No don't tell me....

Yesterday you left us in deepest Bovey Tracey having finished the celebration meal. We all repaired to the Mother in law's house for the traditional unveiling of the Birthday cake. Here I must declare an interest; the cake was made by my seriously clever and talented sister in law.
http://www.c4cakes.com/

I can recommend her creations for any of your celebration, wedding, birthday etc cakes. Have a look through the Web site, they look great and taste divine.

Where was I ? Sorry , I had a cake moment then. Memo to self, do not show her your Christmas cake. (It received another generous dose of Brandy today.)

Replete with cake and celebrations, H, clever sis in law, her partner and the Shambling student ( my Godson) nipped to the local for a beverage or two. When ordering the excellent St Austell beers we were asked if we wanted to take part in the quiz. Seeing a chance to shamelessly show that I have a talent for something I said yes and the Barn Owls (South) entered the....pop quiz. AAArgh, there was no mention of pop music. Thankfully all my team mates had a good knowledge of music that was not prog rock of the 1970s or British Classical Music of the twentieth century. These were my efforts when trying to identify the songs that were played. See if you can guess who I meant;

That's a load of black girls, they don't wear much, one of them married a footballer.
Oh, American band, lead singer wears a lot of guyliner, jumps around a lot and is older than he thinks.
Dull British band, lead singer has a weight problem and a dodgy hairstyle.
They play this a lot on Telly, it's dire. It must be Coldplay
Boring Boring Boring, must be Radiohead.
It's MC Hammer !

Answers,
Destiny's Child
Green Day
Snow Patrol
Keane
No, sorry I still can't remember
Michael Jackson

We finished 3rd despite my efforts. Well done you lot.

It was a great weekend away but it was good to come home. The wet weather has turned the top field gate into a quagmire. This has presented quite a problem to our dear old safety rep Rooster;

                                      "That presents a slip hazard that does"

He is so concerned that his herd might slip and hurt themselves that he stops them leaving the field to come up to the barn for their feed. I say stops them, Sid takes no notice and strolls past. Kavi nips up the other side while Rooster is distracted, it would take a lot more than an Arab to keep him from his snap. In the end it is just him and Carly ,who is jumping anxiously from hoof to hoof, standing the wrong side of the gate. Only when one of us comes down and shows him the risk assesment can we all proceed for tea.

What we did on our Hols (Pt 1)

As I stated last week H & I journeyed to deepest Devon over the Weekend. On Thursday night we had a truly excellent meal at the Cridford In at Trusham in the Teign Valley.
http://www.vanillapod-cridfordinn.com/

Friday saw me drop H off at her Mother's and nip to the top of Haldon Hill to go to Exeter races. The bookies did well from me but I saw a most informative Novice Chase won by Walkon who looks like he may be a decent chaser, my bet Notus De La Tour patently didn't get the trip and a return to 2 miles should repay faith. Zaynar, who was second, looks like he needs a step up to 3 miles.

On Friday night we strolled round Exeter supping some reasonably indifferent beer with the exception of the Oddfellows Arms http://www.theoddfellowsbar.co.uk/ of which more later. H successfully deployed her "stones in my meal" scam to get us free desserts at the cafe where we ate. Nice one H.

On Saturday we nipped down the road to Dawlish for a lovely stroll on the beach. There were a few people there walking their dogs on the beach and we remarked about how much Ari would have had fun as well. Then, on reflection, how he would have cleared the beach in seconds and we would have been apologising to white lipped people about his behaviour.

                                                 "Bloody Tourists"

In the evening we returned to the Oddfellows with Elder sister in law and her cleaner. My how it had changed ! The place was populated by 6 foot tall semi clad ladies. I was entranced by them until H pointed out the perception gap;
My View. Mature, urbane man, fond of the finer things in life, showing his roguish grin.
Everyone elses' view. Leering, baldy, red faced old satyr dribbling into his pint.

Sunday was the big birthday meal. All the family were there including ultra cute grand niece and nephew. The cute, attention seeking , pretty one made for her Aunty H. I wander why ?To pick up  a few tips probably. Anyway the meal got off to a great start with the waitress who made up for her lack of serving skills by her ability to juggle bread rolls. Everyone was ducking for cover as they flew out of the basket in random directions. Half way through serving the starters she returned to say that there would be a delay with the rest of the soup as Chef had spilt it on the floor. This sparked some lively debate as to whether the remaining soup would be straight from the floor or fresh. Even after the event opinion was divided. Lovelyneice then asked for some black pepper to go with her main course. After a lengthy delay the waitress returned to say that they didn't have any but if she was prepared to wait a bit she would nip to Tesco Express to see if they had any there. One could imagine her retelling the tale to her friends in the evening
" 'Er only wannned blaaack pepper, praaper white not good enough for 'er . Comin'  'ere with her fancy London airs and graces"

Tomorrow, we go to the quiz and I eat humble pie there

Farewell old friend

Today Ari was, of course, supporting the comrades who were on strike. Despite being a non public sector dog he showed his solidarity by neither biting or threatening anyone. To demonstrate his commitment he chained himself to Housemate's trailer.

