Trip Survived

  After 6 flights, driving a right hand drive car on the wrong side of the road and two 25 plus hour days we made it to France and back successfully. The traveling was obviously quite long but relatively easy with no real problems. We made all our flight connections and had no hassles getting through the various passport and customs bits. So after all that how was it, let me surmise it in a list of thoughts that came up:-

1. French drivers are pretty shitty, wandering around in lanes and other dangerous driving things. I saw more dented cars there than here in the USA which I though was bad in the first place.
2. Our nephew is so big now especially since he is only almost 4. Also he has a thing for pirates right now with multiple viewings of the Aardman pirate movie and going to the pirate themed restaurant.
3. The area of France we visited reminded me how young the USA is. So much there is very old even down to the house we stayed in being built in 1836.
4. A baby can be incredibly clingy as our niece is right now. She really wanted to hold on to her mother most of the time or at least be in sight of her. If she didn't get to be with her mother she got very noisy.
5. We saw where my wife worked in France before I met her up in the mountains. It was a bit foggy and clouded over but it is strange to go somewhere your wife was before you met given so much we've experienced together since then.
6. One thing about old houses, they are creaky and hard to heat up. It got cold and noisy in the gite we stayed in there.
7. Doing basic computer maintenance made me a genius in the eyes of my sister in law and her husband. Scary when you think how much computers will feature in the future. Hopefully our nephew and niece pick it up a bit better than their parents.
8. We required an extra suitcase to bring back all the chocolate with us since our original one would have been overweight (again).
9. Being home is so much better than being in someones house. It felt so good to be back home afterwards.
10. Cats only take a day or two to get used to you being back after being away for 10 days. Nicely even Archer seemed to have missed us.

  I think that's it for now, my brain doesn't know what else to think of. Oh also I lost another 3 lbs in France despite eating pastries and stuff. No idea how that happened. Hopefully I'll be able to eat all the yummy stuff my wife is making and still lose weight (mince pies!!!!).

Flying sucks And Fog Of Death

  Next week we get to attempt our trip to France again but it involves flying which at the moment is just really a pain to do. Getting somewhere, queuing up, waiting again, queuing again, sitting in a noisy metal cramped tube for hours and then doing it over again and then again since we have to take 3 flights. Traveling just isn't fun, it is more the activities you get to do when you get there.

  Still I suppose we will get some time away from home seeing our niece and nephew. Now we just need to actually get to fly this time without something getting in the way like a last minute strike cancelling flights.

  I'm wondering how our cats will take it, we haven't been away from them for a long time for just over a year now and with Archer in the mix now the pet sitter feeding should also be interesting to make sure he doesn't eat everything left on the floor. Hopefully Boots will get enough food to eat even though it may take separating Boots and Archer a bit. Still when we get back they will be very keen to see us.

  In other stuff to write about my stomach seems to have been confirmed as the source of the fog of death. I've experimented with not eating certain foods and it has improved what comes out of my mouth quite a bit. A doctor visit has happened and a specialist follow up is going to happen and hopefully we can work out what to do about it other than drastically changing my diet. Not having sewer death breath would be a nice thing so lets make it happens doctor people.

  Then finally I can just say that I actually "won" something for one of very few times in my life. Someone I follow on twitter gave away a code to get a game. I actually managed to get it so I now have a free copy of the latest Borderlands game. Woo me, it gives me a reason to play something other than Destiny for a bit.

Screw You Air France

  Well Air France just messed up our trip to France. Well the pilots originated the screw up by striking and hence cancelling our flight but the company really didn't help. They couldn't get us to where we wanted to go within a reasonable time frame or even guarantee that a replacement flight won't be cancelled. All that and then they won't give our money back until after 8 weeks.

  The most annoying thing about this was that we were going to travel to meet our new niece, spend our wedding anniversary somewhere nice and then meet up with our family. All messed up because pilots want to make sure they are paid more. Really frustrating and annoying not to mention in the end self defeating. You can't get paid of the company you work for has no money to pay you since they can't earn any money if you don't do your job.

