Ever hopeful

Down at the cottage. Beautiful light on the way down here, but it was all about getting here and getting the braai lit.

Someone wanted a lamb chop.

Gazing wistfully into the braai doesn’t mean you’re getting what’s on the grid. But it’s always worth a try.

Smile

A lovely day out in the Winelands, with some excellent food and wonderful company at The Terrace at Haute Cabrière in Franschhoek. It has left me with a number of tasks to get sorted this evening though, so here’s a quick QP of what greeted me in bed this morning:

Aww. Cute dog, crazy goofy smile, REALLY MUDDY PAWS!

Anyway, one of the tasks to get sorted this evening is remaking the bed with the freshly washed sheets and covers.

And putting in a dog gate somewhere on the stairs.

Done

Ah yes. The blog post after the cathartic experience that I had been waiting for. Yes, hot and sunny, and yes, I do prefer the more tempestuous side of Cape Agulhas, but it was just amazing to get out, get some fresh air and have the beach (almost) to ourselves.

Normal service is resumed.

And that includes unsuccessful fishing in the rockpools.

We’ll be heading home shortly, but as ever, it’s been a wonderful getaway, and I’m already looking forward to our next visit.

Happy daze.

Day 628 – Beagle emergency

But first of all, hello and welcome to any new readers that might have given a member of my family a D-dimer result recently.
Thanks for that. Ultrasound was clear (for that, at least), prognosis is all good. Happy days.

And talking of medical things, we had a minor beagle-related emergency at the cottage today. After the rain – yes, in December: I am also aghast – we had planned to take the beagle to the beach for a quick snorf and walk. We had got no further than the car park when she grabbed a small piece of sardine from the floor, yelped and indicated that she had got a fishing hook in her lip, by proudly displaying the fishing hook protruding through her lip.

Clearly just discarded by a fisherman. If only there had been a bin nearby for your waste. Oh wait, there was. You were just too lazy to use it.
Great. Thanks, wanker fishermen.

It very quickly became very evident that we weren’t going to be able to remove the hook ourselves. They are made to stay in lips, be they piscine or canine. And that meant a trip to the vet, 43km up the road.

Halfway there, we realised the we had no money and not enough diesel to get us there and back. Cue Samsung Pay on the boy’s cellphone (gotta love technology) and a quick R100 splash and dash at the Struisbaai Caltex.

The vet was friendly, helpful, Afrikaans and very efficient. A quick shot of sedative, a quicker shot of local anaesthetic, some MASSIVE wire choppers and a quick snip later, we brought an exceedingly drunk beagle back home. I’m happy to say that a couple of hours later, the beagle has wobbled around the room once and then struggled back to the beanbag and fallen asleep again.

Which sounds like a wonderful idea to me.