                       "The peoples' flag is deepest red etc"

Not to be left out DJ did not romp anywhere and proceded in a dignified walk thereby not providing entertainment for small children. I was so humbled by their attitude that I went and bought a whole bag of doggy treats to put into their strike fund. At the end of his protest I was returning Ari to his lair when I noticed that I couldn't see DJ anywhere. I searched around the yard everywhere for her. All I could hear was a distant num num num sound. I tracked it down to a corner of the barn and there she was tucking in to the, now opened, packet of treats. It took me all my strength to drag her off.

                                                     Replete.

Today is, thankfully, the day that the Mo is going to be harvested. So this is your last chance to give some money towards research into Prostate Cancer. If you have sniggered at this ridiculous fungus, and who hasn't ? Please follow this link and donate. Thank You
http://uk.movember.com/donate/

So for the final time, Thank Goodness

There will be no blog for a few days as we are off to deepest Devon on family activities

Good Dog, Bad Dog (and scary cat )

Wanted. For crimes against the Livery Lady's children, Cruella De Ville, Dusty the horse's owners father and now the Gamekeeper's dogs. (one bitten one chased off) gamekeeper furious but luckily not armed. He's only eighteen inches high but my goodness he is trouble. Now not to be let out of my sight. Bad dog.

                                 "  There he is" says Carly

Why can't he be like the Clark Kent of the house. To the outside viewer Darcy Dog appears to be a pullover wearing wimp. Frightened of small Hens and over familiar female dogs. But tonight he showed his caped crusader side.

                                       Don't be fooled by the mild manner. Grrrr

H and Housemate were standing in the barn when Sharkey the cat was threatened by a usurper cat. She was in the process of being chased off when Leaping to the rescue was SUPERDARCY.

 The incomer showed his fangs and spat at him but our hero saw him off before returning with a bit of a swagger. You might ask where was attack dog when needed ? Housemate had returned from a visit from the North where she had being trying to make peace with her parents for eating Sushi. They had given her some tripe sticks, I think they were for her but she had fed them to Ari and DJ who were getting stuck in to the treat in their lair.

On Sunday night there was a commotion in the field with much galloping up and down from the horses. As it was late I was sent out , with an inadequate torch, to investigate. Kavi was not with the rest of the herd. Being worried I set off in the pitch dark to look around the ten acre field to search for him. It was about eleven thirty and very quiet, I was striding, reasonably manfully, up and down looking for him. Then i heard a "scritch scritch " noise behind me. I whipped around...nothing. I carried on a few more yards, "scritch scritch". Then something bumped into my leg. I squeaked, in a very butch way of course, This time the torch picked out the inquisitive face of Sharkey who was following me to see why I was trolling around the field at the dead of night. Incidentally Kavi was fine and was grazing happily by the Hunt Jump.

Castles and beer

A very busy weekend. The Medieval fayre was great fun.

                                H attempts to storm the castle (She eventually paid to get in)

                                     Beer, Sausages and Archery, a great evening.

                                    Housemate spots a farrier in the distance.

Nondaughter joined us and was very naughty, making some of us drink too much, we also bumped into the Swedish au pair and at some stage ended up babysitting a very precocious three year old girl,(she likes smoked almonds). Afterwards we repaired to the Queens Head and the Globe
http://www.thailudlow.co.uk/globebar.html
http://www.thequeensludlow.com/
Both worth a visit if you are in the area, The Hobsons Bitter is very drinkable in either.

Tomorrow more news on Ari who is now Middleton's most wanted, he has been a naughty boy again. Also a terror packed trek through a dark field.

Ye olde blogge time

I'm almost too excited to blog tonight. It's the Medieval Fayre tomorrow at the castle.

http://www.ludlowmedievalchristmas.co.uk/

Last year it was soooo much fun. H and Housemate practised their archery skills, both hitting a bell as well as a target. I didn't even hit the castle wall. We tried on hats and drank mulled wine and supped local beer.

http://www.woodbrewery.co.uk/

There was medieval music, jugglers and all sorts of thrilling things.Hopefully Housemate will be able to fight off the onset of the lurgi. We are taking nondaughter with us as she is coming to stay for the weekend. Sadly this means that I will not get to see Big Bucks extend his unbeaten run to 13 races or watch Eighteen Thirtythree win the Henessey Gold Cup at Newbury.

It was a beautiful day today and Kavi took me out over the fields, on days like this there are few places more scenic than our part of Shropshire

                                           "Sit up straight damn you"

Will be too busy to blog tomorrow but will be back at the start of next week. The following is for my Russian readers

Для наших российских друзей, будет видеть Вас в понедельник

"It's naughty is that "

H had a long tough ride on our H&S rep today. as he was on his own it was beholden on him to be especially careful. H was perspiring freely after an hour's worth of;

                                                  "Is that a cow ?"

                                                 "Is that a sheep ?"

                                              "Is that Kauto Star ?"

You see all sorts around here.

                   Mo' on day 24, only 6 days before what we now call Celibacy month comes to an end
Please give a few bob to make it worth while.