That’s how summer felt, but
looking back it was mostly good. Not the summer I had planned, but these things
happen.
It began with a blur of
doctor’s appointments, a visit to Minor Injuries (me), a dash to A&E
(hubby), more doctor’s appointments, another dash to Colchester General (hubby
again), physiotherapists, nurses, doctors – argh!
The school summer holidays
began and for the first year ever, I had no days out planned, but fun was had
in the garden with the paddling pool and we managed to fit in crabbing,
swimming and beach. I took them to Clacton Pier and realised with a bit of a
pang that even the smallest ones no longer need to be accompanied on the rides.
My role was water, snack and jacket carrier as well as taxi driver which I am
happy to do.
Scout came into season during
the holidays so had to be kept away from Dusty. Then Dusty had his accident…
He ran onto the beach as he
always does, went for a splash in the sea then we noticed blobs of blood on the
grass when he came back. Some poor dog has injured itself I thought…
At which point my hubby
noticed that Dusty had four bright red legs and a red stomach and chest! It was
quite a walk back to the car and he left a trail of blood. When we got home, I
hosed the blood off him – I’d already deduced it was coming from one of his
paws, but I needed to find exactly where – while hubby phoned the vet.
The cut was above his paw –
at his wrist – and there was blood all over the patio and a towel which I’d had
wrapped round him in the car. I put a dressing on and we dashed to the vet. It
is a 20 minute drive if the traffic is good, but can take twice as long as
that. I honestly don’t know how he had any blood left in him.
I was convinced on that drive
that he was going to pass out and die!
While we were gone, my son
went outside and cleaned away all the blood and washed the towel. It looked as
if there’d been a murder.
When the vet took off the
dressing, I could see the cut and blood began to pump out. She quickly put it
back on and said they would have to admit him and anaesthetise him. We had an
anxious wait then as he’d had breakfast which made an anaesthetic more risky
(note to self – NEVER give him breakfast before his walk again).
He was sick on the table and
when we went to pick him up they gave us a carrier bag full of medicine.
Antibiotics, pain relief, two different stomach medicines (because he’d been
sick), syringes to administer the milky stomach medicine and a drip bag with a
bandage threaded through it to put over his heavily bandaged paw if he went
outside in the rain.
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| Shark Bandage |
And he was back to wearing
the dreaded battering-ram leg-bruiser lampshade!
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| Oh no not again! |
Three vet visits later (for
wound checks, dressing changes and stitch removal) and he is back to his normal
self again, but we are avoiding that part of the beach. It was almost certain
that it was glass that cut him. One of the vets told me that they had had a lot
more dogs with injuries like that coming in this year.
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| Blue stitches |
I’m just glad we weren’t at
the far distant beach because I don’t think we would have made it home.
Scout’s grown a bit since
they got her in March when she was about the size of a cat! She towers over
Dusty now.
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| Scout - 8 months |
At the end of the holidays my
two granddaughters-from-away joined us for a week and all the cousins went to
Jimmy’s Farm which is a great value day out with plenty to keep the kids
occupied. They were particularly taken with a beautiful blue-eyed Rhea and the
Capybara.
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| Beautiful blue eyes |
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| Capybara |
There were more beautiful
butterflies in the butterfly house than last year. But – curate’s egg again – a
load of children were running wild in there, running through the greenery and
screaming and shouting while their parents ignored them. Luckily a keeper was
in there and told them to stick to the paths and behave. Why would you take
kids in somewhere like that if you can’t control them? There are plenty of play
areas for them to run off steam. Sorry – excuse me while I just tuck my soap
box away again.
So now summer is over,
everyone is back at school and work, and hubby and I have our consultant
appointments later this month. Today is the day I hope to get back into a
serious writing routine, but I’m not counting any chickens just in case the
pesky Law of Sod comes and bites me on the bum again!
Hope you’ve had a lovely
summer!
