Well Baggees! Sorry Baggy has been a bit AWOL, but she's been rather busy getting on with life.
Her new routine involves a little bit of meditation each day. This seems to have sorted Baggy's head out so dramatically that she is sleeping really well, and actually waking up early, feeling refreshed; rather than stumbling out of bed some time after 9.00 feeling exhausted! She therefore has the energy to take Furry Mama and Pepper Pooch (who is now 99% back to his usual self), to the beach each day, where they walk from Southwold pier to the harbour and back. In recent days this has involved walking head-on into the forty to fifty -mile-an-hour winds on the way, and being blown along by them on the way back.
Baggy then drives Grotty Groom to the yard and carries on with her walking of Wesley, while an exhausted pooch happily sleeps in Billy Bob Jalopy campervan wrapped up in his doggy bathrobe.
Wesley's walks are now up to forty-minutes a session. Wessles seems to enjoy it - even in the ridiculously strong winds that Suffolk has had again today; but of course they're nicely sheltered in the wonderful indoor school.
It's certainly helping with the Boy's stiffness, as Baggy is starting to struggle to walk fast enough to keep up with him.
Next step will be long-reining him. Mind you Baggy nearly ended up with a broken finger at the end of today's session! Grotty opened the sliding door to the school, and before she could open it wide enough to safely get both Baggy and Wesley through, Wesley decided that he'd waited long enough for his lunch and barged past Grotty. As Wesley can do with ease, he demonstrated the stand to gallop manoeuvre, and shot out past Grotty, who was quick enough to tighten her hold on the lunge-line with her right hand, to stop him in his tracks; however, the excess line in her left hand was caught by the wind, and wrapped round Baggy's index finger tightening as Wesley zoomed away! Fortunately, Baggy still has an intact finger, and Pauline has shown her a more sensible way to hold the loose excess line for future reference. Clever Bird is always happy to learn something new - especially if it means that Baggy can retain all of her fingers.
On the not quite so windy days, they've been venturing into the outdoor school for a change of scenery and a bit of winter sunshine.
All of this marching about, means that Baggy is now averaging over 11,000 steps a day, which according to Baggy's phone app. translates to 5 miles!
No wonder that so far she has now lost 17lbs!
Next stop, often via the Post Office to send off various items from Creative Clara's little Etsy shop Realuv, home so that The Domestic Goddess (who has officially dropped her middle names of 'Not A'), can cook.
Sorry about the fuzzy food photos - Clever Bird blames the steam!
As Clara mentioned in her last blog, the biggest change since Baggy has been following her on-line programme, is to Hormonal Hannah, whose depression and anxiety have now been zero for the last couple of weeks. And when she did have a tiny blip last weekend, in spite of the weather Baggy, was determined to get her out to do her steps! Furry Mama dragged number one furry out too!
At the end of the walk, the cheese scone in the National Trust cafe at Dunwich Heath, was well earned!
Baggy is a new woman...
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!
Furry Mama is delighted to say that the pooch seems to be almost back to his usual, lovely self. Not quite; but almost! He's still much less energetic than usual, but at least he is wanting to go out for walks again. And no Baggees, Creative Clara has not retouched that photo - the sky truly was that blue yesterday.
Freda Fretter is worried about the sand dunes though! A few weeks ago, these were dunes that gently rolled down to the beach, not the eight-plus foot 'cliff' that they currently are.
It's hardly surprising, with the storms and the exceptionally high tides that have been happening recently, but it's scary how fast the coast in Suffolk is eroding.
Today, all of these fallen clumps are completely gone. But look at the sea from last weekend!
You cannot even see the beach. And there's another storm that's going to hit at the weekend. It does however make for interesting walks. Especially when Baggy is walking head-on into fifty to sixty-mile-an-hour winds! It's all good for Baggy's new exercise regime!
And that's the really good news! The online programme that Baggy is following, is now in its fifth week, and Baggy feels like a new person! And as for Hormonal Hannah - well - that's a bit of a miracle! Clever Bird can't actually remember the last time that she felt so good; if indeed she ever has felt so good!
This is a combination of two things. Firstly, the programme that has her eating better, thinking more positively and meditating, as well as walking more and exercising. Result: she is less stressed, calmer, sleeping better, more energetic, less hungry and has so far lost 1 stone! Secondly, it's down to Baggy's number one furry!
Last weekend, after a few dreams, and resurfacing, 'flashback'- type memories, Hormonal Hannah decided to open up to her husband - well as best she could, when she can't actually remember anything for sure! But it's clear to Clever Bird that whatever major trauma, or traumas that happened to Baggy when she was a small child, are, for whatever reason, attempting to resurface from the depths of her subconscious, where they've been buried for the last fifty-plus years. It's been rather terrifying and was putting Hannah back into a really bad place, because it seems probable that little Baggy might well have been abused. When Baggy explained all this to Calum, through marginally hysterical tears, his response was simple, and brilliant.
'If you did ever remember what happened to you, how would you feel about it?'
'I don't know, but if it's as awful as I suspect it is, then I'd be devastated.'
'And would you feel any differently about yourself?'
'What do you mean?'
'Well whatever it was that happened, happened - there's nothing you can do about it now. You're the person you are, in spite of it, or maybe partly because of it, and I wouldn't change you at all. I love you just as you are.'
After letting that sink in, and a mini-meltdown, somehow Hannah has let it go! And she feels great! Because Calum is correct, and in deciding to stop letting the past eat her up, she finally doesn't care what happened, because she adores her husband, and her life, and she doesn't want to waste what's left of it being debilitated by hidden memories. As a result, the gang are back on track!
