Hazel

Busy Busy Busy.

Days today, and what a day it turned out to be! On arrival at the station the night crew were out on a job, when they got back they told my crew mate, Nick, and I that one of the nursing staff who works in our A&E department, was found collapsed whilst walking her dog, a crew was called out to her but was unable to revive her, she passed away at a young age. She will be missed. The first job of the day was a full cardiac and respiratory arrest. The patient had died in his sleep and was definitely deceased. We had a psychiatric job, the patient said he was going to jump under a train, then proceeded to produce a huge carving knife! Thank you for your very fast removal of the said object Mr policeman, we were very grateful. Then there was the lady who had a fit at a nursing home, another who was drowning as her lungs filled with fluid due to heart failure, and the lady who we think may have fractured the top of her right leg (#NOF, neck of femur).In between the jobs we have been sent on cover all over the place. All the while this is going on the police have shot a man at the local cathedral, he had been running round town with a gun. We got our first meal break at 15.20 lasting half an hour, as soon as it finished they put us on our second meal break a twenty minute one, this is hardly playing the game when we do a twelve hour shift! Ah well I guess I shouldn't complain, sometimes we don't even get two meal breaks.We get back to base at 19.50 only 50 minutes after our end of shift! And now I am home about to have a cup of tea with my husband who has also been at work today and who incidentally, got an overtime job too.

The Piano

Sitting silent in the corner of the room,
still and lonely.
Remembering its gifts to all who sat,
listening to its beautiful song.
On it sits Beethoven and Chopin,
their music it once played.
And in a frame, a photograph,
Its old partner in crime.
The two of them becoming one,
Master and Mastered.
And now it sits,

Still and lonely. Remembering?

British Telecom

Yesterday I quickly did the horses before collecting my Aunt and her dog to take them back to Hertfordshire. The journey took us three hours what with one thing and another, and we arrived back to a cold house. My Aunt put the heating on and it wasn't long before we had warmed up. We then discovered that the telephones were out of order. My Aunt is hard of hearing so I rang BT and spoke to a man in India!!(BT, British Telecom?!) telling him we had a fault on the line!! You just know this is going to be one of those occasions when I have to blow my top to get anywhere.... Well that is what I thought anyway! The very nice man in India (I did ask him where he was!) Told me that they had found a fault on the line and that someone would be out either that afternoon or first thing in the morning! Of course they will! He offered to have all my aunts phone calls diverted to my mobile phone so we didn't miss a call. We accepted (and sure enough during the evening we received several calls which were from the diversion). We then received a text message telling us that a BT engineer would be out the following morning. It was nice to sit at my Aunts house and talk to her, drink tea and chill out. It wasn't till 11.20 that I decided I had better go to bed. This morning was woken at 8.30 by my mobile phone. first a text then the engineer himself saying he would be at the house at 9.30. By 10.00 the telephones were working and the divert had been removed! I take back my words BT we received excellent service from you this time! My Cousin and his youngest son came round, we swapped photographs and chatted then after having some lunch I began my journey home. Only two hours and twenty minutes this time, I would have got home even quicker had someone not decided that a woods next to a major "A" road was a good place to let a young spaniel run!! I am home, I had to go to the supermarket when I got home but then received a phone call from my Husband saying get home quick there are huge fire works and the dog is home alone. As I came out of the shop it sounded like world war 3. I drove home as fast as I could, the dog was hiding in the bathroom absolutely terrified! Why do we need fire works to turn on the Christmas lights? And if we do need them why do they need to be sooo loud?

Happy Thanksgiving.

This morning I was up early as the farrier was coming to trim mouses feet. I took Reds feed out to her and walked Mouse back to the yard where she stood eating her breakfast while her feet were done. Afterwards I tried putting some of my old horses rugs on her as she has out grown the ones she has! His rugs fitted her perfectly. Leaving one of them on her I took her back to the field, put some hay out and mucked out.
Just as I had finished the Blonde Bird turned up. As I hadn't seen her for ages we went for a quick coffee at a local coffee shop before I went back home.
Today I am picking my granddaughter Flower up from school at midday then together with my Mum and Aunt we are going out for lunch, Flower hasn't met my Aunt before so it was a nice family occasion.
Mum and my Aunt then went to the cemetery where my Grand parents are buried, before I then dropped them at my Brothers so Mum could retrieve her car.
Flower and I came home so she could see her Grandad.
On my way back to the yard this evening the Blonde rang and asked if she could come over if we weren't busy. Never to busy for ya Hun. I just hope you like American football 'cos its Thanksgiving so there are three games on tonight! woohoo

Crash!

Husband walking into the sitting room: My computer has just crashed!
Blonde Bird sat using my old laptop: Yeah I drove past it down the road one car was on its roof!
Me Lit'lun and Husband in unison: Huh? hahahahahahahahahahahah

Now you all know why she is called the Blonde Bird!
Luv you.

Mixed Emotions

I got a call this evening from my brother asking if I could come and pick mum and my aunt up from his house, as mum wasn't very well, he said "I hope I haven't poisoned her" I hope he hasn't too! I drove down, mum wasn't feeling at all well so we left immediately and I drove them back. Shortly before this call I had one from my granddaughter's mother, confirming that I was picking flower up from school tomorrow. We love having our granddaughter over, its been such a long time since we spent quality time with her. We went to Scotland in the summer and took both her and mum with us as it was just Lit'lun that wanted to come with us out of our kids. Hopefully Mum will be ok tomorrow so we can go out for lunch as we had planned to do.

