I'm back!!

Well, I've had a break! But I'm back now, I don't know if I'm refreshed, but I'm back anyway!!

Lots of things have happened, but I won't tell you about them all now, that would take far too long!!

It turns out I don't have Cealiacs after all. What I have got remains a mystery!!

The girls continue to ride, and are now joining pony club. It really is a good deal you know. At the moment I pay £10 each for half an hour's lesson, and £5 each for half an hour stable management. For £22 a year they can join Pony Club (without their own horse) and once a month meet up for the day, ten til four, ride, learn and have fun. They can take riding tests, earn badges, compete and camp!! Ideal if you ask me! Just wish I was under 21, I wanna join! Find out more here.

I have also started riding again, yay!! A lady just down the road from me has three horses, Ippy, Echo and Gayly, that I and lovely girl have been exercising and also I have been riding for a woman locally who has ride and drive horses. Advertising time!! Felicity and her husband John have a beautiful holiday home in a very secluded and beautiful spot in the Welsh countryside. Felicity also runs driving courses, check it out here. Felicity's five year old is a bit fizzy so I accompany her on hacks on her old faithful, Champ, who provides a calming influence to help Archie settle. There is also Belle, a three year old who will be broken to drive this summer and also, hopefully, I will be helping back her too.

This weekend I am hoping to take Gayly on a fun ride, The Llandinam Mountain Event. Weather permitting of course, becaue it really has been quite crap, hasn't it?

Apart from that, well, we have new chicks in the fold after a broody hen got a present of fertile eggs. She hatched seven out of seven, we lost two but the rest are coming on fast.

Sadly we lost Bella, one of the battery hens. But Cinnamon has integrated wonderfully and is now living in the big house with the other girls.

Jedi has been to school camp, and had a wonderful time, abseiling, cayaking, orienteering, caving and a world of other things!!

The cats have been bringing me headless rabbits on a regular basis (eewwww!), I haven't seen my husband in just over a month, oh and I took this cracking pic of Harley;

Nice to be back :)

100th post and an end in sight!

Sorry I haven't been about lately, I haven't been too good actually. It's something I don't talk about much but I suffer from Fibromyalgia. I have done for a very long time and it took years to get a diagnosis. My sister was diagnosed with M.E. a very long time ago and was really very poorly for a while. After going to the doctor with a whole variety of weird symptons and discussing them with my sister, i realised there were similarities. My sister showed me some information on Fibro and I realised that was it!! My doctor had been pretty useless uo until I presented him with the information, and I got my diagnosis about five years ago.

Since then my sister has discovered that she actually has multiple chemical sensitivity not M.E. M.E. is such a vague term. When the chemicals she is exposed to are controlled my siser now lives a fairly normal life. We think both our problems were casued by exposure to Organo Phosphates and that's why we both suffer. My chemical sensitivity is not as marked as my sister's but I still have to avoid certain things.

I have coped with my Fibro relatively well over the years and have been determind to leave a relatively normal life and not let it get to me, I think that's why I don't really talk about it. Most of the people I know don't even know I have it!! Recently I have been quite poorly and my health is deteriorating. I am loosing weight, and completely unable to put it back on. My fatigue levels are high, my skin poor and my pain levels have increased. My digestive system is also a complete mess. So last week I was off to my new doctor for a moan. It looks like I may have Celiacs Disease. A very daunting prospect!! I didn't know much about Celiacs, I thought it was an allergy. Turns out it's an auoto-immune problem where the body's immune system sees Gluten as a bad thing and attacks it,, causing damage to the intestines. The damage caused stops the proper absorbtion of nutrients etc from your food.

The only cure is to completely stop the intake of Gluten for the rest of my life. The prospect is extremely scary but if it means I can get well, have more energy for my children and generally live a much healthier life then it actually makes the diagnosis an exciting possibility!! I hope that makes sense!! Any no doubt I will have more to say about this new journey so I will let you know how it progresses. I will also try to update you on all the 'normal' things that have been happening! But for now I'm am hoping you are all feeling better than me!

ABC Wednesday - G

G is for so many things this week, like Gosh I've been busy, for a start!! (I haven't posted since last Wednesday!!) G is for Greyhounds of course (see this post here, updates soon!) But most of all G must be for Gatherings.

