Shopping

I did not sleep well last night, I woke up in the early hours of the morning and then stupidly thought of something! I can't remember what, but one thought leads to another and another. I did eventually get off to sleep again, and then over slept.
Still the horses didn't mind, they were fed and put out in the field and were quite happy.
Once back home I opened my parcel which came in the post, it was Twiglets flying saucer exercise wheel, and the lock for the vivarium.
Then after lunch we went shopping, for food.. ugh! joy! I really don't like shopping, although I do normally like food shopping but just didn't today.
Back home my husband helped to unpack the shopping, he had actually come shopping with me too, its normally either him or me that goes not both of us together.
Then after an hour or so I went back to the stables to put the girls to bed! I had a quick chat with the blonde bird as Mouse seems to have lost some weight, then it was back out in the car again, this time to take Lit'lun over to her friends house, as she is stopping overnight, she actually got two offers from two different friends, Oh to be so popular.
Well I am now waiting to see if I will be picking Twiglet up tomorrow or not, as I have just realised how far away her breeder lives from me! I would rather do it on a week end that a weekday evening.

Orchids and Amaryllis

My husband has a knack with orchids and over the past few years both the plants he has have produced lovely displays of blooms. My Mum on the other hand always manages to get good results with amaryllis. Here are a couple of pictures of this years blooms.

Night and day

Well that is my two night shifts over with for another tour!
Neither was too bad, although I preferred the second one as by 2pm we were finished, and I personally didn't see a patient.
On the first night we were out most of the time, and at one point, we had to put a crew in danger call out as the house in which our patient was staying became quite volatile, we retreated to the ambulance to wait for the police, who arrived super fast! They had already been called to the house once, earlier in the night and knew what the situation was. It was the fastest response I have ever had to a crew in danger call.
Today, I slept till lunch time then got up and went down to do the horses, The farrier was due at 2.30 pm to shoe Red, so after he had been I put the two horses in for the night, went and had a cup of tea with my mum then collected Lit'lun from her singing and piano lesson, which my husband has taken her to an hour earlier.
I was hoping that the vivarium would arrive today so that I could go and collect Twiglet, but it didn't and as they don't deliver on a weekend, it won't be till Monday at least :-(

Fame!

Today I decided to leave the horses in, as it was raining cats and dogs! so after sorting them both out with fresh hay water and feed and mucking out their stables, I got another lot of hay nets and feeds ready for tonight.
As I was driving home I realised that the dog was booked in for a swim at the dog swimming pool, I literally ran into the house grabbed the dog and ran out again.
While we were there a reporter from the local paper came as she was doing an article on the pool.
She asked about the four dogs who were there and asked me if I would send one of the photos I had taken, so that it could be put in the paper with the article.
Yay, my dog is famous, .... well .... she's infamous!
On the way back home I collected some things from the pet shop for Twiglet, its all very exciting.
When I got home I ordered a vivarium for her, a 4' one so she has plenty of space to run around, I also had to get a lock as with the dog and kids, I don't want her escaping!
We had a bit of a panic too as my daughters hamster decided to sleep outside of its bed, and got very cold, it was almost hibernating when I saw it, which is not good at all as they are not meant to do this in captivity. I walked around the house cuddling it for an hour until it was awake enough to realise it was being carried and bit me! (nice,...) at this point I put it back in its cage.
Back again to the horses to muck out, hay feed and give fresh water before getting ready to go to work!
The joy of night shifts, although I think I am working with Denise tonight which will be good as I haven't seen her to chat to for ages.
I will have to post a photo tomorrow as I don't have time to take it off my phone right now.

Egg and chips

Well at least nothing broke down this morning on my way to work, well the second day of the course at any rate! The day was pretty much the same as yesterday, just different subjects, quite a few detours off the topic, but we ended up achieving what we set out to do. to finish off the day we had an hour long exam, not too taxing (she says, till she finds out she failed), then back home again. I drove to and from the station in drab foggy weather, I hope tomorrow will be better as I have tons of running around to do.
On the way home I again spoke to my mum on the phone, she just happened to mention she was having egg and chips for her dinner, mmm that got me thinking about it and by the time I got home I had decided that we too would have eggs, chips and baked beans for dinner, bit of a cop out and probably not too healthy even though I only ever use spray oil, but as it was just the girls and I and when I suggested it they both agreed eagerly, that is what we had.
Now I am off to eBay to get a vivarium and a few other bits for Twiglets arrival next week.

