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Where did the second half of July go? ♥Aug. 1st, 2019 // 08:36 pm♥ [Tags | angelo, cons, ducks, garden, house, pictures, video, weather, worldcon ] 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.... Link 3 kisses // Who loves you?

Here, have some pictures ♥May. 19th, 2019 // 08:01 pm♥ [Tags | angelo, benny, ducks, garden, horses, pictures ] 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.) Link 2 kisses // Who loves you?

The sloes are early this year ♥Aug. 25th, 2018 // 02:40 pm♥ [Tags | angelo, craft, foraging, horses, pictures ] 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. Link 7 kisses // Who loves you?

Bloody animals.... (Insects are animals too, right?) ♥Aug. 24th, 2018 // 10:03 am♥ [Tags | angelo, benny, ducks, horses, owie, pictures ] 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! Link 1 kiss // Who loves you?

Before and after ♥Jul. 29th, 2018 // 03:03 pm♥ [Tags | angelo, cooking, garden, pictures, weather ] 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. Link 4 kisses // Who loves you?

Encouraging animal news ♥May. 24th, 2018 // 01:25 pm♥ [Tags | angelo, benny, bob the dog, ducks, horses ] 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! Link Who loves you?

Signs of summer ♥May. 3rd, 2018 // 11:58 am♥ [Tags | angelo, birdies, ducks, pictures ] 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. Link Who loves you?

Animal Magic ♥Apr. 22nd, 2018 // 07:57 pm♥ [Tags | angelo, benny, bob the dog, ducks ] 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. Link Who loves you?

Hot! ♥Apr. 20th, 2018 // 07:49 pm♥ [Tags | angelo, pictures, weather ] 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! Link Who loves you?

Reassuring animal news ♥Apr. 10th, 2018 // 01:54 pm♥ [Tags | angelo, bob the dog, ducks, pictures ] 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. Link 2 kisses // Who loves you?

Animal news ♥Apr. 9th, 2018 // 07:48 pm♥ [Tags | angelo, bob the dog, ducks ] 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. Link 3 kisses // Who loves you?

Everything's better with drugs... ♥Dec. 17th, 2017 // 11:44 am♥ [Tags | angelo, benny, horses, riding ] 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! Link Who loves you?

Animal updates ♥Dec. 12th, 2017 // 02:02 pm♥ [Tags | angelo, benny, bugsy, ducks, horses, jodie the dog ] 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.... Link 2 kisses // Who loves you?

Awkward to the end... ♥Jul. 14th, 2017 // 10:41 pm♥ [Tags | angelo ] 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... Link 4 kisses // Who loves you?

Too hot.... ♥Jun. 18th, 2017 // 08:15 pm♥ [Tags | angelo, jodie the dog ] 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! Link Who loves you?

Here are some things that have happened ♥Jun. 12th, 2017 // 03:59 pm♥ [Tags | angelo, carpal, garden, going out, horses, visitors, weather ] 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. Link 6 kisses // Who loves you?

Bits and coughs ♥May. 4th, 2017 // 10:10 am♥ [Tags | angelo, culture, garden, lj, poorly, visitors, weather ] 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. Link 2 kisses // Who loves you?

Animals.... ♥Apr. 9th, 2017 // 09:46 pm♥ [Tags | angelo, horses ] 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! Link Who loves you?

Ah, spring.... ♥Feb. 19th, 2017 // 10:08 am♥ [Tags | angelo, riding ] [ xpost | http://flick.livejournal.com/1200325.html ] 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! Link Who loves you?

Here are some things ♥Oct. 7th, 2016 // 02:54 pm♥ [Tags | angelo, flowers, holiday, hotels, pictures ] [ xpost | http://flick.livejournal.com/1180279.html ] 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. Link Who loves you?

This is not what I want when I go on holiday ♥Oct. 3rd, 2016 // 05:13 pm♥ [Tags | angelo, holiday, horses ] [ xpost | http://flick.livejournal.com/1179478.html ] (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. Link Who loves you?

First, perplex your vet. ♥Sep. 5th, 2016 // 06:44 pm♥ [Tags | angelo ] [ xpost | http://flick.livejournal.com/1176184.html ] 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! Link Who loves you?

Swallow news ♥Sep. 5th, 2016 // 10:52 am♥ [Tags | angelo, birdies, pictures ] [ xpost | http://flick.livejournal.com/1175856.html ] 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.) Link Who loves you?

Harvesting ♥Jul. 31st, 2016 // 10:25 am♥ [Tags | angelo, garden, horses, jodie the dog, pictures ] [ xpost | http://flick.livejournal.com/1172208.html ] 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. Link Who loves you?

Things unrelated to lame animals ♥Jul. 10th, 2016 // 06:07 pm♥ [Tags | angelo, bugsy, craft, jodie the dog, pilates, riding ] [ xpost | http://flick.livejournal.com/1168329.html ] 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. Link Who loves you?

Boys ♥Jun. 18th, 2016 // 06:06 pm♥ [Tags | angelo, bugsy, horses, jodie the dog, riding ] [ xpost | http://flick.livejournal.com/1162551.html ] This morning, we rode the boys. Mike went on GB, and I briefly lunged Bugs and then rode him as the vet instructed. They both seemed fine. GB was a little reluctant to stay in the canter, but whether that was because he was sore or because he's lazy is hard to say. Mike reported that Bugs looked very good, and he didn't feel at all lame to ride, so fingers are crossed. (Although, as I said to my riding instructor, and never mind what the vet says, my current plan is to work Bugs every day for a week so that next week I can go back to the vet and say "right, he's lame again, please will you come and see him when he's not just had a week off?") One of the things that the vet was muttering about yesterday was sacroiliac, which is some variety of gubbins in the back - a nerve, maybe? It's not a terribly common problem. This vet has been in the area for about six or eight months. He also diagnosed it for The Horse Next Door (wrong) and for Not Very Next Door Neighbour's horse (has had the treatment and is now having the summer off, after which we'll see if it worked). This does rather make it seem as though it's his pet diagnosis. Jo seems to be hobbling less today. Whether that's because of the laser treatment that the vet did or because we're trying to get her to rest it is a mystery. She's feeling enough better that she's doing that 'hang behind when the humans walk off so that I can run to catch up' thing that she does when walk-deprived.... Link Who loves you?

