lava lamp

When Ian was looking for something completely unrelated, he found our two lava lamps which have been sadly neglected since we've been here, and probably a house or two before that!

Needless to say, both were not working because the bulbs had broken. That's where the challenge started as lava lamp bulbs need to give out heat, which new bulbs don't do. 

While this law only applies to bulbs where the main purpose is light, we can still buy bulbs where the main purpose is heat, like for heat lamps, the lava lamp community is apparently less well served than the farming community when it comes to heat producing bulbs.

So I turned to 'the' lava lamp website for more info about bulbs, and while there, found out the inventor of lava lamps was from Poole, and that's still where they are made now!

I found out what I needed re bulbs, and they arrived today and we got one of them working! 

It's great, although the color of it looks like egg yolks floating around.

 I'd forgotten how mesmerising they are!!!

The other may well work, but I need to change the plug to a Spanish plug as I think the fuse has gone in the UK one.

I now want to fill the house with lava lamps (but having seen the prices of the Poole ones, 'fill' may be aspirational!!!). Even Ian has been caught gazing at it. Normally he resists the pull of shiny things (unless it is something boring and car related).

Anyway, here's a pic. Just need to find somewhere safe to keep it, out of reach of nosey parrots and blind dogs and cats!

We said Goodbye to Rosie

Yesterday we said goodbye to Rosie. It was pretty difficult to do as she was still very fit and well - but with this awful swelling/hole in her gum. Although the vet had said he could see signs of healing - the hole at the back was getting bigger. It was apparent to both of us that there was nothing more that could be done. 

Rather than wait, in effect waiting for her health to deteriorate, we decided to take her to the vet yesterday afternoon. I think she was starting to get fed up of the big collar and also of being syringed food, and that would only get worse.

Yesterday was a lovely sunny day, so we took Rosie for a walk before she went to the vet. We did our normal morning walk, through the olive groves and towards the Romeria ground, we took her big collar off so she could really enjoy the walk.

It's been a bit of a shock - even yesterday, as long as you didn't look at her jaw, you'd have seen a big healthy dog, full of energy. We'd quite expected that Sam would have left us by now - and we hadn't expected Wilbur to make it through the summer - but Rosie, well, when we've been thinking about what type of house we move to next and ensuring it would have enough space for Rosie as we fully expected she'd be going with us.

I normally try to think of some funny memories when we lose a pet, however, there aren't many with Rosie, as she was actually a very good dog and generally well behaved. Unlike Bob, who we found on top of the fridge trying to get the cat food, or Basil who ate a thing of cocoa powder and had brown legs for days afterwards along with making chocolate er, deposits, Rosie was very well behaved. The thing I'll probably remember most is the fact that she was so obviously a pointer. I remember when we first had Larry the parrot and Rosie spent WEEKS pointing at him, obviously very disappointed that we ignored her. She also pointed to the pigeons who live on the roof next door.

Here's a couple of nice photos we took on our walk yesterday - they show how fit and well she was.

Rosie goes back to the vets again and again

Rosie went back to the Vet on Tuesday, as we thought her gum was swelling again. The vet said it wasn't and that he could see the first signs of healing - which was good news. However, yesterday, her gum was very obviously swelling and her mouth was starting to look 'inside out' again, so Ian took her back to the vet. He said that part of the swelling could be down to saliva build up - however he also said that there could be a tumour further down which he can't see. 

I don't think he'll suggest operating again, so it's a case of waiting to see what happens.

We've been taking her to our vet in Llerena, and not in Zafra. The vet in Zafra would have more facilities, they are more like an animal hospital. So I think they would have found out by now if there was a tumour. But on the other hand, I am certain we would have started on costly and invasive treatment which may have impacted on Rosie's quality of life. I am pretty certain they would have hospitalized her, however, if she isn't going to get better, I think we'd much prefer she was here.

Rosie goes back to the vet's once more

Rosie went back to the vet as a relative emergency on Saturday evening. Her gum had started to swell again and it was back to square one, where the vet had to clean everything out and restitch and put a new drainage thing in. This time it's more of a tube.

The vet said it looked like the same had happened again, something in her gum had got infected - which started to ring warning bells as it is highly unlikely that she could have stabbed herself with an orange tree spike again.