  As a result of this we won't be flying Air France any more and our replacement flights are booked with another airline. We don't not use many things/products but it seems we have another one on the list now.

Different World

  Even though the world is still here and the "same" it feels so different now that Fudge is not with us. It is the small things, where you expect him to be somewhere or just think you see him around and then realise he isn't there. His favourite basket is still in its place, not being used by any other cat. It really is weird just not having him here anymore. For someone who was in our life so much it is hard not having him there anymore. No one else in my life has been like that. Sure I've had relatives die but they were all people I saw relatively infrequently, especially since moving countries. Fudge was there every day and for my wife all day.

  Other things do carry on like normal though. I work, we live together, we eat normal stuff and all the other cats are carrying on now. Just Boots seems to be missing Fudge now. He has taken to spending some of his time where Fudge did and wanting more attention occasionally in between his sleeping all day. I suppose eventually we will reach the point where life feels normal again but it is going to take a while.

  Still we have a trip to France to see our niece and nephew coming up. Them and a visit from our parents while we are there is going to make it one big family get together basically. Hopefully we get some relaxing time in as well since it is our holiday for this year.

  And that is all I can write. If I sit and think about what to write too much I tend to get stuck on thinking about Fudge and cry. It hurts too much to do it so I have to stop now.

Goodbye

  It has taken over two weeks for me to write this post since we were so devastated. Fudge died back on 22nd July after coming home from the vets. He simply didn't recover and slowly passed away in his sleep. I was there at the end, panic induced stress and all. Trying to give a cat mouth to mouth may seem desperate but I really was almost dumbstruck with what to do at that moment. He was a massive part of our lives for 14.5 years.

  The best thing I can say is that he brought so much happiness in to our lives it is hard to be sad about him. Sure we miss him so much but he had an incredibly happy life. He was never upset or demanding. He was always happy to see us from when we came home to when we got up in the morning to when he just woke up from a nap.

  To really rub it in that week we learned Boots did have a malignant cancer in his foot. He is recovering well but he had that to deal with along with the loss of his "brother" Fudge. He went looking for him the first few days and now finds it hard to be somewhere Fudge didn't curl up. Boots spends a lot of his time in baskets and places Fudge would.

  It really doesn't feel like Fudge has gone some of the time though. He made such a huge impression on us we subconsciously expect him to be somewhere, or make room for him where he would sit with us or simply look somewhere thinking he is there. Especially with Boots spending time where Fudge would you get fooled briefly sometimes.

Awesome old man

  Boots became an even more awesome old man during the week. 15 years old and still going although obviously not quite as strong as he used to be. He can run and jump when he wants to like after a particularly refreshing poop but most of the time he likes to find one of the many baskets around the house and curl up in it and sleep. He has earned his rest through his years of companionship and getting to the equivalent of being an old age pensioner for a cat.

  Now my wife and I just need to be as awesome as Boots is when we are that old. If we can be as lazy and restful as he is that would be a bonus too. Although I doubt we will have a human or two to slave over us like he does when he wants something.

Technology

  I like technology. It allows me to do all my work from the comfort of home 450 miles away from the office. It lets me spend time relaxing playing games. It allows me to stay cool inside the house when it is boiling hot outside. It has pretty much allowed me to make a very comfortable life for me and my wife.

  It is strange to think that, even when I was a young child, most of this stuff just didn't exist. Sure air condition existed but I lived somewhere that didn't consider it a necessity. The rest though barely existed and now the world wouldn't work without it. Ways of people communicating from even the most remote locations in the world make it so much easier to talk, to find out information and just to keep in touch. It makes you wonder how much more will change, given the will people have to improve things, in the rest of my life. Will I become one of those doddering old people who don't understand these new fangled things like my mother in law with computers and the internet? Will any of it actually affect me in any meaningful way?  Fun things to think about anyway.

