Angel

Whilst I was at work yesterday I got a text from my husband asking me to phone him as soon as I could! it sounded urgent and as we had just finished a job and were on our way back to our base station, I decided to call him there and then.. "what's happened?" I asked "something has had the rabbit in the night, I think it was a fox, its torn the hutch to shreds and I found Angel dead behind the hutch" What a shock! My beautiful bunny. We rescued him about four years ago on a freezing cold day in February, I brought him home and he spent his first two days in the dogs cage as we didn't have a hutch. He was thin, young and had an eye infection. I took him to the vet who did the initial check up for free as we had rescued him, I just had to pay for his jabs and some eye drops. in a matter of weeks he was a happy, bouncy healthy bunny. he has had a couple of eye infections since but other than that he has been fine, so to hear this news was dreadful, I am overly daft about my animals anyway, so this death in this way was just awful, especially as we are going through some other trials and tribulations at the moment. My husband buried him in the garden, even he was upset by the situation as he had a soft spot for Angel, maybe because he was the only other male in the house! RIP my little bunny.

Lunch

Today is supposed to be our day, the day that the Vic and I have to ourselves and go out for the day! Too much going on at the moment for this to happen, so instead we settled for lunch, next weeks day off together will have to make up for it! We both have a bit of a thing for Ploughman's lunches... so that is what we both had today, the Vic had a ham ploughman's and I had brie, and very good it was too. We went to a pub in town, I have been there before for a meal, last time it was dinner with two friends several years ago just before Christmas, that was actually the last time I saw them, I must ring and see if we can arrange another catch up (and dinner even). I am unable to put on here why the present time is stressful as it is ongoing and there are a lot of people involved! I just hope it gets sorted and things can get back to some degree of normality, where every email and phone call doesn't have us living on our nerves, and we don't have to wonder what is going to happen next! Still back to work tomorrow.... oh the joy!!
If you are observant you will notice that this picture is not a brie or ham ploughman's, that is because it was taken at a different time, see I told you we had a thing about ploughman's!

Bank

As well as working for the ambulance service, and helping at the museum, I also work at the local hospital, I only do a couple of shifts there a week as a bank HCA, its quite a pay drop but the work is normally enjoyable, I really do like helping people, its not just a phrase! Well today I did a shift on a ward I haven't worked on before, it was a male surgical ward (we did however have a lady in a side room) I didn't meet her though. I always find the men quite happy and jokey, even when they are in pain or scared about the procedure they are about to undergo, this lot were no exception, there were two under 55 the rest were nearer to 85. Well I was about half way through my shift when the ward clerk came in and said I wasn't supposed to be on duty today I wasn't due until 26 February! I rang staff bank and told them what had been said, I was extremely glad when they said it was their fault, carry on till the end of shift and I would be paid as normal. I have been doing a few extra shifts at the hospital recently as when the Northern Bird comes down in 20 days I want to have some extra cash so that we can go out and do some things. When I got home I completed my time sheet for this week and added it to the last two weeks sheets and put the lot in an envelope, theoretical I will be paid three days before my friend comes down, and if I send next weeks sheet off on Thursday I should get the pay from those shifts on the Friday she is here. I just hope I have got it right!

Do not quit

When things go wrong, as they sometimes will,
When the road you're trudging seems all uphill,
When the funds are low and the debts are high,
And you want to smile, but you have to sigh,
When care is pressing you down a bit-
Rest if you must, but don't you quit.

Life is queer with its twists and turns,
As every one of us sometimes learns,
And many a fellow turns about
When he might have won had he stuck it out.
Don't give up though the pace seems slow -
You may succeed with another blow.

Often the goal is nearer than
It seems to a faint and faltering man;
Often the struggler has given up
When he might have captured the victor's cup;
And he learned too late when the night came down,
How close he was to the golden crown.