Sleep deprivation

Having managed to drive home through the haze of sleep deprivation, I make my husband a cup of tea, there's no point making myself one, I know I will be asleep before it gets to a drinkable temperature. I'm asleep..... I'm awake, my mobile phone is ringing, but for a moment I don't know what it is! Alarm, or phone? I now can't even remember who it was and what they wanted!
Nights!!
We had nothing but falls last night, a 66 year old woman whose birthday it was, fell from the top to the bottom of a flight of stairs, giving herself an 8 inch cut straight across her hairline, and a concussion too. We had to collar and long board her up the stairs, (basement flat) then down an out side flight of steps to the ambulance, I swear my arms are 6 inches longer now!
We then had two further falls jobs, one of whom I went out to 10 days ago when she also fell out of bed. We did have another job, but for the life of me I can't remember what it was or where it was! In between the jobs we were sent on cover to several different fairly local areas, and one further out, we didn't make it to the further one as we got a job....... in our own area!!
Apparently we are working to a cover plan called the Brighton Model! We are nowhere near Brighton, what makes them think it will work for us?? I had been single manned, but another vehicle had been also, so they sent Scott down to crew my ambulance with me. He's lovely, it always makes the shift go quickly if you have a good crew mate.
Back home I am now wide awake, I have had two cups of tea and checked my phone, it was the blond bird who rang, I better call her back as I don't know what she wanted or even if I agreed to do something! oops.
This evening I am dog sitting, Mum and my Aunt, are going round to have dinner with my brother, he has a dog and a cat, and we aren't sure how Beethoven will be with the cat so I am going to go over to mums so he has company, he has only been at mums since Saturday and has never been there before, so its not as if he really knows the house.
My Husband is not very happy, and I don't blame him, he hasn't been sleeping well, due to working nights, and his course away, he was a uni last night and didn't get in till gone eleven, so he stayed in bed for a while this morning. When he got up and went down stairs into the lounge the gas fire was on! Beth must have turned it on yesterday evening then gone to bed with out turning it off! Kids!!

When bad gifts turn good!!!

My last night shift tonight. Thank goodness. The last two nights have been busy, the first a complete nightmare. I am single manned tonight so who knows where I might end up. We got to one hospital last night and found 9 ambulances waiting in front of us to book their patients in! We were waiting for an hour before we could hand over. I woke up about an hour ago, and found I was alone, the kids are at school or work, and my husband has, I presume gone to Uni. He was also on nights for the last two nights so I haven't seen him properly since before he went away on Friday! Shifts!! I spoke to the Northern Bird last night, she told me she had won a remote controlled helicopter in a local radio competition. They had asked people to text in saying what their worst Christmas present ever, had been. She told them that last Christmas her,now, ex husband had given her "PS I love you" then he promptly left her! We laughed about it especially when she said she has emailed her ex and thanked him for the rubbish (my word, hers was much to strong for my blog!!!) present, as he has just won her the remote controlled helicopter. Go girl! I can't believe that Christmas decorations are going up in November! I don't just mean in towns and such either, I went to a house on my first night shift which was completely decorated and ready for Christmas. Maybe its just me, I like the decorations to be put up a week before, then the kids get excited and you aren't fed up with them. Bah humbug. (Still, what are people thinking it is only November!) Ah well, I better go and sort out my dinner to take to work. I have to do the horses tonight too, the Blonde bird has been doing the mornings so that I can go straight to bed, Bless her.

DAD

24 September 1921
24 November 2005

Goodbye bed............. :-(

As I woke up this morning and got out of bed I realised I would not spend another night in it till Wednesday, It is a very unhappy thought, I love my bed.
Out into the freezing cold. The heavy rain and force 9 freezing wind chilling me as I make a run for the car followed by Lit'lun and the dog.
The horses sensibly are under the field shelter, that is until they hear me pushing the wheelbarrow up the track, then they rush over for their morning feed and some hay. Too cold, I decide to muck out the field tonight. Back in the car the dog is whining she doesn't care about the weather as long as she is with me and we are outside. Crazy animal!
I drive over to mums, its 9.am and they have just finished breakfast, great just in time for a cuppa.
The dog and Beethoven eye each other, its the first time they have met, Beethoven, although 12 years old, is very bouncy where as the dog who is four is very sedate around other dogs. He bounces at her and she tells him off! they both know where they stand now and are quite happy to be around each other.
My cousin sets off for home having been told that they have quite a bit of snow back home, and later on we have a light lunch.
My husband rings to say he has set off on his way home, and shortly after my cousin rings to say he is home the snow has all gone and its chucking it down with rain!!
I set off to do the horses for the evening run this time I muck out too. Then its off home to sort out my dinner to take to work and the kids dinners.
And now its off to work for the night. I hope its better than the last couple of night shifts I have had!

Enough said!

A world of my own.................

