Why I've given up gardening for a few months with #HDYGG

With the temperature in the high 30's during the day and rarely dropping below 30c at night and the humidity, the plans for the garden have been put on hold, especially growing vegetables. 

Last year the weather slowed me down, but this year I'm working full time and being outside in the heat and the drive home from work, after a full day of teaching just drains me and it's as much as I can do to have dinner, walk the dog and water the garden, before collapsing into bed.

I'm also leaving Dubai for July and August to escape the heat, travelling to South Africa, Germany and the UK, so I'll have plenty of gardens to photograph and blog about on my travels, for now the husband and I are off out to explore the world of indoors in one of the many malls in Dubai with a focus on the outdoor life.

This has sat here for 3 weeks, waiting to be planted and seeds sown.

The purchase of this 15m hose pipe has helped as it saves me dragging the larger one round to water every evening.

The chills and tomatoes are still producing.

I was a little surprised to discover 2 new peppers.

The tall plants are now lacking their bright pink/purple flowers, but they are providing excellent protection to the other flowers, especially the nasturtiums, from the sun.

 Photo taken last week, you can see how colourful the flowers were compared to yesterdays picture, above.

Sadly some of my indoor plants haven't made it, i don't know if it's over watering, the air con or just bad luck.

Both the indoor and outdoor basil are doing exceptionally well, but the hydrangea is looking a bit worse for wear and I've no idea what to do with it.

This si the car park where I work, on the edge of the city near a housing estate. Unless the land is built on or landscaped, this is what all open spaces look like in Dubai, beige and barren and slightly depressing.

When your dog gets ill - Animal Tales

Bob hasn't been well the past few weeks, it started with bumpy skin on his right back leg, then an infection and raw skin under his left front leg. At the same time we noticed he was looking a bit thin, but he was eating normally so we put it down to me working and out the house all day and not feeding him titbits. He's become an indoor dog now the temps are over 35c in the day, so he's not running around during the day and the evening walks have been shortened due to the humidity and the heat of the ground, so in theory he shouldn't be losing weight, so we decided a trip to the vets was in order.

The vet wasn't too worried about the weight loss and took a skin biopsy to check for ticks, fleas, mites. He gave him a steroid injection, a course of tablets, cream and a cone of shame to stop himself from licking the cream off.

The vet asked about changes in diet, shampoo, washing powder for bedding, trips out etc. Nope not changed any of the above, and the vet didn't think the rash/infection was from the lakes as we go every week and never had any problems before, so our only conclusion was it must be to do with the rat we had in an outbuilding, about a week before Bob started showing symptoms.

Bob wasn't fazed by the cone and although it was amusing to start with as he bumped into walls and doors and had to leave the car backwards, the fun soon wore off when he kept smashing into my shins and using the cone to knock on the door at night as he needed help getting back onto his bed.

On Saturday we took him back to the vets for a check up and added to the list that he hadn't poo'd for 2 days and was having difficulty peeing. He had a new rash on his belly and has lost a further kilo in weight.

The vet has decided on an aggressive treatment of worming over the next two weeks, but if he's lost any more weight at his weigh in this saturday, the vet will run blood tests and do a scan on Bob's prostate. The cat is also on a similar worming treatment plan, in case she's a carrier and they've both been treated to kill/prevent ticks, mites and fleas.

To say I'm a little worried is an understatement. Apart from annual jabs, this is the first time we've taken either the cat or dog to the vets since we've had them. Pushkins 4 years and Bob 3 years.

It has been suggested we should take out vet insurance, especially as we've already spent £180 on treatment to date, but we'd have spent £1440 on instalments over the past 3 years without any gain from it and we have a pot of money saved up for relocation fees so we'll dip into that if we have to have scans, tests and treatment.

In the meantime Bob is now free of the cone and is perfectly happy, wagging his tail, bolting down his food as usual, enjoying the odd bone or two and demanding his nightly walk. We're not going out in the desert now till summer is over, by 7am it's around 32c and just too hot for humans, let alone Bob and his feet on the hot sand.

If you read last week's post you'll see my cat proof nets aren't working as planned.

Week 72 - My Sunday Photo 51c

Yes, you're reading that correctly. It's 1.37pm Sunday afternoon. I've just returned to my car and this is the temperature recorded inside my vehicle. 