Good news? ♥Jun. 17th, 2016 // 11:21 am♥ [Tags | angelo, bugsy, jodie the dog ] [ xpost | http://flick.livejournal.com/1162160.html ] The (different) vet's been out to see Bugs, and thinks he's basically going to be ok. He wasn't lame today, although I showed a video of him hopping around the school last week. The provisional conclusion is that his back is sore from trying to avoid the pain (now solved) in his leg, not helped by being out of work for three months or so. I'm to bring him back into work gradually, and get the back lady out to check him ASAP (which might be the harder part, as she's hard to get hold of at times). As that went so quickly, I asked him to have a quick look at GB, who obligingly trotted one way down the school then threw his heels up in the air and charged back again like a loon. "Yes," the vet said, "you can get back on him!" Jo, on the other hand, is feeling very sorry for herself. I'm not sure how much is pain and how much is the thunder we've being having. (The vet nurse went and got her dog out of the car, because he was also scared, but not before he'd ripped the headrest of one of the seats in his panic.) At least the vet was here during a lull in the rain! Link Who loves you?

Busy busy.... ♥Jun. 10th, 2016 // 07:32 pm♥ [Tags | angelo, bugsy, craft, garden ] [ xpost | http://flick.livejournal.com/1160217.html ] With impeccable timing, the vet could only come out on a day when Mike was in London. That meant that this morning I was out early, to ride GB before she got here for her first appointment (he comes out of his stable each morning looking ok, and only starts to limp when he's done a bit of exercise or spent time wandering around in the field). She was puzzled by both of them, which meant I spent a lot of time running up and down the school so that she could see them in action, and didn't really get much less puzzled as the time went on. GB is indeed lame on his 'good' leg, but she can't find anything obviously wrong. There was a choice of lots of nerve blocking injections to try to narrow it down or just waiting and seeing, and we decided on the latter. "You could try giving him a week or two off," she said, but then I pointed out that the bad leg would seize up if I did. "You could try 'bute," she said, but then I pointed out that he was already on that for the bad leg and she looked a bit worried that it wasn't helping. Bugs is also lame, on both the leg that hasn't yet been done and the one that has. She did offer to do the injection in the un-done leg, but worried that the as-yet-unidentified other thing wrong with the done leg would be there with the un-done one too so she preferred to get a second opinion: we've got another appointment, with a more senior vet, next week, so he's off work again until that happens. And then I did the usual horse-related jobs, washed my hair, had lunch and walked the pooch, and this afternoon I did a bit of sewing, finishing the current quilt top, and a bit of gardening, managing several whole meters of the front border in an hour (all the seeds that have been sitting there going 'bloody leylandii' have now gone 'wahay!') and watering the veg and various new plants (and, bugger, I still haven't potted on those bloody penstemon plug plants that are sitting in the conservatory, maybe I should just throw them to their doom in the garden), and then I got ready for the quilt class I'm going to tomorrow, and put away the laundry, and then it was time to get dinner ready, and there was some fannish stuff I'd had to abandon when the internet got crappier than usual yesterday and forgotten to go back to, and now that I've eaten dinner and washed up I'm just going to sit on the sofa, I think. Well, once we've put the boys to bed. I might have found a Pilates class, though. It's an evening one, but I'm starting to think I'll just have to put up with that. It's the first time I've seen anywhere actually listing an advanced class in Kent: I'd been hoping I could find an intermediate, and am now slightly wondering if I'm up to it! Link Who loves you?

Sigh ♥Jun. 8th, 2016 // 06:32 pm♥ [Tags | angelo, bugsy, pilates ] [ xpost | http://flick.livejournal.com/1159876.html ] GB still lame. Bugs still lame. First class with new Pilates instructor and she's the wrong bloody branch of Pilates so that's me in search of a new class again. Bah. Link 2 kisses // Who loves you?

Animal magic ♥Jun. 7th, 2016 // 07:09 pm♥ [Tags | angelo, birdies, bugsy, horses, jodie the dog ] [ xpost | http://flick.livejournal.com/1158891.html ] Jodie: unsettled* Swallows: impatient** Ang: grumpy*** Bugs: long-suffering**** Cow: confused***** * We had a lovely big thunder storm this afternoon. When Mike was half way through mowing the lawn and I was in the middle of potting on veg plants. ** The pair of them have been spotted flying in and out of the spare stable, beaks crammed full. While we're mucking out, however, they sit on the telephone wires, alternately preening and wishing we'd get on with it so that they can get back to feeding duty. We are in fact tremendously pleased to see them: Previous Owners always left that stable door open with good results, but we'd never seen any interest in previous years. Then I caught them checking out the inside of the barn and the duck's stable, neither of which we can leave open at night, so we opened the stable up instead. *** Ok, not much different to usual there then. On Sunday evening, he came in from the field limping: probably just had a spat with Bugs. But then he came in limping last night, too. We trotted him up this morning and he looked ok, but Mike reported that it came back / got worse as he was ridden. This is Ominous, and will hopefully go away before the vet comes on Friday. Even if it has, he'll still be grumpy because he's due for a blood test. **** He was very well behaved when I lunged him today, even though he was hopping along like a hoppy thing in the canter. I got Mike to video it, just in case he's sound when the vet comes, and later booked her in to see them both on Friday. 95% sure it's the same thing as he just had treated in the other leg: there were signs of it, and now that the other leg isn't sore any more he's suddenly noticed that it hurts. ***** As am I: how the hell did it get through a closed gate and into our garden? Or, alternatively, what kind of idiot drives along a road, goes 'oh dear, some previous person left the gate open and now a cow has wandered through' and then carefully shuts the gate as they go through, leaving the cow on the wrong side of it, without saying anything? Link Who loves you?

