Rare lampwork rainbow spankle set

It's quite rare for me to have a set of rainbow spankle beads available in my Etsy shop as I don't always have all the colours in stock. I just listed them for sale so if you want them, better grab them quick, they usually go pretty quick when I do!

Better news on Missy, our dog. Following diagnosis and her new tablet, her appetite and energy levels are much improved. She still likes to spend alot of time on her bed by the radiator but I think that's also because the weather is so cold. She's always been a fair weather dog so I think when the temperature improves, she will be out on her garden cushion again keeping me company when I'm making beads in my shed!

She's been with me this afternoon whilst I was sowing seeds in the greenhouse for a couple of hours. The sun was warming us up through the glass and bubble wrap insulation. The weather was so bad on Sunday here (sleety rain all morning, cloudy coldness in the afternoon), I did some work so I could play hooky on a day when the weather was nicer and today was the day! All the tomatoes, peppers and cucumbers are sown as well as some annual bedding plants. My propagator is full, lots of others waiting to be sown as and when they germinate. Missy and I are really looking forward to the Spring gettting going properly. 

Diagnosis and treatment

We have a plan for Missy's treatment with the vet. Her kidneys aren't working as they should, they aren't processing protein very well. She's going onto a heart tablet which will increase the blood flow to the kidneys to help them be more efficient. Hopefully that will improve her appetite. She's also going onto a special diet food (if we can get her to eat it) to ease the load on her kidneys.

She's coming off the propalin syrup which she has been taking since the summer for occasional incontinence. The increased blood flow will help with that too but if it doesn't, it's easily managed with protective bedding and lots of washing machine action. I don't mind that in the slightest.

We lost our previous dog, Guinness, to kidney disease. After diagnosis, we had him with us for another five months with a reasonable quality of life. Treatments and diets are better now than they were in Guinness's day. There is another urine test we could do to tell us how advanced the disease is but with her present symptoms, that wouldn't affect her treatment so we've decided we'd rather not know.

Those are the practicalities, MTM will pick up the tablets and new food today. I can write this in a matter of fact manner but underneath, everyone who has ever loved and lost a much loved pet will know exactly how we are feeling right now.

She has good days and we will be making the most of them with her for as long as we can.

The useless pouffe

Missy, our little Manchester Terrier is getting on a bit now. She's a grand old lady of eleven and a half, that's close to 80 in doggy years. In the last few months she's found it harder to jump up onto the sofa as she used to. Her "spring" has gone a bit. She hasn't been able to get into the car unaided for some time, so we've been lifting her up onto the seat whenever we have to go anywhere.

To avoid her hurting herself by falling back down when her jump up goes a bit wrong in the house we bought this pouffe and placed it inbetween the chair where she quite often settles down when she's on her own and the sofa where she joins me if I'm in the lounge. We've shown her how to get up onto it encouraging her up and down it with treats. Does she use it?  Of course not!

Even though we've shown her the way, she still struggles up on her own, if I notice her about to jump, I lift her up onto the pouffe by way of further encouragement but she still isn't getting it, bless her.

At the same time as we got the useless pouffe, we realised she was also struggling with getting back up onto the last step down onto the grass, it's a little higher than the ones further up so we bought a non-slip outdoor ramp (which can also be used for the car - it folds up). Does she use it? Of course not!

We've got this lovely safe, stable, smart black ramp especially designed to make it easy for her. Again with the training and treats ... but she was still bewildered and struggling. So alongside the ramp, we've piled up these tatty old paving and coping stones which were waiting for us to hire a skip to thrown them out. Does she use it? Of course she does!

The last couple of weeks her health has been declining in other more worrying ways. When she had her jabs last year the vet detected a slight heart murmur. It wasn't necesarry to treat it as she wasn't symptomatic. But lately, her appetite has been very hit and miss, last week she was vomiting and she wasn't keen to go out on her walks. The most alarming day was Wednesday when she coughed up some blood.

The vet has taken some blood and sent it off for testing, yesterday we took a sample of urine in. We should have all the results back on Monday.

In the meantime, the pouffe is being used as a footstool and we're hoping whatever is wrong is something that's easily fixable perhaps with tablets. Would anyone reading this please send positive thoughts and prayers for Missy to have a happy outcome. We don't want to lose her just yet.

Two eyes good, one eye bad

When I went for an eye check up about three years ago, the optician showed me the photo they take of the back of your eyes and pointed out an area of the macula on my right eye. Whilst it wasn't causing any problems at that time, we needed to monitor it so annual eye appointments were recommended; the importance of keeping them was stressed.

I assumed it was age related maculata like my mum has and hoped it would be many years before it started to affect my sight.

I also developed a PVD in that eye a while ago which I wrote about here, it manifests itself as an oval transparent, colourless outline which i can see floating about. I only really notice it in very bright light conditions and it doesn't interfere with my sight. They're very common but having a PVD makes me more prone to a retinal tear - a far more serious eye condition, I have a list of symptoms to look out for.

Just before Christmas I noticed I wasn't seeing nearly so well out of my right eye and it seemed quite sudden but I had none of the other alarming symptoms. I rang the optician, at first he wanted me to come in right away but after I told him I thought I just needed another prescription and discussed what I was experiencing, he agreed I could leave it a few days.

