It's still dark as we set off on our morning excursion. Today it's just Bob and Angus. Sophie is heading to the vets after being lured into the back of the car with the promise of a sliver of croissant. She leaps in with the grace and agility of a ballerina.
The mountains shrouded in cloud but across the horizon there's an ever widening band of salmon pink. A sure sign that it's going to be another hot day. We sit on the storm drain and watch the sun rise. Bob keeps a wary eye open in case the donkeys get frisky.
We wave at the builder in his lilac metallic pickup, the farmer in his white Renault van and the young garagiste on his motorbike. They are followed by the itinerant Spanish melon pickers in a small convoy of SEAT vans. The melon pickers drive through the village very slowly as if they have too many points on their license and can't afford to get any more. The Spanish melon pickers don't wave at us. They clearly consider anyone having a lengthy conversation with a dog while danging their legs over the side of a drainage ditch to be 'peculiar'.
We return home to find The Font and Sophie already there. Sophie's limp has miraculously disappeared. In the surgery she does everything she can to display the amazing suppleness of her back leg. '' Dogs and children " says the vet.
Sophie celebrates her return by hunting for badger poo in the field beyond the orchard. She starts to limp ever so slightly.
Why do French newsagents always have a smell that is quite unlike newsagents anywhere else ?
10 comments:
Both Bertie and before him Hamish mastered the art of the intermittent limp that disappears when visiting the vet. Sounds like something to keep an eye on but not panic over.
When Riley visits his vet he often gets so excited his symptoms often disappear and I feel like I should have videoed him on my cell phone before our appointment just so his vet knows I'm not making things up! Riley has also learnt that at home he gets more attention for doing some things, but his act fails as after attending puppy school at his vet's office, it is his second most favourite place in the world and he happily dances around the exam room expecting food treats! Hopefully Sophie's limp will not be an issue for her anymore, and the cost of the vet's bill is worth learning that she is OK.
Answer: lingering cigarette smoke. You don't get rid of decades of tobacco residue in just a few years.
Interesting about the melon pickers. It used to be the same for the vendage, but now that's done almost exclusively by machines.
The newsagent establishment is a lovely sight. I had almost forgotten that such things still exist.
At the moment I am out daily on a pre-dawn walk, and don't see a soul, not a car, person or other dog walker. I'm sure even the Spanish melon pickers might react to our one dog, running around sporting a "flashing" red collar !
Late one night, when I was younger ("so much younger than today..."), my Bassett Hound was having difficulty breathing. I called our Vet, at home, and woke him up,with this alarming news! He told me to bring Rabbie to his house. When we arrived my Vet and his wife were waiting for us in the drive way, wearing their sleeping costumes, with their dog Tigger. I was crying and the Vet's wife hugged me. I opened the back door to the car where Rabbie was laying. Rabbie saw Tigger, jumped from the car, and began to chase Tigger in circles around their house! I am still crying, trying to recount the dreadful events that led to my being there, while the dogs are running laps around the house! Our Vet announced, he didn't see much wrong with Rabbie, and if the breathing problem happened again, to bring him in to the office. Well, it happened again, and Rabbie and I were in the Vet's office the next morning. Rabbie had fluid around his heart and lungs and was drowning. We did make it through that episode, but what a night!!!
What a story, both very funny (the chasing) and very alarming. Not one you would wish to live through again.
We've had several maladies that mysteriously disappear during expensive vet visits. Bit like 'that noise' that never shows up at the mechanics.
It never fails, does it. Your vet Is very understanding.
Not a night to be repeated !
Post a Comment