Monday 27 April 2020
My Life's Winding Roads: What a week !
My Life's Winding Roads: What a week !: Good morning one and all, how is everyone today ? Currently we have a brisk South Easter blowing causing quite a chill in the air, I honestl...
What a week !
Good morning one and all, how is everyone today ? Currently we have a brisk South Easter blowing causing quite a chill in the air, I honestly can say we have really not had any cold weather as yet. A few cool days and the evenings are cool but nothing requiring winter woolies #sadface, hopefully winter proper is on its way. Today's Blog is a lot later than usual due to a number of factors - 1. We had a family Zoom meeting today which was awesome, just to see everyone. It does have some disadvantages though is that obviously not everyone has the same internet speed and so because there can be a delay we end up talking over one another which can be frustrating. 2. I have had 'major' technical challenges since yesterday. My phone memory is full and so I decided to move ALL my photographs and videos over onto an SD card, all went well and I completed the 'move' in retrospect and for future perhaps I need to copy files over and not move them straight off. I checked and the memory card showed all the files almost 2000 so, and this is where the problem came in, I deleted everything off my phone and somehow lost the WHOLE LOT. Now I don't know about you but for me that was an absolute disaster. As I type this I think what may have
happened is I 'moved' them over. Saw the SD card file and am pretty sure I saw the normal gallery file which I deleted, now I'm thinking I deleted the SD file. Either way I lost the LOT. These photographs are a visual story of my daily life here at home and with my family as we exchange happenings. I feel completely gutted. After trying a number of things with no results I managed to download a data retrieval app and have somehow been able to recapture most, but not all of my pics, which I have copied to the SD card and made sure they are physically there, now I'm too scared to delete anything. What a way to start my week, Jelly Bean was such a help and her calmness really helped quell my growing 'hysteria', thanks you precious.
We are now well into week 5 of the CoVid 19 hard lockdown and with lots of luck some areas (including us) will be upgraded to Level 4 on Friday. Sadly Cape Town Metropole, Johannesburg, Bloemfontein, Durban and East London will stay at Level 5 for now. There is not a huge difference in the change for us personally except that a few more items will be available to purchase although we are still not allowed to travel to other municipal areas. As you can imagine, and are experiencing this is extremely difficult for most people and worse for others, certainly not an easy time and is stressful all round. Even though everyone is at home, or supposed to be stress levels remain high.
Last week I did a lot of baking and successfully made a proper Sourdough Bread using my starter, I was extremely proud of the result but will say this, it is hard work. Hard work in the sense that over a 24 hour period you have to continually turn and stretch the dough, nurture it etc and then only bake the following day. Not having the right bowls to proof it in also made it a little more difficult, but, all in all I did it, my Starter continues to grow and I now know I can make bread at any time with or without yeast. A couple of days after making my bread I discovered the local superette is selling Sourdough Bread on a daily basis. With a slight hanging of my head I promptly went and bought two loaves which we sliced and froze. I won't have to bake bread for a wee while 👏🏻. I find I am baking buttermilk risks almost every seven to ten days now that we are on lockdown and also have to top up the doggie biscuit tin, it just never seems to end.
Another situation we had was since Charlie arrived he has been eating the same food as Max and Sasha - raw dog food with mealie meal. Almost every night between 3 - 5 am he would be sick, a yellow bile. I could not figure it out, during the day he is fine and is not unwell in any way. I spoke to L who fostered him for the two weeks prior to flying down and she had fed him dry kibble with no problems, we brainstormed a bit and I googled his
'symptoms' and read that it is called 'hunger vomiting', the raw food was not keeping him full enough through the night. During he day he gets doggie biscuits along with Max and Sasha, so that keeps him going. I then decided to feed him boiled chicken and white rice with pumpkin and green beans and at night when we go to sleep he gets 2 biscuits and a few dry kibbles, this worked like a charm with no more vomiting until I replaced the chicken with the raw dog food and we were back to square one. So....... now he gets boiled chicken, rice with veg and a bedtime snack, Max and Sasha get the raw dog food with the rice and veg and a bedtime biscuit, this is not complicated at all. What is absolutely adorable though is that I am teaching Charlie to sit and when he does it is so funny, because his fur is long he looks chubbier than what he is and when he sits, that little behind just seems to plop down, it is just too cute.