Updatey, and Xanth, and clothes ♥May. 6th, 2016 // 08:36 pm♥ [Tags | angelo, books, bugsy, clothes, horses, shopping ] [ xpost | http://flick.livejournal.com/1154767.html ] This morning, I rode GB, taking it quite gently: both of us seemed to be fine with our bad legs! Later, the vet came back to see Bugs. She sedated him and had one go at the injection he got worked up about last time then, when he got worked up again, went on to try the next part of the sequence. He wasn't having that, either, so she doped him up even more* and just gave him the medication, after a bit of woozy complaining on his part. Now we wait another couple of weeks and see how he is: if the medication works, we have a diagnosis. * She couldn't just do that for the first two tries because he would have needed to be able to trot around afterwards so couldn't be too heavily sedated. He was very doped, and kept drooling on my shoes.... In the mean time, GB was hanging around the stableyard stuffing himself: when I just went out to give them their evening hay, his dinner haynet was still conspicuously full. On the plus side, the field looks better just for having a day off, so we're going to keep them on other bits of grass again tomorrow, so that hopefully the grass can grow a bit more and get enough of a head start to stay ahead of them! (On the minus side, the flies have woken up and started pestering them. It really does seem to have gone from winter to summer in a week.) When I got my new phone, the one thing that didn't transfer over was my local ebook library. It's not a great hardship, as they're all stored elsewhere, but is slightly annoying because I couldn't just scroll through it and go 'oh, I'll re-read that next'. Mike suggested that I start at A and work my way through and, indeed, I re-read HHGG for the first time in years, as well as trying Watership Down (which I'd never read). I got to Anthony, P, and started on the Xanth books: I know that they're tosh, but I did love them when I first read them, and knew I hadn't actually read all of them. I got into the low teens, and then ploughed through Isle of View, aka the-one-where-he-wrote-in-a-kid-who'd-been-in-an-accident. I don't think I'd read Question Quest before, and found it rather odd: a re-cap of the history of Xanth, that added in a few background details about Magician Humphrey's life / take on events (with a bit of random retconning), and I was sure I must have read The Color of Her Panties but didn't really remember (or enjoy) it and whoa mega retconning going on there. I've skipped on ahead to Asimov, now, but has anyone actually read all the Xanth books? Is he just having a tedious and sexually charged patch that coincided with the realisation he was running out of ideas so needed to put some more back-story in, or is it just not worth bothering to carry on (given that I did quite like the early ones: I know there are those who would tell me that it wasn't worth carrying on after page two of the first book if I even got that far!)? I went into Canterbury this afternoon and, amongst other things, popped into Primark and got half a dozen lightweight tops (to replace the ones that I took out of winter storage yesterday and went 'hmm, that's a bit manky'). Then I did the obligatory walk around M&S without seeing anything much that I liked other than a single lightweight top, almost identical to one of the Primark ones and the same price as the total for the ones I'd already bought. I'd like to say that I'm sure the M&S one would last longer, but the ones I threw away were a pretty even mix of the two brands so I'm not sure it's true. What I really want is a nice, longish, snuggly-but-lightweight sweater, but I didn't find anything that fit the bill. Bah. Link 2 kisses // Who loves you?

Invaded and battered.... ♥May. 4th, 2016 // 04:53 pm♥ [Tags | angelo, bugsy, family, garden, horses, visitors, weather ] [ xpost | http://flick.livejournal.com/1154538.html ] We've had repeated incursions of visitors, some significantly more enjoyable than others, over the last week or so, which is why I've been so quiet. On the plus side, Mike manfully removed the less enjoyable ones when he could, so I managed to get all of the background of the flying birds quilt quilted. Now I just need to decide what to do with the actual birds: the background is quite dense, so should I do something similar for the birds but in a different pattern, or should I leave them as oases of calm? It has been very cold and miserable, but now it's nice and sunny: hopefully this means that our grass is finally going to start growing, because I'm getting quite worried about the state of the field (and, indeed, the prospects for the hay crop). This time last year, the boys were coming in when it was getting dark and only getting one hay net in the evening; this year, they're still on full winter rations and we're bringing them in before dinner because otherwise they're ravenous and grumpy when we let them in. (We do at least think we have enough hay to last even with the late start, which is good as I've been getting friend-of-a-friend 'do you know anyone with any hay' queries and that suggests we'd struggle to get more. I'd much rather throw away (or onto the garden) half a dozen bales than be scrabbling around looking for more.) (Actually, they're still pretty ravenous and grumpy, and would much rather stay in the stableyard and stuff their faces on slightly better grass for a while before they have their actual dinner. On Monday, Bugs was doing his usual trick of refusing to let Mike catch him and spooked GB, who ran off in panic. I was mid-way through putting GB's headcollar on at the time, and so unfortunately his pre-emptive wave of the back legs in Bugsy's direction got me instead. I have a truly *spectacular* bruise, and am finding walking up and down hills to be almost impossible, which is tricky around here. I--whisper it--skipped Pilates this morning, but at least now I have a good excuse for not going to London for a boring meeting tomrrow.) Bugsy has had the vet to visit, trying to narrow down what's wrong with his leg (or rather, trying to confirm that the problem is what we think it is). He was a very good boy about it all, right up to the point where he suddenly decided that he'd had enough. She tried sedating him a couple of times, but he (quite politely) made it clear that he wasn't having any of it, so she's back again tomorrow for round two, which will (just in case) not involve the exact (long-shot) thing that she was trying to do when he stopped cooperating. In the mean time, he's getting to swan around in the field doing no work: I would say he's getting fat, but he's not because no bloody grass. GB, on the other hand, has maybe gone slightly backwards in his spring-time improvement. I'm hoping that this is just because I was pushing him a bit too hard in my delight at his getting better, and a time when I'm not really able to ride seems to be a good one to test the theory! Today, I have mostly been gardening: there were a batch of seedlings that needed potting on, and then I was running out of space on the conservatory shelves so I figured that, if I sat on the walls around the beds, I could plant out some bedding plants I'd grown that were getting a bit sad at being tuck inside. Then I thought I could probably manage some hoeing, but mostly ended up contorting into strange positions so that I could dig out blobs of grass from the flower beds: one of those 'it's lucky I'm strong' occasions, I think. Really need to do more weeding. Text messages with my sister: Sister: [a date, next summer, presumably for her wedding] Me: Do you want a quilt? Sister: What kind of quilt? Me: One for your bed. If you do, I need to start it in plenty of time. Sister: No thanks, I have a nice throw on my bed. Me: Ok then, let me know what you do want. Sister: Just having you there will be enough, we don't need presents. [a short pause] Sister: I really like that stuffed rabbit you made for mum. Sister: Here's a photo of my living room decor. Sister: Here's a close-up of my tartan feature wallpaper. Me: Yes, I was already going to make you a rabbit for your birthday.... Link 1 kiss // Who loves you?

