Bonuses

Check out my stunning amaryllis. It’s got a bonus baby too, so I will have more stunning flowers. My amaryllis from last year is getting ready to bloom too. What a wonderful sight. And a wonderful Christmas present. For the past few years, my friend Jan has given me one. They seem to love this sunny spot.

Wish I could say the same about all of my plants. I was woken up by a loud thud this morning. It seemed one of the kittens had knocked a plant over in the conservatory. There was soil all over the place, in their bowl and on the mats.

So out came the hoover. And off went the kittens. Glaring at me through the doors in the rain.

As the hoover was out, I did the rest of the house. Then washed their bowls. Before feeding them (and me). All before coffee. An interesting way to start the day.

Pooches

Flying visit to Suffolk to round off a lovely Easter weekend. Simon and Harry have loads of pooches for me to cuddle. At one point I had three dogs trying to get on my lap. Banys won. But only by sitting on his brother Boris! They’re all so cute.

Bailey is still my favourite. He was very happy to see me as always. There’s something really heartwarming about seeing a pack of happy pooches running towards you.

It’s been a lovely Easter. Full of friends, horses, cats and dogs.

Spring forward

I’m 53 years old. You’d have thought by now that I would have mastered the whole clock change thing. In my defence, the clocks in my house aren’t helping matters.

Last Sunday, my alarm clock sprang forward unexpectedly. That resulted in me getting up an hour early – without realising it.

I manually adjusted it so it was correct.

Today, said alarm clock decided for some unfathomable reason to fall back an hour. So I lost two hours!

Yes it should automatically update like my phone does. Not a clue what’s going on there!

Seems the weather is a tad confused too. After a beautiful Spring Day yesterday, we’re back to Winter vibes. Yesterday I was full of the joys. Today I wanted to hibernate. My planned garden day turned into a house day. And yes, there was a lot of clock changing going on…

Spring cleaning

I decided to give Buddy’s stable a bit of a Spring clean today. I used a leaf blower to clear away the cobwebs and cleaned the walls. The leaf blower was a little bit too effective as I ended up covered in cobwebs! Good job I’m not afraid of spiders.

Very pleased with the result though. It looks so much better and brighter again.

After going out for a ride, I decided to give Buddy a Spring clean too. A bit of a bath, then tidied up his tail and mane. He looks very smart too.

It was one of those days where I wanted to spend as much time outdoors as possible. It was such a lovely day. A very happy Easter Saturday indeed.

Slayer

Today I slayed a dragon. Well not totally, but I made huge progress. You see I have a huge fear of brown envelopes. Particularly the ones from the tax man. I think it’s the way they’re written. Quite simply it puts the fear of god in me!

I’m very good with words. But not that good with numbers. Well I am. But not when it comes to taxes, finances or more technical numbers. I tend to have a toddler like response to them.

Now given I run my own business, a toddler tantrum doesn’t cut it with the tax man. Thankfully I have a wonderful friend who somehow manages to deal with my ineptitude, petulance and toddler tears. And makes me do the things that I really don’t want to.

After over an hour of listening to how important my call was and that I could find the answers on their website, I finally got to speak to a very helpful tax man who helped me understand what was going on and why I’d had a letter (that I really didn’t understand). I now need another letter before I can actually fix the issue. And when I say I, of course, I mean she.

To celebrate my courageous achievement, she bought me lunch. The downside was we ate it in a car park with a rather interesting view.

I’ve learn new stuff today. Fear not Accountants, your jobs are safe. I’ll stick to words and telling people’s stories. That’s where I’m at my best.

Improvise

Had to improvise today as the indoor school was being harrowed when I went to lunge Buddy. So I took him out to his field. In the squally wind. That was interesting!

A couple of ‘wind up the tail’ moments. But for the most part he was his usual wonderful self.

I like to lunge him as it gives me a different view of him and his way of going. He’s looking really well at the moment. Good job too with his crack support team!

One of whom I met for breakfast. It was really good to chat without a horse in the way. Though there were rather large sausage baps involved. I’ll let you insert your own jokes there.

Hay there

This made me giggle when I got to the yard today. Not a clue how Buddy managed to get so much hay in the manger. Now I appreciate that hay is usually put in a manger, but his hay is always on the other side of his stable.

Surprisingly, the rest of his stable was pretty good. Considering he’s a bit of a mucky pup normally. Looks like he put his efforts into spreading his hay instead.

Manic Monday

Today has been a very odd day. One of those days where I’ve got a lot done and at the same time gone round in circles.

Literally as I got stuck in a loop with social services over a question about my Mum. After being passed around, I eventually found the right person to speak to. Everyone was really helpful. Just couldn’t answer the question. Rather frustrating.

Hopefully I’ll get an answer tomorrow. At least I got to top up my vitamin D with coffee and kitten cuddles in the sunshine.

Well when they weren’t tearing round the garden like loons! They were both rather manic too! They do make me laugh with their antics.

Thwarted

Today was the first ODE at Blackwater. I didn’t enter and I’m OK with that decision. My preparation hasn’t been right and I don’t like winging it when it comes to eventing.

I’ve felt rather thwarted recently. I understand it. The first quarter of 2024 has been challenging. First the back and forward to my parents, then getting floored by the flu, my saddle being reflocked, working long hours and finally the Buddymobile being off the road.

I’m not making excuses, I’m reflecting. Today I noticed I’d picked my BRC Combined Challenge hoodie. Last year I represented my Riding Club on many occasions. And even with similar challenges, we still achieved an awful lot.

So while the first quarter we haven’t done much, there are still three more quarters to go. I’m happy for people who are out there having fun with their horses. It makes me so happy to see people overcoming hurdles and achieving things.

It’s been us so many times. And I will be us again. But for now, I’ll just have to be content to cheer from the sidelines.

The Buddymobile will be fixed- hopefully quickly and cheaply (I’m running out of body parts to sell). Bring on Q2…

Complaint

Pretty stunning huh?! A beautiful calm sunny day you say? Not for my jumping lesson. I had high winds, rain and hail.

You know the type of weather where you have to laugh as you’re question your life choices. Where you’re coming into a jump eyes closed in the rain praying one of you can see it.

Thankfully Buddy was on great form. He locked onto every jump. Lewis brought a couple of his jumps over for us to have a play with. Buddy ate them up.

He had us working on straightness and curving lines. It wasn’t long ago that Buddy would have had a meltdown at such technical tracks. Now he’s taking me into the jumps. It’s a wonderful feeling.

Typically the wind dropped and the sun came out after we finished. I did put in a complaint that I got the more challenging weather. I guess it was typical eventing weather. Time to break out the body protector and get back to it.

Super pleased with my little boy today.