Soop's kitchen for friendly folk and precious pets...

I have just heard - at last from my sister, who has had all the family on stand by as her DH seemed on his way out. She was utterly distraught and stressed over the last few days. She is 83 and he is 85.

Anyway, it turns out that he has had a UTI and been on antibiotics for the last four days, which made him very unwell, but no-one at the nursing home told her. She had texted her DS on holiday in Italy and the rest of our widely spread family to alert us all and after all that stress and worry, it was a false alarm. He has rallied and was watching TV when she went in today and was much more alert.

It does remind me so much of kitty and her Mum and the similar occasions she went through and described to us on here.

I am so concerned for my sister, who is not in good health herself. She has been so stressed and unable to sleep. She is going to speak to the Matron tomorrow to find out why she was not told and explain that she had thought that he was dying. Communication does seem to be an issue there.

Thanks for all the kind messages and flowers etc. We are still having to KBO!

That's some journey you're making to visit ruby ann It's good to hear that she has had her operation at last and I'm sure she really appreciates your visits. Hope you weren't drinking that Prosecco on an empty stomach. It always goes straight to my head.
I'm off for my breast screening on Wednesday but only have to take the completed questionnaire they sent. I am being screened as part of a trial to extend the screening age beyond 70. I had, in any case, asked to be screened beyond the usual age because I have been told that I am at higher risk of getting breast cancer than most older woman.
Hope that Rory is on the mend soop He's a crafty old chap, hiding away when you need to give him his eye drops.
Oscar is attending a 'Reliable recall' class tomorrow. Hope it works! Of course , OH and I are the ones who are being trained, not the dog.
I've had a busy week. Up to Fife on Wednesday to visit DD then on to St.Andrews on Thursday for a very enjoyable meet-up with some other GNers in an excellent fish restaurant. Several of us bought some Arbroath smokies from their fish counter and I've just made a delicious quiche from them using elegran's recipe. I had an hour or so after the meal to do a bit of sight-seeing in St.Andrews but the weather was absolutely foul so I spent the train journey home steaming gently from my damp tee-shirt.

Oh gagagran I don't know whether you sighed with relief or just wept at the stress and strain your sister is under. It can be hard to admit to wishing that a person would just slip away, but that time can come. My father hung on (unwillingly) for 5 days on no food, no fluids (I suppose Liverpool (?) Pathway) and I spent every night with him in his room at the hospital. If he had been conscious he would have wanted to go but his body just wouldn't give up. Hard to admit this even to myself, but I was relieved at the end, but also so glad I had been able to stay and be with him.
Life is hard isn't it?
Hope your sister and all of you get a better night's sleep tonight
annsixty you are a STAR of the first galaxy!! ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️

My heart goes out to your sister (and the rest of the family) gaga. It is so hard and, after all that time together, it must be so hard for your sister. If she is not well herself it seems cruel not to have kept her in the picture. Strong words - I think! Hard for you too

Sounds like that was one eventful journey Ann. Glad you made it home safely. Hic!!!

Both endoscopies sound beyond the pale maw. I hope paw is recovering well!

I think I have one more routine mammogram but think I will opt to continue if the option is available. Two friends have had cancer caught at an early stage through having mammograms.

soop I know that Sam has not been very well again so that may be the reason why we have not heard from N&G.

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Good Morning All !

Bit of a wooly headed start today after an excellent family dinner last night , the theme was Japanese. The food was surprisingly good although dessert failed miserably and didn't make it to the table but was nicely offset by a platter of sweets designed to look like sushi!

Sorry to hear about your choir issuesNellie hope you can resolve them. Your garden looks lovely , lots of work been done there I suspect , very pretty.

I'm going to have to give some thought to how to spend your windfall ann - I feel frivolous is the way to go , so fritter it away on penny sweets( do they even do those any more? ) or a giant Pick and Mix ?

Oh I understand the whole ladder thing * Marydoll* I made Grampy get in the decorators last year for the first time ever because he took a cracker of a fall in the garden the summer before that laid him up for months.

Oh no Galen that is not good news. What is the plan for 'encouraging' them to relist???

Jackson made us laugh yesterday , he enjoys watching car crash videos on YouTube( the sort where no one gets hurt but can be quite spectacular. A lot of the videos are from Russia. As we drove home we noticed someone had knocked a row of cones over , as we pondered how that had happened a little voice from the back seat piped up and said ' I expect it was Russians on holiday!!'

