Cooker!!!

Wheyhey, never thought I'd see the day but it's here. Our brandspanking new cooker has arrived. And for a change the delivery guys did not dent the buggery out of it.

It's a 5 hob gas cooker with a build in rotisserie for those necessary grilled chickens for sunday dinner. This should be build in on monday after the gas mains has been re-routed.

Don't really know why it says building in on the front as its a stand alone cooker?!?!! It has got sides and a back so its not for building in... Never mind, I got me cooker!!!

Time to call the missus at work and tell her the news. Then it's back to the painting. I got the second coat on the ceiling but still got the walls to do. Not too much time today as this afternoon I'm off to Ipswich to go and see the Red Hot Chilli Peppers live in concert. Should be a good one.

Cheerio,

Alex. 

Kitchen progress...

Wheyhey look at this! Pipes boxed in and the first sizing (paint) on the walls. The actual box couldn't be done as the skimming had only been done the day before. You can only paint it when completely dry. Tonite another layer on the walls and ceiling...


This is what it looked like two days ago, so yes, we are making slow progress. The cookerhood and dishwasher will be picked up on saturday. The kitchen installer was around yesterday evening and he seems to think that he can do the lot in 4 days. Bloody marvellous!

Even the window sill is starting to look good, considering that you could see outside through the cracks alongside the frame.... bloody cowboy builders!


So if all goes well it should be done within around two weeks now. Its only taken 3 months sofar, what a joke... And the only reason why it has been going well now is the continous harrassing of workmen by my missus! Jackie, thanks!

Gotta go, getting my stuff together for Egypt...

Alex. 

Egypt Location....

Hi There,

Just found some blurb online about the place where I'm going on sunday. What a shame, it's another beach loation. Better pack the suntanlotion, what hardship again....

------------- Location----------------
Cairo's nearest beach ... just an hour away

Ain El Sukhna is about 140 km east of Cairo , just an houraway by car It offers Cairenes and welcome , handy respite from the city's fast paced life . The area is 40 km south of the port of Suez , and is administratively part of the Suez Governarate . Its territory extends along the Red Sea shoreline for about 60 km fromthe southern bordersof Ras El Adebbya in the north to RasEl Zaafarana in the south .

------------------Climate ------------------
hard to find all year -round sunshine

The area is known for its mild climate all year round . Temperatures range between a high of 32 degrees celsius anda low of 9 degrees in January and show a variation of between 36 degrees and 30 degrees in July . The average rate of humidity is 50 percent . It ranges between a maximum of 72 percent and a minimum 48 percent in December and shows a variation between 58 percent in May . Rainfall Occurs largely in winter months . The average number of days having rainfall is 11 days a year , with the rain season spanning the November- May period . The average amount of rainfall stands at about 24 mm . Winds mainly blow from the north and the northwest ,gusting at an average .

So it looks like another terrible job, cold, rain, all bad, hahahahahaha.....

Cheerio,

Alex.

Missed picture

Hi there,

Here is another picture of Marmalade the cat. I was having finger trouble and the posting went wrong. According to Rob this is Marmalade at two months old. (All together now: Aaaahhhhhh...)

Thanks for the entry Rob, keep clicking!

Alex.

Marmalade the Cat (Entry from Jo and Rob)

This is an entry from my mate Rob and his missus Jo... its a sad story...

Marmalade was one of a litter born in sunny Wigan last November. We bought him and his brother Mylo on Christmas day, first of all we only went for the one kitten but ended up with the two of them both brothers and both ginger Toms. We only started to let them out after 5 months and they had the run of the garden and the house but Marmalade liked to do more and chance his luck ie. run and attack bigger cats and dogs but come off worse and jump off roofs that were mega high. I think he used his nine lives in one day to be honest!

On the night of the 18th of June Jo went looking for Mylo and Marmalade who liked to show off out the front to passers by. If you didnt acknowledge them they would keep running down the street in front of you until you did!!! That night Mylo come straight in but Marmalade did a runner after a bigger cat! So we left him to it and went to bed because he would always come in an hour later or if it rained straight away. That night he didnt return and in the morning we had a phone call off the daft as a brush lollipop lady. She said she had a collar and Jo said does it say Mylo because we lost his collar four days before and the silly old boot said yes Mylo. We thought nothing of it and said we would get it later! An hour later we both went outside and called Flo the lollipop lady over, she didnt even know it was Jo who she phoned before about the collar even though Jo explained who we were and where we lived. Also she knows everyone and everything because she is head of the clan neigbourhood watch another name for nosey old cow.