Headache

This morning, even though I am off to work, I am having a lay in! I am on a two day refresher and update course and although its not on my station but further afield I don't have to be there until 9am. Joy!
Well I set off in good time, but two lorries decided to break down side by side heading in opposite directions, Chaos, so I ended up being 10 minutes late, I wasn't the last to arrive though, and more than 50% of the class just didn't turn up.
We sat through the usual fire safety video, followed by a refresher session then lunch then it was back to the class room, by the end of the day I had a numb bum, from all that sitting around. I also had a headache, I have now had it for over a week, and as I am not usually a headache sufferer, its very unpleasant, that with the dizzy spells and yesterday I had a buzzing sound in my ears, I am guessing its nothing more than blood pressure. Grr
I drove home in daylight! It reminded me of my old "patient transport" days, haha not a lot has changed.
Normally, on my way to or from work (in the evening only) I ring my Mum, its free on my mobile network for all my kids to call each other and us and my mum, quite handy really, I have a blue tooth headset so I am hands free all the time, there are a couple of areas where I loose the signal but normally we have quite a long natter. Mum told me that one of her friends, who always says my mum is the mum she never had, decided that as it was Burns night last night she would cook a three course meal, with the main dish being Haggis and Mum loved it, I hope Lit'lun doesn't read this because we didn't celebrate it this year for one reason or another, and she loves haggis neaps and tatties and all the fun that goes with it. The bagpipes always make me feel "homesick".
I had another email from Twiglet's breeder today, saying that Twiglet would be ready to go next week. I can't wait. Yay.

Cut and shunt

I woke up at 10am this morning, and panicked as I am doing the horses am and pm. I rushed around and Lit'lun and I were soon there mucking out and doing all the other jobs that go with horses, whilst I was there I helped unload the hay. We had borrowed a bale from one of the others as we had managed to run out, it wasn't anywhere near as nice as our hay and I was glad to be able to get back to using ours again. On my way home I went round to see the blonde bird, as she is lending me a small cage for my hamster who is not very well but will insist on climbing up the bars of her cage and promptly falling off them, her cage has several levels which is not normally a problem but she isn't at all well and is also quite old now, while we were there, we made a fuss of the Guinea pigs, ginger and pickles, the ginger one has a white line all the way round its middle, I swear its a cut and shunt! Once home I had to swap over the hamster cages then prepare and cook a whole salmon before again going out this time to do a few bits of shopping then put the horses to bed. Just before dinner time Beth got home from her stay up at her boyfriends uni, she had a good time, and as he was playing in a university American football match not far from where we live, she travelled down with him in the team bus, his mum then drove her home after the game. This meant that we all sat down to dinner together, although Beth doesn't eat fish so she didn't have the salmon.

Twiglet

A while ago I deleted a post about an African Pygmy Hedgehog who was 5 days old but was going to be joining our family. Unfortunately this little mite didn't survive. I have now been offered a little girl hog. She is five weeks old, and we have decided to call her Twiglet. Hopefully we should have her home by the end of February.

Noel's HQ

Whilst I was writing my blog last night I was also burning my dinner! Grr.
I had put a quorn stew on the hob to cook through so that I could take it to work with me and heat it up in the microwave, unfortunately I got a bit carried away, I ended up taking a couple of eggs, some baked beans and two slices of bread.
On the way to work I got stuck behind a tractor which decided it wouldn't let anyone past, I only just got to work on time.
Well after those two things I guessed that the night wasn't going to be very good.
My crew mate and I booked onto the vehicle and did our checks, then waited for the inevitable Friday night rush of drunks.
Well we waited and waited, at 1015 we had our first meal break, then at 3am we got our second meal break.
It wasn't till 5.30 am that we got our first job, an RTA, a car had skidded on the icy road and gone into a ditch, no one was injured, but whilst we were at the job another car did exactly the same and ended up beside the first car in the ditch, it turned out to be one of our colleagues on his way to work. Then a Mercedes came round the corner, spun twice in the road and continued on its way. Fortunately the police came along at that point and put some road salt down.
We drove 7 miles did one non conveyance and finished the shift on time.
Almost as soon as I got home my husband had to leave for work, Lit'lun and I watched a couple of films and had a slow day, even though I didn't have a busy night its not the same as a good nights sleep in my own bed!
We then took the dog out for a walk and put the horses to bed, before heading back home to cook dinner.
My husband came home on time after a good day shift.
When we had eaten, Lit'lun and I sat and watched the television, which is something I very rarely do , unless its the NFL, There was a programme on called Noel's HQ, which gives help to good causes and praises people for random acts of courage and selflessness.
Well there we were watching it when all of a sudden one of my crew mates, Dan, appeared on it, he was praising a young boy for saving his mothers and his friends lives when they all ended up in a burning car.
I did try and phone him afterwards but he didn't answer.

