Flick's Writing

Where did the second half of July go?

Thu, 01 Aug 2019 19:57:37 GMT

It disappeared into a pit of Too Bloody Hot, mostly. My feeble English self is not very good at 34C, and there was a lot of lying on the sofa whimpering quietly.

On the plus side, the garden appreciated it (and the two days of heavy rain that came when it broke). On the minus side, so did the weeds in the garden, and I lost a week of gardening at just the wrong time of the year. I did manage a very little gardening, and found a 'nest' of snails under a shrub in the back garden, which the ducks were very pleased about.

The tomatoes, in particular, have finally got over the bloody awful June, and the cherry varieties are finally producing:

The yellow ones are a new-to-us variety called Millefleur, and they live up to the name. The trusses are enormous, and covered in dozens of tiny yellow tomatoes.

(Speaking of tomatoes: I was talking to someone who was of the opinion that bush tomatoes are doing much better than vine with the weather we've had this summer. As it turns out, I've only got vine this year: anyone growing both?)

We also picked our first home-grown sweet cherries this year, which was very exciting:

In a change from recent years, GB also decided to dress appropriately for the weather, and actually finished shedding last year's winter coat before starting to grow this year's. Not bad for mid-30s:

We have a new bedroom carpet, and Bob has a matching new bed, and the bedroom is now done until the shutters arrive (hopefully, shortly after Worldcon).

There was, I'm sure, other stuff in there as well. We had some visitors, and have more imminently. We went to a lovely BBQ, and have another one imminently.

It's Worldcon soon, and there has been a certain amount of getting ready for that. Fortunately, there's another week and a bit to go, so maybe I'll manage to get something done in the garden....

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Here, have some pictures

Sun, 19 May 2019 19:24:38 GMT

My leg is much less swollen than it was. This makes the bloody great lump more obvious, but at least I can wear my boots again now.

We've been busy in the garden, both removing things (grass and weeds) and adding things: the courgettes and all the legumes are now planted out in the veg bed.

The shade netting is there to stop the muscovies from getting at the legumes and eating their leaves. Ella spends an ominous amount of time standing on the hay bales and looking speculatively at them.

When she's not doing that, she's often to be found harassing the ducklings. Not sure what's going on there, but she's forever having a go at them. Zu Zu doesn't seem at all bothered, though, so I guess it's all ok.

The ducklings are starting to get their adult feathers in, and their voices as well in the last couple of days. We have definite quacking going on from at least one of them (and we think at least two; they're still peeping a lot of the time, so it's hard to be sure). This is excellent news: only the girls quack.

GB's leg is bothering him. He was quite lame last night, and although much better today is still struggling a bit. He keeps scraping the skin off the back of one of his legs, which we think is because he's struggling to get up off the ground after lying down at night. Still, he seems alright in himself. I must take some pictures of Benny, who is looking particularly glossy and healthy in his nice new summer coat. (GB, of course, is still in his shaggy winter number.)

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The sloes are early this year

Sat, 25 Aug 2018 13:47:01 GMT

The swans are sewn, now I just need to wait for the backing fabric and get quilting:

(I'll also have to rearrange the living room to get enough floor space to pin the layers together, it doesn't fit in the study!)

GB has crossed some sort of watershed: he's not quite finished shedding last year's winter coat (the long, paler hairs that you can see against the black) but he's already starting to fuzz up with this year's growth (which you can see against the white):

Still, not bad for an old man. Even if he does spend half of his time with his willy hanging out a bit these days....

I had a lovely long session on Benny this morning, the weather was just right: sunny, bit of a breeze, and enough of a chill in the air that we didn't overheat. Much more satisfactory weather than lately.

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Bloody animals.... (Insects are animals too, right?)

Fri, 24 Aug 2018 09:31:48 GMT

On Wednesday evening, as I was leading the boys in from the field, Benny decided that he was sick of having to walk as slowly as GB does and started rearing in protest.

The first three times weren't really an issue, but on the fourth he managed to hook one of his forelegs over my arm as he came down:

My back also felt rather peculiar, so Mike played it safe and told work that he wouldn't be at the company away-day yesterday (he was devastated, especially at the prospect of not having to go out at 6:30 to drive there). As it turns out, it wasn't too bad (although I skipped our riding lesson yesterday afternoon and let Mike have a longer session), and he's off in London today.

As well as my various scrapes and bruises from Benny, I'm covered in mozzie bites. I seem to be getting half a dozen a night, and am not sleeping well as a result, so I'm quite pleased that it's going to be chilly tonight so that I can spray the bedroom and, with the windows closed, hopefully not get nibbled on. Even Mike has had two or three bites over the last week.... I think I prefer horse fly season. Grump.

