Nothing has gone right today.

Apologies bloggees, today has been rather a non-event, so Creative Clara is struggling to write anything of interest. She got a bit fed up, having spent half-an-hour listing a Limited Edition Percy Pig money box in her etsy shop, Realuv, only to discover that she wasn't allowed to sell it on there! It's not old enough apparently so Baggy may need to start an ebay selling mission too. It's a shame because he does deserve to be re-loved. Mind you Calum has already decided that he might claim him for his mad habit of squirrelling money away. Of course Clever Bird could use him to store her profits!

But that's half-an-hour wasted that gave Hormonal Hannah an excuse to give Baggy a hot flush. Mind you she had more excuses when Grotty Groom was trying to book transport for their holiday/training course at Ashen Equestrian Centre in July. The company she intended to use is no longer in business. One company promised to call her back within a few minutes - Grotty is still waiting, three hours later, but can't get hold of them either and their answer machine is too full to leave a message. The other company hasn't responded at all yet, despite leaving two messages and an e-mail. The third one is on holiday. Now she's just had another hot flush typing that! Ah well, at least The Domestic Goddess won't need to light the fire! At this rate Grotty and Calum will have to pack a tent and spend a couple of days hacking there!

Gloria Gardener wanted to cut the lawn - it was way too wet. So all in all it has turned into rather a wasted day. Now Clever Bird is trying to stop The Goddess from making Baggy a batch of pancakes - she needs comfort food, BUT Fat Club is only three days away.........

Grotty Groom has a plan and is very excited about it!

After a rather splendid roast lamb lunch - The Goddess excelled herself - Calum and Grotty have just been over to check on the Boys after their night out. They were both chilled, having had a bit of a snooze. Grotty groomed Wessles for well over an hour, by the time she had finished he looked rather like a horse! A vast improvement on the shaggy donkey look that he's been sporting recently. He's a funny horse though; he asked Grotty to wipe his nostrils as they were dusty and itchy, so she did it with her fingers, rather ineffectually. So Clever Bird asked Calum to get her a little sponge and wet it, Wessles took one look at it and shot off round the stable, this went on for over a minute, even though Grotty kept explaining that she was just doing what he wanted. Clever Bird asked Cal to pass the headcollar. Headcollar on, not being held you understand - just on - suddenly Wesley stands completely still and lets Grotty wipe his nostrils. Hmmmmm.

They were keen to go out for the night even though it had started raining. It's meant to be cold tonight too, but Freda Fretter is not going to worry about them, they will be fine. But before they went out Grotty was very excited to tell Wessles her plan. Today, Calum and Baggy have booked a bit of a "holiday" and the Boys are going with them! Actually, it will probably be the hardest that any of them have ever worked. They are off on a three day training course at Ashen Equestrian Centre, where Grotty went and rode the computerised "horse" a few weeks ago. It's quite local, so they will be able to come home at night to the home furries. Hopefully apart from improving their riding, it will be good fun and it means that Grotty and Calum will get to spend some real quality time with the horses. Sooooooo excited. Grotty has wanted to do it for a few years now, ever since she went on a "Confidence" clinic there (minus a horse).  It's booked for the 25th-27th July, so Baggy and Calum have a few weeks to get themselves and the Boys fit enough to do it. Well actually, the Boys probably already are!

Baggy is seeing the physiotherapist on Wednesday, so she will get some exercises to build her stomach strength back up. Plus it gives Baggy even more incentive to get down to her target weight before then. Motivation for Grotty to get on with stuff, sorted. Yee-hah.............

Bank Holiday - ordinary stuff.

Furry Mama persuaded Calum to come on her walk with Minty Mutt! He's not the keenest walker in the world, but it's good to keep fit. Admittedly, both Calum and Baggy are aching rather after their hack out yesterday, but still, it's a surprisingly lovely day once again and Minty doesn't care anyway, he just wants to go out! Minty chose the walk past Assington Mill and the dormouse sanctuary then through Ager Fen today. Calum got as far as the dormouse sanctuary (which is quite a way) and decided to sit on the bench, so Furry Mama took Minty to Ager Fen so he could throw himself in the stream and get a drink. Of course Clever Bird had totally forgotten that it's a Bank Holiday, there were people and dogs everywhere! Minty and Furry Mama looped back round to the dormouse sanctuary bench and collapsed in a heap with Calum.

