Some things are worth the cost.

Creative Clara spoke way too soon yesterday and jinxed Baggy's sleep! Last night was back to her new normal, and she possibly had four hours in total - over three sessions! But it does give Hormonal Hannah time to think, and last night from around 2.00am to 3.30am, all her thoughts were focussed on Grotty Groom!

Doing mental arithmetic is probably not the best way of relaxing an over-excitable mind that refuses to sleep, unless it's of the counting sheep variety, but that's what Baggy was up to! And the result of her maths, was that she realised that since Grotty Groom became Wesley's human, at a conservative estimate, he has cost her in the region of £95,000! 

And truthfully, you can probably add another £20,000 to that! But you know what Baggees, it's the best money that Baggy has ever spent. As Creative Clara has said previously; Wesley was sent to Baggy to be her angel.

Baggy and number one furry don't smoke, or drink much, don't go out often, don't have children, don't go on expensive holidays abroad, or more accurately, don't go on any holidays anywhere, don't buy lots of clothes or 'things', so their money goes largely on their horse(s). 

It always worries Clever Bird, when she hears a person saying, 'I've almost saved up enough to get myself a horse.' Just no! If you are struggling to purchase a horse, there is no way in a hundred years, that you'll be able to afford its upkeep. And yes this is going to annoy a lot of people, but Clever Bird also believes that like a cat or a dog, a horse is for life, not just until you get fed up with it. Obviously, there are exceptions to this rule, lots of exceptions in fact, but not for Grotty! 

Frankly, the number of life-threatening injuries that Baggy has suffered over the years, from unscheduled dismounts from her horse, or over-dramatic 'moments, would have had many riders moving him on!

Even the odd encounter with a hoof! 

But every adventure is a tale to be told, and Grotty wouldn't change a thing!

Having given Freda Fretter a bit of a shock, Clever Bird persuaded Baggy to resist calculating Joey's cost as well.

After all, Wesley chose Grotty to be his human over fourteen years ago, but even though Joey is the new boy, Calum became his human nearly ten years ago!!

And neither of them would have it any other way!

Half asleep this morning, Baggy left Cal and two helpers to move the old shed from its old resting place...

and took Furry Mama and Pepper to the beach. And once again they were Blessed with a rainbow.

Having got pretty wet on the beach, a slightly soggy Baggy took Grotty to see her money-eating machines, before heading home to her husband.

The good news Baggees is, that when Baggy got home, the shed had been moved! The bad news is, that Cal was in such a bad mood (having nearly finished himself off moving it), that Creative Clara didn't dare get in the way taking photos! She will do so tomorrow...

Note to readers: For the avoidance of any doubt, every character in this blog is Baggy! No Baggy was harmed in its writing, although some of them get pretty confused!

What a wonderful life.

Clever Bird is not sure quite what has happened to Baggy, but she finds herself in a really good place. Zero anxiety! Zero depression! 

Mad as it might sound, she's fairly sure it's down to the spiritual happenings experienced by Psychic Ploppo in recent days (see the last blog). Baggy has always been spiritual, but this is a new level. But whatever it is, Hormonal Hannah feels lighter - as if some heavy dark cloak has been taken from her shoulders. 

And, she's beginning to get a routine going too. Beach/yard/home. She's even sleeping better - maybe a little too well - Clever Bird might need to start setting the alarm. But the universe keeps sending her signs, and finally she's in a place to understand them! A not so subtle one, is that Creative Clara has had three orders from her little Etsy shop, Realuv in the last week! (Anyone would think it was nearly Christmas). That aside, considering that there are over 2 million shops on Etsy, Clara's little shop ticks over nicely, even when she has not added any new products to it in months! So, another of the things that Clara will be doing moving forward, is developing her business!

After Clara had finished packing up her two parcels this morning, Furry Mama took Pepper Pooch to an extremely dramatic Southwold beach. 

They both enjoyed a quick drink in the sunshine, before Baggy took Grotty Groom to the yard to see her Boys.

Wesley's lovely Aunty Pauline clipped Joey on Wednesday, and tackled him today. Grotty arrived shortly after his new haircut was complete! 

This is how he looked yesterday:

And after Pauline had removed a small Shetland pony:

This is how he looked today:

Grotty decided that he needed some plaits to complete the look, but Wessles wasn't convinced! After chasing him around the stable for ten-minutes trying to put them in, Clever Bird suggested that Grotty tie him up for once:

When she returns tomorrow, he will be having a mini-washdown:

But how handsome does he look Baggees? A 'proper' horse! And considering how thick his coat is, he must feel a lot more comfortable! (Thank you Pauline!)

Joey will also be having some more of his fluff removed shortly!

As Grotty left the yard, Hormonal Hannah felt wonderful! Baggy's best places for meditating and living in the moment, being the beach and with her horses - tick and tick. But the rainbow that greeted her as she left, lifted her spirits even more.

Although it turned out to be a hailbow; as the little bits of ice pinged off the top of Billy Bob Jalopy campervan as Baggy drove into Halesworth. And the weirdest thing happened Baggees! Baggy found herself literally at the end of the rainbow! As she was driving along the tiny country road, she found herself actually in the rainbow itself - for a brief few seconds, the multiple colours were shining in the van with Baggy and Pepper!!!! It was seriously magical, and Clever Bird isn't even going to try to explain how that might have happened.

Baggy and Pepper then spent a happy couple of hours in town; posting Clara's Realuv parcels to Weston-Super-Mare and Canada; spending part of Baggy's birthday gift voucher on some hippy gloves; booking a table for a catch-up lunch with one of Baggy's best friends; buying Pepper Pooch another towelling-drying coat; and doing some Christmas shopping, before sitting in the autumn sun having a cappuccino.

