Life's a bitch

It has been a real shit of a day. The weather is getting worse, and torrential rain and gale force winds have lashed the North Wales coast time and time again.

We drove the 43 miles up to Llanberis in atrocious conditions and the usual scenic views of slate and countryside looked dreadfully depressing, We had a coffee with Chris' friends then when to pick up Wellington from her run.

All there was to be found was a small pile of feathers, poor wellington had been taken from her unsecured run overnight, probably by a fox. To say I was saddened if not somewhat miffed would have been an understatement, All 5 of the ducks I had sold had been killed, and after weeks of nurturing and care......the disappointment was awful.

It has been a dreadful waste of the day

Dorian Gray & Wellington returns

Hummm......Dorian Gray? Well Oscar Wilde's scary painting story which is no longer a shocking metaphor for closet homosexuality, has been produced into a rather glossy but ultimately empty horror film with all the depth and feeling of a 1980's pop video.

I can't be bothered discussing it at length as I only gave the whole thing 5/10, the film was a loud, soft porn-ish romp with an awfully vapid Dorian
(Ben Barnes) in the lead role...if you like your men pale,thin, with cheekbones to die for (eh Bel Ami?) well then you will be a happy camper.......for me, Barnes looked like a maggot coloured petulant teenager.....give me someone like Ben Chaplin (right) who turned up as Dorian Gray's portrait artist....he is such a sweetie.

The only other piece of news is that Wellington is returning to us!!!

Avid Blog readers may remember that in the spring I hatched 6 runner ducks. Albert and William unfortunately killed one baby, and another duckling had a very narrow escape from them by hiding herself into my wellington boot. I christened this lucky duckling, Wellington (below) and all 5 remaining ducklings were sold to one of Chris' colleagues.

Tonight we received a phone call from Chris' friend stating that she had lost four of the ducks (to a fox presumably) and Wellington was the only survivor! She wanted to know if she could return to the safety and company of the field..........so what could I say? She gets picked up tomorrow morning!

Albert, George and the rat

Now, for most of the day I have been shampooing carpets ( a must with 4 dogs and a cat in a small cottage), so I had resigned myself to an averagely boring day.....It was half past two when I finally got out into the field to collect eggs and check on the stock, and was accompanied as usual by Maddie and George (who can be left to their own devices) and by a slightly limping but wide eyed Albert.
As I was emptying the nest boxes, I heard some high pitched angry squeaking coming from beneath Rogo's ark and as I marched up to see what was going on both cockerels (Bill and Rogo- with a slightly bemused Hughie in tow) galloped there to stand awkwardly at the entrance watching the fun inside!
As I got there I could see Albert struggling manfully with a large rat, who was bouncing around in the dirt. It was the rat that was making all the noise. Now Albert is a wonderful mouser, but he is a slightly built cat with three useful legs so in a one to one with a cornered and very belligerent rat I was worried he would be injured!, so brandishing my egg bucket (?) and forgetting my blood pressure, I dived in to separate them.

I need not have worried, as before I could do anything in shot George, and with lightening speed he jumped forward, grabbed the rat and gave it an innate death shake!
Scattering the watching cockerels, he then lifted it up, bit it several times in quick succession and then flung the rat into the air. Almost before it hit the floor he was on it again with a growl and as Albert looked on, he ran off with Bill in hot pursuit!.
I caught up with them at the Church wall, where George excitedly dropped him ( with a great deal of reluctance!)...it was the first thing I ever saw the little chap kill, and he was pleased as punch with himself........I took the above pic a little later on after George had been led away for a lie down in a darkened room......he looks kind of cute....for a rat


Blood pressure is 131 over 85 this afternoon (ie normal)..we are off to see Dorian Gray tonight at Theatre Clwyd's cinema...not something I would have picked but hey ho I can't get everything my way.....mini review later!

Police Woman

Now I was having a rather strange conversation about tv police women the other night with good old Nigel. Being a slightly retro old queen he preferred the more English (but ever-so-boring) Juliet Bravo.....give me the leather armed yank Angie Dickenson as the exotic sounding Pepper Anderson from the 70's Police Woman ANYDAY.......cracking!

is it me but does she look every slightly like a trailer trash boozy mom?

Stormy days

There are nine flood warnings in force in Wales this morning and nineteen flood watches in place....and the still the weather remains dreadfully wet and stormy. 2000 homes have had their electricity cut off and scores of roads up the Conwy Valley have been closed by the flooding.
Today I have been out and about in the awful weather for most of the day
Took a few photos in between taking my blood pressure! (which is down today!- must be the fresh air)

William and I braving the rain on Prestatyn beach

Maddie and George trotting into the wind on the sand dune defences

A wet Prestatyn taken from the beach

The River Elwy bursting its banks at St Asaph

Grey skies at the Beach

On the way back to Trelawnyd (a mile South)- Prestatyn from the Hillside

Storm clouds at dusk over Trelawnyd Church

Health day

Another funny old day! Torrential rain and gale force winds have meant that poor Hughie has spent another stressful night hanging onto the upper branches of the Churchyard Elm for grim death. I do so wish that he would follow Rogo into the safety of the ark but alas he has again decided to brave the terrible elements.
I have just nipped out to check on him in the awful weather and there he was hanging on like Steve Mc Queen in the climax of the Towering Inferno!..Bless..

