Kia Ora

Ann was so excited to be able to drive again that she forgot about the dog bed stored under the car ready for Jaz to use when she gets into the car. Good thing we have two of those beds!

Rotary had a second hand book fair and we managed a small haul – 12 books for Ann and 7 for Peter.

The weather continued to stay hot even after the clocks went back. Then the rain started and continued for days and days and days. Mind you we needed it to fill the water tank. After lots of rain the grass has been growing fast so Ann decided to try using the mower.

She managed to get it going and was steadily mowing when it suddenly stopped dead in the middle of the garden. Of course it had to happen on the day that Peter was working late. He got home at 9pm, then we walked the dogs and then at almost 10.30pm he was out in the dark pushing the mower across the garden, round the fences and into the store room. The drive belt had broken and wrapped itself around the drive shaft so badly that not only could Peter not untangle it, but it destroyed the cable to the electronic clutch which drives the mower blades too. So the poor mower had to go into the repair shop for a week – just as the grass starts growing again!

Our grapes finally finished but the raspberries continued to produce fruit for another couple of weeks and we’re still eating juicy water melon. The kumara has done well with us getting about 5kg from the first plant we dug up.

We went on a bonsai club road trip one Sunday – visited a couple of members’ collections, then went stone and rock collecting (Peter did all the work whilst Ann rested in the car) and finally visited a plant nursery and Bonsai NZ where we bought some small plants and pots.

We’ve had fun this month with both dogs. First Jaz started vomiting and salivating (dribbling all over the place) and then her back legs collapsed. The vet couldn’t quite work out what was wrong with her but a course of antibiotics and some anti-nausea and anti-emetics helped, and she was soon back to her normal self. Two days later Maxie started chewing at one of her front paw toe nails again (she got an infection there last year) so we cleaned it up and put some antibiotic cream on it. Maxie then went out into the garden and came back 10 minutes later limping on one of her back legs!  A good sleep and some Rimadyl and she’s now almost back to normal.  Then Jaz needed to see the vet again as her ears were still bothering her.

Maxie has managed to escape into next door again (several times) and Peter is fed up with repairing the fence so we're going to have to put some new deer fencing up.

Jaz managed to disgrace herself...........   ...........sometimes we swear the dogs are worse than kids.

Ann had her (week 3 post op) physio appointment in week 6 (go figure) and found that the exercises she’s been doing were not entirely correct. The physio also gave her a couple of new exercises too and enrolled her in a six week hip class.

Ann also had her surgical follow up with the consultant. He was very pleased with her recovery and will see her in three months’ time to discuss the right hip.
The community physio visited Ann at home in week 7. She was stunned to see Ann walking without crutches – until she realised that it wasn’t week 2 post-op as she thought (the community referral was late – sound familiar?)

Ann's car went in for its six monthly WoF (MOT) and needed some work. As it's 17 years old she decided to look for a newer car. She now has a 2005 silver Mazda Premacy - automatic, 7 seater with sliding doors. It should also be cheaper to run which will make the fuel bills less painful.
Ann is still using the more solid chair to sit on so the dogs have had to fight to sit on Peter's sofa - unless they both get to it before him.
	Failing that Maxie decided that she wanted a cuddle and nothing was going to stop her.