An old school friend of mine attempted to organise a school reunion last weekend. It didn't quite come off. Only five people turned up!! I don't think she gave people enough warning and so many just couldn't make it. It was, however, a wonderful evening. It gave me the chance to go back to my home town in Somerset and not only catch up with a few old school friends, but also my old mates from 'home'.

On my first day of high school I met H. We became firm friends immediately and stayed that way all the way through school. After school she moved to London and we lost touch for a while but after making contact again we now keep in touch, although we don't see nearly enough of eachother. We also formed a little group with two lads, S and J. We were all pretty close.

H and S made the Gathering, but unfortunately none of us know where J is. What a shame, it was so good to get 3 quarters of the group together and catch up on old times, but it would have been something else if it had been complete.

Anyway, next year is our 20 year anniversary of leaving high school. I can't quite believe it, I mean, I think I'm only 20 anyway!! And thanks to the wonder that is Facebook, I am making contact with more and more of my old school friends, and the plan is to organise a massive reunion Gathering for that.

Here's the old Gang

Don't we look snazzy in our matching dark Glasses!

To see more ABC Wednesday G posts visit here.

ABC Wednesday - F

Wednesday has come round really quick!! Anyway, this week's letter is F for Fundraising.

My eldest daughter, Jedi, (for those of you who don't know) has a passion for Greyhounds and for raising awareness of their plight. Along with this comes the need to raise money to help rehome and reabilitate ex-racing Greyhounds. To find out how this passion started please read my previous post.

Anyway, once again she has the urge to Fundraise. This time she is planning a sponsered silence, not any old sponsored silence, but for a whopping 48 HOURS!!! That is quite a feat for an eleven year old!

Greyhound Rescue Wales is her chosen charity, as it is our local Greyhound charity and of course you can't support them all! We are currently waiting for GRW to register with JustGiving.com so we can make this the biggest and furthest reaching fundraising effort yet. So if you would be interested in sponsering Jedi, and helping abandoned, ill-treated or just plain unwanted Greyhounds wherever you are, please keep an eye out for a future post (hopefully within the next week) which will give details on how to find her JustGiving page. Or leave a request in the comments and I will notify you when we have the information.

Remember, this is all off the back of an eleven year old with a very big heart, nothing to do with me, I'm just the skivvy!! Please show your support, not just for the Greyhounds but for a wonderful little girl who has the want and determination to do something bigger with her time and energy.

Chickens, Gardening and Springfever!!

The last couple of days, while I've had a week off (Ihave such a great job, that means I get all the school holidays off!) I have been doing a bit of gardening. I thought it was time time to tackle my overgrown borders before everything starts growing in again. Trouble is the soil is terrible, it is practically pure clay. It makes digging it twice as hard as other soil. Every fork full weighs a ton, it sticks to the fork and mostly stays in large clumps. In about a total of five hours digging I have dug over and weeded such a small amount.

It does look amazing though, it lifts the whole look of the garden. I've dug in well rotted chicken and rabbit litter and tried to convince the girls not to feed all my precious worms to the chickens. I am hoping the more compost I dig in the better the soil will get, but I am also guessing it will take some time.

The weather has been quite good for the last couple of days and I am hoping it will stay dry for a while so I can get some more done before I go back to work. The chickens have had a great time digging in the freshly uncovered earth and compost and the cats have been enjoying the sunshine. I think they are starting to feel spring in the air. Little clumps of snowdrops are appearing and everyone seems to have a bounce in their step.

I am also glad it is mild at the moment for an entirely different reason. We didn't have a cat flap, so hubby made a whole in the 'dining room' wall, lined it will tiles and attached a cat flap to the outside. Now, seeing as how he's a builder it was never quite finished. (Anyone who's been married to a builder knows that they don't finish their own house!) But it was perfectly operational and did a good job..... until one of next doors big fluffy cats decided to visit. She came through the cat flap but before she could get out of the tunnel into the dining room she met Harley. Harley was non too impressed and expressed his disapproval of the uninvited guest as only disgruntled cats can. Mocha attempted a hasty retreat and being a rather large puss with a lot of excess fluff, must have got caught up. She ripped the cat flap off and the tiles all collapsed. I now have a cat hole!!. They love it!! Much quicker when you are being chased by your brother!! Stretch (our neighbour) has promised to fix it for us, but for now at least it is mild and dry!