Jo was handed the collar and read the name which said Marmalade!!! Flo then said he is dead run over last night. We are very lucky that a kind man six houses down picked him off the road and kept him in his shed where i picked him up on Monday night. I have now buried him in the garden and placed a 30 stone rock on top of the soil as a reminder to him.

Rob & Jo.

Kitchen Saga...

Wheyhey, the kitchen plans are slowly moving forward. As you can see in the picture below the last few pipes are being boxed in. The newly re-plastered walls are nearly ready for their first few coats of paint. The cooker is arriving on friday, the gas fitter will install the new gas pipe on monday and connect the new cooker. Its an Italian cooker from Lofra. www.lofra.it The dishwasher and cooker hood will be picked up on saturday. So slowly but surely this Never Ending Nightmare is starting to move forward.


This is most of the flatpacked kitchen, ready to go in. The kitchen installer should come around next week wednesday and he said he should be able to finish it in two to three days. F*%$*&k me, something atually taking less time than projected.


See below the reason why we are building the new kitchen. This all the space that we have in the old kitchen. All this will be ripped out. The space will then be used as a little utility room where we will stick all the fridges, the freezer, the washing machine and dryer. All the existing cabinets will go. There is a lot of old pipe work to come out as the previous owner of this house never replaced anything but just kept on extending bits and pieces...


The non smoking is going excellent sofar. I'm well into my third week and it is going OK. My arms are a bit sore from wearing the patches. They give me some weird sort of muscle ache but that is just a minor discomfort. I am starting to feel the benefits, my sense of smell is returning and all food is starting to taste better and better. (Which is a bummer for a fat pig like me...) The house is starting to smell cleaner as well, no more cigarette smell hanging in the lounge. I am still on the heavy 15mg patches, I still need them. I don't use the nicotine gum much as it tastes like the inside of a badgers ringpiece, they make me feel sick. So its just the patches on their own. At least we get them for nothing on the NHS. Well... nothing, they charge 6 quid per prescription but they actually cost a lot more.

I'm still off to Egypt but now I'm going on the sunday. That is to make sure that I am back for my birthday on the 8th of July. My missus will kill me if I miss it again. Last year I was abroad on my birthday as well, much to her disgust... OK, gotta go, tea to be drunk....

Alex. 

Back in the UK...

Hi there,

Finally got to update the Blog. I got back from Puerto Rico on wednesday 11:30 in the morning. The flight from San Juan to Newark was OK. The guy next to me in the window seat was the size of a small child, and he fell asleep as soon as he sat down, which gave me loadsa space.
Then I nearly managed to miss my flight from Newark to London. As I'm a frequent flyer and a platinum member on a lot of airlines I get to go into the Members Lounges. This is cool. Loadsa free booze and nosh should you require so... So I am in the Presidents lounge from Continental Airlines snoozing away when I decide to check what time my flight is. On my ticket it said 20:30 departure. So I have a look around for a clock and, What the F&^$£%k? It's 20:20. Needless to say I legged it fast and just about made it to the gate. When I got on the plane I found that I was on an aisle seat in the middle row of three. Luckily the middle one was free. I thought. I hoped.
Just as the old age pensioners (Stewardesses or trolly dollies....) are getting ready to close the plane door this man mountain shows up. He looked like a cross between Giant Haystacks and
Lord Bath. This guy was nearly as big as the guy on the San Juan flight going out there.
This clown then proceeded to hold up push off by reorganising the luggage of about half the people on the plane. I am getting seriously pissed off at these jackasses that come on board with a rolling bag the size of a fridge. Then they winge that they can't get it into the overhead lockers... Yes, there is a reason for that, you idiot! It is supposed to be handluggage, not for an elephant cage on wheels you dickhead! So after he has fucked everybody off by making the flight late he wedges himself in the seat, waffles a bit, breathes whiskey fumes all over me, closes his eyes and falls asleep on my shoulder. I had a bit of a conference with myself as to what to do with this joker but the answer came from nature. I had eaten a burger in San Juan airport with loadsa onions and that was causing a bit of gas. Needles to say after a few little wafts of my arse the bloke decided that the shoulder of the other guy on the other side was preferential to mine. Strike one to Alex! During the rest of the flight I managed to pour a drink down his trouser leg, keep farting continously which stank like an open sewer, spill half my dinner over his chair while he was not watching and in general made sure that he did not get any more sleep. He looked tired when we got to London, strange init'? I hate economy class travel....

