I don’t know where to begin today. So much seems to have happened; I feel as though I have been bulldozed.
Treacle is home. The vet rang yesterday morning to say that he seemed a little improved. They had done a quick x-ray, this time without anaesthesia. She could see that he has a large mass at the top of his heart, about the size of a golf ball. In all honesty she could not even guess at how long he will last and says that much depends on whether we can get him to eat. It was possible that he was not eating because he was unhappy in the hospital cage. She said she wasn’t sure what we would like to do at this stage… and I read that as code for “Shall we put him down?”
We decided to bring him home for the time being after she assured us that he is not in pain or really suffering. If he will eat for us then he may go on for a while but his breathing is currently very laboured and he continues to lose weight. We won’t drag it out if we think he’s going downhill fast but we did want to say a proper goodbye to him. I’d like to get some photos if I can.
So, there will be a one-way trip for our wee boy at some point. Sooner I think, rather than later but when exactly, we cannot say. We’ll just give him lots of cuddles and kitty milk in the meantime. Oh, and a lot of medicine. He has a Diuretic – half a tab, twice a day, via the pill popper; a NSAID in suspension form, to be given on his food (which he is currently not eating) and that’s for his arthritis; and a new antibiotic, to be applied to the back of his tongue. That last is interesting. This is Treacle that we are talking about. Best find the Kevlar gauntlets…
Do you recall that Teddy was a little lost without his pal? Clearly he has been a little bored too. We arrived home last night to find that all of my camera gear was on the floor. ALL of it. THE LOT.
I had all of my lenses out for cleaning – I am trying to ascertain whether the marks on my images are surface lens muck or the rather more scary sensor dust. First step was a jolly good clean. I placed a thick cloth on my studio table and laid everything out carefully. I cleaned the lenses and replaced all the caps. This was on Thursday.
On Friday morning Norma brought me two packages – the first was the tripod lens mount for the 70 – 200 zoom lens, the other was the camera backpack. I had ordered a large-ish pack, with the intention of stowing all of my gear in it for full-time safe-keeping, not just a small pack to take out one camera and lens at a time.
(Sod’s Law was bound to apply, wasn’t it?)
I was thrilled with my purchase. Buying on-line can be fraught but I really thought this was a good choice. I did well. I was about to pack everything into it and that was the point at which the vet rang and we had to absorb the bad news and then begin preparing to go out on the ferry to collect our lad.
Keeping up? ALL of my camera gear is on the table, protected by a soft cloth. The padded camera bag is on the floor in the box that it arrived in and is empty of gear. We are on our way to town. Teddy is alone, bored and fractious.
Back to home time. My 6D is on the floor. ALL of my lenses are on the floor and most of them are without their lens caps. The new extension barrel is on the floor. So is the big soft cloth, in a heap under my desk. The place is a mess. A complete disaster area. I pick up my camera, which has the zoom lens and extension fitted. There is obvious damage; the UV filter that I keep on to protect the lens from scratches is cracked right across. It transpires that the actual filter ring has been bashed and the filter will not now come off the lens.
Gradually I gather together all of my kit and match up the right covers to the right lenses. I deduce that Teddy has dragged the cloth from the table, bringing everything with it and then got himself tangled up in it all. He must have struggled to free himself and in the process dragged it all round with him. I am one cap short for the converter – this I find two hours later, underneath my office chair. I have no idea how much damage has been done to the camera. I try not to add up the total cost of all this kit but can’t help reaching a rough figure of £5k. It is too much to contemplate. I feel sick . I am dizzy. I may even actually be whimpering at this stage.
There was little to be done. I tried to put it to the back of my mind and then get on with settling Treacle in and cooking our dinner.
What else? Oh yes, on the way into town we saw that the Varagen was home from refit and was following us in
With all this to-ing and fro-ing, the ferry sock is coming along very well
In today’s post was a parcel from Bureau Direct. I love stationery, so this was an exciting event.
There may be further stationery pics later as I still need to test each of my lenses to see if they have escaped damage.
I am still expecting a parcel with photo table and lights but I’m not sure it has even been dispatched yet. We shall have some fun when it does though. Oh yes. In fact it would have been great for snapping my stationery goods for my lens tests.
Good news: this morning Mr L managed to remove that broken filter from my long lens. It’s a start. I just hope that the lens itself remains undamaged.
I should probably do some spinning today and see if I can lower my blood pressure. I’m not one for excitement and drama. Give me a quite and uneventful life. Please!
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