Dry Enough for Sports Day.

A early morning appointment at the hospital for an ultrasound resulted in the good news that yes, I do have gallstones. That counts as good news because it explains the abdominal pains I've been having and can be sorted with a routine procedure ie taking out the gall bladder with a laparoscopy. (You wait years for an operation and then 2 come at once.) I had time after that to return home and bid farewell to our friends. Then it was back to school for our Sports Day. Luckily the slight rain at lunchtime cleared up and the various activities went without a hitch. Last year we couldn't get any parents to run but this year both the mums and the dads ran. I spent the afternoon worrying big time, about a rash that appeared above my ankle after Saturday's walk through wet bracken where sheep graze. By yesterday I had convinced myself it was a tick bite (did you know that humans are usually bitten by the nymph stage which is the size of a poppy seed?). It isn't a typical bull's eye rash but there were enough pictures of similar looking rashes on the web and descriptions of Lyme disease to get me really worried. I was convinced that I had an infection which would put a halt to my back op for which I have waited so long. I waved my leg around at work, got various opinions and decided to visit the doctor after work. I was seen by the triage nurse who 90% convinced me that it is just an allergic reaction to an insect bite. There is still a niggling doubt and I don't think I will be totally convinced that they won't cancel the operation until I am lying there with a needle in my hand.

Coming home we stopped at the top of the drive to let Sarah walk past with some children on lead rein ponies. I asked Sarah if there was any news about the foal and she pointed to Coral who was there being ridden. The crafty pony had been faking all along and spent a happy summer getting extremely fat. She had been to a stallion and as she gave all the signs she was in foal they didn't do an ultrasound to check. Now she is in danger of getting lamminitis so she is on a strict diet and exercise regime. So no foal this year.

I thought I would put a few more pictures up from yesterday's walk.

The back view of Castle Rock. A rocky path leads right up to the top.
3 goats sunning themselves .....

not in the least concerned about the several hundred foot drop down the cliff.

Back To Normal.

We're back into typical British weather. Plenty of rain in the night means that I don't have to water my transplanted plants but also that the mowing I put off doing yesterday afternoon will now have to wait till the grass dries off. Grey skies and cloud sitting low on the hill and blowing along the valley. I hung out some sheets on the line hoping the wind would blow them dry but the air was too damp. I could have gone out and done some gardening but my back is a little stiff after yesterday's long drive.
Both foals and their mothers are now in the same field. They look quite similar but Doris is much quieter and stays close to her mother. Ben is full of beans and spends most of his time cantering around Belle. Doris looks bigger than Ben but still has a curly foal coat. Her teeth however are at the same stage as Ben's despite him being 2 1/2 weeks older than her. When he was first born his top teeth were only just visible and it was fun to let him suck your finger. Now he has a good cm of top teeth and has to be reminded not to nip. Doris' teeth are also a cm long and she was busy trying to chew my trousers today.

Yesterday there were half a dozen swallows flying around. They are probably the ones that were hatched out in the scree garden shed last year. I'm hoping that the missing house martins might be back this year.

Midnight Mystery.

HAPPY EASTER.

Peter and I went to our local church for the Easter Service. Very traditional and I do miss the much more lively worship at the Fellowship we used to worship with but have moved away from for various reasons.

Shirwell Church is a lovely old church and the barrel roofing shows the use of boat building techniques.The church was full but not overflowing with around 50 people. It is a sad reflection of our times that this is the total of worshippers from 3 parishes. One vicar serves all 3 parishes and though there were communion services being held at the other 2 churches later in the day, this was the main Family Easter Service. (And there are no other churches in the area.) There were about 6 children at this morning's service even though there are about 50 children at the village school. Britain claims to be a Christian country but for most people that simply means that they don't belong to any other religion, possibly believe in God and would like to get married in a church. Everyone of course celebrates Easter with lavish expenditure on chocolate Easter eggs. I do begrudge paying inflated prices for all that packaging. When the boys were little we would go to the shops after Easter and buy the eggs at half price but they soon worked out it was still cheaper to buy bars of chocolate. When the boys were very little our London hens managed to lay chocolate eggs, must have been the chocolate we fed them the night before.