Foiled you! ♥Apr. 21st, 2016 // 02:08 pm♥ [Tags | angelo, computers, craft, ducks ] [ xpost | http://flick.livejournal.com/1153743.html ] I'm pleased to say that our mighty human intellects (and ability to use a hammer and some chicken wire) seem to have foiled the ducks. It's nice to know we're smarter than some of the animals.... GB, despite his best attempts to bite me on the head (ow) is also foiled, or at least his bad leg seems to be, for now. He's doing really well, so much so that I think Mike will be usefully able to have lessons on him again soon: we've got through another winter, that's the main thing! I've been quilting, which has gone both more quickly than I expected and less quickly than I'd been led to believe by the throw-away comments of Chap From The Sewing Bee. I am at least generating fewer 'go back and fix that by hand' instances than I was, which is also good. I also seem to have a new laptop: as ever, I wasn't really listening when Mike said "so, do you want a new laptop?", and vaguely thought I was agreeing to something that might happen in a few months. It was a little surprising when he handed me an Apple Store bag when he got home from work this evening. Tomorrow, I shall play with it, for tonight I'll struggle on with my unusable keyboard! Link Who loves you?

Coff (one of an occasional but intense series.) ♥Apr. 11th, 2016 // 08:26 pm♥ [Tags | angelo, bugsy, horses, neighbours, poorly ] [ xpost | http://flick.livejournal.com/1151833.html ] I'm, finally, much better: basically fine other than occasionally trying to cough my guts up. Annoyingly, that's still happening most often when I lie down to go to sleep. We've had a lovely weekend full of visitors and bluebells: there would be a picture, but the LJ app is failing to upload it. See Mike's Facebook instead. This evening, I saw the first bat of the year. The vet phoned this morning (damn, she's keen: I was still getting dressed!) with GB's blood test results: very slightly over what they should be, so she's happy to say it's ok. No more tests until June, now, and then it will be every few weeks in the hope of catching it before his levels of whatever-it-is skyrocket and we have to increase his medication for a few months. He's shedding, which is always a bonus and a sign that we've got the levels about right. (New Vet still needs training in his ways: she will keep going on about laminitis, which he's (unusually) never had a problem with.) Bugs was looking quite perky as he trotted along the edge of the field this evening, so the drugs are probably working: we'll see what happens when he comes off them again. A little while ago, Mrs Up The Hill told me that they were moving. We (and Mrs Farmer) been speculating for a few weeks that they had in fact already moved: the car was rarely there, and when it was it looked like it was being loaded up; the pots had gone from the front patio. I saw her today and they have indeed gone, and the house will be going on the market next month. If the price is right then we'll buy one of their fields, but we suspect it won't be. Link Who loves you?

Good animals! ♥Apr. 3rd, 2016 // 09:11 pm♥ [Tags | angelo, bugsy, garden, jodie the dog, riding, weather ] [ xpost | http://flick.livejournal.com/1150219.html ] This morning, we went out for a little hack on the boys, and took Jo along. They all did wonderfully: GB only balked slightly as he went past a Scary Thing, Bugs didn't get himself worked up about anything and, just as we were nearly home, both of them went very calmly past a terrified lamb that was in the road, on the wrong side of the fence. This last was very fortunate, because Jo was Rather Interested, to the extent of starting to slink towards in until I got her attention and brought her back to heel. We're not sure if she was hunting or herding, but either way we're glad she stopped. (I sent Bad Farmer a text to let him know....) This afternoon, we have been in the Potting Shed Conservatory: we've been a bit slack about starting new seeds in the propagator, so we're rather behind on last year. On the other hand, I think we were a bit early with some things last year, so it should be ok in the end. This evening, just as I was on the phone to my mother, there was a big crash of thunder. A quick look at the rainfall radar and I said "I'll call you back" and dashed out to give the boys their supper before the rain arrived. Not that much rain, in the end, but lots of thunder and lightning, to Jo's misery. She's mostly calmed down now, but it's a measure of how worried she was that Mike's let her lie in front of our sofa, In The Way. Seems to have stopped now, thankfully. Link Who loves you?

The drugs do work.... ♥Mar. 22nd, 2016 // 05:21 pm♥ [Tags | angelo ] [ xpost | http://flick.livejournal.com/1148989.html ] "Give him two or three ml," the vet said. Knowing what GB's like when he's sedated for colic, I went for two. Tomorrow, I think I'll go for one. He did manage to walk in from the field without falling over, but he was a bit wobbly when I was doing his feet and then he nearly tripped over the sill of his stable door. On the other hand, he didn't freeze with terror, run off in a panic, stand with wide eyes staring around, or do more than lift his head up and shrug when Bugs spooked at a pigeon. So that's a result! Link Who loves you?