Success is failure turned inside out -
The silver tint in the clouds of doubt,
And you never can tell how close you are,
It might be near when it seems afar;
So stick to the fight when you're hardest hit -
It's when things seem worst that you must not quit.

Books

Today I am just going to post some photos of the covers of books I have just read or have just got, the ones I have read are brilliant the others I am sure will be!

Manic Nights

I have just finished my tour of work, the day shift wasn't too bad, but the nights were crazy! The first night was all jobs that really didn't need an ambulance people were calling us when really they should have seen their doctor during the day, or made their own way to hospital in their own cars. The real shock job was last night we were on our way back to base.... well trying to any way! we reached the the one way system in town when at least twenty people ran across the road towards a similar number coming in the other direction punches being thrown, and police trying to restrain some, it was a battle zone, I have never been in such an intrinsic situation before it was quite scary, suddenly beside me a young man was punched to the side of the head, he was unconscious before he hit the ground which meant that he just fell, his head hit the tarmac road and he just lay there, I put my four ways and blue lights on and my crew mate made his way to the lad whilst I got the stretcher off the back, we decided that we wanted to get him into the ambulance out of the road and away from the fighting! he was unconscious for about five minutes before coming round, we persuaded him to let us take him into hospital so that he could be checked up on. When we had left him in the care of the hospital staff we got ourselves a cup of tea. That had to have been one of the most violent scenes I have ever witnessed at close quarters, and one I don't wish to ever repeat. The bulk of our jobs were drink related, with just a few genuine jobs which really warrantied an ambulance.

How the tip cart should be driven.

Every "horse" has its day??

Today, being a Monday and being as I wasn't at work, I was at the museum. The horseman decided that today we should give the youngster a go in the tip cart,.... well it seemed a good idea at the time! The horseman harnessed him up whilst we handed him the harness so that there weren't too many people doing things to him with a set of harness he isn't used to. That done we then walked him backwards into the shafts of the cart this took several attempts as he managed on each occasion to step over the shafts. Ten minutes after the first attempt he went in and we did the fastest hitch up we have ever done. Well to say he was difficult would be something of a lie not to mention an understatement... he was a complete nutter, I was for the first time since being there scared that one of us was going to get hurt, Leah who also helps out on a Monday and Friday was there and although she is younger than me she is not at all agile so she had to keep a fair distance as when we did manage to get moving the youngster would jump forward with a little buck then try and follow me! This isn't a good idea as the track isn't wide and to have a tonne of shire horse and half a tonne of cart bearing down on you isn't the sort of thing you really want. He also kept looking for me to follow as he was quite nervous, so even though I had him on a lead rope to keep him going forward and for an extra bit of safety I tried to keep out of his view, which isn't too difficult usually as the bridle has blinkers..... however the youngster is slightly smaller than the other two and strangely he seemed to be able to bend his head round and find me. The bin run around the museum took twice as long and took twice as much energy as usual but it was worth it,............... same time again on Friday!! Every time he saw the other two horses on his trip round the museum he would want to go to them and it took even more effort to work him. Needless to say we decided not to take him into the field to do the mucking out, instead we gave him the afternoon off and brought the old fella in to finish the days work...ahhh the old fella is soo easy to drive..

Who are You

"Thats what friends are for Bob!"

Having left my patient in the care of the nursing staff at the hospital the other day, I went to get some more blankets to put on the ambulance when I saw and heard two young men in their twenties sat with an elderly man who was laying on the hospital bed looking very unwell. The elderly man had obviously just apologised for something, maybe holding them up or taking them away from what they had been doing before they had come to his bedside, what I heard was.."That's what friends are for Bob," they may have said more but it was just such a nice thing to hear from two young men that weren't related to him. Sometimes I wonder who my friends are, and sometimes I wonder if my friends know just how much they mean to me... I hope they do. "That's what friends are for Bob!"

Warrick

Oh and whilst your about sorting out the adverts, get Warrick Brown back, what do you mean by shooting him, he was my favorite!