GB is also suffering from the insect life, getting nibbled on his feet and face by harvest mites, which appear in the grass at this time of year. The poor things has some horrible open sores on his feet, and is terribly itchy. Actually, I think that Benny's getting a bit bothered by them, too, which might explain the grumpiness the other day.

Still, it was *lovely* to be out first thing this morning and feel a bit of an autumnal chill to the air, even if it did warm up fairly quickly. We're actually going to close the polytunnel tonight (which will at least stop Bob from stealing the tomatoes...), and maybe put light rugs on the horses!

In good animal news, I'm very happy to report that Ella, the new muscovy, has started laying (I guess they mature more slowly than mallards), and is doing so in the duck house. Even better, Erzulie has taken the hint and is now also laying inside, rather than in one of her hidden nests. Of course, this means that she refuses to come out of the house in the mornings, so that I have to tuck her under my arm and carry her to breakfast, but I'd rather that than the alternative.

Must post more often!

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Before and after

Sun, 29 Jul 2018 14:10:28 GMT

I've also been taking advantage of the Aga being back on to grill some courgette slices to go in the fridge and make some courgette goop.

It's mostly been raining here, today, just what the grass needs. I even put a jumper on for a little while this morning: bliss! I am a bit concerned about the wind, though. I've already picked up one blown-over tomato plant on the patio, and I had to do a lot of re-tying in the polytunnel last night, so we've closed it up for the first time in months.

GB's celebrating high summer by finally getting rid of his winter coat. I expect he'll start growing a new one in a couple of weeks.

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Encouraging animal news

Thu, 24 May 2018 12:41:19 GMT

This morning, after a couple of weeks off, I had a quick go on Benny and he was barely hopping at all, so fingers crossed that he's recovering much more quickly this time than he did last time. I didn't stay on for long, because my leg is still not right and -- based on last time -- he's always more hoppy when he's tired, so I didn't want to do too much.

The vet popped in to give GB a blood test, and said he looks well. We did talk about his problems having a wee, and she agrees it probably is a bladder stone and therefore not something we can really fix. (Given that he takes months to heal a little scratch, cutting him open doesn't really seem viable.) He's happy in himself, though, and as long as he is we'll leave him be.

We also had a phone call from Bob's vet, to say that the lab report on his lump is back and it's entirely benign, which is what we expected but is always nice to have confirmed. Bob's going a little loopy from lack of exercise, as he's still not allowed to have zoomies in the field, and indeed is currently wearing the Cone Of Shame as well as his pooch pants, because this morning he was zooming as much as he possibly could on the lunge line while we were getting the ragwort out of the field, and the wound is now oozing slightly again. I think we're going to have to go back to just the lead, as the lunge line lets him get up a bit too much speed. (Yesterday morning, while I was poo picking, I left him tied to the gate on the lunge line and turned around at one point just in time to see him do a mid-air forward roll as he reached the end of the slack....)

I've given up on the bird 'flu rules: in the last few months, there's been nothing but a couple of dead buzzards two counties over, so I'm not sure why they're still keeping it going. Anyway, we're not feeding the garden birds any more so now that the adolescent crows have found the food bowl, the swallows have started nesting in the stables, and the wagtails are spending all day on the muck heap it's not like there are more wild birds in the garden than in the stableyard. We're still lucky to be getting one egg a day, usually from Magrat (traditionally the worst of the layers, which is very odd; Esk, our 'oh, I thought I'd lay two today' girl, still hasn't managed any that we've seen). If something *isn't* going in and stealing them before we let the girls out in the morning, hopefully the more varied diet will get the others going!

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Signs of summer

Thu, 03 May 2018 11:04:20 GMT

The swallows have arrived, and are checking out the stables for nest spots:

And GB's summer coat is coming through (slowly), and as ever it's much more white than it was last year. (For some reason, only his summer coat is going white while his winter coat is still dark all over.)

The bloody runners still aren't laying, though. They'd better get a move on, before we decide it's orange sauce time! Am considering putting Erzulie on a lead, so that she can't keep dashing into the barn looking for nest spots.

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Animal Magic

Tue, 24 Apr 2018 15:42:14 GMT

Bob went back to the vet today, for a fairly general check/catch up. "Do just check that you can find his chip, now that he's had one put in," I said.

Three chip readers later, she put another chip in.

"And, while I'm here, can you check that the vaccinations he was given were right? I was surprised that he didn't need repeat jabs to start with," I continues.