Week 19 One Daily Positive, Project 366 and SnapHappyBritMums

What can I say about this week? Bob is ill, Peter has been away, work has been ok this week, so that's a positive. The weather is too hot, I've woken up at the end of the week with what appears to be the flu and next week isn't looking any different other than Peter isn't away, but he's working late every evening. I really should just 'snap out of it' and accept my lot in life, I've a trip to the UK coming soon, reduced working hours during Ramadan, money in the bank, my health (apart from the flu) a loving husband and a wonderful family that live 3000 miles and a 7 hour flight away. I won't get to see child 4 of 5 on the UK trip as he'll be in the Falklands.

On the blog this week:
#MySundayPhoto Bob
#AnimalTales It's all about the cat
#HDYGG Township Gardening in South Africa
#PoCoLo Positives about expat life
#Photalife Dog walking in the desert

Sunday Day 129 ‪#‎onedailypositive‬ ‪#‎project366‬ ‪#‎WhatMakesMeSmile‬ ‪#‎May ‬‪#‎snaphappybritmums‬ Bob has made me smile this evening. His‪#‎ConeOfShame‬ is secured with his collar, so when I clipped his lead on to take him for a walk tonight he couldn't see where he was going as it lifted his head up. But his tail is still wagging, he's eating and peeing and trying to follow me round the house stopping to stare at the walls he bumps into until I move him along.

Monday Day 130 #onedailypositive #project366 #Blue #May#snaphappybritmums it's been cloudy in Dubai today, no sign of the usual blue skies, but I'm grateful for the respite. Yesterday the temp in my car after work at 3.30pm was 47c, on my arrival home the air con was on full blast set at max 30c. In the UK today people are complaining about it being 26c, our minimum temps in #Dubai are higher than that. I guess it's all relative, was just a welcome break from the direct sunlight today.

Tuesday Day 131 #onedailypositive #project366 #father #May#snaphappybritmums my dads Father's Day gifts and card were sent back to the UK in January with one of the kids. When you live abroad you really do have to plan that far in advance, shame, the kids won't think that far ahead, but it's ok, we still love them.

Wednesday Day 132 #onedailypositive #project366 #symmetry #may #snaphappybritmums which ever way you look at it, it's the same. Work all day and work all evening. I really need to get on top of my game. Maybe I'm trying to hard, I'm only 2 weeks behind with evidencing the children's work and updating the tracking sheets, but it's too easy to fall behind and I don't do stress very well.

Thursday Day 133 #onedailypositive #project366 #flowers #may #snaphappybritmums it's the weekend in Dubai, I had my nails done and bought myself some flowers for the photo prompt, I was going to add it's been a long week, but every week feels like this now I'm back in work.

Friday Day 134 #onedailypositive #project366 #friends#may #snaphappybritmums we actually had a real person in our house yesterday, a colleagues of Peter's. Otherwise Peter and I are our own friends, with these two to keep us company and get us out the house.

Saturday Day 135 #onedailypositive #project366 #blog #may#snaphappybritmums I love my blog and social media name 'Chickenruby' it's about real life as an #expat #parenting #teens #specialneeds #charity #travel #education I'm not sponsored for my travel or to write any posts. I write about my experiences, adventures, thoughts and feelings. I try to inject a bit of humour into posts from time to time, I enjoy adding photos and I don't try to be or claim I'm anything else other than just a real person, living life day to day. I'm getting fed up with certain bloggers claiming to be experts in fields such as parenting and travel. How the hell does writing a sponsored post about an all inclusive, paid for holiday, give any advise to families traveling with children, or how does reviewing endless baby/kids stuff make one an expert on parenting? What these bloggers actually are, are walking bill boards. Advertising products that the average reader can't afford to buy, leaving some of them feeling inadequate and possibly getting into debt to provide these experiences and items for their children. Get real people please.

Animal Tales, it's all about the cat

I belong to quite a few animal groups on face book and see a lot of cat videos. sometimes I spend hours watching them and every now and the one really grabs my attention. This cat reminds me of Pushkins when she wants her treats at night. Play with me human.....NOW 

A few weeks ago Pushkins came home with a patch of fur missing, as if she'd been shaves. i posted a picture in one of the face book groups and most people said she'd obviously got caught under something or had been in a fight. The edges of the missing fur were too neat and her skin undamaged so I started looking through for other cases of cats being shaved and I was startled at the amount of results I found for the are we live in. I've connected with a few other people with similar stories, all incidents occurring during the night, no other skin damage and the area not sensitive.

What do you think? This photo was taken this week and her fur is starting to grow back.

Both her and Bob are now indoors full time as the temperatures are reaching 40c+. They both go out early morning at 5am for an hour, then back out again after 9pm until we go to bed. As a result her routine is shot to pieces and she's started to become needy again, sleeping anywhere and everywhere, following me around from room to room. If I'm not tripping over the dog, it's the cat.

