It's a Baggy life.: November 2017

Thursday, 30 November 2017

Feeling weird.

As usual even Hannah immediately felt better and "normal", that is to say grounded, after grooming and cuddling her Boy. Rosehips, herbal treats and Polo mints were consumed happily by both horses. Clever Bird must remind Hannah how happy Wesley makes the gang feel! Now Furry Mama knows that Pepper is happy to relax in Billy Bob while Grotty is with her horses, Grotty will try much harder to get Hannah to go to the yard.

The drive home was through a mini blizzard! The snow wasn't settling anywhere, with one exception - Billy Bob's windscreen!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Now Baggy absolutely adores her campervan, but it is nearly forty years old, and Californian. Let's just say that the heating isn't exactly twenty first century. In fact it seems to manage to blow colder air than the outside air temperature!

Blog written, Baggy warmed up, Creative Clara is about to select and price jewellery for Saturday's vintage fair. At least she's back in the real world again now, not watching herself from the outside......

Wednesday, 29 November 2017

Growing!

Creative Clara had Baggy and Pepper in town before 9.00 this morning! She was so excited about setting up her first vintage "shop". Well it's just a little cabinet in a vintage shop but from little acorns and all that. Let's face it, her teeny-weeny Etsy shop Realuv has somehow found its way through the (literally) millions of other vintage sellers! In eighteen months it's had nearly sixty orders. So Clara's plan for the coming year is to try to expand her little vintage "acorn" into an Oak sapling of a business. She spent ages in the last couple of days choosing what stock to put in her cabinet, setting prices, writing out labels (and making them look cute), then packing it up safely to transport it. As Furry Mama had Pepper Pooch in tow Freda Fretter wasn't sure how setting up would pan out. They were so early, that she found a good parking space, but the shop wasn't open.

No worries, Furry Mama took the pooch for a walk around town - twice. Pepper dragged Furry Mama into the pet shop. So of course, she had to buy him something. Well he would actually benefit from a drying-fleece for after his baths, and when he's got soaked outdoors! And of course he needed a Christmas jumper and scarf! He will be modelling it on Saturday at the Halesworth Brocante. Then Baggy treated herself to a cappuccino; with a view of the vintage shop. As she waited for it, she saw the owner open the shop up. Carrying crates full of stock with a pooch in tow - a challenge! So Clever Bird asked the owner if he'd look after Pepper while Clara got her crates. He did! Pepper wasn't too sure about that plan, but survived. Freda Fretter wasn't sure what the pooch would do while she set up.

Behave like a superstar and sleep on Baggy's jumper, is what. Bless him. It took Clara well over an hour, but she was rather pleased with her efforts.

Now she'll wait to see what happens.

The Domestic Goddess rustled up a bowl of soup for lunch to give Baggy a bit of energy to get Furry Mama to Pepper's first intermediate training class. She wasn't sure what to expect. Arriving for the wrong class hadn't been on her list, but she did. Hormonal Hannah couldn't remember whether it was at 1.30 or 2.30. She arrived at 1.25 for her 2.30 class. Ah well. The trainer said she could go in the 1.30 class rather than waiting. Phew! She also wasn't expecting there to be eight other dogs in the class. There were! She also wasn't expecting there to be "obstacles" all around the room: dogs' toys on the floor; a pram with a baby in it; a picnic (with food on plates!!!!!); a (real) dog laying in the middle of the room; two pretend dogs with toys; a couple of chairs with cushions. Temptation alley! She wasn't expecting the dogs to be able to greet each other. They were.

But what she really wasn't expecting, was how amazing her pooch would be! Sitting, laying down, or standing waiting, yards away from Furry Mama with all the other dogs walking round. Not moving until she called him, then charging over to her wagging his tail, sitting down in front of her, waiting for his praise and treat. Walking to heel, off the lead, amongst all this chaos, then sitting and waiting while Baggy kept walking, until Furry Mama called him to her, when he instantly fell back into heel! Clever Bird was so proud of him. Okay, there may have been a couple of nibbles of picnic food - unfortunate really, as he is only supposed to be eating his special diet food - but then he is half Labrador, and takes after his Mama who can't resist a tasty morsel either. Clever Bird does have to wonder how anyone could give up a dog as "untrainable", when he is clearly a pooch genius, but Furry Mama thanks her lucky stars that they did, and that he's now a member of the family...........

