Wilbur's Digestion

We had to take Wilbs back to the vet on Monday as he had a recurrence of his digestion problem. We went to the new vet - this time in a hire van - and they did a couple of tests and found a problem with his pancreas. It isn't serious, and can be managed, however we have to change his food to a low fat and easily digested food, and while he is getting better he has to be fed little and often. He is happy about the often, a little less happy about the little, believing that we have got him confused with Pixie.  The new vet does a lot of work on behalf of the animal refuge in Zafra, and I they seem to have honed their skill so that they can do good quality work for a very reasonable cost. They are so reasonable that they are competitive to the vet in Llerena, who we have always thought was very good value. In fact, the total bill for Wilbs and Bob was probably half what I was expecting!

We have a hire van until tomorrow - however today we put a deposit on an old Mercedes. It is from the garage we got the Astra from, which, for an old car, was very good. The 'new' car is 20 years old, however they have rebuilt the engine. The garage owner knew Mike and we have a good feeling about the people there. It will be a few days before we get it as they need to get it finished. It was a little over budget - but at 2,500 euros we felt we got a good buy. Our options were a little limited in our price range. Second hand cars are markedly more expensive here - about double on a like for like basis of what we'd pay in the UK. However older cars also don't suffer a rust problem here. The paint is more likely to have faded because of the sun - but the body work is also more dented due to Spanish driving/narrow roads!

Hoping Nothing of Interest Happens

The BBC is blocking all content that is recorded at the Olympics, which appears to include all of the news (it is also impossible to see any of the opening ceremony as this is being blocked and taken down from YouTube). This is because of 'rights restrictions'. So, while we have to hope nothing exciting happens over the next two weeks, it will be interesting to see whether we end up more cheerful at the end of it without having our daily dose of doom and gloom...

We Can Take a Hint...

Never let it be said that we can't take a hint. As the car turned up its little wheels again this week - this time leaving Bob stranded at the vets in Zafra, we were astute enough to realise that there was a message in there somewhere. While the message could be not to use the vet in Zafra, it is more likely to be that it is time to say goodbye to our trusty car and look for something else. It has been a good car, particularly given that is now over 20 years old. And when it has let us down, it's always done it when there's been help on hand or at least in a not-too-difficult-to-be-retrieved-from place.  This time Ian thinks the big end or something has gone, and it won't be viable to repair.

We had to ask a big favour and get Bob picked up from Zafra and bought home. Luckily Bob was quite happy, however as he had gone in to have a test done on his heart as the vet identified that he has a heart problem, it was a little worrying that he might get upset being collected by a stranger.

Ian drove the car home, but it is now sat forlornly on the back yard, ready to be scrapped. So this has given us an interesting conundrum. What car will we get next? We are torn between a van and an old Mercedes. We have a budget of 2,000 euros, which is a little more than we spent on the Astra, so hopefully we'll find something equally long lasting.

We've seen one of these - I thought it was perfect until Ian pointed out that it only seats one, has bike handles instead of a wheel and has a top speed of 30km a hour. I guess we will end up with something a little less cute, but more practical...

Leaps and Bounds

Our little Herbie is gaining mobility in leaps and bounds. Quite literally. He has surprised us a couple of times for appearing suddenly out of the blue. I opened the bedroom door and found him in the bedroom, after I knew I'd taken him outside, and realized he had clambered in through the window. He has also got outside from the living room which means climbering a breeze block step, which is quite significant for a dog with wobbly legs. His climbing technique has changed too, and he now puts his front paws on a step and then bunnie hops, which shows how the strength in his legs is improving. Before it was a bit of a ungainly haul. Herbie almost ran yesterday, he certainly worked up a bit of a trot. It is quite amazing to see his improvement. I guess it is exponential as, as he gets fitter, he moves more, so he gains strength and gets fitter... We're not going to turn him into a spring chicken, however it is nice to think that he'll be able to enjoy life a little more through better mobility.

Pickles name has changed to Pixie. We didn't think it was fair on Petal, as Petal kept hearing herself getting told off for things she had no intention of doing. It also give Pickle the opportunity to ignore us, thinking we were talking to Petal. Pixie is amazingly appropriate, can't believe we didn't think of it before.

