The Full Monty

I have been thoroughly absorbed in tales of how horses are kept in different countries. I had an Australian penfriend years ago who said it was always so warm there, her horses never came in and never had rugs on. So I thought I'd go into a bit of detail about how we do it here.
First of all, it's quite acceptable in England to have horses that live out all year, but I think I'd want a stable in case my horse ever got ill or injured, which has certainly been the case with us, as Barnaby broke his pedal bone in 2008 and Zak got a tendon injury. They were both on box rest for a year. Plus lots of people, especially on the Your Horse forum say their horses love to live out in all weathers. Well that's fine, but my horses are kicking the gate from 2pm, to let me know they want to come in!
So all my horses have a stable each. Our stables are quite unusual because the building was originally designed, by the previous owners, to house a swimming pool. Then planning permission was denied, so they had to fill it all in. So it looks like a giant lean-to from the outside,
and the inside was built by Pongo and Missis' dad to hold six stables. We are having new stables built in the barn, but it'll be a while before we move in there. The partitions have to be really strong, as the horses will get down and roll, and the walls have to be strong enough to cope with this.
The stables are nice and big, bigger than the ones we had at the old place. They get plenty of fresh air, but no draughts, and the shutter goes down at night.
At our old yard all the horses were on shavings. I really liked it, as it made a very clean bed, but now our horses are all on straw (much cheaper and very warm, but you're not supposed to use it if your horse has a tendon injury, as they shouldn't be dragging bedding around on a bad leg, which is inevitable with straw). Obviously it's a lot more dusty than shavings, which is why I always turn my horses out when I muck out.
But I've got used to straw again since we've been here, and there is an inexhaustable supply, so I can make a deep bed, at least a foot high for each horse. I love knowing the horses are knee deep in bedding. We know they lay down to sleep, as they leave a massive indent in the bed, which is clearly visible in the mornings.
So the horses go out into the field straight after breakfast, and the task of mucking out begins.
First of all, everything comes out, haynets, feed buckets and water buckets.
In order to muck out properly, you'll need one of these for straw:

one of these:

and one of these:

My horses are all slightly different, but the basic routine is the same. Firstly you take out all the droppings on top of the bed, and put them in the barrow. Then you go through the whole bed, taking out any further droppings, and throwing all the clean bedding up against the walls, by which time you are down to the wet bedding, which you fork up and put in the barrow. Then you sweep the floor and by rights you should leave the bed up to air while the horse is out. I think it's a brilliant idea, but the floor very rarely dries in this weather, plus you've got the job of coming back later on to put the bed down before the horse comes back in, which is a pain. Missis has got rubber matting, but I can't stand the stuff, especially if you don't take it out every so often and clean underneath it.
Next you've got the bit that lazy people like to skip! You have to go round the banks, against the walls, and turn all the straw over onto the centre bed. You find loads more droppings by doing this, and really fluff the bed up. You can look at the bed before you start and think it will need another bale of straw in it, but by the time you've done the banks you find you've got tonnes of straw to make the clean bed with.
So that's the next thing. You have to fork all the bedding back into place to make a nice, deep bed, full of clean straw. I put a new bale of straw in every other day, to keep the bed topped up to a decent depth. Most people put nice high banks round the three sides, to stop the horse from being cast, and to prevent capped hocks. I now know from experience that banks will not stop a horse from getting cast. Let's face it, a few wisps of straw are not going to stop half a tonne of horse from rolling over, are they?
So your finished bed should look like this:

(The cat isn't absolutly essential, but if you've got one in your bed, it's a sign that you've done it properly!)

For some reason, we are obsessed with sweeping the front of the bed into a dead straight line, and I smile when I do it, as I know Max will be coming in very soon, and will totally ruin it, but there we are. Self discipline, I guess.

Then the horse's haynets go in. We put them at the back of our stables, so there is no mess outside the stable. When the dust settles, you can put the (scrubbed) water bucket back in and fill it.

And while we're on the subject of waste, each full barrowload has to be tipped out onto the muckheap here. We burn ours when it gets too big.



So that's it. Each stable takes me about 45 minutes from start to finish. I'm not half as fast as I used to be, but I am still thorough. I can't turn a blind eye to droppings, they have to come out. So my stable is clean and dry and ready for my horsey to come in and trash it again. And tomorrow I'll be back out to do it all over again. The horses are in at night from November until very early May. Everybody loves May. We get a lay-in then!

