Week 27 - 30

07/10/11

Week 27

Thursday 19th November 2009

I had a really difficult day today, nowhere to sit, nowhere to go at all. There was a man screeding the hall and the dining room floors today and so we left the house via the garage and came back in that way too. I do not like my routine upset and I will be pleased to be back to normal.

Friday 20th

The man is back and today he has laid wooden floorboards. Where is my nice carpet? What am I going to sleep on? Life is hard.

Saturday 21st

Gill and her friend Carole came today and everyone apart from me went to have another look at the apartment in Wolverton Park. They all thought that it was wonderful and Gill thinks that she will buy it.

This afternoon we started to put the furniture back in the dining room which has been in the lounge and the conservatory. I might just be able to access the settee again soon. It has been hidden behind the dining room table and although I have tried it has been impossible to jump up.

Sunday 22nd

More hard work, cleaning and sorting things out and putting them away. We did visit Helen and Ed for a while, so a short relief, but they are in such a mess too.

Monday 23rd

Mum and I went to Jennie’s house today and I was left there while mum went to a meeting at Dunstable. Everyone played with me and Scott took me for a walk, but I was pleased to see mum come back.

Tuesday 24th

Nothing new to report, or worth commenting on today, we just did cleaning and putting things away again. I suppose now that I am growing up I have to expect this. You can only amuse yourself by chewing and shredding everything that you can find.

Wednesday 25th

I have my new tartan bed in the kitchen and now I have a daybed in the dining room. Phew, what a relief that I am not expected to lie on that hard floor.

Mum went off to the osteopath this morning. I think she does too much and she should take a leaf out of my book and relax more.

Week 28

Thursday 26th November

It seems that Gill is going to move to Wolverton. Dogs are allowed to visit but not stay in these flats, but I’m not sure about glass lifts, I haven’t tried that before. We live quite near to the Grand Union Canal and Gill’s flat looks over the canal, so we think that in the summer we might be able to walk there on the towpath.

Friday 27th

Each time we walk to or from the newsagents we go past Helen and Ed’s new bungalow and I turn into the drive. Sometimes they are not there and today I sat on the front step and barked because they did not open the door.

Saturday 28th and Sunday 29th

We looked in at the bungalow a few times this weekend just to see how they are doing. They are still in a mess with pots of paint everywhere, but it is clear up weekend and get ready for the furniture to move next week. Ed brought things back to us that they had borrowed and took things that they needed. There is just so much going on that I don’t have time to even have a nap.

Monday 30th

Helen and Ed moved in properly today. Thank goodness for that because I know that they will always be there now when I walk past.

Tuesday 1st December

Mum and I went off in the car today to search for new chairs. We went all over the place and had our lunch in the car. We didn’t buy anything but we got bits of material to match up with a new carpet we are having.

Wednesday 2nd December

Mum was at the osteopath again today. I know that I am right, just far too busy at the moment. The osteopath said to her that she leads ‘a full on life’ and maybe she should slow down.  What did I say? Just watch me relax. You get your bed just near the radiator pop an extra blanket in it for cuddly softness, climb in and roll on your back. If you position yourself just right you can have half an eye open and keep a watch on where mum is, and for any passing food.

Week 29

Thursday 3rd December

Photos, photos and photos. We have got boxes of photos that have come from various parts of the family and mum is trying to sort them out. Some are very, very old, even older than mum. She is scanning and emailing some of them to cousins and some she is going to give to people she said should have them now.

Friday 4th

In amongst the old photos we found some negatives still in the original envelopes. One of them had mum’s grandmother’s name on and came from a chemist that was in Dunstable. That envelope is going back to Dunstable and will go to the Heritage Centre that mum does quite a lot of work for. This is the third day we have done photos and I’m a bit fed up with looking at people I don’t know, although sometimes they have lead very interesting lives and most of them had dogs. I found the dog stories quite interesting and would have liked to play with mum’s other dogs, Buster, Prince and Bugle.

Saturday 5th

I stayed with Ed while Helen and mum went out looking for furniture, and they both bought something. Ed says that they are not safe to be allowed out shopping together. Mum started to empty the lounge of furniture. I can’t believe it, no sooner have we got comfortable again than we are making it uncomfortable with no space to sit.

Sunday 6th

Ed has taken various things today that we have been storing for them. We have some space in the garage now, but still nowhere comfortable to stretch out in the house. My daybed is in a small space in the dining room and there is no furniture in the lounge.

Monday 7th

When I first came home I slept in my bed in a playpen in the kitchen until I got over the top one day. Then my car cage was brought into the kitchen and the cage was tightly closed every night. The last few weeks the door has been left open at night and mum said that I had been very good so now the cage was going. Tonight the cage had a blanket in it and I had a choice of that or my bed which was just at the end of the table where it has always been. Obviously I ignored the cage and chose the bed.