Sshhhhh

Last night I was again working with Roy, we booked ourselves onto the ambulance and were immediately sent on cover, there is one watch in the control room who likes to keep you out and has even been known to send a crew to another station on cover whilst sending the crew form that station to the first crews station, therefore just rotating two crews. (and yes I do have the proof!) this control team used to play a game, our area is split into two for control staff, and they would try and see which half could make crews do the most cover moves! Oh it all goes on. Well we were sent to cover in the town, and while we were sat in the ambulance by the side of the road, the two ambulances that cover this area were sent out on jobs, from their station! who's ground we were covering! Roy was on his last shift before joining management, so he phoned them to ask what was going on! Strangely we were immediately sent back to base. We didn't make it though, as we got a job, and ended up in the middle of a large group of 35yr old netball players who were all very disappointed that I wasn't a "good looking man!" haha. Our next patient was having a heart attack, he was quite young and lived in an enormous house. This is all I can say about this job, other than, read it in the papers..... I being the blonde I am didn't have a clue who he was until control rang us after the job for details for a press statement! we then had a male with a bowel blockage niccceee before being sent back to base for a meal break! It was two fifteen, we had been out since seven fifteen. That was it though and Roy and I were able to doze in the chairs on station. This evening when I put the horses in for the night the Sky looked amazing....

Kept in.

It poured with rain most of the night and was still raining when I got to the horses, several of the others had kept their horses in so I decided to leave Red and Mouse in too. I gave them their breakfasts and a hay net, then mucked out the stables around them, before getting everything ready for this evening. Then it was off to get some more Pasture mix before heading for home. As I passed the bus stop I saw my mum waiting to go into town, I stopped and drove her in, she had a few things to do then had to buy a new hoover (Vax) as her last one had died of over use picking up the dogs hairs after we had been round! well actually my brother has a collie X so its not just my dog! haha she was going to have it delivered but as they had one in stock she got it there and then, I drove her back home assembled it while Mum made a cup of tea and cheese and pickle sandwiches yummy (it was piccalilli). We chatted for a couple of hours then the Blonde bird rang to say she was going to sort out Reds tail, and would put the horses to bed, so I drove straight home. and had enough time to make a lemon cous cous cake and a quorn sausage casserole to take to work for my dinner. I am hoping that I do less miles tonight than I did yesterday haha not a great deal of chance that happening though!

4 miles

Today when I got to work I found out that my regular crew mate was on annual leave, so instead I was working with a Paramedic called Tim, After checking the vehicle the first thing we did was try and fix the reclining chair that Roy managed to break. He did a great job now it reclines and sits up, which is more than can be said for the other recliner which Roy broke a few months ago. We remained on station for several hours, then got a job, it came through as Assistance required to get patient into bed. Hoist broken. Tim and I looked at each other great, the carer must have a "no lift" policy. On arrival we were shown upstairs where our patient was sat on a commode. There were a community nurse, a carer and the husband in the room, showing us how the hoist wasn't working, then telling us the patient weighed 18 stone! while I got my back support out to put on before lifting, my crew mate said "I think you should use the hoist"! when I turned round there it was happily going up then down again as he pressed the buttons on the controller. Everyone stared at him. He just said, "well if you take the emergency break off it works" They all stared round at each other blaming anyone but themselves. As we had done nothing to the patient, we were able to leave with out doing any paper work. The above photo is what our control thought when we informed them of the situation. On returning to base we had a meal break...... and then later on a second....... then it was time to go home! We clocked up 4 miles and one 'not required' Thanks for a really wicked shift Tim!

Inauguration

Today was my first shift back at work since before being ill, and they did a vehicle change so we have a naff old ambulance till ours has had its MOT.
I was working with Roy today, we only had 4 jobs the rest was cover, first job was an elderly male who had fallen over and just needed a hand getting up. Then we had a three car RTA. Three ambulances, a car 2 fire trucks, 6 police cars and a helicopter! we were there some time, it was quite an impact, I think there were some very lucky people there today!
We got back to base and had our meal break just in time to see Barack Obama becoming the 44th President of the USA. I hope he does well. What ever happens I can say I know where I was when the history of America's first African American President was Inaugurated.
We were then sent to a lady who fell over in the bathroom of the nursing home she lives in and managed to break both bones of her lower left leg! Open fractures too (bone sticking out!) once she was safely in hospital it was off to a doctors surgery to a thirty stone man with central chest pain! hmm what did I say before about being over weight?!
Home again, so a few moments down time with the kids before reading myself to sleep.

Zapped

When I got to the stables this morning it was chucking it down with rain, (surprise surprise) I put Mouse out with out a rug on, she has a field shelter and a huge thick coat of her own, I'm not being mean, but Red being an Arab and elderly, went out with her rug on! They both wandered off to graze, and I thought I had better cover up the battery as it was raining, so I fetched a bucket and put it over the top! Well!!! I have no idea what happened other than I got kicked in the hand and it traveled right up my arm! It was obviously a zapp from the battery but how I just don't know, maybe the handle touched the terminal or the fence or maybe it was a fluke. What ever happened, I don't understand why Mouse constantly tries the fence to see if its still live! I mean that flippin' hurt!
Once home I had a cuppa with my husband who had got back from a night shift at work before the dog gave me that look, you know, "That look" take me out for a walk type look, So I ended up taking the dog out for a wet blustery walk, "Its snowing" came a text from the Northern bird....pah not here it aint, its just wet and windy!
Shopping came next, as I am back on days tomorrow and want to make sure that they don't run out of things as my husband is also at uni tomorrow.
I don't believe it!! I have just looked at the clock, yesterday I managed to miss both the NFL championship games! I have now just missed the high lights Grrr now I am cross.
Just got to get my things ready for work tomorrow then its off to bed for me.

