Thursday - Positive Day Part 2!

Grotty Groom had another good lesson today, albeit that she was on a very different Wesley to the one that she's been on for the last few lessons. She nearly finished Baggy off, because she really had to ride him. Any excuse to look at everything going on around him; to stretch his head down to snatch the reins from Grotty, by touching his nose on the floor; doing a grand impersonation of a sports car - you get the picture bloggees. He was the Wesley who is "not a novice ride". After Baggy's week so far, she was making Grotty a bit nervous too, so it wasn't the best combination. Vicki-May decided to make them both really work. 

And work they did! As per usual, teaching and videoing didn't really work together, so these are definitely not the best bits, but still, Grotty was happy, if somewhat exhausted!

It was very hot and very bright, so unfortunately Wesley started to head-shake a little and Baggy couldn't actually swallow, her throat was so dry, but Grotty adores that hoss!

He is the best therapy ever. Oh and by the way bloggees, I'm flattered by Vicki-May's comment on one of the videos that Baggy is the love-child of one of the best dressage riders in the world, (sorry Carl), but actually she's older than he is. Ah well, she doesn't feel that old today. But Baggy probably will tomorrow when she can't move for achy bits. Yee-hah.........

Fleas wearing gas masks - well they must be!

Baggy sat on the sofa drinking her morning cup of tea; a flea hopped on her hand. Noooooooooooo! Apparently the fleas in Baggy's house are equipped with miniature gas masks. The Domestic Goddess whipped into action. Vacuumed. Upended cushions. Turned lots of things out onto the patio.

As she put Mini-Minty-Mutt on the anvil-thingy, a flea hopped off him!! They all got sprayed. The Goddess then sprayed every rug, every sofa and chair cushion and anything else she could think of. Then she set off another Flea-Bomb and left with Furry Mama to take Minty Mutt out for a walk. When they got back there was still over an hour before they could go back in the sitting room. The Goddess decided to wash the throws that had been on the sofa and chair. Then she decided to wash Minty Mutt's bed. Clever Bird decided to throw his toys out too and get The Goddess to vacuum under his bed and where the toys were.

He wasn't amused and started taking them all to the other end of the garden. Then he decided he'd better rescue his bed - Baggy's expensive cushions in one of his covers. He wasn't amused about that either. He took it up the garden while Baggy wasn't looking.

Yes, well done Clever Mutt! Furry Mama attempted to scoop up the feathers. Failed! Minty returned to "rescuing" his toys.

The Goddess grabbed enough of them to fill the machine. Still ages before Baggy could go in, Creative Clara decided to finish painting Baggy's woman-cave. She has replaced the lemon yellow windows and doors with "Country Cream" ones.

Minty Mutt and The Hinge kept her company while she did it.

Once back in the house, Baggy started to itch. Fleas, fleas, fleas - ghastly little critters. Clever Bird has no idea whether they've gone or not, but Baggy just itches at the thought of them. Any of you itching yet bloggees?

Baggy is about to take Grotty Groom over to the yard for a riding lesson. Yee-hah! Baggy is feeling much better after yesterday's meltdown. The situation with Baggy's Dad's house and the land, is what it is - she must stop calling it that - the situation with Baggy and Calum's other house, is what it is. It's not the end of the world. They are very lucky to have it and now have big plans for it, so Baggy is excited again. Positive thinking, exercise, plus furries (especially her No. 1 furry, Calum) and horse therapy will get Baggy through the black mood she woke up in again this morning........

Baggy's tether just snapped!

Today has not been a good one for Baggy. First of all she went to the dentist to see the hygienist. No biggy. Trouble is Clever Bird had no idea that you cannot be treated if you have a cold sore, and Baggy is clearly run down at the moment, because she has one, for the first time in a few years. So she got sent home. So that was a total waste of a morning. Furry Mama wanted to walk Minty Mutt, so Clever Bird decided that The Domestic Goddess had better "Flea Bomb" the house while they were out. It's taken her a while to admit that the house must have fleas, even though the furries don't seem to have, because Baggy is getting eaten alive every night. She'd already done upstairs, thinking that it was the Bracket kat's fault for sleeping in Baggy's bed, but last night she got even more bitten. Clever Bird decided they must be downstairs instead/as well. Furry Mama chucked the cats out, set the bomb off and headed off with Minty. They walked for an hour in the horrible humid heat.