We had an exciting day on Friday - after months of threatening, the car finally decided deposit the contents of the cooling system over the road, via a burst hose, outside the vet in Zafra. We were at the vet with Rosie who was being sterilized. The vets turn the animals out after their ops while they are not really out of the anathestic, so not only was it Rosie, but it was Rosie appearing very drunk and wearing a lampshade. This could have been a big problem as the tow truck man nodded curtly towards Rosie (well I like to think it was Rosie) and said he wouldn't take that in the car. So Rosie and I could have been left stranded - as I couldn't have taken her on the bus or taxi. However happily for us (and unfortunate for him) we unexpectedly saw Stephen from Feria who kindly offered to take me and Rosie home.  Ian, by this time, had asked the tow truck to take him to Llerena, where he thought he was going to be stranded. However, again, happily, the car repair people were able to do a temporary repair, and he was home within a couple of hours. Although it was a tad annoying, the fact it could have been so very much worse - imagine if it had happened by the side of the road on the way home - if we hadn't had Rosie with us it wouldn't have been too bad, but a very big and drunk looking dog would have made life very difficult!

I staked our tomatoes this morning, which is significant because this is the first time we've had enough tomatoes to stake. The tomatoes appear to be our only success this year. The cotton has grown, but is very poor and not flowered yet, and the peppers have only just started flowering. However, our lime tree not only has regained all of its leaves, but has also got a couple of fruit growing, so we could have one or two fresh limes next year!

Herbie

jul_10, a photo by ian_pullen on Flickr.

Herbie was insistent that I shot his good side.

I wasn't sure which one that was, so plumped for this side. Hopefully I got it right.

Photos!

If you click on the photos you'll see the full size version...

Here are Herbie and PP being taught the finer points of flopping into a puppy pile by Henry and Bob.

Here's a photo to show the size of them compared with Bentley, who, worryingly, still appears to be growing. What a good job he was living off gravel and snails when we found him, as if he had been fed on proper puppy food, he is likely to be the size of a house now!

Yes, we all have our eyes shut in this one (and, as Ian pointed out, the same daft expression).

Poor Herbie, if being blind, deaf, toothless with wobbly legs isn't enough for him to worry about, here is is having to contend with Ian's foot. This is to show his size.

Another one of the dogs relaxing. I was going to send this to the people who rescued Herbie, however they may worry that something terrible has happened to him!

Herbie and Schnookems.

Wilbur and Herbie saying "but I'm the only blind dog in the house..."

Pickle / Petal

We are finding out that Pickle and Petal sound very similar to little dog's ears, as two little heads turn everytime one or other is called. So Pickle is getting called her full name - Piccalilli as this seems to cause less confusion.  Pickle and Herbie are settling in well. They are both very well behaved and are easy to look after. It is nice having the two of them as we pop them away together if they are not being supervised and it is nice for Herbie to know that he is not alone.  I have started doing some swimming exercises with him. I hold onto him with just his legs in the water and he starts doing doggy paddle. However, he is quick to learn, and has caught onto the fact that he is not actually swimming, and now just rests there with his legs hanging in the water. I may need to dunk him in further, however he still has kennel cough and I don't want to make that worse.

We are really pleased with Herbie's progress. We have seen a marked difference in his walking. He is still wobbly, and his legs are obviously ill formed in some way. However he is not walking so stiff-legged and seems more fluid in his movements. I have been giving him some supplements, glucosamine, which other pet owners have recommended, so this, and the fact he can wander during the day, must help. We don't know what his history was, and he could have been caged for a long time before he was taken to the pound, which is sadly common, and this may have caused some of his joint stiffness. The poor little chap appears also to have a flea allergy like Bob, and has been itching his side and made it raw. Although we've treated him for fleas, it takes a time for the rash to settle. We put a lampshade on Bob to stop him scratching at the rash, however it seems a little mean to do this to Herbie, seeing that being blind and deaf finding his way around without a lampshade stuck on his head is hard enough...

The weather has cooled again from a heat wave recently. It was HOT! We were on orange alert. I quite like the traffic light system. As to me, when it gets to a certain heat I can't tell the difference between hot and super-hot, so as it does allow us to plan - for instance there's no way we'd plan to go somewhere during the day when there's an orange heat alert. We also have to make sure that there is plenty of shade for the animals.  It also helps to make sure we drink enough water. They say 3 litres a day when there is an alert. I notice that my hands and feet swell if I don't drink enough water and keeping an eye on the alerts and water intake has helped no end.

Summer classes have started. I have 14 hours over four days, however this year I have smaller classes which means I need to do less preparation. I start at 10, which means that I can go for a cycle ride in the morning without it all being too rushed.

The Two of Us

We had to return a little pool to Carrefour in Zafra yesterday because of a leak in it and so took advantage to do a shop and stop for a picnic lunch on the way back. The photo was taken post-picnic and if you look closely you'll see that there's some weirdo stalker type reflected in Kate's shades.