We have re-started his jabs, and will be going back in a couple of weeks for the repeat ones.

On the plus side, he's put on half a kilo since we've had him, and hopefully he'll manage to do the same again.

(The posts posts having finally arrived from Chile, Jobbing Farmer and His Mate are out in the garden doing the fences. "Our cocker spaniel was 21kg," Jobbing Farmer said. "It took us two years, but we've now got him down to where he should be, 12kg." Boggle.)

After a few days of laying, Erzulie realised that her eggs were being stolen each morning and went looking for a safer nest spot. She did try the barn again, but seems to have given up on it after Bob followed her inside and tried to investigate her. I heard the scuffles and rescued her before anything worse than a wet back happened.

I remembered later that I still had a couple of fake eggs in the house so the next day, when she laid in her new nest (actually in their house, even!), I swapped one of those in. I did the same today, and hopefully she can't count higher than two.

I haven't updated about Benny recently, but that's because it's good news: he's pretty much entirely stopped doing his hoppity thing, it just very occasionally comes back if he's going faster than his balance can cope with. He's doing very well, and Mike is now cantering him, which is marvellous news.

GB remains his usual charming self, now with added "The flies are bothering me, do something. Eww, why have you put this horrible thing over my face? When I said 'do something', I meant you should stand next to me and wave them away!"

I continue to be a little concerned about his bladder, because I do think that Something Is Not Right, but there's nothing I can realistically do to fix either of the two most likely causes of the problem, so there you go.

Our non-fancy cherry tree is a mass of blossom this year, it's looking lovely. The fancy crab apple and cherries are just about to open as well. Sadly, the weeds have greatly appreciated the recent weather. Must get out in the garden.

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Hot!

Fri, 20 Apr 2018 18:53:06 GMT

GB never looks at his best at this time of year: when all the other horses are shedding their winter coats, he's grimly hanging on to his for dear life. To make up for being three times too long, his winter coat is three times weaker than it should be, so he gets lots of bald patches (fewer now that he's not being ridden), and so generally looks like a very beloved teddybear by the spring.

The hot weather has not helped at all:

First BBQ of the year this evening, and we even ate outside!

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Reassuring animal news

Tue, 10 Apr 2018 15:42:48 GMT

GB had a wee overnight! Hurrah!

T'internet suggests that Erzulie is hoping we'll mate with her (scrunching down and spreading her wings slightly to give the drake somewhere to stand when they're in the water), which is a bit disturbing (she thinks we're going to...?) but basically fine and (hopefully) leading to eggs soon.

Bob was fine when I went out without him this morning, which was a relief. When we walked him, he had a little growl at another dog, but nothing major. We took him to the vet this afternoon, where he did try to go for two other dogs. The first one was swiftly removed to the car, the second was at the other end of the room and, in fact, Bob settled down fairly quickly when he realised we weren't going to let them get near each other.

The vet's happy with Bob, says he seems healthy. She says that his lump is almost certainly just a lump, but also wants to have it removed when he's settled down. We also had a chat with the psychology nurse, who says we have to be much more strict with him or we really will have separation problems. He's currently on the Dog Sofa, looking the picture of wounded, neglected poochness after we both ignored him and wouldn't let him on the people sofa. (I'll go and give him a cuddle in a minute!)

We've got special food for him, to see if we can get his tummy settled. It turns out that he's a fair bit heavier than we'd guessed - 27kg, and the vet would be happy if he gained a couple of kilos - so we'll be increasing his food as well.

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Animal news

Mon, 09 Apr 2018 18:59:09 GMT

Bob continues to be quite clingy, but he coped ok with Mike going to London today. We'll see how he copes when I go out without him tomorrow morning.... He's having great fun zooming around the field, and just chased (but didn't catch: mean old fences) his first bunny. I think I'm going to try getting his attention with a squeaky toy when he's zooming tomorrow, see if that makes him notice that I'm offering treats if he comes back!

Erzulie's being a little odd. Yesterday morning when Mike was letting them out, she sort of flopped down on the doorstep and stayed there for a minute, even when he came and touched her. She did it again on the way in this evening, so I picked her up and had a feel, in case she's egg-bound (she's starting to look like she's going to lay soon), but she seemed ok. Not sure what's going on there.