A Hunting We Will Go - Not!

I've realised there's been no hunting round here for weeks. Our farrier came on New Year's Day and said that the Grove & Rufford met and hunted on foot on Boxing Day, instead of their usual cavort round Retford. The Readyfield cancelled their New Year's Day meet at Osberton as the ground was so bad. It looks as though the High Peak hunted on foot as well. What happens to your subscription if you've paid and it's cancelled because of bad weather? You still have to pay hunt staff and feed hounds, don't you? It's a lot of money to kiss goodbye, I think. At least if you go Bloodhounding you pay as you go.
Everybody is moaning about the weather. It seems we are all more or less in the same boat. Even if you have a manege, it doesn't mean you can ride in it, and for some people the track is so slippery leading to the manege you can 't walk a horse along it anyway. Some people can't turn their horses out, and one friend has had to put her horse on full livery because she can't drive to the yard. I guess I should count my blessings then. At least Max is just outside and I can go and see him whenever I like, and feel his warm breath on me and hear his whicker of greeting.
We have, unbelievably, had more snow over night.
It came to me yesterday, as we drove round, and more strongly today, that it's like living on a giant Christmas cake. I feel like I'm wading through lots of icing! The pond outside looks like a perfect wedding cake, with snow perfectly shaped on it, and the statue standing on the top.

(But by the time I took this, Nine had rearranged it somewhat!)

There was thick fog everywhere when we turned the horses out this morning. There was a sheet of the black plastic haylage wrapping up against the fence to the left of the field gate. Max saw it and had an absolute fit over it, but I managed to keep hold of him while he dithered about his course of action. 'Run sideways into mum, or run for the gate and hope the monster doesn't catch me?' I just stayed calm with him, and once in the field he turned to snort at it, then realised he was wasting valuable eating time, and ran to the nearest pile of haylage for support. They didn't stay out for very long today. They'd had enough by eleven, and came in to munch on hay. We gave Max the camomile Likit on Saturday. He ate it in just under four minutes. I think that may be a record. Barnaby still has his, and it's been hanging there for a week. My darling, gorgous, greedy little horse.
The school, to our astonishment (but Missis' relief) was open. It meant Missis had to walk down there, but I dare say it was worth it for a few hour's respite. The weather is worse today than it was on Friday, so it doesn't make much sense. I have spent the day ironing and washing the bedding, thrilled that Missis is at home all week, so I will only have my horses to do. I still have tack to clean and loads of laundry. Where does it all come from?
I am also thoroughly enjoying 'The Queen's Fool' by Philippa Gregory. I am so glad I discovered her books last year. It looks as though it's going to be about Lady Jane Grey and Queen Mary, so we'll see what unfolds.

Birds of a Feather

It's funny, you know, but before Christmas I really felt a word from the Lord. Not one of those earth shattering ones that you know you will have to stand up and say in church, but a quiet whisper, a hint, a clue, just for me. I felt the Lord say that this winter wouldn't be all about horses, and that I would need something else to do. And not something that required tonnes of commitment (like a college course) but things I can pick up and put down at will, without affecting anyone else.
So I think it was an instinctive response to that, that made me look into all this cross stitch and card making, not to mention blogging. And then, as you know, it began to snow, and I've hardly ridden since. To be honest, if I'd known, I wouldn't have bothered clipping Max and when the farrier came he could have taken Max's shoes off, and I'd have roughed him off for the winter. Never mind.
Maybe it's just part of learning how to live in the country. I need something to pick up and put down at will because I go out in the morning to turn out and muck out, go out again at twelve to get the horses in, and go out again at three to put night haynets up and feed round. I do go out again at six or seven, just to check everyone's okay. So something like cross stitch is ideal, although I then have to learn not to treat my proper job as an interruption to the things that were only meant as distractions in the first place!
By which I mean, that I am enjoying the cross stitch so much I don't want other things to get in the way. I finished another one yesterday, which I thoroughly enjoyed. It was by far the hardest one I've done so far, quite a challenge. When you look at it you'll wonder why, because it's such a simple picture, but the back stitch was so hard. It's the first time I've done back stitch that didn't go from square to square, but halfway up the square. I'd decided these first few projects would be for training purposes, but as I've worked on them I've got quite attached to them and don't want them to go wrong and be ruined. Anyway, here is the finished product, and I can honestly say that I learned a lot this time.