  Still I just like the way I can now spend all my time near and with my wife for pretty much 24 hours a day instead of having to drive 50 plus miles away to somewhere else just so that I can do something that I do perfectly well from right here at home.

  So now that I am done with work for the week I'm going to watch some tv on the set that couldn't exist 15 years ago with technology that didn't exist 10 years ago to stream stuff over the internet.

Visitors

  We had my mother in law with us the last week of May. She was her usual annoying self, especially to my wife. It has taken this long to get over her visit and recover from it. I won't go in to all of the details but suffice to say we are glad it is over and she won't visit again for another few years.

  Having someone come to visit, especially when they annoy you, really can disrupt your life. She was only here for 8 days but in that time we tried our best to keep her entertained but couldn't do what we normally do and had to change our routine quite a lot. I think that is the biggest annoyance sometimes, having your happy easy routine of life just messed around and interrupted by this other person you deliberately don't have in your day to day life.

  In other news of how small Oregon can feel sometimes, while we were out for my wife's birthday we ran in to someone who used to work at our vets at the local great cat place and he remembered us and asked after Fudge. Weird how compared to California Oregon can feel much smaller in certain ways. Less isolated from all of the people as it were.

  Anyway I have no idea of what to write here anymore, I've complained about everything I need to, got our life changed around through moving and generally am in a much better place than when I was when I started this blog. Not bad for a few years work really when a fair number of people don't get there ever in their lives.

Another Lump

  Fudge has just had his last chemo today. In it though the vet found another small lump which he removed. It might be another growth but only had a few iffy cells in it so it needs to be sent away for analysis. It all came out ok so he will be fine but it is worrying that something was still in there. Hopefully it turns out all ok but we clearly need to keep an eye on him still. Fudge for his part still doesn't seem to notice that anything is really wrong, he just gets a trip to the vet once every three weeks. Time to wait and see what happens next me thinks.

  In other worse news, it is now less than a week until the mother in law gets here. Fortunately she will only be here for 8 days but still. It will annoy the hell out of my wife and generally make our life much less peaceful and quiet than it currently is. Gah family. At least I get some time off work although it does seem a waste to use it for that. Just as well I get a decent amount.

  Oh well, my mind is currently blank. We get to go get Fudge within an hour and bring him home where he belongs. He'll be so happy to be with us and get to spend another night sleeping between my wife and I on the bed. He loves the special treatment he gets.

A Year

  It has been almost a year since we moved house. Feels like that long since I wrote something here too :) . In that time we've gained a cat, lost a hamster, repainted 3 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms, planted about 200 bulbs, 15 trees, dozens of plants and bushes, chopped down several trees, put in a new well pump, set up 3 different patio areas, gone on holiday to celebrate 20 years of marriage, got a work bonus for the first time in a long time and countless other things that happen in just one year.

  Strange when you think of it that way, just listing out all the things that have changed and happened in a year. Then you think that so far I'm close to having had 43 years. That is a lot of stuff to happen, that has happened and will still happen. It has been a good first year here, a slightly rocky start with noisy neighbour but it is all quiet now and we have found our groove of how we like to live. Easy days, lunches at Jimmy's, quiet evenings together. All around really good.

  The only downside to being here a year? A visit from the dreaded mother in law in just over a week. Speaking of which she has just appeared on Skype and has already antagonised my wife. Not bad for 60 seconds....

Idunno

  I had an old computer (a Sun Microsystems machine if you want to age it that much) at work once that when it was being set up I was asked what I wanted to call it. I said I didn't know in my British accent kind of way. Therefore it ended up being called idunno. Ha ha mister eng admin guy.

  Still that is how my mind is right now, I dunno is what I say to most things. What do I want for dinner? I dunno. What do I want to do to pass time later? I dunno. All the little things in life I seemingly have no answer for. It takes far too much effort some days to sort out all those small things. I have spend so much energy on the big things, making sure my wife and I's life is good and happy. Making sure I stay good at my job so the money keeps coming in. Even sometimes I'm not sure what game to play, shocking I know but I usually pick something. Then again when I do start playing I find myself going on far longer than I should and staying up late, usually because I'm playing the really hard bits of games right now.