Hello again ♥Mar. 21st, 2016 // 03:34 pm♥ [Tags | angelo, bugsy, craft, garden, horses ] [ xpost | http://flick.livejournal.com/1148601.html ] I've been very remiss at telling you all about the exciting things I've been doing, haven't I? Must try harder, probably not helped by the fact that I'll be away from home at weekend! Recently, I have: - taken Bugsy's saddle to the saddler, to make sure that he didn't damage it when he rolled in it (he didn't) - done things with seedlings, including putting some of them outside to harden off (they're back in now, though, as I expect a frost tonight) - worked on my little quilt, which is very nearly done other than embroidery. I still haven't figured out how to do the geese without them looking crap. - heard rumours that a very large red deer stag has been spotted at the top of the hill - got a blister on my heel (spent the whole riding lesson lunging Bugs, in my riding boots), which finally (after a week) now no longer needs plasters - tidied the barn and (with Mike) moved the hay we had been storing in a spare stable into it. We now have enough pallets that we don't need to balance the stacks of hay bales on a grid of old fence posts, which will be vastly more convenient - rescued a bumblebee from the front porch, and moved her to inside one of the crocuses so that she could have a nice breakfast - got various things ready for the Eastercon newsletter - watched the lambs. Bugs is doing very well, and last Monday we tried lunging him with side reins for the first time. He'd obviously had them on in the past, inevitably much too tight, but he seems to be relaxing a bit now that we've used them a few times. He's also had a Proper Ride, because it occurred to me that he's either just been lunged or been lunged and then ridden for fifteen minutes a lot recently. I think it was a bit of a shock to his system, but he did very well. I'm rather concerned about GB, though. Other than the day when Jodie stayed in the garden while I rode him (when he was spooky as a spooky thing until I went and got her, after which he was fine: I don't know if he was worried she was going to jump out from somewhere or if he just missed her), he's been fine to ride, and his leg seems to be doing ok. Unfortunately, for the last week or TWWOTV has been having building work done, replacing water pipes, and he's very unhappy about both the noise of the machinery (which echoes oddly around our stableyard and makes him nervous because he can't see what's causing it even though it's All Around Him) and about the changes that mysteriously happen each day while he's in the field, which he only sees as he's coming in. Add to that the fact that there's Something Worrying (possibly the stag?) up in the woods, and the fact that Mrs Next Door has been away, so The Horse Next Door has been bored/lonely/cold and so running along the fence as we walk down the road (asking to come in for dinner as well) and bringing him in from the field hasn't been a whole barrel of fun. He's getting really worked up and stressed, which isn't usual and can't be good for him At His Age. I called the vet today, and they've posted me a sedative to try (one that's usually used before clipping nervous horses). I have to go out and feed it to him half an hour before he comes in, but if it breaks the stress cycle then it'll be worth the hassle. Hopefully the landscape plumbers will be done by the end of this week, but she's talking about having a new drive put in as well.... (The landscape plumbers are rather terrifying. I'm forever seeing one of them in a hole in the ground while the other one is digging it with a back hoe. Plus the one in charge not only looks 'im from from Twin Peaks but apparently is called Bob as well....) Link Who loves you?

Bloody animals ♥Mar. 10th, 2016 // 02:17 pm♥ [Tags | angelo, bugsy, horses, pictures ] [ xpost | http://flick.livejournal.com/1146930.html ] This morning, Mike being at work, I groomed the boys (took a while to get a certain blue-eyed boy scraped clean, as ever) and then took them round to the school to ride. ( It was a five-sigh session.... ) Link Who loves you?

Nap time ♥Mar. 3rd, 2016 // 07:34 pm♥ [Tags | angelo, horses, pictures ] [ xpost | http://flick.livejournal.com/1144671.html ] I'm unable to decide if I should be worried about this or not, as GB never usually lies down in the field, he just stands and dozes. (This to the extent that, when we got back from Loncon, Mrs Next Door told us with concern that she's seen him lying down. We diagnosed at the time that it was because his bed wasn't being done properly, and he doesn't like to lie down on dirty bedding, so he was having to catch up on his sleep in the field.) He's been doing it, on and off, for a few weeks, and I had thought that the cold might be keeping him awake. It's warmer now, though, so I worry that it's a sign his leg (or some other ache or pain) is bothering him. Mike's work have been asking him to do two days a week in London (again: when he first started they wanted him to do two days and offered to pay for a hotel room in between), so he's trying it as an experiment for the next couple of months. He's been there today and was going to go to the Ton until he had a migraine start: he's had to give in to the inevitable 4am waking up and has taken himself to bed. Link Who loves you?

Things for today ♥Mar. 1st, 2016 // 01:57 pm♥ [Tags | angelo, bugsy, house, parents, question, visitors ] [ xpost | http://flick.livejournal.com/1143972.html ] My parents have been to visit this weekend: we set my father to work doing DIY, and my mother was discovered cleaning the kitchen windows about half an hour after she arrived, so I guess they had a good time...? My father has an Android tablet, which he waved at us in a 'make it work' sort of way. I've put an ad blocker on it for him, but was stumped by an email problem. He has two accounts set up on it, and if he creates a new message then he has a drop-down in the from field where he can choose which account to use, as I'd expect. If he's replying to or forwarding an email, though, there's no dropdown and he can only send it from the same account that the original email was sent to. Was I missing something, or is the default mail client crap and, if so, what's a better one for him to use? Last night, we went to the Granville, which used to be run by some people whose *other* pub had a Michelin star. It's changed management, though, and is now serving food that is (by local standards) just perfectly ordinary pub food: rather disappointing. I was pleased that it was dry while they were here, as it meant that the kitchen floor stayed reasonably clean. Today has been making up for it, however. Bugs, who had been looking positively clean, was covered in mud within about a minute of going into the field. We poo picked the field this morning, and when we'd finished GB saw us heading for the gate and came charging down the hill (Bugs came too and beat him to the bottom) before skidding to a halt against the gate and looking pleadingly at me. We left them out there, but I looked up a bit before noon and saw them both standing by the gate looking pathetic, so now they're tucked up in their stables again. (It has actually stopped raining, now, but there's a nasty wind and (Mike's in London) I don't fancy bringing them in through the mud for a second time on my own, so I think they can just stay inside. Link Who loves you?

Not bad for an old man.... ♥Feb. 26th, 2016 // 05:27 pm♥ [Tags | angelo, jodie the dog, pictures ] [ xpost | http://flick.livejournal.com/1143659.html ] (It's a good sign of general physical fitness when horses can still roll all the way over. Even though he can't manage on a slope any more, GB's still got it in the school!) ION, Jodie has successfully vanquished the vacuum cleaner, for the third time in six months. And my parents arrive tomorrow. Oh, how we laughed before sending a frantic text to Mrs Next Door. Given that this is the second Gtech AirRam (which we bought to replace the very sickly Dyson) that has died in the same way, I think we might be saying 'refund' when they offer to send us another new one. Does anyone have any recommendations...? We are liking the cordless and lightweight thing, but it's not essential. Link Who loves you?