Also not sure what's going on with GB, who only had one tiny wee overnight the night before last and none at all last night. Unfortunately, due to Bob-wrangling, I didn't think to check this morning until he'd been out in the field for a bit. If he's dry again overnight tonight, I'm going to keep him in and see if he has a wee in the morning; if not, I'll get the vet out in the afternoon. I spoke to the vet this afternoon, vaguely expecting him to say "It's probably a UTI," but actually he led off with bladder stones and then went on to kidney failure and cancer, which wasn't very reassuring, but he also said that if GB wasn't weeing at all then you'd would expect him to be colicky, which he's not. The vet did say that my plan to keep him in tomorrow was the right thing to do, so we'll just have to see what happens. There's always an outside chance that Benny's taught him not to wee indoors, but it seems unlikely.

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Everything's better with drugs...

Sun, 17 Dec 2017 11:57:44 GMT

This morning, I took Benny out for a little hack, for the first time since Bugsy left.

That meant that GB was Left Alone, which we were a bit worried by, so in a fit of organisation I'd already got a tube of sedative from the vet.

He wasn't terribly impressed when I shoved it down his throat ("It's palatable," said the vet, "so you can put it in his feed if you want." "Yeah, right," I thought, and was right: no way he would have eaten his food with it in), but when I went to pick his feet up fifteen minute later he was swaying slightly, and by the time Benny and I left he only managed to stagger up to a trot to chase across the stableyard to come with us.

Mike reports that he shouted for about fifteen minutes (as opposed to screaming, which I was worried would happen) and then calmed down to eat hay with occasional shouts. When we got back, he did just about manage to get up to the field, but he was a bit wobbly on the slope: I'm not sure how he'd do if it had been slippery rather than frozen solid, so if we do the same thing on a muddy day we may have to remember to take them to the field the long way around.

Benny was also very good. There was one icy patch on the road, which he took very slowly and carefully, and he had a good look at a few things (eg, pheasants, water troughs) but wasn't as worried as last time. When we got to the end of the road and I told him to keep going, he was a bit concerned, but once we got onto the bridleway he was very much up for nice run (which I denied him, keeping it down to a sedate trot instead). We didn't go very far at all before we turned back for him, but I want to take it slowly and was a bit worried about GB!

We had his front shoes taken off a couple of days ago (having had the back ones off the day he arrived) but he didn't seem at all bothered by that, which was also good. (Actually, he'll have done better on the ice without them.)

On the way home, he was rushing a bit but nothing too bad until we got level with our school, when the mares over the road started running around and GB shouted: Benny did break into a little trot then, but he came back to walk fairly well, so all in all I think it was a success.

I suppose I'd better get a permit to go in the woods, after having let it lapse!

I've got enough sedative for five more goes (possibly more, if I give him a smaller dose after the first couple of times: he is very susceptible to it), and then we might try him without... or we might just get another tube!

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Animal updates

Tue, 12 Dec 2017 18:36:56 GMT

Bugsy left this morning, gone back to a girl who used to own him where he'll go back in the field with a Shetland who used to be his best mate (and hopefully still will be). GB called for him a few times, and stood by the gate looking confused a bit, but reacted much better than he did when Jonny went. Very relieved, both about GB's reaction and that he's gone to someone who knows him.

Benny had his back checked, as well, and the Back Lady is happy that his wonkiness is just muscle development, from how he's been ridden, rather than anything structural, which is also good news. He was very good with her, considering that he's unlikely to have ever had anything similar done to him before. She wants to come back in a couple of months, to see how he's getting on, just before the saddler does the same.

GB also had a very quick five minute check, and she's very impressed with how well he's looking considering that he's not in work any more: very little loss of muscle along his back (although he has lost some on his neck).

Jodie... well, I think she's getting a bit dotty in her old age, or rather getting more so. As a breed they seem to get a bit funny at about 8 or 8 and a half (she's nine in a couple of weeks), so it's not entirely unexpected. She's even more clingy than she used to be, these days, and it's not been helped by the fact that GB bit her on the bum a few weeks ago. The boys have been not-in-the-field a few times in the last week, and when we do that we let them wander around the stableyard while we're doing our jobs; normally, she'd stay in the barn while that happens, but this week she's been refusing to, and instead following us around and getting in the way (and making it more likely that the boys will catch her out in the open than if she was in the barn). Still, hopefully they'll be back in the field soon and she'll be happier!

Erzuli continues to spend most of her time on her own, looking nervous, as the runners poke around at the other end of the garden. I've got a saved search for a friend for her....

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Awkward to the end...

Fri, 14 Jul 2017 21:48:36 GMT

It's very common to have a horse who spends his working life wearing shoes and then has them taken off for his retirement, on account of them not being needed when all he's doing is wandering around in a field.

GB's been happily barefoot for a decade, but today the farrier said that now he's not working we need to think about putting shoes on him for the two hundred yard walk up and down the hill each day to the summer pasture. It is true that his feet were a state, but I was thoroughly expecting to be told not to be silly when I mentioned shoes....

