Credit where credit is due please!

A long time ago - about March last year - I decided to lose the chemo weight I've been carrying round for far too long.

According to various people (mostly American hence the lack of metrics) taking a course of taxol is good for an 25 pound weight gain. I've never been an underachiever so I managed to put on 20 kilos. That made me just on clinically obese according to the height and weight charts. Clinically obese is not a pretty term... Also when I am clinically obese my knees hurt in the morning and I have difficulty getting on my horse (and I'm sure she wasn't that impressed with 20kg extra either).

I didn't make a big fuss about it - I just made a conscious effort to eat better and a bit less. And my weight has very slowly drifted down to where I wanted it to be, which I hit about three weeks ago.

I might add that that weight - while healthy - is still 10kg higher than my lightest adult weight and 6 kg higher than my pre-children average weight, so I hardly have bones sticking out here. Skinny wasn't something I was designed to be.

It took 12 months for anyone except my husband to notice I'd lost weight. That's okay I didn't feel any real need to talk about it.

Then my manager (who I don't see very often) rang "I hear you've got all skinny" she said. Apparently one of the other managers who I occasionally drop in for a chat with when time allows had noted my weight loss, and being aware I have cancer was a bit concerned that I was being overworked at a time when I wasn't well. Which was sweet of him but a trifle too PC... I reassured all involved that I'd worked darn hard at it.

The other person I can't convince is my mother. She believes come hell or high water that
1) I am too thin
2) This is entirely due to the cancer which must be taking hold and getting the better of me.
She's felt the need to discuss it with husband on the quiet because she doesn't believe me. He has assured her that I haven't eaten a potato chip for over a year and that he can see how I lost the weight. He doesn't think she believes him either.

*sigh*
So if I get fat it's my own fault
If I lose weight it's something else.

And I like cows because... ummmm

The vet came out this morning to blood test and vaccinate Jack the bull. The plan went slightly awry as the little begger had broken out during the night along with the red cow Aurora and while he wasn't an issue to round up again he was feeling less than cheerful about being told where to go and was standing in the yards growling at us. So the vet showed and sorted her stuff out and we put him in the crush. All was well and we thought he would behave (he's a placid lad usually) until she offended his dignity by grasping him firmly by the tail so he practiced his showjumping and left (great scope Jack - you really should have been a horse, you'd be Olympic level for sure). So we had to do what we should have done in the first place which was grab him by the nose ring. Once that was done he behaved and it was all over in less than a minute (maybe he listened to the pep talk I gave him - "It's like this Jack - have the test, get to meet more cows, on the other hand if you don't have the test, you'll be upside down on a hook")

The rain held off until that was over.

I have been keeping an eye on the neighbours heifers who I feel are closer to calving than the neighbours do (they reckoned they weren't in calf and put them back with the bull two months later). So this morning from my window I noticed one girl flat out in their paddock. An hour later she hadn't moved and was still completely prone. I decide to investigate so out I go in the rain, over a couple of fences (complete with hotwires so needing careful negotiation) towards the heifer who hadn't moved. She waited until I was within 5 metres before leaping up and running off. Definitely springing but not calving... At least I know now.

Time flies...

This time of year is always flat out at work and this year has four deadlines spaced out over two months and all of them seem a couple of weeks too early. Still three have passed now and it is sort of downhill until Christmas (which seems to be getting rather close) after which the next round of what has to be done by when will be issued.

I was still putting the finishing touches (and the long hours) into the third deadline when husband decided he would live no longer without an ensuite so he started moving furniture out of the master bedroom and demolished the wardrobe. Leaving me no choice really but to sort through the clothes that were previously contained within and find that I am unlikely to wear most of them again. This morning we have the builder in and they are building a wall (or two as there will be a walk in wardrobe to replace the departed model) which appears to be progressing very well. My clothing collection is now so sparse that a walk in wardrobe appears overkill. Must go shopping...

We are banished to what I always considered the most unappealing room in the house - a cavernous space in the basement with ugly concrete block walls and a single set of french doors providing the only natural light. The room doesn't even have a door to close. However as it was doing nothing else at the time it seemed like the best room to move into. And now set up as a bedroom it is so cosy I may just stay there. Just goes to show furniture always helps.

Topaz the January mini foal went to a lovely new home a few weeks ago too. They report that they are delighted with her which is great as really as homes go it doesn't come much better. However due to a change in circumstances we'll be getting her mother Gemma back soon so thinking we were actually a horse down was fairly shortlived.

short cow photo

I suppose she couldn't help it....

We have a line of cows who are definitely a little intellectually challenged. The type of cow who can't quite work out where the gate is so ends up running back down the fence line bellowing that her herd have not only left her but have found fresh grass.

Bonny is the first of the line and three calves later she's still a bit aghast that she has managed to produce that small thing every time. Thankfully she does now feed them without pinning down and forcing her. Her bull calves have also been singularly thick and her daughter Amanda may be black but she's really a blond underneath.

Which is why I am sure Amanda decided to calve today in the pouring rain. Two weeks early according to my calculations and without bothering to bag up much beforehand so a little unexpected. It was fairly new and still slimy (as well as saturated in the rain) at feed time. Amanda was dithering over her baby with an aghast sort of look on her face very reminiscent of her mother, an "OMG what is this and why the hell are my instincts telling me I like it" look. They were in the most exposed paddock we have so we moved her and baby down to the run where there is some more shelter. Being her mother's daughter Amanda of course got confused about how the gateway worked and whether she should follow the calf or run back to the herd but she got her priorities right when I waved the stock stick at her and growled. Left the pair under the pine trees hopefully sorting themselves out. Was too dark and dreary to see what sex we had but I groped round and couldn't find testicles so a heifer at a guess. Fingers crossed the smart bull genes have got through in this one - I won't be holding my breath though.

Bizzare

My work digital camera was on its last legs and had developed a battery eating problem.

So yesterday I strolled into an appliance shop, browsed the range of digital cameras and selected the one I wanted with a few accessories that I felt compelled to own while I was there and asked the shop assistant who was hovering for "that camera there" pointing to the model I required which was sitting in the cabinet. (not please note in one of those displays where the camera is attached to a wire but available for all to handle - this was securely ensconced behind a lock and glass)

He declined to sell it to me. It was the last camera of that model that they had in stock and he would order one in and I could collect it tomorrow. He wouldn't sell me that one - for no reason, except he wouldn't.

He was left holding the accessories.

The opposition store not very far away were quite happy to price match.

No photos, it's x rated

Neighbours children are concerned "Did you know Calypso and the little black horse are doing sex in the paddock"

It's horse breeding season again. But maybe I should move them to give them some privacy... (yes it was a planned breeding - that's why I put them together last week)