Diversions and alarums ♥Jan. 28th, 2016 // 12:32 pm♥ [Tags | angelo, bugsy, horses ] [ xpost | http://flickgc.livejournal.com/1136106.html ] Mike's in London working so, as I often do on such days, this morning I led both of the boys down to the school to put them through their paces. Whenever I do this, I stop outside the school, let them both go, close the gates to stop them getting out, and then reclaim the one who's going first and take him into the school. I do this safe in the knowledge that they will go "ooh, grass" rather than "ooh, the chance to ESCAPE". This morning, for reasons best known to my subconscious, I took them into the school before letting them go. They looked at the floor, briefly, to check for grass, and then Bugs wandered off to the other end of the school to stare down the valley. I sighed, started to go after him, and then got diverted by the fact that GB, ignoring the fact that he was wearing a saddle, had decided that this was a good time to lie down and have a nice roll. Then Bugs decided that the view down the valley wasn't sufficiently diverting and decided that he'd like to perform a complex series of acrobatic manoeuvres, preferably without touching the ground. GB, by this time, had realised that something was interfering with his rolling, and so performed his own aerial acrobatics in an attempt to remove the obstruction. After a little while, he stopped and lay down on the other side to see if that worked better. It didn't, so he joined back in with Bugs. I sighed and went back out of the school to close the gates. Round and round they went, until GB got tired of it and came to stand apologetically by the gate. Bugs, however, was enjoying himself too much, so he came charging back to the gate himself and off they went again. And again. And again. Eventually, I was quick enough to nip in and remove GB before Bugs realised I was spoiling the fun and, by the time I'd taken GB's saddle off and reattached it on the top of his back, rather than under his belly*, Bugs had also come to stand by the gate and look innocent. * Bugs was going first, so I'd left the girth very slack, but I was still quite impressed. I started off lunging Bugs (still not riding him when I'm on my own, Just In Case) with a certain amount of trepidation, in case he decided that he'd been having such fun that he wanted to carry on, but actually he was good as gold: I guess he'd worked his fidgets out. When I was done, I put his rug back on and discovered that he'd managed to break the clip on one of the straps. This was particularly impressive given that (as he was only supposed to be wearing it for a short, sedate walk to the school) I'd not actually fastened that strap. There was also a little trepidation when I go on GB, in case he'd done himself an injury, but he seemed to be fine and, given that he'd recently been charging about the place like something a tenth of his age, I figured he could work a bit harder than usual and we had a good session. Note to self: just leave them outside to eat the grass next time, ok? Link Who loves you?

Animal update ♥Jan. 24th, 2016 // 11:15 am♥ [Tags | angelo, bugsy, ducks, jodie the dog ] [ xpost | http://flickgc.livejournal.com/1135608.html ] Another promising session with Bugs this morning: it was foggy here, and fog is frequently Scary, so I decided I'd just lunge him and not risk climbing on board, but actually I think we would have been ok. Even before we got to the school, a pheasant flew out under his nose and he just looked at it worriedly, rather than throwing himself around in panic. In the school, he directed a couple of suspicious looks down the valley at the fog but then settled down quite well. We had one unauthorised canter, but only three or four steps, and another where something worried him and he was about to go but didn't, which is really good: he's starting to use his brain. The halts were vary variable: two or three were spot on perfect, two or three (especially towards the end, when his brain was getting tired) were really ropey, the rest were somewhere in between. Mike rode GB, and wasn't terribly happy with him. It's harder for me to watch him when I'm lunging than when I'm riding, and what I did see was pretty variable. I'll have a short lesson on him on Tuesday, though, so we'll see how he is then. Three of the ducks keep getting into the field, which is annoying. Esk is a good girl and stays in the stableyeard, squawking in an annoyed tone at being left alone. (Actually, I suspect it may just be that she's the biggest of them and can't fit under the gate.) I did put another piece of chicken wire on the gate yesterday, but they got back through it anyway. Mike's muttering about hooking the chicken wire up to the portable electric fence energiser.... And Jo is her usual lovely self, if slightly badger-y at present! Link 1 kiss // Who loves you?

Brrr ♥Jan. 15th, 2016 // 09:36 pm♥ [Tags | angelo, garden, weather ] [ xpost | http://flickgc.livejournal.com/1133559.html ] At least it's stopped raining, and the sun has come out! I would express the hope that the kitchen floor will now manage to remain non-filthy for more than a day at a time, except that the logging in the woods has now come over to our side so the entire place is a swamp and there's no way at all of keeping Jo clean. At least now she might have a chance to dry off so that I can brush her? Mike keeps telling me that it's not actually all that cold, for the time of year, but then he watches in amazement at the number of layers I take off when I get back into the house. Yesterday morning, when we rode, there was more frost in the school when we finished than when we started. Tomorrow, I think we'll be riding in the afternoon: there was ice on the water troughs when I went out a couple of hours ago, so I think the school will be like concrete first thing. (In fact, it isn't all that cold, but the wind is bitter and it's been so mild that it's rather a shock to the system.) I'm keeping GB wrapped up well, and (on the basis of sticking my hand under the rugs to see how warm they feel) am keeping him at about the same temperature as Bugs by layering his rugs up. He's actually been doing really well with his leg recently, which I think means that it's not the cold that's a problem but the standing in his stable for longer overnight. Very pleased that it's dried out enough that they can go in the field again. We've even managed to do a bit in the garden: the wisteria and budlia are pruned, and the fedge has had a hair cut and some tidying up now that the lack of leaves has revealed the places I made mistakes when I tied it into shape over the summer. We (in the distinctly non-royal sense) do have some digging to do, however: my new trees have arrived and are waiting in the garage. (I am, and have been for a week or so, generally a bit under the weather: vaguely upset tummy, tired, feeling a bit feeble. I'm blaming that plus a new iPhone game on the lack of posting.) Link Who loves you?