Tuesday, 28 November 2017

Allergic to.........

Note to readers (my lovely Baggees): For the avoidance of any doubt - every character in this blog is me!!! No Baggy was harmed in its writing.

Baggy's daily state!
Depression (Black = really bad/Grey = not great/Blue = okay/Yellow = sunny day): Blue.
Anxiety (From 1 = barely any to 10 = gibbering wreck standard): 7.
Tears: No.
Overall day: Flat out.

Hormonal Hannah had Baggy oversleeping again. Clever Bird has no idea why she's so tired unless it's because she's stressing over everything once more.

Stress one: Pepper constantly scratches or grooms himself. He'd even started biting his paw. Furry Mama was really concerned, so decided that despite her next massive worry being money, or rather not having enough of it, she booked Pepper an appointment with the vet. Just fifteen minutes later. They hopped in Billy Bob and pootled up to the surgery. He has allergies! No idea to what of course. Stage one was to give him an injection. He was having none of it. Two broken needles later, the vet called in a nurse to assist. They put a muzzle on him. He panicked even more. A squirming, demented pooch caused two more needles to snap. The nurse suggested that Furry Mama might be best out of the way. "No problem". They took Pepper to another room. Less than a minute later they reappeared! "I wish I'd videoed that", said the vet.
"Why?"
"Because he lay down without moving and let us do it". Seriously? Thanks a bunch Pepper. But actually it confirms Freda Fretter's fear that he might have been treated quite harshly by his previous owner. When he squirms like that it's very tempting to grab his collar and pull him towards you. That panics him even more. But sometimes he puts himself in danger doing it. Ignoring it is not always an option! As his new human, perhaps he believes that Furry Mama will do the same thing and clearly from his reactions, he also expects to be hit. Very sad.

Baggy left, clutching a bag of special food, a dog shampoo and a much lighter wallet. They headed into town to try and do something about:

Stress two: Figuring out how to earn some money. First stop the vintage shop to check out Creative Clara's cabinet. It's not as wide as she thought, but it has five shelves not three or four, so that's good! It's also already been emptied ready for Creative Clara's things. Next stop the cash point to check the current state of play. Yes well! So next stop a pub, where a London jeweller's were paying cash for precious metals. Baggy took all her jewellery. And left with it all! Clever Bird decided that it wasn't worth it - she'd be better off getting Clara to continue trying to sell it. Bizarrely this made Freda Fretter feel better! So she pootled to the pet shop and treated the pooch to a posh new collar - a wider one, that Furry Mama hopes will stop him from strangling himself if he panics.

Once home they headed straight out again for ball throwing. And puddle wading. Pepper excelled himself at the latter! Bath time. Problem: Pepper is terrified of being showered and hates to get in the bath. Treats in hand, Furry Mama persuaded the pooch to get in the bath. He did, then promptly shot out again! Clever Bird decided that Baggy needed to demonstrate. Clothes off, in she hopped. Pepper shot away. Sigh! Long story short, one hour later, Furry Mama had managed to get Pepper shampooed and dried off. Just as well as she has to do this twice a week for a couple of weeks, then once a week. Hopefully he'll learn to love it.

Creative Clara spent the rest of the day pricing and packing her stock so that she can display her cabinet in the morning. Fingers crossed that it will help Freda Fretter stop being quite so worried about stress two! Especially as stress one looks like being a lifetime of adding to stress two. Animals are expensive, but Furry Mama would never be without them............

Monday, 27 November 2017

Stressing.

Yesterday number one furry, their friend Dan, Furry Mama and Pepper Pooch spent most of the day at Dunwich Heath. It was a stunningly sunny autumn day, but it was very windy and extremely cold! Pepper didn't care about the cold. He just wanted to hurtle after his ball and paddle in the freezing North Sea.

