of happy days and naughty dogs

Friday evening, phew. We had a bit of a rocky start today. When I got down to the kitchen at 7 this morning, I noticed something yellow in the garden. Upon closer inspection, this turned out to be a Cadbury Easter egg box. I couldn't quite connect the dots in my brain and thought nothing of it. As I was making sandwiches for James' and Alistair's lunch boxes, my eyes were drawn to the box (which I had not picked up yet due to more pressing needs). It dawned on me that the box was not left by two litterbugs but by a four legged creature named Jack. He must have taken the box outside while I was enjoying my first coffee in bed because the box was not in the garden when I locked up for the night and he can't go out during the night. I found the tinfoil wrapper not far from the box but the little pack of chocolate eggs from inside the big egg was intact. Jack is a small dog, the egg was a large one. Alistair got it from his Cubs leader and I tucked it away for another day on the bookshelf in the spare room. It is a good place to hide tempting food stuffs in plain sight. It seems to blend in with eh colourful book covers. I am not entirely clear how Jack climbed the unstable mountain of charity clothes and got to the egg, or even how he knew there was something edible. The egg was well wrapped. As a responsible dog owner, I know that chocolate is not good for dogs. Some googling revealed that Jack had eaten more than was safe for a dog his size. I called the out of hours vet, who in great big detail described the symptoms that Jack might soon show: increased heart rate, seizures, excitability and more. Meanwhile Jack seemed non-plussed. The out of hours vet did some calculations based on Jack's weight and the type and amount of chocolate he gobbled up. She decided that Jack would probably be ok all things considering.  Three cheers for cheap chocolate that doesn't contain that much cocoa solids (it was 20% only). She wanted Jack to be seen by his regular vet later to be on the safe side. Normally, my work is flexible and I can arrange things around emergencies but today I had a CPD course for which I had been on the waiting list for 9 months... and not showing is associated with a fine. Typical. Richard is away all week, in case you are wondering. It took some effort but I managed to wake up Sam who agreed to open his eyes and observe Jack and take him to the vet. I left my bankcard, the empty chocolate box, cash for a cab and the vets phone number and rushed off to catch the train. I had to speed cycle to the station to make it in time. On the train, Sammy texted me multiple times and I promptly missed my stop. Indeed I missed two stops and ended up having to jog all the way back to the course venue. So much for looking frazzled for a professional course... Assertiveness for impact. I sure made a lasting impression. I am not so sure about impact. Of course there was role play, which makes me really anxious. Alas, I survived and I actually really enjoyed the course although I am not sure if I am any more assertive than before. It is one thing to practice in a safe environment but an entirely different thing to actually put this into practice.... Meanwhile, I received a running commentary from Sammy. Among others was "Jack sure doesn't like a thermometer up his arse" (I am quoting). I texted back that not many do. Then I got a text asking to call the vet and pay the bill. With the card that he had left at home. I did have the credit card, which I usually leave at home but most have picked up on autopilot. That was lucky because my own bank account contains exactly £6:45. This text made me smile "Can Billy and I smoke a joint in the garden?". I assumed it was for stress relief. I can't really stop him but I reminded him of the bad effects that stuff has had on him in the past and he let it be. It made me smile because I don't think many grown children ask their mum for permission to smoke a joint. He can be such a gem.  Then he texted me to tell me that he was making poached egg for Jack's lunch to make the activated charcoal more palatable. I don't even want to imagine what that meal looked like....

Other than that, our week has been uneventful. Annie cooked every single meal and even precooked tonight's dinner for me to warm up for the boys because she was going out this evening. She is also a gem. I spent some lovely moments in the garden collecting a posy of flowers, inspecting my tulips and cutting a lot of purple sprouting broccoli. Work was good on the whole and even included some laughing out loud moments. We were recording a welcome message for our students and nothing can quite trigger the giggles like having to talk coherently to a camera. It was my colleagues first experience with this and doing it with an audience was brave. Asynchronous online teaching at its best. I am up next for this joyful experience but it won't be nearly as funny because I'll do it on my own. In between, I managed to binge watch some Stargate SG1, my current favourite sci-fi show and I watched the Sewing Be. Beats the Brexit tragic comedy in Westminster any day, of that I am sure. Pure shambolic. Did you notice it was Brexit Day today? Glad it was deferred by at least a few more days. I am not optimistic.

It is the spring break now, for the kids at least. The younger ones are going to holiday day camp for one week and then I am off for a week. I am really looking forward to this.

I'll be back with more stories soon. Nothing much exciting though, I am sorry. Just life as it happens. Thank you for visiting. xx