Throats and spayed dogs

My voice remains a distant memory. My throat aches. The doctor informs me that Laryngitis is in 98% case viral and so it is a matter of time rather than antibiotics. I have started gargling salt water, drinking honey and lemon, spraying my throat with chlorosceptic when the coughing gets too bad, sucking on boiled sweets. If it goes gets worse, I can go back...

Tess was spayed yesterday. She is six months old and I most definitely did not want puppies. Plus spaying early (before the first season) is supposed to provide some measure against breast cancer in female dogs. It will mean she does not have to go through PMT and nor will there be a mess to clean up. Neither will I have to beat farm dogs off with a stick when we are out on walks. Equally, I did not want an incestous relationship as the chance for inherited defects rockets.

With Hardy, he will be done about a year old. Males are slightly later developers and there is no medical benefit to be being done early. Thus I want to wait until he is mature and his personality has had a chance to develop. But it is important that he gets done as well. I have no wish to breed and lots of other bahavioral problems can get solved...

My main problem now is keeing an active collie quiet. She needs to be on the lead. Tess is also wearing a cone as she has a tendency to try and lick her wound. Apparently smearing it in vaseline will discourage other dogs from licking as littermates in particular will groom eachother.

I am also blogging at Totebags today about the hard work required to become talented.

And finally a picture of all three of the dogs together last Sunday in the sun room. Just because.

Just when I thought I was better...

Just when I thought I was better, the stupid cough has taken a turn for the worse.
I suspect it was the late night on Thursday in a cold arena and not being wrapped up as well as I could have been. ARGH!!! Sometimes I should listen to my own advice!

My lovely editor has informed me that the revisions are arriving early next week. She did not want to rush her thoughts and so is taking the time over the weekend. It is one of those things. I want my editor to give me quality editing. Taking her time is a Good Thing. And because I have seen the results of her thoughts before, I know she will be spot on and challenging me to go that one step further. So I am continuing to work away at the current mess in progress. I do believe in the story and know in the end, it will be fantastic. Right now, it is about getting the words down and having a story to work with. The fun part comes in the challenge of revisions.

And because I have not posted a picture of the puppies recently:

Recovering

As several people have asked, my cold is nearly gone. I feel far more human and ready to take on the world. It has taken about three weeks.

Luckily I am blessed with lovely children who helped and a husband who when he was not busy dying from The Cold also helped.

Nell's suggestion of honey -- a teaspoonful taken every time one begins to cough really helped.

My hope is that the family will be well for Christmas. There have been rumours of the Winter Vomiting Bug in the village... My fingers are firmly crossed that we avoid it. Been there, done that one about seven years ago.

Currently I am busy working away on my latest wip. I ended up abandoning the one I start before the flu in favour of this one. But it is starting to come on and I am excited about writing it, even if it is slightly morphing.

The Cold

After hearing a number of reports including from Julie Cohen, and India Grey I have decided that this cold is not just any cold but The Cold, something worthy of a proper title. It is easy to scoff, but it starts with aching limbs, a sore throat of cut glass proportions, a sinus headache and as a final insult a chesty cough and runny nose. It is the sort of thing that sends grown people to bed for weeks on.
I have been battling through, thinking I was getting better and then my chest started to ache like a nasty chest infection is coming on. I did try my aunt's sightly odd suggestion of putting Vicks on the soles of my feet as it is supposed to help with a cough. It made my feet nice and warm but I am not so sure what happened with my cough...every so often it wracks my body...
I have now read Rubenhold's The Covent Garden Ladies which examines the milieu of Covent Garden in the mid 18th century -- looking at the rise of the high class bordello/nunnery as well the life a courtesan. Fascinating stuff. And some men did marry their mistresses... Rubenhold is definitely a non fiction author to watch.

But right now, I simply want to be well for Christmas.
We are supposedly getting our tree tomorrow which means suddenly Christmas will be in high gear.

Illness and the wip

My dh put his foot down yesterday and ordered me to bed. I think he is worried about my cold turning into something worse. The children uniformly agreed with him.

I made notes on my wip. This is slightly annoying as I did want my first draft done TODAY. But I have also realised several things that need to be incorporated into it. So perhaps the enforced rest is doing me good.

In the meantime, I have been reading Kipling Sahib about Kipling and the making of Modern India by Charles Allen. It is interesting from a novelist's point of view to see how he grew as a writer and where he took his inspiration from. It is also far too facile to simply dismiss Kipling as an Imperialist. My favourite Kipling stories are the first Jungle Book and Just So Stories. I was interested to learn more about Kipling after seeing the drama My Boy Jack. Some of Kipling's early troubles and his own myopia probably contributed to his pulling of strings with his son.

Kipling's early life does remain shrouded somewhat in mystery as he did attempt to burn all private correspondence, diaries etc. He wanted to be judged on his work.

He called his muse -- his private deamon. And Kipling did have such a wonderful way of conjuring up pictures with words.

Anyway, the world Kipling travelled in as a young man is fascinating. And I do recommend the book for anyone interested in Kipling or that period in India. I suspect some of my fasicnation with that period of in India stems from reading MM Kaye's Far Pavillions all those years ago...