More Things in May

[bunn]

 1. Developed an excellent technique for getting medication into Theo's giant floppy ears.  For some reason, it's fine if I put the medicine on my finger and then my finger into his ears.  Ears are now sorted.  

Started him on a regime of special treats (that are apparently made of solid gold judging by the price) that are supposed to boost him against further ear things. 

2. Took the RIB out to Skokholm, met some puffins, guillemots & razorbills. Took many fuzzy photos of 'a wave unexpectedly in front of a puffin' with the giant old almost-disposable camera bought cheaply on Ebay in the hope that if I drop it in the sea, it will not be too much of a disappointment to lose it.  It has a megazoom, though the results are a bit grainy. 

A veritable puffin! Swimming in 54 meters of seawater.

Guillimots and Razorbills. We stopped for a bit and just watched them. A lot of the time it's just their heads poking out.

 

3. I've been out in the kayak a little way too.

 

Though I only pottered a little way just down the estuary, because...

4.  my car clutch died unexpectedly.  Thankfully the car was on the drive at the time so it was an annoyance rather than a real problem, though the cost of replacing the clutch was winceworthy. 

I was driving back yesterday from the garage, and listening to the sound of the car moving.  Trying to convince myself that the odd clonking noise is probably just from the car settling again from having been taken to pieces. The garage promise me they have tested it, and it did seem less clonky today. 

5. It's been warm and dry for weeks! So far, I had enough water in the water butts for watering in May, but had to resort to the hose at the end of the month. My sedum lawn definitely prefers the hose, it's happier and greener already, and bees have started suddenly to take more interest in it now.  It does have very little soil under it. 

Comments

[grundyscribbling]

Look at that handsome boy! Glad to hear his ears are doing better.

Gorgeous kayak photo - and the birds are lovely too!

Wincing on your behalf at the need to replace the clutch.

[bunn]

If the clutch had to go, which apparently is a thing? I dunno, I've never had that specific fault before, then at least it was a very minimum hassle place for it to go. Would have been a nightmare if it had gone at a motorway services when I had the hounds with me.

[anna_wing]

A useful piece of advice from a cat-owning friend at the time that I first got my cats, was to get them used to being stroked all over their bodies as kittens, which did make administering necessary medication...not easy, exactly, but distinctly easier.

[bunn]

Oh yes, I did this with Theo. The problem is that Theo, unlike other dogs I've owned, is pretty strong-willed, and it's just not possible to make some things into a positive experience!

Like, something hard poking right into his ear canal when ear is hurting is going to be painful and unpleasant whatever you do. He tolerated it a few times, but then he worked out that if he growls and snaps and thrashes around like a shark on a line, the painful thing stops.

A behaviourist friend recommended the 'bucket game' which is a game designed to help the dog communicate when he needs a break and make difficult procedures easier, but I haven't had much joy with it. I'm not sure my timing is really good enough to teach delicate concepts like that.

[wellinghall]

*Any* camera will give you lots of pictures of wave-in-front-of-puffin; the more expensive the lens, the better the photo of a wave you will end up with. I know this.

[bunn]

Ah. That's probably why my photos of waves were fuzzy :-D

[rabbitica]

Puffins! So cool!!