The rain, the Park & other things

We've had a few days rain here. Other parts of the country got a bit of a hammering what with floods & all, but we had it relatively good here. It was good steady rain that has really soaked in & is doing the vegetables a power of good. Sadly, the lawns & the weeds seem to have found new purpose as well, but hey, thats OK I guess. Give me something to do at the very least. The little dog is not, I have found, terribly enamoured of weather, having to be physically dragged out of the house on her lead if there is more than a heavy mist in the air. Once past the end of the drive, she will plod along with dogged determination, making it plain to all & sundry that she is NOT enjoying herself even though she is off the lead. As compensation, I took her up the hill to the park, where she usually gallops around sniffing all sorts of interesting smells, but noooo.. Not when its raining.. All the grass means when its raining is that you get your belly wet as well as your back. As for any potty stops ? Surely you jest sir. Damn she can save it up, but everything started working again with a vengeance yesterday morning. Today it was back to being interested again. Lots of places to stop & sniff that she had been too miserable to give attention to in the last few days. We have a small creek at the back of us, that lately has been that low that it hardly seemed to be flowing at all, with lots of green weed in it & all the detritus that uncaring folks seem to throw over their back fence rather than dispose of it properly. Its now flowing briskly on its way to the river, with the stream bed nice & clear & clean again, looking quite rejuvenated.

Sadly, the humidity is back. I don't enjoy it & it knocks Jude about rather badly. It hurts to see her struggling for air. The new cooling fan is a help, but bed times haven't been all that pretty lately. We have an appointment with our doctor on Wednesday to see if he can recommend something to clear the phlegm from her lungs, Joan from Hospice Waikato due in this afternoon, Sally the physio coming Thursday & a massage with Val on Friday. We have only just gotten back to going to Val. We used to go all the time before we went down South & it just sort of slipped by when we got back. Too much of everything else I guess.

We had a good weekend. Chris & Melanie, Jude's youngest son & his wife, came down & stayed Saturday night. It was his birthday, & they were good enough to come down & spend it with his Mum. They are being very supportive, which is wonderful. Well, I better go. precious pot plants to bring in now they have had their drink of rain, Mealybugs to spray for on a couple of them, tomato plants to tie up & cabbage tree leaves to rake up ready to mow the lawns when they dry out. Who said retirement was a life of leisure?