The Jain Award Ceremony.

I dont know how I managed to get through the Jain award ceremony without making a run for it.Thankfully Barry offered to accompany me so I wasnt entirely alone which woiuld have been much worse! Speaking in front of people terrifies me but it was a great honour to be nominated for the award and it was also another way to "spread the word" so with knees knocking and dry mouth I somehow got through the ordeal. The award itself was a wonderful figure of Mahaveer (a Buddha like figure)on an inscribed wooden plinth and it was awarded to me for my 30 years work in Animal welfare. The Jains are a spin off from traditional Buddhism and are a very compassionate group of people, there are Jain temples all over the world and they believe that life should be lived without violence and that all sentient creatures deserve to live without fear and should not lose their lives to provide human beings with food .Each year they present an award to someone they believe has shown compassion in their chosen way of life and this year I was honoured to be chosen.
I have never received anything like this in my life and to be honest I felt somewhat of a fraud accepting it but I will always treasure it and remember the lovely people we met in their Manchester Community Centre.I have shown one of the pictures of their temple which was truly beautiful and awe inspiring.
Today I had a visit from the Council, my vile neighbour across the fields has started his complaints again about the noise of the dogs.He has been watching the staff exercising the dogs from his vantage point at the top of one of his fields.They have complained to me about hiim using binoculars to spy on them.Oh no I thought here we go again and I was proved right.I told the council that staff bring their dogs in to work as they dont want to leave them for long periods of time and that most of the dogs I rescue are fostered out but that I do have an occasional dog in the house with my own dogs.Unfortunately they are now going to monitor the noise so I will be on edge if my dogs play out in the garden and of course in this nice weather they will be outside a lot.
I still have the permanent residents outside (in heated indoor pens) but they have been here a long time and he will not make me get rid of them.They live here and will continue to do so no matter what he does.
What a b.....d.I wish he would get a life and stop bothering me.The neighbours on the other side of him also spend their days worrying about him spying on them and complaining about their dogs. This horrible man and his equally horrible wife have 2 dogs, one of which has been seen chasing a neighbours sheep!! He needs to get his priorities right.
On a lighter note both Robbie and Milo collies have gone to new homes and the little yorkies will be going also this week. There are quite a few cats being admitted this week, no kittens yet but it wont be long before they start arriving in their dozens.
The three colts Merlin, Celt and Shamrock are going to their summer grazing fields tomorrow, we will miss them but it will do them good and we do need to get a few out to rest the fields here.I hope they go into the horsebox with no stress though Phoebe who owns the box is very competent so all should go well.