Wiccaweys foster dogs, Russell and Roxy’s holiday.

Russell and Roxy are enjoying their time away, they have a lot of secure space in which to play and run free.

 

 

and a resident dog to hang out with.

Will they want to return to our tiny house and garden? It just goes to show, the most timid dog can come out of its shell given the right environment.

R &R would love a country home with space to run and a patient person who doesn’t want an instant “paws on pet” Is that you??

The Guardian Supports Epilepsy Week

Reblogged from Sodium Valproate A Cover Up That Is The New Thalidomide:

The Guardian Supports Epilepsy Week

"The guardian" has a supplement in it today, for National Epilepsy week 2013, fantastic read!

Very encouraging to find the guardian spreading the word about Epilepsy.

Reasons to be cheerful, part 2

Julia’s trip is halfway over.

I don’t like wishing my life away but the past week has felt like a month, I can’t wait for the next week to pass. I did think of bringing in some strippers and dancing girls and having a bloke’s party! but to be honest, I don’t know any blokes, I wouldn’t know where to find dancing girls and strippers? plus I wouldn’t have the energy for a party anyway.  So, I have made do with the company of “my boys” and the odd gossip with the early morning dog walking oldies.

Indy hates having his picture taken, for the first few days that I had my tablet he didn’t know it was a camera, he does now and looks away if it is near him.

I think that Indy is missing his Mum.

Mack hates pigeons! if one is in his garden when he goes out he will chase it away. this one had the nerve to casually sit on the fence for 10 minutes, watching Mack, it was only when it went too far and climbed on the feeder that war was declared.

It started with a stare out and ended with a loud gruff!

I had one minor episode in the past week and it was odd? I would be curious to know if other people with Epilepsy have had an episode like it? I downloaded the Bejewelled app, I had been playing for a few minutes when I started what felt like a seizure, only it never became a full seizure? I had racing brain, twitching and a sense of drifting away so I stopped the game and over 20 minutes or so returned to “normal” I do remember a few years ago when playing Bejewelled having strange sensations but blew it off, as I didn’t know that I had Epilepsy then. I have played a cheapo version of the game since which is less brightly coloured or vivid and I have been OK? I will have to stick to that.

.

.

.

Wiccaweys have puppies for re-homing.

6 gorgeous pups. 4 girls and 2 boys. 

These are extremely fluffy cute cross breed pups. They are going to be smaller sized. They are all very bold and looking for families of their own to love them.

 

Reasons to be cheerful, part 1

Julia has gone to Indianapolis for a couple of weeks to help with her dad, she went yesterday and arrived safely late last night. (that’s a relief)

Although I am a little nervous being alone, especially when going out with the boys, I am going to have a positive 2 weeks. No thinking, worrying, planning for the future or anything that creates stress, just rest and relaxation. Having the boys makes me happy so I will focus on them and they will get all of my attention, well, them and my new tablet.

The boys in the garden this morning looking a little whimsical.

.

Sad looking puppies

Who could not love these handsome boys?

Mack

Indy

An old picture taken before Luca died which always makes me smile.

What are you doing? You plonker!!

Russell and Roxy have gone to stay with another fosterer for 2 weeks while Julia is away as 4 dogs would be too much for me also they have never seen me have a seizure so I might scare them to death?

.

.

Today’s Wiccaweys dog needing a home is Bobby.

Bobby came to Wiccaweys from a farm where the farmer was going to shoot him. Bobby had been very badly abused and when he arrived last year he was terrified of human contact. We gave him space and worked with him quietly and gently to allow him to discover himself and start to trust people.

Bobby has come on fantastically. It has taken time, however he is now a smashing and stunning boy. He is excellent with other dogs, tends to ignore cats and livestock and is a gorgeous, happy boy. He can still be a bit shy with new people to start with, but once he knows folks he shows his true happy personality.

Bobby is currently being fostered in a home so will be getting a lot of one on one attention which should help him come out of his shell some more.

Taking Chances

Reblogged from The Long Way Home:

Life is a silly thing.  You never know what it will bring. You think that you got this whole thing figured out when it hits you in the place where it hurts the most.

I guess, the journey you take, is the one for you and just you. You have to allow yourself to be free from opinions, beliefs, and convictions.  

Read more… 184 more words

Dace always posts something inspirational just when I need it most. :-)

What’s important?

I have been thinking again.

I have been assessing my life since Epilepsy and I am not sure I like what I see. Since diagnosis on November 28 things have been very hard. My brother died suddenly on November 29, my brother in law died, my son and his partner lost their baby and my father in law has been diagnosed with dementia and may now be kept from going home (6 weeks ago the doctors told him he WILL be going home Mothers day)! I am failing my wife because she desperately wants to return to Indiana to care for her dad but my green card has lapsed and it will be almost impossible to renew because of my Epilepsy. INS will insist that I have medical insurance before going which I can’t get without a job and I can’t get a job without a green card!!

When having this bout of thinking I have come to realise that I don’t have enough people to love or enough people that love me! I have never been gregarious, friendly or very open to new people but try to be loyal to a small circle of people who I care about, they are gone now, either left behind after various intercontinental moves or just vanished?

It is hard to share feelings with friends and family because they all have problems of their own and it is easy to become a whining burden when you don’t have positive things to bring to a relationship. If illness is offset by work and leisure activities to talk about, the relationship is balanced and everyone understands everyone else. At the moment I don’t have positives to bring to the party.

