Tuesday night...

The news on Jesker is, that he's still improving and that he shows this in many little things he does. Like eating a healthy amount of food and drinking from his water bowl like a normal dog. Like going to the back door to be let out to do a piddle and asking to go for a walk when it is time to. And coming to be petted when he decides that that's what he needs and this I am most happy with. He also corrects Gandhi when she scratches the chair she's not supposed to. That's a huge improvement. He still sleeps an awful lot and at times is completely oblivious to what goes on around him and doesn't wake up no matter what happens in the apartment, but I think that has to do with the fact that he's getting so deaf. I feel pretty secure now in saying that he is getting better and will continue to do so. I am much relieved and think I have learned a lesson to be prepared for the eventual inevitable end and that I will be ready when it comes, or as good as I can be. He was so sick that I thought it was near, and it will always be in the back of my mind now.

Because of that good news, I had a really good day, because you can't imagine how it has set me free to know he's going to be okay. It's put things into perspective and made me appreciate the little things all over again. Not that I didn't, but I do even more now. I think my life is a whole string of little things that go well and Jesker is part of that and a very important part. Good health and well being are so important to what and who we love and we take it for granted until something like this happens. It again reminds you how precarious everything is, and how finely balanced, and how you have to be prepared for the not so good times too. You always have to be strong somehow, in spite of yourself.

I felt so good today, that I even did the grocery shopping myself in between rain showers, even though the Exfactor was here this afternoon and I could have asked him to do them for me. I decided to be a big girl and manage them myself. I made a bare necessities shopping list and checked my bank account balance to make sure I had the money and got my act together. I had a teeny moment of panic just before I left, but I pulled myself together and kept on going and got my shopping bag and my purse and my bike and rode off into the sunset.

Well, not quite, it was still afternoon and it was not raining when I left, but when I came out of the store, it was drizzling, but I packed my groceries in the bags and decided to just get wet and make it home instead of waiting for the rain to end. I do have easy short hair after all and water proof mascara and it's only a five minute bike ride at the most. Just long enough to have rivulets of water run down my face when I got home, but that's the sport of it. The trick is to get the heavily loaded bike into the hallway of the apartment, but I always do manage that somehow without having the bike fall over on top of me. Where there's a will, there's a way and stubbornness pays off.

It felt good to have food in the house again, especially fruit juice and milk which I had completely run out of and I had been using coffee creamer in my coffee, the dried kind that tastes like plastic and artificial ingredients, which it no doubt has plenty off. I think sometimes it's best when I don't have my reading glasses handy and I can't read the label with the ingredients when I hold the jar, otherwise I may not use the product.

In the store, I was completely not tempted to buy anything that was not on my shopping list. I just walked from one item to the next and placed them in my basket and never glanced at all the other alluring items that wanted to go home with me. I have a one track mind. Get in there and buy what you need and get out. All the specials are wasted on me, I never succumb to them. I don't even stop at the very attractive bin of discounted items, even though it is placed where I can't miss it. Advertising doesn't work on me. I don't have the money to spend on it. I buy what I need and that's it. I'm probably the shopper with the smallest budget. They see me coming.

The Exfactor and I got into a political discussion. It's funny to see that we still are on the same road there, even though we've been apart for a year and a half. If anything, I've become a little bit more radical in my way of thinking and have surpassed him in some of my opinions. That's because I form my own nowadays. But we agree on most things, although we disagree on which political party we join and want to see in power. I've veered off to a younger greener party and he has stayed with the more stoic socialists. They're both run by women, but I think my woman is better able. I'm not trying to change his mind, because I think his party is good too, it's just not my party anymore. I needed to make a break and start with something new and innovative.

We both agree on the uselessness of the royal family and think we should have a president, but see no way of bringing that about, because of their popularity. They're like stars because of the cheap media and the paparazzi. People love all those magazines with the latest pictures and stories in them. Not one sensible thought goes into them. We'd like the queen to stand up during her reading of the State of the Union and say, "Listen, this is nonsense and I don't agree with a word of it and I'm not going to say another sentence!" It is written for her by her ministers, after all. We don't know how much she agrees with what she is announcing and we can't hold her personally responsible.

Oh, I'm off on a political rant again. My excuses, it was triggered by this afternoon's discussion. I do have to share it with someone. We have such nincompoops in the governments right now, it makes your blood boil. Indecisive men who don't have any vision, unlike some politicians I know of, and some of the ones trampling each other back stage aren't much better.

End of rant. It's getting late and I ought to go to bed, but I'm not nearly ready for that and I think I will stay up for a bit longer. It's very cozy here in the living room with the sleeping dog and cats and the world silent all around me. I'm yawning, but not nearly asleep yet. I will let it sneak up on me.

It's time to end this ramble. I've gone on long enough. Most of you will be asleep by now and those of you who are not are probably eating dinner or doing some other daytime activity.

Regardless, I wish you all a good night and I will see you tomorrow.

Ciao,
Nora