Sophie

Suzeanna Try not to worry too much - if it was anything super serious they'd call you in for results / follow up sooner. Owl, glad to hear your mum is happy in the home, and sounds like the perfect place for her to be. If anyone gives you grief, they're not worth having in your life. Griff - enjoy the haircut It's now over 12 months since I had mine cut - think I'd better think about booking in, as the ends are all horrid. Be good Archie Nothing much to report here.

Morning. Working from home today as there is a problem with the drains in the office so all non-essential staff were asked not to come in if they could wfh. Fine by me

Yantan, I hope the migraine is better today Good luck this afternoon suzeanna - will be thinking of you Griff, sorry you're still feeling rubbish We had a busy weekend. OHs parents came over to help with some DIY. I got quite a laugh watching our neighbour's antics out the window while I was stripping wall paper. There is a footpath that runs up the side of our garden, and then along the back of all the gardens in the street. On the other side of the path at the back, there is about 20ft of scrub and trees shielding us from the main road. Our neighbour across the road Frank came walking slowly up the path to the back, carrying a carrier bag stuffed full of what appeared to be leaves. He then peered sneakily around in both directions up the path, before taking a couple of steps into the scrub and then emptying his carrier bag of leaves into the undergrowth. He then hurried back to his house, before repeating the same process at least 5 more times It made me laugh - we couldn't care less if he's dumping his garden waste back there, but its only £35 a year to have the council collect the garden waste bin every other week, and he was clearly on edge and nervous of his probably illegal waste dumping. As you can tell, its very exciting goings on in our close In other news, we picked up the new car - its lovely. Drives nicely, dogs are happy to have a proper boot to travel in, and I'm liking the heated seats

I hope Dex's op goes well Does anyone know much about pain relief for cats? My parents' Shadow cat is getting rather stiff in the back end (he's 18 years old, so not a young'un). Mum's reluctant to take him to the vet, but I reckon its worth seeing if they can give him something. While I convince her, was thinking of trying something natural, but I only really know about supplements that apply to dogs (glucosomine, devil's claw, turmeric) - anyone know if they work for cats as well? I've been to the garage to get all the junk out of it, ready to transfer to the new car We've gone with another passat estate - new one is only a year newer than our old one, but its done half the milage (60,000 instead of 120,000). It is convenient at it means the boot liner, dog guard and tail gate guard will all fit in the new car without needing any adjustment. When I drive the new car on Sunday, it'll be the 5th car I've driven in just over 2 weeks :S Old passat, rental astra, Dad's zafira, OHs S8, new passat - not bad for not the world's most confident driver.

Snow and collies r best We're sorting out things in the loft at the moment, and one of the containers contained a load of dog stuff I packed away when Sophie and Sky died. I was coping pretty well with sorting through it until I came to Sky's collar and lead which were still covered in his blood (he was bleeding heavily from his ear when he was pts, and I couldn't bring myself to wash them off before I packed them away). It is nearly 3 years on now, and I'm ready to throw out / recycle / pass on some of the things we won't use. I couldn't do it at the time. We have a new car Well, we don't actually have it yet, but we've paid the deposit and we pick it up on Sunday. Can't come soon enough - the dogs are having to travel on the back seat of Paul's car at the moment and they hate it.

Snow

Snow, so sorry to hear that Nog is so poorly Everything here crossed that he rallies and starts to improve.

Snow, I'm so sorry to hear that Nog is so poorly. I really hope he improves soon Alex, I hope the builder sorts himself and your window out pretty darn sharpish

Owl sometimes people are just rubbish. Glad you managed to sort out the other situation before it escalated Good luck today Jazz. Snow and Nog I hope it turns out to be nothing to worry out. Its hopefully a good sign that he seems happy in himself. I'm off work this morning as I woke up with a migraine. I've also had a horrid cold since Sunday, so was feeling pretty rubbish. Head is quite a bit better now, so I'm just testing out how I do at the computer before deciding whether or not to go in to work this afternoon.

Happy Birthday Alex

Hello owl Whizzie, glad you've got a lift - sounds much simpler than having to get yourself there. I hope dakota behaves and that you feel better soon Alex Good luck today suzeanna

Thats great news for your friend Yantan There are some good rescues round here who take individual circumstances into account, which is nice. for your daughter suzeanna - how scary. Glad to hear its just the car that is damaged. And another for you suzeanne - I hope it goes well tomorrow. Griff, sorry to hear you're still suffering with the infection - I hope it clears up soon.

Alex Whizzie - my OH tried wallpapering once - it also didn't go well. We now stick to painting. Sam - hope you had a nice flight Yantan, sorry to hear the breathing problems are back Morse is definitely an oldie now, and he knows it. He's enjoying lording it over the young'uns, and stealing the beds by the radiator at every opportunity. Some how Logan's already 5. I noticed on Sunday that his top lip is starting to go white It's been a crap few days at our house. Friday evening we were being homechecked for 2 cats, and Logan bit the home checker It is so out of character for him, and I feel absolutely terrible about it. At about the same time that was happening, OHs car was breaking down His car is now in a garage somewhere near London, and its looking like it might also need a new engine So we're down to no cars, which isn't manageable at all. Thankfully OH works for Avis, so we've got a fairly cheap rental for the week, and hopefully by friday we'll either have one of our cars fixed, or have decided its time to get a new car. On top of all this, the SIM card in my phone died on Saturday. So I've been out of contact with everyone. I'm now sorted with a pay as you go sim, but its a different number so not ideal. Nothing else is allowed to go wrong this week, as I'm already stressed enough. We at least had a pleasant day at agility on Saturday. Managed 5 eliminations out of 5 runs, but it was still fun. It was quite funny seeing Logan, Kia, and Buzz all crammed in to the boot of my mum's polo. Buzz had to stand under Logan's legs, and Kia had her grumpiest ears on!