I am most worried about my father in law. Jack spent 26 years serving his country in the air-force and now his military insurance wont provide for home care to enable him to spend his last couple of years at home! Jack is 83 years old and is being treated like a baby with no consideration being given to his dignity! Money is all that matters, he didn’t refuse to serve his country because the money wasn’t enough. Jack has always loved his country, supported his family and church, hell, he even sacrificed his job so that a young man with children didn’t lose his during cutbacks!! He has never asked for anything, Jack is one of life’s givers and his country is treating him like s**t for the sake of a few thousand dollars!

My heart has been broken many times since November but I can barely see the screen while writing this because of the tears, thinking about an honest, proud, hard working, decent, caring, giving and just damned decent man being hung out to dry because some bankers fu**ed up the economy.

God bless America my arse

(Not the people, who I love but the system)

.

.

Mick, Julia and Michael Gorman with Jack and Ruth Davenport

Epilepsy setback… sshhh!

Well, I had another episode (seizure) Julia was out shopping so I was home alone, I haven’t mentioned it as she is off to visit her dad, in America on Wednesday and I don’t want to worry her.

It is not all bad as the very next day I went fishing and had a good day.

Some of my catch…

The top four are Bream (I think) they could be a hybrid? They could be silver Bream? The bottom one is a scabby old Tench.

Whatever the type or size of fish or even whether I catch or not, I enjoy going fishing. I get to relax and forget about other stuff for a while.

.

.

.

The featured dog today is from Black Retriever X Rescue

APOLLO

Breed: Maremma x teddy bear

Size: medium

Age: 9 years

 

 

 

Apollo arrives with us from Italy on May 11th.  He is a calm, gentle, watchful guy who has spent all his life – until the past few weeks – kennelled in a terrible Italian shelter with no bedding, no heating and no outside run. He had never felt the grass under his feet. Despite this, Apollo has learned fast. He can now walk on a lead, takes treats, travels OK in the car, and gets on extremely well with other dogs (has even started playing!)  He is still a little wary of being stroked and he has not get been introduced to home life. His idea of bliss would a quiet country home where he can chill outside during the day and watch the world go by – with a nice other dog or dogs that can show him the ropes and help introduce him to living indoors.  He won’t, incidentally, wander off so – and we don’t often say this! – would be fine in a home that doesn’t have totally secure land.

 

Apollo is fully-vaccinated, neutered, wormed, flea-treated and has a current Pet Passport.   He will be fostered in Derbyshire.

Foster dogs, Russell and Roxy progress

Foster dogs, Russell and Roxy have been here a few days and are starting to settle in, I have to take Julia’s word for this though as I only see them with a zoom lens.

I have never had foster dogs not want to be near me before! When you learn not to take it personally it’s not so bad, being in a home is new to them and I am a bit scary looking.

.

The first day they often retreated to their open crates and sat with their back to me but now they have nicked Indy and Mack’s beds. I frequently get a sneaky nose jab in the back of a leg when I am not looking so I guess they will get used to me. They are a lovely pair.    

This was just taken on the fields behind where we live, taken by Julia so no need for a zoom lens.

They didn’t like walking very much but are improving now that they get to walk somewhere different each time they go out.

Do MS and Epilepsy affect who I am?

I touched on this once before but I have been pondering this a lot just lately.

When I was diagnosed with MS in 1994 I still felt like the same person I had always been, I waddled a bit, fell over, dropped things and sometimes couldn’t see straight but I was me. When I returned to England I joined the MS society but quickly stopped going to meetings because they referred to me as a patient! I wasn’t a patient, I was just me.

I noticed when walking around using crutches the odd funny look, mostly from older people? as if they were trying to work out what was wrong with me? Then I started to notice that people close to me were treating me differently. I wasn’t asked to help with things that I had always done before, I wasn’t asked for my opinion very often and very little was expected of me. I was becoming less me!

Now that I have Epilepsy I think I have stopped being me. I don’t work, I no longer do DIY and people rarely visit! I think I am becoming invisible.

The worst part about being the non me is, the way other people don’t see me now, I don’t see me in the future.  Having no vision of a future is very unnerving, I have never had great ambitions but I have always had some kind of plan for a future.  Did I just give in and accept other peoples view of me or did my illnesses and the accompanying drugs take away the essence of me?

Maybe I spend too much time thinking and not enough time doing? I did try to do something a couple of days ago but it ended with me badly burning my finger with a hot air gun.  Oh well, at least that means that I am still a plonker.

On the bright side, spring has sprung. The temperatures are creeping up and the big yellow circle in the sky is shining.  :-)

.

.

The Wiccaweys dog today is Rocky who is 3 years old.

Rocky has come to us from our volunteers in Eire.
He was saved from a pound.

Rocky is a very friendly and happy lad. He loves a fuss and is great with other dogs. He travels well. A really nice all round family dog. Are you the folks to make his dreams come true?

MS, Epilepsy and spring.

It makes a world of difference having warm weather and sunshine.  I still have Epilepsy and MS but I have been feeling quite jolly and springlike.  My Epilepsy medication appears to be working and my MS is OK  apart from some horrible nerve pain in my right hand and foot but if I call the MS nurse she will give me medication for that.

Swanspool pond

Tomorrow is going to be a fishing day, with nice sunshine, high pressure and a south westerly wind it should be a good day for carp. It will be a good day for being out anyway.

The only trouble with things going well is there is nothing to write about! Still, I could do with more days with only that to worry about.

.

.

The Wiccaweys dog needing a home today is Barney who is 2 or 3 years old.

Barney has come back to Wiccaweys after he counter surfed and stole a sandwich.

Barney is a serious collie lad. He is good with dogs he knows, but does shout at strange ones. He is a larger sized collie. He does not like cats and becomes fixated easily. He is also worried by small children so would need an adult only home with no visiting children. He is eager to please, loves his toys and travels very well.