Well folks for someone who had no idea what to share with you, I've gone on long enough and am going to wish you all a good week, I pray you all stay healthy and happy. Thank you for being an awesome audience. With love from my house to yours Ciao Ciao.
One of our beautiful sunsets
happened is I 'moved' them over. Saw the SD card file and am pretty sure I saw the normal gallery file which I deleted, now I'm thinking I deleted the SD file. Either way I lost the LOT. These photographs are a visual story of my daily life here at home and with my family as we exchange happenings. I feel completely gutted. After trying a number of things with no results I managed to download a data retrieval app and have somehow been able to recapture most, but not all of my pics, which I have copied to the SD card and made sure they are physically there, now I'm too scared to delete anything. What a way to start my week, Jelly Bean was such a help and her calmness really helped quell my growing 'hysteria', thanks you precious.
We are now well into week 5 of the CoVid 19 hard lockdown and with lots of luck some areas (including us) will be upgraded to Level 4 on Friday. Sadly Cape Town Metropole, Johannesburg, Bloemfontein, Durban and East London will stay at Level 5 for now. There is not a huge difference in the change for us personally except that a few more items will be available to purchase although we are still not allowed to travel to other municipal areas. As you can imagine, and are experiencing this is extremely difficult for most people and worse for others, certainly not an easy time and is stressful all round. Even though everyone is at home, or supposed to be stress levels remain high.
Last week I did a lot of baking and successfully made a proper Sourdough Bread using my starter, I was extremely proud of the result but will say this, it is hard work. Hard work in the sense that over a 24 hour period you have to continually turn and stretch the dough, nurture it etc and then only bake the following day. Not having the right bowls to proof it in also made it a little more difficult, but, all in all I did it, my Starter continues to grow and I now know I can make bread at any time with or without yeast. A couple of days after making my bread I discovered the local superette is selling Sourdough Bread on a daily basis. With a slight hanging of my head I promptly went and bought two loaves which we sliced and froze. I won't have to bake bread for a wee while 👏🏻. I find I am baking buttermilk risks almost every seven to ten days now that we are on lockdown and also have to top up the doggie biscuit tin, it just never seems to end.
Another situation we had was since Charlie arrived he has been eating the same food as Max and Sasha - raw dog food with mealie meal. Almost every night between 3 - 5 am he would be sick, a yellow bile. I could not figure it out, during the day he is fine and is not unwell in any way. I spoke to L who fostered him for the two weeks prior to flying down and she had fed him dry kibble with no problems, we brainstormed a bit and I googled his
'symptoms' and read that it is called 'hunger vomiting', the raw food was not keeping him full enough through the night. During he day he gets doggie biscuits along with Max and Sasha, so that keeps him going. I then decided to feed him boiled chicken and white rice with pumpkin and green beans and at night when we go to sleep he gets 2 biscuits and a few dry kibbles, this worked like a charm with no more vomiting until I replaced the chicken with the raw dog food and we were back to square one. So....... now he gets boiled chicken, rice with veg and a bedtime snack, Max and Sasha get the raw dog food with the rice and veg and a bedtime biscuit, this is not complicated at all. What is absolutely adorable though is that I am teaching Charlie to sit and when he does it is so funny, because his fur is long he looks chubbier than what he is and when he sits, that little behind just seems to plop down, it is just too cute.
Well folks for someone who had no idea what to share with you, I've gone on long enough and am going to wish you all a good week, I pray you all stay healthy and happy. Thank you for being an awesome audience. With love from my house to yours Ciao Ciao.
One of our beautiful sunsets
Monday 20 April 2020
My Life's Winding Roads: Still so busy, when will it slow down?
My Life's Winding Roads: Still so busy, when will it slow down?: Good morning everbody from an extremely quiet Betty's Bay, although there is a very real gale blowing, which I imagine is exactly the sa...
Still so busy, when will it slow down?
Good morning everbody from an extremely quiet Betty's Bay, although there is a very real gale blowing, which I imagine is exactly the same wherever you find yourself today. Obviously there is not much news in terms of 'the outside world' seeing as I haven't actually been out for three weeks, but I can honestly say that things haven't really slowed down all that much. There always seems to be so much that needs to be done and I just don't get to it as quickly or orderly as I would like.