Why?

Why does the theme tune come up louder than my programme on the TV? Why do they do that?
Why are there over 15 minutes of adverts in one hour of my TV programme, and why are they all louder than my programme..... Why do they do this?
If they were to cut all the darn adverts in three programmes of CSI, NCIS and Criminal minds, there would be time for another one, and that would be brilliant.
Why don't they do that?

30 minutes

Thirty minutes is how long I have left until my jacket potato is ready, and I am starving!
I have a solitary minnow in my fish tank! He is a white cloud mountain minnow, he used to have a little shoal of five friends but over the years they have all passed away leaving this solitary little chappie, unfortunately over the last few years its not only been the fish that have passed on, the plant has gradually died too.
Yesterday when I went down to do Mouse I had a look in the river to see if there was any plants I might be able to bring home and use in the tank, I managed to collect some kabomba, (with out falling in too!! you should see how steep the banks are. Once back home I washed it thoroughly and treated it with something to kill any snails that might be on it I really hate snails in the tank, this evening I have put it in now all I have to do is hope that I washed it properly so that there is nothing harmful on it that may damage the fish and also none of those dreadful snails!
Good luck Minnow, enjoy your new plants.
(Oh good grief, that only took five minutes to write! still 25 to go)

I won!

What a night shift! We were busy up until 4am then some one in control decided that every radio message should be sent to all radios, so that is what happened, our radios don't turn right down so all night we heard all the messages sent to all the other vehicles. No rest even when we didn't get a job (in my moaning anti management moments I wonder if this is just another way to get the staff down?!) At least the day staff came in in good time so we were able to finish on time. As I was driving home I put the radio on, something I haven't done lately. Just as I was nearing home a competition came on the radio, the prize was a four week membership to a gym, they would help with fitness and diet. Just what I need so I thought just for fun I would enter. Well, I entered, I chatted to the host on the radio, I answered the question and I won the competition! All I have to do now is wait for the confirmation to come through the post! Maybe this will be my lucky year who knows....

Work rest and play

Ahh four day shifts over! This week, had I had enough leave left, I would have been on annual leave, I didn't which meant I had some shifts to do anywhere, usually we get to cover shifts on our own station but this time I was given shifts on three different stations with three different crew mates none of whom I had met before and all of whom I enjoyed working with, especially the last one with whom I spent two shifts, he was very easy going and we had a lot of laughs even though we were so busy. Then Today I went to the museum to work with the big boys. The horseman is getting the newest and youngest of the boys up to speed so he took the little fella and the filmstar (there's another story!) to do some chain harrowing, whilst Nic and I hitched the old fella into the tip cart to do the bin emptying round and then muck out the field. I am hoping to have some big news soon regarding the big boys but at the moment I am not allowed to say..... I'm such a tease!! Back to the filmstar, that is not a true title but here's the story. Some very nice people came to the museum from Microsoft, they wanted to stand, with a video camera, in the back of one of the waggons and film the horses movements, they filmed from lots of angles to then copy for a computer game.. which means he is famous, or will be.

40 Days.

In forty days the Northern bird is coming down to stay for a few days. I can't wait, the last time I saw her was when I went north and spent some time with her and her family, we fitted in loads even though the weather wasn't to clever, I only hope she will enjoy herself as much when she comes down here!
We usually get to meet up twice a year and always seem to have a laugh, then always disappointed when the time comes to go our separate ways.
Still as it stands right now I have 40 days till she comes down and I know those days will drag and after she arrives the days will fly past.

The algebra murderer!

Yesterday I had a panicking text message from Beth wanting to know what was written on the wall outside our house, when I told her what 20+C+M+B+11 (which is what she was on about) meant, she laughed, "I thought we had been picked out by the Algebra Murderer", she said, then added "I think I have been watching too much CSI".
Gotta love your kids (even though she is 20! and the daughter of a priest!!)