 

Hormonal Hannah just brought Baggy more down, the further she walked. Sometimes, spending so much time with no one except the four-legged furries, is not very helpful to one's state of mind. Minty knew something was amiss, he kept stopping to wait for Furry Mama, which he doesn't usually do, but it didn't stop him enjoying his usual paddle.

 



By the time Baggy got home, instead of feeling uplifted, she was hot and bothered and her back was killing her, so she decided to put Minty in his paddling pool and watch him from her woman cave a.k.a. the summer house.

When they went into the house, Minty started to sneeze, so Clever Bird read the blurb on the Flea Bomb bottle. Apparently they shouldn't enter the house for another hour. Oooooops. Back to the garden. An hour later, Baggy went and got the post and went into a total meltdown. One month after last speaking to her solicitor a letter had finally arrived. "Oh great", thought Baggy, "maybe it's finally all sorted and Baggy now owns the land that is/was a tiny part of her Dad's garden. Nope! "Letter received from xxxxxx solicitors"....."land registry clearly indicates that there is still an unregistered area basically forming the bank at the rear of the property"..........."written to xxxx solicitors to ask for their comments". WTF? That would be the piece of land that you told Baggy over four years ago was unregistered; that Baggy has subsequently asked you at least four times to register in her name; the bit of land that (the enemy) thinks they own and is trying to sell to Baggy; the bit of land that Baggy agreed to "buy" with the bit he really does own, so that there wasn't an argument; the bit of land that no one can clearly identify even when standing on it. Baggy swore; screamed; burst into panicky tears and phoned Calum to tell him. Calum totally lost his temper. Baggy got even more upset. Hormonal Hannah lost her temper and phoned the solicitor who is on holiday for another week! (Incidentally the enemy solicitor's letter is dated 24th August). Hannah insisted on speaking to another solicitor at the practise - she's not proud of herself, but she swore at him. He was actually quite helpful. Long story short, he pretty much said, "Why spend thousands of pounds on land that has nothing except sentimental value?" Especially as a substantial part of the garden would still not be owned by Baggy. Good question. It adds zero value to the house (surprisingly) and being a virtually vertical bank is very difficult to maintain. Baggy spoke to Calum again. She should have calmed down first. Calum lost it, because he's so fed of being mucked about by the "enemy" and the solicitor. "........ would (Baggy) be prepared to meet (the enemy) on site?" Guess what bloggees - NO SHE FLAMING WOULDN'T!

Inner Grrrrrr! and probably sanity found, once both Baggy and Calum had calmed down, they decided that the "enemy" can take a running jump; they are withdrawing their agreement to buy the land - he can keep it. The house can manage with the little patio garden that it has. It's a lovely little suntrap that just needs a nice fence put round it at some point. If the enemy wants to go to the considerable expense of moving all the thirty-year old boundary fences that's up to him - if he can actually figure out where the land he thinks he now owns ends, Clever Bird will be very surprised, as so far three surveyors have failed! Baggy just has to stop getting upset over the fact that her Dad has lost his garden; neither he nor her Stepmother will know anything about it, unless they're watching from a cloud. The garden as it stands, is a very time-consuming nightmare to maintain and Baggy hates gardening, so perhaps it's for the best. Well, at least that's what Clever Bird is going to have to keep on thinking to try to stop Hormonal Hannah and Freda Fretter from totally dominating Baggy once more. And breathe.

Oh yes, great, as Creative Clara typed that last comment and was about to post this blog a flea just hopped on her arm. Seriously not sure how much more Baggy can take today.......

Counselling might be seriously tough, but it's working for Baggy.

