Life Is Full Of Ups And Downs!

On the upside: I am thrilled to say that Barnaby is much better, he's sound and rideable, but the wound is still there.  Fortunately he let's me pick the bad leg up to pick his feet out, and when he does this, all the leg hair (that he won't let me clip off) moves out of the way, and I can put a big dollop of Sudocrem along the wound.  If he lets me do that every day, it'll heal up pretty quickly now. 
I nervously got on him on Saturday and walked him around in the manege.  I am much better at telling if a horse is lame by riding them rather than watching them trot up, although I know this isn't always feasible.  He felt fine.  In fact, he felt absolutely wonderful, so we went for a quick hack, which turned out to be a lot quicker than I'd intended.  He flew along the lanes and we were back in no time, with him in no pain whatsoever.  So that's one less thing to worry about.  Such a joy to have my boy back.
On the downside: Mr O has been quite ill and now we think it may be gall stones.  He's got to go back to the doctor's tomorrow for blood tests.  Our lovely friend the chiropractor has recommended that he drink cider vinegar with cloudy apple juice, as this will naturally get rid of gall stones.  We have looked into this and it seems she is right, so Mr O is doing it.  I'll let you know what happens.
On the downside: the monotony of life is getting to me.  This is not helped by the number of people, including my sister, who think I am living a life of lottery-winning style luxury!  Some days I work non-stop from the minute I get up until the minute I go to bed.  What annoys me is that this is not our farm, but we do all the jobs on it.  I clean the trough, poo pick the field, level the manege, clean out the chickens, clean out the ducks, feed the cats, water the plants, weed the garden, etc, all physical jobs (did I mention the washing and ironing?) which people seem to think they can pile on me.  I know I live somewhere wonderful and I don't have a boss breathing down my neck, but I don't have a wage either.  Missis has never poo picked the field or cleaned out the trough and only levelled the manege a couple of times before the novelty wore off.  I've seen to their horses while they were on holiday and am doing it again this weekend (and the dogs, too) but we haven't had a holiday this year, and if we did, we'd take the horses with us, and I'd still be poo picking.  At least if you go out to work you get to leave it all behind at the end of the day.  My 'jobs' never seem to end.  Phew!  Glad I got that off my chest. 
Because of this:
On the upside:  A new shop has opened next to the Post Office in the village.  It's called 'Vintage Junk'.  I've been in for a mosey round and really liked it.  There was a little notice outside saying that on Thursdays they have a get together where people bring their knitting and sewing and have coffee and cakes.  Spurred on (mostly by the lure of coffee and cakes) I decided to go down last week and see what's what.  And I'm so glad I did.  It was like a breath of fresh air.  I seriously don't see enough people from day to day, and it was so lovely to sit and chat with some like-minded women and have a laugh.  I actually took down and did some cross-stitch, which is something I haven't done for ages.  It was so nice to be motivated and look at somebody else's four walls for a change.  I am, of course, going again this week, and will try to take some photos this time.
I also said that I make cards and took a few to show them.  One of the women asked if I could do her a christening card that day, so I rushed home and made one.  She was very taken with it, which is a relief! 

So, sorry about the moan, but things have been getting on top of me a bit lately.  I am astonished to be just as busy during the summer as I am in the winter, and it's all physical tasks.  I am not a man, or a machine, and wouldn't mind so much if other people joined in now and then.  I know they say, 'A woman's work is never done,' but this is ridiculous.
Mrs O (climbing down from her soapbox somewhat reluctantly!)