He's home

 But what they didn't tell me was he'd been operated on late and was still very groggy.  He came out of the cat carrier and his legs wouldn't hold him up - he was terrified - eyes like black saucers from the drugs - and scared of me too.  He was trying to run away and went up the stairs, before he fell down again, "ran" into the library then living room, banging himself on furniture.  Oh it was ghastly.  I managed to catch him and lift him up for cuddles and strokes, but he wasn't happy until he had gone upstairs and hidden under a bed.  He wants to go out, but he can't till tomorrow morning.  I have bought the bowl of rainwater he drinks from inside for him.  Poor lad had two broken molars right at the back - she thought from biting on a rabbit bone or similar.  He hasn't been catching rabbits for a couple of years so don't know, though he did have a fight with the feral tom a few weeks back and perhaps hit his face on a rock?

It was very distressing for both of us.  Once he was under the bed I put the thawed mince away and went down the town for chips and a bottle of wine.  I need a glass of that for my nerves tonight as it has been not the best day of my life (or his, poor chap).  It is so hard having to cope on my own.

I am off to try and "relax" now.  I've cancelled my birthday outing to Bath now - the vet's bill was £520.   I have my short holiday break in Denmark, and need spending money for that, and then £225 is going out to pay for my stand at the Builth Antiques Fair in May.  I will have to get listing for sale everything I can post or deliver locally . . .  Does anyone sell on Gumtree?  Was thinking about that rather than Facebook Marketplace.

Not at my most cheerful

 It is cold (8 deg) with a nasty wind, and I am sat here with the central heating on and a hotty botty stuffed up inside my fleece and a woollen blanket over my knees..  I still can't feel my hands.  I slept very badly last night - I was still awake at midnight, woke at 3 for the loo and lay awake ages after that. I was trying to work out the best way forward for Alfie.  Did I get the scan done - and perhaps find out he had cancer - or did I decide we would see how the teeth operation worked?  I discussed it with the (different) vet this morning.  With the urine sample, and the bloods, they could see that his kidneys were only just starting to be not quite 100% efficient, but it wasn't stage 2 kidney disease (as the other young vet said) and he didn't need a change to Urinary kibble yet.  Overall he seemed in fairly good health and the bloods hadn't shown anything obvious.  I decided that sounded positive and we would get his teefs done and see how he went on from that.  I did my best not to cry at the vet's but failed . . . life or death decisions are so hard when taken on your own.

Time for a cheerful picture - my dear friend Rosie in front of the lovely old French house with its fabulous cottage garden, at Akaroa in NZ.

I have been trying to knit up a body for the giant already-knitted and assembled teddy head I inherited from my friend Annie, who sadly died in 2016.  I went up one size needles but the effort was pathetically small and actually included the head with the body knitting.  I have tried size 8 needles and it's closer, but the head still looks huge.  I need someone who CAN knit to advise me.

I am going to make a chocolate apple cake shortly, and then sit and watch the last 3 episodes of The Other Bennet Sister, which I can heartily recommend.

Diesel here is now £177.9 a litre.  I shan't be going far unless on foot!

St Curig's church, Llangurig

 I have driven past this church many times, thinking, I really must stop and explore it.  Well, on Thursday I did, on my way home from Borth.  There is a wide pavement outside it, with the curb at road level, so a good place to park up.

St Curig (who died in 550), founded a monastery (clas) here .  A clas is a mother church.  By 1180, it was under the control of Strata Florida abbey. The tower has a broach spire on a square base and probably 12th C but remodelled in 14th/15th C.

I will visit again in the summer, and see what is growing here.  God's little acre.

A nice Medieval font.

Sir Gilbert-Scott certainly got around and yes, he was responsible for the restoration n 1877/78.   Below: The new chancel screen was made, based on detailed drawings of the 15th C screen.  You can just see the lighter wood at the top is just about all that remained of the original.

The Bell Tower (and Christmas tree shelter . . .)

There were 6 lovely wooden angels on the hammberbeam ends, holding different symbolism.  

I couldn't find the light switch in the church, so these stained glass windows relied on outside lighting.

These looked early stained glass.  Above and below.

