This Morning.......

I thought you might like to hear about Mr Mutt’s Thursday morning. ChickPea is waiting in for more parcels to be delivered today – maybe including Mr Mutt’s outdoor bed. Meantime…….

The sun was shining, a light wind from the NorthEast…….. DJ was in a slightly less Tangential Universe than of late, and the porridge was cooking nicely on its own…… so Mr Mutt could go out into his garden. This Was Good. The head was up, the eyes were bright, the tail was waving a little, and he was dead keen to get out. Yeah – Life OK for Mr Mutt. A bit draughty, of course, becos of the wind – so he settled as flat and windfree as he could in the sunshine, and Life Wuz OK.

Then ChickPea took the base bed-bit of his kennel out into the garden. Oooooooh ! This wuz good – up off the cold grass ! “Hey – I like this” sed Mr Mutt. Draughty, and a bit hard on the elbows - but hey – ok.

Then the top bit went out into the garden too. Mr Mutt moved out of bed because ChickPea insisted – she thought it A Good Idea while she put the top on. (Unpredictable dog has been known to bite)………..

Straight in. Settled down. “Very Nice Thank You” sed Mr Mutt.

Hasn’t moved for over an hour. The Tabby Twins from next door came to say ‘Hello’ and to investigate The Kennel. The Feathery Friends have been around. But Mr Mutt is Taking Time For Himself. Life Is Too Good For Sharing just now. Mr Mutt is Over The Moon.

Of Material Matters.......

There was an ENORMOUS parcel arrived in our porch today.

Mr Mutt, TH ( avec scissors ) and ChickPea eventually achieved liberation of the contents – despite yards and yards of sticky parcel tape - and Mr Mutt had A Very Great Surprise.

A kennel !

Mr Mutt loves being outside – but he really HATES rain – and wind. And he hates DJ’s hearing aid when it whistles. And he hates Being bored Indoors. He finds it a very difficult choice sometimes – stay indoors out of the wind, but with the H.A. …….. or away from the H.A. but cope with the wind - and hope against hope that ChickPea notices the black clouds are gathering and the temperature is dropping and it’s going to rain…..

And NOW he has a kennel ! Maybe tomorrow the postie will bring the ‘bed’ bit to make the inside of the kennel cosy and cuddly……..and soft for his old bony elbows…… Mr Mutt is optimistic - Life Is Looking Up !

15 Good Things

· FINALLY getting a week’s Respite arranged for DJ !
· That unexpected smile that brightens your whole day
· Friends
· Someone Else doing the washing up
· Eating out (or eating in with a carry-out supper)
· Fresh, clean, newly-ironed sheets
· A Short Sermon with a Relevant Point
· Ms Mog snuggling up in the middle of the night
· Sunshine
· A full night’s sleep (still not happening.....)
· Saturday morning
· Cuddling TH
· Cuddling anybody !
· Singing a top ‘B’ and knowing it was in tune
· A line full of clean washing on a fine day

SLEEP (3) - or feeling blue........

Or lack of it……… this must be seven consecutive nights now of significantly interrupted sleep……. and ChickPea, for one, is not doing ok. Sunday, Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday were all multiple repeated awakenings with no obvious cause. Thursday was a night to forget, with a shower the only option to clean DJ up about 5am……. washing machine on all day Friday. On Friday we identified that there was an infection, and DJ started antibiotics. Signs are promising that these are working. Saturday morning DJ again woke the household up about 5am, Sunday morning it was 6am…….. and now, about midnight Sunday night he just will not go to sleep – out of his bed every 5 mins……... It’s like he’s doing everything in his power to stay awake. He’s had the melatonin…… the warm, sweetened milk, the biscuit, the hot water bottle…… the dark room……. the room with the door open and the hall light on so’s he knows he’s not alone……. he’s been to the toilet….. WHAT am I missing ? ………on the basis that if he won’t sleep and wants to be up he may as well BE up, DJ is now thru here in the front room with me………. TH is trying to get to sleep upstairs…… I’m trying to stay awake downstairs until DJ finally goes back to bed and gets to sleep……

Any suggestions ? (They do need to be legal……..)

