tdierikx

Awww... ain't they happy little beasties? T.

I found another bruise on my outer knee where I must have also landed a little hard... but it doesn't hurt unless I touch it... I've pulled up surprisingly well this morning all things considered - only a bit of muscle soreness in the bicep and bicep tendon at the shoulder. Feels like they are bruised more than anything. The elbow isn't stiff like I thought it was going to be with the cut on it. I put it down to continuing to use the arm normally yesterday after the fall... the move it or lose it attitude works! I'm sure that if I had not continued with my day as normal, I'd have been in a lot more pain this morning. What gets me is that after the fact there were a few people who approached me later on and told me they'd seen me fall over, yet no-one came to help me up or ask if I was alright when it happened. I must have gotten up pretty quickly and not looked like I was hurt... ? I WAS much more worried about the lens at first, it must be said... and once I'd established that it was only the filter that was cracked, I went up to the office to get the elbow seen to - but only because it was bleeding and I couldn't see the actual extent of the wound... needed to get it cleaned as I'd fallen down where there could have been traces of dog only knows what sort of animal effluent flow off (it was right behind the Cotton Top Tamarin - small monkeys - enclosure). Top points to Natalie who dropped everything to clean me up and make sure I was OK. I'll take the lens down to where I bought it tomorrow after work - they are big supplier of all things camera, so I'm sure they will know what I need to do next about the lens. Like I said, the internal workings seem to be fine as the photos taken after the knock are just as good as ever - it's just that the push/pull motion is a bit sticky when I want to make smaller zoom adjustments, as though I've knocked it a bit askew. T.

Wanna know how I managed to fall over? I had taken a shortcut into the garden bed next to the Emus to pat one of them... and when I went to leave, I slipped on some beauty bark... grrr! Of course I didn't manage to fall into the comparably soft bark, did I? Noooo... I managed to find the hard ground to fall on! I couldn't see the elbow wound, but could see that it was bleeding, so I just got Natalie to patch that up so I wouldn't bleed all over my jumper... and got on with what I was there for... taking photos and chatting to all "my" animals... lol! I stopped by a friend's place on the way home to help her with a computer problem, and I finally got to see the damage in the mirror when we changed the blood soaked dressing at around 3pm. It's going to tell me about it for a few days methinks... errr! It looks like the skin has split when I bashed it on the ground, so it's a nice neat wound - but the bruising was already starting to show itself... and the bicep and shoulder are a little upset with me too. I'm just gonna keep them moving and warm, and we should be fine in a day or two. On the upside, I was greeted lovingly by "my" tigers Cinta and Jalur this morning, and Chauri the red panda came down from her sleeping branch to say g'day too... best start to any day I reckon, and falling over didn't put a dent in my awesome mood at all... *grin* T.

So - as the title says - I had a bit of a tumble this morning and managed to knock my 100-400mm L lens hard enough to make a real mess of the UV filter (cracked it all to billy-o). I also bashed my elbow pretty hard on the stony and hard bit of ground I landed on - the bruise is going to be impressive - especially with the nice gash in the middle... owwie! Can't wait to see how the rest of that arm pulls up tomorrow morning too, as it's telling me now that it's not overly happy with the jarring it got. The sweet lass (Natalie) up at the Symbio office cleaned and dressed the elbow wound really nicely, and I went off to test the lens... for the next 4 hours... *grin* So - long story short - it doesn't appear that I've managed to do any internal damage to the lens (it's taken me some awesome shots today after our fall actually), but the push/pull action is a bit sticky, and there are 2 faint scratches on the front glass. The scratches are faint enough that the camera is not capturing them when I take a photo, so that's at least OK for now. The sticky push/pull action is relatively minor, but enough to be a pain if I'm trying to make minor adjustments as I'm shooting... grrr! Where do I take the lens to have it looked at/repaired? I bought it from Digital Camera Warehouse here in Sydney - should I take it there? As an afterthought, should I keep using the 100-400mm lens, or should I use another lens instead for my Featherdale visit tomorrow? It's kinda more cramped there, so the 18-270mm Tamron will do the job just fine (but I really do like the images/reach the 100-400 gives me better). T.

Rossmore Vet Clinic is good too... a few minutes up Bringelly Road from Austral... Ted, Robert, Melvin, and Kevin are awesome vets. Steer clear of the new out of Uni grads who are looking to up their "financial contribution" to the clinic though... T.

Please give Jeune an extra cuddle from me DDD... that was way too close for comfort! T.

Just remember when you give Comfortis, make sure it's straight after food... T.

