Day 144 - Why is "dog" man's best friend?

As we all know, "Dog, is man's best friend". Just as well that Minty Mutt is Baggy's. He deserves to be though. The boy is loyal. He guards Baggy from all bad things. And really not bad at all things. "Except they might be Mum. Especially when they pull up in their cars outside the house. Or push bits of paper in that box on the drive. So I always see them off with my warning bark". He lies at the foot of the stairs to guard Baggy when she is in her bed at night. He puts himself in between Furry Mama and any other threat, be it another dog or an unpleasant person. He places his head on Baggy's knee if she is low or sad. He bounces around like a puppy to get Furry Mama to play with him when Baggy is well and happy. He is always there for her and would rather be with her than anywhere else. He is one of the nicest dogs you are likely to meet. As his vet in Kent once said, "If all German Shepherds were like Mint, everyone would want one". He was a puppy at the time, just sixteen months old. The boy is a gem. Which is why Clever Bird finds it disturbing that there are knee-jerk petitions circulating trying to get Pedigree German Shepherds banned! Clever Bird does not believe that there is anything wrong with the breed, or any other breed for that matter; not even the already banned Pit Bull. The problem is with some breeders, some judges, some owners and the ridiculous "thing" that humans have for "perfection". Perfect looking carrots, tomatoes, roses, people, (some arcane-image of) breeds of dog. Over-breeding to a ridiculous "perfection" is wrong. Not training your dog properly is wrong. Just breeding or buying dogs based on looks alone (not temperament) is wrong. The problem is always with the humans not the animals. Sorry, rant over bloggees, but the next person that sends that kind of petition-link to Baggy Body will be unfriended no matter who they are. Dog is man's best friend, so it's about time man started returning the compliment. Sorry, rant started again - over now.

Last night the gorgeous boy was in his guard position at the bottom of the stairs when Baggy had to come down in the middle of the night for a bathroom visit. Lying next to him in an identical pose was the Hinge cat a.k.a. the low-slung one. Furry Mama could not believe how cute they looked, albeit that Baggy struggled to step over them both! That cat loves her brother. Today Clever Bird realised that his anti-inflammatory medicine that he now has to have daily (due sadly, to the beginnings of arthritis in his hips) had almost run out. She phoned the vet to get some more. At lunchtime Baggy went out to take The Domestic Goddess to get some coal and to take Furry Mama to pick up the medicine. The medicine that she realised had lasted only six weeks. The medicine that is £80 a pot! She also bought the very large boy some flea and worm treatments for the next three months. As he needs two doses per go - one large dog and one small dog dose, another £80 disappeared! But the boy is worth it. No one could have a more loyal friend. It did occur to Clever Bird that it might be an idea to check whether she could get this medicine on Mint's insurance as he is now on it for life and his insurance is a mere £89 per month!!!!! She can. But even if she couldn't, it's the least he deserves.....

Day 143 - What makes an author?

As Furry Mama walked Minty Mutt through The Thickets this morning, Baggy was wandering along thanking God for such a beautiful day. Freda Fretter was wandering along thinking about all the things that Baggy should be getting on with.

The gang has so much to do. The Goddess needs to clean. The open fire is just wonderful, but it causes a film of dust to appear within sixty-seconds of swooshing the duster about. So Clever Bird said, "Why bother - enough with the pointless swooshing?" Gloria Gardener needs to plant the climbing rose that Calum bought at the weekend. Clever Bird read the instructions. "Dig a two foot by eighteen inch hole". What? Gloria decided that was a job for Calum at the weekend then. She also needs to cut the lawn, which is now about six inches long. But Freda Fretter wants Calum to check that the lawnmower works properly (it being brand new) before she lets Gloria at it. She doesn't want it going bang on her, or not starting, or, or, or. Grotty Groom needs to go and see her beloved Boys. But she doesn't want a confrontation with the bad energy source so would rather not go. The Goddess needs to go and buy coal. But Hormonal Hannah is playing up and would rather not go out. So what has Baggy been doing all day?

Creative Clara has monopolised all of her time. This would of course be perfectly acceptable if Baggy actually really was an author. Rather than a "trying-to-be-an" author. Yes bloggees, she blogs. But surely that just makes her a blogger? She writes her www.channillo.com series. But surely that just makes her a diary writer? Clever Bird has always thought of authors as people who have had a book published. But actually that isn't the definition. The definition according to the Collins English Dictionary is "a person who composes a book, article, or other written work". So Creative Clara is definitely an author, just not a professional one. But everyone has to start somewhere. So Clara's first novel is a priority for Baggy. As a result when she has ideas she feels the need to write them before they disappear into the ether. She got stuck last week and had written nothing for days. Now she can't stop. She has taken a break to blog, but now she's going back to it............

Day 142 - Weird.

Anyone who wonders why we Brits constantly talk about the weather won't have spent any time here. Today's weather in the East of England is weird. One second it is warm and sunny with a clear blue sky. Seemingly the next, it is grey, windy and pouring with rain. However, Furry Mama managed to take Minty Mutt on a long walk between the yucky bits. Baggy's knee was much better after a day's rest. Although it got more painful the further Furry Mama walked. Minty Mutt was the opposite, he seemed quite stiff after his day off. But he got better as they went along. In fact after Calum having taken him on two route marches over the weekend, Mint had clearly decided that this was the new rule. Baggy could barely keep up with him and was happy when she could let him off his lead! He even got over the stile without the assistance of a bottom-lift from Furry Mama.

The very first bluebells are flowering in the woodland. They are going to be so spectacular when they come out. Spring is definitely trying to "sprung".

