Bound!
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♥Feb. 5th, 2014 // 03:06 pm♥
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On the way back from Jodie's check-up with the nurse, Mike dropped us off at the other side of the woods and she got to have a nice run around, for the first time in a while:
The nurse was more concerned than we'd expected by Jodie's puppies (to the extent of going to check with the vet), but they eventually decided that it was best to just leave her be, as she seems to be getting over it: there is medication that they can use, but it has nasty side-effects. Other than the puppies, they were very happy with her, and said that she could start going back to normal now (although we're to avoid stiles for another week, which seems sensible). The only slight concern is that she's not eating properly, but hopefully walks will fix that.
We did manage to get the boys out this morning, although annoyingly, the gate had blown closed. As I was opening it again, GB started actually sliding down the hill, much to the alarm of the Baby, who was behind him. (We would have left it, but they're not going to be out for a few days now, with three days of amber rain warnings coming up.) About an hour before we were due at the vet, I'd looked at the rain radar and seen that it was about to start tipping down, having been fine all morning, so I thought we might do better to get them in before it started. Sadly, it wasn't to be: strange as it may seem, Hailo's been unusually busy what with the tube strike, so Mike was busy. As it was, we did get them in before heading out, but got rather soggy in the process.
As well as being busy, Mike's back went again as he was getting dressed this morning, so I had a morning of doing All The Boy Stuff. (He did come out and get rid of those bloody nails for me, though. Hopefully there's now nothing that GB can have a go with, because he managed to really smash up his tail last night, as well as his rug). I'm moderately hopeful about the repair I've done on the rug, at least for it lasting out this season: I put duct tape along the rips on the inside and the outside of the ripped outer layer, and then sewed through the two layers of tape and the fabric, which should hold although I suspect it will look manky fairly soon. |
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Wet
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♥Jan. 27th, 2014 // 02:39 pm♥
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There are a couple of sites on the internet that tell you how to rate the intelligence of your dog. Jodie does quite well on some of the tests (eg, shout 'telephone' and see if she assumes you're talking to her) but poorly on others (eg, show her a biscuit then hide it under a cup; see how long it takes her to knock the cup over: she doesn't, as she's too polite to take a biscuit that she's not sure is hers, at least when she's being watched). One of the tests is to put a towel or similar over her head and see how long it takes her to get it off. Does it count if it's self-inflicted...?
It's not actually raining today, for a nice change, so this morning we had a ride in the school, swapping horses. I eventually managed a couple of nice walk-canter transitions on the Baby, which is good: I'm hopeful that if I can get him used to doing it, Mike will be able to manage it as well (it's the wobbling on the trot-canter transition that throws the Baby off balance, we think) and get him cantering in the school. Plus, our instructor rather told me off for not riding him enough, last time she came and I was on him, so this will hopefully get me a gold star when she's back on Thursday.
This is, apparently, already the sixth wettest month of the last decade, and we have one two one more day (make your mind up, Met Office!) of solid rain to go. As a result, the occasional river in the next valley over has shown itself, so we went over there for a walk to have a look.
I'm really quite glad that the nearest we have to an occasional river is the water running down the road! I must try and catch the Environment Agency guy next time he comes around to measure the depth to the water in the well over the road: it'd be interesting to hear how high the water table is.
Mike just called the rescue place and told them that we're not taking Lucy. I think my instinct to not create a Lucy-the-dog tag was correct, then. |
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A bit too much healthy exercise....
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♥Jan. 24th, 2014 // 03:34 pm♥
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I pilated this morning, and was apparently a little distracted by the thought of seeing the pooch as I drove back up the lane: we went straight out again to poo pick the field, and Mike said "I don't think those sheep are supposed to be there..." I apparently left the gate by our house open, and they'd taken this as a cue to come through, go all around our school, in our orchard-to-be, in Milo's field, and generally all over the place. We managed to get them all back to either around our school or in the orchard-to-be, and I got the latter lot through the gate then went and shooed the others over towards the gate. Unfortunately, when we opened the gate, the second lot decided not to go through it and instead some of their mates came and joined them. So we repeated the whole process, at which point Jodie decided that she didn't want to miss out on the fun and navigated her way around through the various gates she can squeeze under to join us....
She was actually surprisingly helpful, because she's got pretty good at sit and stay now, so we used her as a fixed scary object to stop the sheep from going in the wrong direction. Somewhat tiring, though.
This afternoon, we went on a nice long walk that Mike's been contemplating for a while. It was almost entirely lovely, up and down the other end of our valley:
And then we got to almost the end, and I realised that we were about to go down the footpath of doom, which I so need to cross off on our map of the area: it's got three (four?) very high, stock-fenced stiles in quick succession, and we were going uphill so that Jodie couldn't manage any of them on her own, and then ends up in an entirely overgrown field full of thistles and brambles, which at least has the advantage at this time of year of being a bit flattened down. And there was cow poo, which Jodie kindly brought home for us to enjoy. Bleh.
She won't be doing any stiles this time next week: her spaying is booked in for next Wednesday, and I think she'll be a bit too tender for scrabbling and leaping for a little while afterwards. Which does, given the bloody sheep are still in the hay field, mean I'm a little worried about finding short walks for her to do while she gets better. Hopefully, she'll recover quickly. |
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Other other things
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♥Sep. 2nd, 2013 // 09:27 pm♥
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Some of them, on the other hand, weren't horse related.
We went for a walk in the woods, and scoffed blackberries by the side of the road. It was quite nice, other than the bit after we left the woods and I was in the sun, which was surprisingly warm.
Mike made naan bread stuffed with chickpeas and stuff. They were lovely but pretty much took all morning to make. Fortunately, the recipe made enough to freeze for two future lunches, but I suspect they won't make it onto the regular lunch rotation. We need tasty much things that aren't bread-and-cheese-and-meat, but none of my favourite quick-and-easy things (scrambled egg on toast, fishcakes, tinned fish mixed with 2-minute-microwave-rice) are Mike-friendly. Any suggestions? Bonus points if it can be frozen in batches and quickly heated up, possibly with the afore-mentioned microwave rice. When the Aga's turned on, I'm totally going for cheese toasties and quesadillas.
(I gave the cucumbers to Next Door, in the end. I think they appreciated them.)
And, to accompany dinner (left-over-roast chicken and end-of-veg-box risotto, nom. We are eating *so* *many* vegetables!), I made FIRE for the first time in years, in the firepit. I shall gloss over Mike's unsuccessful attempts to make fire in the fire pit and the stove, other than to note that we inherited a fair bit of kindling and lots of enormous logs but very little in between, so it was a little tricky to get through the middling stages of lighting it. I think this may be a Project for the next walk in the woods: I'm sure we'll be fine as long as we're sneaky about it. Anyway, my fire was mighty and warm and only moderately inconvenient when the wind changed direction. Fire is good. The table wreath that I made for the party made a very good fire-re-lighter when it nearly went out! |
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