A Trying Wednesday

Started not too well trying to rouse the boy Thos from slumber. He'd got back from Wales at some ungodly hour the previous night, having been on his happy hols with some school chums after finishing their A-Levels. Not my idea of fun, miles from anywhere, no running water except the stream outside the front door and a 'bunk barn' to stay in.

He'd been tasked with helping me take Ruby for her scan. Not keen! I had to send Gracie in to get him out of bed! He was quite chipper once he'd woken up but as he'd opted for the shorts and white trainers outfit after being told he definitely wouldn't get dirty, I could hardly expect him to help me catch the horses.

Doobie was most keen to be caught. Very not normal. She's usually a complete B**** and will only deign to come in when Zoyzie's been taken away. So I just brought her up and left Zoyzie in the field. That was a mistake! Zoy went completely nuts and started chasing the sheep and threatening to jump over a wire fence so I had to run back and catch her too.

In the end Ruby went into the box like a little lamb so I didn't really need the boy's help at all.

Anyway, after much trekking across muddy fields and horse-wrestling I looked like I'd been at Glastonbury! Mud everywhere. We were 'a bit late' when we got to the stud and there was a MASSIVE queue of boxes backed up onto the road. OMG! How long were we going to have to wait for the scan? After about 10 minutes the queue started to move but no-one seemed to be driving round the back where the sign tells you to park the boxes. Wierd! People were turning their trailers round in the drive and all sorts.

Anyway, when we finally got in and round the back and the horse unloaded and in the queue for a scan (it's like a well-planned military operation), said to one of the grooms, gosh, I thought we'd have to wait a long time with the boxes backed up. Apparently what had happened was some poor soul with a very big posh box had driven down from Scotland that morning, arrived at half eight only to have his air brakes sieze as he was driving into the stud. Bummer! It had only taken the Scania man til 11:45 to fix it.

Anyway, scan-wise the bad news is that Ruby wasn't pregnant any more. The foetus had gone but there were still some residual cells left hence her laid-back-ness. She still thinks she's pregnant.
Well, we're having one last go. We should know by friday whether she's going to come back into season. So fingers crossed!

The embarrassing thing was the vet didn't even need to ask her name. When I said, "oh you've seen so much of her you recognise her" he said "well, she is quite a big girl, isn't she?".

'Course she is, she's Ruby, the biggest horse in the world!

The trials of the rest of the day and attempting to drive up the M1 (who said it had re-opened?) can wait for another day.

WOOLFEST!

Well, I've handed in my assignment. A day early. Now I've just got to finish work, deliver the cat, take the horse to have a scan, pack my bags and then......

I'm off to Woolfest! Yippee!

Thankfully ra booked us into a lovely B & B outside Cockermouth so we won't have to brave the worst of the weather.

Just got to select some suitable knitting to take, have a bit of a practice spin and decide what fleece I'm taking with me then all roads point north.

Today.....

....I have mostly been wearing the yellow hat of positivity - much to everyone else's annoyance.

Which is strange cos yellow's just not my colour!

And today didn't get off to a very good start. I was woken by coughing at midnight and managed to get back to sleep at about 4am. So when the alarm went off at 6 I just turned over and went back to sleep again. So I was late leaving home and got stuck in the village behind a Travis Perkins truck unloading stuff at a building site. Fortunately the driver unloaded one pallet then moved the truck until the traffic jam had cleared.

Now I've just got to think of a way to get the six hats into my next assignment.

Doobie's done it now!

We went to pick up Doobie from stud this evening and she's managed to wreck her headcollar too! Bloomin' horses! At least she was wearing her leather one. Goodness only knows what mischief she'd have done if it had been made of webbing! Fortunately it should be fixable. It's just a question of when.

She's got to go back to stud next wednesday for another scan. She's on about her fifth now. The vet couldn't see a foetal heartbeat today so fingers crossed that everything turns out OK or it looks like we'll have to wait til next year to try to get her in foal again. She still seems fairly laid back, which is a good sign but apart from that, it's not looking very hopeful

She was definitely ready to come home though and walked straight into the box. She's going to be really fed up next week when she has to go back and be messed about with again!

What a busy day!

I'm shattered!

Today I have mainly been taking part in horsey pursuits. And last night too. Smem was taking part in a One Day Event today somewhere in South Warwickshire so an early start was in order. We had to leave at 7:30 am. On a Sunday!

So last night, nice Auntie that I am, I offered to plait Zoyzie's mane so we could have a lie in til 6. I must say it was one of my best efforts recently. I have persuaded them to give up the rubber bands and do it properly and sew them in. Not only do they look neater but you can do them the night before without fear that one shake of the head (and believe me, this has happened) and the whole lot fly out. Unfortunately this is not a skill that is taught any more and said neice can't sew to save her life! What do they teach them at school these days? Anyway, just to show off my handiwork I thought I'd do the before and after shots.

Before. Note the flowing locks. Also note the various bits of horse apparel liberally scattered around waiting to be washed. Also bit of string holding head collar together. Zoyzie is vandal and manages to break tack with infuriating regularity. Bad Bad Horsey!








We tried many times to get a good after shot of the incredibly neat plaits. Not always altogether successfully. Apparently it was the camera misbehaving!

Eventually she was 'persuaded' into remaining in one place long enough to get a good head and neck shot. And if you're wondering why her forelock (fringey bit) wasn't plaited, no, it's not a fashion statement. According to Smem, having her forelock plaited for too long gives Zoyzie a headache so we always have to leave it until she's about to perform.