The Compost Heap jelly cooking nicely before going in the jelly bag.  Once cooked up with sugar, it set almost in the pan !  Just two jars out of it - 2nd not quite to the top, and I donated this and a nearly to the top jar of the Jumbleberry Jam to my friend Sam two doors down.

A few jars for the family anyway.

I managed to get the urine sample from Alfie that the vet requested (if I could catch him in the act) so dropped that down to the vet's this morning.  Now they won't need to insert a needle into his bladder when he's having his teeth done (which is not without its risks).  Did I say I went in and asked for the op to be done sooner as he wasn't eating much?  Monday morning is now the day.  I couldn't mention (without crying) that the wait and worry was really affecting me too.  He is eating the Sheba with gravy cat food, but then all the others want that TOO!

Have a good weekend.

A lovely day out

 

Tam, Rosie & Jon were a little late arriving, so I had enough time for a lovely walk on the beach at Borth.  The last time we were there was in memory of Keith, last July.  My new (bright purple!) trainers were SO comfortable and money well spent.

There were several Cormorants drying out on the rocks.

Isn't this sweet?  Such a lovely seaside blue paint too.

This is Marin, who was a petting bunny and such a sweetheart.  Rosie loved the bunnies.

I've forgotten her name, but this was a little Rosetted Guinea Pig.

Rosie feeding just the prettiest bunny, with tufty ears.

Not so sure about those big horns, Daddy!

She had the slide to herself and wasn't resting that leg at all, as she wanted to climb the steps, but Daddy stepped in and lifted her up instead.  There was a little Wendy house at the top and Rosie went inside and was selling us ice cream!!

It was a lovely day out, and just right for a 2nd birthday.  We had ice cream too.  Rosie's now big enough to - almost - eat one by herself.

On the way home I stopped at St Curig's Church in Llangurig - something I have been intending to do for months.  I will do a post about that tomorrow.

I've just made the Compost Heap jelly - gosh, it set SO quickly with all the pectin from the citrus.  Made just under two jars.  Lumpy - wouldn't win any prizes - but so tasty and costing just pennies for the sugar and heating it.

I heard yesterday that one of my Hampshire cousins has just suddenly died.  He was in his late 60s.  So I had to pop out for an In Sympathy card for his family.  So sad.

A dusting of Wednesday's snow on the mountains as I drove through. I can't wait for spring to arrive properly.  It is warmer out, and the very slightest mist of green of developing leaves on trees, whilst the Horse Chestnuts by the bridge at Llanelwedd are actively opening theirs.  They are always early.

Back to work now.  Have a lovely weekend all.

Plans on hold

 Well, we have had to postpone Rosie's birthday outing as it is very cold, sleeting and hailing.  NOT the day for a zoo trip, especially as she woke about 20 times in the night, so is tired and will be frazzled .  Tomorrow looks like being better.  Just when we thought spring had arrived too.

I have made a loaf of white bread, and done a quick shop - mostly Aldi, with a few things from Tesco.  I must have read Sue in Suffolk's mind, as first thing (having spoken to Tam, who changed our outing plans) I got the bag of lemons and orange peel out of the freezer to defrost with the intention of making Compost Bin Jelly.  Snap, Sue!  I was going to buy another bag of mixed berries for Jumbleberry Jam but Tesco have changed the fruits to mostly cranberries with half a dozen strawberries now, and the price has gone up.  Back to Aldi to check theirs then.  

I bought different coloured buttons for E. Bunny's eyes so may change them (blue or black).  I am going to get my late friend Annie's Teddy out of the cupboard to finish knitting that this afternoon.

Elderberry Bunny takes a bow

 

She is far from being perfect - an excuse the angle that makes one arm look twice the size of the other (it isn't).  Her eyes are a bit starey as I didn't have (amongst the dozens) any dark eyes of the right size - or even matching.  Her feet were meant to poke to the front, but for some reason, though I followed the pattern, she has feet pointing outwards!  Ah well, Rosie won't notice, and will love her, especially when the little basket is filled with mini chocolate eggs :)

I had a walk on the old railway line this morning, before it came on windy and rainy this afternoon.  

All the yellow blobs of trees in the riverside woodland are Pussy Willow, whose silver paws are now full on yellow powder puffs.

Aren't they pretty?

Butterburs in flower by the Celandines.