Christian Unity

Yesterday saw the start of the week long Prayer for Christian unity.
This picture seems to say it well.

The Shack

Yesterday The Blonde Bird was working all day so I did the horses both am and pm.
I also managed to completely read a book that my Husband lent me, called The Shack, by William P Young, I cried all through it but it was an amazing story. Periodically through out the day I would ring my husband, who was at work, and tell him off for making me read the book! He laughed and said I didn't have to read it, unfortunately it is one of those books that once you start you do have to read it!
After doing some shopping and a couple of loads of laundry, I Cooked the dinner for them, I didn't have much as I was going to eat at my Mums after picking her up from the Bus station, She has just got home from two weeks holiday Cruising. NOT jealous at all.........honest!!
I took the dog with me and after phoning around trying to get someone out to fix the central heating which had decided to breakdown whilst she was away, and having something to eat, the three of us settled down to exchange stories of what had been happening. It sounds like Mum had a ball. I'm glad she did, she deserves a good holiday. I stayed over at her house which after the heating was fixed was lovely and warm, Good job too seeing as we had a terrible storm in the night with high winds and down pours of rain.

26 Hours

Just for today could we have an extra two hours in the day........ Last night I was online until late, squeaking at the computer in an extremely odd and excitable manner! In February my friend the Northern bird is coming down to stay with me wahoo!!!! My poor husband is going to have to put up with me getting more and more excited, then oh dear.... when she gets here, still he is on nights for two of the nights so he is safe! When I woke up this morning my husband had already gone to work, I got up and dressed, then took Beth to a doctors appointment, and then the dentist for a check up, back home, I did a load of laundry, swept and washed the kitchen and dining room floors, then went to get my new gym pass, yes you heard right! Phoenix is going to go to the gym (Smelling salts over here please someone just fainted!) back home again I prepared some lunch for Beth and I before going out yet again, this time to take the dog to the canine swimming pool, she hasn't been for over 6 months for one reason or another yet when we turned into the road she sat up and began squeaking (rather like me on the computer last night!) She had a fantastic time swimming around fetching tennis balls. when her time was up I dried her off and put her toweling dog bathrobe on her as it was still quite cold today, then drove round to my father in laws to drop off a birthday card, I had a quick chat with him before scooting off to the stables to muck out and bring the girls in, Mouse had the first of three flu/tet jabs and the vet is due this afternoon, unfortunately he is running late as he is the only vet in the area (from his equine practice) as the other one who is supposed to be working today has been kicked badly and wont be back until February. He apologised, but it was rather annoying as Lit'lun was supposed to have a singing and a piano lesson today, but I couldn't get back in time to take her. Finally I got home and began to prepare the dinner. I can now start to wind down. ahhh a glass of wine sounds like a good idea right now!

+3lb

Today was cold, but not wet, I had to go into town to sort out some banking as did my husband so we were actually seen out in public together, which I might add, with shift work and other commitments is a very rare thing. whilst in the bank we bumped into one of the retired members of his watch, (fire crew) who was also out with his wife, we chatted for a good 20 minutes before heading home. Then later on, Lit'lun and I went to do the horses and walk the dog.
I put them both in for the night then went down to the horse feed shop to pick up a couple of sacks of food as we were running out, then went to pay for the hay.
On the way home we stopped off at a human food shop (haha) to get something for our dinner. Once I had cooked dinner for the rest of the family I set off to fat club. I haven't been for a few weeks, as over Christmas the change of day for the meeting meant that I was either asleep between nights or working, then I was Ill last week so didn't go then. Remarkably with all the festive food and snacky bits both at home and at work, I have only put on 3lb. Yeah yeah I know its still a gain, but I am really quite pleased. Back on track now and I may even get to the gym...... watch this space!
This evening I got a text from the Northern Bird saying she had received the game I sent her, well that was quick, well done Post Office!
Hey Hun, I hope you have as much fun with it as we have, I think it gets addictive.
I have almost finished reading my book, Jeffery Deaver's The Broken Window, it is so good that I didn't put it down till 1.15am this morning, my husband was already asleep when I turned the light out! Problem is I want him to write the next Lincoln Rhyme book so I don't miss out on the characters, (I have read all the Lincoln Rhyme books)
Ah well busy day tomorrow so I better get some rest.