  And with this with a quiet day so far at work I get interrupted with something to look at that has to be looked at now. Gah, why do these things happen at the end of my work day.

Presentable Gardens

  The past few weekends, along with chopping down trees, my wife and I have spent a considerable amount of time, effort and money getting the garden areas around the house in some sort of shape. We cleaned up the entire rocky area down the side of the house and got pots and beds all over it. Then came the weeding and mulching and clean up planting of the front beds. Then we moved on to the back which now just needs a bit of planting to fill in the gaps and more mulching. Also I should mention the little sitting area, complete with zen fountain, that we now have in front of the house. Along with the sitting area on the balcony and the chairs to go in the rock area and my hammock and my wife's captain chair that go under the balcony out the back. All in all several ways of spending time outside and enjoying the peace and quiet out there. Not to mention seriously improving the outside presentation of the house. It looks much better now than it did when we got the place. A lot of work my wife and I have done.

  She is really getting in to gardening and outside work now we are somewhere much quieter. I try to give her as much as I can to make sure this is a place she wants to live and it stays much better here than our previous place which was pretty much ruined by the neighbours we ended up getting.

  As for other things, Fudge yet again has sauntered through his latest round of chemo and blood tests as if nothing is happening. He is just a happy little guy that happens to have stuff happening to him that he doesn't really understand. He is enjoying all the extra fuss and special treatment though. Having him happily snuggle up to us at night is nice even if we do get woken up more often with him moving about. More Fudge in our lives is a good thing.

  So after our dinner of pizza and huge chocolate eclair it is time for us to curl up on the sofa together and enjoy our life together. There really isn't anything else I could ask for other to have this happy life with my wife.

Timber!!!!!

  The last couple of weekends I have spent some time with the neighbours and my wife chopping trees. As in chainsaw in hand taking down huge great dead or badly growing bits of wood. Some of them had to be a good 30 to 40 feet tall. Lots of noise, mess and back breaking work. Who would have though that I now own 2 chainsaws and could in theory call myself a real Oregonian now with all the chopping and burning (got to do something with all the little bits and branches you can't use).

  Yesterday especially my wife was out there with me all the time, helping out with clear up, lugging huge chunks of wood around and even with the help of a 64 year old female neighbour pulling over a huge tree that was growing the wrong way after I failed to completely pull it over myself. Neat trick to get a tree to fall the direction you want it to rather than where it wants to go although that large of a piece of wood is heaaaavy. I'm also learning tips from the neighbour on proper chainsaw handling including a few examples of what not to do.

  I'm quite proud of my wife for all that, she stayed outside for hours at a time with nary a complaint and suffered through the occasional dog noise from over the road somewhere and all the potential allergens. Given the migraine she had afterwards (probably from the possibly soy laden wrap we got from the supermarket) she certainly paid for it in the end. Poor poorly wife.

  Fudge on the other hand, considering he has now had 3 chemo treatments and another small bit of surgery to check on a lump (which turned out to be scar tissue) is doing really well. The guy doesn't even notice he is sick (well in theory) since he shows no outward signs of it physically or mentally since he acts like the happy little guy he always is. Good job Fudge.

Life Is Good

  It is amazing how when life is good you really don't need to think about too much. As you can see from how much I've written on here recently I have no real need to express stuff on here. Other than Fudge going through chemo there really isn't much to complain about right now. Sure there is a tiny leak from behind the dish washer but that can be fixed. Even money isn't a real problem with good pay, a big tax return and an actual bonus coming later this month.

  Since joining my wife in her calorie counting eating app I've lost a bit of weight. Sure I get a little hungry but with my higher calorie count I usually find enough to satisfy my hunger. Heck even Fudge has gotten in on the weight loss but with him it is due to not enough calorie intake with his special make him poop food. He has started eating some of the normal wet food we feed the other cats so we shall see if that puts the weight back on. Other than that though he is fine and his blood tests were normal so onwards with the chemo.