THE Riding Lesson

At last, the day came when the girls could get their bums back in the saddle. Because they haven't ridden for about two years and we're going to a new riding school, they are starting out back on the lead rein.

Here they are listening intently to their instructions:


It was wonderful that they were the only ones in the class, you can imagine what their old classes must have been like with 15 or so kids in one small indoor school. Just look at the space they had and the attention from their instructor.

Trouble is on the left and Jedi on the right:

Trouble struggled a bit to keep her reins short enough and when she asked her pony to stop by sitting deep in the saddle and reducing movement, he ignored her (at first) and she ended up with her hands round her ears!! After a while he started to listen and she did a great job.

Jedi tries so very hard to sit up straight she sometimes becomes a bit stiff so in rising trot she sometimes leans forward and ends up with her bum sticking out!! (Sorry Jedi, if you read this :P) But after a bit of relaxing in sitting trot she soon got it whipped.

I think they did great, two years is a long time in the life of small people. Next time they are booked in for half an hour stable management too. Trouble needs a bit of confidence on the ground, I guess that's the problem with being so small, everything else is so darn big!!

This is Jedi's Dougle:

This is Trouble's Dougle:

Sorry about the blurry pics, it was lunch time and they weren't really interested in posing!! And this fella here just wanted to kill anyone who came near his dinner!!!!

So we went home for our own, all full of smiles.

Bethddusuit's Recommended Read

I have decided to give a shout out to all my favourite bloggers so Thursday is going to become;

I am going to go through my reading list, from top to bottom, and each Thursday write about one blog. I do have quite a few, so it may take a while, but I hope you enjoy maybe finding new blogs and finding out what amuses me! So without further fuss or bother I present you with the first blog in my list;


A View From The Green Barn

A View From The Green Barn is written by Don, an elementary school teacher from Michigan. He lives and writes from his little farm, surrounded by chickens, woods and wonderful scenery. Don always posts the most amazing photos of the farm, chickens and other beautiful things, and I enjoy looking at these as much as catching up with hatchings, gardening plans, bread making and general goings on. Don is a friendly chap who always makes the effort to respond to comments on his blog and to leave comments for others. I'n not sure how he has the time though, what with all his fans!

So, I'd like to take this opportunity to thank Don for a fanscinating blog and for all the kind comments he has left for me. So why don't you pop on over to Michigan, visit Don and say Hi.

Saddlesick

Oh dear, that actually sounds like I'm sick of the saddle but it's actually meant to be like the exact opposite, like homesick! Oh well. The girls have their riding lesson tomorrow, thank God! They have been quite unbearable this week. They have been wearing all their gear around the house and Trouble's scooter has become an interesting, if rather skinny, silver pony!! I'm looking forward to it too, I can't wait to see them back in the saddle, it will be worth the money I've spent already this week, honest! I will be taking my camera, which reminds me; I must put new batteries in, and am hoping to get some great shots.

The trouble is I'm bloody jealous! The more all this goes on, the more need I feel to get back in the saddle. It hasn't been too bad up to now, the road that passes the end of the drive is not suitable for horses and poor old Blue is too old anyway. But now all this talk has started, and I know the girls will be riding, the need to ride again is growing.

Also, just to fuel it, while I was perusing the ABC Wednesday posts I stumbled across this blog. Janie and Steve in Utah have some beautiful horses and the most wonderful countryside to explore, all from the back of their trusty companions. Boooooo! Not fair. Hmmmph. I'm going off to sulk.

ABC Wednesday - E

I thought I'd do something a little different this week. So this weeks letter, E, is for Elbow!!!


The elbow is a complex joint which forms a hinge or ginglymus. What a great word!!

The elbow is where three bones, the humerous (upper arm bone), ulna and radius (the lower arm bones) meet.

The nobbly bit on the outside of your elbow is actually part of the ulna bone called the Olecranon.

When you hit your funny bone the sensation you feel is actually irritation of the ulna nerve which is the largest unprotected (by bone or muscle) nerve in the body. It runs from your shoulder all the way down to the tip of your little finger.

