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.