Yesterday he put some tropicamide eye drops in. This dilates the pupils so he can see inside my eyes more easily. You're not allowed to drive as it makes everything seem very bright and blurs your vision for a few hours so MTM accompanied me. It takes half an hour for the drops to take effect, we went for a cup of tea and a toasted tea cake to pass the time. With the size of my pupils, I joked the staff would think I was on drugs but without any of the pleasanter effects.

The good news: no retinal tear. As a bonus, there's absolutely no age related macular degeneration in either eye. So what were we (pardon the pun) keeping our eye on?

The bad news: an epiretinal membrane which started to grow over my right eye has now stopped growing and was crinkling up as it shrunk. "It looks like a piece of cling film" is how he described it. Apparently it's just bad luck if you get one and can happen at any age.

If I look at straight lines through my right eye, they don't look straight any more, there's a little blurry curved downward jog in each line. So I have been referred to to see a specialist eye consultant at Leicester Royal. As it's slap bang in the middle of my eye and significantly affecting how I see through that eye, the optician thinks the Consultant will recommend an operation to remove it.

Apparently an appointment will arrive through the post. In the meantime, if I need to see anything very clearly, I'm just shutting my right eye .... if you notice me winking at you, it's nothing personal!

Renovating at the Old Forge whilst studiously avoiding Christmas

Window board left hand side of lounge

Window board right hand side of lounge

The building industry is crazy busy at the moment, at least on the kind of work MTM is doing. MTM bought a quantity of planked oak for windowboards and a new custom built in stand for our TV and DVD player to go on instead of just balancing it on a table.

Our oak windowboards were started in the summer and have been waiting to get a joiner back to finish them off. The wood for the TV cabinet was stored under our bed and under the dining room for months - not exactly ideal! Finally, Stewie, one of the joiners who works with MTM became available and we had him here for a couple of days a few weeks ago finishing off the windowboards.

Custom built in stand for TV and DVD player

Here is the new TV stand; he's made such a good job of this. We're having two baskets made to fit underneath to store the messy newspaper pile which I use to start the fire in the woodburner and probably keep some DVDs in the other one.

Stewie also fitted out the new linen cupboard with shelves. This cupboard used to be the dark old shower enclosure in the family bathroom. The shower is now going over the bath. All the pipework has been done, just got to finish off the tiling and we can get the plumber back to fit an electric shower. I'll do some pics of that when we're finished in the new year.

In all the spare time I've had since Stewie has been, I've been putting two coats of dye on all the new wood to darken it to medium oak so it matches the fireplace. On top of that, three coats of satin varnish. MTM has been doing the tiling. I've been grateful to be kept busy to stop me thinking about Christmas too much. In common with many people, I always hate how it starts so early these days so I don't normally start thinking about it until at least the middle of December. The house got so dusty with all the sanding down inbetween coats, it's just as well I didn't get a Christmas tree else it would be a right pain getting all the dust off the branches and baubles. It's so late now, I'm not going to bother and haven't put up any decorations either.

This year, I've been feeling even less festive than usual. I usually manage to get into the spirit once I start present buying or get a tree. This year I have had major present buying anxiety. I was quite shocked to realise that because the family have been spreading out visiting mum to help her feel less alone, I haven't seen either of my sisters or my brother and their partners (except one fleeting visit from Sharon) since Dad's funeral in April and so I have no idea what to buy any of them.

We started Amazon Wish Lists a few years ago but none of the awkward buggers have added anything new to them for ages! I realise that following relevations about how these big companies treat their employees that some may not wish to patronise Amazon any more but you can add things from other shops to your list now. Anyway, after stressing about it for a few days, I have found a cunning solution I hope they'll be happy with.

The weather isn't helping much either, being so mild, cloudy and rainy.

My broad beans think it's spring and ....

so does my rhubarb.  I split two small pieces off the rhubarb patch growing in my dad's garden in October and both are thriving! I think I'd feel more Christmassy if it was colder and frostier. Most days in December have just been damp.

Then came the very sad news that Uncle Arthur, dad's surviving brother had died, aged 95. He and Dad were so alike. His funeral is tomorrow, MTM and I are travelling to Norwich for it. Cousin David apologised for the timing but it was that or late January. I agree with David that it's best for the family to have the funeral before Christmas and then they can use the holiday to start to heal and get used to life without him. Like my dad, he remained fit and active through most of his eighties. I feel so sad that we lost both of them in the same year.

I was hoping to see mum before Christmas, I could've gone today with MTM as he is travelling to Haverhill and he could've dropped me off at mum's house on the way. Unfortunately, because it's Christmas, there are no other Sainsbury's delivery slots available so I'm stuck here waiting for the food shopping to arrive. MTM is going to drop the family presents off when he's passing. She's going to the New Forest to be with Sandy for a few days so I know she'll be well taken care of! We're staying here, having Christmas lunch hopefully with my brother, if he's feeling well enough.

To be honest, I just want this awful year to end and for 2017 to be a fresh and happier start. On a brighter note, we had the solstice yesterday, the days start getting longer from today and although I'm not being very Christmasssy myself this year, I do hope all my blog readers have a Merry Christmas and a Very Happy New year.