For a clever pooch however, he takes after his Mama - not a huge amount of common sense. He kept taking his ball in the sea and dropping it. Then he couldn't find it. Furry Mama didn't have her waterproof boots on, so was not going in after it! And he just can't see the ball! It can literally be under his nose and he won't notice it. He finds it through smell. But of course in the sea, he can't smell it. Freda Fretter was stressing that they wouldn't get it back. Pepper with a ball - pretty easy to control. Pepper without a ball - well let's just say that he does his own thing.

Calum sacrificed his dry feet and rescued it though! Phew. Bit of beach combing. Bit of taking in the scenery. Bit of mindfulness.

Then cappuccinos with cheese scones before heading off on another walk around the heathlands. Baggy was so tired by the time they got home that first she fell asleep on the bed giving the pooch a cuddle. Then she fell asleep on the sofa giving The Hinge cat a cuddle. Today has been all go. In between Furry Mama taking Pepper out, Creative Clara has been sorting stock out for her vintage shop cabinet. Of course Clever Bird omitted to measure the size of the cabinet, or to check how many shelves it has, so Clara has been guestimating! But at least if she's chosen too much she can swap and change things every few weeks. But now she's stressing that nothing will sell. Clever Bird has pointed out that a) that is unlikely and b) even if it doesn't she hasn't lost loads of money. When Clara isn't stressing about it, she's very excited! Now she needs to get back to it.........

Saturday, 25 November 2017

Progress.

Baggy and Calum's friend Dan arrived last night and instantly started to wind up the pooch. Sigh! But Pepper was delighted to meet him so he was happy to oblige! Of course today he's been a bit of a nightmare. Furry Mama despairs! All that training and working on calming him and one night of winding him up and would he even sit? No! Clever Bird had to get "firm". Not with Pepper you understand baggetts - no, with Dan!

Creative Clara woke up to an order from her Etsy shop Realuv this morning. She was very chuffed even though it was only for a few pounds. She wrapped it and took it to the post office in town. It was so cold today. Beautiful. But cold. They wandered round town and every shop they went in, Pepper was given a treat, so he was happy enough. He also modelled for the above photograph in the Black Dog Antique Centre in Halesworth Market Place. He was actually smiling, but he does look a little like the infamous Black Dog of Bungay, Suffolk! Then they popped back into the vintage centre where Clara enquired about a space last week. The owner was in today. Pepper got yet another treat while Clara had a chat. "Just wondering after my enquiry last week, whether you had any space at the moment?"
"Space, or a cabinet?"
"Well a cabinet would be fine".
"In that case yes I do. I've just got two new cabinets. You could have one at the end of the month."
"Ooooooo, that would be great!"
"Actually, that's next Friday".

Clara is thrilled! Okay, it's only a cabinet, not a big space as at the other place, but that means it's a fifth of the price; Baggy doesn't have to fork out for display units and she doesn't have to work there (for free) once a week. Also because it's just a cabinet, albeit with quite a lot of room in it, she can regularly change the stock depending on what sells. So it's much less of a risk and therefore much less scary for Freda Fretter. But equally if it goes well, she might be able to upgrade to a "space".

So Wednesday will be set up day! Saturday is the next Brocante. Clara is growing her little business.

The rest of the day they spent pootling around town. Lunch in a café. Pepper decided that he'd sit on the bench at the table next to Furry Mama! A walk and ball throwing session round the park. Pepper decided that he needed to go in the stinky, muddy, cow-pat filled ditch!

Lovely! Not!

Would he go into the relatively clean river? No. He had a lovely time though.