"Spring has sprung, the flowers have riss, I wonder where the birdies is. The birds are on the wing. But that's absurd, I always thought the wing was on the bird".

That daft poem always reminds Baggy of her dear Dad. Gloria Gardener took further advantage of the nice bits of weather and did a bit more pottering. She did have to support all her hyacinths who have got too big for their little stalks and had collapsed. She also gave them a bit of extra compost. But the smell is glorious. Only problem being that every time Gloria dug a hole, Minty Mutt decided that he needed to dig one too.

The Domestic Goddess just made pasta for lunch. She added chopped tomatoes. Not because she particularly wanted tomatoes in it, but because Gloria wanted the can to pot her herbs in! She still needs quite a few.

The Goddess is supposed to be tackling the housework now, but Creative Clara grabbed Baggy first. Nothing new there then.......

Day 141 - Baggy is hobbling.

Well Storm Katie did a major amount of house buffeting last night and is still at it a little bit. But that is another advantage of living in a thatched house, the roof is highly unlikely to get blown off. It also kills the noise. That was how Clever Bird knew the storm was really bad; she could hear it! Fortunately for the Baggy household, they still have power (hope that's not famous last words) and no damage. Even Gloria's wall garden is completely undisturbed. Very grateful.

After a lie in Calum has the fire going and the whole family is nice and toasty. Just as well as Baggy has undertaken the major task of hair-washing this morning. Two hours later it is still very damp. But as Baggy is not planning on leaving the house today it seemed like a good plan to do it. Unfortunately, the one downside of Grotty Groom riding twice this weekend is Baggy is in pain. Surprisingly this is not a bit of Baggy that Clever Bird would have expected to be hurting. Her stomach is fine (apart from the odd weird shooting-pain), her arm is no worse than it has been. But her right knee! Now that is a different story. Very painful. Very swollen. Especially behind her leg. Most peculiar. But Baggy can't straighten her leg, so she is hobbling about. Furry Mama is therefore feeling very guilty but Minty Mutt will not be getting his usual walk today. Mind you they would probably have got blown away anyway.

Clever Bird can only assume that the swelling is due to Grotty deciding to ride with much longer stirrup-leathers. It is well over eight years since she last rode at that length, so presumably her muscles just aren't up to it. But Baggy doesn't care because Grotty is just so grateful that she can once again ride her Boy. It is just a shame that it is way too stormy to ride again today as her leg is fine when she's on her horse! It's being on the ground that's hard. So today will be a day for Creative Clara to get on with writing. Novel, here she comes.........

Day 140 - Grotty Groom went for a canter in a gale.

Furry Mama persuaded Calum to come for a walk with her and Minty Mutt. Calum left the house in a T-shirt! Clever Bird asked if he was sure, as it was very cold. He insisted he'd be fine. Furry Mama had dressed Baggy in a fleece and a down-lined waterproof coat along with her snood. Halfway round it started to drizzle. Within a minute there was a gale blowing and horizontal rain with icy slush in it. Calum blamed Furry Mama for his depth of soakedness. How is that even reasonable? Furry Mama towelled Minty dry, then herself, while Calum got changed. "Well one thing's for sure", said Grotty Groom, "I am not riding in this!" Half an hour later the sun was back out and the wind had dropped.

"So, are we going to ride?" asked Calum. "Well it would be nice to go and see the Boys at least", encouraged Grotty. Off they headed, looking at the blue sky and the grey clouds on the horizon. The weather was so ghastly that all the horses had been left in for the day. "Not sure that bodes too well", thought Clever Bird. "Well, shall we risk it?" "Yep". Very quick groom. Not so quick tacking up. Even slower getting Baggy kitted out in riding boots, full-length chaps, air-jacket, hi-viz, gloves and hat. Nervous visits to the loo. Wessles was totally laid back. As they mounted up, the groom said that both Boys had had a good session on the horse-walker this morning. Okay. Phew.

Grotty wanted to be brave. No playing it safe and sticking to the roads. Straight onto perfect going for canters. Wessles was on a mission. Clever Bird knows he's keen when he chooses to lead the ride! The wind was picking up by the second. As they headed to The Avenue, Grotty was a little apprehensive. Largely because she had kind of forgotten that her stirrup leathers are four-inches longer than she is used to! She didn't feel too secure. But The Avenue looked so inviting.

"Shall we trot?" "Urrrm, oh okay then". Wessles set off. Joey went into a fast hunting trot. "Oh okay then Wessles, canter if you like". He did. Like an angel. Not for far. Just fifty yards or so while Joey stayed in trot, then Grotty asked him to walk. He did. As they all turned the corner at the top of the hill, it was blowing a gale - straight up the horses' and Baggy's nostrils. Wesley was not amused. He got rather strong. The rest of the ride required a fair amount of checking the lad's power. "Well, I cantered Mum, obviously you're okay, so we need to get home before that storm over there". "Just walk Wesley", "No". "Walk". "No really". "Walk". "Grrrrrr". "Right, now we're on the track you can trot". "Yippee, let's go". "Trot, don't race". "But look at that storm Mum". "Walk Wesley, my stomach won't take any more". "Fine, but we're walking quickly". "Good lad".

"See Mum, I told you". Just as they turned back onto the yard the Heaven's opened. It rained stair-rods. But Grotty insisted on a last photo so got her and Wessles soaked. But who cares? It was wonderful to be hacking once more - even if it was only for about thirty minutes..........

Day 139 - Recovered?