My next project is a little bear with a love heart, but I may use it as a Valentine card for Mr O, so I'll have to work on it while he's at work, and just read and blog in the evenings, as I don't want him to see it, do I?

One of my other challenges was to photograph the robins that come to the bird table, and I'm pleased to say, here is at least one of them. I put it off because I don't think sitting outside in the snow waiting for an opportune moment is going to work. Mr O took a few through the kitchen window that came out fine, so I had a go today, and this is what I got:

Cute little fellow, isn't he, in his red waistcoat?

I have noticed daddy blackbird has arrived at the bird table, obviously trying to find out why BFMB is spending so much time here when she should be at home ironing. He obviously thought he'd stumbled on an 'all-you-can-eat' table and started tucking in. There must be ten birds dipping in and out at the moment. I don't mind, everyone is welcome.

We drove to Stable Mates. There is snow everywhere, and it's hard to see where road ends and pavement begins. You can't see the road markings either, which makes it feel a bit surreal. I bought myself a pair of the SSL boots that Mr O bought last week. I have worn them today, and they are amazing. I wasn't sure what to make of them, because they feel like smooth polystyrene (like styrofoam cups!) but I only had one pair of socks on and my feet were really warm. They are for riding in, too, so I'll give them a go, as I get cramp in the winter when I ride. I am usually ok on the ground, but in the saddle, as the cold air can flow round my whole foot, terrible cramp sets in.

We went to Tesco as well (needs must, n' all that). Everyone was in wellies. It was like being in Canada. I don't know if that's what influenced me, but I ended up buying huge Scotch pancakes, cream and maple syrup, which we had for supper. The maple syrup was gorgous - I've never had it before, but will certainly have it again.

We were late getting up this morning and hadn't finished doing everything before it was time to get ready for church, but Missis said she would finish off, so we could go, which is fantastic. The beds were done, and so were the haynets, so she only had to do waters, but as it turns out she brought the horses in at twelve as well, which is a real blessing.

We set off, and the snow was scudding across the road, making it very slippery. It was like someone squirting water from a hose at the car. It's getting a bit 'Arctic-like' for me.

The service was wonderful. I'm still not well, so I decided not to stand up, but just to sit down and enjoy it. We are very blessed with good musicians, and the worship was excellent today. Jim McGlade is our pastor. I love listening to him, firstly because he was born in Belfast, lived for many years in Canada, then spent several years in Dublin before coming to England. I've been trying to work his accent out, and I guess the nearest voice would be Liam Neeson. It's like having Aslan explaining things to you! The second reason, is obviously that his preaching and teaching is excellent. Both last week and this week he's said things that have applied to us. Sometimes after a service I'd like to go into a little room and spend some time really thinking about what's been said, not just rush home and carry on with life. I might spend my Monday quiet time on that.

And Mr O has spent the entire afternoon watching the most dreadful films he could possibly find. One was 'The Mouse That Roared' with Peter Sellers in it (can't criticize a man from Portsmouth, can I? My aunt used to be his cleaner!) and now we have 'Monte Carlo or Bust' with a very young Susan Hampshire (and Tony Curtis et al). These are just the sort of films I can't abide, but listening to the variety of accents is fun. I am amazed that there are so many television channels, and this is the best he can find. Tessa is curled up next to him, in total agreement with his choices. She likes something interesting to sleep through.