Snow, that sounds a right pain. Fingers crossed its straight forward to sort out the other referals you need. Pain free sounds nice yantan Do you think its something you could try longer term? Not good car news - guy at the garage is phoning back shortly, but its probably going to be cheaper to put in a new engine than it is to fix whats wrong Luckily I've managed to beg a lift off my mum to get me to the agility show tomorrow, so that should be fun. The new coat/vest I ordered for Kia hasn't arrived unfortunately (yellow one with 'I NEED SPACE' plastered on it), but hopefully she'll behave and not need it.

Well done yantan - hopefully they collect this lot and drop of the next as they've promised. Oh dear griff - some people are too stubborn for their own good I am working from home this morning as I didn't really have any way to get to work. Fingers crossed they sort my car out today, as my dad is working near my house and can give me a lift to collect it this afternoon if it is ready.

That is a bargain griff. My two had new easywalk quickfit harnesses for Christmas which I'm really pleased with - Kia is less pleased as she hates having anything put on over her head. Sounds like you've been busy Yantan. Hopefully the van shows up as expected. Garage called - its not the pressure switch So they're having to go in and have a look - car won't be ready today. I'm now trying to decide if I am brave enough to take OHs car to agility tonight. Its huge and powerful and a bit scary (audi s8), and I haven't driven it before. But its pretty much just motorway driving to get there, so I should be able to manage. Dogs would have to travel on the back seat though, which I'm not keen on. Suppose I'd better ask OH if I can borrow it or not before I put too much though into it.

Morning (just). Glad there is no sign of a tumour griff, but sorry to hear you're sore today I've not had the greatest start to the day - my car broke down on the way into work A red light and 'oil pressure - STOP!' message came up, along with a loud beeping noise. Luckily I was right by a pub car park, so I pulled in. Checked the oil which was a bit low but still registering on the dip stick. Topped it up (always carry spare oil in the car), and it seemed ok. Decided to drive back towards my parents' house to test it out, rather than onto the motorway, and it did the same thing a few hundred yards later Managed to pull off onto the pavement, and walked to my parents house to find my breakdown cover details. Took them 90 minutes to get there, but luckily I could work from mum and dad's dining table while I waited. Its now been taken to the garage for investigation - fingers crossed its nothing too costly or damaging.

Good luck today griff - i hope it all goes well Logan hates being brushed, but Kia loves it. With Logan, he'll just about tolerate it if I stay off his spine and hips - he's a bit sighthoundy so they don't have much fat covering, and I think the furminator over those areas hurts. But he'll still only tolerate it for about 4 strokes of the brush. Thankfully he's mostly short coated, and the main grooming he needs is hand stripping of his winter coat which he loves having done. Kia will lean on me and goes all silly, and moves around so that I'm brushing the area she wants me too She also needs stripping more than brushing, but at the moment I'm letting her keep her long coat even if it is rubbish at keeping her warm.

Morning. I hope puppy training went well. I have the sneezes I'd like to believe that this isn't the first sign of a cold, but I think it is

Glad it went well snow, even if there are still more wibbley bits to come Yantan, I hope the doctors can get to the bottom of it Fingers crossed that the pup behaves herself at the vet I'm back at work, and have had a wee It was an hour drive to get there, and I felt ok when I left the house, but by the time I got off the motorway it hurt to move my leg to operate the clutch cause my bladder was so full! Arrived 30 minutes early, went to the loo and released a small amount of the pressure whilst trying to maintain a full bladder. They were able to see me right away thankfully, and I was complimented on the fullness of my bladder

Good luck today snow Good luck and no rain thoughts heading your way griff I have a doctors appointment at 10.30 for which I need a full bladder. 2 hours to go and I really need a wee!

Morning. Welcome home jerry lee That sounds a rather hectic day owl! We spent most of the weekend putting the new spare room together. It looks really nice now We're now about to tackle the 2 small bedrooms at the same time They'll both need replastering, and it seems sensible to only have the plasterer in once. It does mean I'm going to have to have a bit of a clear out, as they're both currently filled with stuff.

Pleased the news was good Jazz Sound like a busy time hospital wise for you Suzeanna - hope it all goes well Murtle All quiet here finally. Carpet is laid and looks good. Fridge and cupboards are full

Good luck with the assessment Jazz TV is fixed Our satellite dish hasn't worked since the end of October - something got blown loose in stormy weather and we don't watch enough TV to have been bothered with getting it fixed any sooner. But the satellite dish is at the top of a large pole that is attached to the side of the house, immediately above our bed. It makes a right racket swaying in the wind, so we've had it replaced with a small light weight aerial which should make it much quieter

Hope poorly tummys are fully recovered Suzeanna - fingers crossed its nothing to worry about Have fun Jayne Glad yesterday went well Alex I'm wfh today - ariel man coming to fix the TV this morning, carpet fitters coming at some point, sainsbury's delivery this afternoon - its going to be all go here. Kongs are stuffed and in the freezer in an attempt to keep the dogs quietish while there are invaders in the house!