Toby´s woes

Still on the subject of Toby...I left him with a friend for three weeks when I was traveling last December. She is a lovely person with a heart of gold who also had a Yorkie which died of old age a couple of years ago and incidentally was Toby´s best friend, so she knew how to look after dogs and he knew her. Since he is old and blind now he gets stressed with strangers so I can´t leave him in kennels. Naturally I paid her for her trouble.

Unfortunately things did not go as well as I´d hoped. She said after a couple of days he started scratching incessantly, having caught fleas from the park I´d asked her not to take him to (he hadn´t had fleas for 14 years) and was covered in bites. When I got back from my travels and fetched him he also had a pea-sized weeping hole on his back where he´d had a wart. She said it had looked like a tick. I don´t know if she tried to remove it...all I know is it took me nearly two weeks to heal it. She also managed to get through double the amount of heart medication he takes despite the fact that I had left detailed written instructions on doses and times. Luckily the overdose for three weeks doesn´t seem to have affected him.

All in all although I´m sure she made a great fuss of him and was very affection and well-intentioned, I don´t think I´ll be able to leave him with her again. It´s a pity as I´m running out of options but can´t travel unless I´m sure he is safe and happy with someone trustworthy.

Vampires or what?

Toby has two or three raised bumps on his back with a little dried blood in the surrounding fur. As they heal and go away others appear. They look like bites from some kind of blood-sucking pest and I started imagining what could be attacking him. Could I have a vampire bat in my apartment that feeds on him at night, hiding under my bed where Toby sleeps? Maybe the blood-sucking Barbeiro beetle, which transmits Chagas disease? Creepy stuff - I do have a vivid imagination! Actually, as commonsense dictates, if there were anything biting Toby under my bed then surely I would also be attacked, which is not the case. I think he may have a skin condition like folliculitis which while not serious is difficult to treat. So there you go.

Photo by Frida Lannerström at Unsplash
 

Tiradentes

Today is a national holiday, Tiradentes day. Joaquim José da Silva Xavier was hung and quartered on April 21st, 1792. His sobriquet,Tiradentes means tooth-puller as amongst other things he was an amateur dentist. He was part of a group who tried to rebel and overthrow the colonial rule of Portugal in Brazil. They planned to kill the governor of the state of Minas Gerais and declare a republic.

Their uprising, partly inspired by the American revolution, was unsuccessful and all the plotters were captured. Their trial lasted for three years and the members of the group were eventually pardoned or exiled except for Tiradentes who was made an example of by being condemned to death. At the time he was considered a criminal and largely forgotten about but when Brazil eventually became a republic he was considered a hero and a holiday named in his honour.

Stirring it

 

This is my well-seasoned and favourite wooden spoon which I have had for many years and use almost daily. Naturally after each use it is washed up with water and detergent.

I hear there is a new fad nowadays whereby apparently you are supposed to boil your wooden spoons in order to make sure they are super clean and bacteria-free...

I find this idea ridiculous. If your spoon is being used to stir a simmering stew, casserole or whatever, which is what I use mine for, the heat is going to kill any germs anyway. Wooden spoons are designed to be used with hot liquids as their handles will not heat up the way a metal one would. If you do use a wooden spoon for mixing cakes etc. that still shouldn´t be a problem if you follow basic hygiene principles. 

Germs cannot be totally eliminated from our kitchens or homes and commonsense should prevail...rant over!

Need to know...

"Everything you need to know about"...that phrase is becoming used more and more in articles and news reports, and I find it extremely irritating.

I don´t need to know about some media personality´s latest fad or affair any more than I need to know about some politician´s legal woes. Give me a break!

Happy Easter

 

A little Easter basket for my youngest grandson, he´s too young to actually eat chocolate. I knitted those bunnies off an internet pattern, very quick and easy to do.

More medical shenanigans

I have been going to the same ophthalmologist for years at an eye clinic. Over time she has said that I have cataracts developing which would need operating on one day. Towards the end of last year she said the time had come and I decided I would have the operation after my trip to England.

I have been hesitating about the op because I am completely blind in one eye (totally different problem) and naturally concerned, when you only have sight in one eye it is extra precious. I know that the surgery is very simple and safe nowadays but even so there is always a certain risk no matter how slight.

Anyway, I went to see the colleague she recommended at the same clinic. He was a short plump man, middle-aged and overbearing. I disliked him immediately. He said that my need for the op was urgent, tried to convince me I needed the more expensive option (which my medical insurance didn´t cover) and even called in another colleague to confirm what he said. I dislike being hassled and rushed and the more he tried to bully me the more I hesitated. 

The final straw was when he said he would operate first on my blind eye! To remove a cataract from a sightless eye makes no sense whatsoever, and I told him so. He immediately backtracked and said he would only do the other eye...I said I´d have to speak to my daughter and left!

I have since consulted another ophthalmologist who said that although I do have a cataract there is no urgency about dealing with it, it just needs monitoring for the time being...

Needless to say I shall never put a foot in that clinic again!

One of those days

Sunday morning, making soy protein mince and listening to music. I´m wearing a T-shirt and not much else as it is very hot. I squeeze the tomato sauce packet too hard and manage to squirt it all over the stove, down my T-shirt and bare legs and on the floor. Much muttering as I clean up and carry on. My next trick is to spill a whole opened tin of peas in the sink amongst some dirty dishes.

I think I´ll go back to bed!

Photo by Kevin McCutcheon onUnsplash