I'm happy to help out with the green triangles Marydoll ;-)

Borrow Sam Corner he is sure to attach himself to MrC and win hearts and minds !

Glad you enjoyed your trip Maw Oh I can see a new dog in your future

Sorry for being AWOL soop , time got away from me .

Swanny perhaps you have to prove you own your boobs ?

What a nice trip home you had ann a glass of bubbly and a trip on a train rate highly on my list of great things to do !

Thinking of all of you with poorly family members

Sam has had a total food change again and whilst we have had no accidents he still has a poorly tummy but we are introducing the new food VERY slowly , so hope that will do the trick. In himself , he's right as rain so that's a good thing.

I'll add a couple of pictures - one from our ' adventuring ' at the park ( minus bread !!- Grampy ate it ) and one of my daughter with her revised dessert last night !

Happy Sunday all !! xx

PS Jackson did race for life last week and raised a £100 . This is him with his medal!

annsixty Good for you. Your day out has certainly cheered you greatly. A glass of Prosseco, aye! We had a glass with our fish and chip treat.

corner When we thinking of purchasing a plot close to a burn, we had to consult a man who determines whether otters are resident. Lutra lutra...Latin for otters. He would take samples of poo, (from the nearby banks) which he would analyse.
Rory continues to refuse to cooperate.

roses I've had the cataract removed from my right eye. I could barely believe how foggy my eyesight was before the procedure. It was a mini miracle to see things so clearly. The left eye cataract is "ripening" and will be removed in due course.

Gaga To not explain the reason for your brother-in-law's condition to his distraught wife is BAD. Your sister deserves a full apology. The UTIs are a devil of a problem to treat in elderly people. We've visited our pal when he was delirious as a result of a recurring infection. He looked awful. He felt awful. The thing is, we were fully aware of the reason why he was in such a bad place. Once the antibiotics kicked in, he was back to normal very quickly.

oldgoat Rory is not cooperating. He is also having difficulty jumping up onto his favourite rugs and cushions. The back leg damage has slowed him down. MacSporran went into the loft and recovered two low-ish footstools. One is at the base of the chaise. The other is beside the best armchair (which Rory has taken a liking to bit time.)

N&G That's more like it. Wonderful, happy, smiling faces have cheered us lot no end. It's good to have you back.

Went shooting today for the first time for 6/12. ( Got to get in practice for those people next door) the site was suddenly invaded by a herd of bullockd.
The coaches wouldn't let us use them for target practice so no steak tonight.
Mind you, the coaches can add cowherd to their CVs!

Galen you took the words out of my mouth but shooting would be too good for your neighbours.

soop is Rory's hind leg infected or has he pulled a muscle or worse? The poor mite because I know how much he loves resting his eyes on the chaise.

N&G it is always lovely to see the smiling faces of Jackson and Cooper. Are they aware that they have a fan club?!

Tara allowed me to have a very long lie today until 9.15am so I doubt if she will be home under 8pm.

CharleygThe vet thinks that Rory had been bitten. She pointed to a mark on his hind leg (that, we've since thought may have been a healed wound from the time he met with a mink.)He has taken to sitting on top of the wheelie bin. It is close, but not touching, the log store. He could have slipped between the two and pulled a muscle. We shall continue to keep a close eye on him.

Galen Tyke!

Rory is a very lucky fellow now living a pampered life but he knows it. Like Tara he is not in his first stage of youth and possibly does things he is no longer really capable of doing, hence slipping between bin and logs if that is what happened.

Rory really must stay away from danger, soop, or at the least allow treatment. He seems like most males, just a little careless with his health.

Feel indignant on behalf of your sister and the family, gagagran, horribly stressful for everyone.

Loved the look of that replacement dessert n&g, really creative. Jackson made me laugh, too, would be even more funny should he be right.

That was quite a day. ann, sounds a good trip back.

We have returned Littlest to his parents sound in wind and limb, phew. We all had a good nights sleep, so result all round

Take care all.

Charleyg I shall pass your message on to Rory.

corner Enjoy a relaxing evening. You deserve it.

I'm about to mount my exercise bike. Have looked out an Abba CD and will pedal away as I gasp for breath sing along.