Next week monday I'm off to Suez in Egypt. Wheyhey, kebab, grilled sheep and Stella lager. Not to be confused with the Stella Artois lager from Belgium. This Stella is a genuine Egyptian beer and remarkably good. The job there should be about 5 days so back on saturday.

The DIY project at home as finally slowly moving forward. We now have a working, non leaking, shower and the walls and ceiling of the kitchen are now skimmed and looking good. On saturday finally bought a dish washer and a extractor fan for the cooker so all bits are in place now.
All we need now is a tradesman that can knock all the separate parts together and make it into
a working kitchen. I must say my missus Jackie has done a great job while I was away. All is under control and running fine, she is a star! ( By the way if you spot spelling mistakes in the Blog it is to do with the C key on my laptop. Finally all the cement dust in the places I work has
started taking its toll on this cheap piece of kit....) OK, knocking off time, more tomorrow.

Alex.

Job's done, outta here!

There you go, a beautiful image of a 1400 degree celsius cement kiln running smoothly. Bugger me, I'm good. San Juan Cement is happy, I'm happy (to get out of here...) everone wins.
(For the uninitiated, what you see in this picture is a giant burner sticking into a giant rolling tube with clinker (raw cement) coming out at the bottom of the picture...)

Would you believe that it pissed down again this afternoon? I think I really am going for changing my name by deedpole, Rainman it is. Massive downpour we had with lightning and all... Maybe this is normal for around here? Sod the caribean, time to go home...


I gotta post this picture. I was watching one of those dumb police chase video shows on one of the american drivel channels and I saw this. This is an actual chase of cops chasing a guy on a lawnmower. The chase was going at the breakneck speed of 3 miles an hour and the guy driving was so drunk that after a sharp turn he actually rolled of the mower and fell on the floor. Even the filth chasing him fell about laughing. The guy had a bunch of liquor bottles in his pocket which the fat cops took great delight pouring down the street, still, it was funny.
That's is the guy on the lawnmower just before he slides off. I'll have a bucket of whatever he was having hahahahahaha!

OK, gotta go, I got a flight to catch tomorrow, I should be back in the UK by wednesday.

Cheerio! 

Marriott? Helpful? My arse!

Today I had to change hotels. The Marriott on the beach did not have a room for me for sunday and monday so they booked me into another Marriott. So at 11 I checked out. The bill for 6 nights was a staggering 2000 usd. So I asked them where the courtesy bus or taxi to this other hotel was. Their answer? We do not provide free transfers to other hotels! What the f*^%&%$?
I just paid two grand and they will not sort me out transport even if it was their mistake??? So I complimented the manager on his canine maternal family lineage and went. Then I needed a cab... I had no spare dollars anymore so went to the cash machine. F&^*&^%, out of order. So I had to check my luggage at the bellboy and walk over to a Wahlgreen chemist across the road. With my customary luck it had started to pour down so I got piss soaking wet again... Armed with my newly scored cash I finally got away from the pirates nest Marriott. My new hotel, unfortunately also a Marriott, is in a rundown part of downtown Puerto Rico. As you an see in the picture it has a beautiful view of a gas station. Ah well, at least it is quiet.

At least this hotel does not charge me for the internet access. The other place charged me 10 dollars a day for slow internet access. Thieves. OK, time to calm down and go out and find some nosh. Maybe there is a Maccie D around here somewhere. You an only eat Foie Gras and lobster so many times before it gets boring hahahahaha...

Cheerio!

Puerto Rican Rainman...