When we were discussing it with him the first time, the orange tree spike was the only thing we could think of. Ian chopped a few of the spikes off the tree and they are pretty big and evil looking.  Because of the bad weather before Christmas, we hadn't been for a walk and therefore we know exactly where she's been, so the orange tree spikes are the only thing we could think of. There's just nothing else around that is long and thin and could penetrate through her gum.

But while an orange tree spike may have been responsible the first time, I am dubious that it was responsible the second time. First, she is wearing a huge lampshade and secondly, she's not feeling that bouncey - and we've pretty much kept her shut in the living room. And it is even more unlikely that it would have been in exactly the same place.

The vet has checked the cells to see if it is a tumour, and says not, but I think we are both preparing ourselves for the fact this is going to be something we can't treat.

Good news is that Sam is a lot better. In fact, he is probably better than I would have expected. He's a bit wobbly on his legs, however he is relaxed and has stopped the random howling he was doing last week - I think where he was disorientated. Happily, Ludvig didn't start mimicking Sam's howling.

Rosie goes back to the vet (again)

Ian took Rosie back to the vet yesterday - we had planned to take her back anyway, just for a check to see how things were doing. However her stitches had opened up again. This time the vet decided not to restitch and for nature to take its course - but she still has the rubber drainage tube coming out of the bottom of her jaw and she still has to be squirted with food from a syringe. The vet said the gum will heal itself, but exactly what that means I'm not sure. I don't know if it will heal but still be disconnected from her jawbone or it will heal and reattach itself.

The important thing is that she doesn't get an infection or that it opens up further.

Sam continues to be very frail after the seizure cluster - but he's spending a lot of time sleeping, which is a good thing.

An audio reflection of our lives...

Living with a talking parrot is like having an audio mirror reflecting our life back at us. Ludvig points out the things that we have no idea we say.

He's just started saying 'oh, sorry, oh, sorry' which had Ian and I flummoxed. It's not something we're aware we say much at all, however Ludvig was saying it with abandon.

But then when I listen, it IS something we say a lot! It is impossible to walk in a straight line in our house without tripping over a dog or cat - and it is made worse now we have the door shut to keep Sam and Rosie in. So we are forever saying 'oh, sorry' as we trip over a slumbering furry mound.  We say it so often it doesn't even register.

We have decided that if we ever plan a crime, we must do it out of earshot of Ludvig, would would be able to repeat the plan back in, er, parrot fashion to anyone who was interested. I'd always thought that when I had read books where parrots gave a clue away, that this was an exaggeration - but apparently not!

Yesterday I restrung our wind chimes, and Ludvig won't have heard them before as I think we must have taken them down a couple of years ago when the strings started to break. I wonder if Ludvig will start imitating that - and I wonder if that will be cute or annoying!

Horace and Sam

We really don't see very much of Horace, he even eats best when he is under his duvet. He really is a duvet hound! We just see his little pink nose poking out. 

And thankfully, Sam's seizures have stopped and he is now recovering. He has eaten and drunk water so now hopefully it's just a case of letting him recover. 

Rosie goes back to the vet's

We had to take Rosie back to the vet on Thursday as all the stitches had failed and her gum had opened up again. I had noticed on Wednesday she was looking a little swollen round her jaw, and then Ian noticed on Thursday morning that three stitches had come away, and by the time we got to the vet, the whole thing had opened.

So.... she was stitched again and we're back to square one, although this time she is being kept in the living room all day to try to keep her as quiet as possible. This time he's put a rubber tube through the bottom of her jaw to help keep the drainage hole open.

If the stitches don't take this time, I'm not sure what they will do, it's such a big wound, but all we can do is to keep her as quiet as possible and hope things heal.

And poor old Sam has been going through the wars again with seizures. They started on Thursday and haven't stopped. My guess is if they don't stop this weekend we'll have him put to sleep - however, we've been in exactly this position before, and I think we were actually at the vet talking about what to do, when Sam sort of came round and then didn't have another seizure for years.  The one good thing about us keeping Rosie under house arrest is Sam is in here too, so we can keep an eye on him and ensure he doesn't have a seizure while wandering around the house.