And I'm daft enough to humour her!

Anyway, today was a bit of a mixed bag one way and another. They did a lovely dressage test, the show jumping was a bit variable and after an initial hickup at the first fence, they sped around the cross country beautifully. It WAS only their second One Day Event together so we came home happy. After all, it's a steep learning curve for both of them!

Oh, and there's a new addition to the family. Minnie Mouse. Her mummy died shortly after giving birth so Smem has taken on the role. Unfortunately, she's not quite sure where milk comes from. Wellies perhaps? (That's the top of my wellie if you're wondering.) Another one to add to Smem's extensive calf collection.

I Hate Slugs!

I'm not much of a gardener but this year I decided to grow my own vegetables. The good news is that the aubergine on my kitchen windowsill has one beautiful flower and the chilli plants are looking pretty good too.

Unfortunately as soon as I venture outside I'm not so successful. I've got courgettes, pumpkins and squashes - or rather I should have! I would have if it wasn't for those little slimy menaces who inhabit my garden. I wouldn't mind but my next door neighbour manages to cram her garden with all sorts of fruit and vegetables which appear to be totally unaffected. I'm jealous!


I really want to garden organically and I've tried and tried to resist the temptation of using slug pellets but I just can't fight it any more! Where I lived before I had a teeny back garden that was really more of a yard but I still managed to grow courgettes and even a grape vine. Now I've got lots of outside space and I can't seem to grow anything successfullly.

Anyway, I have tried to be good but nothing seems to work.

Slug repellant 1 was coffee grounds. Slugs don't like going over coffee grounds cos it hurts their tooties. Yeah right! The lure of the newly-emerged courgette seedlings was too much to resist. It did stop them having another go at my Micro Tom tomato plant though. Obviously just not inviting enough to be worth the agony!

Then for number 2 I used the barrier method. See thru strawberry punnets from the supermarket inverted over the emerging seedlings and buried under the soil so there was no way through. The persistent little blighters managed to get underneath.

Number 3. Empty grapefruit halves put upside down for them to hide under. So I go out first thing in the morning. Not a sign of slugs in the grapefruit halves, plenty of evidence of them nibbling holes in them though.

Last week at Honley show we saw someone who was promoting pelleted sheeps wool. Slugs don't like the texture of sheeps wool. So I swathed my plants in sheeps wool. I've got plenty since I washed a whole Jacob fleece in one go. I'll never do that again! The slugs appear to have parted the sheeps wool not unlike the red sea. Don't know whether they just hoiked it out of the way or if they actually ate it.

The really really annoying thing isn't that they eat the plants. They don't eat them, they just nibble at the stems a bit. Just enough to kill the plant so that from the kitchen door they appear ok. It's only on closer inspection that I realise the little blighters have been at it again!

It looks like I won't be able to dispense with my veg box for the foreseeable future. Never mind. I always enjoy the trip to Naturally Good Food in Cotesbach to pick up my veg box.

back on line

For some unknown reason my wireless internet connection stopped working last week. Dunno why. The good news is that I've managed to fix it. Not sure how, but I have. Fortunately I was up at ra's at the weekend so I could go on line there and she helped me a bit with my blog.

Ta m'duck!

I now know how to insert photos. And I've just worked out for myself how to edit the HTML. Given that when people ask me what I do for a living I tend to describe myself as a computer geek (it's easier than trying to explain what a systems developer does) this may be a little hard to comprehend. I confess I'm RUBBISH with technology!

Ra has given me the tip that people don't read bloggs without pictures or conversation so ..............



Here's a gratuitously pointless picture of Rose with the Tigers coach, and I don't mean Marcelo Loffreda.







I've not really got the hang of this blogging business. This post has taken ages to do. I should really have spent this evening writing up a role play for my Management Diploma, not fiddling about with my blog. Tut tut.

you read it first here!

We went to Honley show yesterday. (Ra's just giving me literary advice - she thinks the title should be 'you read it here first' - whatever!).

And boy was it hot! The Highland cattle didn't seem to like it much, not the heat, just the idea of walking around the ring! The calf was soooooo cute. It looked like a little bear!

I didn't know that there were still shows like that. It's like a throwback to the 1950's with cake making and handicraft competitions as well as the usual classes for dogs, horses, pigs, sheep, goats, tractors, motor cycles, rabbits, mice, rats, guinea pigs (but no poultry). The list goes on and on............

And did I mention the dry stone walling competition? I thought someone was getting outside help, then I realised it was one of the judges inspecting his work!

ra is very very bad and has been posting things on my blogg. fortunately she pointed it out before I published. BAD BAD ra!

Displacement Activities

I really should be doing something else but it's saturday morning, sunny and warm so I'm indoors typing away on my computer, having listened to the wonderful Eddie Izzard on bbc7 listen again.

I think I'm coming down with blog fever. I did manage to resist for AGES. One of my sisters has had a knitting blogg for quite a while and I've dipped in and out of hers and others, but the time has now come to start blogging - mainly cos she manages to miss all the interesting bits out!

Also eldest sister lives other side of world so tends to miss out on the minutiae of daily life 'over here'. G'day, chick.

Anyway, "there'll be no more Rugby to watch 'til the fall and we're already feeling the pangs of withdrawal" so saturday mornings are no longer spent in anticipation of the match and I need other things to stop me doing what I should be eg housework (BOO!), studying (BOOOOO!), cleaning the car etc etc etc.........