Clever Bird is trying to decide whether she can now declare Baggy to be fully recovered. Grotty Groom rode yesterday, which is kind of Baggy's measure of fitness. Okay she aches like an old lady today, but that's hardly surprising. The main pain is in her back where her ribs broke eight years ago. That might be due to her stomach muscles still not being at full strength, but it's an old pain, not a new one. So all things considered Clever Bird thinks that she can safely declare Baggy to now be recovered from her operations. Now she just needs to build her fitness back up again. It will take a few more months for her arm to be back to normal, but her stomach is pretty good. If it hadn't just got silly cold again, Grotty could probably go back to her duties (or rather her revised once a day duties). But she will be a lady of leisure for a little while longer and let the rest of the gang be extra busy.

So today, after Hormonal Hannah kept Baggy awake for three hours again last night, she overslept! By the time she emerged at 11.00am, Calum was just taking Minty Mutt out for a walk. It's the Boy's birthday (at least Furry Mama thinks it's today! Hormonal Hannah has caused Baggy's brain to go to mush, so it might be on Monday). He is nine years old. Bless him. Seventy two years old in human years. Baggy hopes he has at least another four years in him as she cannot imagine him not being around.

Creative Clara then dragged Calum to a local antiques and collector's fair for a window shop. Except Calum bought Baggy a rather spectacular necklace as an Easter present. Well it's nowhere near as fattening as a chocolate egg after all. Bracket kat seems to like it.

Lunch out. Totally okay for Baggy's diet (wholemeal bread, ham and pickle sandwich), until Calum ordered himself a sausage roll. Of course Hormonal Hannah couldn't resist and had one too. Ah well. It's only one and it was delicious. Then off to mooch round an antiques centre. Home via the little plant centre in Baggy's village. Herbs and some plants bought to finish off Creative Clara's vision of Gloria Gardener's wall garden. Baggy is very happy with the (almost) end result. Four more plants needed and all the herbs to be replanted in tin cans, but getting there.

It's becoming a nice space to sit in now. Pity it has been too cold to do so today for more than a few minutes........

Day 138 - So, so, so, so, so HAPPY!

What a really lovely Good Friday Baggy has had. Fat Club first thing was good news. Baggy was very good all this week and it has paid off. She lost the one-and-a-half pounds that she put on last week plus an additional one. Very chuffed. Calum and Minty Mutt had come in the car too as there was no big meeting today (it being a Bank Holiday). So Calum and Furry Mama took Minty Mutt for a walk around the stunning village of Lavenham.

Then home to do a bit of the work that Creative Clara had imagined for Gloria Gardener. Bare wall needing a bit of  livening up, Creative Clara style.

She directed the husband. He did a brilliant job. Now Gloria Gardener just needs to get some herbs and a few pretty plants to finish it off.

But best of all Grotty Groom has ridden The Boy Wessles! To say she was pleased would be an understatement of humungous proportions. In fact to be perfectly honest, Clever Bird thinks that Wesley was just as pleased. It has been such a glorious day - bit of a miracle for a Bank Holiday in England. Warm, sunny and no wind. Considering it absolutely poured with rain all night, it was a perfect day. Clever Bird had arranged for the Boys to be brought in for 1 o'clock. Calum and Grotty arrived at about 1.30pm. They had to groom whole animals worth of hair out of the Boys once again! Baggy rather struggled when Grotty needed to tack Wesley up. His saddle is surprisingly heavy. But he was so laid back about it all. Considering he has not been ridden since last September, he just stood and munched his hay, while Baggy struggled. In the end Calum had to help. But they took Wesley down to a wall so Baggy could get on. Wesley didn't move an inch, not even when Joey went off to a different wall for Calum to get on. They went into the school. Both horses were total angels. there was a lot going on: a dressage clinic in the other school, people hacking past, a tractor just behind the arena, a chap walking his dogs, pigeons in the hedge. Not a hoof wrong. So proud of both horses. They were so good that Calum suggested a little hack up the road and back. Grotty was so happy to be out that she decided to let Wesley trot, as he was desperate to do so. A fast hunting trot ensued. Wesley was loving it. Grotty was loving it. Apart from Baggy's back burning, Baggy was fine.

After Grotty's session on the computer horse the other weekend, she took the advice she had been given and dropped Wesley's stirrups; by FOUR holes. She had been told to build it up gradually, but she figured that that was the length she used to ride Wessles at, she might as well go straight back to it, as everything else (sans Lawrence-the-durmoid-cyst) would feel so different. When she got on they felt really long. After twenty minutes in the school, she had forgotten they were long. When trotting on the road, they felt great. So much safer as she was barely rising out of the saddle. Yee-hah! So, so, so, so, pleased, with Wesley, with herself and especially with Calum and Joey for being Grotty's safety blanket. They were all so pleased and having such a lovely time, that Creative Clara forgot to get Calum to take photos. So he just took some when they got back. The grin says it all.......

Day 137 - Clever Bird strikes again.