Aaaahhh ♥Dec. 29th, 2015 // 08:27 pm♥ [Tags | angelo, bugsy, going out, riding ] [ xpost | http://flickgc.livejournal.com/1130932.html ] Sofa. Gin. Tonic. Home-grown lemon. Happy pooch. (We've just got back from dinner out, as Mike was feeling Sick Of Cooking. We went to the Mexican place in Canterbury, which was absolutely rammed when we got there and barely less so when we left: they had people waiting at the bar for couples tables. If we'd known, we probably would have just gone to the pub but, in fact, the food arrived so quickly that I assumed they'd brought it to the wrong table and it never took more than about thirty seconds of staring at the till/kitchen entrance before our waitress dashed over to help, which I was very impressed by given that she said they were as surprised as we were by the numbers.) This morning, we had our somewhat disrupted riding lessons: I did twenty minutes on GB, and then our instructor spent half an hour seeing how Bugs did with being lunged (which she thinks will help him). As expected (and the reason we got her to do it first), as soon as she started he went "time to run around like a loon!", but she did manage to get him being mostly calm after a while, so we now just need to keep working on it: five or ten minutes each time we're going to ride him. Link Who loves you?

Stupid animals ♥Dec. 23rd, 2015 // 06:49 pm♥ [Tags | angelo, books, bugsy, family, horses ] [ xpost | http://flickgc.livejournal.com/1129317.html ] Both of the boys have been idiots, today. This morning, we managed to get them into the field but only in the top part. After we'd let them go and put the fence across the middle to keep them up there, I was standing keeping an eye on Bugs while Mike squelched down to connect the fence to the power, just in case he decided to make a break for it. We think that he didn't realise I'd closed the temporary 'gate', and thought he could make a break for it and get to some tastier grass: all of a sudden, he came charging down the hill towards me, which meant that he was going much too fast to successfully slam the brakes on when he realised he was going to hit the fence.... It bowed out in an alarming way when he skidded into it, but fortunately the tape didn't snap. It was probably also fortunate that Mike was still a few seconds away from turning the power on, because Bugs was already terrified enough without getting zapped! This afternoon, we decided to ride them down the lane and back before taking them for a spin in the school (partly because Jo had only had a short walk, as we were worried about the light going). GB was a bit fretful as we went out, being worried about something in the woods, but nothing too bad and Bugs was as happy as he ever is. We got to the turning around point, and I pointed Bugs back towards home. Mike got about three quarters of the way through turning GB when he suddenly took off and fled up the field: most uncharacteristic behaviour! Fortunately, Mike did All The Right Things, and I managed to keep hold of Bugs so GB stopped fairly quickly (he doesn't like to run off on his own). We've no idea what set him off, but I do note that he's been looking fretfully at that patch of woods for a few months now, and we've had an occasional spook when he's been on the way in from the field and turned to corner to face it. One of Mrs Next Door's dogs got very fretful about going outside after dark, around this time last year, and she thought she'd seen glowing eyes up there one night. I do wonder if there might be a wild boar up there. I do rather hope that there isn't. (As a general rule, horses are scared stiff of pigs, because wild boar are dangerous. GB is actually ok with pigs, as he used to see them on the farm, but it's the only thing I can think of.) ION, my parents kept talking up Lee Child's Jack Reacher books, and in the end I said "send them to me, then". They are absolute, unmitigated, implausible tosh, full of ludicrous conspiracies with even more ludicrous foreshadowing (none of which is remotely relevant to the even *more* ludicrous leaps of intuition that Our Hero takes in order to solve the case), and have the unfortunate habit of starting the climactic scene about three quarters of the way through the book, which has resulted in severe damage to my sleep patterns lately. (I was really quite glad to spend a few days reading the less compelling books I'd bought with my Amazon credits, as it let me catch up on my rest.) While they were here, my mother reported that one of them ended on a cliff-hanger without you knowing if he was dead or alive (although the presence of a further five or six books does rather give the game away). We also worked out that she was reading them completely out of sequence, though, so I didn't really think much of it. I've just finished that one and, on going to Wikipedia to check what the next title is, discovered that that was the last of the ones that they gave me.... Fortunately, Amazon has provided. I had been assuming that "K-turn" was an OCR error for U-turn*, but it's very consistent: is it American for three point turn? (Mike says not, and either he or my father suggested it was an OCR error for J-turn, being a reverse-fast-then-use-the-momentum-to-swing-180-and-accellerate-away, but the K-turns don't seem that urgent, and anyway there is one of those and it just gets described and then has admiring noises made about the driving skill involved.) * Some of them are a little dodgy, although infinitely better than some old SF books I've read OCR copies of. The best is the one where 'Glock' has been consistently rendered as 'Clock'. The bad guys keep making me laugh, when they pull out their Clocks and wave them threateningly at Our Hero. Link 2 kisses // Who loves you?

Huh ♥Dec. 18th, 2015 // 05:34 pm♥ [Tags | angelo, glasses, horses ] [ xpost | http://flickgc.livejournal.com/1128134.html ] I tried to use my laptop without my glasses on, this morning, and couldn't read until I poked my nose up to the screen. Guess I've got used to the new prescription, then. Rode GB yesterday: we just went for a little wander down the lane and then into the school for a few minutes. I did have a canter, but only on the good leg. All seemed ok. Also yesterday, the boys had their 'flu jabs (which went fine), as a result of which Mike actually looked at GB's passport: it turns out (that it says) he's a couple of years younger than we'd always thought, so he's not actually 30 yet. Today, I have mostly been tired. Not sure what's going on there, but I've been tired for a few days now. Hope I'm not poorly. Link Who loves you?