Cappuccino with another friend. A wander past some "Molly Dancers" - think weirdly dressed Morris Dancers banging drums and with bells on their legs. Pepper nearly passed out in fear! It's all very well telling Furry Mama to ignore it, but when the pooch is twisting in fear and almost coming out of his collar while trying to get away, that's not exactly easy!! Quick pint in the pub (while the pooch slept under the table), before going to watch the Christmas lights being switched on at 5.00. As they headed back to the market square Clever Bird said, "Oh, we've missed it", as all the trees were lit up and the hanging lights were on. But no, they hadn't missed it. The "switch on" was on the high street. Off they set. The only lights that weren't already on were some coloured bulbs strung across the streets!! Meanwhile there were crowds everywhere, Pepper was not happy. They went into a shop. Pepper relaxed. They missed the "switch on". No one cared. They went back on the street. A brass band appeared. Furry Mama was dragged away from it by a totally petrified pooch! Furry Mama decided that it was time to go home. Calum is cooking supper while Pepper relaxes. Dan has been banned from winding Pepper up............

Friday, 24 November 2017

Empathetic isn't always great!

Note to readers (my lovely Baggees): For the avoidance of any doubt - every character in this blog is me!!! No Baggy was harmed in its writing.

Baggy's daily state!
Depression (Black = really bad/Grey = not great/Blue = okay/Yellow = sunny day): Yellow.
Anxiety (From 1 = barely any to 10 = gibbering wreck standard): 2.
Tears: No.
Overall day: Quiet.

Pepper's training last night was the last class of his "Beginner's" lessons. Furry Mama was extremely proud of him. For the first time last night, the owner took the class. As Creative Clara mentioned once before, she is very strict. She takes no nonsense. She thinks that Furry Mama is being too "soft" with Pepper. Last night Clever Bird began to understand what she means. One of the other women in the class has a bad "sharp" cough. It was freaking Pepper out. He did his thing of whimpering, then backing away from Baggy to the end of his lead. Furry Mama automatically a) looked at him b) spoke to him in a "reassuring" voice c) walked towards him and d) bent over to stroke him. All wrong apparently. It confirms his fear. Now Clever Bird should really know this. Grotty Groom learnt it the hard way with Wesley. The best thing to do is ignore the reaction. TOTALLY. Don't look. Don't speak. Don't react. Don't touch. Either turn your back on him or better yet (for him, certainly not for Baggy when in a public place), do a happy song and dance! Then he will see that Furry Mama is clearly not bothered by whatever "it" is, and will feel safe with her and come to her.

This is so true of Wesley. If Grotty gives any "Good boy", patting type of reassurance and looks at the scary "thing", he gets way worse. If Baggy ignores it totally, even looks in the opposite direction and sings a happy song, he gets over it. Last night Furry Mama was told in no uncertain terms that she was making Pepper more anxious. Interestingly Clever Bird had noticed the two other women with their (also very nervous) rescue dogs, making them worse by reacting to them. Furry Mama tried the "ignore him" approach and it seemed to work. So they have signed up for the intermediate classes!

Home again, Hormonal Hannah totally forgot to feed the pooch (or Baggy for that matter). She remembered at nearly ten. An hour later, after Baggy had got hooked on her infinite free "lives" on Candy Crush and totally lost track of time, she heard a weird noise. Pepper was very sick. Clever Bird couldn't work out how much food could have been in such a little tummy. Then he was sick twice more - just yucky slime. Freda Fretter was worried. But he curled up on the bed with Baggy and went to sleep. So today Furry Mama decided that Baggy and Pepper should take it easy. Baggy is still not over her cough and needed to wash her hair. So they've stayed in all day and rested. Pepper seems to be a lot calmer when Furry Mama is not constantly pandering to his every whimper! Number one furry has just got home, so Pepper is now a very happy pooch. A friend is arriving for the weekend later, so Clever Bird will be interested to see how he reacts. Fish and chips all round. Happy Friday baggetts................

Thursday, 23 November 2017

Too much.

Look at the concentration on that face baggetts! But Clever Bird has realised something in the last couple of days. Despite Furry Mama's protestations to the contrary, Pepper's recall is rubbish! Yes he comes back to her to drop off his ball, but that's about it!

