She's all on my mind

It’s been an interesting sort of a day today. The first amusing thing (well, it amused me anyway) was the continuance of a discussion with a very strange woman from a dog forum I inhabit, who was trying to convince me (unsuccessfully!) that my telling someone whose dog had itchy bumps all down its back and a red, sore tummy not to give it human antihistamines was the wrong thing to do, and that the dog needed to see a vet was in fact being very rude and I should be more sympathetic! Well tough! Apart from the fact that it’s illegal for a non-vet to advise on medication for any animal, without the skin condition being professionally diagnosed any ad-hoc treatment is likely to do more harm than good, and could in fact poison the dog! So I don’t care if my response of “This cannot be diagnosed over the net. Contact your vet.” is considered rude – it is still good advice.

We’ve had a lovely day thrashing the Donkey into near-submission. After the past few days of each puzzle taking about 48 hours, we’ve managed to complete 11 today, and have romped up the leaderboard. There is one (4.20) that someone will have to explain to me how it is meant to w**k – I simply suggested a word that seemed to fit and it was right, but I have no idea why!

I’m afraid I may have to juggle my life a bit this week – my elderly (don’t tell her I said that!) mother phoned me to say that she thinks her elderly golden retriever may be on the way out. He’s 12 years old and has been her sole companion all his life. She lives in quite an isolated house, and often doesn’t see another human being for days on end. When she has lost Tim she will be entirely alone, which worries me enormously. I especially don’t want her to be alone when the vet comes to ‘do the deed’, so I may have to grab my toothbrush and the car and whizz southwards. That’s the worst thing about pets – you have to say goodbye so soon. It's at times like this that I want to be with her - sadness is easier to bear in company.