It has been a seriously wonderful day...

Note to readers: For the avoidance of any doubt, every character in this blog is Baggy! No Baggy was harmed in its writing, although some of them get pretty confused!

It's time for a spiritual awakening.

Psychic Ploppo has been making her presence felt in the gang recently. Things have been happening to Baggy that haven't happened in some considerable time. Despite her name, Ploppo is not a 'proper' psychic; that is, she doesn't really know what she is doing, however, she is extremely psychic. Indeed she has been since she was a child. Clever Bird is well aware that many Baggees will now be running for the hills, or muttering at their screen as they read this, and sometimes Freda Fretter does wonder whether it is wise for Baggy to discuss such things aloud, let alone put them in writing, but there you are, Ploppo is psychic. 

Regular Baggees will know this, as Creative Clara has mentioned it before, and yet Ploppo can disappear from the gang for months, even years at a time. Clever Bird wonders why this is, but suspects it's something to do with Hormonal Hannah's state-of-mind. Certainly when Hannah is feeling vulnerable or ill, Ploppo seems to have experiences. Yet, Ploppo is often at her most noticeable when Baggy is feeling content and physically well. 

But since Baggy's father died, some seven or eight years ago (Hormonal Hannah has blanked that little piece of information), Ploppo has only surfaced a few times - until now. In the last few weeks on a number of occasions, Pepper Pooch has suddenly started to do a low-rumbling growl, while staring at the spot in the sitting room where Baggy's father died. Baggy saw and felt nothing - of Ploppo there was no sign. 

Then on the day before Baggy's 60th birthday, something otherworldly happened; Baggy received a text message from an acquaintance who's one of Baggy's Facebook friends.

'I think I may have a message for you. Do you have anyone in your family called Harry?'

After various misunderstandings on Clever Bird's part, about whether or not her FB account had been hacked, it transpired that it was in fact a spirit-message from Baggy's great-great-grandfather. Baggy had no clue that this acquaintance was a medium having maybe met him two or three times, but apparently he'd received the message at 4 o'clock in the morning that Harry wished to speak to Baggy. 

As text messages whizzed back-and-forth, for perhaps an hour, another spirit joined the conversation.

'Harry is telling me of .... some sort of uncertainty about the future.'

While Baggy tried to type a response, this came...

'I'm getting a strong odour of pipe smoke?'

'Are you thinking of writing a book? I see notes and stuff needing to be put together in a book or folder, like a first draft script or something?'

'Could be more than one male here... the men in your family have always been the strong silent types... but you would not want to cross them.'

By this point, Clever Bird was being a cynic, and thinking, well of course, much of this has been in Baggy's blogs has it not? And yet, much of the messages had not been in the blog, and Baggy's dad always smoked a pipe - a very smelly, unpleasant tobacco...

'He has watched you grow into a fine woman and is very proud of you. He comes with a lot of emotion, but he may not have done, or said so when he was on earth plain.'

'... careful as you tread, don't go tripping over because your mind is not on where it's going...'

And on and on, and more and more information. Needless to say, Baggy was a mess. But any doubts that Clever Bird might have had about the 'realness' of the messages, (bearing in mind that Baggy's father was 100% cynical about any reference that Psychic Ploppo ever made to ghosts, spirits, deja vu experiences or anything else not scientifically explicable, and inevitably greeted such comments with derision), disappeared with the last comment:

'He has moved off now, but left me a gift for you?'
'A daisy chain?'
'Odd'
'There is some plaited hair... I think.'

The fact is Baggees that when Baggy was a little girl (when her real mother still lived with them), Baggy wore her long hair in plaits. As mentioned in other blogs, due to some (unknown) trauma, Baggy has blanked out 99% of her childhood - entirely. She literally has no memories of it from aged around eight, back, with a few exceptions. One such, being sitting on the lawn with her sister and dad, as he showed Baggy and Debby how to make daisy chains. Having made them each one, he then placed them on their heads...

Clever Bird can only suppose, that since Hormonal Hannah has been in some very dark places since moving to Baggy's father's house, and has some false memories planted in her brain, due to all kinds of weird nightmares, Baggy's dad has been trying to get in touch with Ploppo to reassure her. Clearly Pepper Pooch picked up on this, even if Ploppo was oblivious. But her dad got through in the end!!!

The gist of his message, was that Creative Clara needs to focus on her way forward, and not get side-tracked, or back pedal, putting obstacles in her way (as she generally does). Basically, it's time to do what she loves doing, and write! Baggy's father always thought that Baggy didn't make the most of her talents, and he was probably right; let's face it, Clara has spent over four years writing her first novel, and it's still unpublished, indeed, totally un-shared. And Psychic Ploppo has always wanted Clever Bird to find out more about her gifts, but Freda Fretter has never allowed her to. Well it would seem that Baggy's dad and great-great-grandad think it's time to let Clara and Ploppo take a more prominent role in the gang, so that is what will be happening!...

Last night Psychic Ploppo asked her spirit guide, 'What do I need to do to move forwards?'

These cards were her answer. Each and every one of which, has the same message: meditate to unblock your energy; focus on your inner being; tackle new projects with confidence; contemplate how to best spend your time; work out what you love to do; relax and meditate; stop sitting on your own life force, let it flow...

Note to readers: For the avoidance of any doubt, every character in this blog is Baggy! No Baggy was harmed in its writing, although some of them get pretty confused!