Still Snowing

I think it started snowing here on December 17th. So we've had snow for 22 days. I've never known anything like it. Even when I was a child we didn't have snow for this long, although we certainly had more of it. I can remember going for walks round Dean as a child (my grandparents' village) and falling off the verge into the ditch, and the snow being up over my head. And for some reason Raine and I have never understood, my mother never bought us wellies. What other more essential item of country attire is there? So my poor grandmother would put plastic bags over our shoes, and strap them up our legs, as we begged her to let us out to play. She must have been torn between the desire for five minutes peace, and the risk of us coming in with frostbite, and she certainly wouldn't want to face the wrath of my mother, the very one who hadn't provided suitable footwear in the first place, but who would not place the blame at her own front door. Imagine if the holidays were over and we'd been too ill to go back to school!
Talking of which, school has been closed all week. The boys are having an extended Christmas holiday, but were in fact looking forward to meeting up with all their friends, even if play was interrupted by bouts of spellings and learning times tables. They are bored rigid. What are you supposed to do if you're a working mum? Not everyone has parents who can stay off work at the drop of a hat, have they? Or grannies readily available to step into the breach.
And today, I've been weighed down with worry about the elderly, as I am wearing a hat indoors to keep warm, and I am forty-two. How do you cope if you are eighty, and your meals on wheels can't get through? And what on earth happens to the homeless? There aren't enough shelters, are there? In Scotland it's been -18 at night. That's the same temperature as in Moscow. How is anyone supposed to sleep rough in that?
Apparently people are panic buying, things like bread and milk. And farmers are throwing milk away because the milk lorries can't get through the snow to come and collect it. The postman hasn't been here all week. I am annoyed because my parcel from Raine hasn't arrived, and neither has my next DVD from Tesco. It's a shambles, isn't it? A friend of mine, who used to live in Norway, says this is bikini weather to them. How do they cope? What do they wear?
Not that I'm cold, of course, because I'm ill, and only have to muck out for five minutes and I'm sweating like someone with malaria. For some reason I am actually colder indoors than I am outside.
I turned the horses out this morning. They are quite happy with their routine of being turned out from eight til twelve, with hay in the field, then back in at lunch time for a good gossip round a haynet. I can't leave them out longer as there's nothing for them to drink. If I put water in the trough it freezes within half an hour. I have noticed them tasting and licking the snow, though. To them it must be like discovering the most enormous slush puppie in the world.
Max stayed with me at the gate, staring at my pocket, which means, "You've got mints in there, mum, how's about dishing a few out?" I never have mints on me. I am notorious for being mean with mints. I groped in my pocket and found... a penknife. Max leant forward and nearly swallowed it in his haste. In the nick of time he realised he has plenty of iron in his diet and doesn't require any more. He shuffled off, baffled, 'I could have sworn...'
When I got in, I turned my pockets out: penknife, phone, keys, hoofpick, oh, and a packet of Extra Strong Mints, well, who'd have thought it?
So at lunch time, I sidled up to him, and whispered, "You know the mints? Turns out you were right," and surreptitiously slipped him the goods. His day improved considerably after that, 'Told you I was right!'
I have been busy in the afternoons. Yesterday I managed to bake cakes without sneezing all over them. We are going to need cakes and biscuits to see us through, I think. But today I didn't have the energy to do anything, so I got a sleeping bag out, put the fire on and lay in front of the television, as I decided today was as good a day as any to watch The Duchess. Tigger came and curled up next to me. He does love me, but I can't help feeling the warmth of the hot water bottle was more of an attraction than the warmth of my personality.
I have been meaning to watch The Duchess for ages, but needed Mr O to be out of the way, as I didn't think it would be his sort of film, and I needed to concentrate. I wanted to see it, as Georgiana is an ancestor of the Duchess of Devonshire and Princess Diana, and of course Kiera Knightley stars in it. It turned out to be a beautiful and extraordinary film. Georgiana marries William, the 5th Duke of Devonshire, who then has an affair with her best friend, Lady Elizabeth Foster, and moves her in as his mistress, but won't let Georgiana go. I am amazed on two counts: 1: that it was even allowed to happen, it must have been considered outrageous, in those days and 2: that the current Devonshires were happy for the film to be made. I don't know if I'd like my historical linen to be 'aired in public' in quite such a way! The sets and costumes are breathtaking, Keira Knightley is extremely good in it, as is Ralph Fiennes as the Duke, and yes, I do see the similarities between Georgiana and Princess Diana, obviously. I might suggest Mr O watches it after all.

The Whole Tooth

I was worried Missis wouldn't make it home last night, as so many airports were closed. She checked in at 4pm, got on the plane at 6pm, got back off at 6.15 and sat there waiting for the next flight. She got on another plane at 7pm, sat down for twenty minutes and got off again. Flight after flight was cancelled. In the end she was running from desk to desk trying to find a flight to anywhere in England. Eventually she got on a plane at 10pm that brought her to East Midlands Airport. She phoned her regular taxi guy from there, who came to get her. The main roads weren't too bad, but the driver got up the Matlock road, then dropped her at the top of Scalextric Lane and left her to walk the rest of the way, at three o'clock in the morning. Fortunately she only had hand luggage to carry. Unfortunately a grit lorry came past and knocked her off the road onto the verge. The driver got out and apologised profusely, asked her what on earth she was doing there at that time of the morning, and gave her a lift back to the farm. Poor woman! And she still got up at 8am to do the horses.
I've tried to think how to show you that we've had even more snow over night, but I'm afraid this is the best I could do.