Tennis balls yes, Hamster balls NO!

Today the Blonde bird is working all day so I am doing the horses this morning and tonight. After feeding them I took the battery up and attached it to the electric fence again, then took a wheelbarrow load of horse poo out of the field before putting them out and doing the stables. Once back home I decided to catch up on a few jobs, laundry, hoovering floor washing and mucking out the hamsters. We have two hamsters and while I clean out their cages I put them in a hamster ball, this in itself is amusing, what is odd is that a fully grown border collie is terrified of a hamster in a ball!! Then I packaged up a computer game that Lit'lun is lending to the Northern Bird, I should have posted it yesterday but other than doing the horses I didn't step out of the house. Poor dog hasn't been for a walk for days and now I an feeling a bit better I thought I would give her a run around "The short block" which is a short walk which starts and finishes at the yard, meaning I could then put the horses to bed and come home. The walk was about 45 minutes long so it hardly took her any energy but at least got her out and about. Once home again I cooked dinner. My Husband has a church meeting to go to tonight which he doesn't want to go to, still Darling, only a couple of months before you won't have to go. So here I sit with the dog under my legs, and the dulcet tones of A FLIPPIN HAMSTER TEARING UP BEDDING!! AAGGGHHHHH.

Please don't feed us!

Today I went to the stables amid squally rain showers. Although I took the battery from the electric fence home to charge I decided to leave it at home as it needs a bit longer. Once I had put the horses out and mucked out I went home. My Husband is back at Uni today so at about 11am he left to go up to London. I, as I have been for the last few days, moped about doing very little. I remember a thing in the paper that my mum cut out for me about a horse that died due to people walking past the field feeding it dog biscuits, jaffa cakes. We have a sign on the field asking people not to feed the horses but I have seen people bringing things down to give them as they walk past. In the spring we will be putting up an inner electric fence in the hope that if the horses can't get to the outer fence the public will be less inclined to feed them! Ha ha I can live in hope!

Be Safe

Well when I evenyually woke up this morning, ( I was reading my book and talking to my sister in law on MSN till late last night) I realised that my Husband wasn't yet home! In fact he didn't get home till gone 10am due to an overtime job, in which a man died in a house fire. The very sad thing is that had he got a smoke detector fitted he may well have survived due to the early warning it would have given him.
When he finally did get home we had a cuppa and some brunch together before he had to get his stuff sorted out for going back to Uni tomorrow.
I surfed the net for a while, still not feeling well, then when Lit'lun came home from school we went up to do the horses together. Pouring with rain now, well at least the taps are defrosted and to be honest I don't mind the rain.
The Blonde bird had done almost everything bless her, all I had to do was muck out Mouses stable and bring them both in.
Back at home we had dinner then I moped around feeling sorry for myself again. I will be glad when I am better and can do normal stuff!
.

BE SAFE GET A SMOKE DETECTOR, AND CHECK IT REGULARLY

Sick bed

I woke up to my alarm clock going off this morning, and for the second night in a row I have had vivid dreams last nights wasn't very nice so I am glad the alarm went off when it did!
I got up, still unwell, and went down to the stables to put the girls out, I didn't forget Patch she went out first.
Once back at home I just slobbed around feeling sorry for myself.
I went on line to check my emails and just clicked my messenger on The Northern bird was on line we had a good long natter and she sent me a fantastic new ring tone for my phone, well Northern chick did!
I have literally done nothing all day, except book sick again for tomorrow, I think I will be off for all four shifts!
Beth is a bit mopey this evening as her boyfriend went back to uni today, No2 son went back Friday. Its a good job we all have msn and friends and family free calls on the phone when we all end up all over the country.
I am now curled up on the sofa watching the second day of NFL play offs

Today I again woke feeling ill, worse than yesterday even.
I was supposed to be doing the horses both am and pm, but the blonde bird said she would do the morning for me.
I got up and moped about for a while, and did some laundry.
Then this afternoon I went down to the horses with Lit'lun. She did a lot of the work for me as I felt so rough. The tap had only just de frosted so every one was rushing around trying to fill up their water buckets.
I had to moisten the horses feeds with plain water as the sugar beet had frozen solid, I will have to take a flask of hot water with me tomorrow. I must also remember that I have been asked to put Patch out in the morning when I put Red and Mouse out.
I have booked sick from work so tomorrow as I think I have a chest infection as well as an inflamed throat! Oh joy!! think I may have to go and see a doctor, but I have my fingers crossed that it will all go quickly on its own.
My husband is on nights tonight so Lit'lun and I are watching the NFL Play offs, Ravens at Titans first.