Today I have been reviewed by a rather poe faced GP, who organised a few blood tests before sending me up to the Eye hospital for a full eye scan and workout! ( to double check if my blurred vision was not just a product of high blood pressure)
Now I have never experienced ocular pressure studies before, and I must say the whole experience was rather stomach churning to say the least. Having probes actually touching my eye, despite anaesthetic eye drops is perhaps the worst thing I have ever experienced ( with the exception of accidentally splashing pig poo into my mouth!!!-don't ask!) and I bounced around the examination chair like one of my guinea fowl chicks at the feeling of it all......
A wonderfully jolly nurse put some atropine drops into my eyes to dilate them before the scan, which gave me a bit of a look of Mr Magoo, and I had all the tests which turned out to be ok......Thank God for my friends and neighbours, that's all I can say as Geoff did all the driving as my eyeballs had effective stopped working and Carol took the dogs for their afternoon exercise.

As for my blood pressure.....I now have a week to monitor it three times a day......lets hope that Boris doesn't attack me again or that the guinea fowl chicks continue to bombard me in the shed!.....that would make any one's blood pressure soar through the roof.

Tonight I have taken a rain check from the cinema with Hazel, and am sat in front of a nice warming fire with the dogs. Chris is in London at a posh reception at Kensington Palace (no less) so it's an early night.......blood pressure just re checked (I have to check it myself 4 times daily for 1 week)...and it's down a little this evening
Hey ho

165/107

Well I didn't finish my shift tonight! As, when I was sitting comfortably at the computer terminal collecting blood results, I experienced a sudden mild headache and some blurred vision. I thought it strange and worrying enough to check my blood pressure and found it to be suddenly and dramatically elevated to 165/107.
One of the staff nurses came in my cubicle when I was taking off the blood pressure cuff and immediately took me down to A&E where I spent an interesting time waiting for the somewhat harassed senior house officer to review me.
Being on the receiving end of the heath service is an interesting experience for one who is usually the heath giver, and in the two and a half hours I was in the emergency department, I became just one of the many patients that turn up at this Godforsaken hour. On one side of me was the obligatory psychiatric self harming patient who wailed like a banshee, and on the other a sweet old lady with a fractured humerus. The usual collection of belligerent drunks burped and farted in opposite trolleys.
Over the waiting time, my blood pressure reduced a bit, and a polite young staff nurse performed an ECG.....which looked ok. The medics gave me a general examination, prodded and poked my nether regions (I had on my worst pair of underpants on!) then informed me that they will be writing to my own GP to initiate further investigations, but I was to return to the hospital immediately if I have the sight problems again!
Hey ho........yes a little sobering, but perhaps another product of being 47.....time to eat and drink healthier me thinks and lose some weight.......

Neurosis & animals

Can animals be neurotic?....humm it is an interesting question, especially given the fact that I try (albeit unsuccessfully not to attribute human traits to the animals under my care).....on reflection I think the answer is a definite yes!......The rapidly growing half dozen guinea fowl chicks spend their very young lives in a state of potential hysteria. Standing in frozen awareness, they watch every tiny thing that you do for them before one bird explodes into a fit of screaming panic which causes a chain reaction with the rest of them. My nerves are shot to pieces, with the constant upheaval of feathers and shrill bird calls.....after ten minutes in the shed, I could quite happily strangle the lot of them
Maddie, has a definite neurotic fear of staircases, which can be traced back to when she was two when she fell down our previous cottage staircase dragging a dyson vacuum cleaner on top of her. Ever since then she can quite happily walk up a staircase, but cannot face the downward journey on her own!.. Both Chris and I , now think it is perfectly normal to respond to her frantic barks for help on the upstairs landing by trudging up the stairs to carry her down.....

Albert on the other hand is perhaps the most perfectly balanced animal we own. In actual fact following his second accident and subsequent operation, I think it is me and not him, that overly worries about his condition and lifestyle dangers on the lane outside the cottage.

Today I thought it prudent to actually let him out again, despite still having a limp, and within 10 minutes he had caught and killed his first mouse which he paraded in front of the dogs with that snarling pride cats exhibit when they have a mouthful of rodent....

The Church wall is a good six feet high, and with his poorly leg, he still managed to scale it like a kitten on speed.With my heart in my mouth I watched his antics....until I could not watch anymore......I have said this before...these animals will be the bloody death of me...

on night shift tonight.....