happens. The idiot kids of our retarded neighbours here used to let them off continuously too but I think they've got old enough to discover internet porn so they hardly ever do anything outside the house now.

A couple of years back the government here made it illegal to let fireworks off after New Years, so things have definitely improved. But I still hope for screams.

[lozz]

Ah yes.. The poor animals.
I hate fireworks..they've still been firing them off here.
Big waste of money if you ask me..

My sons dog hasn't flinched once.. It must be deaf.
I've had cats run in our kitchen through the french doors and they've took shelter under the table poor things.

[Doggy]

Fortunately our dogs don't seem to get that bothered. One of them is nearly deaf and that other one's that quick-witted he may start to react in another week or so.

When I was young our flat-coated retriever was terrified of fireworks. My bro & I spent the evenings with one of us watching the fireworks from the upstairs window while the other kept the dog calm, then we'd swap over.
We never* argued about who's turn it was to look after the mutt, honest.

[steve_earwig]

Betty's getting pretty deaf too, so things have got easier (btw she panics in thunderstorms as well). A few years back we had to give her tranquillisers but we still have to shut all the blinds and turn the telly up. The cats generally dart around for a bit and find somewhere dark to hide.

Teatime is now sparko on his back on the 2-seater. He must be knackered bless him, he usually rushes into the kitchen when I feed the dogs ("where the f*ck's mine then?") but when I did it 20 minutes ago he didn't move. He's dreaming, a few minutes ago he made the weirdest noise I've ever heard from a cat, somewhere between an owl hooting and a baby crying. Sounded really creepy to me anyway. After that I wasn't sure he was still breathing but, just as I got up to look, he stretched and rolled on his back. I've even moved the lamp stand to the other side of the room so it doesn't shine on him and I'm being vewwy vewwy kwiet

[steve_earwig]

Teatime seems pretty good this morning, his eye still looks weepy and horrid but he doesn't seem to be in any pain, so I guess that lets me off trying to get a painkiller down him. Back to the vet's later.

Camilla has a new trick, she likes climbing up me and sitting on my shoulders. Or she might wait for me to bend down for something and leap straight up there. It's ok if I'm wearing a jumper but she did it yesterday when I was only wearing a t-shirt - ouch! This morning I bent down to empty the dishwasher and boing! There she was. I finished emptying the dishwasher, did some washing up, potted up a plant, talked to the neighbourhood scrounger at the gate, all with a kitten on my shoulders. Now she's finally got bored with it and jumped down I have a cold neck

[steve_earwig]

I've just taken Teatime to the vet's again, it's looking ok but, because the eye is fubar, the jelly that should be in the back of the eye is also in the front, where it's meant to be liquid, and some of this is actually poking through the hole. Mirela thinks maybe that she should remove this jelly because it's only going to irritate things. She also thinks what I think, that the eye will constantly be damaged and be a risk for infection, and that the best long-term solution is removal. He'll then need to have painkiller injections for days afterwards. It won't be pleasant for him.

He also did a Camilla on me there. Camilla weighs about 2.5Kg now, Teatime more like twice that but he didn't manage to claw me at all. Once up there he was at a better height for examination, so both of the small animal vets, Mirela and Ana, were examining him as he lay across my shoulders, warming my neck

[highlander]

My Mum's cat, Marco, likes going up to shoulder height. He does that from the ground, mostly in a single leap. I'm a little over 6 feet tall. He's a very leggy cat; Abyssinians always are - makes them fast as hell.

I had a picture of him lying on his side on top of Mum's tumble dryer (one of his favourite spots in the house, because it's warm) with his legs stretched right out. Need to try and find it.