I have done a lot of baking and yet my list is still long, I will tackle the most important today - rusks and biscuits for both the humans and dogs. I also stepped out into the 'unknown' this week by beginning my own Sourdough Starter, at this point it is looking very healthy and is now five days old. I was blessed with a Starter as well by one of the local ladies who is a whizz at baking, currently I am keeping them separate - mostly because I do not know whether you can mix two different starters. This week I will actually begin the process of trying to bake an authentic Sourdough Bread, I am quite nervous at the prospect so feel free to watch this space. Hubby has kept himself busy with various jobs around the house so never really a quiet day. I must be honest that given the restriction in availability of groceries I am finding it somewhat of a challenge to keep meals interesting even to the point of not having much enthusiasm for cooking. As I thought about this I think part of then 'problem' is not doing the shopping - I write my dear Hubby a list which is fairly general and top up, if I was actually in the shop I would see different things which would then spark ideas for meals. I also found this week, for some weird reason that I am craving red meat which I have not eaten for nearly three years because I found it hurt my stomach, hmmm haven't resolved that 'craving' yet. In one desperate attempt I decided to make a savory curried 'mince' dish using a popular brand of vegetarian products' veggie mince ........... all I can say is MAJOR FAIL. It was disgusting, awful, terrible, beyond words. We have used all their other products which are fantastic but this one is a NO NO Ughhhhh.
Just because life is quiet that does not mean we haven't had our normal share of fun and games. One in particular that stands out happened on Saturday. We had one of those absolutely perfect days and taking advantage of it Jelly Bean bathed Sasha and got her all sparkly. Hubby then set up to bath Max and we called for him, we looked everywhere - nothing, so he jumped into the car and drove around the area for about 20 minutes and as his car pulled into the driveway Sasha and Charlie barked, lo and behold Max barked ....... the little beggar had been hiding under the couch, there was nothing else to do but just laugh. Yesterday Charlie had his turn and looked like a white Pom Pom running around, they all really need the doggie groomer as they are all looking a tad wild and wooly.
The family are all good although facing the challenges is not easy as it affects jobs and not just our day to day living. They like the rest of us, all now well into our fourth week of lockdown and like everyone else, will be beyond happy to return to normal life. I am so very aware that it is so easy for people to feel depressed, abandoned and isolated, it frustrates me because there is nothing any of us can do other than be there to listen and pray. Please check in with your friends and family, sometimes a bright smile hides a broken heart.
Well folks apart from listing my day to day timetable, that's all for this week, it would be wonderful to hear what sorts of projects you are all busy with, perhaps you would like to share in the comments section at the bottom. Please look after yourselves, stay home and stay safe. Ciao ciao.
Photo taken from inside the house on Saturday - my daily view, I am truly blessed.
I have done a lot of baking and yet my list is still long, I will tackle the most important today - rusks and biscuits for both the humans and dogs. I also stepped out into the 'unknown' this week by beginning my own Sourdough Starter, at this point it is looking very healthy and is now five days old. I was blessed with a Starter as well by one of the local ladies who is a whizz at baking, currently I am keeping them separate - mostly because I do not know whether you can mix two different starters. This week I will actually begin the process of trying to bake an authentic Sourdough Bread, I am quite nervous at the prospect so feel free to watch this space. Hubby has kept himself busy with various jobs around the house so never really a quiet day. I must be honest that given the restriction in availability of groceries I am finding it somewhat of a challenge to keep meals interesting even to the point of not having much enthusiasm for cooking. As I thought about this I think part of then 'problem' is not doing the shopping - I write my dear Hubby a list which is fairly general and top up, if I was actually in the shop I would see different things which would then spark ideas for meals. I also found this week, for some weird reason that I am craving red meat which I have not eaten for nearly three years because I found it hurt my stomach, hmmm haven't resolved that 'craving' yet. In one desperate attempt I decided to make a savory curried 'mince' dish using a popular brand of vegetarian products' veggie mince ........... all I can say is MAJOR FAIL. It was disgusting, awful, terrible, beyond words. We have used all their other products which are fantastic but this one is a NO NO Ughhhhh.
Just because life is quiet that does not mean we haven't had our normal share of fun and games. One in particular that stands out happened on Saturday. We had one of those absolutely perfect days and taking advantage of it Jelly Bean bathed Sasha and got her all sparkly. Hubby then set up to bath Max and we called for him, we looked everywhere - nothing, so he jumped into the car and drove around the area for about 20 minutes and as his car pulled into the driveway Sasha and Charlie barked, lo and behold Max barked ....... the little beggar had been hiding under the couch, there was nothing else to do but just laugh. Yesterday Charlie had his turn and looked like a white Pom Pom running around, they all really need the doggie groomer as they are all looking a tad wild and wooly.