Up at the crack of dawn to go to work today. It was a relatively calm day, a couple of cover moves, a chest pains, a fractured ankle and a two year old boy who ran into something at a leisure centre and cut the bridge of his nose quite badly, poor little thing. My Cousin drove down today with his mother, my mums sister, and their dog Beethoven they had a good journey down and arrived at lunch time. After work I drove over to see them all, picking Beth up from home on the way through. Lit'lun was already there. We stayed and had a cup of tea, and my aunt lent me some Cd's of my uncle, who passed away in May, playing their grand piano. I burnt the Cd's to my computer and at this very minute I am sat, headphones on listening to him playing. If I close my eyes I am in Hertfordshire, sitting in a spinney chair eating salad with my friend, whilst Denis plays the piano,Sleeping in put you up beds, in the conservatory, or out in the conservatory watching woodpeckers at the trees in their back garden, walking the dog up the hill behind their house, wandering round Tesco arm in arm with Denis keeping him out of trouble whilst my aunt does the shopping. A thousand memories flow through my mind, making me smile. I open my eyes, my face is wet and my eyes are red, but I listen on...... the beautiful sounds, the happy memories, .... A World of my own...........

Down Down Down...

Last night at around midnight I got to a really sad bit in my book, so sad it made me cry, then I couldn't sleep, I remember looking at the clock at half past one!!
Fortunately the Blonde Bird did the horses this morning as it was about 10.00am when I eventually surfaced, and before I got up I read on to the end of the book.
Once up I made another cous cous cake, this one tastes like bread pudding, Yummy.
Lit'lun came home from school just in time to see her dad off, My husband is going away this week end, I hate him going, even though I know I will be busy at work so I probably wouldn't have seen much of him anyway. He took some cous cous cake with him and promised to phone when he got to his destination which is about a three hour drive from where we live.
I took Lit'lun over to Mums once he had left as I am working tomorrow, on the way we did the horses. Its freezing cold out tonight so I gave them some extra hay.
Having left Mums I drove home, and started cooking Beth and my dinner's and sorting out my lunch for tomorrow.
And now, I am sat wondering what my husband is doing, and hoping that the place where he is staying is warm....
I am looking forward to you coming home.....xx

Sing Sing.

Another fantastic day, so good in fact that I took the horses rugs off, only to find Mouse has grown again, Horses grow at the back first, so for a while their back end is taller than their withers, this probably sounds great to most people, yep the horse is a good 14.3hh to 15.0hh, but my problem is, she is only 18 months old, she still has a fair amount of upward growth time and I really didn't want a mahoosive horse, I would be quite happy if she stopped round about this height and just filled out a bit....... not a chance!
Two lovely sunny days on the trot, the weekend is not supposed to be so good though, I am making the most of it while it is here. I took some photos, the trees are beginning to loose all their leaves now, and the teasels are everywhere, still looking pretty.
This afternoon I had to take Lit'lun out of school early as she had a singing grade exam. She told me she was fine and not nervous........until we reached the practice room then she became very nervous! Her singing teacher, an accomplished singer and musician, was going to play the piano for her.
When her turn came they both left the practice room and entered the exam room, shortly after I sneaked out to listen at the door. She sang really well, her teacher said she would be surprised if Lit'lun hadn't passed, we now have to wait up to 6 weeks for the results. I will have bitten my fingernails down to my elbow by then!
On the way home I got Lit'lun a Krispy Kreme donut as a treat. I didn't have one, a) they are far too sweet for me and
b) it isn't something my slimming world plan thinks helps weight loss! Judging by Lit'lun's I am inclined to agree!!
Dinner over its on to the aforementioned Slimming world.............................

The Webcam

Last night The Northern Bird and I were both chatting on MSN. I have a new laptop computer, due to shutting a pen in the lid of my old one, it has a built in webcam, she also has a webcam so the evening was spent typing and laughing at each other like a couple of school kids. Its good to catch up, now she lives so far away it isn't often we really get to have a good old natter, roll on May when she comes down. Whilst messing about with the camera before I went "Live" with it, I noticed all these odd things you can do to change the colour or add things in the foreground. I would like to point out that I did none of these whilst talking to her, and she can confirm that.

Red Sky At Night.....

What with one thing and another I was later than normal going down to do Mouse and Red tonight, but it was most definitely worth it!
The sky was the reddest I think I have ever seen it, still mild, I didn't have a jacket on, I gave them both their hay and feed and began mucking out the field, it was such a lovely evening I didn't want to leave, there was an owl on a roof screeching away and the cows just down the lane were mooing, and the sunset was wicked.
Unfortunately I had to go as I had to go to Tesco to get some bits for dinner.
Lit'lun and I were going to have haggis (mine is a veggie one!) but Beth and my husband don't like it so they were going to have Italian.
They don't know what they are missing! Yummy

***Abra Cadabra***/

Abra Cadabra..... or New Balls Please!
Today I had a lay-in, when I got up the sun was shining and it was lovely and mild. The dog thought so to! I threw her in the cage in the back of the car, ... well actually she jumped! We set off for a popular area where there are usually lots of other dogs, but it is still a great place to go and sling a tennis ball around.
I have a ball slinger, always handy if you have a dog obsessed with tennis balls, so we set off walking and slinging.
This area was I think a gravel pits which has been turned back to grass land, it has been mowed but there are lots of areas where the grass still grows quite rough, it was into one of these areas that I accidentally flung our rather grubby yellow tennis ball! The dog whizzed down the slope after it and appeared a few moments later with a very clean blue tennis ball!!! we often end up coming home with more than we went with, saves buying them, but hunt as we did we couldn't find our ball anywhere, I had watched it land and knew we were looking in the right place.
Its a nice place to walk if I haven't got time to go too far, and as of yet the car hasn't been broken into, which it has in some other local dog walking area car parks.

Shock!

