Horse Manure

Friday was the last day of our 'free week' and I was to use it catching up on those last few loose ends before we get busy with the stag stalking.

Firstly, I was going to kill 4 birds with 1 stone (hopefully my stone throwing would be more accurate than my grouse shooting) when I went down to our local town to pick up my horse, Fergus. Fergus is a Highland Pony and his job is to retrieve the deer that are shot on my beat. More of that later.

Anyway, bird 1 was taking Maisie back to the vets for a checkup after her op. She's doing great. Bird 2 was picking up more dog food. Mission accomplished. Bird 3 was collecting 4 barrells of creosote from the builders merchants. Job done. Bird 4 was collecting Fergus from his holidays at the local equestrian centre.

All was going fine until after I dropped him off at his field. Unfortunately he'd had a 'dirty protest' in the (borrowed) horsebox at the prospect of having to go back to work in the hills. (Let's face it, dead stags weigh a lot more than teenybopper girlies. And they don't have pockets full of sugarlumps.) (Nor pockets at all, for that.)

Be that as it may, after dropping Fergus off I headed for home to wash out the horsebox. Unfortunately for me, as I turned into my drive, a white transit van came barrelling around the corner. I put on a spurt (perhaps more than one!) to clear his path and in doing so clipped a strainer post.

The next 3 hours were then spent straightening bent brackets and sorting a split mudguard. Oh and cleaning the blessed thing. All time that I could have been using preparing for next Monday. By the time I was done and the horsebox returned (and, yes, like the horsebox, I did come clean) the day was all but over.

When I got home, I quickly realised that Louise had been having a fraught time with young Jack. I offered to take him down to the river for an hour. It turns out it was what we all needed.

Needless to say, I took my fishing rod. I should have known better! I managed to loose 2 salmon within 5 minutes of each other. On the upside, Jack and I had a lovely walk up the riverside in the gloaming and on the way back were lucky to have a young otter come working up the shallows, passing within 2 metres of where we stood. It was a beautiful moment that could only have been better if only I would REMEMBER MY BL**DY CAMERA!!

But I can still see it in my minds eye and it's a great picture.