"Get over it". "Move on". "Don't live in the past". "Don't let bad things in your past affect your future". "Let it go". Yep, because it's that easy bloggees. Clever Bird is sure people mean well when they share these things on FaceBook or actually say similar things to Baggy, but seriously, do they think that Baggy (or anyone in a similar situation) wants to feel this bad? If it were that simple, trust Creative Clara when she says that Baggy would happily do all of the above, but she cannot, because she does not know how to. No one wants to wake up in such a dark place that they don't want to get out of bed. No one wants to be in a great mood one moment and in tears for no apparent reason the next. No one wants to feel worthless, or lost, or overwhelmed, or scared, anxious, or sick with worry over things that they have no control over, so obviously they'd "move on" if they could. Clever Bird even recognises the cause of her issues, but she had never actually truly sat down and confronted that cause face-to-face. Well, until she started to, today at counselling that is. Today, having spent the first thirty minutes, once again, talking about anything she could think of, rather than the fact that her Mama left her when she was eight years old, her counsellor finally took charge. She "made" Baggy confront that situation. Baggy couldn't actually speak. She tried, but she unravelled. Then she went from tearful, to slightly hysterical full-on sobbing. Then she got so spaced out that she couldn't actually think of anything to say. Which turned into what Creative Clara can only describe as an "out-of-body" experience. It got very weird. The poor counsellor (who is after all still a student), looked a little concerned as Baggy attempted to explain this feeling. But Baggy must have sounded nuts, as Psychic Ploppo tried to explain the number of times that Baggy has astral travelled in the past, without realising that that is what she was doing. The more she explained, the weirder the out-of-body experience became. But of course the session was over! Ploppo tried to get Baggy to stand to leave but her legs had gone totally to jelly. Clever Bird attempted to explain that this is what happens every time that Baggy tries to "remember" how she felt when her Mama left her and her sister. Her brain literally shuts down and she can't think - of anything at all. Clever Bird knows that this is some kind of safety mechanism that the brain uses, but she can't help wondering what exactly Baggy's brain is preventing her from reliving, and if it's that bad, maybe she shouldn't be trying to confront it. Ah well, she now has a week to try and regroup the gang before her next counselling session.

So, with the advice from the Stress Management course that "exercise helps with depression" at the forefront of her still spaced-out brain, Furry Mama made Baggy take Minty Mutt on a long walk.

A very long walk as it turned out. Minty Mutt got rather warm and insisted on a paddle at Ager Fen.

But Clever Bird had Baggy and Furry Mama prepared for once and Furry Mama had water for the mutt as well as a banana for Baggy, which they had en route while admiring the view.

 

When they got home, Clever Bird realised that they had been out for over an hour-and-a-half. The mutt was exhausted and very happy to be hosed down in his paddling pool. But Clever Bird decided that the "high" that Baggy was feeling from the exercise was already wearing off, so she persuaded Baggy to take Grotty to the yard to see the Boys. They were very pleased to see her - especially as she went to get them some hay. They'd just come off the horse-walker, so were warm and hungry. Once again Baggy relaxed totally as soon as she was with them. Even though it was silly warm and humid, Grotty decided to ride. She was encouraged by two friends, as Freda Fretter was trying to persuade her that it was too hot. But Clever Bird knows (as does her friend Sarah), that Grotty loses her nerve riding very easily and therefore not riding, would be a bad idea. She took an age to tack up (as usual), but once on she was pleased that she'd made the effort. Wesley was a poppet as usual. He went beautifully and Grotty even had a canter. She wasn't in there for terribly long - maybe twenty-five minutes at most - but Baggy had a big grin on her face by the time Grotty had finished. Horse-therapy is definitely the way forward for Baggy.............

 



Thank Heaven for horses.

Monday. Not Baggy's favourite day as she's on her own again, well apart from the four-legged furries that is. Furry Mama had a happy walk with Minty Mutt in the drizzle - autumn is on its way for sure. But unfortunately Baggy's back is hurting rather a lot. It "went" yesterday. Clever Bird suspects it's a combination of things: Grotty Groom doing the horses last Thursday, Baggy driving Billy-Bob Jalopy (with his forty-year-old lack of power assistance), and Minty Mutt hauling Furry Mama sideways yesterday. Whatever the reason, this morning's walk was more of a hobble. As for bending down to pick up a poo, well Baggy must have looked like a very old woman, not a middle-aged one. But at least she is getting old, so that's all good.