Night nurse

Today I woke up feeling awful, my sore throat from yesterday was even worse, I had a head ache my joints ached and I had rigors (shivers) I need night nurse.
I went down stairs put the fire on grabbed a glass of squash and a blanket and curled up on the sofa. And that is where I stayed until Lit'lun came home from school and I had to take her to her singing and her piano lessons. While she was there I went down to do the horses, I felt so rough I just did the bare necessities before collecting Lit'lun and going home.
Lit'lun even prepared the dinner bless her.
This morning while I was moping about on the sofa, the postman dropped the post through the door I left it until I had to get up for another drink, and when I did I noticed a brown envelope with a strange pink formal letter in it!
Oh no! I am shocked, I don't know if its worse as I feel ill or because I don't like the content, but the content of the brown envelope was a summons for jury service.
I rang the Blonde bird as a couple of months ago she had two weeks of jury service, she was at work but told me it was ok. I don't want to get it wrong I don't want to decide the fate of someone, make a decision which will change their life, I mean what if we get it wrong??
Oh boy!

What a very grumpy sheep!

Oh my goodness, I have just watched the dvd that the Northern bird sent down, and I can't stop laughing. Aren't kids great when they do school productions! Thanks so much for sending it I loved it, especially the accents he he! and Northern Chick you are a star. xx

Smokin'

My mobile phone seems to have gone into meltdown again, I set my alarm so that I wouldn't be late for the farrier today and the flippin' thing didn't go off! Fortunately my Husband is working today and knew that I wanted to get up early and woke me with a cup of tea! ( Hah! I have the best husband).
Once at the yard, I fed Red and Mouse, and put Red out.
Then, due to unforeseen circumstances, I held, The Nutty mare, The Black mare, The Blonde horse, Mouse then the Mental horse! while they were either shod, or had their feet trimmed.All the horses are hot shod which involves heating the shoe and placing it on the hoof before putting it in a bucket of cold water to cool before hammering it onto the hoof, doesn't sound to good put like that but the horses don't care, it bothers us more as the smell of burning hoof is like burning hair on a bigger scale and having been a fire fighter for 10 years (I left in 2001 to join amb. service) it also brings back other unpleasant smell memories! By the time all these were done I was freezing my doodabs off! The Mental horses owner is on holiday in OZ, and when I was leading her out to the field after being shod she reared up! now I am quite used to rearing horses as on the odd occasion Red will think she is a stallion, but she goes up and comes down in just about the same place...... Mental horse on the other hand!! The less said the better suffice to say I will not be leading that thing anywhere else unless ...... well I was going to say hell freezes over, but at this time I am pretty sure its close to doing so!!
The Blonde bird came down whilst I was there, and we decided to go back to her house for a bite to eat and 3 cups of tea, as we were freezing as I mentioned before.
It was nice to catch up for a natter, we live very close to each other and send tons of text messages but that isn't the same as face to face natter.
I was supposed to be going to London tomorrow, and was quite looking forward to it, sorting out some things for my husbands ordination next year, but I have the beginnings of a chest infection! nooo!! I am coughing and can feel the strain in my lungs already, and I thought I had got away with it while all around me were coughing and throwing up! Doh! well we will just have to see how bad it gets.
When I got home the postman had been and in with all the junk was a letter from the Northern bird. It contained, amongst other things, a dvd of her daughter, the Northern chick, who is 4 years old, performing in her school Christmas production. I haven't watched it yet so I can't post about it, but thank you Hun, I am looking forward to seeing it.

4 inches!

Today I had to take my car to the mechanic first thing as it needs the revs sped up a bit, it keeps stalling. Yes I do know how to drive!
So after leaving the garage I went on to do the horses, I checked the field water as I knew it would be frozen solid. In the field we have a large square trough and three smaller round ones. I eventually managed to break the ice on the square trough, it was at least 4 inches thick, and I was unable to break the others at all! Needless to say the taps were all frozen solid, fortunately we had filled every bucket and water carrier in the yard, so I topped up Mouse and Reds stable water with that.
When I got home I began to feel rough, I think I may have pulled a few more muscles carrying that lady down stairs a few nights ago as my neck, right shoulder and back are aching so much its making me feel sick.
I got in the bath and stayed there until the water was cold (as usual) before getting out.
This evening I went down and got the horses in and re filled the containers with water before heading home and getting changed to go out.
For the first time in over three years we were going out with all four kids...did I say kids?? well you know, 24, 20, 18 and 12 together with two of their partners, we decided on Pizza hut as its easy to do pizza and all chat with out having to think about what you are eating.
After our meal, Beth's boyfriend took a photo or two of my husband, me and the 4 kids, I wonder how long it will be till we are all together again?!
It was the first time we had met No1 sons Spanish girlfriend but she didn't seem at all perturbed even though her English is not 100%, we all agreed that she was lovely, and as for Beth's boyfriend he seems like one of the family now anyway.
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unfortunately blogger is having problems so I am unable to upload a pic at the moment.