What I'll probably do is put booties on him, morning and evening, just for the walk. I ordered a set this afternoon, and they'll probably arrive before we go away for The Bloody Wedding so that I can check that they fit / he doesn't object too much before the sitters have to deal with him.

When we first took his shoes off, I bought him some ferociously expensive booties, which he hated with a passion. Now that he's had no shoes for so long, they don't fit him any more, so they've gone back in the box. Hopefully he won't complain too much about the new ones...

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Too hot....

Sun, 18 Jun 2017 19:21:48 GMT

I spent much of the day in the hammock. Jo is also too hot, poor thing.

The last couple of years, we've had a paddling pool on the patio for Jo to go in after her walks. It's not entirely satisfactory, as it's bigger and shallower than she'd like it to be, and takes so much water that I don't like to change it often, so it gets very icky. I did some noodling around online last week, and discovered the existence of something called a plasterer[']s['] bath, which is used to mix stuff up in and sounded like a very good size: 4'x2'x1' deep.

Jo does seem to like it, but it doesn't like being left full of water....

(It looks even worse now, the other side's also bowed out. I suspect it's going to die a death next time she climbs in!)

Bizarrely, GB seems to have bonded with one of the mares: when we brought them down the hill, he stood in the corner of the stableyard watching them, and when we put the boys to bed he was calling to her. Most unlike him, he's much too old to suddenly develop a taste for the ladies!

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Here are some things that have happened

Mon, 12 Jun 2017 15:19:05 GMT

Last Tuesday, it rained. It rained lots and lots and lots. Because he is a special snowflake, GB decided that it was nice weather for a walk and so Mike and I spent an hour or so walking around the stableyard in circles until the vet arrived and gave him some drugs.... I'm increasingly convinced that he gets gassy when the air pressure changes rapidly, because this is by no means the first time that he's had a colic in the pouring rain after a sunny spell. And then there was the time he did it in the snow.

Anyway, he was fine fairly soon after the vet did her thing, so no harm done! (It was also Little Quilt Club that day, so I missed going to that for the morning: bah. On the other hand, if I had gone then Mike wouldn't have had the car to go and collect people, so....)

While we were enjoying our lovely walk, our incoming visitors, who were cycling to see us, phoned to ask if we could possibly go and get them from where they'd spent the night. Once the vet had been, Mike did so, and shortly afterwards the rain (inevitably) stopped.

Still, we had a nice visit, including a trip to The Sportsman, which we'd never previously been to as we'd not got around to booking a table sufficiently far ahead. It was quite nice, but I'm not sure we'll be rushing back, and we weren't terribly impressed by the veggie-friendly-ness of the menu (which didn't have any veggie mains, although when we asked they were able to make two of the starters into mains).

We went to see a possibly horse (not Git Face; someone who managed to co-ordinate better with the owner's schedule got in before us and he's sold), who was terribly nervous of Jo. We put Jo back in the car, but he was still terribly nervous: not actually doing anything, but very tense. While the woman was riding him for us to watch, Mike said "I'm not sure I want to get on him," and I said "I'm not very sure that I do, either," so we said thank you and went home instead.

We've sent off some soil samples from our field for testing, in preparation for getting Mr Farmer to fertilise it when we've moved the boys up the hill to their summer quarters.

My hands seem to have got over their over-use, and I've been able to do some weeding and some sewing, which is a relief. I'm slightly concerned that the tomatoes in the polytunnel aren't setting fruit. We have been leaving one of the doors open, so there are insects in there, but it's possible that we need to open the other one for a few hours each day to get a bit more pollination going.

Today, we've had more visitors, but just for the afternoon. It turns out that iPads make small children much more easy to entertain than I had feared, and that running down our field is terribly fun but walking back up it in order to do so again is less interesting. Horses are a bit big and scary up close, though, which GB would probably be happy about if he realised: he was very grumpy this morning when I put his saddle on and rode him twice around the stableyard to check he would be up to a pony ride, but it turned out not to be necessary in the end.

I realise now that that's probably the last time he'll ever be ridden.

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Bits and coughs

Thu, 04 May 2017 09:36:10 GMT

My post-Eastercon stomach bug turned into a post-Eastercon cold, which several other people have also been complaining about.

I'm getting better, I think, but I've thought that several times now and then woken up the next day feeling grotty again. This has led to quite a lot of lying on the sofa feeling pathetic and not very much actual getting things done. The weather has cooperated with this: we've finally had some rain, after an entirely dry month, which is very good and means that the grass is finally growing in the field. This also means that the weeds are taking over the flower beds, and neither feeling grotty nor the weather is conducive to doing anything about them.