After further bottom nipping, Baggy had had enough of the busted toilet seat, so Calum and she set off to the DIY superstore with Clever Bird's "free" gift card in tow, to get a new one. The one that has been sitting in the shed has broken fittings, so needs must. Toilet seat selected. Little knobby top bits for the posts on the new front gate and fence selected. Compost. Four more wall planters. Different compost. Two bathroom tester paint pots (for a bit of repair work). Oil for the lawnmower. The lawnmower that Gloria Gardener and Calum bought there two weeks ago. The lawnmower that when they had checked it out the week before had been £244. The lawnmower that when they bought it a week later was £304. The lawnmower that was sitting next to the oil. On offer! For £244! "Reduced" from £304. The lawnmower that they had increased the price on to £304 so that they could "reduce" it. Hormonal Hannah lost it! Not impressed. Nay, furious in fact. Clever Bird decided to complain. She explained that she understood the "scam", having worked in retail for a lot of years. She would have been unhappy (but accepting) if it was a genuine reduction. But as it wasn't she was furious. £60 is £60! She complained to the sales girl who suggested that Gloria brought the still unused one in and they would do an exchange. Clever Bird whisked out the receipt that showed the purchase for £304 less than two weeks ago. "As we have the receipt, could you not just do a refund?". "Urrm, well..." "If you can't that's fine, just get me the store manager". Fortunately the store manager understood Baggy's annoyance. Plus Clever Bird was deliberately explaining that she understood the "scam" in a fairly loud voice! £60 refunded in a credit note. Used to pay for all the bits. Just £11 more to pay. Well done Clever Bird. £7,000 yesterday. £60 today. Yee-hah!

Feeling pleased with herself, Baggy got Calum to take Grotty Groom over to see the Boys. They haven't seen them since last Saturday. They were still out, happily munching grass in the rain. But when they were brought in, Grotty took Wessles straight into the school to lunge him. Only the third lot of work he's done in six months and he was a total angel. It bodes well for Grotty riding him tomorrow! Fingers crossed for nice weather..........

Day 136 - The gang is hopeless at times.

Errors by the gang so far this week:

1) The Domestic Goddess cooking the roast leg-of-lamb on Sunday having completely failed to remove the bit of plastic-paper stuff from underneath it first. Resulting in Clever Bird wondering what the heck the weird black stuff was when The Goddess went to baste it.

2) Gloria Gardener deciding to retrieve the cans from the recycling bin so that she can recycle them in a different way. Creative Clara has decided that they would make perfect pots for Gloria's wall hanging-herb garden. Good plan. Except Baggy just did a comedy "upside down in the bin" trick trying to get the one and only can in there out from the bottom of the bin.

3) The loo seat snapping and instead of replacing it immediately Clever Bird insisting that they save money by using the one in the garden shed. That apart from the fact it has been in various sheds for about nine years, is actually brand new. Baggy then getting a nipped bottom every single time she stands up from the loo.

4) Furry Mama picking up a Minty Mutt poo in a bag. Except Hormonal Hannah was away with the fairies and managed to get it all over her hand.

5) Creative Clara taking her notebook with her on Furry Mama's walk so that she could write down great ideas for her novel, before Hormonal Hannah makes her forget them. Except she left the pen at home.

Clever Bird was however a proper clever bird yesterday. The lawyers for her Mum and Dad's estate had told her that she would need to pay some taxes that would amount to over £7,500! She asked a couple of questions; made a couple of suggestions. Three lawyers went off and had a conflab. Realised that Clever Bird had a point. She now needs to pay £500 to get some legal changes made and the £7,500 is irrelevant! Good girl Clever Bird. But it makes her wonder what she is paying £250 an hour for..........

Day 135 - Oh the relief!

Thanks to Baggy having time to do it while Grotty Groom is still off duty. And thanks to having some extra cash due from her Mum and Dad's estate (no, Creative Clara did not manage to type that without making Baggy cry), Baggy's house is coming together nicely. Gloria Gardener's efforts are blooming. Unfortunately her little flower bed has made the perfect cat toilet, so Gloria will be searching for lion dung to sprinkle on it. But the plants are still happy. The sitting room is almost (but not quite) organised. The Domestic Goddess is still at it. It's only taken six years (to get organised bloggees - not to do the sitting room. Hmmm, actually it has taken six years!) Anyway, Clever Bird now realises that as per (almost always) Calum was right. Both the mattress and even more so the sofa were so old and knackered that they were hurting Baggy's (and Calum's) back(s). Please just don't tell him Baggy said that though.

It is so lovely coming down to a lovely airy sitting room rather than a cramped, let's just say it eh, mess! It has also gone from being a rather childish space, to a very grown up one. Okay, fairly grown up one. It wouldn't be Baggy's house if it was too grown up.

But as various bloggees have mentioned to Clever Bird previously, living in a mess really is not very good for the soul. Even Hormonal Hannah is feeling better about things; being in a less cluttered space! It is still a work in progress. The hippy rag rugs need to be replaced with (probably) three more proper rugs. This will protect the Minty Mutt's elbows from the Tudor-brick floor. And of course it will keep the place warmer and make The Goddess's job rather easier. Mind you - the dust! Two hours after dusting, it is back! The joys of thatched houses.

But Baggy's head is in such a better place. The relief of not sleeping so badly, not killing Baggy's back on the sofa, being in a pleasant space and having figured out a new plan for Grotty Groom yesterday is a major relief. Only another three rooms to go then.......

Day 134 - How to deal with an energy vampire!

Baggy overslept big time. In fact she only woke up because her phone pinged to let her know she had a text. It was about 11.15am! But the new mattress is so comfy, that her achy old body just wants to curl up in its loveliness. By the time she had phoned Calum, fed the furries, got showered and dressed it was gone noon. Minty Mutt then insisted that Furry Mama took him on a really long walk.

On the way home she had a long chat on the phone, then sat in the garden still yacking, while Mint lay by Baggy's feet. By the time she went in it was nearly 2.30pm! The rest of the day has seen The Domestic Goddess constantly doing things. She still hasn't entirely beaten the sitting room, but she's almost there.