When they got home again, the pain began to get Baggy down a bit though, so The Domestic Goddess decided that it was the perfect reason not to do much other than the washing. But Clever Bird realised that Hormonal Hannah had appeared and was putting Baggy into a slump. Baggy was getting upset and teary for no apparent reason and just wanted to go back to bed. Clever Bird stepped in and suggested that Baggy take Grotty Groom to see the Boys. Hannah wasn't keen on this idea, but Clever Bird won. Grotty Groom spent a lovely couple of hours just being with her Boys. She groomed and cuddled them and just spent time being with them. Baggy felt so much better almost instantly.

Clever Bird doesn't really understand what it is about horses that is so special, but just being around them soothes a person's soul. Grotty is loving having the stable block to herself now, once again her horses can be her therapy and her sanity. Grotty had intended riding, but Baggy's back put pay to that plan, but it didn't matter, she had a really lovely time. Now she is back on an even keel once more. And in a better head-space for her counselling tomorrow. Pity she's just comfort-eaten a whole box of chocolates and now feels rather sick. But they were a present and they were looking at her, so...........

Very disappointing day.

Yesterday Grotty Groom, Calum and Minty Mutt spent a very pleasant afternoon and evening at Ashen Equestrian Centre, having a BBQ and a laugh. They didn't take the horses, although some people did and there was a little dressage competition with people making up their own tests. Two people did hilarious tests without a horse, just a hobby horse. Clever Bird decided that Grotty and Calum have a year to get their acts together; with the horses!

They went over in Billy-Bob so that they could stay the night, but in the end, as Baggy had not had a drink, she drove home - in the dark! Billy-Bob's lights are very good, but it was raining and the windscreen was a tad mucky on the inside, so Freda Fretter was worrying Baggy quite a lot, until Calum suggested that she focussed on the kerb ahead, rather than the road ahead. That worked, but by the time they got home Baggy needed a cup of tea. And, not one, but two of the cupcakes that had not been eaten, so they'd brought home with them. Ah well, she'll just have to walk them off later in the week.

Today was also to be a horsey day. There was a Suffolk Punch event on at Kentwell Hall which Calum really wanted to go to. Dogs are not allowed at Kentwell, as they know from previous visits, but as it was a horsey show, Clever Bird was convinced that they would be today, but otherwise they'd decided to leave the mutt at home with the television on. Calum phoned first thing to ask, "Yes, dogs are welcome, just not in the house". Okay, marvellous, Minty Mutt could come. They all headed off in Billy-Bob. As they parked they drove past five dogs and watched a lovely black setter getting out of the car opposite. They headed off to the show. As they left the car park, they past two large signs: "No dogs beyond this point". Hmmmmmm! "It must be the signs that are normally up", said Freda Fretter doubtfully as Minty Mutt showed his feelings by doing a massive poo right next to the sign. But as they were following three other dogs, Furry Mama picked up the poo and carried on. At the next gates into the show area there were more signs, "No dogs beyond this point". Very odd. But as Baggy could see at least a dozen dogs in the area, she thought no more about it. The Punches were magnificent.

They stood watching as Minty settled down and lay at their feet. An officious-looking man then walked round in front of them, "You must have walked past at least four signs telling you not to bring your dog in here". "Well, yes we did, but as we phoned to check this morning and were told that he's welcome, we assumed that they were the "normal" signs that they had left up". "Oh, urrrm, I see, well perhaps he can stay then". The chap went back to his Stewards' tent. "Now I'm p****d off", said Hormonal Hannah, as all kinds of people were muttering, "Well it clearly says no dogs". Baggy got cross. "I'm just going to go and say something at the Kentwell reception, I'll be back". Baggy explained the situation, "Well I don't know who would have said you could bring a dog. No dogs are allowed at Kentwell because of the rare animal life here". "We know that, which is why we called to check. But just so you know, there are dozens of dogs here today". "Oh dear. Well as long as you stay outside the main house-grounds it will be fine. There's a tea tent and trade village round to the right, if you go that way you can get a cup of tea". "Thank you". Baggy returned to watch the horses. Five minutes later, another officious person appeared, a woman this time. "I'm sorry but no dogs are allowed". Baggy found her inner Grrrr! and calmly explained, to try to stop Calum from losing his temper. "Well okay then", she walked off.

