29 August 2006
All go again today
Busy day again, had to take little Ryan to the vets this morning, then my car was due to be dropped off for mot. The vet said I had to come during the morning surgery, to keep up with the regime of injections. When I was taking Snuffles before, they let me take him just before they closed each evening to minimise the time he was out of his nest here and to save me hanging about. I got there at 9.40, and there were 15 people in the waiting room, not even a seat. Not happy. I booked him in and then went up into the village and bought a coffee to take away, and came back and sat in the car, then eventually went into the waiting room. I got seen at 11.05. Three injections for the poor little bugger, and he wasn't at all happy either. He put his prickles up for the first time, and I think he even attempted to bite me, but I had my fingers out of the way sharpish, so can't be sure if he was just jerking his head with the pain. I've got to take him back again tomorrow, again on Thursday, then Saturday..... She did say I can come after surgery tomorrow, well 10.30, but judging by today, I will still have to wait half an hour. He's lost weight too, he was .950 kilo, he's now .850 kilo, although he has been eating a fair amount, obviously not as much as he would do out in the garden I guess. Really hope he will be okay.
My friend Irene came round today. Her other half reckons he saw in the Farmers Guardian an article about hedgehogs being found with TB, which causes the same symptoms. She is hoping to go through all the old papers to find this article. We did an online search and can't find anything. It's tied in with badgers having the disease I suppose, maybe just more scare mongering by the cattle farmers who want to kill all the badgers because they are giving their cows tb, or maybe it's the other way round, but daren't say that of course, farmers are always in the right. I will have a word with the vet tomorrow anyway, but apparently tb is treated with antibiotics but Irene was more worried about me I think, because I could catch something from him.
On the subject of farmers, I often wondered about all the long hours they have to put in, like working 18 hours a day to cope with the workload. Since I've lived in a farming area, I know why. They only have two speeds of doing anything - dead slow and stop. Have you ever seen a farmer driving a land rover at more than 25 mph? If so, please tell me where, because they don't round here. And of course there is the tractor which holds up a hundred vehicles whilst he merrily goes along the road for 6 miles at 15 miles per hour, oblivious to all around him, especially fun at dusk or in the dark with perhaps one light on the rear but that is covered in six inches of dried on cow shit, so you've no chance of seeing it until it's almost too late....
Anyhow, enough of that. My car went for mot eventually, was over an hour late, but luckily my mechanic is a diamond and no problems, he checks it over, fixes what needs doing, takes it to the MOT place, and then brings it back. I only have about half a mile or so to walk back from his place, then he rings me and I walk back, so Emma gets a walk, even though it's only on the pavements, and she isn't keen on walking down the road, the traffic frightens her, she's okay once we turn off the main road. Anyway, it passed, just a track rod end needed doing, so I have wheels for another year, yay!
Came across a horse at a gate by the side of the old mill, someone had put it some bits of apple and carrots in a wheelbarrow on this side of the gate, and he couldn't reach it. How bloody stupid can you get? I stood and fed him with it all, and he was beside himself with joy! I told Irene, who has kept horses for years, and she said it was a terrible thing to do, the horse could put its head through the gate, get stuck, panic, and kill itself, she knows of one which did just that. We had somelunch, and when she'd gone I cut all the grass, what a nightmare, hadn't done the back for about a month I think, it was about 7 or 8 inches long in places. I had to do it twice, once on a high cut, and then went over it again with the shortest cut, else it would need doing again in a few days!
Well time to get the guinea pigs and Emma's tea I suppose, and something for myself. Not overly hungry yet as I had a bit of cherry cake with a cuppa at 5 oclock (I bought a lovely home-made cake up at the Rally yesterday - yum!)
The Horse
My friend Irene came round today. Her other half reckons he saw in the Farmers Guardian an article about hedgehogs being found with TB, which causes the same symptoms. She is hoping to go through all the old papers to find this article. We did an online search and can't find anything. It's tied in with badgers having the disease I suppose, maybe just more scare mongering by the cattle farmers who want to kill all the badgers because they are giving their cows tb, or maybe it's the other way round, but daren't say that of course, farmers are always in the right. I will have a word with the vet tomorrow anyway, but apparently tb is treated with antibiotics but Irene was more worried about me I think, because I could catch something from him.
On the subject of farmers, I often wondered about all the long hours they have to put in, like working 18 hours a day to cope with the workload. Since I've lived in a farming area, I know why. They only have two speeds of doing anything - dead slow and stop. Have you ever seen a farmer driving a land rover at more than 25 mph? If so, please tell me where, because they don't round here. And of course there is the tractor which holds up a hundred vehicles whilst he merrily goes along the road for 6 miles at 15 miles per hour, oblivious to all around him, especially fun at dusk or in the dark with perhaps one light on the rear but that is covered in six inches of dried on cow shit, so you've no chance of seeing it until it's almost too late....
Anyhow, enough of that. My car went for mot eventually, was over an hour late, but luckily my mechanic is a diamond and no problems, he checks it over, fixes what needs doing, takes it to the MOT place, and then brings it back. I only have about half a mile or so to walk back from his place, then he rings me and I walk back, so Emma gets a walk, even though it's only on the pavements, and she isn't keen on walking down the road, the traffic frightens her, she's okay once we turn off the main road. Anyway, it passed, just a track rod end needed doing, so I have wheels for another year, yay!
Came across a horse at a gate by the side of the old mill, someone had put it some bits of apple and carrots in a wheelbarrow on this side of the gate, and he couldn't reach it. How bloody stupid can you get? I stood and fed him with it all, and he was beside himself with joy! I told Irene, who has kept horses for years, and she said it was a terrible thing to do, the horse could put its head through the gate, get stuck, panic, and kill itself, she knows of one which did just that. We had somelunch, and when she'd gone I cut all the grass, what a nightmare, hadn't done the back for about a month I think, it was about 7 or 8 inches long in places. I had to do it twice, once on a high cut, and then went over it again with the shortest cut, else it would need doing again in a few days!
Well time to get the guinea pigs and Emma's tea I suppose, and something for myself. Not overly hungry yet as I had a bit of cherry cake with a cuppa at 5 oclock (I bought a lovely home-made cake up at the Rally yesterday - yum!)
The Horse
# posted by flicker : 17:20