I hope you can see all the icicles hanging off the stable roof!


Such a relief today to only have my three horses to do, as I have woken up full of cold, and nursing a sore throat. I have been sucking Strepsils all day. There is no Buttercup Syrup to be had.
But the real issue is that last night half of the wisdom tooth on the left bottom side of my jaw came out, and the remaining piece is very wobbly. I am going to have to find a local dentist, as mine is in Langold, which is miles away. It was very painful last night, but feels fine today. At least it's a wisdom tooth and not a front tooth. I hope we can get to a dentist in the snow, as they've just said on the BBC that it's set to continue for another ten to fifteen days.
I have finally taken down the last of the Christmas decorations, and stored them in the keepsakes box. There is just about room for them. It gave me a good opportunity to clean up. I love to spring clean straight after Christmas. The room looks quite big and bare, which I like.
I have also totally re-arranged my desk, so that all my card making stuff is sorted out into groups in the drawers. I love my desk, it is the centre of operations. I used to have a big wide desk at the old house, but I always prefer any item of furniture that has storage, and I can fit tonnes of stuff in here.



I've been experimenting with the water colour pencils. They are quite good, but it's a faff colouring in, then making it wet with a paintbrush, as the paper wrinkles. I used more pencil, which gave a better result, but it'll be a while before I'm prepared to use them on cards. I will still look for water colour pens like my magazine said. I can imagine them giving a better effect.
I finally plucked up the courage to make Six's card. I'm quite pleased with it actually. The stripes across the middle are ribbon, and not the one I'd intended to use, but I felt the colour scheme matched the toppers (the monkey and the bird) better. I wanted to personalise it, and put Six's name on, but as I am no good with transfers and can't find a suitable stencil, it will have to stay as it is.
I had great fun with my new scissors, until I decided on the design on the rectangle underneath the monkey. The light blue paper is textured. I realised I haven't got many 'boy' papers, so will have to search around for more when I get time. The main book of papers I bought is very feminine. I didn't realise until I got home, but it will all be used. Anyway, I hope he likes it. It's the first one I've been brave enough to make for someone outside the family.

Wrens

My first two days back at work have been very hectic. We had more snow on Sunday night, and it has snowed all day today. I was woken at 4am Monday because all I could hear in my half sleep was a horse banging the walls. I was so disturbed by this I woke up fully and went to investigate. Max got cast last year and I never heard a thing, so I have been very conscious of noises out there ever since.
I flicked on the light, and every horse rose to his feet (I can't apologise enough), but Lindy seemed to be struggling. I think he'd either got cast again, or he is rubbing his rug on the walls, trying to rip it off, as he is too hot, and he was certainly sweating. I swapped his rug for Max's under rug, as it's big enough to fit him (it was bought for Zak originally) as it's very thin (like Zak!). I kept the neck down. There were no more noises after that, so I think he was fine, and in the morning he felt 'right', not sweated up, but not cold either. It's worse than having kids. At least they can tell you they've got a sore throat, you can give them some Calpol and keep them off school for the day. The trouble is, we didn't clip Lindy last time he was due, because of the bad weather, then he went lame, so most of his woolly coat has grown back, and he is far too warm in a stable rug. This is a bit bizarre when it's -6 outside, but who am I to judge?
I crept back in, so as not to wake Mr O, and climbed in between the sheets, and dozed off into the most wonderful slumber, only to be woken at seven by the rooster alarm clock going off. For some reason I thought it was a Sargeant Major shouting at me, "Ten HUT! Stand by your beds!" and leapt up in horror to locate the clock and switch it off, no easy task in the dark. I was a gibbering wreck by the time I'd done it.
I am wearing wooly gloves to muck out in, as the handles of the wheelbarrow are so cold I can't carry it with bare hands. Eventually, of course, the gloves get cold and wet, and I have to take them off and find another pair. I keep scraping snow off the dustbin and the garden table, so I can put bird food out. I am worried about birds and animals dehydrating, and so I keep leaving little dishes of water around the place, but they soon freeze over. The robins (and BFMB) have been joined on the bird table by a blue tit, my favourite little bird. He looks very smart with his black collar and tie, a veritable Beau Brummel in fact, and has soon got the measure of BFMB. He sneaks up behind her, grabs a morsel and flies off again, before she even has a chance to lumber round.
Needless to say, now that everyone has gone back to work, the outside tap is frozen solid. I've had to fill water buckets from our kitchen sink and carry them through the garage to the stables. I've filled each horse's water bucket in the morning and then had to top it up again at night, so that's 36 water buckets altogether. I'm putting hay out in the field for Max, Barnaby and Zak, and making up haynets for Polo, Lindy and Fudge, who are staying in.
I nipped in to go to the loo, and as I came out, a shadow swept past my face. At first I thought it was a bat, but watched where it landed, and as it took off from my wardrobe, I realised with astonishment, it was a wren. I was momentarily flummoxed. It's not often a member of the Senior Service decides to share a bedroom with you, is it? My instinct was to try to catch it, but then I realised that if I opened the bedroom windows she would eventually fly out, which she did, being a bright girl.
I sent a text to Mr O saying, "There is wren in the bedroom." He is ex-Navy, remember. He quickly text back, "Get her to do the ironing." which is probably the cleanest comment he could think of at such short notice.
When I went back up at lunch time, there was another one. What on earth is going on? How do they get in? I hadn't even had the back door open, and had certainly not seen anything fly past me or through the kitchen or anything. Very, very peculiar.
I finished mucking Polo and Lindy out, and my next stable was due to be Fudge's, but my work was hampered because:








