SNOW!!

After a week of the weathermen saying we would get snow,we got snow. The snow started falling around 9am, and come 10:30 the whole place was covered, and by 3pm much to the disgust of the girls it had all gone again.

I gave Jackson (Our Lhasa Apso) a haircut this morning in preparation for our walk this afternoon, as the last time it snowed he ended up carrying his body weight in snow and ice on the hair on his legs. I've assured Jack that the choppy look is definately in for dogs this season, and that the bits where I've scalped him will grow back soon. I also apologised profusely when I accidently almost chopped off one of his balls ... Bethany was quite keen on me cutting her hair as well, but I don't think Mia would be too happy with my attempts.

Bethany has this thing about sheep, so was delighted on our walk that we had to walk through a field full of them, the sheep weren't too enamoured with idea though.

The snow was rapidly melting, and the fields were turning into mud, so B and I were a tad dirty whereas the dogs were filthy. After we left the sheep field I let the dogs off their leads (Checking that the gates were shut to the field with the sheep in!) so they could have a run. George (Our retriever) loves the snow, and tends to shovel as much as he can up his nose which he then follows with a mass sneezing fit, whereas Jack just runs and runs. By this time, B and I covered in mud (Not helped by Jackson running upto me and jumping up onto my legs), so we decided to head home as I fancied a cup of RedBush tea and Bethany remembered she had Easter eggs that needed eating!

Bethany and I started to trek home, through the churchyard of Lawford Church (where for some reason there was a chicken running loose!) and then down then back path to the train station.

The path was now 100% mud, and having 2 dogs doing their best to act as the lead dogs of a huskysleigh team made it very difficult to walk. As we go on holiday on Friday I was very aware of the numerous rabbit holes on the path being hidden by the mud and slush, and the real possibility of breaking my ankle!

Still, we got back in one piece, if very muddy, and I had to call Mia on the final part of the walk so she could be ready with the garage keys (So I could wipe the dogs down) and to take Bethany,

We had fun, but decided that next time we wouldn't do the muddy route ...

I am turning into my Dad ...

Apologies for the lack of bloggage, I've been writing reports and procedures for the past 3 weeks at work so when I get home the last thing I want to do is write more ...

I hit 35 at the end of February, and I've suddenly started to do 'old' things ... I switched my home and buildings insurance, switched outr gas provider, and when I walk up the stairs I get a pain in my left knee cap ...

The knee cap all stems from a children's birthday party about 5 years ago: Charlotte was invited to her cousin Danni’s 5th birthday party, where her parents had a bar-b-Q in their massive back garden. Adrian (Danni’s Dad) and I organised a game of football with all the kids, and were going in hard on each other with the challenges. The party was winding down and I was running with the football no-one near me, when I hit a slight dip in the ground. I fell to the right, my knee-cap went to the left ... I was lying on the ground swearing profusely, feeling my knee-cap on the left-side of my knee, and all I could hear was Adrian’s mum telling him off! (He was 36 at the time!) Then my knee-cap sprung back into place, and that smarted a bit!

I was okay the rest of the day, but the following morning my knee had swollen to twice it’s normal size so if to A&E I went. Minor ligament damage, will recover over time, try to keep off it for the next 48 hours ... Unfortunately we had to drive to Devon that evening, and hit a 4 hour traffic jam .. 4 hours of clutch control with a rather poorly left leg .. Even now I don’t have the full flexibility in my left leg as I do in my right. So at the moment, when climbing stairs I get shooting pains round my knee-cap, and occasionally it feels like there's a 'bubble' under the knee-cap. Might have to take advantage of the company health care and have it looked at when I get back from holiday.

The other thing I do, which makes me think I'm turning into my Dad, is keep track of the fuel consumption on our car. We have a diesel VW Touran, which has this computer thing that tells you in how many miles you're going to run out of diesel .. I've started to get a perverse feeling of satisfaction when I manage to get the number of miles to go up and not down, due to how I'm driving. I've discovered I get more miles if I stick to 60mph (And to my American friends, the speed limit over here is 70mph). Blew all that out of the water yesterday when trying to drive to work in an oncoming galeforce wind, so I turned the computer off as it was depressing me!

Bethany has a social whirl of parties today, she has her 1st party at 11:30 (With a magician) then straight after that it's off to a magic themed fancy dress party. We decided that B will go as the rabbit that's pulled out of the magicians hat, though she's decided it's the Easter Bunny so wants a basket of Eggs to go with it! We had a dress rehersal yesterday, and B was most digusted that she wasn't allowed to stay in costume (And character as she was hopping everywhere) for the rest of the day - We told her she can wear it to my parents on Easter Monday, when Mum and Dad do their annual Easter Egg hunt for the girls.