HAPPY CHRISTMAS

 

Have a great time. 

Until the next time...

Are you getting excited yet?

 

I am not in the Christmas mood at all. Lynsey is moaning about her heating, work, the train strikes and the price of houses in Scotland, and politics. I hate politics so I just let that go over my head, in one ear and out the other.

 Tony is still in a lot of pain with his wrist, we were back at the hospital yesterday. They x-rayed it again and said, "everything looked okay but he may lose some use in his wrist and they would see him again in four weeks". That is not ok, as far as I can see! When we were at the hospital we bought some fruit, there is a stall at the main entrance. The man that runs the stall was selling as much as you could fit in a carrier bag for £5. So of course we had to do it.

Tony with his bag of fruit.

I have been watching a new visitor for the last few days, it has been in the apple tree over the garage at the back of our garden.

Fieldfare In The Apple Tree.

I have broken my distance glasses the right-hand side arm has fallen off. I don't suppose sitting on them helped. I am having to wear my old ones until I can get into town to take them in for mending. That of course is not going to be until after the New Year. I am not impressed with myself at all. 

Joanne sent me some pictures of Logan and Willow my youngest Grandchildren after they had been to see Santa. I think they might have been talking too much, you will see what I mean in the second picture.

Willow & Logan with Santa.

Willow & Logan with Santa 

I think he wanted to stop them from talking.

We had a visit from Joanne, Chris, Keira, Logan and Willow, it is always nice to see them however, it is always nice to see them go as well. 

Tony's son Richard sent Tony a message on his phone this morning, he got all excited thinking it was something he had been waiting for, I had to laugh when it turned out to be a photo of one of Richard's sheep in a Santa hat.

Until the next time...

A Busy few days...

We have been having a few busy days, the Christmas cards are all made and ready for delivery along with the 2023 calendars. It was a good job I started early because Tony had a fall on Friday, December 9th at 5:30am. I pressed the buzzer for the carelink, who was very helpful and told me "call an ambulance". I could have done that without asking them! I dialled 999 and asked for an ambulance, explaining that my 76-year-old partner had fallen and that it looked like he had broken his wrist. I answered all the other questions they asked they told me the ambulance should be with us in about 40 minutes but it could be considerably longer. I was to ensure that Tony did not show any signs of shock and to keep him calm. The ambulance arrived in about 45 minutes so we were fortunate. Tony was by this time in extreme pain, the paramedics gave him some paracetamol which didn't touch the sides of course. The paramedics were worried because Tony couldn't feel his fingers, so they had to check whether to take him to Pinderfields or Jimmy's in Leeds. Thankfully it was decided that he would go to Pinderfields. 

We arrived at Pinderfields and bypassed the regular A&E department, and we went onto critical care. Tony was seen by a doctor who said he should be seen asap. We sat in the same place for over 2 hours before anything else happened. Then Tony was taken for an x-ray, Tony certainly does things in style, he had 

Fractured it here

Broken it in two places

As if that wasn't enough he had dislocated it as well.

After being x-rayed a back slab was put on Tony's wrist, this is like a half pot that just covers the back of the arm in a pot and the front is just a bandage.  The doctor said this should hold the wrist in place until the swelling went down.

Tony had been given some morphine orally for his pain but it hadn't given him much relief. So the doctor came and put a cannula in his arm and gave him a second dose through the cannula. This gave him a little bit of relief for a while.

The doctor was a very nice person, he came from Egypt, and he couldn't do enough for Tony. He made sure that he was comfortable, he got him more pain relief, another shot of morphine an hour and a half after the last one.  

The meals came around by this time Tony was feeling a lot better so he had a meal,

Fish in parsley sauce with potatoes and veg, a cup of coffee and what did I get? a cup of tea.

By this time we had been in the hospital for about 91/2 hours. The orthopaedics couldn't decide whether or not Tony's wrist needed to be operated on, or whether it needed a plate put in. Finally, after 10 hours & 25 minutes, they told us we could go home but he had to go back on the 13th to be x-rayed again and a full pot put on.

Elvira took us to the hospital on the 13th Tony had his wrist x-rayed his half pot removed a full pot put on, x-rayed again then waited to see the doctor. When he saw the doctor he asked Tony if he had any questions, Tony told him he still could not feel his fingers properly, and the doctor sent him back to the fracture clinic he had his pot removed, a half pot back on x-rayed again because there was still too much swelling for him to have a full pot on. Tony was told to go home again and return in 3 days' time on the 16th to see if the swelling had gone down. Once again Elvira took us to the hospital, Tony had his wrist x-rayed,  then his half pot removed,  a full pot put on, back to x-ray, and back to fracture clinic to see the doctor. What I have failed to tell you is all this going between the clinic and the x-ray I was pushing Tony in a wheelchair and he is not lightweight the hospital wheelchairs are like shopping trollies they have a mind of their own. This time the full pot stayed on, hopefully, there is no need for any surgery and we return to the hospital on the 23rd for Tony's next appointment.