I decided to leave him in peace and move onto Max's stable instead.
I went out to meet Six and Nine from the bus at four o'clock. I was still standing there at twenty past. Lucy Goosie pulled up in her 4x4 and asked if I wanted her to go down and get the boys. Pongo had text me to say they would be on the bus, and no one had rung to say the situation had changed, and the next thing I knew, the school bus drew up behind Lucy Goosie's car. What a relief!
I started taking the Christmas decorations down, and blitzed the kitchen, but I have to be careful not to use up every ounce of energy on a Monday, otherwise I have nothing left for Tuesday, even if I go to bed early.
And today it has done nothing but snow. This is the first time the horses haven't wanted to go out. Correction - they wanted to go out, but as soon as they saw the weather, they wanted to come back in again.
Mr O went to work before the snow started and text me to ask what the weather was like here. I didn't know whether he meant he was going to stay in Worksop or try to come home, but they finished work at 4.30pm so people had more time to travel safely, thank goodness. Yes I want him to come home, but not at risk of his safety. But I knew if the old car could make it, this new car definitely could.
The boys went to school on the bus, but within minutes of their arrival Pongo got a text saying the school was closing. How stupid. So Pongo set off on foot to go and collect them. I am so glad he hadn't left for work, otherwise it would have been me sliding down the hill and hauling two children back up it through the snow.
It seems to have taken me forever to muck out today. I guess I've just got used to three of us doing it over Christmas. It doesn't help that the chickens are starting to prefer the stables to the barn, where their coop is, and can find loads of places to hide in the stables. I spent twenty minutes tonight trying to coax them out, sweet talk them out, bribe them out and sweep them out with a broom, all to no avail. They looked at me with their beady eyes as if to say, "You've got no chance, love." They were flying from stable to stable, as they know I can't reach them in there, until I finally resorted to rugby tactics, pinned them down one by one, scooped them up, tucked their wings in and carried them across to the coop and plopped them in. And of course, by the time I'd got the third bird over there, the first two had come back out. They were probably highly amused watching me run round like a headless chicken for a change. I was exhausted by the time I got indoors.
I am supposed to put in a Tesco order, but I've been very busy, and I seriously doubt they'll deliver in this weather. I'd better go on their website and check. The lovely girl at Stable Mates delivered the horse feed yesterday, so they'll not starve. I have powdered milk, and enough flour to keep us going with bread, so we won't go hungry either.
So while I'm typing this, Mr O has gone up to bed, and called down to me, "Do I have to share the bedroom with her, then?" and I've gone up to see a wren flying round the room again. I've realised it must be the same wren that's found a way in, but where? We don't open the windows because it's too flipping cold. Has she got a nest somewhere? She is not going to nest on my ironing pile, that's for sure.
And finally, I let Tessa out last thing at night, thinking she'll be two minutes, and she takes herself off for a little tour of the farm, which seems to be getting longer and longer each night. Our garden gate is always left open, so she strolls out in the moonlight for a while. Where does she go? What does she do? I ought to follow her tracks in the snow to find out. I suppose if you're mistress of all you survey, you can go where you like with impunity, can't you?