Can You believe it??? Rainman strikes again! Lemme tell you the story...
Today was friday the 16th of june. My missus Jackie told me to go out and go and see something of the town. I have been known to just sleep days away in all sorts of lovely places. For example I once got stuck in Colombia in some small town for 2 days and all I did was sleep which was lovely but I could have gone out into the Andes mountains and seen some spectacular mountains instead of just seeing the inside of my eyelids hahahaha... So, today I went out at 10:30 and walked all over Old San juan looking at old stuff and beaches. It was boiling, I have never sweated so much in me life....
This is the beach right outside my hotel.
There is a lot of nice achitecture about as you can see, shades of Miami South Beach Art Deco and other styles about.
This is the Puerto Rican flag flying over some government building.
So there I am walking all over this old town quite enjoying myself in the heat.
After about 3.5 hours of this I decide that this enough, I'm gonna go back to the hotel and get some rays on the beach. As I'm walking back across the causeway it starts to spit... The spitting turns into a fullblown torrential downpour and I get piss soaking wet. Suddenly I spot a mexican bar and dive in to get dry. So I have a few beers waiting for the weather to clear up, after all, this is the Caribean, if you don't like the weather wait 5 minutes. Yeah right. Three hours and 12 beers later it is still pissing down. So finally at 6 oclock I make it back to the hotel half cut... only to be told by the hotel staff that the extra days that the other customer has booked for me are
not possible and I have to find another hotel after sunday morning. The hotel concierge, a lovely blonde lady, is very helpfull and gets me checked into another hotel for the sunday and monday night but the problem I have now is the following. The customer is picking me up from this hotel on monday morning but I will be somewhere else and I do not have any contact phone numbers or email addresses for Eesroc San Juan Cement so at the moment I am scratching my head how to solve this one. Well, scratch my head... I am not that worried, if they can't find me, that is their problem.... More pressing is what am I gonna eat tonite hahahahahaha....
OK, I will update this tomorrow when I have sobered up hahahahahaha.
When you read this (Rob Wigan that is you...) the picture at the top is the view from the mexican beer place from where I was texting you... I wasn't lying, it was raining cats and dogs and pigs and cows and elephants and anteaters and beer hahahahahaha....
Well at least Holland won today in the World Cup!

Hasta luego!

A well soaked Alex in Puerto Rico! 

Who lost the war?

I had to Blog this.

In England there was a lot of hoo ha about the english soccer fans singing anti german songs like the Dambusters theme. It was thought it could upset the germans.

My sensitive countrymen from Holland have no such worries. They are going dressed up as Wehrmacht soldiers wearing orange German war helmets. Who says the dutch have no sense of humour!

Holland wint de wereld cup, Holland wint de wereld cup, Holland wint de wereld cup, rataratatatatatata!!!!!

De groeten! 

Puerto Rico 2 + 1...

For the techies amongst you....

This is a piccy of the boiler camera looking down into the boiler furnace. The angle is very acute and it is a first for us to mount it in this way. The retraction mechanism is working perfectly sofar.

This is a picture of the image of the inside of the boiler furnace. These four flames you see are 120 foot below the camera position. The image is crystal clear and we can measure all the 4 burner flame temperatures. They are running at approx 1400 degree celsius.

This is the view from the camera position looking out over the bay, as you can see the weather is crap as per usual, Rainman strikes again!
Cheerio! 

Puerto Rico 2....

Well, that is another day down. Today managed to get both the boiler camera systems working. The customer is as happy as a pig in shit. While using the new systems they immediatly spotted a potential problem with one of their burners which could be costly for them. So in a way the system has already started paying for itself. Had lunch in some mexican take away and that was not too good. I've been to Mexico and they do not eat this kind of rubbish. On the way back to San Juan, Jorge Agosto pulled off the motorway and took me to a traditional Puerto Rican eatery. It was a Lechonaria which is basically a hog roast place. I ate so much grilled pig that I look like one now, it was fantastic. They had a pig on a spit where they just cut chuncks of and served them with sweet potatoes, normal potatoes and black pudding. (For the non english people reading this, that is a sausage made of congealed blood and rice, yum yum!) I managed to suck down a lot of local beer in the limited time I had there. 6 bottles in 45 minutes, not bad. The local beer is called Medalla and is good. So for tomorrow it should be a bit of training with the customer on the new systems and a few last bugs to iron out and that should be it. So it looks like I might get the friday off as well, fuck me, things are going right for a change...

