Day 94 - Aching.

Well at least Baggy slept last night, but she hobbled when she had to get up. Furry Mama walking Minty Mutt, Grotty Groom walking Wesley, then grooming both Boys seems to have made her ache all over. Clever Bird suspects that her lower back is so painful because it's supporting her more than it should be. Baggy really should be doing physiotherapy for her stomach. She just isn't. Stupid woman. She needs to get back to tribal dance. Maybe next week she could.

Minty Mutt has had just two days on an anti-inflammatory drug. This morning the lad was on a blooming mission. Furry Mama could barely keep up with him! He also chose to go on the walk through the dormouse sanctuary. It's a longish one.

On the way round Archaeologist Annie met a metal detectorist. She stopped and had a long chat with him. Apparently there's a roman road on the walk that she was totally unaware of. The chap had just found an old bell that would have hung round an animal's neck. Probably from the eighteenth century, or possibly earlier. Annie loves things like that. She told him about an old book she bought (when she was doing her Masters in Archaeology), that covers the whole area. She offered to text him the details. Of course Clever Bird has just realised that it's almost certainly packed away in a crate in the shed. It's certainly not in the bookshelves. Well done Clever Bird.........

Day 93 - Determined!

Baggy is a pretty positive Body most of the time. She woke this morning in a determined mood. Clever Bird had a talk with her last night and suggested that she is ultimately the master of how she feels and reacts. Calum had said a similar thing to her last night. Baggy needs to take control. Not be intimidated. And definitely not allow others to influence her actions. Well, apart from all the rest of the gang that is. They can and will influence her forever more. So this morning Furry Mama let Minty Mutt choose his walk. We did the wetlands again. He dropped down into the stream again. From above him Furry Mama could see how much slimmer the lad is. He now has a waist again. He and Baggy both!

 

He is a HUGE mutt though. He still weighs 62.4kg. Clever Bird always says that he weighs seven-and-a-half stone. Wrong yet again Clever Bird. She just used a conversion calculator thingy on t'internet. Minty Mutt weighs nine stone twelve pounds!!!!!!!!!!!!!! No blooming wonder it hurts Baggy's arm trying to lift his bottom over the stile on the wetlands walk! What's more, the vet doesn't consider him to be overweight. He is just a BIG boy. Baggy decided to power walk a lot of it today. Much better than jogging. But she does rather ache now. She struggled more than Mint to get up the steps en route. Of which there are three sets. But Baggy still felt fairly relaxed when she got home.

 

Lunch. A bit of action from The Domestic Goddess. Okay, a very, very tiny bit of action. But action nonetheless. Creative Clara wrote and published another instalment of her series for www.channillo.com. Then Baggy took Grotty Groom to the yard. She was determined not to let others put her off the enjoyment she feels when she's with her horses. She did take Mini-Baggy with her for moral support though. So clearly she is feeling less confident than she's letting on. But at least she went.

 

 

Grotty put Joey on the horse-walker and took Wesley into the manege. Once again the lad did not put a hoof wrong. In fact he was so happy to be doing stuff with his Mum that he actually cantered. He did quite a bit of canter work in fact. Once again he spent a fair amount of the time with his nose on the ground while doing it. He is considerably fitter than Grotty expected him to be. And so relaxed that it was lovely to watch. Baggy felt very relaxed. Grotty groomed both Boys until they shone. Well they shone through the mud and excess fur anyway. Grotty didn't in fact get Baggy home until 6.00pm. She'd spent three hours with the Boys.

But now Baggy is home she is beginning to realise that perhaps her road to recovery is not quite as complete as she thought it was. She is absolutely exhausted. (Although sleeping terribly last night hasn't helped). Her arm and her stomach feel rather tender (to say the least). So for comfort she made herself a lovely healthy supper. Well it would have been healthy if she hadn't eaten every last bit of fat on her lamb chops. But oh boy was it lovely. She'll regret it on Friday at Fat Club of course, but she's not regretting it at the moment..........

Day 92 - Part 2. Not happy!