But the biggest thing she has achieved is to figure out how Grotty Groom can cope with the energy vampire at the yard. She was going to leave. But Clever Bird realised that that was utterly unfair! The horses are very happy where they are. So was Grotty until she had to contend with this person. So why should Grotty be forced to leave and put the Boys through a load of stress moving them again? Having months and months away from the problem has made it all seem even worse. Of course the fact that thanks to Baggy being plunged into the most extreme emotional symptoms of the menopause due to annoying Hormonal Hannah joining the gang after Baggy's surgery, it has got worse still! Baggy has been struggling with confidence issues, anxiety and even depression. Not wanting to leave the house. Feeling stressed about everything. Feeling hopeless and worthless. It has been pretty bad. Worse than Creative Clara has shared on here really. Baggy has set the gang on various missions to keep Hannah at bay as you bloggees know. But in the process of seriously looking at moving, Clever Bird came up with a plan B. Make sure Grotty is never at the yard at the same time as the person. This will require Grotty to do less work too and have more services provided by the yard when she goes back. But the brilliance of this solution from Clever Bird is that Grotty will not be pushing Baggy too hard either. She will go to the yard once a day (in the morning only) instead of twice during the week, giving her at least two hours a day back. At weekends the Boys will go on full livery so that Grotty can have two days a week off and just as importantly, so can Calum. Plus there will be time to actually enjoy the Boys, rather than just being worn out from looking after them. Baggy is not getting any younger!

So when Grotty does go back, which will be in another few weeks time, when it has warmed up(!), she will not have to face the thought of going from not doing them at all for over six months, to doing them for 365 days a year again. That is a huge psychological relief as well as a physical one. Novel writing can be taken more seriously (none has been done for the last three days) and Clever Bird can also look at earning some money one way or another. Things are definitely looking up........

Day 133 - Another constructive day for Baggy.

Long walk round the beautiful town of Long Melford this morning with her two main furries for Furry Mama.

Had a chat with a few locals.

Calum, was Calum.

Then they went to the antique centre with the hope of finding an inexpensive rug for the sitting room. Failed. Came out with two pieces of furniture instead. One is a seventeenth-century style small table for the new improved sitting room. It is for the hideously large modern television to sit on. It offends Creative Clara's sensibilities having a large telly in such an old room, but she is the one who watches it most! But it sitting on a glass and chrome TV stand. Yuck. So at least now it's on a nice piece of furniture. The glass and chrome one will either go free to a new home, or might just get used creatively in the garden, if Gloria Gardener can work out how. The other piece is a tobacco cabinet. Or in Calum and Creative Clara's heads, a bathroom cabinet. They couldn't find a real bathroom cabinet that they actually liked, so why not?

Pictures will follow when it is organised well enough to be worthy of them. Calum and Baggy now ache from head to toe. But at least they have a comfy mattress to collapse on rather than one that made them ache even more. Busy, busy, busy............

Day 132 - Exhausted!

First night on the super-duper new mattress last night. It is Heaven! Calum and Baggy slept like logs. Well Baggy was probably more of a logette, but still she slept well and did not wake up in pain. They did however have to get up at 6.00am to get ready for the delivery of the new sofa and chair. Minor detail called the old ones were still well and truly in the way.

Clearing things in Baggy's house is always entertaining. And very hard work!

The herd relocated.

The new sofa and chair arrived. There was an issue with the chair. One leg refused to fit. So an engineer will be coming out with a new one at some point. Meanwhile it is on little knobs and is therefore "short". The Domestic Goddess decided that we needed to rearrange the entire room. Six hours later, they almost have.

Then Calum and Grotty went over to see the Boys for a cuddle. Home to a lovely much bigger sitting room, a fire and spaghetti bolognaise.......

Day 131 - Baggy is seriously struggling.

Sorry about the miniscule blog yesterday loyal bloggees. Baggy feels that Creative Clara left you a little short-changed. Baggy did however run out of day. Largely in fact due to Creative Clara, whose novel is running away with her. She can't quite keep up with it. But the truth is that there's more to it than that. In the same way that Clara gets totally lost in a good book because she wants to know what is going to happen next, she is getting "lost" in her novel. This is good and bad as previously discussed. But at the moment, Clever Bird realises that Baggy is using Clara's novel to distract Hormonal Hannah and Freda Fretter. And interestingly Clever Bird realised yesterday, even more so to distract Psychic Ploppo. Yes, that is too obtuse.

To explain. Baggy's stress levels are currently through the roof. They shouldn't be. But they are. Why? Well, lots of reasons. Firstly, she has realised that her step-mother's death hit her harder than she was expecting. Especially as it has finally allowed her to grieve for her Dad. Mother's Day threw her quite a lot! There are also some big (exciting, but quite scary decisions) that she has had to take over her inheritance. Freda is wondering whether she has done the right thing, even though Clever Bird and Calum are quite sure that she has. They are the exact kind of decisions that Baggy would instantly have called her old Dad about to chat through. Obviously she cannot do that.

 

Secondly, Freda has been worrying about the replacement mattress coming today. It was such a drama last time trying to get it through the tiny seventeenth-century door at the bottom of the stairs. This time they had to take the other one away too. Well she was right to worry a bit! There are now three bits of wood that Calum will have to put back up that fell off as they forced it through the gap! Plus exposed electric wires that Freda thought was joining the wood! She had visions of electrocuted men. The new mattress is much bigger or rather deeper!! But they did it. Then they had to negotiate two mattresses in the tiny tiny bedroom. They managed that. Just. Then they had to avoid electrocution on the way down with the other one. Everyone is alive. The mattress is replaced. The chaps were great. In fact they gave Baggy three lots of lavender spray to help her sleep. Very helpful if it works as last night, due to worrying, Hormonal Hannah kept Baggy awake from 1.30 to 4.45am! A record!

