Cheery's country living adventure

EssexHebridean

Ahh Cheery that's sad news about Rusty - but well done to the two of you for knowing that the right time might be coming to say goodbye  - that's such an important part of responsible animal ownership I think. 

And hurrah to passing the tipping point on the building works - that's such a good feeling when you can FINALLY start seeing past what it is, and towards what it can be! 

On the cafe spending - you've accepted that it's necessary and going to continue while the workmen are still in, and you have factored that in for your budget this month, so less of the eye-rolling emoji's Mrs - you've planned for that spend, and right now, it's needed! 

Cheery_Daff

Tis an important but horrible part of pet ownership indeed 😕 We've only had to do it twice, and the first time I think she would have died the same day anyway. Second time was much harder though, and this one will be SO hard, but she's just not getting better and there's little else they can do without speculatively opening her up, which is pointless really at her age. She's lived longer than the average for an ex battery hen now (she's nearly 4.5 - they come out of cages at 18 months and are usually expected to live 1-2 years after that if rescued, although they do sometimes make it longer. 

Had an awful experience this morning - gave her a tablet and obviously didn't shove it far enough down her throat - Mr Cheery put her down and she stumbled and collapsed ☹ Fortunately we just grabbed her immediately and checked her throat - tablet was still there and I suspect blocked her airway temporarily ☹ Shoved it down and she was fine straight away, but it was terrifying. Hate the thought that I might accidentally kill her while trying to make her better. That's going to wake me up at night for a long time, I've been playing it over and over in my head since it happened.

Anyway, for a bit of light relief, I'm at the dentist 🙄 Just a filling at least, might take my mind off everything else for a while.

Walked over the newly tarmacked road this morning with the supervisor - they should be done with our road after today! Well, there will be a few little bits down the side of the road, but no major blockages any more, than goodness, so that's good news. 

I've got 40 mins til the dentist, so might pop into the supermarket for fruit & veg. We've never got out of the habit of shopping most days 🙄 Maybe we will once we have proper food storage!

fannyadams

Cheery_Daff said:

Evening MSE chums 😊

A day of wildly fluctuating emotions today. Rusty chicken isn't showing the improvement we'd like, and we're starting to come to terms with the fact that Friday's vets trip might be one way 😕 We'll keep going with the antibiotics for the next couple of days though and we'll see.

In more cheerful news, we now have lights in the kitchen and dining room! And plug sockets both upstairs and down! The lights make a huge difference, and it's starting to feel like an actual room in there now. Combined with the heating, I'm finally starting to see how it will feel homely one day 😊

Today's spending:
£9.25 cafe 🙄
£12.73 supermarket
£45 counselling
= £66.98

Driving:
Cafe = 10 miles
Mr Cheery trip put this afternoon = 35 miles ish
Counselling = 14 miles
Total = 59 miles

<delurks, snaffles crumbs from the table, slurps tea in passing>
for Rusty Chicken, but on the plus side you've given her a much better life than she would otherwise have had, and for a rescue chicken she's doing amazingly well (my neighbours have them and there are so many tales of sadness from her flock, she usually gets about 10 at a time (vast garden to roam in, and 'peckingham palace' to roost in)  and there's usually 2 or 3 don't make it past the first week but she takes comfort that they at least got to feel the wind in their feathers and grass under their feet.

We're doing a driving challenge at the moment

What we’re looking at is:
1) The number of journeys where you were alone in the car
2) The number of journeys under 2 miles
3) The number of journeys under 5 miles
4) The average journey distance
5) The average journey duration

Although, we're about half way between two towns (12 miles in either direction) means most of our journeys are further than 2 miles. But the next village, with the doctor's surgery, is 2.5 miles away. I did it last month and the figures weren't too bad but then I hadn't been out hardly due to illness (not covid thank goodness)!
It's certainly food for thought.
<scuttles back under the skirting board>

Cheery_Daff

Ooh, that's interesting fannyadams! And there's no hiding behind skirting boards here - they've not been fitted yet 😂 Quit lurking and join in!

Interesting things to measure! We currently don't make any journeys under 2 miles, and 5 miles would only get us to the nearest village and back - there's a shop and post office, but we usually go on the way to/from somewhere else. We do go to town quite often though, about 15 miles round trip, and work is about 35 each way I think. 

Dentist done - my first root canal 😕 One side completely dead, the other mostly dead, but on the way to developing an abcess. Lovely. Cleaned and medicated and a temporary filling packed in, and then I've got to go back in the new year to have it finished off, and might need a crown at that point. There's so long between appointments these days, it drags on forever! 

Anyway, off to meet my friend, although there won't even be any tea if I still can't feel my face.

Oh woe is me! 😕😂

EssexHebridean

We're back to "don't spill tea" aren't we...! 

Try not to dwell too much on the thing with the tablet - yep, absolutely it was scary but it's one of those things, you will learn from it and be doubly cautious in the future, which will benefit the hens AND you, and ultimately, she recovered very fast by the sound of it. It may even, allowing that she's already poorly at the moment, be entirely unrelated to the tablet, but you're never going to know. As FA says, you're giving them SUCH a good life - they must think they are in heaven with you two! 

Cheery_Daff

I do hope so, although I suspect they question it at times when we're subjecting them to tablets... 🙄 But I guess that's the same for anything from cats to toddlers 🙄 

Lost the plot this evening, been quite a rotten day and I just couldn't deal with it any more 🙄 Still, here we are, one foot in front of the other I suppose. Sleep will be welcome tonight, assuming I can get any.

Tomorrow is ridiculous, but I'm hoping I'll at least feel mildly better after a kip.

EssexHebridean

Hope you got a decent sleep and everything is feeling a little more manageable today Cheery - I'm not surprised things are getting on top of you a bit - living in a building site does that, and when it's a building site which just seems to be dragging on and on, even more so. Add in a job, the usual household & family bits etc, and yep, losing the plot at some stage is almost expected I think. Treat yourself kindly. xx

Cheery_Daff

Thanks EH, it wasn't surprising - more surprising that I've held it together as long as I have! 🙄 Still, I did sleep last night, done two seta of tablets now without further dramatic incidents, and now I've actually made it to the office for the first time in a week, so I suppose that counts as success...

Fortune_Smiles

You're doing amazingly well @Cheery_Daff - keep going, it's just a little bit further now.

Fortune x

EssexHebridean

Definitely a success - celebrate the small wins all the more when everything else is feeling a bit shi...rubbish.