The non-smoking is going good sofar. I'm on day seven and still haven't succumbed to the dreaded wicked weed. I have had a few times where I fancied one but have just popped a nicotine gum and have been ok. I think Jack and Marion were right in saying that it is better that we are apart for the first week of stopping cause the first time we really did try to kill each other. Jorge quit one year ago and he is doing ok with that. He said his remedy for the cravings was the following. When you suddenly fancy one, think of something else for one minute. According to him that is how long the cravings on avarage last. For me when I get the craving it is good enough to remember the red gunk running out of Mickeys lungs when I buried him...
That could be me if I don't quit now...

The weather has been crap again, the Alex curse strikes again. No sun, loadsa rain and a humidity of nearly 90%. I should rent myself out as a rain maker. Maybe that what I should call myself from now on, Rainman.

Jackie told me today that the new shower is nearly in so the leak from the shower to the downstairs kitchen should be history. Time to get the plasterers in and then we should be finally on the way to a new kitchen... ( I hate D.I.Y....)

OK, I gotta go now, I have a date with a cold bottle of beer in the bar.

Cheerio!

Site Listings!!!

I just checked my site listings and it is very good! Thanks for everyone who has visited my site and clicked on the ads. Sofar I have had 322 hits on the page and loads of hits on the ads.
Thanks a million to everyone and keep clicking, these site sponsors are what keeps all this free!

Thanks a million to everyone,

(Oh, and to my poor doggie who is gone but not forgotten...)
(If I get my act together I will add a picture of his resting place, he has a lovely spot under
his favourite pampas grass...)

Bye for now,

Alex.

Puerto Rico...

Wheyhey, made it out to Puerto Rico.
I am in San Juan now. I flew yesterday from London Gatwick to Newark through to San Juan. The leg from Gatwick was OK, not too busy on the plane and the Continental Airlines food was half edible. (I think it was chicken, beef or vegetarian, couldn't really tell...) Still don't know where they get the old age pensioners, oh sorry, stewardesses from. I have never seen so many old women trying to serve food. Mind you, it is not easy to get up the aisles with a zimmerframe... hahahahaha. The leg from Newark to San Juan was packed with noisy little basXXXXXs, children, I mean. Unfortunately I had a window seat next to the biggest fattest Puerto Rican bloke I have ever seen. He showed up last getting on the plane and I thought they had switched the lights of but it was only him blocking out the sun hahahaha... I mean, he couldn't keep himself in his seat even if he tried. He was bulging right over half of my seat, and I am not small either. So I basically walked off the plane with an imprint of the window on my face from being wedged in there for 4 hours. My contact from LT Automation was right there to pick me up so I was in the San Juan Marriott within minutes. This morning he was back to pick me up to take me to site. Unfortunately the site where I am working, The Puerto Rican Power Authority is right on the other side of the island. That took an hour to get to but the site is rather stunning. From the boiler towers, which are a good 12 stories high, you look out over the Caribean Sea. The nearest town is Salinas. The work itself is going ok, the people on site are nice and helpfull. We had lunch in some shack on the beach which was good, plantanes and some kind of meat, dunno what kind... Tonight it took 2 hours to get back because as per usual it had started to piss down. For the people who don't know this, wherever I go it rains. Last year I went to the Eastern Province in Saudi Arabia in the desert and we had the most torrential rain I have ever seen. I asked a local guy if it rained there often and he said that it hadn't rained for 15 years hahahaha...
So who ever needs rain, just call me, I come around and the heavens open up hahahaha...
San Juan looks OK from the little I have seen from it. If I am lucky I should get a weekend out of this job so should have some time on saturday and sunday to do some touristy crap.
The countryside between the hotel here and the site down south is all mountains. It all looks rather nice but the phone reception is rubbish. Tomorrow gotta start early as the site people start at 7:30.
OK, more tomorrow as I have emails to write and beer to drink.
Hasta luego from San Juan!

Day two of not smoking....

We are on day two now. Well, I am, Jackie doesn't start till tonight when she gets her patches. It's not going too bad. I'm munching the gum when I have the urge while the patches keep the craving at bay. I guess it helps I am really determined this time. Last time we stopped it was more of a 'lets see if we can do this' kinda thing... This time I am serious about it...