Our daily afternoon cat nap, when I get home from work.

Keeping a close eye on me while I do some paperwork

While I was watering the plants, she walked round the wall of the property keeping an eye on me.

Dusting the lounge, she sat and waited patiently for me to finish.

And grrrrr she's rediscovered her love for sleeping on the dining room table, so I've had to cat proof it again.

A positive post about being an expat

Think expat, think sunshine, pools, coffee mornings, nails, spas, lunches and large bank balances.

Think expat and think excitement.

For many this is exactly what an expat does, not the one's who have relocated with their employment, but their spouses. It is evident on my face book page that this goes on, so I can see why the assumption is made it's what we all do.

If you read my blog, you'll see this isn't the case for me, especially since I started working. There is endless sunshine in Dubai, there was a pool in South Africa, there were coffee mornings before working, yes, nails get painted, I've never been to a spa, we've been to one brunch and the bank balance is ok, thank you for asking but we're certainly not on any kind of rich list.

There was excitement in the early days, who wouldn't be excited when your husband comes home from work and asks 'would you like to live in South Africa?' the anticipation, the glamour, excitement, a new adventure, but it is short lived because within a few weeks the work to move there actually starts, the stress mounts, the goodbyes and the tears start, the plane is boarded and then the honeymoon period starts.

The luxury of living in a hotel, exploring a new country, doing all the tourist things, an extended holiday. But then the house hunting starts, opening bank accounts, buying a car, settling children into school. You don't need to be an expat to do all of that to know how stressful it all is, let alone do it all in a foreign country where EVERYTHING works differently from EVERYTHING you know.

There's a danger of this becoming yet another negative post from Suzanne, moaning about her life in the sun, so here goes with the positives:

• Your children learn so many more skills than you could ever imagine, making solo flights half way round the world, alone. Growing in maturity and confidence to take on new challenges.

• Your son can travel home from the UK to Dubai and make arrangements to meet up with a school friend from South Africa to go Kayaking around the Palm.

• You can be in one country, your son in another, you can meet up in an airport lounge in a different country to travel on together.

• Family and friends start sending you things, they listen to your woes, about the things you miss and can't get and go to great lengths and cost to send these items to you. Your friendships and relationships change, some drop off the radar all together but their loss, not yours and new/old friends step up in the role.

• Spending quality time with family and friends when they come to visit you, friends go out of their way and expense to arrange stop overs in Dubai so they can see you before flying home from their holidays.

• Friends who don't take up the offer of a free holiday, will put you up for a night or two when you return to the homeland.

• Experiences are numerous, living in a holiday destination means you can dip in and out of real life (work, food shopping, housework) and into a world of fantasy, visit the beach or stand on your front door step with a view of an iconic building or wake up one morning and say 'let's go on safari' at minimum cost and planning, just get in your car and drive no more than 60 miles down the road, or see Rhino's quite literally on your doorstep.

• Spending quality time together as a family, we spent more time doing family things with the last two kids before they left home than we did with the others before leaving the UK, maybe it was because we only had 2 children instead of 5 living at home, but a lot of it was due to the isolation and safety and security in South Africa, we watched far less TV, spent even less time on the internet, due to poor and slow connection and went for walks together, ate out as a family, spent weekends camping and we were even known to spend more than a few nights per week, playing board games.

• Our relationship as husband and wife is much stronger than ever, mainly because we only have one another these days, outside of work on a daily basis.

• We welcome and search for new challenges, experiences, we no longer have a comfort zone to worry about leaving.

• We bounce back from knock backs much quicker, it doesn't hurt any less, but we move on and learn from our mistakes, especially financial ones with greater speed.

• You meet some amazing people even if it is fleetingly, you make friends in other countries who remain friends for life.

• Planning a trip/holiday/packing/getting on a plane is second nature, wherever you go in the world, it is no longer stressful. You explore new places, jump in rental cars and drive on either side of the road with ease. 

• Your view of the world alters and widens as you learn first hand and immerse yourself in local cultures.

Week 71 - My Sunday Photo

Bob has some kind of skin infection. Vet ruled out mites, ticks, fleas and has taken a biopsy, says probably not from the lakes as we go every week, but I changed his shampoo 2 weeks ago and it could also be from the rat that has been living in one of the out buildings. Bob has also been losing weight and his ribs are sticking through, have to go back next week for results, weigh him and see if he needs more steroid injections. In the meantime despite not being able to walk forwards and staring at walls until we turn him round, he's still wagging his tail.

