Van Gogh!

When you have a dog your house has movement in it, swirls of air rushing behind its every move, its every breath...
When you don't have a dog the house is two dimensional flat it lacks life.
I want my house to feel like a Van Gogh, I dont like this Lowry lifelessness!

No April fool.

Today is up there with the saddest days of my life so far!
Today I had to take my amazing beautiful clever dog on a one way trip to the vets, it has to be one of the hardest things I have ever done in my life.
She had been a search dog and a family dog, but most of all she was my dog, my best friend, she never judged, was always ready to go for a walk even in the pouring rain, she knew all my secrets and never told a soul.
I am so going to miss my gorgeous girl,
Sleep well my beauty.

PAWS IN THE PARK ARDINGLY

http://www.pawsinthepark.net/

BYE BYE ITCH

Today a friend recommended a product called Bye Bye Itch for Mouse' sweet itch it is another herbal product so, having tried so many I am a little dubious of it actually working! That said I will try anything to ease the distress my horse goes through almost continuously with her itchy mane and tail.  Price wise its not the most expensive product we have tried but adding the postage pushed it up by 1/4 !
I am hoping it doesnt stink the feed roim out like some of the other herbal stuff we have attempted although if it works I dont really care what it smells of.
Just have to wait for it to arrive now.

RIB

In my past life, if someone had said RIB, I would immediately think.... inter costal muscles, flail segment, chest compression's and everything else which could surround the bony chest cage!
Now on the other hand if someone mentions RIB my immediate thought is.... Sun Sea and M & M's.
Right now I know which RIB I prefer (taste the rainbow)

Horse Power

This morning I got up early and went to the stables but instead of feeding Mouse I decided to ride her first, it was another lovely day so after tacking up we went out, Mouse has decided that one of the houses in the village is scary, there is no dog or flashing lights or people behind hedges, but every time we get to this house she refuses to pass it without a song and dance, well, maybe just a lot of cajoling once past she is fine then on the way back we have the same rigmarole again!When I got home the husband took me out for lunch as its his day off, I had salmon and he had steak pie, once back home the dog decided she would help me dig over the veg plot then when the seedlings had been planted it was out for a blast on the bike. Totally filled day off. Perfic.

I want to be a pirate!

When I grow up I think I want to be a pirate!
For the last two days I have been at my new job with the Harbour Conservancy and I absolutely love it, out on the water in a RIB all day, I mean whats not to like.
The sun shone and the air was warm, it was lovely. The people I work with are really nice and the time went so quickly I could have done another three or four hours, that said I was shattered by the time I had got home. I do realise that when its cold and wet things will be different but until that time, a pirates life for me, Arr pass the rum!

The first cut.

...is the deepest!

We had the lawn cut today for the first time this year, looking back this is the latest we have had the first cut. Its been so wet, parts of the garden were literally under water.
We have been promised a mini heatwave....
Well if it happens I hope it makes the grass at the stables grow and the ground dry up a bit, we have things which we want to move from the paddocks but its so boggy we can't get a vehicle across, not even my Landrover!
In the 7 weeks we have been at the new yard we have had, Frost, snow, torrential rain and brilliant sunshine! What season are we in again?

A shocking story part two

Alas, poor Mouse!
Well to bring you up to speed, its not only Mouses fur that is thick! Apparently its her hide too, even whilst wearing the rug she still managed to go through the electric so with this in mind and the fact that a whole yard belonging to some friends came available, We decided to move Mouse as well as another friend with her horses.
The fields have proper fences now and although I still have to put an electric strip round to stop her rubbing herself silly she can't escape every day.
My friends horses are in the adjoining paddocks so she has company all the time.
We also don't have a footpath right beside us which means we no longer get people telling us we are being cruel to her. Did I mention I had to get a new bigger girth for her as she is doing so badly (not) that she has put on weight this winter!

A shocking story Part 1

Once upon a time there was a horse called Mouse, she was a lovely hairy horse who lived in a big field next to lots of other horses, their  fields were separated by electric fences.
Mouse was a very fuzzy thick coated horse of Scottish and Welsh decent! (Highland/Welsh D) so when I say thick coated I mean THICK!
Now this lovely girl also suffered with a condition called sweetitch, she suffered so badly that she was unable to go into a stable at night because she would either knock it down or cause herself bad injuries where she rubbed so severely (even with a no fill rug on for protection).
Now along one side of her field there was a footpath where people strolled, jogged and walked their dogs, some people would see Mouse out in the field in the cold winter and tell her owner off because "That horse should have a shelter! A rug! A stable!"
The other problem that Mouses owner had was the fact that Mouse was also a Houdini horse, if Mouse was wearing a rug she had no respect for the electric fence as she could no longer feel it. Under she would go or more often than not through it she would go, to have a chat with the horses in the adjoining fields, and make them scratch her itchy mane and tail!
What was her owner to do!
Mouse didn't really need the rug, but her owner was fed up with people saying she was cruel leaving Mouse out in all weather's. (Native breeds of any creature will adapt to their surroundings)
Then one day whilst looking for some new feed buckets, Mouses owner found an advert for Guardian Equestrian they make a turnout rug which still allows the electric current to be felt by the horse if it tries to go over, under or through the fence!
 Well this was a breakthrough!
So Mouses owner decided to purchase a no fill rug with a neck cover that way Mouse wouldn't get too hot in a rug she did not need, People on the footpath might not tell her off and Mouse would remain in her field.
Next Friday is pay day...
Tune in for Part 2, coming soon!

London Calling....