We have been trying to arrange a next Respite break for the end of June……. The SW has known about this for best part of a month……. told me last Thursday she just can’t find anywhere…….. she had tried just the last 2 places that DJ has stayed ..........

So I started telephoning around again, and by the end of the same day had found a possible place….. we just need to visit them this week to be able to confirm details…….. here’s hoping……….

The Lark Would Have Stayed In Bed...........

And so would ChickPea if she’d known what she would find at 4.30am......... I shall try to save you from the goriest of details – but I need to talk about this.

Today – when I am first writing this - is Friday 6th June.

Today – when (if ?) I am publishing, will probably not be 6th June – because I think this will need a few re-workings to make it an acceptable blogpost.

We haven’t really tackled the ‘Bowel Behemoth ‘, have we ? Carer’s Of The World Understand This. When you take on the role, no-one thinks about The Jobbie Job. But sooner or later, there you have it – the Task That Needs Someone To Do It – and The Responsibility is ALL YOURS. Probably at 3am in the morning. (Or 4.30am). When there’s Others Asleep that you really don’t want to disturb. When you can’t think, let alone Plan A Strategy to sort out the situation …..(where do you start ?)

Cleaning out the cat litter tray or Dealing With The Dog are very gentle preparatory tasks. VERY gentle. I used to work in a busy Intensive Care Unit – sometimes we were dealing with a bed full of **it. This was certainly effective training for the Role Of Carer. How does someone cope who has not received such experience ? Lucky White Heather, eh.

I am Exceedingly Lucky. TH used to work with Specialist Needs Provision Housing. So when we started planning DJ’s downstairs ensuite bedroom (otherwise known as ‘The West Wing’), TH insisted the ‘ensuite’ should be a ‘wet room’. I’d not really knowingly encountered the ‘wet floor concept’ – but I’m now Giving Thanks for TH. To be able to sluice the place down can be kinda useful.

A working washing machine is an item of household equipment to Hold In High Esteem and for which To Give Thanks. Frequently Taken For Granted. Like running hot water, rubber gloves and soap.

When It Needs Done, It Needs Done Quickly. And Efficiently. And Thoroughly.

And when ‘tis done – you can enjoy your coffee (or Tea…….. 6am is a bit early for a Gin and Tonic…..).

Ranking with Royalty !

Today, ChickPea found she had ‘An Official Birthday’ – just like the Queen !

We’ll not go into the details of quite HOW this occurred (Protecting The Innocent).

(Oh yes – there HAD been a secret after all ! )

This has been a glorious sunny day – just like you’d want for your birthday. And I got presents ! And TH did all the cooking (that’s a real gift too). AND we had scones with jam and clotted cream for tea (never mind the cholesterol – it’s my birthday !)

Wot fun !

And we now have a Wii to play with ! (And it’s got NOTHING at all to do with incontinence………!)

TREASURE HUNT

TH thought There Was A Secret.

ChickPea just thought TH wasn’t interested.

She’d floated the idea of writing a Blog, and TH had been encouraging. Then, NOTHING. No enquiries as to any further thoughts/plans/ideas/attempts to do this. NOTHING. (She knew TH was tired, and busy at work, and a bit not well – but, well, these things somehow didn't seem relevant – she still hoped he might have asked her about the Blog).

So when, yet again TH the CWK was flogging his laptop, instead of trying to talk to him, or Being Bored watching telly, ChickPea just got out her windup laptop and got on with it. When floundering in the jargon and intricacies of Blog setting-up, she got on with it or Tried What She Though Was Required, then took time out to Wait And See What Happened. And she did it. It Worked. And she wuz dead chuffed.

And TH Thought There Was A Secret. (Some chance !)

But – There Wasn’t. Just one of those Elephant Pits of Communication Failure. So now ChickPea had discovered what a ‘URL’ might be, she could email the Blog’s one to TH.

Is a ‘Secret Shared’ a ‘Secret Halved’ – or a ‘Secret Doubled’ ?