It’s been done before. But this is Tikki’s first-ever pre- and post-groom blog! So, to the photos!
First up, Tikki back on September 24th. You can see the attitude here—“A groom? I think not. I’m good.”
But the dreaded day of October 9th came, and there was surely no escape…
And I’ll be in Wales! But it reminds me, speaking of dog pics, that last year we did a very cute picture of Ms Tikki for Halloween and it wasn’t posted here. Maybe we’ll do another spooky* one this year too, but meanwhile here is the wonder of last year’s pic…
What I think this blog lacks of late is dogs. In this case, dogs wearing specs!
Top pic is of the late, great Fred (2004-2018), thus attired in May 2016. The second pic is of the beauteous Tikki, actually sitting in almost the same spot as her much-missed uncle, circa June 2019…
It’s true… I struggle to update this blog regularly and I have for the last decade, really. (I have a large archive of “legacy blog” postings, not currently online, which was a mixture of personal and work—going back to the year 2000!) Partly it’s because social media put a real dent in blogs—regrettably, for me, as I have always disliked so-called social media… and only real popular blogs have weathered the storm somewhat unscathed. So it’s a major disincentive to bother with a blog when you know no one bothers looking at it unless you personally prod them into doing so!
And life itself—the complications, the distractions, the tragedies, the endless quest for income and stability… it’s heavy. Who needs to blog about that or prioritise blogging to a silent or non-existent audience instead of focusing on important stuff?!
Yeah, I’m really back, and there will be a flurry of catchup postings coming up. It’s been a weird few months.
Last time I was here, it was to write about the passing of my Westie, Fred, aged 14. Not long after that, Steve “adopted” Oscar, a two-year-old miniature Yorkie. It was nice to have a dog back in the house without too much of a break, and he’s awful cute…
But… BUT… for me, there was a Westie-sized hole and it wasn’t getting filled so easily.
So: a belated return to posting on here, but it’s for a very sad reason. After getting over the New Year slash January funk, around January 24th, my beloved dog Fred started to get sick. At first it was extreme exercise intolerance, soon followed by alarming breathing difficulties and severe weakness/lethargy.
Fred on his 13th Birthday… March 2017
An initial vet appointment early in February gave us a diagnosis of pulmonary fibrosis (apparently common in Westies) and suitable meds were given. I was not convinced or happy about this diagnosis; I had my own suspicions/fears, which later turned out to be correct. Anyhow, after a week or so, there was no improvement… and in fact, Fred had started to experience very obvious fluid build-up in his belly, which was having a big impact on his mobility and comfort.
Okay! Following on from “Hail Cthulhu!” Redux, this is the second and final strip celebrating the tenth birthday of Club Comicana Vamporama. It’s also the last new J&M strip to go on here for a while, probably, as I’m working on Club Vamporama #1, an actual PRINT comic. The cover is finished; I might post a preview sometime.
It was taken about three weeks ago, but really—too good not to share on this blog.
Apologies for radio silence! Lots of stuff is coming—not least because I’ve been doing some new artwork and will be reviving my Webcomics activities shortly… important info about that soon.
There will also be another episode of Ghostwords TV—technical problems and being busy with other things has caused delays, but reaction to ep1 has been very positive. Stay tuned.
Well, happy new year, while there’s still 20 minutes to say it in 2015. Which was a rubbish year. Will 2016 be any better? Fred isn’t convinced…
Well, actually it was yesterday this blog achieved the age of fifteen. Landmark? Suppose. Blogs weren’t all that common back in 2000. So this was a relatively early one; which means it’s survived through the ascent & peaking of the blog form and its inevitable decline since good old Faceborg took over everything.
So, um, Happy Birthday, Blog!
I was indeed harumph years old on October 30th. which always signals the impending close of yet another year, this time 2015, which with all the best will possible has been something of a fleeting and not particularly polished turd amongst many others.
Birthday wise, the Good was…
Yay! The new 4K restoration of one of my all-time fave films, on Blu-ray. Thanks, Nigel. 🙂 Steve got me some Phibes Blu goodness, too. Double Yay!
As has become the cliché here, the intention to not neglect this dusty old place gets trumped by actual real-life nonsense. This time it was a move. I moved to a ground floor flat near Northfield (Bham) in early August. It didn’t go very well—actually, it’d be easier to list what didn’t go wrong—including no Internet and ballsed-up electrical wiring—and I was back at Steve‘s after five weeks.
Still. That’s five weeks I’ll never get back. I lost a lot bit of money on the deal too.