And we still haven't planted up the polytunnel, but we have an excuse in the form of the irrigation system, which should have been here yesterday but isn't yet, and which probably needs to be in place before the plants go in, to avoid disturbing or damaging them when we try to get it figured out.

GB also got a bit neglected in there: going away and then being ill meant that he didn't get ridden for about ten days in a row, and I'm afraid that that might have been too long for him. We've had three goes on him since, most recently this morning, and he's not doing very well. A couple of times, he's also nearly gone down on his bum when trotting down the hill at bed time. I'm going to wait for a warmer day and then have a go on him in the afternoon, when he's had plenty of time in the field to get rid of any stiffness, but I fear it won't be much better and it'll finally be time to officially retire him.

It's not been all bad, though: in there we've had some visitors, both overnight and for the day, been out to Margate to see an exhibition that wasn't as much as we'd expected about textiles but was quite interesting anyway and gave me a few things to think about (coffmayhaveboughtanewloomcoff). We also hosted various fannish crafty types for a day of crafty things, during which staggering amounts of tea were consumed (at least until we ran out) even when you allow for the fact that Mike and I kept forgetting to ask if more was wanted....

Coming up in the next week: Quilt Club, and a workshop, and then Mike's Mother is coming to stay. So nice and recuperative, then.

LJ has reset my cookie, and I'm presuming that logging in will require TOS agreement, so I've stopped reading there.

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Animals....

Sun, 09 Apr 2017 20:48:02 GMT

Yesterday evening, we took the fence down so that the boys can have the whole field.

(Fingers thoroughly crossed that we'll get some bloody rain some time soon so that it can get to work growing before they strip the new half to bare earth.)

This evening, GB is in an utterly foul mood, waving his teeth at me at every opportunity and not eating his hay. Can we say 'tummy ache'? I think that we can.

Sigh. I'm sure he'll be ok in the morning....

Still, polytunnel's ready to go for when we get back after Easter!

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Ah, spring....

Sun, 19 Feb 2017 10:09:34 GMT

It's amazing what riding GB on a warm, sunny spring morning will do for my mood, especially when he's going really well (for a geriatric!) and we get to have a nice session!

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Here are some things

Fri, 07 Oct 2016 15:52:10 GMT

We're back from our holiday, where we climbed belfries, went to museums, bought lots of chocolate and pate and other tasty things, and generally had a nice time (other than Monday afternoon, which was stressful and yuck). We even had pretty good weather, just a little damp at the start and a little chilly at the end. Eurotunnel was pretty horrible going, pretty chilled coming back. We were surprised, in both Bruges and Ghent, by how tricky it was to find some breakfast (we tend not to bother with hotel breakfasts, because we don't eat enough breakfast for it to be good value).

( Hotels )There are lots of wind turbines in Belgium, or at least it looked that way from the motorway. Most of them were just sitting there, looking like wind turbines, but there were a few that were cunningly camouflaged so that they blended seamlessly into the surrounding countryside:

I especially like the subtle gradient effect.

When we got back, Jo was very pleased to see us, as ever, and we were very pleased to see her. While we were away, as well as the stuff that she'd told me about by text message, GB smashed into the chain that goes across his stable door and pulled the fixing out of the wall. I'm really quite gobsmacked by this, and the only thing I can think of is that she left him on his own in there and took Bugsy away to be exercised. Because, you know, that wasn't just what I told her to never do. I've complained to the agency, and said that we don't want her back. I'm still not sure if she just didn't pay attention to the instructions (about this and about the riding) or if she decided that she knew better, but I'm leaning towards the latter given that when we got back she kept making 'helpful' suggestions about things we should do differently. Anyway. No harm done, other than to GB's doorframe. Girl Who Rides For NVNDN came and rode him for me in the week, and I jumped on for ten minutes last night: he seems to be ok.

(Oh, reply to my email to the agency: terribly bland "we're very sorry to hear about that, here, have someone different". I wonder if they'll actually say anything to her?)

At the Canterbury Food Festival a couple of weeks ago, I was intrigued enough by the stall for Freddie's Flowers that I signed up to give it a try. Every week, they do up boxes of flowers that will look nice together and send them out to their subscribers (I think in London they deliver them themselves, mine came via DPD), although they're very flexible about how often you have them (you can set it on a week-by-week basis up to six months in advance). The spiel is that their flowers last up to a fortnight, because they buy direct from the farm. Because we were away last week, my first box has just arrived and I'm quite impressed:

I do like having flowers in the house, and there's not much that's pickable in the garden at this time of year.