Mum started to decorate the lounge today. She painted the ceiling and glossed the door frames. Then I was forbidden to go in there.

Tuesday 8th

When mum saw that I had chosen to sleep in my bed last night she said that I obviously didn’t feel the security need of my cage, so the cage has been dismantled and has gone into the garage.

Mum painted all day today and I was so bored. I shredded everything that I could find until the entire lounge floor was covered with little pieces of paper, cardboard, toy stuffing and so on.

Wednesday 9th

I had all afternoon with Helen while mum was off to Dunstable again. Each time I go round there I get biscuits and water which I always eat and drink. They are the same biscuits as at home but they taste different here so I leave the ones at home and eat the ones here.

Helping Helen with the Dusting, I thought this was a good game, I won of course.

Week 30

Thursday 10th December

As we left home this morning and got on to the redway I picked up Amber’s scent and nose to the ground I raced off. Mum was shouting for me to go back, but I ignored her and chased off to find my best girlfriend. I caught up with her and then mum came running up and out of breath. I was absolutely fine but mum was worried about where I was.

I was quite poorly today and didn’t eat my food. I didn’t drink anything and mum was really worried about me.

Friday 11th December

Two men arrived in a big van this morning and mum and I were confined to the kitchen while they hammered and worked on their knees in the lounge. I watched them through the door and barked at them occasionally, just so they knew who was in charge. We now have a new carpet and it is nice and bouncy to walk on. Ed came round and helped us move the big furniture back into the lounge.

I had a little food this afternoon and some warm milk and at last a comfortable space.

Saturday 12th

The new curtains are up in both rooms and I have had a finger wagging lecture about the tassels on the tie-backs. They are new, rather large and just hang down to my height. I had only had a small chew when I was spotted, no real damage done!

Not eating or drinking properly again today and mum does not know what is wrong with me.

Sun 13th

This morning we put up our Christmas tree in the lounge. Actually it is only half a tree and it hangs on the wall out of my reach. It is very pretty and lights up. There are many things hanging down from it which mum has collected from all around the world on her travels, and I found that if I get right up one end of the settee I can just reach the dangly bits.

After lunch today mum got a bit fed up with me destroying things and so we went off for a long walk. We went to the canal and along it for a way and then we turned round for home as the weather was grey and it gets dark quite early at the moment.

Helen has bought a reindeer and various things that light up and she has put them in her front garden. I am told that this is to celebrate Christmas when all those who are good get presents of new toys and special titbits. This sounds like a really good idea, but when is it and how long does it last? Surely if the lights are on now we should be getting the presents now.

Helen's front garden.

Mon 14th

Stayed with Helen this afternoon while mum went to listen to a family history talk. It was about a family called De Vaux and she researches a family called De Caux so she was hoping that it might help her, but it didn’t. The De Vaux family in this story left France to escape the guillotine. They left their chateau and sailed in a small fishing boat to the West Indies which must have been really dreadful as the journey took about six weeks. If they had stayed in France they would have had their heads chopped off, so it seems there was not too much choice. The De Cauxs that we are interested in left France a few years before this as they were Huguenots. They were also escaping to save their lives. It seems to me that France can be quite a dangerous place to be, so I don’t think I will go there.

Playing with Ed, I have my own bed, toys and everything else I need at Helen and Ed's new Bungalow, it's like having two homes.

Tues 15th

This afternoon mum went to do a job for Gill. She met the facilities manager at Wolverton Park apartments and learned how everything works. Gill should move in the next few weeks and then she will be a couple of miles from us.

I went to stay with Bryan at number 2 this afternoon and Steve came over and we had a very nice walk. He was worried that I didn’t eat or drink anything while I was there.

Mum has decided that I have had a chill in my tummy and so tonight I am wearing my knitted pyjamas to bed. I always wear my coat when I go for a walk but not when I am in the garden, so now we have a change of rules.

Wed 16th

This afternoon we made another visit to HorsaTack to buy me a new rug. Yet again my body has grown and now I am in a 20inch coat. This time we bought a fleece one in a fetching stripe design of red, yellow and black. I modelled the coat around the shop and received many admiring glances, comments and pats and so I decided to keep it on. It is soft, warm and cosy and covers my bottom which is great.

Then we went to Pets at Home for biscuits. I like the small sausage roll ones and so we bought a kilo. You no longer get a free biscuit at the till, so I complained.

We also ordered some new coats on the internet today. I think that I may need my own wardrobe soon as I will have quite a few outfits all designed to keep me warm and dry. I do feel a lot better today and I am eating for England, so perhaps I have had a chill.

I should apologise here that I have been a bit tardy in writing my blog, but I hope you can see how busy we have been with not a moment to put paw to keyboard or pose for photos.

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