The big chill

I went straight to bed when I got home from work this morning, my Husband had made a cup of tea and as soon as I had finished it I fell asleep. To be woken by the post at about 11.30am. Then I got up as I am not working tonight. I had to collect Lit'lun from school at 2pm to take her for her orthodontic appointment, she needs to have a brace to sort out her teeth, from there we went straight down to the stables, all the taps and buckets had frozen up again but the owner of the yard managed to defrost one for us to use.
I brought the girls in early as it was so cold that they were just stood at the fence waiting. The blond bird had put them out this morning and I was so pleased to see that she had rugged Mouse, and even more pleased to see that Mouse hadn't taken advantage of the padding to walk through the electric fence!
Once home I decided that although the bunny hates being in his hutch it is far too cold for him to have access to the run, and tonight he is shut in his hutch, I was even more shocked to find his water partially frozen, the girls and I are rotating the water bottles when ever we let the dog out or get a few minutes, so that we know he has fresh unfrozen water to drink.
And now, I have to go downstairs and take all the Christmas decorations down, I hate this as the house always looks so empty and naked.

9 below!!!

Last night was my second night and the last shift of this tour.
We had several severe weather warnings come over the MDT (cab comp.) due to freezing flooded roads and burst water mains.
Its strange how our jobs all seem to have a theme sometimes. Last night was no exception, other than one job everything else started with a fall.
One lady we went to was 92, she had been sick gone to get another cover as she was cold in bed too, and then fell on the bed and couldn't do anything. Fortunately for her she was wearing a community alarm button pendant, and was able to call for help. When we arrived she said she was feeling sick again, we tried to sit her up as obviously laying on her back and vomiting isn't a sensible idea. Try as we might she could not manage it so we ended up sitting her on the edge of the bed, even this she needed a considerable amount of assistance with. All her obs were fine so in theory we could leave her at home, which is what she wanted us to do............. When she said she wanted to stay at home I looked at Tepic, my crew mate, and shook my head. We couldn't leave her at home laying in bed in case she vomited again, (she had two episodes while we were doing our obs) we explained this to her and she understood and agreed to go into hospital.
This is when the fun started, she wasn't a slight built lady and we had four storeys to get her down! Oh yeah and there was no lift!! Lets just say I managed to pull two muscles in my left arm. I was waiting for the hospital staff to ask why I had brought her in with just minor vomiting, but when I gave my hand over they all agreed that it was the best thing to do.
We were exceptionally busy up until about 2.30am then on returning to base for a meal break we were able to watch the highlights of both the wild card NFL games and as I had missed them both it was a result!
Every patient we went to had to have an extra blanket round them it was so cold, that is the worst bit about taking elderly patients into hospital in the middle of the night, out of their warn bed out into the cold, and at its worse last night it was -9!

Salt

We have to put salt down in the station yard when the weather is bad, I was glad we did too as if my car is anything to go by there would have been some interesting times getting out of the yard!

Theres no business like snow business.............

When my crew mate and I logged onto the ambulance last night we got a message on the in cab computer (MDT) saying, "just for your information its bad out there".
Oh joy!! fifteen minutes later we got our first job, an elderly man whose legs had given out and he couldn't get up again.
From the minute we entered the house he was rude to us and swearing. My crew mate Dave, put his hand up and said "hold on a minute sir, did you ring for us?"
the man nodded, "Do you want our help to get up off the floor?"
again he nodded
"Well I suggest you stop verbally abusing us and let us help you, if you swear at us we can just leave you know"
This is when the wife interjected "We are both over 80 you have to come out if we call you"
"We don't have to stay and be abused however old you are, so I suggest you stop being so rude let us do our job and then we can leave!"
When asked who their doctor was the wife said, well actually we are not happy with our doctor we are going to change to a different one.... well theres a surprise!
We were then sent on to a woman who was vomiting blood (Haematemasis) when we got there she said "well I can't get back from the hospital unless you bring me so I won't go unless you will"
We explained that this wasn't an option and gave her a few suggestions, she went in to hospital.
We also had two patients one male and one female who had the flu virus but told us they certainly couldn't manage to walk down stairs. (even though in both cases they had walked up them and the male had his bathroom downstairs. (two cases of dying swan!! never mind our backs. The male patient was an overtime job which made us an hour late off!! Grr.
All the time these and our other jobs were going on it was snowing, Woohoo!! I love snow and was all excited to see what Mouse would make of it when I let her out this morning....... I live 31 miles from my ambulance station (Through choice) and as I was driving closer to home the snow was less and less when I got home they hadn't had any, how very disappointing, still all the taps had defrosted!
Now I am off to bed, I wonder if tonight will be any better surely it can't be worse!!

Resolutions New Years or other wise!