The family are all good although facing the challenges is not easy as it affects jobs and not just our day to day living. They like the rest of us, all now well into our fourth week of lockdown and like everyone else, will be beyond happy to return to normal life. I am so very aware that it is so easy for people to feel depressed, abandoned and isolated, it frustrates me because there is nothing any of us can do other than be there to listen and pray. Please check in with your friends and family, sometimes a bright smile hides a broken heart.
Well folks apart from listing my day to day timetable, that's all for this week, it would be wonderful to hear what sorts of projects you are all busy with, perhaps you would like to share in the comments section at the bottom. Please look after yourselves, stay home and stay safe. Ciao ciao.
Photo taken from inside the house on Saturday - my daily view, I am truly blessed.
Monday 13 April 2020
My Life's Winding Roads: Day 18 of Corona Virus lockdown.
My Life's Winding Roads: Day 18 of Corona Virus lockdown.: Well good morning world, yes I'm a tad late but better late than not at all. We are now in Day 18 of National Lockdown in South Africa ...
Day 18 of Corona Virus lockdown.
Well good morning world, yes I'm a tad late but better late than not at all. We are now in Day 18 of National Lockdown in South Africa which has been extended to May 1st.
Not surprisingly I do not have a lot of news and for once, can you believe it?, we have had no major dramas or events, unless you include me totally forgetting that it was Easter weekend. For some reason I thought it was this coming weekend, most likely because I have not been near the shops which are a constant reminder. So, late on Wednesday when I realized I was not prepared I made a few calls to shops in Pringle Bay and was told they were expecting deliveries of Easter eggs on Thursday. I had to wait until 16.20 before I could go in and was very fortunate to find more or less exactly what I was looking for. It was a weird feeling being the only person in the shop and with the roads deserted, so I included a few essentials Hubby had missed and we were ready. Apart from that we have been totally obedient to lockdown rules and my biggest wish is that one of the major supermarkets would deliver to our area, thereby avoiding Hubby dearest having to go out.
Jelly Bean has not been well for a month and had been sporadically self medicating, but was only getting worse. We knew it could not be CoVid 19 as she has not left the house since the 17th March, but I eventually managed to get her to do a WhatsApp consult with our Doctor who confirmed what I suspected that what had started out as allergies had in fact turned into a full blown infected sinusitis episode. So after filling a prescription for antibiotics etc I can happily say she is now much, much better, and has even been able to do some 'contract work ' for BigBear. The family are all well, we have actually just finished a Zoom Family get together which has done me the world of good, just to see with my eyes that everyone is looking and sounding well. Thank the Lord for technology that we can still see and speak to each other during this trying time. Unfortunately since yesterday I have felt absolutely awful in every area of my body 🤷🏻♀️, I spent a virtually sleepless night because of the pain and just cannot think why or what has caused it. I did notice this morning that I had completely forgotten to take all my Meds yesterday morning and don't know if one slip like that could have had such a massive effect on my body. To that end folks, today's Blog is really only a check in and catch up. On Saturday Jelly Bean and I started a 2000 piece jigsaw puzzle which measures 1000mm by 700mm, good grief it is huge and not going to be an easy task but, will certainly keep us busy. I also completely unraveled a jersey I had made her years ago and which she barely wore, it is now being knitted into a shrug/cocoon cardigan for winter.
Little Charlie and Zeepha have become firm friends and spend a LOT of time chasing each other around the house, which has us all in stitches as she will suddenly leap onto a high surface and he is then stumped. This was one of my prayers when I got him, that the two of them would bond and be company for each other. He is truly my little shadow and wherever I go he is right there besides me. When he comes in from outside or wakes up he greets me as if I have been gone for 6 months, precious little soul and oh so very gentle.
