I have started 2020 in spectacularly unproductive fashion. No idea why, but honestly, I am like a slug. Or like a sloth which, thanks to a visit to the Wildlife Photographer of the Year exhibition, I now know moves incredibly slowly and comes down from its tree just once every eight days for a poop. Apparently it has a very low-nutrient diet, so the slow moving is all about energy conservation. No-one knows why it bothers coming down the tree to, you know. Intriguing, no? The exhibition was brilliant, I can highly recommend it. Stunning images and really interesting stuff written about each one too, to wit: sloth lifestyle. The littlest boy was lured along with the inducement of pizza afterwards.
Does anyone else have a problem getting their dog to eat a worming tablet? It is bone-shaped, but quite frankly not fooling anyone. Bertie, who will eat all manner of revolting stuff that he finds in the gutter, will not touch it, even if it is crushed up with a sardine or covered in egg. We spent a whole evening trying to get it down him, and in the end I had to carve out holes in giant pieces of Cheddar and put the pieces in there, then fill in the holes with more Cheddar so that he couldn't see/taste it then drizzle the whole thing with sardine oil. Honestly, it was such a drama. I was out most of the evening, and when I got back he still hadn't eaten most of it. I have a feeling that he'd had half an egg, a sardine and a pound of cheese though. The following day he was delighted to find that someone had put out a huge amount of cat (?) food in their garden (either for cats or foxes I assume) and he managed to get most of that down his neck as well. There has been some gas. He is not in the least bit bothered.
Later on in the week I forgot to go to an important meeting about steering your child through their GCSEs. So now it looks as though I don't care. I have tried hard to make up for it, by all manner of helpful suggestions. I have looked up past papers, found the powerpoint presentation on the school website, run through different methods of revision and asked many irritating questions. We feel that I have probably done enough now and no more is needed of me. In fact, I caught the end of Weekend Woman's Hour earlier and apparently it is no good being a helicopter parent or a snowplough parent any more, we need to be a trampoline parent and just sort of bounce in when it all goes wrong and be supportive, then fly back off up into the sky. I am standing by.
Now if you'll excuse me I am going to go and read all about productivity and how to get some. Any and all tips gratefully received.
CJ, on that productivity thing.....when you find the answer please pass it along! You might even patent it and make a kazillion!
ReplyDeleteYou are my online tonic.always make me chuckle.happy and healthy new year to u and your family.pooch too.Swiss roll works for worm tablet ( in two peices) moulded around for our pooch.Linda j
ReplyDeleteI think that it's because it's the time of year when our inclination to hibernate kicks in. Most people seem to have problems when it comes to getting their pets to eat tablets. xx
ReplyDeleteWe can get worm "pills" as a paste in a gadget that looks like big injections here in Czech republic. The worm paste must be quite yummy for dogs, because we haven't got any promlem to get the paste to them. We just squeeze the rigth amount of it directly to their mouths and that's it. Easy :) Hana
ReplyDeleteOh, I forgot- It doesn't work with cats at all :)) Hana
DeleteI have a dog with tickbite fever at present and she's on a five day course of antibiotics and cortizone. Being a Great Dane, she requires a giant dose of meds so it's eight tablets twice a day. I roll the uncrushed tablets in a ball of cream cheese or peanut butter and toss it to her. From experience I know it's better not to crush meds; you can't tell if they've eaten the lot. I also think crushing it might release more of the taste they find suspect. Hopefully, you won't need to administer meds again soon.
ReplyDeleteGood luck with the productivity research. Sounds like just the kind of thing I would do while I procrastinate, ha ha!
Productivity? What productivity? I think we've had the wrong sort of weather. Good luck with the tablets. x
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing again CJ. You are not alone in this world. Stuff will get done eventually and if you must, pick the most necessary and do it (them). Remember, one day at a time........and you are only one person. Cheers.
ReplyDeleteI just discovered the 'snowplough mother' concept. It rang so many bells! I remember hoping my daughter would fail at something insignificant so she would experience the feeling! Turns out the first failure was the driving test. Several times!
ReplyDeleteI feel your frustration with worming pills! We had cats and they could dissect their food and leave the pill in the empty dish!