You know when you are browsing through stuff on your computer and decide to check your emails, that is what I have just done...
I had an email from Friends Reunited, but it wasn't for me! It was for my dad!
Years ago my mum and dad thought it would be an idea to join Friends Reunited, and to be honest they got more out of it than I did, as they both managed to catch up with people from their distant past, I think my dad enjoyed it.
The email, which came to my email address as neither of my parents have a computer, and therefore no email address, was suggesting my dad update his details!
As I can't seem to find a way to delete his information I have updated it.
My dad passed away a couple of years ago as I mentioned in a previous post.
It was a bolt out of the blue to receive the email.
I miss him so much..............

A Dogs Life.

I woke up to blue skies and sunshine today Just what I want to see after being a night owl for the last 48 or so hours.
After checking the horses feeding them, putting hay out and mucking out the field, I went to see my Mum.
We had a few cups of tea and put the world to rights, as well as catch up on the gossip. My younger brother and his son are to be confirmed very soon, but unfortunately I am working. Mum's sister and Nephew, and the dog are coming down at the weekend, my Aunt and her dog are going to stay while my cousin goes back home the next day. Beethoven, is a black Lab, he is a taller heavier one than normal, my Border Collie is a hill Collie (the fine boned small variety of Border) who HATES Black Labs ... Great! what fun times lay ahead?!
..
When my dog was about 8 months old we were walking near our home, she was off the lead but typically for her staying fairly close to me, when round a corner came an older lady with about 6 Black and Yellow Labradors, one of the Black ones rushed forwards and grabbed the dog round her throat at which she yelped and all the others piled in. The woman had no control over her dogs which took on a pack mentality. I physically threw the dogs of my pup before hoisting her up over my shoulders where they couldn't get to her.
Since this incident if she sees a Black Lab she strikes first! no other breed, and yellow, chocolate and cross bred Labs are all fine. I take her down to a canine swimming pool on the coast where the owner has with a great deal of success put my dog in a session with Black Labs. We are slowly re educating her.
..
After leaving mums house I went home to an empty house, kids all out at school or work and my husband at uni.
I decided to bring the rabbit in, he wanders round the dining room for a while, every time he gets near a tennis ball the dog runs up and takes it, they are funny.
Ah well, I better cook something for the kids and myself or it will be bedtime before we eat.
........................

The above pic is at the canine swimming pool. my dog is on the right her friend who has spinal nerve damage is on the left

Here, There and Everywhere

Yesterday I didn't manage to sleep very well before having to do the horses and collect Lit'lun from my mums then go back to work.
Once on station I found out I was single manned, as my crew mate was still booked sick, still I don't mind being single manned occasionally! Just after booking onto the vehicle I got a phone call from control, "Please go to another station 25 miles away to crew up with a trainee who is also single manned and change your call sign to the host stations!" Nooo!
My New crew mate turned out to be a really lovely man who was 3 months off his fully qualified assessment. I can't say as much for the work though! we were absolutely hammered.
Cover here,
cover there,
Job, Central chest pain....
Cover at a station 30 miles from our base,
Job, Child, temp of 40.8 + complications,
RTB (Return to Base) Meal break woohoo.
Cover, this place,
Job, 3 yr old. Difficulty in Breathing DIB, (bad job. Sternal Recession, low sats high respiration rate , very fast pulse),
Job, fall, cut to arm.
Cover, back to there,
Cover, over yonder,
Job, Transfer male (GCS 7) from A Hospital to B Hospital for CT Scan of brain.
Then Joy of Joys, you may resume your regular call sign and return to your home dispatch point.... thank you!
I arrive back at base absolutely knackered! where control stand me down for my second meal break! great that is a 20 minute one there are 20 minutes till the end of my shift but they won't let me go home,.... how mean! The day crew arrive I am free to go home having done over 200 miles during the night.
I drive home, have a cup of tea and go to bed.....ZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

The Good, The Bad and The Ugly!

I have just got home from my night shift, I have done the horses and sorted out my dinner to take to work tonight ... how organized am I!
..
Last night amongst the usual drug and drink overdoses and little old ladies falling out of bed we came across some "different" jobs....
..
The Good,
We carry many items on our ambulance which are there to help the patient and us as well as some selected drugs, one of them is Glucagon, which comes in the form of an injection into the upper arm, or thigh muscle. We were called to a house by a wife who's husband was having a hypoglycaemic episode (his blood sugar level was dangerously low). He was being verbally and physically abusive, which is a very common side effect.
On our arrival after literally pinning him down, his wife sitting on him, he was given the injection, within five minutes he was chatting to us laughing and calm.
He had taken his full regular medication for diabetes but had not eaten enough for the drug to work properly causing him to have a "Hypo". Anybody seeing this transformation for the first time is usually amazed.
..
The Bad,
We were called out shortly after the above job to a 14 year old girl who was drunk!, Very drunk!
We arrived to find her at her parents house and they were there, always a good start. She had been to a friends 'no alcohol' party, she had met up with a couple of 18 year old boys first who had been plying her with alcohol, she didn't know what it was but she drank it anyway! the boys then followed her to the party and continued to give her alcohol until the parents of the party girl noticed and sent them on their way.
By this time she was extremely drunk. She was driven home by a friends parents where her anxious parents called us.
I think she will be in trouble when she wakes up this morning!
..
The Ugly,
Two thirtyish in the morning. Two children aged about three and a half and under a year. Home alone.
The boy wakes up finds he is alone, leaves his home goes to a neighbour, who calls the police. They are taken to the police station, then on to hospital!.... The Good, The Bad and The Very Ugly!!!