Busy day for Baggy. After the vets, Baggy had to get herself to a solicitor to do an oath swearing so that her step-Mum's estate can go to probate. Clever Bird had no idea that you literally had to stand and "swear" on the Bible. She must have done it before when her real Mama died, but she doesn't remember. Slightly surreal experience. Trying to stop Creative Clara from actually swearing wasn't easy. As for Hormonal Hannah, to stop herself from crying, she had a mini fit of the giggles. Highly inappropriate! But it was all rather sad.

So to cheer herself up, Baggy toddled off to the local hippy shop and treated herself to a flower-power jumper. Bright red with a big white daisy on it. Then to the coffee shop for a cappuccino. She needed to sign the other papers that didn't have to be "sworn". Just as well she sat down to do it properly. There were about another twelve signatures required. She did swear then. She checked twice and had still missed one out. And Clever Bird managed to write Baggy's birth date in one of the boxes, instead of today's date. Hopeless. Then off to the Post Office to send it all back to the solicitor. Then to a health food shop to get some Omega 3 for the mutt. Although what the vet actually said was, "Give Mint an Omega 3 capsule each day. Then give yourself one". So Baggy bought lots.

Then Grotty Groom wanted to see her Boys, so she got Baggy to drive her over to the yard. As usual, Wessles was delighted to see her; Joey wasn't too fussed. That is until he realised that Grotty was heading for the treat bucket! Grotty was going to take Wesley into the manege, but there was a lesson going on in one of them and two horses being ridden in the other. So she decided to take him into the little indoor school. A spooky little number, that Wessles hasn't been in for a very long time. But once again the Boy was a dream. Walked and trotted on voice commands. No attempt to take off. Just the occasional stop, to try and work out the noises from outside. He is also a lot fitter than Grotty had realised as both Boys have been going on the horse walker. He spent most of his trotting time, literally with his nose on the ground. His little whiskers got covered in sand. But that's very good for his back, as he was trotting while stretching it right out. Good lad. Grotty was delighted. Baggy felt very relaxed.

Grotty then gave Wesley a really good groom. Once again he needed it. He is malting ridiculously and had clearly had a lovely roll in the mud. But Grotty quite likes grooming him when he's like that. She can see where she has been! Then she had a bit of a cuddle with Joey and gave him a brush too. Very happy Grotty.

But sadly the happiness didn't last and Baggy's peace of mind was wrecked shortly after. Suffice to say that some people can only be described as unpleasant. By the time Baggy had got Grotty home and explained to Calum on the phone what had taken place, she was in tears again. Now she could blame Hormonal Hannah for this, but actually that wouldn't be fair. Once again, Baggy failed to stand up for herself and instead let a very unsatisfactory, unreasonable and more to the point, unsafe situation carry on, rather than confronting the people who were causing it. Stupid. Clever Bird was furious with Baggy for being so pathetic. But Baggy will avoid confrontation with anyone at the best of times. She tried to make her point understood, but the minute it started to get unpleasant she backed off. So basically she said nothing! Now she is miserable for being so pathetic.

When she got in, Baggy was sorely tempted to open the bottle of white wine that she'd discovered this morning. Clever Bird stepped in. She reminded Baggy that she has already had her full quota of Slimming World "syns" today. Also that it would be even more pathetic to let someone so unpleasant affect her diet too. Having made that little stand, Baggy felt a heap better and drank tea instead. In the same manner, she will be taking Grotty back to do some more work with Wesley tomorrow. And if needs be, she will get Grotty to say something next time. Because sadly, sure as eggs are eggs, there will be a next time..........

Day 92 - Good news for Furry Mama.

Furry Mama dragged Baggy and Minty Mutt out of bed at 8.00am. Yep, see, we can actually get out of bed when we have to! Off to the vets we set. Hormonal Hannah was in a right state. Really nervous and worried. Baggy couldn't work out why. She knew that Furry Mama was concerned what the vet might say about Minty's hips. He is a German Shepherd. So he could suffer from hip dysplasia although his Mum and Dad didn't have it, so it seemed unlikely. But he's not right at the back, so something is amiss. But she was way too nervous for it just to be that. When Baggy went to get Minty's ramp out of the back of the car, she realised what she was worried about. It is very heavy and unwieldy. It was quite difficult for Baggy to set up. It hurt her arm. This was with Minty waiting quietly in the front garden. The vet surgery on the other hand is in the middle of a small town, on a busy road. So that is what Hannah was stressing about!

