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): Big bright shiny happy Yellow.
Anxiety (From 1 = barely any to 10 = gibbering wreck standard): 2.
Tears: Noooooo.
Pancakes (Yes/No): Nope!!
Weight in her terrifying naked state (Stones and pounds): And saggy bits.
The rain has gone - the sun is out. Spring is trying to sprung. Baggy woke up in a good mood - well eventually! She was initially woken up by number one furry accidentally dialling her mobile phone at stupid-o-clock, but went straight back to sleep. Then she was woken at 6.30 by Pepper batting her on the nose with his paw - a little trick he has learned from Hinge cat! Furry Mama can take a hint, so she got up and fed everyone, and let the pooch out. It was still 6.45, so Baggy went back to bed. Pepper joined her. He woke her again with a little whimper at 9.00!
As Baggy and the pooch had a long day yesterday, driving over to the holiday cottage to pay bills, replace pillows, drop off welcome cards, and take the cottage's wonderful caretaker out to lunch, Furry Mama had promised the pooch a treat today. He deserved it, he was such a poppet yesterday. He was so calm in the pub that the owner didn't even realise he was there. He had hopped onto the bench seat next to Baggy, and gone to sleep! Baggy absolutely loves driving Billy Bob Jalopy, but he's quite hard work, and three hours driving took it out of her. So the lie-in was welcome, but she and the pooch still arrived at Dunwich Heath by 10.15. The joys of living so close to the sea!
Hormonal Hannah used her new tactic, of plastering a smile on Baggy's face as she drove along - funny how many people smile back. Pepper did his new favourite thing, of checking out the route and working out where he was going. Not by just looking, but by sticking his nose to the air vent on the dashboard and sniffing, then matching the smell to the location. Clever pooch. Not that he really needs to stick his nose so close, having an air-cooled campervan means that it has a free flow of air!! That and the forty-year old gappy windows and the vents that won't close mean that even Baggy can smell the various pig cities en route. It hadn't occurred to her that there was anything odd about this, until her sister had pointed out that there was no sign of a piggy smell when passing the cities in Fred Volvo car.
Pepper has clearly now got the route to Dunwich Heath down pat, as when he realised that Baggy had taken the road through the forest, he started squeaking with excitement. By the time they were driving across the heath, he was beside himself with enthusiasm, charging round the van and woofing at the windows. He decided he wanted to go to the beach, but Baggy had other plans - take Furry Mama and the pooch round the heath first, then go in the sea to wash off all the muddy water. He charged ahead waiting for his ball to be thrown. But a National Trust chap came over and said he had to be on his lead through the heath from March until August because of the nesting dicky-birds. The pooch doesn't walk well on the lead in the big wide world, so they headed to the beach instead. There is still deadly palm oil on it, but the Trust have been doing their best to get rid of it. Clever Bird kept her eyes peeled and took the pooch right down to the clear shoreline. There's one advantage to the current situation, they pretty much had the place to themselves!
The only other dogs they saw were also as under control as the pooch, who had a wonderful time, while Creative Clara did yet more pebble collecting.
On the way back to Billy Bob, the pooch demonstrated his other side! He took off!! Clever Bird knew exactly where he was going to, and also that Furry Mama would not be able to stop him, and Baggy would not be able to catch up with him! Sure enough, she watched him disappear down the bridle path back towards the sea, then take a right, straight into the stinky, muddy pond. In the distance (some two hundred yards away), she could just see him lying down in the pond and having a drink, watched by some bemused dog owners, who were probably thinking all kinds of bad thoughts about Furry Mama. Satisfied with himself, he then came trotting back up the paths to Baggy, straight past three National Trust officials, who fortunately didn't seem too annoyed. But Furry Mama can't complain really - at least he comes back, unlike Minty Mutt who would have disappeared without trace, even when he was considerably older than the pooch is.
On the way home, Pepper went back to his sniffing and it occurred to Clever Bird that he was probably wasted with her. He would have made an excellent search-and-rescue, or sniffer dog, although with all his issues, he'd probably have been deemed unfit for purpose. So to use his various skills and very large brain, Furry Mama is going to enrol him in some fun agility classes in April. Meanwhile, his main role in life is to look after Baggy, which he is superb at........
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: Yeah.
Pancakes (Yes/No): Might have - okay yes!!
Weight in her terrifying naked state (Stones and pounds): Lots of curvy bits.
Well Baggees, this time Baggy's vanishing act is not because Hormonal Hannah is bringing her down, it's because she's been really busy having a lovely time. So busy having a lovely time in fact, that Creative Clara totally forgot to take photos! Clever Bird hesitates to let Clara write this out loud, as it were, but Hannah's depression really seems to be under control at the moment. So much so that she's wondering about cutting back on the happy pills. Now no panicking caring Baggees, Clever Bird won't let her do it without talking to the doctor, but it does go to show what a good place she's been in. The anxiety on the other hand, rather up and down, so for that reason the 'happys' are probably going nowhere yet.
Some of this is due to Baggy's stress being lowered. Or maybe a lot of it is due to that. Regular Baggees will know that Hannah was feeling very guilty that Calum works so hard and she earns nothing, but that's no longer true. Creative Clara's various little enterprises are beginning to make a profit.