Put everything in a bag and shake!

Today when I woke up my husband told me I had kept him awake since 6am snoring, Oops. I got up and went down to do the horses as the blonde has been doing them for the last two. We decided to give them a small breakfast with their morning hay now, even though they are both a good weight and there is no sign of bitterly cold weather, they might as well be prepared when it does set in. As I wandered around the field mucking out I found a dogs marrow bone chew!! both or us have dogs but we don't bring anything like that with us to the yard! A short distance away was a fox poo, there often is in our field, one evening I might hide in the field shelter and watch them, So I can only guess that the fox has stolen the bone from someones garden. If your dog has lost one its on the muck heap at our yard!
Once back home I made yet another lemon cous-cous cake (its so yummy and as I said before only 1.5 syns for the whole cake) and some pasta to take to work tonight.
My husband came into the kitchen as I was finishing and said we may need to do a big shake up at home! We discussed things and I agree, but I am not saying any more about it now, not until its decided for definite.
Later on when I go to do the horses, I will take Lit'lun and the dog over to mums with me as I am on nights for the next two.... I will try to write something on here this time.
Ah well a huge pile of wet laundry is calling me to hang it out to dry.....
Sometimes I feel as if I am juggling everything without time to take a breath!

Children in Need

Today is Children in need day, this charity fundraiser always seems to do well, I hope this year in the recession we find ourselves in, it does equally well.
Go Pudsey!

191

Today when I arrived at work I saw that we had got our new ambulance back (191), I say new loosely as 13 months ago it was new, but it was hit through no fault of the crew, on its way back to base, by an elderly man who lost control of his car.
The damage was estimated at £43,000 it has taken all this time for the vehicle to be repaired!! My Crew mate today was one of the crew members who were involved in the accident, he was actually collared and long boarded from it last time he saw it.
We are glad its back though as we have been getting loads of spare vehicles which no one has looked after so they are looking battered.
I was hoping to write about at least one of the jobs we went out to today, but unfortunately we didn't have any! This is unheard of, we sat on base and watched The Matrix, and Love Actually and several bad day time tv programmes and I was able to nearly finish reading my book.
What a random but strange day, I dare say I will pay for it tomorrow or on nights!
For now I will savour the thought that I had a very chilled day and got paid for it! don't think we often have instances like this, normally we book clear from a job to go straight out on another one.
( the head lights flash left then right as do the grill blues, we don't have a bulb out!)

The Lunatics have taken over the assylum!!!

Tonight I had a phone call from Lit'lun asking me to pick her up from her friends house, it was my wedding anniversary yesterday and as my husband was at uni we decided to have an anniversary meal tonight, which meant that we had both had some wine, even though I had only drunk half a glass and her friends house is just a quarter of a mile from ours I decided to walk, it just isn't worth the risk.
I decided to take the dog with me as she is always up for a walk and with me on days tomorrow, she won't get much of one then.
As we were walking I glanced up and noticed it was a full moon, glad I am not working tonight, its true what they say..... people do the weirdest things on a full moon, where do you think the words Lunatic and Loony comes from (Lunar...Lune.....Loony). Anyway I love to see a full moon even if I like to see it from my own home!
This Photo was taken by one of my crew mates on the last full moon on which I was working!

Rack and Ruin.

Today, after boiling a saucepan of water to make tea!!! The kettle has gone to that great tea making place in the sky, well actually its off to the dump! I go and see to the horses they are both fine, I toyed with the idea of taking their rugs off as it was yet another mild day, but decided against it as the blonde bird is doing them after work so it will be quite dark she doesn't need to be faffing about with rugs.
Once back home My husband suggests we go out for a walk with the dog.
We drive out to Racton, there is a lovely little church in the village which seems to be just a few houses along the road! We park in the Church car park and have a quick look round before heading off up a bridleway towards the ruin which sits on a hill looking down on Racton, Racton Ruin, it is also known as Racton Tower it dates from about 1772 and was built by the Earl of Halifax. We walked up to and past it, the dog as usual off the lead as we went round a bend in the track a lady on horseback appeared, I called the dog to me and signalled her to sit, which she duly did. The lady said "what a well behaved dog" as she passed by.
Fair enough she is very used to horses, but the rider said it was the fact she sat when asked.... ahh my good girl. We walked back to the car and drove home, taking a detour via the shop to buy another Kettle!
After a lovely cup of tea (boiling the kettle 4 times and discarding the water, as per instructions), actually it was a few cups of tea, got to get the tea levels up, I decided to make a lemon cous cous cake again as the last one went so fast (and only 1.5 syns for the whole thing!!) Yummy.
Lit'lun was invited to go swimming at the local leisure centre with her friend then on to have tea with them, one less mouth to feed tonight.... she got out of tidying up her bedroom though grr!

Minus 3

Don't worry I am not on about the weather, I will come to the -3 in a minute.
What a difference a day makes! Yesterday the horses were in their stables from about half past two because of the awful weather, today I put them out naked!! No rugs, it wasn't hot but with their thick winter coats they were quite happy to be unrugged.
I had to take Lit'lun for an orthodontic appointment, as she needs braces on her teeth, this was her first appointment so she was a little nervous. After having impressions done of her teeth and a general look at her bite we left, next appointment January!!! Another year would have whizzed by!
This evening I went to see Willamina Power, to get weighed, as I am working this week and don't want to leave it to know if I have lost or put on weight, as you can see by the title I lost another 3lb, and am I pleased :-) yep I think I am.
We had a coffee and a natter before I had to get home as Beth, who is babysitting Lit'lun, is off out tonight.
Oh Willamina, that Lemon cous cous cake was fab thank you for the recipe.