My Lab was still feeding her pups at regular intervals at 10 weeks... all 9 of them. She had so much milk that she put Dolly Parton's chest to shame even at 10 weeks post whelp! The little piglets were also on multiple solid feeds per day as well... Labs are just piggy gutses... I'd hold onto your 2 littl'uns until at least 8 weeks tesslc - vaccinate at 6 weeks, 10 weeks, and 14-16 weeks to make sure of vaccine take-up when mum's immunity wears off. T.

Our farm dog when I was a teen seemed to be immune to paralysis ticks... he'd get covered in them regularly, big fat, full ones they were! - and we checked him twice a day all over. That was his fave thing on the planet getting checked for ticks, as we'd have to go all over him carefully and he loved the attention... *grin* T.

Where are you located? T.

My old girl Zeddy is nearly 15 - she has a few small lipomas and fibromas, none seem to be getting larger as yet... she's also stepped up the skin tag production... *grin* She's been fed all types of kibble over the years - both cheap supermarket stuff and the more expensive premium kibble - only started getting the old dog lumps and bumps a couple of years ago. Still has all bar one tooth that got knocked out in a fight, and they are in good nick. Eyesight and hearing loss are minimal so far too. I'm so lucky with my sturdy old girl. Her only real medical issue is a bit of arthritis, and so far this year (even with the recent cold snap) she hasn't needed any medication to assist with that. I think making sure her bedroom is warm and she has a nice snuggly beddy is working it's charm there so far - last year she required Meloxicam through winter even though it wasn't all that cold compared to our current nippy mornings. Zeddy's vet reckons that she'd sail through surgery if she needed it - she's a very healthy specimen for an old duck he reckons! T.

Run free little Myrtie... you will live on in the hearts of all who knew you sweet girl. DDD - big hugs to you... T.

I've had great experiences with Dogtainers Sydney... excellent service, and the handlers really care about their precious cargo... T.

Run free and healthy sweet little man... now finally able to romp and chase balls at the Bridge... T.

Stunning photos grizabella... Our Orangutans have taken to staying inside again - Willow invariably under a blanket, and Jantan curled up in a big orange ball of hair... *sigh* T.

Our babies grow up too fast! I'm always up early... the horse puppy makes sure of that! She is crated at night so she won't eat the house, and tells me she needs to pee at around 5:30am EVERY morning! T.

Look at little miss proud of herself... "I catched it Mum!" T.

Hoping today brings some good news DDD. Hang in there Myrtie... lots of love and gentle cuddles sweet girl... T.

Crossing fingers for good news this morning DDD... T.

A lot of dogs have problems reading spitz breeds' body language... T.

It would more likely be "my dog, my little ninja", wouldn't it Kirislin? T.

When I was with rescue, we had a lovely young Weimeraner (papered but desexed) surrendered to us. His breeder was not in a position to take him back. We made an email enquiry to the breed rescue and pretty much immediately were inundated with phonecalls at all hours of the day and night by some crazy woman purporting to be from the breed rescue and demanding we hand the dog over to her (for free of course) as we could not possibly understand the needs of the breed with regards to rehoming, etc... Finally tracked down someone listed as one of the higher-ups of said breed club, and she was lovely... she sent a lovely family over to view the dog - they had already been checked out as suitable by the breed club prior - and they and the dog clicked like they'd always been family... neddless to say they adopted said dog, and he's happily living the life of luxury all concerned wanted for him. Like all areas of rescue, even the breed clubs seem to attract some more "enthusiastic" members... *sigh* T.

I'm actually in 2 minds about this particular issue... On one hand, I feel that those who are selling pups to pet homes should take an interest in those pups' wellbeing - but to blanket statement that breeders should HAVE to actively participate in the rehoming of one of their pups many years after the fact seems a little rich. It's like giving the purchaser a lifetime "opt out" clause, when the stress in the first place is that when one gets a pup (from anywhere) the onus should be on the fact that they will live for a certain lifespan and it should be the owner's responsibility for their care and upkeep. Some circumstances may change for any dog owner, and while those circumstances may be unforseeable, they should at least be mentioned for thinking about at the point of purchase - not as some contractual obligation that the breeder should be held responsible for said dog long after it leaves their care. People who purchase a puppy need to plan for any future circumstance change that may make them unable to keep the dog, rather than ringing breeders and/or rescues at the last moment (almost as an afterthought) and saying "dog needs to go NOW"... most circumstances that see a dog needing to be rehomed aren't things that happen overnight after all. T.

*giggle* T.

I'd wrap the whole tail and insert a couple of paddlepop sticks where the dislocated part is for stability. Reason for taping the whole tail is so that it's harder for the bugger to wag it off. T.