Furry Mama was also worried about whether Mint could get up his ramp. But he took a bit of a run at it and shot up into the car like a young lad. At the vets, Baggy took her life into her hands and reversed into the parking space. Otherwise the ramp would have had to go into the main road. Clearly not an option. But someone was looking down on us, because there was a big enough gap in the traffic to get in safely. Minty Mutt loves the vets. Surprising really. After seriously breaking his leg when he was fifteen months old. (He ran under a car). He had major surgery. Four-and-a-half hours to put an external metal frame around it. Then daily visits to the vets for three months, before three-and-a-half hours of surgery to take the metal off him. But still, he loves the vets. So Baggy gets hauled in. Hauled to say "hello" to any other dogs. Hauled in to see the vet. Bless him.

After a good chat and a bit of prodding and poking, it was good news. Mint is very well for an older dog. He possibly has some arthritis in his hips. But it's nothing more serious. Phew! Anti-inflammatory prescribed. Furry Mama can walk him as much as he wants! Baggy had better get fitter then! As he wants a lot. Furry Mama decided to celebrate by going on a long walk around the village. Over an hour later, Baggy and Minty had another fight with the ramp. But again Mint shot up it! Very happy Furry Mama........

Day 91 - Carrying on, but not according to plan.

Crazy weather. The storm's got steadily worse all day. Sadly it scuppered Grotty's plan. Baggy had every intention of taking Grotty to work with The Boy Wessles again today, but Clever Bird stopped her. Wesley was a total angel yesterday. Considering that he's done nothing for months, he seemed to really enjoy himself. But the wind today is crazy strong. Things are flapping about, blowing up and crashing down left, right and centre. Ordinarily this wouldn't bother Grotty. Wesley is quite happy in the wind. But as Baggy is still not one hundred-percent fit, she doesn't want to risk a drama. It doesn't take much to spook Wesley. Although most of the time the things that do spook him are far from obvious. He'd probably ignore the tree blowing over next to him, or a branch crashing down. But a leaf being blown onto his nose - Heaven forbid! Grotty being nervous that something might spook him would be enough to have him wondering whether something was wrong. So Grotty decided to leave it for another day. There's no rush.

So instead Creative Clara has been writing. Just her blog and her personal diary. She's trying to get her head straight. Writing helps. Re-reading her diaries also helps. She is trying to decide whether to carry on with her series on www.channillo.com. Clara was incredibly flattered when its founder asked her to write for them after reading Baggy's blog. But Freda Fretter wasn't sure about it. But she gave it a whirl anyway. It's an interesting concept. Subscribers pay to read novels, short-stories and journal-style entries on-line. For $4.95 a month a subscriber can follow ten different authors' series. But sadly, so far Clara has failed to attract attention. Mind you, most of the authors on there are quite well known. Then there's Baggy! But there is not much point in Creative Clara pouring her heart and soul into it if no one is reading her words. Clever Bird is trying to answer the question: "If you write, only no one reads it, are you a writer?" She thinks not. She really doesn't want to give up, but perhaps she should.

Baggy just hates to give up on anything. But worry not bloggees, even if she isn't yet a "proper" writer, she is a very happy blogger. She appreciates your support lots and is excited to welcome new bloggees each week from different parts of the world........

Day 91 - Ooooooo-errrrr Mrs.

