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.

Blue - show your support

Some of you may remember the old horse that lives in the field next to our house for those who do and those who don't here is an insight into her life;

Blue's Story.

Blue was once a well cared for and loved horse who was placed at shows and won rossettes for her owners' children. The children have since grown up and left home, so Blue is retired.

I first called the RSPCA out last summer when I noticed that she was very unsteady on her feet and on closer inspection noticed blood oozing from her coronets (top of the hoof) and mud and pus in her feet. The RSPCA eventually responded after about 5 weeks and a barrage of phone calls from both me and my neighbours. The RSPCA inspector had a look round her, never lifted her feet and recommended she see a farrier, that was it. They never even returned to make sure it was done.

A few months ago the owners of this horse were evicted from their property so effectively the horse was abandoned. No one came to check on her and as the weather deteriorated and the grass disappeared we became concerned. Again the RSPCA were notified and eventually turned up many weeks later. This time the Inspector was very unhappy with the horse's conditions and as by this time the owners had returned left a list of criteria which had to be fulfilled. This was several weeks ago and the RSPCA have as yet not returned to ensure the requirements have been fulfilled.

To give you a better idea of her conditions read on;

Blue has an open fronted 'shed' to shelter in. It is full of LAST years cow muck. To get to it she has to wade through mud and stones.

Until a couple of weeks ago she had no rug. She now has a non waterproof rug which is too small. Considering the weather we have been having she has been drenched during the day and frozen at night. It also slips to one side causing the straps on the other side to dig into her belly and leg. No one comes to straighten it.

Her water trough has been freezing, no one comes to break the ice.

The grass is long gone. There is hay in the barn but no one gives to her and besides a horse left out over winter, especially of this age needs far more to eat than poor quality hay.

She repeatedly collapses and spends hours on the ground struggling to get to her feet. Last Sunday morning she spent at least five hours down in a very hard frost. Our neighbours thought she was dead.

We have done what we can for Blue, we groomed out her moulting summer coat in the warmer months, straightened her rug, given her water, and hay. The RSPCA have now told us to stop so they can see that she isn't being cared for, which makes sense........ if they ever bother to come back.

Merry Christmas!


I now have Lembit Opik's office fighting for Blue, they have contacted the RSPCA and asked that they come back to see Blue asap. Next step the papers!

If any of you have Facebook please join the following group

If not then please just show your support for Blue by leaving messages here.

Anyone who wants to link to this post, please do - I want as many people as possible to read it.

Thank you.

What is this stuff made of?

My kindly and generous neighbour gave the girls some 'Bath Confetti' the other day. Her girls are all grown up and no doubt use expensive products now. Last night when the girls had their bath they obviously thought it was time to use some. I guess you sprinkle it in the bath and it dissolves like bath salts, but not when you sprinkle it around the toilet! When i went to bed last night i had noticed that the bathroom was like a bomb site, as it usually is when these two have a bath, and that a bit of confetti had obviously escaped. Job for tomorrow, i had thought as i went to bed, to tired to contemplate starting the rescue misson.

So today i set about tackling the wreckage. I had underestimated the spillage! By the time i had cleared away all the disgarded clothes and other micellaneous items which appear periodically in my bathroom, i discovered it was everywhere, all around the toilet, in the tricky bit where the seat hinge is, and over pretty much all of the floor. And what happens when a damp cloth is used to clear this stuff up? It turns into slime, of course! Now my bathroom is pretty small (we plan to extend as soon as S has the energy and time) but it has never taken me so long to clean it! The more i cleaned, the more it spread! I have done it, now, but i swear that the bathroom has a slight blue tinge that wasn't there before. And how the hell am i supposed to get it out of my hair? My turn in the bath i guess, WITHOUT confetti.

That's one nice gift that might have to get lost along with the noisy things and nail varnish.