Tomorrow the new sofa and chair arrive. Well, let's hope they do anyway! After the previous arguments about delivery dates, that remains to be seen. So yes, that is another worry. Plus of course Baggy will have to attempt to help Calum to get the old sofa and chair out of the house tomorrow and get them to the dump. Hence the third worry. Baggy is really not one hundred percent strong yet.

Fourth. Our landline as you know is a disaster. No line for about six weeks, bar one day. A neighbour had our number for two weeks. Hence BT saying it was fixed! Yeah funny. Not! Who's paying for those calls? Complaining to people who are reading a script in India is completely pointless. And stressful. Baggy has literally just had a call from an engineer who is on his way and admits we got missed in the great reconnect. Hopefully he will be able to fix it. Once he has Clever Bird is cancelling the landline and praying Baggy's mobile has a signal a bit more often than currently.

Fifthly and probably, no definitely the biggest stress of the lot, Grotty Groom is not seeing her horses. She will only go with Calum in tow to protect her. Clever Bird has realised in the last few days that she means that literally. There is a person at the yard who (whether you believe these things or not) Baggy knows to be an energy vampire. One of Baggy's closest friends, Tracey, came into Baggy's life to protect Psychic Ploppo from one such person many years ago. That's another story for another day. Baggy had never heard of such things before that day of meeting her friend. However since then she has met another one (who actually became a good friend) until somebody else pointed out that Baggy was ill shortly after every visit from this woman. So she extricated herself from that friendship. This is way, way worse. In fact it has got so bad, that just thinking about the person has had Baggy in tears four times in the last two days. When she sets off for the yard she is having the beginnings of a panic attack. She knows from experience that if she is not careful, this could develop into a full panic attack. They are terrifying. Even my big strong hairy biker husband is now avoiding the person because he too is feeling it, which means that he cannot protect Baggy from it. He also no longer wants to be there so had not ridden Joey for months until the other weekend. Well, Grotty is seriously missing her horses but she cannot be there if the person is there. It is making Baggy slightly hysterical. Within seconds of being in their presence, Psychic Ploppo feels tearful and blindingly angry at the same time. Bearing in mind that Baggy has been totally ignored by the person for weeks of seeing them now, it is their mere presence that is the problem. She literally cannot cope with being anywhere near them. Hence major, major stress! Trying to work out what to do about it is keeping Baggy constantly worried. Not good.

Yes bloggees, Clever Bird realises that this makes Baggy sound like some kind of weird person. She is in fact not at all sure about the whole energy vamping thing herself. However, whether you now once again think Baggy is nuts, or not, the plain facts are that it is having a physical affect on her health. So, Clever Bird is just accepting that Psychic Ploppo is right and needs protecting.

So one way and another Baggy has been comfort eating. So yep Fat Club today was a disaster. Weight on, not off. Hence why Baggy is struggling on a number of fronts at the moment. But she is a strong bird, so fear not bloggees, she will figure all of this out. Somehow. In the meantime Creative Clara is fairly convinced that Psychic Ploppo is helping her to write the novel that is writing itself, so maybe some good has come out of an unbearable situation...........

Day 130 - Lots of decisions to be made.

Sorry bloggees, Baggy doesn't know which way is up today. She is being pulled in all directions by the gang. As a result not a lot is getting achieved. Sorry that this is going to be short and sweet therefore but it's 8.00pm and The Domestic Goddess is only now rustling up supper. Gloria Gardener is very happy with her efforts though. Everything is still not only alive, but blossoming. Minty Mutt has had another long walk. The Goddess did some washing. Gorgeous day, so she hung it outside. Of course it's still there - gently freezing to the line. Creative Clara has written a significant amount of her novel. Baggy had a lovely afternoon cappuccino and cake (yep, the Victoria sponge that she's been dreaming of for weeks), with her friend Susan. Then she went to see Susan's gorgeous young horse. Grotty Groom had a nostril exchange with the Boy. Lovely. She then was desperate to see her own Boys who she hasn't seen since last Sunday, but she couldn't face going into the atmosphere, so she didn't. That then had Hormonal Hannah in tears.

Home to the furries. Lots of cuddles and she feels better. More novel writing to be done. Supper to be eaten. Decisions to be made. Baggy hopes to let Clara have more time on her blog tomorrow. Night night bloggees...........

Day 129 - Hormonal Hannah is ready to explode.

Baggy has had a lovely day being a "lady who lunches". She met up with a school friend. They reconnected a few months back (two weeks before Baggy realised that Lawrence-the-durmoid-cyst was living inside her). Since school they had probably caught up about half-a-dozen times. Clever Bird was trying to figure out how long it was before that, that she had seen her and her other three school friends. She gave up. But in the end realised that it must have been over nine years ago!!!!! So once again, the whole "life is too short" thing is amply demonstrated. The five of them have a reunion in early May though. Baggy is very excited that she will be seeing them all.