How did she discover this little fact? The pooch decided yesterday that he was hot and needed a drink after all his ball chasing. So he took off, ball in his mouth, to the muddy lake. Let's remember baggetts that the pooch has major separation anxiety, but apparently that doesn't count when he's the one doing the leaving. The lake is a few hundred yards away from where he left Baggy and completely out of sight. Hmmmmm! Furry Mama called him back. He did a Minty Mutt - scan the horizon, decide that his plan was more important, carry on to the lake. No way was he coming to Furry Mama until he had finished getting filthy.

So today they spent a lot of time working on the recall. Let's just say that it's a work in progress! One thing was clear though, he is much more motivated by a ball than by treats. Tonight is his training class, Clever Bird is tempted to take a ball with her.

Furry Mama also had to "persuade" Bracket kat to go outside today. She hasn't left the spare bedroom since seven weeks ago when Pepper arrived. Furry Mama noticed this morning that Bracket's coat, which is usually glistening, was dull and dry. The pussums must be getting depressed. So Baggy picked her up and carried her outside, followed by the pooch! Bracket was a hissing furball and shot off up the garden at a rate of knots. Of course she wouldn't come back in again, so after Pepper's afternoon session, Furry Mama locked the pooch in his crate (he had a fit), and went and found her. Baggy had to carry her back inside. But she'd obviously had a nice few hours because her coat was already shining again. So Furry Mama has a new daily task, until Bracket totally gets used to Pepper.

For the rest of the day, while the pooch has rested, The Domestic Goddess has been a busy bee. The house is looking lovely once more and The Goddess managed to vacuum without Pepper attacking the vacuum cleaner. But Freda Fretter is very unhappy about that!! She feels bad because it was achieved by using a device last time The Goddess used the cleaner - it's a pressurised can that emits a "hiss" when you press it. It sounds like a very annoyed cat. And it scared the living daylights out of the pooch who retired to the bedroom and refused to come out. Freda threw the spray away. She doesn't want Pepper not doing something because he is terrified. And he's now so scared of the vacuum cleaner that he won't even go near it when it's switched off. It does make Clever Bird wonder what the poor pooch has been through that he gets so scared so easily. Let's just hope there are no weird noises at tonight's training class......................

Wednesday, 22 November 2017

Furry Mama despairs.

Note to readers (my lovely Baggees): For the avoidance of any doubt - every character in this blog is me!!! No Baggy was harmed in its writing.

Baggy's daily state!
Depression (Black = really bad/Grey = not great/Blue = okay/Yellow = sunny day): Blue.
Anxiety (From 1 = barely any to 10 = gibbering wreck standard): 6.
Tears: No.
Overall day: Thoughtful.

Sometimes (not often admittedly), but sometimes Freda Fretter's worries are genuine. For a few days now she's been stressing over how anybody could possibly "believe", or even more worryingly, not care, that all animals are sentient beings. Furry Mama in particular is despairing that this is even a topic for the C21st! Okay, some people may find it difficult to believe that a mosquito can feel pain or have feelings, but they also probably wouldn't think that a fish could - and yet their are lots of videos on You Tube of fish in tanks greeting their humans; of a Conger Eel making friends with a diver; of fish working together to hunt, to protect themselves; Blue Planet II has just filmed a fish who uses a tool to crack open his favourite delicacy, cockles. So how could a larger animal with a brain and a full nervous system, possibly not feel pain, have emotions, feel fear, make decisions - be fully sentient?

Anyone who has spent any time around horses wouldn't doubt it for a second. But have you ever stroked a pig baggetts? They love it! Pigs can be trained to do most things that dogs do - because they are intelligent animals.

Of course this sets Freda Fretter and Furry Mama off on another course of worries as Baggy is not a vegetarian. She should be morally, but let's face it, with The Domestic Goddess providing her food it wouldn't exactly end well, not to mention the fact that she isn't particularly keen on vegetables! So yes baggetts, she does eat these cute animals.