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This is not what I want when I go on holiday

Mon, 03 Oct 2016 15:38:09 GMT

(AKA, notes for my shouty email to the pet sitter agency.)

GB's an old shite, and I warn sitters about that (usually with the words 'don't be afraid to smack him *when* he acts up): there really is no point in trying to win him over with kisses and cuddles, he's spent too long with gaggles of kids doing the same, honing his sneak attack biting skills. What he really appreciates is consistence and routine, you aren't going to get that in a couple of days.

(She's giving him 'lots of reassurance when grooming'. I have never known him be remotely concerned by who is grooming him, except for wondering if he'll be successful at nipping you when you do the ticklish spots. Either she's doing something very odd to make him nervous of her or she's misreading 'grumpy old shite' as 'timid and skittish', neither of which is reassuring. Or she's also ignored the verbal and written instruction to never take him out of sight of Bugs, which is worse.)

He's also got a bad leg, and he needs to be ridden regularly and in a specific way to keep him ticking over. It describes what to do in the notes we leave for the sitters, including the line "do not lunge him: if you can't / don't want to ride him, let us know and we'll get someone in". When the sitter came on Saturday morning, I explicitly checked that she was happy to ride and I didn't need to get someone else in to avoid her lunging him.

(As we drove away, I said to Mike "I hope she's not to heavy for him", and have now resolved to be less polite in future and ask people what they weigh.)

I asked the sitter to ride him on Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday. I texted her yesterday evening and said "how is everything? How was GB when you rode him?". She replied and said that he was a "work in progress" and that she was "working through his arrogance", which is a bit wtf.

This morning I replied and said "you're not going to change his personality and I don't want you to. How was he when you rode him yesterday?", and she eventually fessed up that she'd tried to ride him, decided she was too heavy, and lunged him instead which "wasn't very successful" but she'd try again tomorrow. If I'm lucky, "not very successful' means 'glared at me until I flailed around enough to him enough to make him take a few steps in walk'. If I'm not, he'll have a bad leg for the next couple of weeks at best.

There may have been some ALL CAPS in my reply when I told her not to try to exercise him again, and that I'd get back to her when I'd found someone else to ride him.

Mrs Next Door was my first try: working all day today and tomorrow. Did she think her mate who used to give me side saddle lessons (and so knows GB, even though she's never ridden him) might be able to? She's flat on her back at present.

Ok, what about the girl who rides for my not very next door neighbour? She's never ridden him, but I've seen her ride and she's good.... Fingers crossed.... Girl is riding for NVNDN on Wednesday, would that do? Yes if it's all she can manage but if Tuesday was possible, here have money and petrol money and more money, ok, that's sorted, phew. NVNDN even agreed to pay her and I can drop some money up to her at weekend. Sent epic text describing exactly what she should do when sitting on him.

And that's the best part of the afternoon gone, what with waiting for text messages to zip around the place, and I'm now horribly stressed and worried. And looking at the photo she sent of Jo and thinking "that's not a happy, chilled out pooch". I've asked Mrs Next Door to poke her head into the yard when she gets home to see how things look / the boys seem. Hopefully we won't be as delayed going home as we were coming out, and I'll be back in time to ride him myself.

I've got the same sitter booked for Novacon, which I guess can stand (if I ride him the day we go then he'll have two days off), but I'm going to have to ask them to find me someone else for the bookings I want next summer. With a weight limit, this time.

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First, perplex your vet.

Mon, 05 Sep 2016 17:51:52 GMT

This afternoon, the vet was mostly perplexed.

She was perplexed because she wasn't visiting Bugs, on account of how he's not showing any signs of lameness (maybe, she said, his sore bones have already fused together unusually quickly?).

She was perplexed because (while we were here anyway, I had her take a blood sample from GB) a horse with such high (when unmedicated) levels of the-thing-they-test-for as he does has no symptoms, other than being very keen on his winter coat and a little slow to heal.

She was perplexed because, when she had a look at GB's eye, she was completely convinced that there would be a thorn or similar inside the lump, but actually she just found a lot of goo. (He should be fine, with antibacterial eyedrops and keeping his hat on while the hole closes up. As an added bonus, while she was checking to see he hadn't scratched the cornea she checked his cataracts, which are still barely there.)

And, finally, she was perplexed because she noticed the scabs on GB's face, and I said "he has them on his feet as well, but they're only there for about six weeks of the year". When she looked at his feet, she said "this looks just like mites, only that's not on the face and it's all year around". My theory is that there's some sort of small seasonal biting thing in the grass, and she agreed that it was as good as any.

