Rafi on Tor 30th July to 1st August

30th July
Really this is three days worth of blogging in one post as the internet signal was way off, very intermittent.
We left early on Tuesday morning for Somerset and arrived just before lunch. Even though the journey its self is only about two and a half hours we had a long coffee stop to allow Rafi half an hour out of his crate, as he decided he didnt want to go to the loo before we left.
After setting up the caravan and having a cup of tea we went and got some shopping then andy went to Hamwall nature reserve while Rafi and I set off on a 'one and a half hour walk', we took a photo of the 'map' that was at the site suggesting walks in the area and left. Clearly some of the paths were extremely over grown and the map was definitely not to scale! It was very hot but looked as if it was going to rain again so I had my waterproof so added to the temperature I had the extra bonus of a jacket! I mentioned at the top of this post that internet was a tad sketchy well so was any signal. Periodically I would get a signal and be able to get a map up on my phone which allowed us to eventually get back to our campsite.
When we arrived back, three hours later, my husbad had just pulled in, in the car.
The rest of the evening was spent relaxing and reading ...and watching the sheep steal apples and leaves from the trees in the orchard.
31st July
Woke up early, due to me forgetting to turn off my alarm! Doh! I got dressed and took Rafi for a quick pee walk while my husband did tea and breakfast.
When we were ready we got in the car and went for a drive, amoungst other places we went were Cheddar Gorge and another nature reserve which I forget the name of, Rafi found a hollow tree to explore and was "buzzed" by several drone like Dragonflies of various colours and sizes.
Back a the campsite we had a cup of tea and gave Rafi his dinner before heading out to Glastonbury Tor, we parked in the town and walked up the Tor to the Oratory at the top, the views were incredible, probably made even better by the strange smells we kept getting whiffs of coming from small groups of people sat along the pathway!! Once we had walked back down again we got fish and chips and sat eating them with  the Tor as our view. Once we had eaten we wwnt back to the caravan and sat reading and drinking.....Somerset Cider of course.
Great way to spend a Birthday.
1st August
Lazy morning, I remembered to cancel the alarm, then when we were up and had breakfast I decided to go for another walk, this time taking a photo of a real map! Rafi and I set off while my husband went back to Hamwall again to see if he could see one particular bird.
Our walk was both more and less successful than the first days walk as in, I had a great map and knew where I was going but the footpaths on some were obviously rarely used and seriously overgrown with Stinging nettles and brambles meaning both Rafi and I struggled to get through. Once back we had a cup of tea and sat out reading in the sun. When my husband got back he had bought some scones and cream, we already had some jam, we had a cream tea for lunch then packed up the caravan and set off for home.

Second training session

Today was Rafi's second one to one training session, he was also fitted for his new Perfect Fit Harness' and the most impressive thing of all...
We left him for a whole hour in the house on his own! When we got back he had chewed nothing and eaten nothing, he was such a good boy!
Its taken it out of him though, he flopped into his bed and hasn't moved since!

Lazy Dayz

Today is a day off!
This morning I moved a few of the fences around at the stables so I can strip graze the grass in the winter paddock. Its so long its unmanageable so I am taking back some of the summer paddock and allowing her access to the rest slowly. Hopefully this will work, I don't want to have to pay to have it topped.
This afternoon I literally did nothing. Lounging about in the hammock (and falling asleep) until one of my friends came over for a coffee, I think she saved me from getting burned. Thank you for that Meisie vriend!
While I had been lazing in the hammock Rafi had been laying underneath, in the shade!

The second sleep post of the day!

This morning my horse scared me with her deep sleep, this afternoon Rafi was dreaming of...... who knows what, whatever it was he had to run pretty fast to get to it or away from it!