But she needs to know that they've had a good life. That they've been treated well. In the case of pigs, that they've preferably been reared outside in one of the "pig cities" that are all over Suffolk - little houses full of straw surrounded by outdoor "gardens" where they can snuffle, socialise, roll in mud and generally be pigs. But Furry Mama knows she's a hypocrite, or rather just too soft! If she had raised the pig herself there is no way that she could eat him. If the menu says "local lamb" and she can see them bounding about in a field outside the restaurant, Baggy will choose something else. But they are bounding about in the fields. They may only have a short life, but at least they've been well treated.

But if they're not considered to be sentient? If legally they are, what then? inanimate? Why not raise them in small cages? Never let them see grass or the light of day? It wouldn't matter would it? They can't feel anything. Let's just reintroduce cock-fighting, bear-baiting, dog-fighting, hare coursing, otter hunting while we're at it shall we? Clever Bird despairs. If humans feel that they can treat other animals worse than they'd treat an apple, what hope is there that they'll treat each other with humanity?...............

Tuesday, 21 November 2017

Smelly day!

He decided that he needed a drink. Leant over the bank. Fell in! But at least Freda Fretter now knows that he can swim. Although he scared the living daylights out of himself!

Meanwhile, he'd managed to lose his ball, which floated into the middle of the river.

He was too scared to swim to it and Baggy couldn't reach it! Pepper was not happy. Neither was Furry Mama.

Then they were joined by a very wound up Labrador on the opposite bank. Followed by a farmer. He found Baggy a big stick - well actually, a massive branch, which he threw across the river to Furry Mama, who miraculously a) didn't get knocked out by it, b) managed to lift it - just, and c) reached the ball without falling in the river. Pepper was happy. But he stank! Perhaps something to do with the disgusting mud he stirred up from the bottom.

This didn't stop Furry Mama from taking him into the shops with her though. Needs must. She bought what she needed for Creative Clara, and got a couple of annoyed looks for her trouble, but also some friendly ones, and in spite of his soggy-smelliness, Pepper got some cuddles.

Pepper had a snooze after Furry Mama had dried him off and groomed him, while Clara got to work on Clever Bird's plan: make some of her vintage bowls more "gifty" by filling them with the special pebbles and shells she'd collected off the local beaches, fragrancing them so they are smelly (in a nice way), and wrapping them.

Freda Fretter isn't sure whether it's a good plan or not, or whether they are good enough or not, but Clara enjoyed herself doing them and is quite excited to see what happens on 2nd December.

Mid-creation, Furry Mama decided that Pepper had better go out again before it got dark, so off they set on another walk. The lad is like a Duracell bunny, he just doesn't stop, until he drops - this time in the nearest filthy stinky puddle!

Psychic Ploppo is convinced that Minty Mutt has been encouraging Pepper in this new obsession to be in water!

They both love it, as long as they don't go out of their depth!

Baggy has just had a delayed supper. Delayed, because The Domestic Goddess warmed up the oven; put her mini-chicken roast in; waited the thirty-minutes for it to cook; checked that her spuds were cooked; went to get the roast out; it was raw! Why? Because The Goddess put it in the wrong oven. Sigh! She turned the spuds off; put the roast in the right oven; forgot all about it; burnt it. Sigh! But it still tasted nice. Refreshed and reenergised, Clara's off to wrap a couple more vintage dishes.........

Monday, 20 November 2017

In the moment.

Note to readers (my lovely Baggees): For the avoidance of any doubt - every character in this blog is me!!! No Baggy was harmed in its writing.

Baggy's daily state!
Depression (Black = really bad/Grey = not great/Blue = okay/Yellow = sunny day): Blue.
Anxiety (From 1 = barely any to 10 = gibbering wreck standard): 2.
Tears: No.
Overall day: Relaxed.