Tony has some beautiful colours apparently there are really psychedelic ones under the pot.

Oh and on the 18th I had my 60th birthday, I am officially old.

Until the next time...

   

It's been a while...

The squirrels have been having problems with the magpies stealing their walnuts.

Things are carrying on much as usual, Tony has some new cream for his legs, and they are looking slightly better, it's a pity they don't seem to work any better.  I am okay-ish at the moment, my usual aches and pains are there but I am used to them now. I have a new condition to add to the list, "Ocular Hypertension" when the pressure inside the eye is higher than average. The front of the eye does not drain fluid properly, which causes eye pressure to build up. If not treated it can cause glaucoma. I was not too surprised to be told this diagnosis as glaucoma is in the family.

It was with deep sadness I heard of the passing of my brother and sister-in-law's beautiful black cat Maia. She could be a bit of a terror at times, cheese was never safe when Maia was around, it would disappear under the table before you could blink. Neighbours with catflaps should never leave unguarded cheese or chicken carcasses out either, she could be in and out as quick as a flash. However, Maia also had her sweet side when we looked after her and her sisters she would sit in front of us with big, big eyes and cry FEED ME, FEED ME NOW, even if it was an hour early.

Seriously though, I am sorry to hear of her passing and I am sure her Mum & Da will know I am only trying to make them smile. 

Lynsey has had a 24-hour blood pressure monitor fitted today, this is to try to get an average reading before she can join in with a fitness program set by the long covid clinic. She has had it on for about 2 hours and has rung me about 4 times already complaining about how it is too tight, and how am I going to sleep with this on, I might just put my phone on silent.

I have begun making Christmas cards for the neighbours old and new, I have also started on the calendars.

I must find out if my neighbour from Queens Drive is home, she had a fall in the garden and managed to drag herself up 6 steps back into her flat, lying on the floor all night because she could not reach the phone, nobody found her until 1pm the following day. She had a broken hip. I will tell her when I see her I just think she is rebuilding herself one joint at a time, she now has 2 new knees and a hip, she is very lucky it could have been a lot worse. I don't know how she managed to pull herself up the steps, she could have been outside all night and it was absolutely throwing it down with rain.

I am going to stop waffling now.

Until the next time...

Mushrooms are taking over the garden...

This will be me when I am left to look after myself the squirrels will take over,

Better that than the mushrooms...

Mushrooms are taking over the front garden!!!

They started off very small in groups

Sometimes small groups

Then they grow bigger and bigger

Then bigger

Tony thinks they might be edible

but I am not trying them!

As soon as one lot of mushrooms died more grew to take their place, and the council gardeners came and cut the grass even that didn't get rid of them. I think they must have just bent down as the cutter went over them because the mushrooms were still there when the workers left.

I am still sorting through old photographs and things, I found something else I had forgotten about today...

If you look at the robin with the mealworm in its beak, that is one of my photographs that was the April 2016 winner in ArkWildlife photo of the month.

This is very rare, a picture of Lynsey laughing, I don't know how old she was at the time about the mid '20s at a guess.

This is my first photo of a fox, you have to admit the eyes make it.

Until the next time...
 

Breaking news & memories...

Reading the news this morning I came across this,

.https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/entertainment-arts-63067699

I was so impressed with some of the work the man had done in his flat that I felt the need to share it.

I hope the family manage to buy it, I would hate to think that it would all be knocked out and as one person said in the clip, "given a magnolia paint job".

Then I saw breaking news that human remains had been found on Saddleworth Moor which could be Keith Bennet, the only known remaining unfound victim of The Moors Murderers. I really hope it is to give some peace to his family.

So all this news inspired me to write a blog. I don't have much to write but here goes anyway...

A few old photos for you from Scotland,

Pine Marten from 2010

The Pine Martens were always a pleasure to see, they came every evening and early morning. If they were lucky they even got a freshly killed mouse left out for them.

Tess is forever in our hearts.

Tess was the reason we first began to visit the Rural Retreat, we went to look after her when her Mum & Dad went away. I miss Tess she was a beautiful cat.

Chased out of woods by a Buzzard.

Like a pro, I continued to photograph the Buzzard even though it was screaming at me and diving toward my head.

Highland Coo's

No visit to Scotland is complete without seeing the Highland Coos.