The Perfect Man.

Oh Yes!
Today is my Wedding Anniversary, I woke up this morning to a cup of tea in bed and a card and present from my husband together with cards and prezzies from the kids and my Mum.
My husband had gone out and bought, (all on his own) some lingerie! Not only is it absolutely gorgeous, it's exactly the right size!!
I am very impressed
Thank you Darling, Happy Anniversary. xxx

Armistice day .... 11th Hour of the 11th Day of the 11th Month.

Today is Armistice day, a day when we remember those who fell, giving their lives for their country. At 11am a two minutes silence should be observed during that two minutes our thoughts should be of remembering those brave men and women who served the country during the two world wars, and the conflicts we have seen since.
We Will Remember Them.

"MOBILE" Phone??

Am I alone in thinking that the "Mobile" in mobile phone means you can take it anywhere?
You know, so many people think that it means "You have to be mobile" ie on the move in a vehicle. Wake up people what are you thinking, apart from the fact that it's against the law (UK) what is so important that it can't wait until you have stopped?
Are we really living in a world that moves so fast that we have to talk on the phone whilst we are driving? Is our live or the life of a passenger in the vehicle so worthless that we don't care as long as we take that call?
I am referring to people who are holding the phone to their ear, I know that bluetooth and other hands free devices exist, which makes me wonder all the more why I still see people driving one handed sometimes at great speed with their phone held to their ear or even texting, you have to look at the phone for that, and while you do that how can you see that child run across the road, or the car in front stop suddenly.
The law just isn't tough enough on people who insist on using their mobile phones in this way!

Quack Quack!!!!!

So my blog is called under a clear blue sky..... where did I go wrong? Today it's under a black scudding rain cloud, with 60 mph winds. (Even the ducks are naffed off!) I woke up this morning to hear the wind gusting torrential rain at the windows, I drove over to the yard and took the hay down to the horses in the wheelbarrow, well ok so I did have to keep putting it in the wheelbarrow as the wind had other ideas! The poor horses were sheltering behind the field shelter as the rain was being blown straight in, I put the hay down and tried to muck out the field, apart from the fact I could hardly walk against it, the wind kept blowing the barrow over, I gave up and stood at the back of the field shelter to ring the blonde bird, suggesting we brought them in to the stables tonight, the field was flooded too. Whilst in the shelter a huge gust of wind blew, the wooden building shook and the roof lifted.
Fifteen minutes later I had fenced off the entrance so neither of the horses could get in, that would be far too dangerous!
Back in the yard I muck out Red's stable,and put fresh water soaked hay and feeds into both stables ready for tonight.
My car has leather upholstery so before getting in to go home I contemplate taking my soaking wet jeans off, just my luck to be stopped or come across an accident so I decide instead to sit on the blanket I always carry in the back.
Once home I get changed and sit talking to my husband for a while, I have just realised he will be away at Uni tomorrow night and its our anniversary :-(.
My mobile phone rings, the blonde has got to the stables and the horses are looking very unhappy, she suggests bringing them in now where at least they can have some hay and keep out of the weather, I agree, there is no point leaving them out in this feeling sorry for themselves. I offer to help as they do like to be together and taking one at a time may cause problems, its too wet to struggle. She declines saying she is already there and soaked no point both of us getting wet. Bless her. "Ta Hun" x

Flash

Once I had put the Roast in the oven I went down to the yard to see to the horses, its all very well putting out hay and feed and even checking that the water is ok (I did all the troughs yesterday) but I still had to make sure all their legs were attached and not dangling off!!
Stupidly I left the torch in the car so I either had to go back and get it or think of something else..... Now, anyone who knows me will know that I may not be clever but I am lazy! soo, I decided on the "think of something else" approach, all I had with me was a wheel barrow and a mobile phone.
I am very much into Egyptology and know that the Egyptians had invented a way of catching the sun light using mirrors to get light into otherwise dark areas of temples, and yes the moon was up...... what do you take me for!! I used my phone it has a flash light on it easy, I checked all their legs and the rugs before heading back down the track to the yard..... mirrors,, oh please!

Remembrance Sunday

Today, Sunday 9 November, is Remembrance Sunday.
Last night whilst on the phone to my Husband (who was on nights) we decided that as he may not go to church if he has a bad night I could go to the Church of which my friend is the Incumbent Priest, it's a lovely church, high church, you know "Bells and Smells" it gives you a sense of where you really are!
We set off at 8.20am as the journey is a good hour and twenty minutes and I never speed!!! (if I see a police car or camera)
We arrived in good time, (No police cars or cameras) and take our seats near the front of the church, both Beth and Lit'lun have come with me, which is nice as Beth usually gets dragged kicking and screaming on high days and holidays! He didn't know we were coming and as he walks through before the service he spots us and comes over to say a quick hello.
The service is lovely, incense and all then after the Eucharist we move to the memorial for the laying of wreaths and two minutes silence to remember those who died fighting for this, our country, and paid the ultimate price.............
..
..
After the service we went to the church hall and had a cup of tea and chatted to some of the members of the church, several of them remembered us from our last visits.
Then our friend asked if we would help him to put one of the alters back as it had been moved for the service, this done we went round to the rectory for another cup of tea and a catch up on what has happened since we last spoke.
On the way home I had to stop for a McDonald's!! Yes I know... but a man of the cloth put the idea into the heads of my girls and once they start you might as well do it!