Fifty eight today! Happy Birthday to Baggy. Not quite sure how she got so old - yes, thanks baggetts, "One day at a time", Clever Bird realises that, but when did 24 hours apparently shrink to five hours? That's the only explanation she has for time whizzing by so quickly. But she's alive and well and enjoying life as it flits past. Well, when she's not asleep that is! Baggy went to bed at 8.30 last night (because Cal did, and she was tired). Unlike Calum though who was up at stupid o'clock to go to work, Baggy was woken by Pepper at 10.00am! Furry Mama realised that he was tired too. She was just making a cup of tea when her sister phoned to wish her a "Happy Birthday". Much yacking later Baggy was even more proud of her elder niece! Apparently her trip to Thailand for yoga, meditation and one-to-ones with Buddhist monks, was not at all what it was meant to be!! So she sorted it! Complained to the company she booked through. Got a refund. Found another retreat. Booked it. Took buses, tiny planes and ferries to a Thai island. And now has the meditative break that she wanted in the first place. But it sounds as though it was all part of the universe's plan, because the retreat she is now on is so touchy-feely-hippy-lovey, that she probably wouldn't have booked it. But she loves it. Aunty Baggy is happy for you Em!

Clever Bird decided that Baggy needed a bit of inner-rebalancing Zen on her birthday as well. So Furry Mama packed Pepper Pooch up and they headed over to Dunwich in Billy Bob.

The place was pretty quiet. Perfect for lots of ball throwing.

Furry Mama walked considerably further than Baggy would have chosen. It's not easy walking on pebbles. But Creative Clara was so "in the moment" looking at pretty pebbles and shells, while Pepper hurtled about, that she didn't realise just how far they'd gone!

By the time they'd walked back, they'd been on the beach for nearly three hours! The meaning of mindfulness in a "shell"...............

Sunday, 19 November 2017

Indulgent.

Note to readers (my lovely Baggees): For the avoidance of any doubt - every character in this blog is me!!! No Baggy was harmed in its writing.

Baggy's daily state!
Depression (Black = really bad/Grey = not great/Blue = okay/Yellow = sunny day): Blue.
Anxiety (From 1 = barely any to 10 = gibbering wreck standard): 6.
Tears: No.
Overall day: Lovely.

Clever Bird decided that after eating a bacon sarnie (made by Calum) for breakfast, she'd eat some of her pick-and-mix sweets for "pudding". Well if you can't sit around in your dressing gown, making yourself feel sick on sweets, the day before you turn 58, when can you? Eventually Furry Mama decided that enough was enough and everyone needed to get out and sample the beautiful day - especially Hormonal Hannah who was feeling all "nervy". Baggy drove Billy Bob to the stunning beach at Dunwich Heath. On the way, Hannah got more and more anxious. "I hate this sick, anxious feeling", said Baggy.
"What are you worried about?" asked Calum.
"Absolutely no idea. And that just makes it worse".
Baggy drove on. She parked Billy Bob overlooking the sea. Furry Mama took off Pepper's harness and let him out. He was so excited. They all set off down the footpath to the beach. It is only with hindsight, that Clever Bird realised that the instant that they started walking, Hannah's anxiety pretty much vanished! The weather was stunning - cold but beautiful. Baggy was toasty in her Birthday jacket, bought by number one furry.

They walked along the beach, looking for lucky pebbles, throwing Pepper's ball and regularly rescuing it from the sea.

The tide was going out. The sky was changing with the setting sun, even though it was only 3.00pm.

Baggy felt at one with the world and her male furries.

Creative Clara kept pointing her phone camera and hoping, as the sun was so bright she couldn't see the screen.

Baggy wandered along feeling very lucky to be able to reach such stunning beaches so easily - just a twenty-minute drive from their home. And as she loves driving Billy Bob camper so much, it's a win-win!

Furry Mama's not too sure who was enjoying ball throwing the most, Calum or Pepper!

Possibly Calum.

Meanwhile as the boys played, Creative Clara started beachcombing for interesting pebbles and shells. She got totally absorbed by it and filled a couple of doggy doo-doo bags.

As the sun dropped, so did the temperature. And Baggy's knickers had also dropped as she constantly bent over to collect treasures. Her bottom got rather chilly.

Back at Billy Bob, Baggy was ready for a cappuccino but unfortunately the National Trust café had closed at 3.00, so instead Clara took some last photos.

And apparently Calum took one too...............