Behind you!

I went for a quick trip around the Bonsai Mountain after dropping the Technohermits dinner off. It had been another busy day at Rock HQ and a walk always helps put thoughts in order. Its going to be a very busy but fun weekend. Paul and Anne are coming over to stay, the first time we will have seen them since their daughters wedding last summer. It will be good to catch up with them and Paul is a lot better than last time he was mentioned on these pages. Then we have the butchers wedding do, now that will be a good do, a ten piece Soul band will be there as will a pig roast and as its Stuart, a proper butcher, its bound to be good pork. Not as good as ours, but good enough. And free.

As the dogs and I turned down Sheep Skull Lane from Five Ways Crossing it became clear we were not alone. Geisha often joins us on a quite stroll but this bunch of maniacs above were last seen in the yard. No idea whats got into them but as you can see they are chasing each other around like dogs.

Sheep! Who'd have them?

Kings of the Hill

I spent part of the day exercising the horses today. I had intended to walk all three of them around in turn, for lots of reasons, they are spending a lot of time inside at the moment as its so muddy so it would do them good was one reason, another is because the date has been set for our Offas Dyke trek next year and if I am to complete the 176 miles in less than a week I have to be a tad fitter than I am at present.

Yesterday we had a baconrollathon at work in support of Children in Need, this entailed Tracey and I taking a large piece of bacon into work and cooking all staff and visitors bacon rolls for which they made a contribution. We raised £40 and everyone enjoyed the bacon, except for our resident vegan who contributed anyway. This did mean though that I had access to too many calories, having an abundance of bacon rolls and crab apple jelly proved too tempting and I indulged in breakfast, second breakfast, elevenses, early lunch, late lunch and afternoon tea. My commitment to ridding the world of bacon rolls only ended when I drove home and did the evening rounds.

However, scoffing bacon rolls wasn't the only reason I needed to exercise the flab off on the hill today. Last night we were invited to dinner over at Robin and Jenny's. The food and company was excellent but special mention has to be made of the Blueberry and Mango pavlova that Jenny had made for pudding. It was just fantastic, the crisp meringue shell gave way to a mallow soft centre, the fresh fruit and cream, the thing was massive and to my shame I ended up having three servings. All this was washed down with beer, wine, port and whiskey, such over indulgence has a price to be paid, which was three times around the hill.

William dragged his hooves all the way around, taking ten steps forward, two back, he had to be persuaded, coaxed, cajoled, shouted at, dragged, pleaded with almost every step of the way. It took nearly twenty minutes to get along sheep skull lane which is only three hundred yards or so. Goodness knows what got into the stubborn beast but he would advance slowly then gaze off into the distance with a sad expression, every now and then he would whinny. I couldn't tell if he was shouting for help, calling to any other horses on the hill to get this madman intent on exercising away from him or trying to answer the mechanical digger noise that drifted in on the wind every now and then. Whatever it was William turned the forty minute journey into an hour and ten minutes. It took so long I almost missed a surprise visit from the Stable Sprite who called in for a coffee and a chat about butchers.

Trevor, on the second circuit was completely the opposite, the pocket rocket never walks anywhere. I followed in his wake holding onto a long leading rein for dear life rather like an out of control water skier following a boat. Every now and then my yanking on the rope persuaded him to halt briefly which would give me just enough time to regain my balance, steady myself and catch him up before he set off at high speed giving me whiplash injuries as the slack created in the rope suddenly disappeared. When I got back I looked like I had been dragged through a hedge backwards, which was a pretty accurate description for of parts of the journey.

Williams circuit was too slow, Trevor's circuit was too fast, which means Apollo's circuit must be just right.

It was.

He set out with grim determination, straight for the haystack, which was where he stayed happily munching instead of being frog marched around. As far as I was concerned unlike last nights pavlova you can have too much of a good thing. Twice was enough!

Walking with William

I have just got in from walking with William, who it appears is the biggest fly magnet in the history of the world. Without resorting to hyperbole there were at least a million buzzing around us, some as big as flip flops and all intent on exploring and taking chunks out of this tasty equine feast and his human companion.

However having this annoying cloud of biting insects accompanying us as we circumnavigated the hill failed to detract from the simple pleasure of plodding along with a fantastic horse. He sees me as herd leader and so dutifully walked either alongside or one half pace behind.

Had he walked a full pace behind he might have saved painfully treading on my heels every other step, but at least he has given up trying to push me off the track and into the gorse bushes. He accepts I am boss, unless Tracey is around and then he sees her as boss.

Obviously.

Hes a smart cookie this one.

We had a brief stop at Five Ways Crossing, pictured here, it really is a wonderful view across the Herefordshire countryside, before turning off and heading back into Wales. We caught sight of Mad Keith, but he didn't want to talk today and hid, not very well as we could see him but we didnt let on in case he got upset and put us in one of his spare pits. We also found our two mental Suffolk sheep, Molly and April who galloped off down sheep skull lane the second they recognised me. Poor beasts must be suffering from the heat as they have evaded capture and shearing, therefore they still have a years worth of fleece on their backs. It should start to drop off soon.

Bill is still missing, there are very few sheep on the hills at the moment so he might be pie now, poor Bill.

Back at the ranch William was turned out in the field to cool off and refresh himself.

I returned to the cottage for my own refreshments. A nice supper of new potatoes, Rock HQ quiche and a bean salad. And a very cold cider. I am a lucky man.

The only fly in the ointment, its now pouring with rain and William is still outside.

Quiet evenings, who needs them!