Away from it all

This morning I called the vet as soon as they were open, Rafi had eaten and slept well, he had no symptoms and was trying to play with all the vet nurses. Music to my ears.
Before all this had started, Rafi and I were supposed to be going away for the weekend in the caravan, AnnieMay.
My husband said we should still go so we packed up our things and set off. We are not going too far as I am helping a friend with her animals and also now, if Rafi becomes ill I need to be able to get him back to the vets.
Once we had arrived at our 'undisclosed' destination, we set up the caravan and went for a walk.
Rafi loves Caravanning!

Sleep

I have no words to describe the ways in which Rafi chooses to sleep, sometimes I worry he will cut off his breathing other times I'm just lost for words!

Settling in.

This morning as my husband walked across the kitchen with his toast he found something black and white hanging off it, just for a second! Rafi is finding his feet.
I decided to try him in his crate for  5 to 10 minutes as a start to crate training. I put primula cheese on his lick mat and put it in first, he went in cleaned up the mat then promptly curled up and went to sleep. Ileft him for 15 minutes before latching and leaving him to make his own way out while I spent half an hour in my hammock.  Clearly he felt the hammock was better suited to his comfort level and jumped in with me.
Cuddles with my lovely boy. ❤

Big Boy.

Aaaahhhhhh........................

Boot Neck

What a fantastic day! Spring is on its way!
Even thought it is freezing cold out, the sun is shining and it looks lovely. After putting Mouse out and getting her some more feed I went back home then set off with my husband to go out for the day. Every week we try and get out for one day together, sometimes due to our work shifts we can't but do try to as its nice to get out and spend some chilled out time together!
Today we drove to the Royal Marines Museum.
We have been before but it has been changed since the last time, with a couple of new sections and the medal room done up. After walking round watching the film clips, and looking at the displays we went to the Quartermasters cafe for a mug of tea.... OK the chips smelt so good we may have had some of those too! whilst we were in there a fresh bunch of recruits arrived to have a look round. My husband, being an ex "Boot Neck", said when he was in training they took his lot there too.
The military is creeping back into our lives again, as tomorrow my husband is off to meet with some others for an open day for would be Army Chaplains (RAChD). Watch this space!
I say watch this space as the others who are there would have been invited by the DDO, Diocean Director of Ordinands!! But my husband has been rung by no less than two Army Chaplains, and also invited by the DDO!!! Does this mean the Army are head hunting my husband, Get the tankard with the Glass bottom and check it before you drink darling!!

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.

Sports and Welfare

This morning I got Flower up for school as usual, we always have her over on a Monday night, and then once she had been picked up I went quickly to get some shopping before going to her school to watch the sports day. It was very warm and all the children had a sports bottle full of water with them. Flower was in the Yellow team so I together with her mum Sam, had put yellow tee shirts on i support. Go Yellows!! There were loads of races for all the year groups, Flower did her first race which was the obstacle race, Sam and I went to the finish line so that we could get photos, she did really well and came second. Then came her second race which was the "egg and spoon" race, well what can I say!!..... she pretty much ran with it, she didn't drop it once and as she crossed the finish line the others were still only half way down the track! One of the mums said "she's glued it to the spoon, but just as she said it Flower tripped on her way over to see us and I caught the egg just before it hit the ground! It wasn't a real one though. When all the races had been done the children came over to their supporters and had their lunch, lots like us had brought a picnic, which we sat on the sports field to eat. What a lovely time we had. My husband had asked one of his parishioners if he could visit, as she had not long come out of hospital, (she together with her husband are very dear friends of ours), so when she told him she would love to see him she also asked if he would bring me and Litlun and have dinner with them. It was a lovely late afternoon and evening, we all chatted then later we sat down to eat. MrsY we had a fab meal, and wonderful company thank you so much.

In need of sleep!