Despite the gales that are once again blowing across the county, Furry Mama was determined to take Minty Mutt out. He didn't get a walk yesterday. He also was very poorly. Very upset tummy. But he was on a mission today. really marching out. So once on the grass path, Baggy persuaded Furry Mama to try a bit of a jog. Or perhaps Furry Mama persuaded Baggy. But either way she did a little jog. Just interval training. Walk twenty paces. Jog twenty paces. Minty Mutt had no clue what was happening. He watched Furry Mama getting further and further away from him. Not that it prevented him from stopping for a sniff, or a snack of grass. Then he decided that maybe he should jog too and catch up. Bless him. Not sure who was limping more, Baggy or Minty. But they both went for it! Now, jogging is really not something that Baggy does. Even when she went to the gym five times a week, she power-walked on the treadmill. She did not jog. So it was a bit of a surprise to Baggy as well as Minty Mutt.

It reminded Clever Bird of when Baggy was a child. At age eleven, when she started at Grammar School, it was a regular occurrence to have to go on a cross-country run in P.E. class. Little Baggy (well little in age, not in stature; she was a skinny bean-pole) was surprisingly good at it. She regularly came first out of the girls and beat most of the boys. In those days, even on a day much colder than today, little Baggy wore P.E. kit. Pathetic little plimsolls. Long socks. A teeny-weeny gym (mini) skirt. A T-shirt. Yes a T-shirt! No sweatshirts or jogging bottoms for us. Oh no. We were hard! No we weren't! We were skinny, freezing kids. Running in rain, sleet and snow with our skinny bare legs and arms! We literally ran across fields. Ploughed fields. Flooded fields. Fields that were so wet and deeply ploughed that you couldn't see the plough furrows. It was a fairly regular occurrence to suddenly disappear down a foot furrow that was hidden by flood water or frozen ice. If you were unlucky, you would then go flying and land on your front. By the time little Baggy got back to school she invariably had soaking wet feet and was covered in mud splashes. Arms and legs would be interestingly coloured with a red and white marbling effect. Yep, little Baggy was pretty quick, because frankly, the faster she ran, the faster she could get back into the warm! But secretly she rather enjoyed it.

Jogging a few steps around the fields today was hardly the same. It was windy but sunny. Baggy had on jeans, T-shirt, woolly cardigan, snood, full-length waxed riding coat and her long boots. She was a little warm. She did go red. In the face! But still, it reminded her of her youth. Those were the days. You never know, maybe Baggy can become a cross-country runner again......

Day 90 - Grotty Groom is on form.

Grotty Groom was determined to see her Boys today. It's been too long. She wanted to do a bit of work with Wessles. When Calum and Baggy got to the yard this morning the Boys were in.

They'd been kept in because there is a film crew at the yard today. They're filming for "The Knackerman"! Yes quite! Lots of shot-dead horses! Fortunately this one is plastic.

The others are stunt horses asked to lie down. Baggy and Calum know the chap in charge of the stunt horses. So had a bit of a chat with him.

He helped Calum to train Joey, which meant he was brilliant as a Norman horse for the re-enactment of The Battle of Hastings a couple of years ago.

 

 

Despite this all going on and Wesley being a little "wired" as a result, Grotty was not going to be put off by Freda Fretter. Clever Bird did get Calum to lead Wesley out to the manege though! Wesley did think about taking off! Calum is strong. Grotty was very happy with the Boy. He walked with her,

backed up,

turned

and went past all the spooky bits without a problem.

So feeling confident Grotty decided to do a little trotting with him.

 

 

He might be over weight and over furry and under muscled at the moment,

 



but the lad can still move.

 

And he has his little "moments".

 

 

But Grotty loved every second with him and proved that Baggy is now pretty much mended. Grotty and Furry Mama will soon have Baggy fit again.

 

Wesley had a well-deserved groom. Grotty had a well-deserved cuddle.

 

 

Then of course because this is Baggy we're talking about, it had to go a tiny bit pear-shaped. Baggy managed to get trodden on!

 

 

Ouch, ouch, ouch and a few expletives later, Baggy realised that her new boots had prevented any real damage from being done. Phew!  A few stretches with Joey.

 

 

A quick cuddle with Grotty.

 

 

 

A lovely one with his Dad.

 



 





 Then home to a fire, the home furries and a roast dinner.

 

 

Lovely day for the gang........