Bits and bobs ♥Dec. 15th, 2015 // 04:22 pm♥ [Tags | angelo, christmas, family, glasses, house, pilates, questions, riding, visitors ] [ xpost | http://flickgc.livejournal.com/1127717.html ] The parents have been and gone. We had a fairly good time, although the weather wasn't terribly nice: at least it was mostly dry. I kept staying up far too late chatting, oops. It was Mike's work Chirstmas do on Monday, so they took me out for a lovely dinner at Deeson's. I picked up my new glasses yesterday, and have been wearing them since I got home: no headaches, which is always nice, so I think they're ok. I also got a copy of my prescription: R -1.25, -2.0, 20; L -0.75, -3.0, 160 (was R: -0.5, -2.0, 25; L: -0.5, -2.75, 155, so the change is more eyesight and less astigmatism than I'd thought). The splashback for behind the Aga arrived, so the decorator came back and fitted it (eventually: it was a tight fit!) and finished off the painting. It looks very nice, now that it's all done, so we're pleased with it. I must leave him some good feedback on MyBuilder: we'd definitely use him again. I had a rather depressing riding lesson on Tuesday: it should have been Mike's turn to ride GB, but I've been a bit worried about his bad leg (I jumped on him for a quick fifteen minute ride on Monday, and he was fine until I cantered on the bad leg after which my very non-horsey mother could see that his walk wasn't right) so I rode him instead. Our instructor was quite pleased that we'd not stuck to the usual pattern because she'd been struggling to think of enough things that he was still able to do with Mike riding to fill 45 minutes. We did half an hour, and decided that he probably can't have lessons with me riding either (I might go back to just doing fifteen minutes, which we did for a little while last winter, but he's worse this year than he was then so it may not work). Just have to play it by ear, I guess. If I can get him through the winter, he should perk up again in spring, but it's still incredibly mild here (nothing below 8C on the seven day, 24 hour forecast!) so I'm very worried about what will happen if we have a bad January and/or February as they've been forecasting. This morning, I had Pilates (we did Pilates circuit training, which was fun but a bit too (ie, at all) sweaty for my tastes), and this afternoon I've been boxing up the presents that need posting ready for Mike to take them to the Post Office tomorrow. I've also put the Christmas tree up, and now I'm really quite knackered. I have a small pile of misc consumer electronics that are looking for a new homes (perfectly fine if annoyingly controlled microwave, digital radio that probably just needs a new power cable, Dyson that works but not as well as it should so probably needs a thorough service). Do charities take electrical goods any more? Any other ideas? Link Who loves you?

Home alone, again ♥Dec. 1st, 2015 // 08:10 pm♥ [Tags | angelo, jodie the dog ] [ xpost | http://flickgc.livejournal.com/1125423.html ] I'm not sure if I least dislike the days when Mike is in London for a normal working day, when I have to do the yard on my own but am generally kept busy while he's out, or the days, like today and yesterday, when he has an evening meeting, and so goes out after the yard is done: less work for me (although I do have to cook my own dinner, which is shocking), but I'm used to him being here in the evenings. And I suspect he's going to be exhausted tomorrow, after two late nights. Still, we had a riding lesson this morning, before he left. I was on GB, which is probably a good thing as he was in a foul mood. We started off with some trot work, and he was doing some lovely stuff - swapping between medium, extended, collected, all on an inner track - but then he had two stumbles in half a circuit so we stopped that and switched to laterals instead. At the end, I asked him if he wanted to have a run but he wasn't very interested. Gave him an extra 'bute in his dinner, just in case. (His stumbles are odd. He never used to stumble, and when he does it's always the bad leg. It might be nothing, but given the bad leg we're pretty careful not to do anything that triggers it.) Mike was on Bugs, who seemed to be being a good boy. I didn't watch all of it, but when I popped over between mucking out he was going nicely. Jo Jo was in disgrace, earlier: not only did she find some badger poo in the woods but she rolled in it even though I told her not to both before and during. She got The Ultimate Punishment for ignoring me calling her back: "Bad Dog", a tap on the nose and being ignored for ten minutes. Fortunately, it wasn't very fresh so she's not actually too stinky. Link 2 kisses // Who loves you?

Oh, Bugs, you were doing so well.... ♥Nov. 29th, 2015 // 04:43 pm♥ [Tags | angelo, birdies, bugsy, craft ] [ xpost | http://flickgc.livejournal.com/1124123.html ] Yesterday, we took the boys out for a little hack. It's rather muddy, so we went a different way to the usual one, more on the roads. Bugs was a bit nervous once we got past the places he's been to before, and started a couple of times at dust motes, but he didn't work himself up and calmed right back down once he was back on familiar ground. Today, we took them in the school. It was very windy, so I didn't have high hopes for his behaviour (indeed, it was really Mike's turn to ride him but we thought it best to swap), and he was rather nervous at first but he settled down eventually so I thought I'd risk a canter. Absolutely perfect: instant reaction to the aid, lovely transition, nice steady pace, all the way around once and then a creditable circle at one end, didn't break down to trot until I asked him to. Brilliant. We had a little rest while Mike cantered GB (I'm still being a bit careful with keeping Bugs under control and out of the way when GB's having a run) and then tried again in the other direction. Pretty good transition, started to get a bit fast at one point but came back down when I asked, all the way around nicely, asked for the circle and woosh. Up in the air, charging across the school. Sigh. On the plus side, this convinces me further that it's happening when he has a case of the don't-wannas, not because he's in any discomfort or struggling to actually canter. He doesn't like doing circles because his balance isn't quite there yet, I know that. I also know that he has to learn, so once I'd got him back under control we did another five, rather than the one he would have done if he'd behaved himself. I also finally got around to giving GB a hair cut, so he looks much better now. I had tried last week (it had got to the flopping over stage) but couldn't find the big clippers, and the little once just aren't up to that enormous mane. Eventually, I asked Mrs Next Door if I could borrow hers, kinda hoping she's say "Yup, I'll get them, here you go" rather than the "Sure, I'll get them for you later" that was what I actually expected and got. When that hadn't done any good after a couple of days, I told Mike that we'd have to have a better look in the barn for them. "Here they are," he said. "Those are the little ones!" "No, they're the big ones. I wonder where the little ones are...?" That bloody blue tit's still around, and he's got a mate to join in as well, now. Fortunately, they seem to be splitting their time between the living room and the study, so at least it's not continuous! Baby Next Door's quilt is very nearly finished, I just need to do the hand-sewn side of the binding. However, my hands are objecting to the fact that I used the clippers and then did an hour of neatening up the quilting around the animals, so I think that will have to wait for another day. Link Who loves you?

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