Well family and friends that is all for this week, I am off to lie down with a book and do some reading. I pray you all have a good peace filled week, stay safe, stay healthy and stay inside. Ciao ciao
Charlie making sure I stay close
Zeepha playing hide and seek behind the mint
Not surprisingly I do not have a lot of news and for once, can you believe it?, we have had no major dramas or events, unless you include me totally forgetting that it was Easter weekend. For some reason I thought it was this coming weekend, most likely because I have not been near the shops which are a constant reminder. So, late on Wednesday when I realized I was not prepared I made a few calls to shops in Pringle Bay and was told they were expecting deliveries of Easter eggs on Thursday. I had to wait until 16.20 before I could go in and was very fortunate to find more or less exactly what I was looking for. It was a weird feeling being the only person in the shop and with the roads deserted, so I included a few essentials Hubby had missed and we were ready. Apart from that we have been totally obedient to lockdown rules and my biggest wish is that one of the major supermarkets would deliver to our area, thereby avoiding Hubby dearest having to go out.
Jelly Bean has not been well for a month and had been sporadically self medicating, but was only getting worse. We knew it could not be CoVid 19 as she has not left the house since the 17th March, but I eventually managed to get her to do a WhatsApp consult with our Doctor who confirmed what I suspected that what had started out as allergies had in fact turned into a full blown infected sinusitis episode. So after filling a prescription for antibiotics etc I can happily say she is now much, much better, and has even been able to do some 'contract work ' for BigBear. The family are all well, we have actually just finished a Zoom Family get together which has done me the world of good, just to see with my eyes that everyone is looking and sounding well. Thank the Lord for technology that we can still see and speak to each other during this trying time. Unfortunately since yesterday I have felt absolutely awful in every area of my body 🤷🏻♀️, I spent a virtually sleepless night because of the pain and just cannot think why or what has caused it. I did notice this morning that I had completely forgotten to take all my Meds yesterday morning and don't know if one slip like that could have had such a massive effect on my body. To that end folks, today's Blog is really only a check in and catch up. On Saturday Jelly Bean and I started a 2000 piece jigsaw puzzle which measures 1000mm by 700mm, good grief it is huge and not going to be an easy task but, will certainly keep us busy. I also completely unraveled a jersey I had made her years ago and which she barely wore, it is now being knitted into a shrug/cocoon cardigan for winter.
Little Charlie and Zeepha have become firm friends and spend a LOT of time chasing each other around the house, which has us all in stitches as she will suddenly leap onto a high surface and he is then stumped. This was one of my prayers when I got him, that the two of them would bond and be company for each other. He is truly my little shadow and wherever I go he is right there besides me. When he comes in from outside or wakes up he greets me as if I have been gone for 6 months, precious little soul and oh so very gentle.
Well family and friends that is all for this week, I am off to lie down with a book and do some reading. I pray you all have a good peace filled week, stay safe, stay healthy and stay inside. Ciao ciao
Charlie making sure I stay close
Monday 6 April 2020
My Life's Winding Roads: The fun and games just keep coming .
My Life's Winding Roads: The fun and games just keep coming .: Good morning everyone on day 10 of South Africa's CoVid lockdown, I hope this finds you all well and coping with this new temporary wor...
My Life's Winding Roads: The fun and games just keep coming .
My Life's Winding Roads: The fun and games just keep coming .: Good morning everyone on day 11 of South Africa's CoVid lockdown, I hope this finds you all well and coping with this new temporary wor...
The fun and games just keep coming .
Good morning everyone on day 10 of South Africa's CoVid lockdown, I hope this finds you all well and coping with this new temporary world we are living in. When I was trying to think of news to share with you today I thought it would be a short blog as it was a fairly quiet week.
I did a lot of baking, rusks, bread - twice, two different batches of biscuits, unraveling a big jersey I made Jelly Bean that she hardly wore, which is about to be reinvented, and a whole lot more, and here I promised myself a quiet, catch up week. Haha. My very clever Hubby has now got all the rafters and purlins up in place on the deck and now we wait until we can purchase IBR sheeting and move on to the next step. It is looking fantastic and more and more like a beautiful sun room, yesterday I was up from 6am (read below) and we had the most incredible sunrise. If the deck was complete I would have made myself a cup of lemon and honey and wrapped up to sit and watch it in all it's magnificence.
Hubby did our weekly stock up for groceries and was stopped in a Police roadblock - all very peaceful, he was questioned as to where he was going and why and then allowed to carry on. It is definitely a very different world at the moment and one of the biggest moans I hear in the Village is people complaining because they can't walk their dogs or go on the beach, and then 'spy' someone doing just that. This really irritates me as there are so many bigger problems right now than walking on the beach, it is temporary people - this is not going to last forever.