When she got home Furry Mama took Minty Mutt out for a late walk. It was freezing. She then had to go next door as she is cat-sitting Jack, the attack cat! She had the house key in her car from the morning visit. She brought it and her own house keys in when she got back from lunch. She came in and got changed so Furry Mama could take Mint out. So the key should have been on the table right? No. In her handbag? No. In her sheepskin coat pocket? No. In her jeans pocket? No. In the kitchen? No. Still in the car? No. In her handbag? Still no. Coat pocket? Still no. Fifteen minutes and several hot flushes later, Clever Bird decided to ask her other neighbour for her key. "Haven't they changed the locks?". "Yes". Oh ****. Clever Bird was just trying to figure out how to break into the house as Furry Mama is in charge for another four days, when she spotted the key on the front garden path. Phew! And breathe. Jack was fine. Soppy in fact. No attack today.

While at the neighbour's Clever Bird asked if their landline was working. It was. So was "Jack's". Baggy's has not worked for a month. Very long story. Clever Bird phoned to check what was going on, to be told that the problem had been fixed. Urrr, no it hadn't. Yes another house did have a working line with Baggy's phone number for two weeks. But there was a fault on the line. Really! You don't say? Grrrrrrrrr! Half an hour of trying to explain to a script reading call centre bod, had Hormonal Hannah about to have a total sense of humour failure. More senior people will be calling to hear her complaint tomorrow. Freda Fretter will believe that when it happens. Time to rely on mobiles only? That might be a plan if that didn't go off-line for hours at a time too. And breathe.........

Day 128 - How do you write a novel?

Well bloggees after much encouragement, verging on stern prodding from some of my lovely friends and family, Baggy has finally let Creative Clara loose on a book. Now technically it is her second book. She has already written one. But the first is a serious, factual book about Grotty Groom's relationship with horses. How to get that elusive "connection" with them that many aspire to, but fail to achieve. However, the one and only person who has read it apart from Creative Clara, is Baggy. Hormonal Hannah has so far prevented her from doing anything with it at all. So the draft is sitting somewhere or other (no idea where The flipping Domestic Goddess has put it) in the house gathering dust. She hasn't even had the confidence to let Calum read it. Silly really, as Clever Bird thinks it might well actually be quite good. So with that in her mind Baggy did not see how Clara could write "a book". Which of course means a proper book. A story. A novel. Fiction. Various people suggested a children's book. But Baggy doesn't do kids, so wasn't particularly keen on that plan. But try as she might, no idea or book plan would appear for Clara to develop.

 

Clever Bird decided that what she needed was a notebook so that she could jot down any ideas that came to her. Notebook acquired last weekend along with special pens. No ideas. No book plan. Nothing. So a few days ago, Baggy decided that Clara needed to write something. Anything. She opened her little notebook, grabbed her easy-flowing pen and started to write. And write. And write! The words just came. They seemed quite interesting. Baggy reads novels. Constantly. She must have read hundreds, maybe even thousands of them. When she read back what Clara had written, it seemed like the kind of book that she would buy when she trial-read the first few paragraphs of books in bookshops. Trouble is Baggy has no idea where it is going. Thing is bloggees, neither does Creative Clara. At the moment, the novel is creating itself. Clara is just writing it down! Maybe it will go nowhere. Maybe it will come to a grinding halt. Maybe it will turn boring. At least that's what Freda Fretter thinks. But in the meantime it is taking over Baggy's life!

 

Clever Bird bought Baggy another little notebook that she can write in on the move. Ideas keep arriving in her head. When Furry Mama is walking Minty Mutt. When Gloria Gardener is planting. When Grotty is grooming the Boy Wessles. Even when The Goddess is burning stuff. Of course Hormonal Hannah keeps making Baggy forget to take it with her, but you can't have everything. But the fact is that the novel is started! In fact it's already on its third chapter. Of course when the rest of the gang is supposed to be doing things, instead Clara is writing. If it's not her blog or her diary or her www.channillo.com Journal entry (she now has subscribers - oh yeah!!!) it's her novel! She's going to have to go to the library. Books are going to be needed for research. She will also have to type it! But for now, it is literally writing itself. Thank you Psychic Ploppo, the gang look forward to seeing where it goes. In the meantime, oh the guilt! If Baggy was an author, spending so much time writing would be justified. She is not. So it isn't. Or is it? Every author of fiction has to write their first novel at some point..........



Day 127 - Baggy will make a gardener out of Gloria yet.

It is a stunning day again. Minty Mutt took Furry Mama for a walk. Yep that is the right way round bloggees. He not only chose the route, he found another new walk. Once home Baggy was determined to get Gloria Gardener to plant the plants she got at the weekend. Bit of a challenge. Clever Bird did her best but she had no idea whether the green things in the little pots were exciting flowers, or weedy flowers. She decided to give some pots the benefit of the doubt and assume that they were something interesting and do the exact opposite with others. Then she can play a wait and see game.

It is amazing though how many plants you need to fill not many pots! But after an hour or so, this was the "end" result. Actually it's a work in progress as Baggy needs to take Gloria to get some soil and some more plants.

 

Now it will be a waiting game. Gloria has done her best. Freda Fretter is not convinced that it's good enough, but Gloria is optimistic. She had a plan for the back garden too. So she saved a few plants. The little patch by the summer house that she de-nettled, de-ivied and weeded the other day, needed a plant or two.

 



There is not one single border in Baggy's garden. Gloria decided to remedy that.

That took another hour. Meanwhile Minty Mutt decided that he needed a "stick".

Hmmmmmmm..........................

Day 126 - Disappointed.

