Children can be a big worry.

As regular Baggees will know, Creative Clara had to take a break from blogging for a few weeks, because Hormonal Hannah was too stressed to cope. As she explained in her birthday blog, Grotty Groom is now back on track! The Boys are back to their chilled-out selves (well for the most part anyway). For the sake of total honesty, Wesley does still have the odd "moment", but they're relaxed enough that last Tuesday Grotty decided to ride Wesley in the school on her own for the first time. She brought him in from his happy grass eating, and left Joey to his! With hindsight Clever Bird realises that this was an error; what she should have done was to bring Joey in as well - but more of that later!

Wesley was happy enough to wander in and munch on his hay, while Grotty got herself and him ready to ride. But as soon as she led him out to the school, he finally realised that his brother was not around, and started to whinny for him - constantly, and very loudly. But a brave Grotty decided to ignore this little performance, and get on him anyway. A few minutes of walking around allowed Wesley to realise that he could see his brother in his paddock, so he relaxed - as did Baggy, meaning that Grotty even asked for a little trot. 

This is how chilled out the Boy was at the end of the short session - just admiring the view.

As Grotty had booked a lesson for the Thursday, she decided to do the same thing on Wednesday, so that both Baggy and Wesley would be relaxed for their lesson. Stage one: go out to the paddock and bring the boy in from his grass munching. He was at the far end of his paddock, and for a moment Freda Fretter wondered whether she would have to walk down and get him.

But as soon as he saw his mum, he walked straight to her and dropped his head down into the head collar, happy to go in. 

"Hi Wessles, have you had a good day munching?"

" I has mum. Was luvly."

"Good lad, just stand while I try to close this electric gate without zapping myself."

"Rightho! Actuals, thinks I'll go see my bruv."

"Wesley, you little ****!"

What seemed like an hour later, but in reality was probably fifteen or twenty minutes later, after Wesley had galloped to say "hello" to Joey, then every other horse one by one; after he had evaded Grotty twice; after he had set every other horse off in a frenzy around their own paddocks; after he had let her take his lead rope to head back to the yard, then changed his mind and spun and galloped back to Joey - the new-yard owner came to Grotty's rescue! In his classic, "butter wouldn't melt" way, he then happily walked in with her, while a highly embarrassed Grotty, brought Joey in. Baggy was shaken, and was shaking - literally, so to add to her humiliation Joey decided to take off too - cantering the few yards to get to Wesley. The yard owner, then calmly walked both Boys in, while Grotty followed behind trying hard to stem Baggy's tears of fear/disappointment/hurt/humiliation and embarrassment!

Freda Fretter decided that perhaps Grotty shouldn't get on the boy after all. She also thought that she should cancel her lesson. Instead, she took Wesley back out to the school and lunged him for a while. He was an angel! 

"I is sorry mum! Just thort that Joe should come in too, so I went to get him. Then thort I did wrong and got worried. Didn't mean to cause upsets. Really is sorry."

Having calmed down, eventually, Grotty decided that she would go ahead with her lesson the next day. As a precaution, Clever Bird got both Boys left in for the day to avoid a repeat performance; which also meant that they could stuff themselves with hay all morning. The lesson went amazingly, and even though it was only in walk, and some trotting, Grotty, and Wesley were both chuffed to bits. It gave Grotty enough confidence to ride again on Saturday and Sunday with Cal and Joey. 

So yep Baggees, Grotty is happy. 

Furry Mama has also had a difficult time over the past few months. Pepper Pooch's allergies caused by his autoimmune disease have kept flaring up, causing itchy, sore welts on his skin, as his body reacts and starts to attack itself. At their worst, they are extremely painful for the poor lad, and then when they dry out, the fur on them falls out, so he now has lots of bare patches. He's been on steroids for months, but each time the dose was reduced he got poorly again. A couple of months back the vet recommended retesting for environmental allergies, as he was so young when the first test was done. It took weeks to get the results as the tests are so sophisticated, but long story short he's gone from having four key allergies when he was one, to now having fifteen! The absolute worst of which by far being dust mites and mould mites, which put The Domestic Goddess into a total cleaning frenzy for days. He's also allergic to nettles, dock, beech, fungus, grass and numerous other things that live in Gloria's garden! Today he had his second immunotherapy injection to attempt to make him feel better.