The wet windy weather made me decide to use up the two Bramley apples I had on the side, and make an Eve's Pudding, and I chucked in some of the huge commercial blackberries and strawberries from the cheap bag of frozen mixed berries from Tesco.  That's what I make my Jumbleberry Jam with, but makes good puddings and additions to breakfasts too.  This was scrummy.

Poor Alfie had more blood taken this morning.  The vet phoned back at teatime and said that they had mixed readings about his kidneys and would know more if they could take a urine sample next week whilst he is sedated for teeth scaling.  It looks like he has stage 2 kidney disease. She also suggested that one of the other vets had suggested a scan of his stomach, just in case there was something amiss there.  Another £43.  I agreed, but said that I was widowed and a pensioner and didn't have endless supplies of money, so couldn't afford any other tests.  They know how to charge.  Anyway, last night Himself promoted his sleeping quarters to the other pillow beside me (Lulu cuddled my back instead and Pippi stayed in her nest downstairs, keeping LW company in the living room).  So now I have another week to worry about his problems.

A day out for Rosie's birthday tomorrow, when we take her to Borth zoo.  She will love that.

Off to watch Cadfael.

Into battle!

 

This is the Iron Age sword, one of only three in the country of this type, and two of them are in Wales, which was found locally to Builth Wells, but the owner doesn't wish to say exactly where (even though it was found 30 years ago) in case there are metal detectorists all over his land.  The other sword was found not far away, at Cwmyoy, up near Llantony Priory in the Black Mountains.  It has been examined closely by Cardiff Museum, who think that both swords came from the same maker.  How exciting to have proof of the Iron Age presence around Builth, although obviously they were all over Wales and indeed Britain. Many hills round here have hill forts on top of them. I hope you can read the details below.

Well, I have had a stressful few days.  For the past week or so, Alfie hasn't been eating his biscuits.  I have bought several different sorts, getting ever more expensive.  I have had to give him all sorts of different sachets - he was very fussy over those - but now we are on the Sheba (expensive) sort, in gravy he is wolfing those down.  I was worried sick it was end-game Kidney problems - the boys are 16 this year.  I have been losing sleep worrying about him, and so off to the vet it was today.  He had the full blood test (e.g. that is the most expensive sort too) and it included Thyroid function.  The vet has just phoned back to say can I bring him down tomorrow as their blood machine threw a hissy fit (as it does sometimes) and recorded he had no red bloodcells . . .  So Poor Boy, he has to go back tomorrow morning for more bloods so we get the full picture.  From what they took, Thyroid function seems good and although Urea levels above average, Kidney function seems just within limits but we will have the full picture tomorrow and he will probably have to have a change of biscuits (I have 4 packs of the Purina Urinary care ones, which he can't eat at present).  However, he DOES have Gingivitis and very inflamed gums and is booked in next week for scaling and possible tooth removal.  This is all really going to hit my bank account - nearly £400 with the op, today's examination and blood test.  Jeepers.  I will have to put a red light over the door at this rate!!  It is just as well I have a full freezer and lots of tins in the food cupboard.

So this morning to take my mind off things I went out and had a good clearing of the area at the end of the bank, just before it reaches the pond.  There are three "raised beds" here, and I may as well use them so have been cutting back wild briar roses and brambles, and hoiking out the Lemon Balm and Marjoram which was everywhere.  I will need more bags of bark - £10 each I noticed, when I went to Hay and Brecon Farmers to get more wooden pellet cat litter.  Ah well, needs must.

I had to really be brave to take Alfie to the vet, because having to deal with the possibility of him having to be pts had turned me inside out.  I just cannot deal with the thought of death yet. Losing Keith is still so close to the surface of my memory.  I had to bite my lip and control my breathing so as not to  burst into tears at the vets, and have been crying on and off this morning.  When the time does come, it will be here at home, after the ghastly experience with a terrified Theo, who was so scared with the background noises (heavy slamming doors etc) and fought the anethstetic.  That still haunts me.  Keith would always come in with me and tell me to sit outside when the time for the final injection came.  I find it very difficult to have to stand up and be counted now and go in alone when the time has come.  With Ghengis it was obvious he needed to go immediately, and I coped better with that.  Danny was here then too, and dug his grave and buried him for me. Being brave is hard.