Never mind how busy little Charlie keep me oh my goodness, this little guy is just too precious for words and somewhere, someone really spent time with him. From the very first night he placed himself on our bed next to my legs but, as the night progresses he slowly moves up until he is right between the two of us. I remember the wonderful lady collected him for his journey to Johannesburg saying that the night he spent with them he commandeered their bed as well. Thankfully he is well trained and has a bladder of steel LOL, once he's been out in the morning and is allowed back in, we brace ourselves because he is like a canonball as he launches himself onto the bed and greets me as though I've been away for a month. He truly dislikes being outside and only goes out when and for as long as necessary and barely leaves my side. The other two dogs pretty much ignore him and Jasper keeps a weary eye on him. He and Zeepha have started playing together slowly, slowly which is just so heart warming to watch.
Yesterday morning I was woken by the sound of one of the animals being sick 🤦🏻♀️, I lay there trying to gauge how serious it was and when 'it' happened right next to the bed I was up like a shot, can you imagine if Hubby had got up and stepped in something ??? Well it was Zeepha and a tiny little spot of saliva hmmmmmm, even in my half awake state it didn't add up so I grabbed a torch and examined further. Arriving in the lounge and with the light on I saw that Jasper had managed to get an egg out of the box on top of the fridge, which had a heavyweight book on top of it, and happily scooted it off the fridge ..... splatt. Zeepha had obviously licked some and that was what made her sick, Jasper on the other hand had cleaned it all up - he is obsessed with eggs. URGHHH if there is one smell I cannot tolerate it's the smell of egg, anywhere. I put Charlie out before cleaning it all up, brought him back in and climbed into bed. First problem, Charlie did not come through to the bedroom so instead of sleeping I lay worrying about what he could be chewing, after about 10 mins I heard a noise and at first thought Jelly Bean was up ............ silence which with kids or animals is NEVER good. Up I got again, Hubby just keep on sleeping, not a movement or a sound might I add. I came through to the kitchen and there was another egg, SPLATT on the glass tea station, oh my word I nearly lost the plot. For those thinking "well why did you leave the eggs where they were?" I had closed the box and added another very heavy book to the first one and put things in front of the egg box. This time all the broken yolk and white was splattered all over the table. So, scold the cat, pick up a tiny piece of shell and clean the entire table with soap and water, the smell..... it was worse that morning sickness. I put the entire egg box in the oven, the only safe place and AGAIN got back into bed and some time later dozed off. When we got up for breakfast Hubby helped me move the fridge to clean up all the gross egg and shell that was hardening on the floor, washed the floors, fed the animals, made breakfast and whilst we were eating ....... more mini drama. I had a large glass fishbowl on our coffee table filled with a candle and pretty shells, in December Princess and Grandpa were playing carpet bowls (in the lounge) and one of them dropped a ball on the glass table which stayed intact but my fishbowl cracked. I've looked unsuccessfully for a replacement. While we were eating, no one touching the table, three big pieces of glass just fell off/out of the bowl and onto the table ..........SERIOUSLY ??????? Zeepha immediately wanted to put her head into the hole and play with the broken glass. Breakfast bowl down and up I get to get another dish for the contents, Zeepha tries putting her entire head into the hole while I am working . I gave up, just did it all as quick as possible, threw away the broken bowl and tried to restart my day, I was exhausted.
So folks, even in lockdown my life just never stops or gets dull. After a really long read, I am going to say goodbye for now. Have a wonderful week, make memories with your family and keep yourselves occupied. With love to you all please stay home and stay safe ciao ciao
P.s. If anyone wants to chat or vent or just needs an ear please don't hesitate to contact me, know it is hard being in lockdown and it can get lonely.
Jasper guarding the eggs
Charlie waiting for me to move
The deck waiting for its covering
I did a lot of baking, rusks, bread - twice, two different batches of biscuits, unraveling a big jersey I made Jelly Bean that she hardly wore, which is about to be reinvented, and a whole lot more, and here I promised myself a quiet, catch up week. Haha. My very clever Hubby has now got all the rafters and purlins up in place on the deck and now we wait until we can purchase IBR sheeting and move on to the next step. It is looking fantastic and more and more like a beautiful sun room, yesterday I was up from 6am (read below) and we had the most incredible sunrise. If the deck was complete I would have made myself a cup of lemon and honey and wrapped up to sit and watch it in all it's magnificence.