Clever Bird is optimistic that the therapy will help, and is relieved that he is already looking a little happier, and less "scratchy". 

Kids are stressful! Four-legged ones included...

Note to readers: Everyone in this blog is Baggy!! Yes, the gang is indeed just the one person; one person with multiple personalities, trying to make the most of life.

In times of great stress, sometimes the solution is a change of scenery!

"Happy Birthday to You, Happy Birthday to You, Happy Birthday dear Baggy, Happy Birthday to you!" 

Nope Baggees, Creative Clara is not going to sing it twice, Baggy is not washing her hands - obviously - as she's typing; it really is Baggy's birthday. Now Clever Bird isn't sure whether it's an old bird thing, or just an anxiety-ridden-personality thing of the Hormonal Hannah variety, but Baggy has been awake since 2.30am! At 3.30am Clever Bird decided that she might as well just get up, have a cup of (decaf.) tea, and then see if she could get back to sleep. After tea, toast, and a bit of catching up on the soaps, Baggy went back to bed at 5.00am. It was clear after thirty minutes that she might as well get up again! Furry Mama felt bad about this, as Pepper Pooch and Bracket kat, both of whom had come downstairs with her, followed her back up to bed and settled down with her once more; (rather annoyingly to Hormonal Hannah), both instantly falling to sleep! Furry Mama tried not to disturb them as she got up once more, but she failed. Pepper sighed and followed her back downstairs, Bracket kat meowed for food.

Creative Clara decided to attempt to distract Baggy's brain by writing a blog. Yep she's back - again. Because you know what Baggees, Clara has missed blogging! And in the last few weeks, thanks to her ever supportive number one furry, Calum, circumstances have improved considerably in Baggy's life and as a result, Hormonal Hannah is coping well with this latest lockdown. 

Firstly, Calum, Baggy and Pepper Pooch managed a little break, and went to visit Baggy's sister Debby for a few days in Kent. This was well needed for many reasons! Usually Baggy sees her sister every couple of months or so, but thanks to lockdown, she hadn't seen her since early March. Also, as they were driving down there, it occurred to Clever Bird that it was getting on for two years since Baggy had actually been anywhere other than within her local area. 

This explained why she was feeling so "bored" with the area, (that actually she loves), to the point where once again Clever Bird had been house hunting on the internet, wanting to move to a completely different part of the country. Loneliness, boredom, serious stress, feeling lost, and worrying about Calum being all over the country, had got Hormonal Hannah to the point where she was fighting depression and anxiety on a daily basis - truthfully Baggees, she was unravelling! In her desperation, she came extremely close to buying a shop!!!! 

The trip to Kent came at the perfect moment, and they all had a wonderful time. Feeling like the world was just a little bit "normal", during this ghastly pandemic, was wonderful.

Secondly, the horses are at a wonderful new yard and are now spending eight hours a day outside, munching grass and mooching about, rather than being stabled from September to March or April, as they have been for the last couple of years. How extremely unsuitable this was for them became increasingly apparent to Grotty Groom, as she attempted not to totally lose her nerve while riding the unexploded bomb, that Wesley had become after just three weeks of being stabled. Due to Baggy's various illnesses and surgeries in the previous three years, the horses had remained unridden, so just how unhappy being stabled was making them was not as obvious as it should have been to Grotty. But, lesson learnt, and situation now remedied. Just as importantly, the new yard is much better for Grotty too, for lots of reasons; for one, even though it's a smaller yard, there are way more people there, so Baggy gets to chat to other humans, as well as horses, and hence, she already feels considerably less lonely! Even the Pooch has made new friends:

So, to celebrate reaching her 61st birthday, (slightly against the odds), the gang (and their blog) are back. It's taken nearly three hours to write this one, so there's little point in Baggy going back to bed as it's now 8.00am! Therefore, it's time to let the birthday commence: shower, dress and head to the beach with the Pooch.

Have a lovely day Baggees, and whatever you're up to, stay safe...

Note to readers: Everyone in this blog is Baggy!! Yes, the gang is indeed just the one person; one person with multiple personalities, trying to make the most of life.