  So I don't know what else to say. I'm happy, my wife is happy, our cats are happy. We are away from people and only interact with them when we want to and we get left alone here. It is quiet and nice and not overly hot or cold. Life is good.

All The Games

  I was reading through some of the videogame news this morning and people were all talking about a new game that went through a beta test this weekend that everybody seems to like. Even I, who really doesn't like competitive multiplayer games, of which this is solely that, thought it looked interesting. Then I saw Xbox One/PC only. Rats. Even though I will never actually play it the idea of it looked interesting and different. Something you don't see very often.

  I don't know, maybe it stirred the thing in me from when I was younger and played everything I could get my hands on. It was easier then with less games available but is so much harder now with so many games to play not to mention less time. Now I get an hour or two each day usually, nowhere near the all day marathons I could do as a young teenager. Then again I do have the major plus point of being married to my wonderful wife :) .

  Still it is fun to see all the games that are around and go "Ooh, I should play that one". At least I don't have a huge 'pile of shame' that a lot of dedicated games have of stuff they really want to play but don't have the time to play. The games just sit there in a pile unopened and unplayed. More often than not I play something for quite a while and where possible finish it. Still seeing a game go on sale for cheap I often think "I can get that one" and then don't knowing I have stuff to play for now.

  Then again I am being good about not just eating everything now as well. I joined my wife in her calorie counting app on her phone. I'm also doing the same and keeping track so I can potentially lose the few pounds I want to. It has worked for her so far and given that I lost a load of weight just by eating less if I track food maybe I can lose that last bit. An interesting experiment for sure although it annoys my wife in that I can eat more calories than her :P .

  Anyway, I'm going to finish my work day, not spend $40 on a game and then look after my wife and cats since they need some care at the moment with allergy shots for my wife, chemo for Fudge and waiting for Boots to sneeze on us.

Keen Cat

  Had a disturbed night last night due to a very happy cat. Fudge is sleeping with us in the bedroom at the moment and most of the time he is happy to curl up somewhere (eventually) and sleep with us. Last night though he was up every hour or two and just wanted to see us. The whole cat face in your face, walking across you to get your attention and scratching at the door to go out. He is always so happy to see us but really wanted us awake to fuss him and pay him attention last night. Kind of tiring but nice.

  He is the only cat we have like that though. The other ones will come over and see us, sit with us (except Archer it seems) and then when they want some time on their own wander off. Fudge, if he isn't sleeping in his tunnel, will always come over to us and want to be with us. He is so keen to be around us and so enamoured with being physically close to us it is amazing. We are the people he adores being with.

  Kind of like how I adore being with my wife. I just feel right around her and can't imagine not being near her and with her all the time.

It Works

  When working from home I use a headset since my computer is also my work phone. I brought my corded headset from work when I started working from home since it works fine. I can listen to stuff and talk on the phone with no worries. However one thing about working from home is there are all sorts of interruptions which involve me getting up from my chair to go someplace else in the house and that involves taking off the headset and putting it back on. This is particularly awkward in meetings since it means I can't listen in any more. For me though the headset worked since I could use it to do what I wanted.

  My wife, being the person she is, suggested I get a bluetooth headset to use. It had never dawned on me to get one. Now though it turned up from amazon today and I'm wearing it right now. I can listen to stuff and get up and walk around and still listen and talk with no problems. Talk about genius. Says something about me that I just go with something since it works for what I want/need. I don't look for something better when I have something that works. My wife though can always find a better thing for us and now I have something better. Yay for wives.

100% Chance

  Good news everybody, there is a 100% chance of rain where I live currently and a very high chance for the foreseeable future. Good thing too really, it has been a dry, if cold, winter so far. Since the snow we had last year there really hasn't been much other than fog. It is good to see weather here living up to its reputation for once. This kind of weather has been missed, those days and days of water coming down. All that water that will filter through the ground and then get pumped back up to be used by us. Weird to think of it like that. Since I need a shower I could just go out there with a bit of shampoo and get clean :) .