I have decided not to make any new years resolutions as I know if I do I will only go and break them, instead I have decided to just try and be a bit more active. I am quite a couch potato really. I think to be fair on myself I am going to chill out on the day before my first night shift and sleep between nights, but there it should stop. More exercise required, even if its just taking the kids for a swim. I know the dog is always up for an extra walk or a longer walk so, that is what I will try and do.

Life in the freezer!

At 8am this morning myself and my girls were to be found waving someone off at the bus station on their way to a holiday which will give them warm winter sun. How unfair that it wasn't us that was getting on that coach, still, the person concerned deserves it and I hope they have a great time and come back safe and sound,(and Tanned).
I took the girls back home, my husband was on nights last night and had a rather disrupted night, so hopefully with me on nights tonight he can get a good nights sleep, with out me snoring!!
I went straight out again to do the horses, last night even the water in their stables froze!
The water in the field was solid and unbreakable, so the buckets that had been in the stables were taken up to the field. All the taps are frozen solid and by the time I got home I couldn't have told you if my feet and hands were still attached to my body, even with the car heater on full blast (its a brill heater too!)
I mucked out the horses and did hays and feeds, then found some water carriers and put them in the car, if its still frozen later we are going to need water from somewhere!
Back home my lovely husband made me a cuppa and I started to warm up again, even though I knew that actually I still have to go back out into the freezing cold to a) do the water, and
b) bring the horses in!
don't you just love living in the fridge!
I am glad we don't have too much of this freezing weather here, I don't like it much!
2pm the taps are still frozen, so the Blonde bird and I fill up camping water containers and take them down to the stables, we fill up two of the troughs before one of the other horse owners says the taps have defrosted, after filling all the water buckets we then fill every tub, carrier and spare bucket, just in case the same thing happens again, once bitten twice shy!
We bring the horses in and I change Mouses rug whilst the Blonde does Reds.
I drop her back home then go home myself. I am on nights tonight (Joy!!) so I have to get changed and ready.

The cover vehicle!

Today I didn't want to get out of bed, I needed more sleep than I got, as I had a restless night. Once at work we had a very reasonable day very different to yesterdays traumas, in fact we only took one person into hospital the other patients were ok. We did however do an awful lot of cover! we were sent all over the place and just before we arrived at the cover point they would send us somewhere else, which was very frustrating, still I think its what I needed after yesterdays awful shift. Now I am home I have poured a large glass of red wine and a few pringles and I am going to chill.......... aaahhhhh

Who am I?

I got to work this morning and found I was working with Scott, we always seem to have good shifts and he is a lovely guy to work with.....
Ok so he is a lovely guy to work with, cancel the rest though!
Today was the worse working day of my ambulance service career! We were sent on a job at 0713, to a lady with breathing difficulties, and diabetes. When we got there we gave her some inhaled (nebulized) medicine and I did a full set of observations, her blood sugar level was a little high but other than that and the breathing everything seemed fine, we took her into hospital and as I was booking her in one of the nurses did an ECG, to see what her heart was doing, when I got back I asked if I could see it, the nurse replied, oh its fine she is just a little bit tachy (fast pulse) I glanced down and was shocked, "erm, isn't that S T elevation"? I ask another nurse looks up and all hell is let loose as our patient is having an MI (heart attack) she is taken into resus and thrombolized (given a blood clot busting drug) she died 11 minutes later. We see patients pass away on a daily basis but this was somehow very shocking, as it seemed to be so sudden (for the medical reader her trop level 6) she had been having the heart attack for possibly 3 days, as she was diabetic it was what is called a silent mi, meaning she had no real pain with it. there followed two other patients who we got into hospital alive but by the end of the day they had passed away, one through severe infection, (toxic) and the other from a liver failure, all very sad, the last one just fell over but when we got there all his observations were out so we had to take him in.
The day was dotted with the odd patient that was ok but they were few and far between.
The biggest blow came when we booked in our last patient, a 3 month old boy, one of the receptionists said to me, "do you remember that 17 year old girl you brought in sometime in October, the one who had the asthma attack and ended up being a resus?"
of course I remembered its not every day that happens, "well she had a similar attack on new years eve and passed away..................................
What a way to start my working new year!!!
Am I the grim reaper??

Hello 2009

I woke up late yesterday, then rushed around getting ready, I had to put up the electric fence to stop Mouse from damaging the post fence! And decided that as she wasn't lame to put her out with no rug on, so that if she got too close to the electric fence it would zapp her, well cruel to be kind, she needs to respect the fences for her own safety, the blonde bird brought them in and said the fence was intact and Mouse was no where near it so maybe the lesson has been learned.
We had No1 son, and Beth's boyfriend round for dinner last night, I did Moroccan as its easy to do and my lot seem to like it. It's the first time I have seen No 1 son for 3 years! The meal seemed to go well, and afterwards we sat and watched a film.
If this is how the New Year is going to pan out then it looks like it might be a good one!