31 July........ Random observations

No Okay I know that isn't today's date, just humour me here, July 31 is a really great day and here's why.....
It's, Fatboy Slim, Wesley Snipes, Harry Potter, Daniel Ash (Bauhaus) Birthdays,
Christopher columbus landed on Trinidad (1498)
Land mines were banned totally (1998)
Ignatius of Loyola (Jesuit founder) died in Rome (1556)
Pope Sixtus lll was elected (432)
The Spanish Armada was spotted of the coast of England (1588)
Dr Crippen was arrested for murdering his wife (1910)
El Cid (Spanish warrior) died (1099)

Also, its a holiday in Malaysia... Warrior's day
and in Hawaii... Hawaiian flag day

The fact it is also MY Birthday is beside the point....

Off Duty... woohoo!

Ahh, I woke up at 3ish this afternoon in the knowledge that I AM OFF FOR AGES, well ok I'm off today and the next four. My husband is on his last night tonight, I hope it isn't too bad as the past few days he has had some horrid jobs, why they all come on top of each other I don't know but it always seems to happen.
I get up and go down to the yard, do the usual mucking out of the field, hay and feed then decide to fill all the water troughs, now this may not sound like too bad a job, but when the tap runs at about three drips a minute and we have 6 very big troughs this is a major time waster, the clouds look like there is rain on the way, the moon is already up and I don't think my chances of finishing dry and in day light are very high.
Once finished I go round to mums to have a cuppa and pick up Lit'lun and the dog, before returning home to feed the girls and myself and all the animals.

oops

Ooops, two days without a post! Sorry.
The last few days have been a bit of a muddle what with the short turn around from my last set of shifts, fitting everything in just didn't seem to happen. I will give you here a brief run down of what happened.....
Thursday:- Morning, my turn to do the horses as the blonde bird had done them for the past 3 days due to my day shifts, she had been unable to muck out the field on Wednesday so I had two wheel barrow loads! both the horses were fine and as soon as I had finished I went home to prepare my dinners for the next two nights, its always easier to do both now and freeze one as tomorrow day I don't know how much sleep I will need. After this I wash my hair and then Flower comes round, I haven't seen her for a few weeks so we have a cuppa before taking her down to see my husband (Grandad).
Then I have to go and get my private licence plates put on the new car, as the paperwork has come through, do the horses and then its off to work, we had two cover moves and one job, back in base by 11pm and asleep by half past he he, woken for a meal break at 3am then at 6am when we get up. I don't believe it yet another good night.
Friday: Although I had quite a lot of sleep I still get 3 hours this morning just to top up, then its off to the yard to hold Red for the farrier to shoe her, muck out the paddock and feed the horses, rush back to collect Lit'lun from her singing lesson then take her and the dog to mums as Beth is out and my husband and I are both on nights!
At work I find I am single manned, not a problem, but they decide to send someone to crew up with me as she is also single manned and we are short of resources in my area. What a night!! 7 pointless cover moves, and several jobs. we got back to base for a meal break but that was it, so now I am home again I'm off to bed. Goodnight.

Bonfire Night.

On my way home from work today I got stuck in very slow moving traffic going through a village that was having its firework display. People were all over the place some even walking in the middle of the road. A huge fire was visible and I could hear excited children laughing even through the closed windows. I was glad this village was miles away from my house!
Unfortunately when I eventually arrived home there were three separate displays with my house at a point somewhere in the middle. I opened the front door and immediately saw the dog panting fast, ears flat to the side of her head, pacing up and down the kitchen, I turned the radio on to drown out some of the loud bangs, but she was already too stressed to settle down. I will have to see if I can get her something stronger than the DAP to keep her chilled out, this year she seems more anxious than she has in the past, maybe the loss of our Jack Russell has had an effect!

H2SO4

Little Johnny isn't with us any more what he thought was H2O was H2SO4.
...
Today we were called to a woman who had been cleaning her sink drain with sulphuric acid, as she poured it down the plug it exploded back out into her face. Fortunately she had her wits about her and irrigated her face with cold water until we arrived, not knowing if we could use our burnshield dressings on acid burns, I decided to use two large standard dressings and keep flushing them through with cold sterile water, when we got to the hospital the back of the ambulance was swimming with water but her face didn't look too badly injured.
We went back to the hospital later with another patient to find that the burns lady had been sent home to make a full recovery.

New President

Barak Obama won the election and will become the new President of America. I hope the appointment of a new young president will see positive changes.

The wait is almost over........

Tomorrow the election the whole world is watching will finally be over which way will the people of America vote? The way they vote will affect the whole world not just America!

Working 9 to 5......... ok 7 to 7!!! just thought it would make a change.

Work again today, my crew mate was a regular member of the station so we have worked together many times and know how each other works. We had a mixed bag of patients today, and more of them were genuine cases! The only real excitement though was when a line of cars pulled over for me to pass then the one in front pulled out just as I drew level, how I missed it I will never know.
My old regular crew mate who was promoted and sent to a different station was covering our area while we were on one job, and on our return she stayed for a while for a chat, it was nice catching up, I like having regular crew mates it makes the jobs so much easier when you both know what each other are thinking and how they will run the scene.
Last night I rang my cousin, as a post I had previously written was about his dad, and I had heard on the grape vine that it had caused some, .. well I wasn't sure and I didn't want to upset or offend him and his family. It turned out that all was well, hopefully he will be bringing his mum down to stay with my mum,(they are sisters) very soon so we will be able to catch up.