Hubby did our weekly stock up for groceries and was stopped in a Police roadblock - all very peaceful, he was questioned as to where he was going and why and then allowed to carry on. It is definitely a very different world at the moment and one of the biggest moans I hear in the Village is people complaining because they can't walk their dogs or go on the beach, and then 'spy' someone doing just that. This really irritates me as there are so many bigger problems right now than walking on the beach, it is temporary people - this is not going to last forever.
Never mind how busy little Charlie keep me oh my goodness, this little guy is just too precious for words and somewhere, someone really spent time with him. From the very first night he placed himself on our bed next to my legs but, as the night progresses he slowly moves up until he is right between the two of us. I remember the wonderful lady collected him for his journey to Johannesburg saying that the night he spent with them he commandeered their bed as well. Thankfully he is well trained and has a bladder of steel LOL, once he's been out in the morning and is allowed back in, we brace ourselves because he is like a canonball as he launches himself onto the bed and greets me as though I've been away for a month. He truly dislikes being outside and only goes out when and for as long as necessary and barely leaves my side. The other two dogs pretty much ignore him and Jasper keeps a weary eye on him. He and Zeepha have started playing together slowly, slowly which is just so heart warming to watch.
Yesterday morning I was woken by the sound of one of the animals being sick 🤦🏻♀️, I lay there trying to gauge how serious it was and when 'it' happened right next to the bed I was up like a shot, can you imagine if Hubby had got up and stepped in something ??? Well it was Zeepha and a tiny little spot of saliva hmmmmmm, even in my half awake state it didn't add up so I grabbed a torch and examined further. Arriving in the lounge and with the light on I saw that Jasper had managed to get an egg out of the box on top of the fridge, which had a heavyweight book on top of it, and happily scooted it off the fridge ..... splatt. Zeepha had obviously licked some and that was what made her sick, Jasper on the other hand had cleaned it all up - he is obsessed with eggs. URGHHH if there is one smell I cannot tolerate it's the smell of egg, anywhere. I put Charlie out before cleaning it all up, brought him back in and climbed into bed. First problem, Charlie did not come through to the bedroom so instead of sleeping I lay worrying about what he could be chewing, after about 10 mins I heard a noise and at first thought Jelly Bean was up ............ silence which with kids or animals is NEVER good. Up I got again, Hubby just keep on sleeping, not a movement or a sound might I add. I came through to the kitchen and there was another egg, SPLATT on the glass tea station, oh my word I nearly lost the plot. For those thinking "well why did you leave the eggs where they were?" I had closed the box and added another very heavy book to the first one and put things in front of the egg box. This time all the broken yolk and white was splattered all over the table. So, scold the cat, pick up a tiny piece of shell and clean the entire table with soap and water, the smell..... it was worse that morning sickness. I put the entire egg box in the oven, the only safe place and AGAIN got back into bed and some time later dozed off. When we got up for breakfast Hubby helped me move the fridge to clean up all the gross egg and shell that was hardening on the floor, washed the floors, fed the animals, made breakfast and whilst we were eating ....... more mini drama. I had a large glass fishbowl on our coffee table filled with a candle and pretty shells, in December Princess and Grandpa were playing carpet bowls (in the lounge) and one of them dropped a ball on the glass table which stayed intact but my fishbowl cracked. I've looked unsuccessfully for a replacement. While we were eating, no one touching the table, three big pieces of glass just fell off/out of the bowl and onto the table ..........SERIOUSLY ??????? Zeepha immediately wanted to put her head into the hole and play with the broken glass. Breakfast bowl down and up I get to get another dish for the contents, Zeepha tries putting her entire head into the hole while I am working . I gave up, just did it all as quick as possible, threw away the broken bowl and tried to restart my day, I was exhausted.
So folks, even in lockdown my life just never stops or gets dull. After a really long read, I am going to say goodbye for now. Have a wonderful week, make memories with your family and keep yourselves occupied. With love to you all please stay home and stay safe ciao ciao
P.s. If anyone wants to chat or vent or just needs an ear please don't hesitate to contact me, know it is hard being in lockdown and it can get lonely.
Jasper guarding the eggs
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