More later...

(Maz, how's your stopping going? Still on the inhaler? Drop us a line...)

Smoking....

This is it.
Me and the missus have decided to give up smoking. We have been thinking about it for a long time but never got serious about it. It doesn't help that I travel everywhere and so always have tons of dutyfree's. On friday we get our nicotine patches and chewing gum. It is going to be hard because we both are two hardcore smokers. If we could, we would smoke in our sleep. We made the decision for several reasons. 1 We are gonna die a horrible death from it.
2 Its quite expensive. 3 Its socially quite unacceptable now. 4 Mickey my dog died from lung cancer. ( I told him to give up the ciggies but did he listen? Hahahaha....)
Yesterday we went to see the health nurse at the doctors and she explained what the options were. The missus is going for the 24 hour patches that you wear all the time. I'm going for the 16 hour patches. I have already started as I had some of these patches anyway to cope with long haul flights for my job. I've had no ciggies for a few days now and its not too bad sofar. I have had a minor headache for two days but I guess that is the nicotine washing out of my system. I guess it helps that I am serious about it. We have stopped before. Years ago we stopped for 6 months but we slowly got back on the wicked weed. Maybe getting on in age is helping me to realise that I'm not immortal and I will die but I don't wonna die from a preventable disease. My boss is supporting me by offering me a bonus after a year's quitting.
It's only a 100 GBP but it's better than a kick in the teeth... ( And someone has to pay for his new Mercedes I suppose... hahahaha....)
I'll keep the Blog as my Wailing Wall when it gets hard....

Cheerio,

Alex.

Thermal Image of my feet...

This is an example of a thermal image taken with one of our handheld camera's. Its my feet under the desk in their usual position hahahaha....
If you wonna see more go to www.thermoteknix.com

Cheerio for now.

Off to Puerto Rico...

OK, we have to get back to the real world. Coming monday I'm off to Puerto Rico to do some work on a power plant near San Juan. Plus there is a job on a cement factory around there as well. I found some pictures of the power plant site. Is that a beach I see in the distance? What hardship. According to the weather forecast for San Juan its about 32 degrees at the moment, unfortunately with a 80% humidity so it'll be a sweaty job as usual... Looks ok though. This is different from the usual jobs as in that most of our camera's and scanners are used on cements plants and the ones in San Juan are going in a boiler with 8 burner flames. Also the camera's will be looking down at an 80 degree angle. And there is one other job, I gotta do a little demo of another product of ours, a Visir. That is an handheld Infrared camera. I'll find a piccie and see if I can include it.

More later, Cheerio!

Farewel my friend....

The reason there haven't been any updates for a few days will be clear when you read this update.

Friday evening Mickey was doing well, enjoying his grilled chicken as per usual. Later on that evening he started to develop breathing difficulties. Jackie and I were getting quite worried, he was panting and puffing. We kept taking him outside for a breather of cool air but it did not settle down. After a lot of if's, but's and maybe's we took the hard decision to get the vet involved. Richard Davy and his nurse got to our house just after twelve. After a checking him over the vet told us that the time indeed had come. Jackie and myself took the time to say goodbye to Michael. It was like he knew what was happening. Jack and I made him comfortable on his settee and let the vet get on with it. Mickey was very calm through it all, after all this was the vet that had sown him together on a fair few occasion after chasing accidents. Jackie and I held him while the vet administered the drugs. Mickey didn't even flinch when they put the syringe in. He proudly sat up and just gently slipped away without and pain or fear.
The vet quietly left and Jackie and I said goodbye and covered him under his favourite blanket.
Needless to say Jackie and I went to pieces after it all. We sat up for ours talking and grieving.
We went to bed at half two but I couldn't sleep. I spend the rest of the night downstairs sitting there just talking to my old friend, I didn't want him to lay there alone...
We had decided years ago that when the time came we would bury him in his favourite spot. He loved standing next to the Pampas grass in my front garden, you can see a picture of him way down on this Blog standing next to the Pampas grass.
So when Jackie woke up at six thirty we went outside and started preparing his place. It took us two hours to dig this hole, he was a big dog and he has to go at least three foot deep because of hygiene reasons. We then carried my old mate outside and wrapped him in his favourite blanket and laid him to rest. Needless to say both Jackie and myself were wrecks by the end of.
Jackie got some nice garden flowers together and put a little bunch on his grave.
We both said goodbye to our gentle giant.

