What have you been doing today?

Came home from Center Parcs. Had a great time but our son had trouble packing everything into his car - he had to put Isabel in the boot! ;)

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Fùcking horrible morning. I went for a walk with our friend over Thorndon country park. She has two dogs and is looking after 4 dogs belonging to another friend who is in France at the moment. All working cocker spaniels. Half way round the walk, the oldest and heaviest dog had trouble breathing and couldn’t walk. She was far too heavy to carry so we phoned the park ranger and he came and took the dog back to the car park for us in his van. (We couldn’t do that ourselves as all the vehicle gates were locked). Anyway, she took the dog straight up the vets, they got it on oxygen but a scan showed fluid everywhere inside. Long story short, she had to have it euthanised there and then as there was literally nothing the vet could do and the dog was getting in a terrible distressed state. What a year it’s been for us as a group, we've lost 5 dogs, two mums and a dad between us. :(
 
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During yesterday's rain, we noticed the gutter at the back of the house overspilling, so this morning, we were out investigating, with a selfie -stick, and phone. It's a semi, with a shared single fall-pipe in the middle, but our side of the fence. Earlier in the year, I had some tiles replaced, and the our side of the gutter cleared, but since then, next door have been busy with a whole house refurb, including chimney removal.

The photos revealed our gutter was still fairly clean, but their side entirely choked with debris, and also completely blocking the fall-pipe dog-leg. So we had words with next door, who agreed to 'get it sorted'.

Update - They had a (useless) workmen in today, who was there to clear their gutter. I told them they would need to clear the shared dog-leg, their debris had blocked, they would. As they were about to leave, I asked them to confirm they had cleared it, they said they had. After they had left, I went round the back and checked if there was any debris beneath the shoe, at the bottom of the fall pipe, and there was none at all.

We got the selfie stick out, and remote, to check the dog-leg from above, and there it was, still blocked, as expected. So, back round to next door, to complain, yet again. Why don't people do the job they are paid to do, properly, and thoroughly?
 
What was wrong with the dog?

Andy
I noticed her laboured breathing halfway round the walk and she was also foaming at the mouth which I understand was coming up from her stomach. I only got pieces of information in between the sobbing when she phoned me up to tell me the outcome but I’ll find out more detail tomorrow when we meet up again. She was overweight anyway and had been for some time as she had a problem with her thyroid but she had so much fluid build up around her lungs and liver which couldn’t be drained and when they gave her a shot of something, the lungs and the liver started working overtime to try to clear the fluid which just made things worse. She was the eldest dog of the lot - 13 years old so had a decent innings.
 
Another dog walk this morning with just 5 cockers :( but we took a short cut through an overgrown path to avoid some cows in the field as we had a pup with us still undergoing recall training and we didn’t want her possibly spooking the cows. I was bent right over getting through, I tripped, nearly face planted but managed to catch hold of a sapling to stop myself and somehow twisted my back! Been munching on ibuprofens since this morning.

Went up and paid for my mums funeral and sorted the final arrangements which is being held on Friday.
 
Went up to our friends sisters paddock and collected 11 bags of horse poo. Neat, freshly picked paddock poo too - no straw or woodchippings mixed in with it. Took it straight over the allotment but it’s left a bit of a whiff in the Golf. I’ll have to leave the windows open for a while.

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We got the selfie stick out, and remote, to check the dog-leg from above, and there it was, still blocked, as expected. So, back round to next door, to complain, yet again. Why don't people do the job they are paid to do, properly, and thoroughly?

Properly sorted, at the second attempt, yesterday.

For the past couple of years, due to upgrade work on the adjacent railway, when the line has had to be closed, plus an operation compound located at the nearby station, we've had a near constant stream of 'rail replacement' coaches, plus heavily laden HGV's passing up our normally quiet 20mph limit residential street. Some of the drivers, obviously going at way over the blanket village limit of 20mph, which can be quite intimidating.

A month ago, I decided enough was enough, and wrote to Railtrack complaining about their speeding vehicles. The reply was, that it would be dealt with. I don't know how they have 'dealt with it', but I have not seen or heard a single one of their vehicles, of any type passing up the street at all. Maybe they have diverted them onto more suitable roads?
 
Cleaning the cooker. A change from my rock 'n roll lifestyle but an incident involving a pan of boiling apple juice, a plastic spoon and a pleasant distraction caused a major spillage on the hob that needed attention.
 
Made some fresh soup for lunch later. Butternut squash, potato, carrot, onion, garlic, salt, pepper, chilli flakes, rosemary and vegetable stock.
 
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