Stay Alive........... don't drink and drive!!

Beth told me she was going to a night club with some friends and one of them was the designated driver and wouldn't drink. Oh yes I'm going to sleep easy tonight!!
I have always told my kids, don't ever get into a car with anyone who has had an alcoholic drink, not even one alcoholic drink. I would far rather they phone me and say "Mum, I need a lift, my friend has had a drink and I won't get in the car...... than the possible alternative!
This time of year with all the Christmas parties people seem more willing than ever to drink and drive, or get into a car with someone who has had a drink. It isn't worth it, my colleagues and I get called to so many car accidents, where alcohol has obviously played a part. Last New years eve my crewmate and I were sent to an accident where the patient had been ejected from the car, she died, her boyfriend, the driver, then tried to walk into the path of an oncoming lorry to try and kill himself as he had been drinking.
Two families at least were thrown into turmoil at the start of a new year, to mention nothing of us, the crew who are turned out to deal with the accident,... after all we are not robots, and many of us have kids...............
Be Safe, Stay Alive......don't drink and drive!

Cover

This morning when my alarm went off I couldn't believe it was time to get up, it felt as if I had just got into bed! I drove into work, in my lovely new car which I love, and made a cup of tea, my crew mate today doesn't drink tea!!! why!! or coffee!!! so I just made the one. After checking the vehicle and all the kit we chatted until the first job came in..... cover in an area 7 miles away, before we could accept it we were sent to another cover point, this one was 20 miles away, we looked at each other...." so who's covering our area" I asked. My crew mate shrugged and moved to accept the cover move, before her hand reached the button the computer spewed out yet another cover point this one is closer but in the opposite direction! Oh boy, one of those days! She makes contact with the button and I drive towards our destination............ the pagers bleep into life and the computer goes mad, its a job..............................................................................back in our own area! Unbelievable! we had several jobs but only two that we took into hospital, and one of those was a pet hate of mine, "oh yes my brother has a car and my foot isn't that bad really but.... well..... if YOU take me in the ambulance, I will get seen faster".............. Gggrrrrrr!!! Unfortunately this popular misconception means that ambulances are often used to drive people to hospital who don't really need us they just think they can beat the system, unfortunately for them, everyone is assessed (Triaged) on arrival and this is what decides when you see a doctor, besides that if the patient has the nerve to tell us why they want to go by ambulance, we usually inform the staff who also take a dim view of people misusing NHS money and resource's which could be put to use on a more worthy patient! By the end of the day we were both more than ready to go home, "See you for our Thursday night shift then". I wonder who I will be working with tomorrow?

All Souls Day.

Today it is All Souls day, a day to remember those who have died. On 24 November 2005 my dad died. He was on a cruise with my mum and they had just left Spain. He suffered several heart attacks, and died in a Spanish hospital where the care he received was fantastic.
My mother in law passed away between Christmas and New year, 2000 very suddenly and unexpectedly.
Even though All Souls day is a Christian festival, nobody knows when their time will be up, we may be lucky and have a long life or not so lucky and die young, either way we should make the most of it. We don't have to be Christian to enjoy what we do, have fun, work hard not cause anxiety or upset to other people, and help when we can.
Today ....... I Remember.

Remember remember the .........20 October to 31 November!!

Remember remember the 5th of November, with gunpowder treason and plot!!!
As I have said before, I have a Border Collie, she may be highly strung but I know a good many cross breeds who are equally as terrified of fireworks as she is! I have a simple question, or two, Why are we celebrating some failed attempt to blow up the houses of parliament several hundred years ago? ( If it had been successfull then maybe there would be something to celebrate!! heehee!) but it wasn't, so even at the time they didn't get what we have to put up with. My second question is Hello people it was the 5 November not half of October and as far into November as it can be strung out, (I mean if thats how it happened they would surely have noticed that someone was trying to blow them up every night!!!) I like fireworks, but surely for the sake of all animals, and a great many people it should be just for the one day? One of the elderly patients I went out to the other night said it was just like being blitzed during the war!!!

Pinch, Punch first of the month!

I was on nights last night and what a night it turned out to be, other than being Halloween, which I have no time for at all,but having had no sleep since Thursday I was tired anyway, but when we got sent out at ten to eight, returned at eleven for a meal break then back out till five fifteen its no joke! we did have a couple of genuine jobs in that time, but most of it was the usual dross and Friday night rubbish, drink related and malicious calls, the only difference was the Halloween costumes.
When the day crew came in it was as much as I could do to hand over the vehicle, I just wanted to go home.
I got home and went out to do the horses immediately, so that I could just chill out and sleep, my husband was also on nights last night but he fortunately had a good shift, it would have been really bad if he had been as moody and tired as me, recipe for disaster.
I managed to get a couple of hours sleep then this evening I met the Blonde bird down at the yard to bring the horses in for the night, what with the cold, rain and would you believe fireworks we thought they could do with some pampering.
once in the yard I realised just how much mouse has grown..... again! The first thing she did after eating her dinner was to have a roll, but I just wasn't quick enough getting the camera out to be able to take a photo of her.