This useful info was sourced from Wikipedia.


Other 'interesting' facts about elbows;

It is physically impossible to lick your own elbow.

The length between the inside of your wrist and the inside of your elbow is roughly the same as the length of your foot!! Looks huge, but try it, it works!

This info came from a file in my head labelled 'Weird and Useless Information!'


Scientists have discovered that Octopuses and Squid have the ability to form 'part-time' elbows to help them eat. Strange but true!

And that came from a random google search for 'elbows'.



Hope you've enjoyed discovering more about your elbows!! To read more interesting ABC Wednesday posts from around the world please visit here.

What a shame horses don't poo money!

First, I have been asked by Jedi to let you know that she has started blogging again. Her first attempt at blogging was a bit slack but she's decided to give to another go, so please drop over to House of Jedi and say Hi.

Anyway, on to horse poo. When we lived down in Somerset the girls started having riding lessons, they were doing ok but the groups were so big they just didn't seem to move on. I promised them when we moved here they could start again. Finally, over a year later I have found a riding school that looks really promising. At Bradnant Equestrian Centre they will be having lessons with just the two of them in the group, so hopefully they will improve quickly. They can do stable management classes which I think is great, teaches them a bit more respect for the animal when they have to do some of the work to look after them, not just hopping on for half an hour then leaving them in someone else's hands. There is also the chance to get involved with Pony Club which is something I'd really like them to do.

It must be two years since any of us have ridden so inevitably the girls have grown enormously. Trouble fits into Jedi's old stuff but seeing as Jedi hasn't stopped growing since we moved here and is now catching me up at speed, she has grown out of everything. So I spent yesterday evening on Ebay, bought her some beautiful muckers (I always ride in Muckers, I think they are so comfy) a new silk (well velvet!) for my/our hat, cos the old one has disintegrated, and a pair of chaps for me. All this talk of riding has made me desperate to get back into it. I can only go so long without my bum in the saddle and I get sad!

Then today we accidently went to 'just look' at our local countryside store, and bought Trouble some gorgeous little lilac gloves and Jedi some new jodhpurs! And all this is before we get to paying for the lessons!!! Oh well, it's my own fault I guess for wanting them to ride in the first place, but at least my parents only had to pay for one!

I think I am going to have to offer myself up for exercising again. That's what I have done for the last few years, just helped out other people with their horses. Can't afford my own yet...... one day.....

ABC Wednesday - D

D is for Dancing.

These pictures are from my wedding, there was lots of dancing.

Oh, and D is for Dress!! I love my wedding dress. I go to the wardrobe sometimes, just to look at it!!

The first dance, all together now..... aahhhhhh!



Lots of people dancing. I love the ghostly appearance of this photo.



And traditional Cypriot dancing, lucky man all those women at his feet!



But best of all the traditional Greek money dance. We had been living together for a while and didn't really want presents so we decided on this dance, where guests pin money to the bride's dress. It helped towards the honeymoon. And of course, plate smashing!!



And the result of all that dancing? Discarded shoes!!



To join in with ABC Wednesday please visit here

Yay! I got to play at last!

Thankfully the snow is still here today and I got to play with the kids in the snow. The in-laws didn't make it but Hubby did, so with Buzzards calling and soaring above us, we all headed up on the field behind the house. Armed with a sheet of good strong, black plastic and wrapped up like Michelin men we trudged our way up to the top of the field, only to throw ourselves back down again.





I haven't had so much fun with my kids for ages!!

Silly Snow or Silly Schools?

My girls finally got a day of school today. The descision was made yesterday, by Powys County Council, to close all of it's schools. (Powys covers a huge area!) We were due a really heavy snow fall and I guess they were staying on the safe side. Today they were looking a little red-faced, we had no where near the forecast amount of snow. In fact it didn't really start snowing until after lunch.

I called the kids from work at lunch time. I had left strict instructions that if it started snowing hard they had to go out in it. I mean that's half the fun isn't it? Playing in the snow with it falling all about you. When I rang they informed me it was snowing quite hard so I asked if they had been out in it like I had said. Apparantly it was too cold. I informed them that is was no excuse and that I expected to find two perfectly formed snow girls waiting for me when I got home! They weren't overly impressed.