I got home from work at around 8am and couldn't believe how tired I was! Although we didn't have a great number of jobs we had quite a few cover moves, so I still had to be awake!
I decided to go to bed for a couple of hours before taking the dog to the swimming pool, that was a mistake! I was woken by my husband at ten past eleven, I was supposed to be at the pool at eleven thirty! Ahh well, we got there at 11:35 (speeding officer, me?? Never) Where I met my Mum and her dog and a man with another collie, the three have all swum together before and got down to the serious business of chasing tennis balls which we threw in for them.
Having got them out half an hour later and dried them off I returned home for some lunch. Storm rang to see if I would like to take the dog for a walk with her two today, we often walk the three dogs together. I collected them and drove to one of our usual walking places, it was quite cool today, although I may have felt it more being so tired. There are two paths we can choose from in this area, and today we took the shorter of the two.
Back home having done the dinner and sent my husband on his way to work, I settled down to a nice read before I went to sleep.... I'm not sure I reached the end of the page.

Hot dogs

This morning my husband got up and went to church in time for the 8:00am service leaving me to sleep on, when he got back he woke me up with a cup of tea, ahhh.
Then we both went to the 10:00am service where I sat with Flower and Sam, whilst my husband got dressed up in all the vestments for the service.
Afterwards we had a glass of wine and some birthday cake as one of our friends was celebrating her 90th birthday.
Back home I prepared everything for dinner, as my mum and her dog are coming over for the rest of the day.
After a cup of tea we set off with the dogs for a walk in the woods, its not easy walking then in this heat as they are both dashing around all over the place getting hot and then find it difficult to cool down, at least its cooler in the woods! We stopped off to do Mouse on the way home then sat and chatted whilst the dinner cooked.
Yet another chilled out calm day, I am starting to enjoy this . . . unfortunately I am back to work again tomorrow, that will be anything but chilled and calm I'll put money on that!!

Wedding. Round one!

Today my husband and I both have the day off, we decided to go down to our local market and get some veg and have a wander, its been months since we have been to the market.
We walked down, it was boiling hot again! once there we were surprised by how few stalls there were! one of the vendors told us it was because the pitch price has gone up so much its stopped people coming!
We got our veg and a few other bits then wandered home again, stopping en route for some cheese straws and scones from the bakery.
After lunch I went down to do Mouse accompanied by Litlun and her friend Jo.
Back home we got ready for the wedding then drove, My husband is working tomorrow so he said he would drive and not drink (yippee)
The bride and groom looked fabulous, the bride was wearing a long sheer white dress with a train and tiara, she said it took two hours to do her hair too! The groom was in his family tartan and looked very smart, I usually see him in white!!! (a ghi, he belongs to the same Aikido club as me). There was a hog roast and loads of salads in the evening.
It was a lovely day, and we wish the Bride and Groom all our very best wishes.

Slowing down

Today things started going at a slower pace which is rather nice to be honest. I went shopping this morning, tidied up a bit, watered the tomato's and runner beans, then Sam came over and had a cup of coffee with me before the two of us and Beth went out for lunch. We decided to go to the cathedral that my husband is being ordained at, as they have a lovely restaurant, and I thought I might catch a glimpse of him. (I didn't) We had a lovely lunch though, Beth and Sam both had jacket potatoes whilst I had a salad. Once we had eaten we came back home and had yet another cuppa. When Sam had gone to collect Flower from school I went down to the stables to sort Mouse out, the owner of the yard was hay bailing hay in one of the front fields, it smells lovely even if a little dusty. Tonight we are having a film night, Litlun, Beth, Sam and Flower are coming round we are having some snacky bits to eat and watching some DVDs a nice end to the day.

