Is It all Over?

Well, its Thursday, the day before New Year's Eve, and I'm pooped. Just like last year, when the fun was over, the FUN was over. On the plus side, the snow has gone because of the rain (c'mon people, that's a good thing) and number one cat is back to her normal habits of patrolling outside and eating & sleeping inside. Our sleep has largely disappeared due to late nights. By the time bedtime comes I am past sleep and lie awake for hours. By the time sleep arrives it is near time to rise again. Still, the eating is and has been good, and also the drinking. Exercise has been taken, but now its time to kick off the slippers and sit back.
Tomorrow night will be quiet enough here, just the  wife, number two son and I and our feline friend. But we do have all that drink...   The piccie is of the Daughter's moggie. Old & chronically ill he is a tribute to veterinary science and TLC
Number one son became engaged over the holiday. We have not met the intended and probably won't until the summer. Nuptials are not imminent. The daughter's boyfriend spent the holiday north of the border, but is expected to make a recovery for New Year. Normally the UK family eat together formally on New Year's Day and the Boyfriend should be joining us. More party atmosphere and booze; I don't know where the strength comes from but hey! I'm not complaining.
Happy New Year

Number One Cat (2)

Our favourite feline friend visited the vet last week. She had been coughing, sneezing, and throwing up at intervals. The crunch came when she sneezed all over the wife's duvet! Anyway, we saw a new (to us) vet who appeared to be very thorough. She spent ages examining Portia's tummy so that I wondered if she'd found anything nasty. Likewise her temperature and heartbeat. Oh, God we thought. It turns out to be an upper respiratory infection (phew!) and is treated with anti-biotics. Portia doesn't do pills (we have too much respect for our fingers!) but a 2 week long lasting injection is now available instead, so she had that. Within a couple of days the coughing and sneezing had stopped and the throwing up was back to normal. She is also brighter in herself. Next month the annual booster jabs...
With all this snow Portia is reluctant to venture out. She sleeps a lot, plays daily (good for exercise) and eats for England, but she wants to go out!!!

The End of the Saga?

Our dratted conservatory continues its malign behaviour. Now one of the door handles has packed up. It will rotate a complete circle but does not engage the mechanism. I have managed to shut the door, good for security and temperature control, but the installer had to be called. Of course it is several days before they can attend and in the meantime we have to  walk all round the house to access the garage. Migthty inconvenient with armsful of washing and in the rain. Anyway, the man came eventually and within 30 minutes he fixed the problem and relieved me of £70. We now have a new door-lock mechanism. what's next with this installation?

More Health news

I just wish our wonderful NHS would make up its mind. After a lengthy blood test session (2 hours, no less) and a 10 day wait for results, it seems the wife DOES have diabetes. She is diagnosed as type 2 and the condition can be managed by diet, at least at this stage, which is a blessing. All the usual advice, lose weight, eat fruit & veg, watch the quantity etc. etc.  An appointment is to be made for retinal examination (which sounds awful), but the good news is that H's pulses in her feet are the best the Doc has known. The rest maybe falling apart, but her feet are just fine!

Snow

Well, it had to happen. Overnight we had about 15 cm of snow here and the world stopped. Being at the bottom of both a rise in the road, and a cul-de-sac, where others can use their cars we cannot. The main roads are clear, but here at home nothing moves. The problem is that as the road slopes towards the house snow is easily compacted into ice. As everyone knows, cars and ice don't mix and so here we sit. As if that wasn't bad enough, Christmas is coming and we have things to buy and places to go. I just hope it thaws enough overnight to move the car tomorrow, otherwise we starve.

The saga continues

After the conservatory defects were rectified, the adjacent flowering cherry tree has been felled. It filled me with sadness to do it, but there is little doubt that its proximity to the house was undermining the conservatory. The tree was beautiful in Spring, covered in a profusion of pink flowers - wonderful. What I will not miss is the sweeping up of the fallen blossom, or the leaves in Autumn. Since the leaves are very thin they stick like the proverbial to a blanket and can be all but impossible to sweep. Still, the tree will have to be repalced with something more suitable for that location, as that is where Portia likes to sleep in the shade!

More Health news.

As of this morning it turns out that the wife does not have diabetes. More tests have to be done, but the diagnosis at the moment is "glucose intolerance". The regime could be the same  tho, diet, weight loss, all the usual killjoys. Watch this space