  So, more 100% certain things. I will always love my wife. Fudge will always be an awesome cat who still doesn't realise he is sick. I'll always play games. Chips will always be delicious (as well as chocolate, my wife's cooking and food from Jimmy's ;) ).  There are certain things in my life that I will always be certain about. There may be other things that come and go but I have things around me now that I am certain and 100% sure I want to keep that way. I've done alright making the life I wanted for myself and my wife. No need to stress about the big stuff, we will live comfortably until I retire and the assuming things go to plan we will have an even easier life. Being 100% sure on something makes it easy to focus on what matters. Find those things and the rest generally falls in to place eventually.

Archer

  It has been almost 4 months I think since Archer came in to this house to join our band of furry creatures. Since then he has found his place amongst the others, clearly below Boots, more than likely below Daisy, even with Lucy and actually plays with her and unsure about Fudge. In fact with Fudge in his cone/collar thing Archer is actively scared of the most timid cat in the house and goes away when Fudge gets too close to his face. Fudge in turn has no idea why Archer is hissing and running away, poor little guy.

  Anyway, Archer is a cat that could eat the world. He loves eating all the food we put out so we have to be careful with how much we give him. With us keeping food out of reach for most of the day now so we can control what Fudge eats he will come up to us very often and head butt us over and over while chirping to get us to feed him. All the while he will be purring and looking up at us to see if we have his attention. We have never really heard him meow though, just lots of chirps. A bit like Daisy's squeaks that she does since she really doesn't meow either.

  Even when we have our own food Archer will come take a look. We will be on the floor eating food watching TV (don't ask, we just do it that way) and he will be on the sofa behind us and then his face will come leaning past the side of your head as he tries to get a look at what we have. Either that or he will wander around on the floor looking at the plate of food wondering if he can have some. Also given his size he can stretch up and just about reach the kitchen counter and has been known to do that a lot of some piece of food that takes his attention is up there. God help us if he ever gets to be able to jump up there like the girls can. He even came up to me today sitting in my desk chair eating a ginger snap my wife made and put his paws on my legs to take a look. That cat seriously loves his food which is not surprising given his weight when we got him.

  Right now he is laying back on the floor looking at us wondering if we are going to feed him, although looking at him let him know we know he is there so he has come back to try a few more head rubs against our legs. Sorry dude, no food for you right now.

Some Updates

  Well Fudge has recovered from his two day ordeal at the vets in being emptied of poop. He has started eating again, taking his medicine and very soon now should poop normally. He even had his stitches out today and another injection for a bad joint in his spine that could be rubbing and causing pain. Throughout it all he was happy as can be once he was over the trauma of what happened to him. He spends the nights in the bedroom with us and purrs all the time until he falls asleep between us or down by my wife's feet. The woman who took his stitches out at the vets even commented on him being so relaxed and easy. That is just how Fudge is. Hopefully he poops normally and we can get him the chemo he needs soon and he can get better.

  In other news we picked the perfect time to get out of California it seems. The worst winter drought in 100 years of records and water levels dropping badly everywhere with people being asked to cut back by 20% of their usage. All this in a time when most sprinklers aren't being used in the state. Sure it isn't exactly drowning in water where we are but we have enough and there is more on the way. So many people in California really has made that place a mess despite all the good things made there, living there really isn't worth it now.

  On to something else, my wife has become a cookie baking machine. There is a pile of them to eat again after she made lots this morning. Some went to the vets for them to have and another pile went in to our cool cookie jar. Then there is a book turning up soon that has more recipes for her to try and me to eat :). Life with my wife is such a hardship :| .

  And a final piece of so important news. Platinum trophy number 22 arrived last night and my overall total is up to 2920 now. Some Lego Marvel led to that along with more free games with my PS Plus subscription. Now just to see which 4 games I get next month and if I already have some of them which has happened. A nice steady supply of games to play that I didn't want to buy but are nice to try is a good thing to have.