Mickey

June 1996 Ireland

June 2006 Cornard

Rest in peace, friend.

You will be missed.

Elmer & Jackie.

Thanks to everyone who helped us and supported this throughout this hard period, you know who you are...

Friday Lunchtime update...

Hi hon,
Popped home at lunch time to check on the hound. He is still doing fine. He was lying on his basket when I got in and didn't get up at first. I put some more food in his bowl that soon had him coming into the kitchen. He wolfed it down then had some ham. After a brief foray out into the garden he then sat eyeing me eagerly whilst I ate my sandwich (which of course I had to share with him). I took most of the coleslaw out and he enjoyed the brie & bread that made up the rest of it!!! So, to sum up, I would say he's still doing just fine - long may it last...
Speak to you later,
Jacx

I'll be damned!

Well, would you believe it!?!
There I was driving home expecting to find Mickey laying there in agony, I get home, he's very much alive. This morning he could not get up, didn't want his food nor his walk and now? He's charging aroud like a mad dog... Maybe this is the last rush before he succumbs to his illness... The missus and me were already deciding when we would have the vet come around to let him go but at the moment we are back to lets wait and see.
(Maybe he has been reading this Blog and knows all.... hahahaha....)
We are having the vet come around to us, to let him go. I don't want to cause him anymore discomfort as necessary and he hates going to the vet. He has been there so many times to be sown up after another rabbit chasing accident... So when the time comes the vet will come aroud and do it, with him comfortable in his home in his own bed.
He is still eating like a horse. well, he would be, every dog would eat a freshly cooked chicken from Waitrose, wouldn't they?
The Quicktime video below is from his evening walk and as you can see, he is very much trying to disprove that he is ill.


This is Gary the neighbour. I had warned him to come around to say goodbye as I didn't expect Mickey to make tomorrow. As it is he went flying over to him to greet him and to give him a good lick.

This is Michael wolfing down a cooked boned chicken from Waitrose.
So it seems that we live to fight another day.

I'll keep you posted. 

Patient Update Thursday lunchtime...

Hi hon, just come back from home.
Not too much change with Mick, still very lethargic although he did perk up for a bit when he heard me open the ham box! Managed to get him outside for a wee but then he just went back to bed and laid there looking quite pathetic. Gave him lots of loving and got a paw back like he does. Don't know what else I can tell you really, will walk him when I get home.
Jacx.

Google Software

While you are here on my Blog make sure you click on the Firefox and Google Photosoftware links. I am using the Picasa2 software and it is fantastic.
Its free and it works really smooth. It will search your PC for all you pics and will stick em all in useful dated directories. It has loadsa cool features like automatic Blog pictures insertion and all sorts of picture editing like red eye reduction, colour adjustments etc. And Firefox is a much more secure browser I find. (Also I am not a great fan of Microsoft software... sorry Bill...).

OK, more later, Alex.

A day at a time...

OK, things are not looking good this morning. He is not interested in his walk and is looking quite dopey. He's only on the steroids now and at least they are making him eat and drink. He is losing weight fast though. His ribs are starting to show and when he stands up his spine is showing. If he gets worse and looks like to be in any discomfort we will have to make that call to the vet. Jackie spoke with the nurse at the vet clinic and she said that on his record it now says: Monitor and PTS. That stands for Put To Sleep. I have the suspicion it is not going to be long now.
Last monday night Marian came around to see Mick. She brought him some sausages from Holland that she knows he loves. Mick was on good form, trying to be as happy as he could be. Marian will write some stuff on the Blog about him as she was quite a favourite of Mick. (Mainly because she spoiled him to death hahahaha....) Below is a piccie of monday night with Mick being loved to death by two ladies.....


The next two piccies were this morning. He is not looking his sharpest and is just laying about. Me and the missus are worried. We get the impression he knows what is going on and is getting ready to slip away. I'm gonna miss my friend....



Feel free to add comments or whatever, all is appreciated.

I know we are going a bit far just over a dog when there are other important things going on in the world but at the moment we are cut up...

Bye for now.