Hot, hot, hot.

 

Hiya Everyone. 

Phew, it is a tad hot again today. I have had a busy few days one way or another. Having done the hedge, which was in my last post and helping out at the stables. I have continued to sort the garden out. 

Whilst we were out boating, Lisa off one of the Winter moorer boats, was on our mooring and she very kindly did a lot of weeding, which was so kind of her and I rewarded her with a bottle of wine. I never expected to come back and find some of the weeding done. Usually, I have a busy old time, when we come back from boating. Lisa had weeded our path and some of the lower garden, which meant, I just had the hedge and top garden to do, plus the planters. 

A lot of the Spring plants have died back and have been dead headed and the bird baths are now full. In this hot weather birds and animals really need a lot of water. I am also changing the water twice a day, so they are not drinking hot water, because it is almost boiling hot by lunch time. Also remember to put a dish of water out on the ground for hedgehogs and smaller animals later in the day or night. They dehydrate so quickly.

With most of the garden tidy, the top of the hedge still needs cutting, but I am waiting to see if our resident hedge trimmer is going to do it.

After any hard work a cuppa is needed and drunk in the shade.

Our walks, have been taken early and in one of our favourite places. We usually end up sitting on a bench in the shade. 

I then go and work with these gorgeous ponies and their mates.

This past weekend, I helped out with pony rides at Tachfest at Bishop Tachbrook. I went to the stables and helped out with mucking out first, we then had to move ponies around, because they were also doing pony rides at Hatton Country World. With ponies moved and tack sorted, we then went on to the Tachfest and started pony rides at 1pm, with a break of 15 minutes at 2.30pm. Although we had some shade, it was still hot work for the ponies and by 4pm they had done enough. I met some wonderful children and their parents. It is so lovely to watch a child, who starts out apprehensive about riding, so end their ride with a beaming smile and that happened with one such young man, who was adamant he was not going on a pony, so I said to the parent, "do not force him, because it will scare him off, go away and come back later and he may change his mine". The parent did this very thing and the little boy came back and asked if he could ride a pony. Hat on and a rather worried look on his face, I got down to his level and talked to him, introduced him to the pony and asked his name. Dad, put him on the pony and off we went for a gentle stroll. By the time the stroll was over, the little boy had the biggest smile on his face and was already to go again. Sometimes, it is best to just be patient. Never force a child to do something they are scared of, because you may put them off for life. Hopefully that little boy will ride again.

Once we had loaded the ponies up in the horse box, it was back to Hatton Country World, to unload them and pick up two other ponies, to take them back to their holiday home and then back to the stables. It was a long, but a really wonderful day and it really put a smile on my face.

As we start this new week, I am helping out all week at the stables, whilst trying to keep cool. Our weather has no happy medium. It is either wet and miserable or baking hot it seems. But hey this is Summer, so we must go with the flow. I used to love the long hot Summer's, I could lay out in it no problem, but now I am in my senior years, I would rather sit in the cool. I guess it maybe an age thing.

I hope you have a happy week.

Pop back soon x