First, the holiday cottage will shortly be making a profit for the first time since it opened last year, which is very exciting!
https://www.holidaycottages.co.uk/east-of-england/suffolk/blossom-cottage?subregion=Suffolk
Second, Baggy's little Etsy shop, Realuv, is doing nicely as well.
https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/Realuv?ref=seller-platform-mcnav
Plus the first Brocante is very soon and her little vintage cabinet is making a little profit! Meanwhile Clara is getting on with her novel, so that's all positive. But, and this was rather a surprise to Clever Bird, due to "stuff", it became necessary to increase Baggy and Cal's loan. The only way to do that was to close the old loan and take out a new one. The old loan had a ghastly interest rate on it because Baggy's credit rating wasn't great - why? Well ironically because she didn't have debts or credit cards!! Having had the loan for a year and paid lots of interest, Baggy's credit rating improved dramatically, to the point where the interest rate they were being charged reduced by over 10% to a very reasonable rate!! Moral of the story, take out lots of interest-free loans, and pay them off regularly! Clever Bird might, re-re-finance in another twelve months. Weird world, when having debt is a good thing!
Last weekend Baggy's sister came to stay for a few days. The pooch was delighted to see her, and so for the first time ever were Hinge and Bracket, who couldn't get enough of her. A Furry Mama could have been hurt! But it was lovely to spend time together and copious amounts of wine was drunk. Fruit scones and clotted cream, might also have been involved. Not to mention Victoria Sponge cake. And Easter Eggs. And Cream Slices. And... Ah well.
They did attempt to walk some of it off at Dunwich Heath - spot the deer (again).
But frankly, they'd have to have run a couple of marathons!
Meanwhile, Pepper is on the second level of his immunotherapy treatment, and it seems to be helping, which as hayfever season is upon us in little old Suffolk, that is a relief.
Gloria Gardener has also been busy clearing the new bit of land and planting some wildflower seeds. And very kindly, it's rained every day since, so as long as they haven't all been washed away, they might actually sprout! Fingers crossed.
So all is well in Baggy land, and it's a long weekend, so number one furry will be home tomorrow! Yay, Happy Easter Baggees........
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): 4.
Tears: No.
Pancakes (Yes/No): There's still time!!
Weight in her terrifying naked state (Stones and pounds): Whatevs.
Here he is - Hormonal Hannah's sign from the universe. While Furry Mama was throwing the ball for the pooch earlier in the week she had a sign. They were in an area known locally as The Folly, part of which is an old gravel pit, so there are pebbles everywhere. Baggy paid no attention to them, but the ball was placed by the pooch next to this one! A pebble with a big grinning face. Psychic Ploppo saw him as a sign that she needs to get Baggy to smile when Hannah is feeling down or anxious. She started instantly - wandering about with a big daft grin on her fat face - her mood, which was okay anyway, lifted and her anxiety dropped. Whenever she gets really anxious, Calum tells Clever Bird to get Baggy to think of it as excitement, so she's trying! Grin and think, "excited!"
Shortly after finding him, Pepper lost his tennis ball - well maybe Furry Mama lost it to be more accurate. It disappeared in a bramble patch, never to be seen again. Fortunately, Clever Bird always makes Baggy carry a spare. But a few minutes later......
Usually the pooch goes in the canal and the ball stays fairly put. But he decided to go in the stream, that has rather a strong current. Fortunately Clever Bird had a back-up, back-up ball!
Baggy's sister is coming to stay for a few days tomorrow, so The Domestic Goddess has been wearing Baggy out trying to get the house looking vaguely decent. Two days in and Clever Bird decided that Pepper and Hormonal Hannah needed a treat. As the pooch is getting Baggy up at 6.30 these days, she figured there'd be time for a treat and cleaning. They were at Dunwich Heath just before 8.30. Remember the sea on Sunday Baggees, courtesy of the Beast-from-the-East:
No Beast in sight today:
But before they hit the beach, they did a really long walk around the heath:
Can you see the roe deer Baggees? Probably not, but they are in the photo. Furry Mama had already seen a muntjac and a fallow deer - if they'd seen the red ones, she'd have had the full set!
The pooch made a valiant attempt at losing another ball...
It was a beautiful peaceful walk, and Baggy was happy to be alive. She was just thanking God for such a wonderful day when the pooch dropped the ball at her feet - two heart stones together!!!!! Another sign.
Freda Fretter wasn't sure that Furry Mama should take the Pepper Pooch on the beach, in case the Beast-from-the-East had dumped more palm oil, but Clever Bird had a good look and it seemed to be okay, so they went down to the shoreline and hurled the ball:
The pooch had a lovely time, and Furry Mama was happy to get salt water on him, to get the ditch water off him! Creative Clara picked up interesting pebbles. By the time they got back to Billy Bob Jalopy campervan, they were both exhausted and Baggy's brain wasn't working properly, so she managed to set Billy Bob's alarm off five times before letting the pooch in. She was delighted to bump into her recently acquired Uncle Ron (actually, no longer that recent, as Baggy and Calum will have been married for eight years this year), for a quick hug and chat, before heading home.
Baggy and the pooch were so tired that they planned on flopping, but Calum insisted that they went to dog training class, as they didn't go last week and "the boy needs training". He's had a couple of 'accidents' recently, which got Cal a bit disappointed in him, but Clever Bird is fairly sure that it was Furry Mama's fault, she doesn't always hear the pooch's subtle requests to go out. So they went. The pooch was a superstar as usual. They were both totally exhausted by the time they finished. When they got home, The Goddess was supposed to carry on, but Baggy had no energy, so she didn't. Instead Creative Clara decided to check out her pebbles. Well! Now Baggees you may not be able to see this, but (and this was not intentional), every single pebble that she picked up, has a face on it!
If ever there was a sign from the universe, Psychic Ploppo knows that this was it, and guess what Baggees, every single pebble, was found by Clara, because Pepper dropped his ball right next to them! Baggy is beginning to think that perhaps Hannah might be leaving the gang soon thanks to the pooch. Here's hoping.......
Meanwhile, Baggy decided to practise for her sister's arrival - well, the wine was chilling in the fridge after all.........