Still, at least there wasn't anything particularly worrying that was perplexing her!

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Swallow news

Mon, 05 Sep 2016 10:05:52 GMT

We were very pleased when we realised that swallows were nesting in one of our spare stables*. We were rather worried when we went to get ready for the hay delivery** and found, as well as a small pile of poo under the nest, half a dozen dead chicks, but the parents were still around, still going in and out of the stable, so we figured they'd had a disaster and started another clutch.

* When I saw some flying around, going in the barn and the duck's house, I opened the door of the stable the previous owner said they sometimes use and the swallows made themselves at home in there.

** We keep some of it in that stable so it's not such a squeeze in the barn. I've put a sheet of plastic on top of the hay that's under their nest!

It was indeed another clutch, and we've been seeing the whole family flying around the yard recently, as well as occasional heads poking out of the nest. This morning, the no-longer-babies were lined up on a rafter waiting for the drizzle to stop so that they could get some flying practice in:

I dare say they'll be off south soon!

GB has had what looks like a sty on his eye for the last week or so. I've been keeping an eye on it but not being terribly worried, but yesterday it had got bigger and gone an icky shade of yellow. The vet's coming this afternoon, hopefully it won't be a problem.... (He has a fairly poor immune system these days, as a result of age and his pituitary condition, so I'm always a bit nervous about infections, and it being near his eye is even more worrying.)

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Harvesting

Mon, 01 Aug 2016 19:02:31 GMT

That, with the addition of a veg-box aubergine, a jar of passata, and some pasta looks a lot like dinner. (Sadly, our aubergines aren't yet doing more than flowering and I'm still at the 'look! a ripe tomato!' stage rather than the 'better make another batch of passata' one. There are no plans at all to make pasta any more from scratch than Mike already does!)

We had our first visit from the new farrier today (the old one having retired for the sake of his back). He is approximately twelve but seems to be competent. Bugs didn't have a hissy fit, and GB didn't bite him (although the last of those says more about GB's mood than the farrier!).

Speaking of, GB has (sigh) started growing his winter coat, so here's a picture of him in his three-weeks-of-the-year summer best:

Bit more white every year....

Jo's also growing her coat back, and now looks a lot less silly than she did.

She's doing really well, and has her first swimming lesson on Wednesday. However, I could almost suspect that she's been reading ahead on her aftercare notes, because she's not supposed to do the spinning around in circles on the spot exercise for at least another couple of weeks. She thinks she's better, poor thing. We are up to twenty minute walks, though, which she enjoys except when a squirrel crosses her path and she's unaccountably not allowed to go and chase it.

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Things unrelated to lame animals

Sun, 10 Jul 2016 17:29:18 GMT

A good one: this morning, I had a lovely ride on GB. He was going brilliantly, and it left me feeling very pleased with how we got on.

A less good one: my upper back / shoulders have been a bit sore for a few days, which I'd vaguely put down to being stressed about lame animals until I thought about it a bit more. I was sore in what I think was the same way about eighteen months ago, which is what lead to the hypermobility diagnosis, and which I eventually decided was being caused by something wrong (for me) in the way my then Pilates instructor taught. (And, indeed, this was a part of the reason I moved to a different one not long after.)

That instructor (as well as working where I used to go to her classes) works for the place I've just started at and, quite conceivably, had a lot of her training from my new instructor*, which makes me wonder if there's some bit of positioning that the new instructor likes but my body doesn't. I'll have a chat with her on Tuesday, I think.

* Who I am liking, although I am frantically Waiting Until The End Of The Six-Week Class Cycle before I say "I thought this was an advanced class?"

This afternoon, I made a stripy top out of knitted fabric. I'm not madly keen on the fabric, but it was cheap (nominally seconds, though I can't see any flaws in it). The sewing went pretty smoothly, once I gave up on trying to backstitch my start and end points (which just resulted in the sewing machine eating the corner of the fabric; I was using a fancy stretch stitch anyway, so it was kind of backstitching itself), and apparently I am a high street size 16. Better go and buy a new wardrobe!

Lame animal update: we're going to be Firm With Vets, so tomorrow I'm going to call Jo's vet and ask if they have a date for the op and tell them that if they don't get me one by the next day then I'm going to go elsewhere (Mrs Next Door recommended a specialist ortho vets, who will probably be able to fit her in much quicker), and then I'm going to call Bug's vet and cancel this grand day out malarky at least until after Jo's op, and tell him I want him to come and give him the same injection as he's already had in the other leg to see if that cures it.

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