Furry Mama has taken to walking the pooch at the beach, before Baggy drives Grotty Groom to the yard to see her horses. As she wants to bring both of them back into work, Clever Bird decided that she should get them checked over by their physiotherapist. Yes Baggees, Baggy is falling apart at the seams with aches, pains and arthritis, but it's the horses who have a physiotherapist!
Considering that they've had three years off, being lawnmowers, they're both in good shape. They've lost their muscle strength, which is no surprise, and Wesley is stiff behind, which is also no surprise; Wesley has been stiff behind at this time of year, since he was four years old, thanks sadly to his back issues.
So Grotty knows that they need to start some gentle work, to build their muscles back up. Today, Grotty started her plan - walk Wesley, like you walk a dog! Only trouble was that he was having his postprandial nap when she got there.
As Grotty went into his stable, it was clear that the Boy had no intention of getting up to do some work.
Gentle persuasion wasn't cutting it, after all last time Grotty just lay down with him, and he carried on sleeping!
In the end, Grotty just said, 'Up you get!' and he decided to oblige. They had a very happy thirty minutes wandering around the indoor school. By the end of it, Baggy could barely keep up with Wesley.
He clearly enjoyed ambling about the school, and was happy to let Clara take a few photos before they wandered back to the stables.
Chilled horse - totally unnecessary for Freda Fretter to make Grotty wear a riding hat that nearly cooked Baggy's head! It was a win win though, because it added a further 3,000 steps to Baggy's daily count!
Once back in the stable, Grotty headed off to fetch the lad some minty treats. She went back into his stable to put his rug on, but as soon as Wesley realised that Grotty had treats on her he started to do his routine of stretches! Now this was surprising, as it must be at least three years since he last did them. Grotty was delighted, a) because he remembered them and b) because he did them with ease!
Now Clever Bird just needs to get Baggy to remember to do some stretches too...
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!
Regular Baggees will undoubtedly have noticed by now, that it's a theme of Baggy's life that every single time that things for most of the gang are running along smoothly, something sneaks in to derail them. On this occasion it has been the doggy sickness virus that is spreading rapidly around the UK! Last weekend, as usual Furry Mama took Pepper Pooch to the beach. He was his usual happy, hurtling-about self, until he got home. Once home he put himself on the sofa, having ignored his food once again, and went to sleep. Nothing so unusual about that; until he got up and was sick all over the carpet. As he hadn't eaten for over 36-hours this was a slimy froth, so Furry Mama wondered whether it was just sea water. But an hour later he was sick again, and had drool hanging from his mouth. Having read about the sickness bug on the internet, Clever Bird decided that she had better phone the vet. By now though it was 4.00pm, so naturally the vet was closed! Of course it was!
Four phone numbers later she got to the emergency vet, who told her to bring Pepper straight in. Fine, except that it is a forty-five-minute drive away. Furry Mama squashed herself onto the back seat of Fred Volvo so she could be next to the pooch as he lay in the back. The journey seemed to take forever, but there was no one else in the vets', so at least there was no queue. As soon as Pepper walked into reception he lay down on the floor, looking miserable.
Yep, he had the virus, so was given an anti-sickness injection. The drive home was marginally less stressful, as the vet was confident that he would make a quick recovery as he is such a fit dog. Unfortunately, on Sunday, the pooch refused to even get off Baggy's bed. He had slobber hanging from both sides of his mouth, and looked as pale, as it's possible for a black dog to look. Clever Bird phoned the vet again; her instructions were to get him walking around, and then see how he is. Furry Mama literally used the duvet to roll him off the bed - he was bad! As soon as he drank some water, he was sick - twice.
This second trip seemed to take forever, but it was the right decision, because as soon as he was in reception, Pepper was sick all over the floor. Another injection - then home again. By Monday, he seemed slightly brighter, but still hadn't eaten anything. So for the third time, Furry Mama took him to the vet - at least this time it was her local one, five minutes away.
'Try not to worry. He seems fit and strong, so just let him rest, and see if you can persuade him to eat something.'
Easier said than done when the poor dog is allergic to everything tempting! But he did eat a little later that day, then a little more, and he wasn't sick. All good, except that he seemed to have a terrible rash under his armpits. Furry Mama put antibiotic cream under his armpits and gave him cold washes. By Wednesday, he seemed to want a walk, so for the first time, Furry Mama took him for a wander around the village. On Thursday he was brighter and Furry Mama was delighted to take him for two short walks. Then once again on Friday, he just wouldn't get off Baggy's bed!
Yep, Baggees, another visit to the vet. Conclusion, Pepper had had a serious allergic reaction to something. No idea what! Maybe the injections.
'I think we need to give him a course of steroids.'
'Okay. I think he's had them before,' said Furry Mama.
'Let's check.'
'I think it's probably an environmental allergy,' said Calum.
'Well that could well be,' said the vet, 'because it looks as though he had similar rashes last March, which was when we gave him steroids before.'
The poor sausage is now on his second day of steroids and the rash that Furry Mama had not even realised that he had in his ears, (until the vet pointed it out), has almost gone. His armpits are still red raw, but they are not as itchy as they were. Therefore the good news is that he does seem to be on the mend. So, as he is clearly getting very down, today, in spite of the storm, Calum and Furry Mama took him for a walk on the promenade at Southwold.
It was a short and not-so-sweet walk, as all three of them were sandblasted, but it was good to be getting somewhat back to normal.
Naturally, as Baggy has been effectively stuck in the house for most of the week, Hormonal Hannah dragged the black cloud out, and she's had a difficult couple of days, but thankfully, she seems to be back on track as the pooch has improved. Fingers crossed that Pepper and Hannah improve as the week proceeds...
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!