 

"Let's move from here. We could go and get a cup of tea", said Clever Bird, as Freda Fretter was getting in a state. Cup of tea acquired, they had a quick look around the stands. Calum bought Baggy a fold-away hat - genius! It works like a fan. Okay it looks a bit daft, but Baggy likes it. Another aid to slowing down her cataract growth.

 



Then Clever Bird noticed that the programme said there was a parade on, so they headed back to watch it. As they walked, the officious-woman appeared. "I'm really sorry but we're going to have to enforce the rule of 'no dogs'". Hormonal Hannah swore! "Obviously we'll reimburse your entry fee". Calum was really disappointed as he'd been looking forward to the day. "You stay, I'll take Minty home and come back for you later, but I'm not staying because I'm too annoyed". They got their money and left. Furry Mama put Minty in Billy-Bob (setting off all the alarms about five times, as Calum hadn't set it, so Baggy armed it, thinking she was switching it off), then went to find a mate of Cal's who had his horses there.

They were gorgeous. As was the mother and foal in the next lorry.

Clever Bird had no idea that the Suffolk Punch is more endangered than the Giant Panda! This show was to raise money to help with their preservation. Magnificent horses. But sadly the day had been spoilt, so with their refunded £20, they headed home - as did dozens of other disappointed dog owners. It makes you wonder how much money they lost.......

Baggy must try harder.

Fat Club - let's just say that Baggy got everything she deserved! You recall bloggees that Creative Clara told you that she had put on two pounds last weekend, and that she'd lost one of them again - WRONG! She had put on four or five pounds and lost one or two of them; so over all she was three up. Sigh! Clever Bird knew Baggy had been an idiot and deserved it, but still it made her feel a bit low. Her good Fat Club friend Jane however not only lost weight, she reached her target. Baggy was so pleased for her she had a tear in her eye - well actually, she was almost blubbing! It's lovely watching someone's face, when they realise they have got to their target. Now Clever Bird, hold that thought!

As Calum was home by the time Baggy got back, Furry Mama dragged him and Minty Mutt out for a walk - calorie burning required. Then she dragged Cal into town so that she could go and buy Slimming World sausages and burgers for the BBQ that they are going to at Ashen Equestrian Centre tomorrow; it's not actually bring-your-own-food, but needs must! But as Baggy wandered down the High Street, she felt more and more spaced out. Clever Bird realised that it was nearly 3.00pm and Baggy had eaten nothing. Hopeless. So she persuaded Cal that they should have a meal out. She was good and chose Sea Bass with vegetables, beans and a salad. It was very expensive and the tiny piece of sea bass was literally cremated. Hormonal Hannah was very put out. Bad enough that she'd eaten out, too many syns and too much money, but then it was rubbish. The Manager came over, "Is everything to your liking?". Baggy's stock answer, "Lovely thanks". Not today. Baggy the assertive found herself saying, "Actually no, the sea bass is totally overcooked, which would be bad enough, but for £14 it's really disappointing". Cue hot flush, yep Baggy is still having them, but nowhere near as often. But the Manager took one look at it and said she would get another one cooked and brought over. Inner Grrrrrr! working once again. The second piece was much better, but Baggy will not be returning there.

Food shopping done, they got home to realise that they had missed a parcel delivery - fortunately it was at a neighbour's. It was the memory foam toppers for Billy-Bob's bed. What's more Clever Bird got it right and they fit - yep bloggees she bought two, just to be sure that Baggy would not be in agony next time they sleep in Billy-Bob. They are so comfy and Baggy is so exhausted today, that she could have just stayed there and gone to sleep! It would seem that yesterday took its toll on Baggy more than expected. But Clever Bird did have another realisation on the way to Fat Club as she drove Billy-Bob along the twisty roads; it's not the riding and mucking-out that has her left calf and shoulders aching so much, it's driving the lovely Billy-Bob.........