Clever Bird asked Cal the time, only to realise that The Domestic Goddess needed to be back at home to take the lamb out of the oven. Wah! As they walked back Furry Mama realised that the Long Horns are back for their annual grass munch. Clever Bird totally forgot about the lamb again as Creative Clara took photos of the babies.

Fortunately the lamb survived and is about to be demolished as a Bank Holiday roast lunch, although Furry Mama has to admit to feeling pretty bad eating lamb when the little critters are bouncing around in all the fields around here. But as Clever Bird said, "If she didn't, they wouldn't be bouncing around in the first place", well she kind of has a point, but still........

Grotty Groom is on form - even if Baggy still isn't!

Grotty Groom decided that by hook or by crook, she was going to see her Boys today. Because Furry Mama has had to keep Baggy at home looking after Hinge cat the amputee all week, Grotty had not seen them since last weekend. Calum had gone over on his motorbike to check on them yesterday and asked that they be swapped onto being turned out at night, so today they were turned out this morning and would have been left out until tomorrow night. But Grotty wanted to ride, so they headed over before lunch to bring the Boys back in.

There was no hay anywhere obvious, so Grotty did a couple of small haylage nets for them to munch while they were groomed. To say that they had big grins on their soppy faces would be a bit of an understatement! Pretty much pure sugar - asking for trouble when they've done nothing for over a week again, but, they were soooooo happy. They were even happier when Grotty and Calum groomed a skip full of hair out of them. As Baggy is aching from head to foot and Wesley is head-shaking for GB thanks to the pollen, flies and the brightness of today, Grotty didn't want to go too far. She also made Baggy take Ibuprofen before they set off as a preventative measure. It is very interesting how keen Wesley is after almost eight months off. Clever Bird thinks the break has done him good. Not only does he want to lead the ride (quite rapidly), rather than toddling along behind as he used to do, he is also not spooking at anything.

 

But he is also looking after Baggy all the time. He literally hasn't put a hoof wrong. He clearly knows that Baggy is still not totally fit and is behaving accordingly - Grotty is extremely proud of the lad. They did a little forty-five minute road loop ride, admiring the wildflowers and the gorgeous houses. There was a bit of a moment when they were nearly back at the yard. Despite Wesley's face and nose nets, the flies were driving him doolally and he was tossing his head considerably. As they walked down the slope of the last road back to the yard, the flies, or pollen got too much for him and as only Wesley can, he suddenly whipped his head down to his front hoof, to scratch his nose, pulling Grotty forward out of the saddle as he did so. Now before Baggy's Lawrence-the-durmoid-cyst operation this would not have been an issue, Baggy would just have immediately used her stomach muscles to get Grotty back into a safe position in the saddle. Today, for a second, Freda Fretter thought Baggy was going through Wesley's ears! Wesley must have thought the same thing because he instantly (but for once), not too quickly, brought his head and shoulders back up, reseating Grotty in the process. He is clearly very fit at the moment and seems to be loving being ridden again, as much as Grotty is loving riding him. Baggy had the most massive grin on her face when they got back to the yard. Baggy love, love, loves that horse! Interestingly, Grotty is really confident riding him too. She has always trusted Wessles, but he does push her sometimes to do more than she wants to do, but because he's looking after Baggy so well at the moment, even when he does get a little keen, as he did today, he slows as soon as Grotty asks him. Happy Grotty.

 

While the Boys cooled down and munched a bit more haylage, Calum and Grotty reconfigured their paddocks a little so that they would have more grass for their first night out this year. When they realised that a) they were going back out and b) the bit of wired off paddock that they have been looking at for weeks was open, they grinned and galloped..............



Spent an afternoon with the Tudors.

Baggy and Calum have spent the afternoon at Kentwell Hall, Long Melford, celebrating May Day with the Tudors. It has been a lovely, if somewhat exhausting afternoon. The weather, unlike the forecast, has been amazing. Creative Clara wanted to go to get a bit more information for her novel. The reassuring, but also rather weird thing, is that her "imagination", seems to be historically accurate. Clever Bird thinks that Psychic Ploppo really has been helping Clara write!

Bearing in mind that Calum and Furry Mama took Minty Mutt for a decent walk before heading to Kentwell, they have done a huge amount of walking today. With luck, enough for Baggy to have worn off the massive piece of Victoria Sponge Cake that she demolished in the tea room. So much for being totally on her diet this week.