Red Squirrels are a must when visiting Scotland.

A game of hide & seek goes down well.

Seeing one for the first time was just amazing.

I had waited so long to see a red squirrel I was just so happy I just stood and watched for ages, Tony had to say to me "Soo, camera". Then of course I just snapped away and took so many photographs. That had to be one of the best days in Scotland for me.

Friends old & new...

The squirrels are making daily appearances now both at the front of the bungalow by the cherry tree...

Terrible Two

The Daring One

...and in the back garden on the fence and down on the ground, amongst other places.

Trying To Make A Getaway

 

The Weird One

There's always one that eats in strange places, when we were in the flat one ate in the sink, this one likes the big planter.

This is a Pretty Little Lady.

She has the sense to bury some nuts in the garden so if the box is empty she always has some to eat.

A Favourite Spot to Sit.

This is a spot where the squirrel likes to sit if it knows I am watching, or if the nut box is empty and he thinks it wants filling. It reminds me of the squirrel who used to sit in the fir tree outside the bedroom window when we lived in the flat. She sat there waiting for me to put food out. Or am I really giving them more intelligence than they deserve? I don't think so!

I found some CD's with some old photo's on the other day, quite a few I took while I was in Scotland catsitting for my brother & his wife, so don't be surprised if a few of them make their way onto here. So be warned Russell you will be seeing some old friends from the garden.

Until the next time...

We have inherited some gnomes...

The Bungalow is finally starting to feel more like home, the boxes have almost disappeared and we can move freely in all the rooms.  We have a new carpet ordered for the living room, and a few new pieces of furniture have been delivered. We have Emma & Alison on stand-by for the decorating, so things are starting to come together nicely.

My bedroom is still not completely done but I will do it in my own time, it is going in the right direction it's just so hard to part with things that I think might be of some use for something at some time. However, I have thrown a lot of clothes away, mostly because I don't think they will ever fit me again.

Tony put up a new nut box for the squirrels today.

The New Nut Box

Now we just have to wait for the squirrels to find it. It shouldn't take them long, hopefully!

We seem to have inherited some gnomes in the garden, it is a communal garden so I guess they might have to stay. I don't really mind the gnomes in fact I am thinking of buying some paint to brighten them up.

Gnome number 1

Gnome number 2

useful for holding suet.

Gnome number 3

Gnome number 4

I am not sure about the other two figures I think I might have to hide them behind a bush or move them over to the other side of the garden, I am sure Ann our new neighbour wouldn't mind she seems pretty easygoing.

We have a few ideas for a couple of feeders to bring in some birds, Ann & Adelle the neighbours don't mind in fact Ann is looking forward to it, she spends a lot of time sitting with her door open that looks out over the garden.

There are new people in our old flat so I will call and see Margaret, make sure that she is ok.

We haven't been out on the scooters much over the last week the weather has not been good enough, the weather forecast looks good this week so we should be out and about, maybe even a picnic in the park could be on the cards.

Anyhow enough waffling, take care stay safe,

Until next time...

The boxes are going down...

 We are slowly getting the boxes out of the way, Now I just have a lot of folded boxes on top of my wardrobe because Lynsey asked me to keep them for her as she is determined she is moving again soon. She needs to move somewhere near a train station so she knows she can travel to work if the buses strike again. I don't know what she will do if the trains strike!!

Tony has found he doesn't need to use the cooker and has not cooked a meal inside since we moved into the bungalow.  

Tony's Spot.

Just Chilling with a snack & a beer while on the phone with May (his sister).

Sausages, mushrooms, onions & of course some garlic.

One of Tony's special curries, always too hot for me to eat, that's a two-day curry.

Tony is very happy cooking on his gas stove with his frying pan, just think of the money we're saving on the electricity as well, there is one thing you can say about Tony when it comes to saving money he knows lots of tricks.

I have asked the neighbours if it is ok with them to put up a nut box for the squirrels in the back garden, they are happy with the idea so that should be up soon. I had to ask about it is a communal garden.

Robin likes to come & show me the bugs he catches, he uses the car as a perch.

The neighbours are all easygoing & we seem to get on with them ok. I think this was a good move.

The scooters arrived we have been to Mum's on them, we visited Margaret who lived in the flat below us, we went to Outwood to see Elvira & for a ride through the park. 

There were some beautiful blue skies.

Tomorrow I have to go to a clinic at Pudsey for a Gastroscopy appointment. I am having a camera put down my throat to see if they can find the cause of my problems with swallowing & reflux. I am not looking forward to it. Now I have probably put you all off your dinner I will love you & leave you.

take care, stay safe, 

Until the next time...