I'm feeling exhausted.
It's been a big week.
Ben has ups and downs, so we really cant plan anything. Most of the time, he's lying down or asleep. So im shouldering much of the driving/organising/parenting/farming/cleaning at the moment. Also I'm getting up in the night to the girls, and getting up with them at 6 or 6:30 each morning. It's full-on. And it's actually a bit lonely. When Ben is not asleep I try to take the girls out to get them out of the way and give him some quiet to work or rest, but it means when I come home, he goes to bed and I start dinner or bath the girls or feed the horse or watch tv on my own.
Kate has handled her first week of school really well and has made a few friends, but it has seen the return of her Encopresis (which I thought she was getting past!) - which if you've never been through it, is just HELL and RUNS YOUR LIFE. We've been battling it for a bout a year and a half now, pretty much non-stop, though over christmas it looked like she was over-coming it: Taking her self to the toilet without prompting and staying clean most days. Then she started school, and BANG. (As if I need that!) I dont really know if it's cureable, but I pray every day that it will be!!! It's just horrible: Disgusting, humiliating, frustrating.
When I'm not dealing with poo inside, I'm dealing with my animal poo outside, and that is the perfect segue to the garden. (See what I did there?)
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| Look at the corn-babies! |
And it looks like the capsicums and cucumbers are going to be a success!
No success with the wheatgrass however! Sickly, little shoots or nothing at all! WTF?! I cant win! Oh well, not that it matters - I seem to have jammed part of my new juicer anyway, rendering it useless, until I can work out how to un-jam it.
(It's really been a spectacularly bad week.)
The blackberries are going MAD, which is both good and bad: Bad for the fact that it is a nasty weed, but the fruit has been abundant and has made some great jam and muffins!
Also I grew come tiny stunted carrots (NEVER had success with carrots!) Which the kids liked pulling up and nibbling on anyway.
One other thing that I've found REALLY frustrating this week has come from trawling the internet for animal shelters, looking for a dog to adopt. I really wanted to adopt another dog after Henry. I miss having a dog, and Cookie is very much 'Ben's girl'. So, of course I have been looking at shelters and websites for almost 2 weeks, and let me tell you: The whole process has turned me RIGHT OFF adopting a shelter pet. Which is sad, because I know the idea is to encourage people to adopt rather than buy from backyards or pet shops. But the process is repetitive, intrusive, frustrating, and very expensive!
I have filled in countless forms justifying myself as an intelligent human being. I have given histories of previous animals, estimates of income, details of may daily routine including how much time I am likely to spend away from home, aquiesced to 'home inspections', and most of the time have received nothing but a computer-generated automatic response.
As soon as I say the words 'we have a run, but no fence yet' (My husband has cancer ok?!) and 'small children', I am often instantly dismissed.
And the animals I am deemed not fit to care for are often older dogs - 9 or 10 years old - of questionable breeding, but are still priced at $400 - $1000. (No: Im not kidding). WHERE IS THE INCENTIVE TO ADOPT? Some agencys even had the gall to tell me that "if" I was "shortlisted" they would match "ME" to a dog! Yep - I wouldn't even get to choose!!!
I feel disillusioned, scrutinised, dismissed and frustrated. And sadly, I'm not sure I will continue down the avenue of looking at animal shelters. They seem to have waiting lists and an over-supply of people looking and not that many needy dogs (which is not the impression you get from the media and all these 'adoption drives' etc!). My illusions of going to the RSPCA and walking up and down the line of cages and finding the perfect mate who would jump into my arms and who would become my constant companion for ever seems really far away. Which is sad. Just look at the life we offer:
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| Yup. Clearly cold, neglected and miserable. (And just look at the TRAUMA life with our young children is bringing her!) |
The search continues.
Any ideas? Have you ever adopted a shelter dog before? (Did you find the process completely intrusive/impersonal/offputting?!)
We're not THAT weird are we?!
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| Dont answer that. |
Good luck with finding a dog from the shelter, I have found my last 2 cats from the shelter, both were Devon Rex, as I get sinus problems with ordinary cat hair.
ReplyDeleteThe first one was so skinny and poorly they said if she is still alive at the end of the week , you can get her then, I wanted to take her straight away and build her up for the desex op but they wouldn't let her go with me in case I didn't bring her back. They cut her open anyway that week, (who would do that ?????) only to find she was already done and her tattoo must have faded !!!!!
How is the juicer going ? I use my cold press juicer for juice and making nut butters and almond milk, to cut down on dairy intake as I have a lot of smoothies in the hot weather...yum.