Week 18 - One daily Positive - Project 366 - SnapHappyBritMums

Peter was away again this week, in Turkey. It's only a 4 day working week with Thursday being Isra and Mi'raj, marking Prophet Muhammad's journey from Mecca to Jerusalem and ascent into heaven, around 621. Most people go away for the long weekend, I did think about joining Peter in Turkey for a long weekend, but as it's a 5 hour flight each way, I decided 3 days was pushing it and it wouldn't be that relaxing, plus the cost of boarding the cat and dog. He came home on Friday and is heading off to Kenya on Sunday, sorry folks, next week's post doesn't look like it's going to be positive either.

On the blog this week.
#MySundayPhoto Bob at Al Qudra Lakes
#PoCoLo I've had enough of being an expat I just want to go home now
#HDYGG Growing vegetables in the desert.
#Photalife This week's theme is WALK.
There was no #AnimalTales this week due to the host having a death in the family.

Having joined back in with the photo prompts, there are two pictures for Sunday with it being the 1st of May (how did that happen so quickly?) and then normal service is resumed.

Sunday Day 122 #onedailypositive #project366 a trip to the garden centre on the way home this evening and some cloud cover, so I was able to spend an hour in the garden. #gardening #dubai #desert #plants #flowers

#fashion #snaphappybritmums #may #photooftheday I need to wear practical clothing for teaching 4 year olds, lightweight as temps in #Dubaiare currently in the mid 30s and as I teach in an Arabic school I'm required to cover myself top to toe and neck to wrist. Fashion does not enter the equation when it comes to getting dressed for work, considering buying an #abaya.

Monday Day 123 #onedailypositive #project366 #fun #snaphappybritmums I decided to start doing the photo prompts again, but only one and was able to catch up with March and April. I go to work, I make dinner, I work in the evening and go to bed early. It's not a lot of fun. I also realised that my daily photos were rather boring during the week with either a picture of my dinner, my work or one of the pets. Today is no different other than Peter being away and instead of work I decided to clean the house. Am on my way to bed shortly and the only photo I'd taken was of the cat on the wall. There was a huge commotion outside with Bob who was just sitting their barking at her. He was having fun barking and she was having fun tormenting him.

Tuesday Day 124 #onedailypositive #project366 #rest #may#snaphappybritmums eating dinner, watching comedy shows on YouTube and drinking tea after a long and hot day at work. This colouring book has been one of the most stressful projects I've taken on and certainly not relaxing as the title claims.

Wednesday Day 125 #onedailypositive #project366 #balloon#may #snaphappybritmums how my day was spent, teaching science to 100 4 year olds. As well as inflating balloons using vinegar and bicarb of soda and making volcanoes, we also saw what happened when you drop mentos in a coke bottle. I haven't had this much fun in ages.

Thursday Day 126 #onedailypositive #project366 #eyes#snaphappybritmums #may in an effort to stay awake today, I decided to leave the house where sleep comes easily and have lunch at The Creek, then I rather foolishly decided to go the beach for an ice cream, I've parked two blocks away, I've arrived late lugging unused beach towels, wearing my swim suit under my clothes was a waste of time and my eyes were too big for my belly and I couldn't finish my frozen yogurt. On a positive I am wide awake and should have a proper nights sleep and get back into a proper routine soon, however I have an airport run at 4.45am

Friday Day 127 #onedailypositive #project366 #drinks #may#snaphappybritmums Peter arrived home from Turkey the early hours of this morning, he has enough time to unpack, wash, iron and repack his case before heading off to Kenya on Sunday. I've been depressed, not sleeping and lonely, but I've resisted the desire to turn to alcohol to help me sleep, despite Peter's frequent visits to Duty Free. On a positive, which I'm digging deep for, Peter did the food shop so I've got some decent food in for next week in his absence.

Saturday Day 128 #onedailypositive #project366 #photography #may#snaphappybritmums where I'm currently standing will be the new canal in Dubai linking the Creek to the Arabian Gulf. In order for them to dig the canal at the cost of Dhs 802 million, they had to raise a 16 lane highway#sheikzayedroad and #AlWasl and #jumeriah #beach roads Dhs 384 million, both 4 lane roads which will become a clockwise one way system. The work started not long after we moved here and I've been taking photos to plot the progress as part of a photography project. #dubaicanal #dubaicreek @uaeproject @dubaiwatercanal #myuae #mydubai #myview@rta_dubai #dubailife #dubai #construction #safapark