I was glad of the snow today though, our drive had become lethal where the car tyres had packed the snow down. I performed the new version of Dancing on Ice as I went to work this morning! The inch we had this afternoon just provided enough for me to get back up it when I returned home!

Anyway, I'm hoping we won't get any more snow, my father in law and his mum are due to come up for the weekend. And of course hubby is coming home. Jedi has spent a lot of time working on an amazing walnut and coffee cake and I am sure it will be well appreciated, well I hope so, considering the mess she left behind. She makes amazing cakes but the devestation is pretty amazing too!!

I'll leave you with a couple more snowy pictures;

ABC Wednesday - C

C is for cows. Aren't they cute?



I love their inquisitiveness and the way they can stick their tongues up their nose!!


This fellow, Ringo, is the nicest, most friendly bull I have ever met. He turns himself sideways to the gate so you can give him a scratch!



And where would we be without them?

For more info on ABC Wednesday, and to join in please visit here

Snow fun

Unfortunately not enough snow for the kids to stay home from school yet, but it has snowed gently, but steadily since yesterday afternoon. Actually I can't remember the last time it snowed for so long without stopping. Apparantly we are expecting more tonight so there is hope yet!

This was taken about half ten this morning, you can see the chickens morphing through the duck stage into penguins!



These are the snow angels that the girls made when we finally got home this evening.

Photographers, Eggs, Fancy Dress and Cow's Feet!

I am getting all over-excited now! My friend Brian Phipps, see last post, has promised to come up and visit. We've done a deal, if I show him some cool places he'll lend me a camera and teach me a few things! Who got the better deal I wonder?

Also Dee Doody has promised to take me out in March to look for the new Kite nesting sites in the woods near my house!! How bloody lucky am I to have amazing friends like these.

After a rocky start to the year I am at last getting a few things to look forward to.

I have also been invited to a fancy dress Valentine's do at my cousin's pub. It's meant to be a couple thing, you know, dressing up as famous couples. But Hubby will probably be in Scotland, so I was wracking my brain trying to think of who I could go as. I finally decided to go as Lorena Bobbit, 'cos I don't think her husband would accompany her anywhere after that!! I have ordered a plastic knife and, ahem.., a little something else from the internet, and await my unmarked package!! I haven't had a proper night out since before Christmas so am really looking forward to it.

I have had some interesting eggs this week. One of the youngsters who has finally come into lay is laying decidedly pointy shaped eggs! They are really long and thin! I guess when they fill out a bit they will be decent size eggs but for now they do look a little strange!

All I need now is some decent weather so I can get outside and start getting the garden ship shape and take some more photos.

I just thought of something that Trouble said the other day, that made me smile;

I had been talking to the girls about some of the things that go into our food that we don't expect. I asked my youngest if she knew that Marshmallows had cow's hooves in them. (Well gelatine anyway, which comes from cows' hooves, so close enough!) The reaction I got wasn't really what I expected!

'Don't be ridiculous mum, cows feet are crunchy!

ABC Wednesday - B Two!!!

Just thought I'd use the opportunity to reintroduce a friend off mine. So B is also for Brian Phipps. He's an old school friend and we go way back. Nowadays he's a wildlife photographer and a bloody good one at that. He's done a fair few magazine articles and the like and is becoming pretty well known. He specialises in British Wildlife and travels all over the UK for his shots.

Check out his website here, and take a look at his work. He sells prints and cards etc, so if you see anything you like you can treat yourself, or someone else to some of his pics.

So go check him out :)

ABC Wednesday - B

B is for back at last!! Haven't done this for a while, but pleased to be here again!

B is also for Bryntail Lead Mines. A beautiful place not far from where we live, what's left of the mines lay at the base of the Llyn Clywedog dam, near Llanidloes, Powys.

Bryntail Mine, a Guardianship Monument in the care of Cadw, was worked between the late 18th century up to the late 1860s, producing lead ore and barytes. Visible workings are largely of 19th century date and include 3 main shafts and a deep adit, well-preserved remains of an earthwork incline, tramway track beds, a leat which once carried water drawn from the Clywedog further upstream, substantial remains of buildings including structures which housed pumping and winding machinery, a barytes mill, mine office, smithy and store building, a circular explosives magazine, together with wheelpits for winding and crushing machinery, ore bins, roasting ovens and precipitation tanks, jigger placements, a washing and picking floor area, buddles, slime pits.
(Information from Clwyd-Powys Archaeological Trust)

The approach to the mines with Llyn Clywedog dam in background



Part of the mine ruins



An old stone wheel



Llyn Clywedog that lies above the mines



A woodland walk close by




Photos mine!

