Positive Reinforcement

No one must underestimate the power of positive reinforcement. Every day since Constance arrived , when she has appropriately "done a whoopsie" I have hurled myself into a performance of pure thanks, praise and rapture worthy of Sally Field's 1985 Oscar acceptance speech.
Its been a long haul
I have been subject to the ridicule of neighbours, ("He's off again" I can hear them say as I bounce excitedly around a newly "laid" doggy stool) and have been drenched in winter rain storms and snow more times than I care to mention willing her to wee on the wet grass!...but finally the incontinent bulldog is now clean!
Mind you I think I have made a bit of a needy monster there, for every time we now go out on a walk, Constance makes sure she performs and will stop afterwards with  the look of a circus acrobat when they shout  "tarrrrrr rahhhhhhhhhhh!" waiting with tip toe excitement for me to make a fuss of her!

Its amazing what a little praise will do for a girl.
I am feeling jet lagged today. Yesterday I was cooking on adrenalin for some reason and after a full night shift completed a ton of chores when I got home without stopping, Subsequently I just cant get going today. We have had dreadful stormy weather since yesterday and gale force winds have again buffered the cottage and field. It was so bad last night that when I took the dogs out , I dug out my trusty wind up torch and checked on the weighted down hen houses to see if they were ok.The houses all looked ok but I had to stop at the gate to check on the guinea fowl who were all hanging on to the Churchyard elm branches with a hard frozen looking hysteria!

The guineas after their difficult night

As I was gazing up at them torch poised , a local farmer stopped in the lane and asked if everything was ok
I explained that I was checking up on the guineas up in the tree and she laughed asking what I could actually do to help them!
"Oh I know I can't do much" I explained "I'm only giving them some morale support"
She gave me a look
Hummm , I know , I know.,......I sound like a loon

Police.uk

I worked last night.
I spent most of my twelve and a half hour shift "specialing" a distressed and potentially self harming patient. The night was not technical as ITU generally is, but it was emotionally draining.

When I got home,I needed a few minutes "downtime", but couldn't sleep for my usual hours catnap, so I spent a fascinating hour or so trolling through the new crime website Police Uk, which was only launched a few days ago.

The site gives an indication of the crime statistics in your General geographical area and will specifically give you results of crime on your very road!....as you might image the results from the whole of the Trelawnyd  area for December is low ( 2 crimes in total -none on our road) where as the results for our old Road in Sheffield was 8 crimes ( 7 of them antisocial behaviour problems) and 307 in total for that general area of the city.

I am not quite sure how useful these statistics will be ( apart from a vague curiosity value)

But it is worrying as it is interesting!

 ps for a more interesting view of world policing ( this time from rural Alaska...have a look at this police beat website........-thanks Ina)
Unalaska Crime

Sitting in A field at dawn

Sometimes your actions seem to mirror exactly the soundtrack you are listening to, and this morning, I experienced such an event, which proved to be rather moving.
At 7.45 , somewhat blurry eyed I led the dogs down the lane for their first walk of the day, They don't "do" mornings very well at all ,so the walk is somewhat pedestrian and relaxed in nature, In actual fact the pace of the walk seemed to  mirror the music I was listening on my ipod, which turned out to be John Barry's theme from "Somewhere in Time".
We walked into the sheep field just down the lane and ambled slowly to the style where we sat looking back at the lights of the village. The wind was gusting strongly, but it was not cold, and as I sat down on the damp grass, each one of the dogs quietly took up position next to me, all of them touching a leg, thigh and an arm, a habit which is both comforting and rather sweet.
Moments later we were joined by Albert, who rubbed his head against each of the dog's faces in turn ( including Constance) and the six of us shared the peaceful morning air as John Barry's melancholy music played on.

An overheard gem

Last night I went to see a pretty average Iranian Movie entitled The Hunter at Theatre Clwyd....it was an so so movie and an average night.. but the whole evening was elevated by a chance moment
As I was looking at the art exhibition in the long gallery, I could just about make out singing coming from the studio theatre....I stopped by the studio door and realised that they were in full rehearsal for the forthcoming production of Guys And Dolls!
In the more or less deserted theatre ( there was only two people in audience for the movie) I stopped and listened to a cracking rendition of "sit down you're rocking the boat" it was lovely too......I absolutely love a show stopper!

Mixed Bag

The starlings are back. Wave after wave of enemy birds have been "darkening" the skies from beyond the Gop and again the Churchyard trees are filled with chattering, hungry bastard gob shites.
I wrong footed them this morning , instead of letting the birds out then coming into the cottage  for breakfast and a bit of light housework! (lol) I unwrapped my bagel and sat sentry on top of the duck house with the plastic rake in my hand.
This ruse wrong footed the starlings who remained firmly in the trees giving me the evil eye.(well giving me around a 1000 evil eyes) and their agony was compounded when I continued to remain on the field to clean out several of the hen houses but not before I hand fed the geese and ducks with some corn and bits of bagel.( you could almost hear the starlings drooling at this stage!)
I know it was a petty victory. Starlings have the brain the size of a peanut! But at least it made me feel a little better.
I have had to hide smaller feeders inside the hen houses in an effort to protect the feed from the raiders....if anyone out there has any more advice please let me know......it's becoming a bit of an obsession.