 Calum assisted the Tudors to erect their May Pole, just in time for the women and girls, to have a bit of a dance around it.

The musicians played throughout, extremely well, and the whole thing was rather moving. It was odd for Calum and Lady Eadwynn to be spectators, rather than reenacators but it was interesting to be a paying member of the public. They did get their money's worth. Lovely day. Now Baggy just has to persuade The Domestic Goddess to muster up some energy to cook supper...........

Second operation of the week today!

Calum must have felt that he was being left out of the "sympathy after an operation", loop! So today was his turn for major surgery (as he called it). He was so worried, (Baggy thought) that he insisted that Baggy go in with him. So being a loyal wife, she did, much to the Doctor and Nurse's surprise. The Nurse asked Baggy if she was going to be okay. Of course she was, as she had no intention of looking, so she got Creative Clara to write her novel. Clara managed to write precisely one sentence before the major surgery was over! It took under five minutes to have a little skin-tag removed by laser. So ever since, he has been needing sympathy and complaining that, unlike Baggy who was allowed to rest in bed after her Lawrence-the-durmoid-cyst surgery, he had been "made to get straight up". Hahaha! Baggy loves him lots. What he was actually worried about was leaving Baggy alone in the reception area. Bless him. Clever Bird thinks it's because he was worried that Hormonal Hannah would have a meltdown being back in the surgery again.

Hormonal Hannah did however take the opportunity to make an appointment for Baggy to discuss the menopause. She is seeing the Doctor who found Lawrence, as she will have a lot less explaining to do to her. Well assuming that the Doctor remembers Baggy that is, but as it was all such a drama Clever Bird expects that she will. The appointment isn't for another few weeks and it will be interesting to see if she can help, as Baggy has zero intention of taking HRT. But although Baggy can cope with the night sweats and hot flushes (awful as they are), there are much worse symptoms, that she is not coping with so well. Her mood swings are getting beyond amusing; she has never been a particularly angry person, but now, well, her temper and irritability are ridiculous. But worse still are the regular feelings of worthlessness and a total lack of confidence, to the point that some days Baggy does not want to even leave the house! She bursts into tears for no apparent reason, can't sleep, so is permanently tired and as for her libido, well that seems to have disappeared on a round the world trip to Antarctica never to be seen again. Frankly, Calum is a Saint to put up with Hormonal Hannah, because Baggy is getting seriously fed up with her! But at least some form of action is now being taken to try to control the old bag!!!! Clever Bird knows that things have got to a desperate state, when Calum says to Baggy, "Why don't you have a glass of wine?" as he just did. Ah well, Baggy will just have to class it as her day's "syns" on her diet........

How to lose weight without trying much.

Stress. Furry Mama has had a pretty rollercoaster week one way and another, so Baggy almost didn't go to Fat Club because she was dreading what the scales would say. Well, they said that Baggy did okay - she lost a pound. Phew! This week Baggy is going to be "on it". Creative Clara really wants her to win another "shiny" (as she calls the award stickers)! Amazing what motivation a shiny sticker can be to Baggy. But Clever Bird assumes that the stress of worrying about and looking after Hinge made her lose the pound. But to be fair, Slimming World's way of eating is so simple and so ingrained in Baggy's psyche now, that even when Freda Fretter knows that Baggy is being bad, she's not being that bad. Baggy likes eating more healthily, because she feels so much better for it, so this week she is going to stick to the plan totally!

So Baggy started by getting Furry Mama to take Minty Mutt on a long bluebell walk. The smell is amazing. Calum was left at home to look after the Hinge cat.

The Hinge is doing well. Freda Fretter is pretty sure that she isn't licking her tail, but without the cone on to stop her, it's not easy to be certain without watching her 24/7. Baggy is disappointed though, because Calum, Mint and she were meant to be going to see friends in Lincoln this weekend, but they can't leave the Hinge for that long. So instead Baggy is hopeful of getting a bit of a day out on Sunday or Monday - it is mainly for Creative Clara to do some research for her novel. Watch this space!

Grotty Groom is really missing the horses. But to be fair they are probably not missing her that much - not with so much spring grass to eat. She is hopeful that they will be swapped onto night time turnout this week, then she can go back and start looking after them herself. Believe it or not, she can't wait! That will burn a few pounds off.........