Now for last night's midnight mystery.
Fact 1- Elwen, the smallest of our cats, always climbs up onto the conservatory roof and cries at our bedroom window on that side to be let in.
Fact 2- The feathers found on the conservatory roof look like owl feathers.
So what happened? Late last night we heard thumping out on the conservatory roof, a lot more than Elwen usually makes. I stuck my head out of the window to see something large and round scrabbling away and sliding down to the edge of the conservatory roof but I couldn't make out what it was. I rushed downstairs but there was nothing on the ground. Back upstairs, shone my torch out onto the roof to see a lot of feathers. Shortly afterwards Elwen was back on the windowsill. I let her in and there was not a scratch or mark on her.
Possibilities. Had Elwen climbed up on the roof or windowsill at the same time as an owl was sitting there to the surprise of both of them? Or had Elwen been the focus of an owl attack? She is really tiny, about the size of a 6 month old normal cat (her mother is tiny too but her brother is a big fatty.) She bullies Squeeky and has been known to kill full sized rats so I don't think an owl would have stood a chance against her. We will never know.


Had to include this picture of 3 day old Ben being admired by my 2 sons who were togged up to the eyeballs (literally) ready to go off and shoot each other with their air rifles. Such macho men. No signs of Coral's foal yet. Ben is happy to wear a tiny foal's halter as he follows his mum back down to the stables.

A New Baby.

Looked out of the window as I was getting ready to go and do some gardening to see a new foal out in the field. What a little cutie. (I did film him but the internet has taken nearly an hour to upload 3 photos so I'm not attempting to get that on yet.) He was racing round the field on slightly wobbly legs with his mum keeping close to him.Of course I was straight up there cooing and taking photos. I spoke to Sarah a bit later and found out that he was born yesterday afternoon. His mum is an Exmoor pony called Belle and he will be known as Ben though he does have a long registered name too.
Watching with great interest from the other field are Persy (born last year) and Gift. Persy's mum, Coral was also in the field and is due to foal any day now as well.

Constant showers and foal watching interrupted my gardening but at long last the scree garden is clear of autumn leaves. During the heavy rain I sit under the shelter at the end of the garden and enjoy the view. It was a bonus to see this rainbow and luckily my camera was close at hand.

Equine Close-Ups.

I'm too old for this going to bed at 3.00 lark. I feel shattered today and I've got so much work to do for school . I've spent all day inputting information into the children's e-profiles. We weren't sure quite how much information is needed for the comments sections but as I've got a Moderator coming in 2 weeks to check on how I'm assessing the children I thought I'd better err on the side of caution. This moderator came2 years ago and was pretty harsh, not surprising when you think that their only justification for their fat paychecks is if we are not doing the job properly and need their guidance ! I'm trying not to let myself get stressed but naturally I want to do my best even if it doesn't really matter. One good thing is that finally, yesterday I sent off 2 lots of forms and documents to the NZ teaching authorities. Regular followers of this blog might think that I've been a long time getting to this point. But I've had to collect, copy and certify (some of) 155 documents for each form going back 30 years and more. That's alongside teaching full-time which could, if I let it , take up all of my time. Half-way through the day I gave myself a break and went for a little walk to say hello to the ponies.

Here's little Percy amongst the daisies.
This gentle horse came over to say hello.

Reading Pioneer Woman's blog inspired me to try a few close ups. I love the way my reflection has been caught in the horse's eye.

There is nothing so soft and velvety as a horse's muzzle. We had a very chilled out session with me giving this horse a gentle face massage/cuddle. I miss working with horses, at one time I looked after several people's horses on a daily basis. Maybe one day I'll get back to it. Although I live next door to a stables, work and family have left me with no time to mess around with horses.