Shop Til You Drop

We put the horses out and mucked out yesterday. There was a little bit of snow, but it gradually increased until it looked like this.






And ended up pretty much like this.




The only one really enjoying it was 'Er Indoors.






Only she's, erm, outdoors, obviously.

The rest of us just trudged through the snow with barrowloads of muck. Mr O did the classic, he hauled his full barrow backwards up the slope, when the plastic handles pinged off in his hands, and he landed on his bum in the muck! Tee hee.




We decided there was nothing for it, but to go shopping. As you may know, I hate food shopping, I can't think of anything more boring. But there is nothing like a bit of equine shopping to warm the heart. We bought:
Black SSL (Shires) boots for Mr O. They cling to the top of your leg. As straw all over my kitchen floor is the bane of my life, any boot that keeps straw off your clothes and in the stable where it belongs, gets a big thumbs-up from me. They are very warm and waterproof, and you can ride in them, and the ones in Stable Mates were twenty pounds cheaper than the ones in Thomas Irving. I think I'd better get myself a pair, too, as even with two pairs of socks on, if I stand still for a while, my feet are freezing.
We finally found a pair of springy stirrups. Mr O already has these. The first time I used them I found it quite a peculiar sensation, but over this last year, I decided I'd really like a pair, especially for the distance rides, as they shock absorb as you ride, and relieve the stress on your knees and ankles, which will be wonderful....if I ever get to ride again, that is.
We had fun and games buying Likits. Max loves them and eats them in two minutes. They are like a solid block of sherbet, that you hang on a long string, and the horse has to pin it down to lick and bite bits off it. They come in important equine flavours like mint, apple and carrot. Mr O had to buy two holders, as only Max has one for some reason. We bought cherry flavour for Barnaby, who looked moderately impressed. (It is bright pink, a bit girly for him, I fear). Zak has got some weird flavour, like chamomile and saddle soap or something. It's bright yellow. He is an ex-racehorse, and has clearly never seen a Likit in his life. He shuddered when he sniffed it. Mr O hung it up for him near his hay net. The next morning, there it was, completely intact. He must have nibbled round it to get at his hay.
And I have managed to get completely the wrong sort for Max, the only horse that actually wanted one. His one doesn't have a hole in the centre, so I can't hang it up. He was gutted. I've had to chip bits off it, so that he could have a few chunks from my hand, but it's not the same, is it? I'll have to find a way to make it up to him.
I found a bag of wild bird seed in Wilkinsons, and had to buy it. It is 'meal worm and berry muesli' and looks good enough to eat. I cleared the snow off the table and the dustbin and put some out. Within seconds the birds were diving on it. It has been a good move to put out two lots as BFMB (big fat mama blackbird) is very greedy and possessive, but is obviously eating for four. She is quite aggressive to the robins, and pushes them off the dustbin, but I can remember feeling a bit like that myself when heavy with child.
I managed to make a sojourn to Arcade Crafts, as I wanted some blue ribbon for the card I'm making Six. They have some fabulous stuff in there. I was also looking for some water colour pens, as otherwise I am left with felt tip pens, which look very amateur. A woman was waiting to pay, and she overheard me, and held out what she was buying. She said, "Why don't you try these? They're really good." She had water colour pencils in her hand. You draw what you want, then go over it with a wet paint brush. I grabbed a pack. They weren't expensive, and I'll have a lot of fun playing with them.
I've bought several more cross stitch kits, so I'd better crack on and get them done, but I was a bit influenced by Mr O there, as what I really wanted was to do a project of my own, as I feel ready now. I'll have to wait until Lisa and I go together. She'll understand.
I have put an extra rug on Max last night, as it's been ridiculously cold. He looked like a Mitchelin Man. He looks about 15.2hh but when you peel back all the rugs, there's a little tiny 14.2hh underneath!
We had another couple of inches of snow in the night again. I led Max down to the field. He looked about him, thoroughly unimpressed, saying, "Is this it, then? Will it always be white now? I preferred the green stuff."
He chases Mr O round the field, when he goes to put hay out, like Donkey in Shrek, going "Pick me! Pick me!" Greedy toad.
So it's all back to work tomorrow. I am so grateful for Mr O's help over Christmas. I have to do six stables on Monday and Tuesday, unless there is so much snow L can't get to work. I am not sure that the school bus will get up the hill. It's very unusual for the road outside to get so covered in snow. I'm so glad we've got the 4x4 now, otherwise I'd be stuck indoors for ever.