After the success of Grotty Groom's session on the computer horse Strider yesterday, Baggy was determined to get Grotty back on board Wesley today. The weather was perfect. Cold but sunny and dry, so all looked well. Baggy had totally overslept. Clever Bird thinks that her session took more out of her than she had realised. But Furry Mama still took Minty Mutt for a lovely walk. Calum pointed out that they would need to go food shopping before riding, or as it's early closing today, they would miss the supermarket. Okay, he had a point. What a pain though. Shopping done, very grumpily by The Domestic Goddess. They drove to the yard. The Boys were still out. But at least they had rugs on so wouldn't be covered in mud. Baggy was beginning to feel a bit sick with nerves, but Grotty was excited.

Then Clever Bird swore! "Oh bleep Calum, there's a show on!" Horse boxes and horses everywhere. Burger van outside the stable block. Pretty much nowhere to park. Five horses in the main manege warming up. A competitor in the other manege. Baggy couldn't decide whether she was relieved or annoyed. Annoyed won. Or maybe frustrated won. She had so wanted to sit on Wesley with Grotty's new position still firmly etched on her brain. But it looked highly unlikely.

Then Clever Bird lost Calum. Couldn't work out where he had gone. Went to find him. He was bringing in a horse that had done a Wesley and escaped whist being brought in. Except it had done even worse than Wesley and cantered down the road then fallen head first into a ditch. It's a youngster and new to the yard apparently. Another horse was losing the plot in the paddock and it just went. Grotty knows that feeling well. Shortly afterwards Joey and Wesley were being brought in. Wesley walked straight passed the burger van. Then Freda Fretter heard clattering hooves and it was Joey freaking out at the burger van. Calum had him. And got trodden on. Fortunately nothing was broken.

Then it turned out to be worming day. It's a particularly strong ghastly-tasting one. Wesley seemed to spit most of his out. But it unsettled both horses. Neither would eat his hay or even take a treat. Both started box-walking. Wesley wanted nothing to do with Grotty. He clearly blamed her even though she had not administered the nasty stuff. He didn't really even want to be groomed. So Grotty went and watched the competition while he settled down a bit. Then the people who have the third horse in the stables turned up. The atmosphere immediately became very unpleasant. Hormonal Hannah couldn't cope and went off to the main barn to get out of their way. The competition was beginning to wind down by then, but Wessles was still not in a good place and neither now was Grotty. Clever Bird decided that caution was the order of the day. Letting Grotty get back on an unhappy horse who hasn't been ridden for six months, seemed decidedly silly, especially as she had gone from being in a great mood, to a bad one herself. So Grotty put his rug on and fed them both before heading home feeling extremely disappointed with how the day had panned out. But as Clever Bird pointed out, she has waited six months to get back on him, another week shouldn't make much difference. Not true Clever Bird! The chances of Baggy remembering her position in a week's time - remote........

Day 125 - Lovely day! Grotty can ride!

Furry Mama took Minty Mutt for a long walk so that he'd snooze while Grotty and Calum headed out for Grotty Groom to get back on a horse. Today was the day for checking out Baggy's core strength. On the way to the Ashen Equestrian Centre a stop at the saddlery was required. The Boys had run out of treats when Grotty and Calum were at the yard yesterday. Clearly this needed to be remedied. Joey had also totally destroyed one of his turnout rugs, so Grotty wanted to get it mended. That however was a little illogical, as a new rug wasn't much more money. New rug chosen. Six hoof picks have gone walkies while the Boys have been on full livery! Two psychedelic ones chosen. Smart half-chaps that actually fit Calum chosen. New feed bowls to replace the totally squashed ones chosen. Okay all reasonable, required purchases. Then Grotty spotted the most gorgeous, lovely, beautiful, stunning, wonderful, absolutely had to have jacket! Fitted like a glove. Calum insisted Grotty should be treated. Okay then! Lunch. Diet met with the sandwich. Totally ignored with the melt-in-the-mouth lemon drizzle cake. It was worth it. Baggy is definitely having a treat day.

Headed off to the Equestrian Centre. Clever Bird hadn't bothered to get directions having been there once before. Over two years ago Clever Bird. They got totally lost. Fortunately they were also miles early, so had a chance to regroup and still not be late. While waiting for Grotty's session on the computer horse, Strider, she acquired a new best furry friend who decided that Baggy needed a new hair accessory. He proceeded to crawl onto her head!

 

Grotty was tempted to take him on the horse with her, but Clever Bird advised against. She thought the horse might get spooked!?! Now Grotty has ridden Strider once before. She was very very wonky. But pretty much totally counter-balanced as far as the horse was concerned. Not this time!

 

 

This time she was wonky and unbalanced for the horse! Rubbish arched back. Sitting tilted back and to the left! 

Baggy is seriously on the squiff! She was repositioned and manoeuvred by the wonderful trainer, Becky. Then gave it another go. Much better but still on the squiff. The very clever computer measures your every move. How much weight you are putting on the horse. How hard you are pulling his mouth. Whether your left and right hands are putting an even weight on his mouth. Whether you are tilting forwards. Or backwards. Whether you are tipping to the left or the right. It became apparent that Grotty has been riding to "allow" for Lawrence-the-durmoid-cyst. It makes sense. He was fifteen centimetres big and weighed around seven pounds sitting on Baggy's right ovary. So if she tipped a little to the left, she would be more evenly weighted.

Grotty walked. Trotted. Working trotted and cantered. By the end she was still on the squiff. But much less so than when she started.

The even better news is that Baggy's stomach did not hurt at all! Her core strength is not bad either, all things considered. So watch out Wessles, Grotty is going to be back on you any day now. She just needs to try very hard to remember how she was sitting at the end of her session. Yee-hah.

On the way home, Calum and Baggy decided to explore the lovely little town of Clare. More coffee drunk. Church checked out. Shops and antique centres explored.

Lovely day...........