Right, I have just enjoyed THE cup of coffee for the morning and need to take the dogs to the beach and then run some errands, like a trip to the bank and the video shop . ( yes its life in the fast lane here!)
Watched a so-so thriller last night called Case 39.....It was worth watching just for the American version of Matt Cardle....Bradley Cooper who played a hunky psychiatrist!
When I was a psychiatric nurse we NEVER had any shrinks that looked like Bradley.........mores the pity.

Gawd,I have just remembered a funny memory from years ago!
When I was a student nurse I sat in with an interview an old Austrian  Psychiatrist (honestly he WAS Austrian!) was having with a neurotic lady who was refusing to leave hospital ( although she was well enough to do so)
The conversation went as follows
( try to "picture" a thick Austrian accent!)


Patient (anxiously) " Oh doctor I cannot possibly leave hospital, I feel so ill, I just cannot cope"
Doctor: nodding calmly "hummmm sure sure sure sure sure!"
Patient: "no honestly doctor I  just cannot go home"
Doctor: Making a mime with his hands- forming a small circle" first it like this"
Then he made a fluttering movement with his fingers
"then.........it like this!!!!"
Patient (bemused) " I dont know what you mean doctor!"
Doctor: "watch my sweet" and slowly and deliberately he repeated his mime and stated again
"First it like this.....now it like this!"
The patient looked confused but nodded imperceptibly in politeness
Four times the doctor performed this very slow little game, and after the final mime asked gently
" you understand my dear?"
The patient nodded
"OK he said brightly waving his hand to the door "You discharged!"
"Yes doctor" the patient said vaguely and got up and walked out.
After she left the office I sat there rather confused by the whole thing then piped up
" What did you just do?"
The psychiatrist smiled thinly as he cleaned his glasses
"who knows!" he said simply...... " it worked!"

The Object of A Bulldog's Affection and Rock Concert Rehab

Constance's "Happy Face"

The British Telicom engineer was very attentive. He rang me four times. The first to let me know he was on "his" way, the second to tell me he had located the "problem" at the exchange and the final two the let me know that everything had been sorted and that he would call around to check our telephone line personally.
Not a bad service all told eh?
When "tradesmen"  visit the cottage I am well practiced with the control of the terriers. Over friendly William is usually locked away briefly in his crate whilst  nervous Meg is banished to the peace and quiet of the bedroom window seat. George being rather non plussed with visitors can be safely left to free range so I left him and the dead pan Constance to have the run of the cottage.
The BT man turned up promptly and was a young, rotund and chatty character who cheerfully waved away any problem with a couple of dogs watching him work stating that he had a boxer dog of his own.(I always warm people that dogs are around)
As he bent over to put his equipment onto the floor, Constance in a fit of excitement and barely concealed affection leaped onto the couch arm and threw two very heavy paws on each of his shoulders as she offered her face up to be kissed.
From the Kitchen I heard the chap yell out a loud "Fuck......ing Hell!" and raced into the lounge to find him holding tightly onto Constance as if they were dancing.
"I think she likes me" he joked as 25 kilos of infatuated bulldog blew kisses into his face,and between the two of us , we managed to separate man from beast.
I had never seen Constance react in such a strong way to a stranger before and I think this excited behaviour it is a testament to how comfortable she is with us in general....Indeed Is this the same dog whose former owner described as shy and retiring?

Anyhow the BT guy finally fixed the problem and after kissing Constance goodbye, (I promised she'd write) he left us to get back to internet normality!

Now most people that know me will testify to the fact that my music tastes are pretty well confined to the classical,  middle class musical theatre and the occasional "popular" tune.
Rock music is a sort of anathema to me , so I was fairly surprised to find myself at a sell out "gig" by North Wales' premier rock band The Alarm on Saturday night.
I was glad I went.....
The music was too loud, too , thumping and far too much for me of course..but for my Brother Andrew, who is the guitar tech for the band, it was a cracking good "do". Only days after he had undergone his emergency tracheostomy, and with my sister in law "manning" the portable suction machine he insisted he went to the 30th Anniversary concert to support his band and his friends.
My sister Janet tells the story better than I could ( see Janet's blog) suffice to say that as a I nurse my presence was needed for morale support and not for any physical need.....Andrew and Jayne coped with everything very well.........and it was great to watch Andrew "taking a risk" in order to do something that was important to him.
Rehabilitation is not just learning to change a trach dressing or dealing with some needed physio you know!
It's all about coping with some dry ice and a lager splashed rock concert way into the wee small hours!
or as Lemonyrenee said more beautifully
""Life is not about waiting for the clouds to pass; it's about learning to dance in the rain."

John Barry - A Tribute

Yes back on line !
I will write a post on how Constance molested the British Telicom workman later when I have more time..... but first I will leave a brief Tribute to the film composer John Barry who sadly died today aged 77.
He had a sweeping majestic style that graced so many movies, from James Bond, Born Free, Somewhere in Time and Dances with wolves to the likes of Out Of Africa and Zulu
This sweet piece of music is entitled "Crazy Dog" and was written by Barry as a tribute to his dog!

Broadband down!

Still no Internet....

we couldn't book lunch out cos we couldn't find the telephone number

We couldn't find out what was on at the cinema.....and I've had to "touch base" with the blog at my sister's house (albeit briefly)

speak soon!!!- a little man is coming out tomorrow ( between 1 and 6pm)

Then all should be right with the world