Updates and Adventures

Right, I'm going to try and get back to regular blogging! It's been a really mad start to this year and it feels like it should be about June already!!

Things have improved for Blue quite a lot, she is getting feed and attention at least every other day. Not quite perfect but a damn site better. Her owners aren't spring chickens anymore and I have to hand it to Mrs for going out in the weather we have been having to tend to her. Fingers crossed it will continue. As for the RSPCA they still haven't been back!

Jedi's idea of a good start to the year was to go into hospital on New Year's Eve down in Somerset, when she was staying with my parents and I was stuck up here in Wales suffering terribly from Flu with poor hubby. Just before Christmas she had had a pain in her tummy which went off quite quick and that we put down to trapped wind or something. Anyway it happened a couple of times after that and eventually wouldn't go away, so she was admitted with a suspected apendicitis. She showed all the classic signs and was really quite poorly but when they did blood work there was no evidence of infection. They also did an ultrasound scan and couldn't find anything wrong there either!! I rushed down there on New Years day, still dying myself, and spent a further two nights there with her. They eventually released her with no real explanation for the pain except that it may be a grumbling appendix which may well kick off again. It took quite some time for the pain to go but she is much improved.

Hubby is back in Dumfries, we are on our third week apart :( I'm not sure when he'll be back, he left saying 'see you in February or March!!' He did ask me the other night where in my menstrual cycle I was. I wondered why he was suddenly interested in women's things, turns out he's planning the best time to come home!!! Oh well, at least I know I'm good for one thing, oh and doing the washing he inevitably brings home with him!!!

I am finally getting eggs!!! Yay! My one youngster that had come into lay before winter has finally started laying again, along with two others. The ex-batts haven't bothered yet, but I don't mind that so much, the eggs are a bonus really. It's so nice to have proper eggs again. I really do hate buying them when I have chickens in the garden.

I promised the girls a picnic at the weekend, and you know what happens when you make promises like that, so last Saturday we wrapped up warm and packed some lunch. We headed off to Llyn Clywedog and Bryntail Lead Mines. It was cold but sunny and we had a lovely day. The resevoir is stunning and the kids loved the lead mine ruins. They found a tiny one room cottage and tried to imagine what it would have been like to live there back in the 1800s. They gathered sticks and made a pretend fire in the old fireplace, and swept the floors and scattered grain for the pretend chickens. All the while waiting for daddy to come back from the mines! It was a great day and the weather held off just long enough.

I'll leave you with some pictures.

Updates!!

Apologies for the delay in updating you all on poor Blue. Unfortunately my dear Jedi has been attention seeking again (not really!!) and spent New Year in hospital in Somerset! She's fine, problem not resolved yet, but that's a long story for another post!

Anyway, Blue. I had a phone call from an RSPCA inspector back on the 22nd December. Apparantly he had visited on the 19th. I had wondered, because all of a sudden Blue had started getting a little more attention. He told me that he had not been impressed with Blue's conditions and had layed down some requirements, including cleaning her shed and feeding her properly. (The phone call from the Lib Dem office obviously worked!) The inspector told me that he would return the first week of January to ensure that things had improved....... haven't seen or heard from him yet!

But things have improved for Blue, they aren't great, but she is being feed hay and hard feed (although I don't know what), her rug is being adjusted and water is being provided. At the moment this is happening about once every three to four days although one day she was seen to twice!!! Her shed still hasn't been cleaned out but fresh straw has been put down on top. Not acceptable but better. At least she made it through the terrible cold weather we have had. Before Christmas I never thought she would.

I do have doubts that this period of 'care' will last, I think the novelty will wear off quite quick, but we are faced with Blue every day so we won't be giving up. Another call to the RSPCA from the Lib Dem office may be soon needed too. The inspector promised me he would be back and I intend to ensure he fulfills his promise.