MacSporran has baked a loaf of deliciously smelling bread. I may need to pedal a few extra laps if I'm to sample it later.

soop do you think that he would be kind enough to bake a loaf for each of us? I would happily contribute towards the cost of ingredients- it sounds delicious. I will be up in the morning to pick up mine.

I had unexpected visitors today. David`s 2 eldest brothers turned up. Bill, aged 82, and who I haven`t seen since the funeral, came over from Lancashire with one of his grandsons, plus another grandson`s girlfriend and their little girl, aged 7, I`d never met them before. Don, aged 81, and his partner Pat, live about 30 to 45 minutes drive away from us. Plus our David popped round to say hello to them all. It meant we didn`t have our dinner till 4.30pm, after they`d all gone home, but it was lovely to see them all.
Galen, is it possible to fix some Molotov cocktails onto the ends of your arrows?
Soop, I do hope that Ruaridh starts to co-operate soon, if only for his own good, and your peace of mind. We are already making plans to come up there again next April, but the general concensus is that we stay in Inverary instead of Campbeltown, because, in a certain person`s words "We saw Campbeltown in half an hour"! Some folk just don`t appreciate The Wee Toon.

Flaming arrows?
What a marvellous idea!

Oh McSporran how could you!
Just when I am trying to lose weight/not eat bread/try GF to see if it helps.

However, I did make some strawberry jam yesterday, a bit sloppy (but better than the last lot which had to be hacked out of the jar) so if anyone has some cream we could have fresh bread, strawberry jam and cream sandwiches.
The diet can start again tomorrow.
Or I could use the virtual exercise bike in the kitchen

Charleygirl hope Tara comes home alone and in time to lock up!! Bella has taken to staying out all night .

Well done annsixty and hurray for M&S meals! I would not be brave enough to attempt making a Japanese meal - an Indian curry courtesy of Lloyd Grossman is about my limit!

A UTI can be quite strange until it is diagnosed and cause symptoms which may not make you immediately think of that. Hope all is improving now and there is better communication.

Jalima Tara decided to pop home a couple of minutes ago. She no longer brings home a fresh supper thank goodness. She has gone to either my bed or her own to rest her eyes.

Mia came in earlier covered in tiny sticky bud things, must be from the long grass on the bank. I managed to manoeuvre 18 from her fur, but then she started to get a bit stroppy, and swore at me, so I`ve left off till tomorrow

Morning all !!

Its technology central here today . My darn laptop was playing up yesterday so I fired up an old one and OF COURSE I can't remember my password( I haven't switched it on in 2years!!)

So then I had to google how to get round that etc etc..... Is it VERY wrong of me to just want to go and buy a new one :-) ( shhhh don't tell Grampy!!)

I do talk to Jackson about all of you Charley- he often says have you told all the Nana's about xxxx...I think the fame has gone to his head

Rory sounds like he is not being cooperative at all soop , cats and medicine or any kind is always a challenge.

Its always a relief when you hand them back without damage eh Corner ??

Sounds like you had a full house Callgirl and what a lovely surprise.

It wasn't too difficult Jalima more like a bit of a spicy stir-fry and egg fried rice ! I do believe whoever provided the starter cheated with ready made sushi !!

Oh callgirl I do hate the sticky bud things. Sam often gets them in his ears and they are a buggeration to remove.

Sam does not know it yet but he is getting a bath today. Now he is all grown up , on occasion , he smells like a dog ! I know ! Shocking eh? And as he likes a good snuggle, we ALL smell a bit doggy. So its a quick bath and blow-dry for him today in the kitchen sink .

Wish me luck !! ( and Sam)

callgirl1 all I can say is that Mia does not appreciate the love and personal attention that she gets. It is not polite for her to go into a hissy fit when you are doing your best for madam.

I overslept today, Tara went out around 9.15am so it will be payback time tonight, appearing very late. She comes in via the cat flap and I leave the living room door open for her. I could and have retired to bed but it means that she can roam as she fancies during the night which I do not like.

She has come home again, short of cuddles I think.

That's just what I would want to do, n&g, the faffing about to get technology to behave just drives me to distraction. Not so sure I returned sound in wind and limb, there was a trampoline, so I just had to . Know about it today .

Busy one today, friends coming and I'm already behind in my 'things I must do so they don't run screaming' list. Oh well, maybe if there is enough cake they won't notice?

Take care all.