Today I shall be Mainly...

[Stanley]

Slow improvement continues.... Still too much for the keyboard!
Jack is fine, perfectly adjusted to me and he knows I am not as other men. I checked his age the other day and got a shock, he's nine years old this month!
Thanks for taking an interest, it's important to me....

[Marilyn]

I had my first drive of the van today on some quiet country back roads...did OK..locating third gear is a bit tricky ( in both directions -up and down). I don't think I am ready for the Motorway just yet. Need to be confident with the gears before I tackle things at speed. It was fun! I am determined to master driving it, in case hubby gets sick out in "the sticks". I am sure I could drive it in an emergency even though I've only had the one outing to date.

[Wendyf]

Of course you can drive it Maz! (As long as the steering wheel is kept nice & clean....)
I shall be keeping out of the wind and getting the history society accounts up to date ready for a committee meeting next week.

[Julie in Norfolk]

Why is it necessary you smell n-Butanol?

The smell test is done against a standard chemical for people who will be used on panels where smells have to be analysed "in the field". Environmental Health officers etc. probably will be tested to see if they can smell whatever coming from factories or farms etc. Why n-Butanol was chosen to "calibrate" against, lord only knows except that as a compound it is relatively inert at the concentrations we were supposed to detect the odour.

My company does (occasionally) smell, so as a back up for our environmental officer, they wanted another couple of sniffers.

[Marilyn]

I am up for a sniffers job! Happy to hang my snozzle over any freezer/counter/table/sink/corner/plate or cooking top to analyse odours. Not so keen to hang it over toilets or baby change tables or rancid drains.
Which reminds me...we were in a government building the other day and I had to be allowed in to the loos by a staff member swiping a card. We travel a lot and have been in all quality of loos. This one was the filthiest and most depraved space I could ever encounter. No toilet paper, loo stained with you-know-what, no hand towel and water/pee all over the floor. There was only ONE loo, for use by men/women/disabled. Hubby had been thinking about going too, but I came out and shook my head, and told him he did not want to enter.

[Marilyn]

Steering wheel is clean, Wendy. ( I know I am a funny old thing about cleanliness). But the fact is, I couldn't give a fig about the state of other people's homes etc. doesn't bother me a jot. My phobia, strangely, only involves things I own and spaces I occupy. I actually envy folk who live in a more relaxed way. They enjoy a freedom that I cannot.( mind you, my own standards have been severely challenged by teenage boys who defy all attempts at cleanliness!)

[Wendyf]

I'm quite sure I would keep my home spotless if I didn't have a husband, 2 hairy dogs & two cats! I was trying to clean the living room yesterday and I got so many accusing looks from all sides I had to give up....

[Marilyn]

I can never understand how the same mess is there to greet me every morning! ( hubby eats nuts in front of TV every night and the mess around his chair is tragic). Anyone coming in to our lounge room at 9am would think we have a dozen small children in residence!
Sometimes I ignore the mess and think I will let it go until tomorrow, but even he can't stand it and wonders what on earth is going on if I haven't cleaned up! ( anyone would think it had been a month since I dragged the Hoover out)

[Stanley]

I like everything to be reasonably clean and tidy enough to find things when I want them. But My standards can be lower than some people overall.....
Pain still here but I am waiting patiently for it to go. I have to write articles..... This is not going to be good!
Later, I wrote an article! Enough suffering for one day.......

[Marilyn]

Have you thought of raising your computer and standing up to type?

Spent most of the day adapting a cheap magnetic/self closing fly screen (door sized) to fit side (sliding) door of the van. I'm almost there with it...just needs a bit of jigging. It will never be 100%, but should keep most of the bugs out whist allowing us to get in and out easily. We had a beaded curtain on the last van, which worked really well, though I was forever untangling it on windy days. I have weighted this new one on the bottom (coins sewn into the bottom hem...very effective!)
Typical of my sewing days, I completely missed lunch because I was oblivious of time. I shall make up for it at tea time...

[Julie in Norfolk]

Having a cortisone injection into my shoulder (worry, worry) and taking some cat's pee to the vets. I would rather it was the other way round!

[PanBiker]

Don't worry about the cortisone jab Julie, I had the same earlier this year. My doctor injected me 3 or 4 times, couldn't really tell as I didn't really feel a lot. You will be OK, I hope it works for you.

[Wendyf]

Good luck with the injection Julie....how do you collect cat's pee?

[Marilyn]

I am not sure about cat's pee, but I had it down pat with my female diabetic dog! Easy Peasy!

[Wendyf]

But cats take offence so easily!

[Marilyn]

There is probably a better way of doing it...but can I suggest cotton wool balls just under the kitty litter?
( works in baby's nappies when you need a sample)

[Tizer]

Wear heavy duty gardening gloves and face mask. Take one glass jar. Insert funnel in mouth of glass jar. Hold cat above jar. Squeeze cat.

[Marilyn]

Tizzy...are you daft man? Glass jar will only contain YOUR blood taking such actions with a cat. The very sight of rubber gloves ( even gardening gloves) has their claws on standby. And squeezing a cat is risky to say the least.

[PanBiker]

There is probably a better way of doing it...but can I suggest cotton wool balls just under the kitty litter?
( works in baby's nappies when you need a sample)

That would need some precision peeing from the moggie though.

[Wendyf]

They dig around in the litter to create a purrfect peeing spot...the cotton wool balls would be cast aside! I'm going to have to Google it....

[Julie in Norfolk]

For those interested: take 1 clean cat tray and place "special non-absorbent" litter into tray, then in our case, wait 10 mins and job's a good'un. Pipette pee into small sample tube and take to vets on way back from NOT having a cortisone injection.

Apparently today I had the appointment to tell me how to make the appointment for the injection - at the same surgery. Stress or what!

I was told by the physio to make an appointment with the Drs to have the cortisone injections; had the physio written to the doctors and they had made the appointment, then I may have seen someone who would do the d*mn thing. Now I have to steel myself to have the injections again.

[PanBiker]

If your local medical setup is anything like ours the physios are a separate entity to the Drs surgery. Doc gave me my injection but I then had to ring the hospital to make an appointment with the physio. He works from the same surgery building here in town as the doctors but they are separate, it doesn't really make a lot of sense.

Don't know what is wrong with your shoulder but it is the most complicated joint in the body.

I tore a couple of tendons in mine, the cortisone injection gave some relief for about 10 days but did allow more mobility for exercise. The regime set by the physio has made the most difference but I am still on with strengthening exercises. I have most of the mobility back but still need to build the muscles back up, been on with it for 7 months now, it's a long job.

Don't vex about the injection, you can hardly feel it.

[Stanley]

Maz, that wouldn't stop the pain of bending towards the keyboard. I'll soldier on.....
Shoulders and backs.... In my experience weaknesses in them are very intractable and in the long run, modifying weight, life style etc. get better results than short term intervention. Each to his own of course. At the moment my shoulder is fine but my back isn't. C'est la vie!

[Wendyf]

Thank you for the explanation Julie. I hope your cat is OK.
Meeting up with family today and doing the walk in the woods based on Mum's Wartime letter.

[Stanley]

Later.... It's a better morning so far. I have had my usual Valley Gardens walk for the first time since the storm started. I have also managed another article so all in all I think we have to report progress.