Money...The lack of!

What a way to spend the day!
I have just spent the last 5 hours trying to sort out my finances, its very depressing, when I started I had no money... now I have finished, I still have no money.
At the beginning I was resigned to this ... now I have finished I am just stressed out I wish I had never started now!
Still on the plus side, I have decided to do loads of bank shifts at the local hospital, at least next month will be a little better and maybe I can get a couple of days off next month too!
Both the ambulance service I work for and the government see fit to take extra money away from me at the moment and increase the work load! (The ambulance service are having a shuffle of rotas, which isn't going to plan, and within this rearrangement they are cutting the number of ambulances at night, what a brilliant thing to do seeing as the cover is not managing the calls we currently receive!
Call stacking has happened both day and night yet the service still wants to cut vehicles, personally I think the job cuts should come from above, after all we are an ambulance service we should be able to provide a good service, which again in my opinion should start with ambulances being manned and the staff to control this being at the top of the list!
Ok maybe I shouldn't have tried to sort my finances out, it only makes me cross!
I'm off to watch criminal minds, NCIS and CSI . . . . .

The big boys

Twice a week, shifts allowing, I help out at an open air museum. To be exact I work with their three shire horses. Today was the first time this year that I have been up, last time the place was white in a thick carpet of snow, today however it was green again and the boys looked quite content to eat either the hay put out for them or the grass. We decided to work the eldest member of the team today, at 21 years old and a tonne in weight he is a beautiful old boy, he happens to be my favorite one also! We gave him a good groom, as anyone seeing him would think we were trying to get a cart over a pile of mud! then harnessed him into a small cart for doing the museums small jobs, we use it for going round and emptying the bins, and mucking out the horses field (well they make the mess its only fair they help clear it up! Old boy was eager to work and having had some time off during the Christmas period he raced on, it was quite a job to just keep him at a walking pace as I have to drive him from the ground on this particular cart! Once all the work was done and he was happily out with his field mates I left to start again with Mouse, Having mucked out her stable, hayed and watered I brought her in for the night, apparently its going to be cold again tonight!

Stone soup.

Years ago when I was single I used to have a stone soup gathering, and I had a real stone (for cooking, all nice and clean) to put in it, everyone who came would bring something to go in it like a potato, carrot, onion, any veg would go in we would slowly cook it up and while it cooked we would chat or watch a film, it was nice to just chat then after a couple of hours have a huge bowl of soup with some bread, I was thinking of doing another one, especially as its so cold now, that and I really must catch up with my friends!

One down three hundred and sixty four to go...

yes yes, leap year blar blar. I have decided to start blogging again, (wonder how long it will last this time!!) And what better day to start than the first day of the year. It hasn't been the best start to the year as things go.. I have not eaten for four days, well that was up until an hour ago when I decided to try some scrambled egg on toast, it was rather nice and I no longer feel ill, so maybe things will be better now. I thought I should update here, Still have two boys, two girls, two jobs too many hobbies and one husband! Also there is one dog one rabbit and one African pygmy hedgehog. We still at present have one Grandchild, but that is about to change as in February a second is due.. watch this space! Flower, our 6 year old granddaughter was an awesome angel just before Christmas, the rev and I went to see her nativity play, (can still remember the others doing theirs all those years ago)... Litlun spends 99% of the time away from home which I hate, she doesn't seem to like being at home now and its rather sad! Beth is still working (not quite what she wants to do I think) and playing XBox but in this present climate I can't see her changing her job in a hurry, still... she has one! CJ graduated last September, OH YES! and has a job doing exactly what he wanted to do, he also got engaged to Amber so a wedding soon maybe? No1 son is still with his girlfriend and it is they that are about to have a baby in Feb. Well, that will do for now, I will (try to) keep blogging on..

Christus mansionem benedicat

Christus mansionem benedicat 20+C+M+B+11