I have family and friends in all three of the main emergency services, I come from a military family, I am British!
I have friends who are Muslim, Jewish, Rasta, Catholic, Atheist, Buddhist. I have friends who are very rich, struggling to make ends meet, Amputees, Gay, hetro, students, stay at home mums, NHS workers, adult film makers! Blondes, Brunettes, Red heads, bald, grey and all the colours of the rainbow.
I do not like racism, Sexism, bigoted and people who are quick to judge others on how they look or where they come from.
There are extremists in every walk of life, don't judge all by the actions of a few.

CHARLES MANSON                 had Brown hair

MARTIN LUTHER KING JR      was Black skinned

ADOLPH HITLER                     was a Christian

MOHAMMAD ALI      and JANET JACKSON are both Muslims

IAN BRADY                       was white British

MYRA HINDLEY           was a Woman

HAROLD SHIPMAN      was a GP

I could go on.....
But you get the point!                                                                 Image: Yoga Farm

The things we do for animals!

This post is completely true, I write that because my day sounds as if I have made it up!
On Sunday the fox man came to our house with a fox trap as we have a very mangy dog fox resident in our garden which is looking very ill.

The plan is to catch him in the trap and remove him to our local vets who, once treated will take him to the wildlife hospital just down the road to recover then he will be released back into our garden.

Sunday night was windy, so Monday morning when I got up to look in the trap I found it closed and empty, the mechanism must have been triggered by the wind. I reset it Monday evening then went to bed as usual.
This morning my husband brought a cup of tea up to me in bed and said "You caught something in your fox trap last night!"
Grabbing my dressing gown I ran down stairs and carefully opened the front door walking to the trap I saw a petite tabby cat, Meowing sadly at me.
I don't know when he got trapped but he had eaten all the food we put out for the fox and had managed to vandalise the trip mechanism haha. I made a fuss of him as I let him out, he didn't blot just walked sedately out of the garden as if to say "Nothing to see here"!

Back indoors, tea finished animals fed and watered and the gardener arrives to mow the grass.
I went out to do my horse, when I came back I look out at the lovely tidy grass and notice a hedgehog snuffling about, they shouldn't be around during the day and her body seemed to be an odd shape so I went to take a look.. Poor thing had either a huge tumour or an abscess, it was half her body size!
Finding the pet carrier I stick her in it and drive down the the Wildlife hospital, who say she has to go straight to the vets to be operated on, then they will take her for her recovery and then she can be returned to the garden again.
Do wild animals come into our garden when they are sick because they know I am a soft touch and will take them to the vet or what!?

A stone

I have lost £14
No... Wait .....
I have lost 14lb
Funny that it sounds the same but if you write it down you would rather one than the other!
Now, this stone I have lost has been just through changing the way I eat over the last 5 weeks, this week I plan on adding a second dimension into the mix...
Yep, the dreadded E word
I'm off to the gym to get some exercise...
Watch this space!

BAYLEAF NEVILLE

This post is one I knew I would have to write but never wanted to!
Today, One of the Shire horses from the museum had to cross the rainbow bridge (Sorry I can't bring myself to write it any other way!)
He was 27 years old, he worked hard all his life but had a naughty / cheeky side which I adored. This boy was a big part of museum life, he was known by generations of museum visitors who would ask where he was if we were working a different horse.
Popular hard working and handsome.
Your work is done Big Boy, sleep well. XXX

Big Boy.

Here and Back

Well, The Northern Bird has flown, she is at this moment winging her way north again back to her family.
We have had some fun whilst she has been down, although not our usual out every day type visit we have still packed things in!
Crazy Golf, Coffee mornings, films, and lots of catching up!
Next time we will do our homework and make sure all the places we want to go to are actually open! Oops!!
Today is super foggy too, so I hope it doesn't cause her too much trouble on her 300ish mile journey home.

Happy New Year

Well I know its a bit late! But all the same.
The first 16 days of this year have gone past so quickly its incredible.
I am looking forward to the northern bird coming down for a visit very soon, it feels like more than the six months its been since we last caught up with each other.
Only two days to go

4th in Advent

Blackout Friday!

A post with this title should really only have a one word body... DON'T!

This is the night that Ambulance services across the country (World maybe, who knows) get totally crippled by people who :-

Can't hold their drink,

Think of nothing but themselves,

Spend a week or more's wages on alcohol in one night,

Embarrass themselves in front of their co workers, friends and possibly family

Kill someone or cause them suffering. Yes I did mean to write that. When someone gets so drunk that they become unconscious or their "Friends" (Inverted commas as real friends wouldn't let them get that bad!) are worried because someone has had their drink spiked!!! or isn't responding properly due to the amount of alcohol consumed, an ambulance gets called, an ambulance which will then be tied up for an hour or so dealing with some stupid person who has caused their own situation by stupidity, when it could be attending to someone who has life threatening condition and needs an ambulance through no fault of their own!

This is the night which sees Ambulance service and Police personnel assaulted  in the line of duty due to intoxicated people.

Is it OK to go out of control when so much is at stake?

One last thing... DON'T DRINK AND DRIVE, STAY ALIVE, And let everyone have a Happy Christmas!

Image from The Telegraph.

Nightmare before Christmas.

The other night I had a nightmare, I dreamed I was having a heart attack, I could feel the pain and everything, I woke up and couldn't get my breath which made me panic even more desperately trying to get a deep breath....Then, I really woke up! The whole episode had been a dream, including the bit where I thought I had woken up! This has never happened to me before, the panic and fear were so great and so real.
I have decided that I need to loose weight and also get a bit fitter, maybe this nightmare was the WAKE UP call I needed.
At Christmas I shall eat drink and be merry but up to then and after then I shall be swimming and going to the gym and eating more sensibly than I have been!