Meetings for parents are endless aren’t they? Particularly when you have three. All those decisions which seem to change between each child. New exam boards, new courses. Enough to put you in a tail spin. The exhibition sounds great, hope it makes its way to Jersey. Doubtful. As for the sloth’s toilet habits...I never knew. Good luck with the wormers. They’re a nightmare and I agree they’ll sniff them out however you disguise them. Our saving grace was the introduction of a spot on variety which you anointed their neck with..so much easier. Maybe they do that for dog wormers too. Good luck! B x
ReplyDeleteJust love your writing, made me laugh out loud for second time this year -alongside James May series in Japan, (only accessed as result of accidentally signing up for the free delivery thing, so felt had to get my months money worth!). Identify with the feelings you describe. January is a month to just survive in my book. Coping with anything feels in minus numbers and then anything remotely serious hits the plummet to the bottom button. Roll on sunshine and blue skies and more of your blogs. BTW have three boys and they have all survived, in ten years time you will have forgotten the trials of school years completely.
ReplyDeleteThis brought back many memories. I used to have 2 cats. One I could cuddle like a teddy bear and pop the pill into his mouth - no problem. The other, I'd have to chase round the house (how do they know you've got something nasty?), get him cornered, wrap him in a towel and grapple the pill into him. He'd then dash into the garden and sulk! When they brought out "Spot-on" wormers - I didn't care if they were more expensive. Although he still knew, even before I'd opened the phial, that I was after him! As for productivity - blame the time of year. I'm waiting to go to bed by 5.30pm! Roll on summer. xx
ReplyDeleteI love that last photo. Our part time dog has to take several tablets daily and will hide them in her mouth to spit out later. It doesn’t get easier.
ReplyDeleteI have been thinking about sloths all day.... I read your post earlier on the go. Why DO they come down from the tree to poop? Let me know when you have an answer. I listened to the snowplough parent interview, isn't it interesting how common sense gets packaged into trendy new concepts? All my children seem very resilient, probably because I am such an inadequate parent. My two older ones didn't respond well to steering them through exam preparations.... Have a lovely week xx
ReplyDeleteP.S. thanks for your reading recommendations, I love the Lost Man.
I love the Wildlife Photographer of the Year exhibition, thank you for reminding me. I did actually know the sloth-poop fact - I think it was in some children's book or other - but look forward to learning more. Love the worming tablet shenanigans! I wouldn't worry too much about missing the parents' meeting. Just try to exude an air of calm (even if it's alcohol induced!) and provide plenty of snacks and reassurance. Oh, and mind how you go on that trampoline! :o) xx
ReplyDeleteIf you're feeling sloth-y.. it may just be your body, mind and soul telling you that this is a good time for a break. I'd just roll with it if I was you.. you'll be back to your super productive self when you're ready for it. :-) Your kids are lucky to have such an interested mom. I sure didn't! ((hugs)), Teresa :-)
ReplyDeleteTry peanut butter - that's what people use a lot over here. All my dogs love it!
ReplyDeletere: pill for Bertie: we have a soft kind here called Heartguard (i live in the US) that tastes of liver, and my dog LOVES it, so maybe look for something different that does the same job, but tastier?
ReplyDeleteIf I were more local, which it to say not across an ocean, I would've popped 'round and fired it down his pie-hole for you. I've done it about a zillion times over the years...even to cats, and they're far more difficult than dogs. I'm surprised your tricks didn't work. Next time, I might suggest some tripe...it's bloody foul so might disguise the scent of the tablet. (we can get it in tins here at the pet food store).
ReplyDeleteI'm just laughing about the helicopter vs. trampoline thing. Also about the missed meeting. I'm constantly in awe of this whole GCSE thing...it seems to take over lives, doesn't it?
Brilliant factoids re:the sloth. I knew they were slow but I wasn't aware of their also-slow digestive transit. Fascinating stuff.
xoxoxo
You make me laugh! I forget all sorts of meetings about my kids, well I did when my older ones were little. Or worse I would show up but completely not pay attention and have to look it all up anyways. Now for my boys, Hank is a trooper and will take it if I just push it down that back of his throat, but Bear is another story. There is all sorts of corralling and almost biting my hand to get that one to take a pill. I am afraid I am going to lose a finger one of these days. I even use peanut butter on it which he will actually get off in his mouth and spit the pill out. So much dog drama, especially with my recent escapees.
ReplyDeleteLol! I thoroughly enjoy your writing. So glad you stopped by my blog so that I could find you!
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ReplyDeleteJanuary's nearly gone, so it's a bit late to say this - but I agree with Flighty and others, about hibernation. It's not the month for productivity. I hope February might be better, but that depends on the weather!
ReplyDeleteLove that first photo!!!!!
ReplyDeleteLate to this post, but absolutely agree that January is for Hibernating. Nature is doing it. Why shouldn't we take it easy too...???