Coming Home

  Fudge gets to come home in a couple of hours after spending the last two days at the vets. After his surgery last week he needed the muscles reattached to his bum hole which meant he couldn't poop very well. In the end he stopped completely and got backed up so the vets had the fun of giving him enemas and clearing him out. Right now though he is clear so we get to bring him home again and keep him somewhere we can keep clean easily while he has the runs for the next while. Then once he is over that he gets to start chemotherapy to treat all the cancer parts that couldn't be gotten out via the surgery since it had spread out so much. Poor guy.

  It is has been strange not having him here. The only time when we are not with him for any long time is if we go away somewhere. Being at home and not having Fudge here, especially at night, is a strange thing to feel. He has been away during the day at the vets for a teeth cleaning for example but to not have him there first thing in the morning when we get up to greet us and not having him come up to us and just want to be near us all the time is weird. Not something I want to get used to. If the chemo goes well then he will have several more years. We are not ready to say goodbye to Fudge and he is not ready to go, he still enjoys life so much and acts like a kitten still despite being 14. Even the vet commented on him being so active and not acting his age.

Old Men

  Poor old Fudge is having surgery again today since a lump of cancer is growing back where it was growing before. There is not as much this time but they are going to be more aggressive with the surgery to make sure it doesn't grow back. While we were there though the vet still seemed amazed at how old Fudge is and how healthy he is for his age. I suspect Fudge being an indoor cat helps but both him and Boots are old men now that seem to just keep going. They are slower and sleep more than they used to but are still with us. It is hard to remember a time when they weren't here. They are such a part of our lives along with the other three.

  Other than my wife I don't think anyone else has been such a big part of my everyday life since I was growing up. Even with my parents I only remember the time from being a toddlerish age to being a teenager where I wanted to do my own things and not spend time with them. I've spent so much time with Fudge and Boots that it will be so strange when they are not part of my life. Still Fudge will be back with us this afternoon and get to wear his cone of annoying licking sound again (Fudge doesn't really get the fact that licking the cone doesn't lick the fur underneath). I'm sure he will be well looked after and fussed over for weeks to come until the cone comes off and he is running around again and snuggling with us on the sofa.

Until Next (Well End Of This One) Year Christmas

  We just packed up all the Christmas decorations, it being roughly the right time to do it being close to the end of the twelve days of Christmas. The only evidence now are the icicle lights outside (which are still there due to it being extremely cold and frosty this morning), the extra loot around the house and the big pile of chocolates and sweets still to be consumed. Given our slow rate of eating the sweets to keep calorie counts down they are going to be around for most of this month I suspect. Not a bad thing to be honest but wow we did quite well stuff wise this year.

  We definitely need to come up with a way to get away to somewhere we can do snorkeling again soon now I have my special goggles with a camera in them. Hopefully when I use that the pictures and films I take will be a bit better framed and stable. It just gives us the perfect excuse to go somewhere really nice again and get better pictures.

  I did actually "work" last week but it was so quiet with half the people out that most days I got what I needed to do in a couple of hours and then just stayed online in case anybody needed to ask me any questions. The real hard work won't start until next week and in to the new year as we ramp up with the next release (and the other small release we are going to sneak in before that one). It has made relaxing over Christmas and New Year easier since I didn't have to use up too much of my time off to do it all.

  As for game playing, I have done my usual playing a fair bit over my time off along with the usual film and tv watching my wife and I do when we get new stuff. I even managed to get another platinum trophy out of the new smaller Ratchet and Clank game that was a load of fun so that makes 21 now. With the Lego Marvel game I'm also playing that will make 22 once I finish that one although that seems to have a lot in it like some of the more recent Lego games.

  All in all another very good Christmas, nobody bothered us, it was nice and quiet and we got all the good food, loot and relaxing time that we deserve. Even the cats enjoyed their presents as well. Roll on the next one (only 355 days approx to go).