Lunch at the Palace

What a day!
Today was the last day that I spend with my husband as Mr and Mrs! Next time I see him we will be The Reverend and Mrs.
We both set off to go to the Bishops palace at ten past twelve and found a jam of cars outside which we added our car to. Once inside we found several of my husbands fellow uni students and some from other Uni's. The Ordinands (those who are going to be Ordained either Deacon or, if they have done their Deacon year, Priest all had name badges, we were given coffee or tea and chatted amongst ourselves until we were called in to lunch, the food was lovely, we had Salmon and or Chicken with green salad, warm new potatoes, tomato and onion salad, coleslaw and Quiche.
Dessert was either Chocolate mousse or strawberries with cream.
After this all the Ordinands were sent to one place whilst the spouses were sent to another. We were told about a spouses group which is a cross between a club and a support group, (or at least that's how it sounded) to be honest I don't think I am one of the "in crowd" and don't think I would fit in somehow! Still there were four of us who knew each other from the uni do's and we all took each others email address' I think this will be of more benefit to me as we all at least are on the same wave length.
After this talk we went back to have some coffee, I got a quick glimpse of my husband before he had to go ( they gave him no warning, just asked if he was there so he didn't even have a chance to say goodbye, very sad!)
Having finished my coffee I said goodbye to the others I was with and drove home, feeling quite sorry for my self!
Litlun and I had dinner together (Beth was working) and then our priest came round to make sure I was OK which was a rather nice thing to do, he had a cup of tea with us before going back home.
Now its off to bed. I wonder what my husband is doing right now?

Calm before the storm

The last couple of days have been rather slow, which has been really nice, but I am aware that it is the calm before the storm! and what a storm it will be!! Together with my husband we have been delivering some of the invitations to his ordination which will take place during Petertide (26th June to be precise!) so it has been rather nice to drop invitations in and have an occasional cuppa with people along the way, in fact it has been really nice, I get to spend some calm relaxed time with friends AND my husband which, due to our shift work and normally hectic lifestyle is a very rare thing. Yesterday evening Flower came over as normal, she had made some rice crispy cakes with marshmallow in for us, yummy. Each day I have been down to do Mouse, when I say do I mean groom and spray her with bug spray and muck out the field there isn't much else to do. My husband is on his second night tonight and I am off to work tomorrow morning before he gets home so I won't see him until tomorrow night. So from 4.45 when I get up tomorrow morning the storm is brewing, starting with work, then together with my friend Storm (what a fitting name for this next couple of weeks!!) I am off to the Moto GP whilst my husband attends his final residential weekend, then . . . . well lets just wait and see how it all pans out. For now I am enjoying the last few hours of relaxation.

Nothing lasts forever.

When I was ill a while back, I went down to Somerset to a place called Compton Durville and spent three days with the sisters of the Community of St Francis (CSF).
Nothing was expected of me, I didn't have to go to church 6 times a day or walk around in silence with my head bowed and eyes lowered. I was able to go out for long walks, across the fields and footpaths, there was a library a television room and a chapel and a small shop which sold everything from chocolate to handbags.
I spent most of the time outside in the wild garden and walking, and also sketching.
The atmosphere was so calm and relaxing that when I returned home I was much better. I decided to try and go back at least once a year just to relax and get away from the usual rush of things.
I have just found out that it is closing, after 50 years, and the CSF sisters are all going to different places through out the UK. It seems such a shame as it was such a relaxing and peaceful place to go to escape.
I have posted some photos, for me as much as anyone, and I hope that they all settle happily into their new homes.
I will now begin the search for another quiet relaxing place, any ideas welcome.

out to lunch part 2

I did manage to stay up to see Bish when he got in last night (haven't stopped yawning all day though!) This morning when I got to the stables Mouse was much happier and when I let her into the paddock she ran around with the red pony for a short while before she got her head down to the serious business of eating. I have been driving around with a very bald tyre on my car so having ordered a new one I went to have it put on £60 later I drove to mums where we walked the two dogs down to a grassy plateau they played with tennis balls while mum and I had a picnic lunch and put the world to rights. Once home my husband told me that the church was not going to allow him to do a single year at his theological college to get his BA, but that it wanted him to do a further 4 years study at a different venue to get the same BA. Great!! that will be another 4 years of no holidays and him having to study all the time, why don't they get the concept of family life!! Anyway enough of that, I must get on with the dinner.