Open Day weather was brilliant, no rain(first time it stopped for nearly a week!)and the sun even came out later in the afternoon.A huge sigh of relief was given by yours truly and I expect also by everyone who worked hard to get everything organised and running smoothly.It had been a worry to us all week. The Marquee arrived on the Saturday evening - we had hired one at a reasonable price from the local Scout Group and by eleven thirty the next morning all was ready for the opening which was just as well because people were already starting to arrive.
The dog show was as successful as ever, it was great to see Freshfields dogs participating in the fun classes and although I missed most of it, I did manage to see Handsome Hadley the grey lurcher walk away with a Rosette for First Prize in one class. Rhian did a great job organising that side of things and with Gails help they dealt efficiently with the many entries and the queue of people waiting to register their animals.
Another big attraction is the Anglesey Dog Training group with their display of heelwork to music(I call it dancing with dogs). This always goes down well, a crowd always gathers as soon as they start their routines which are very skillful, the dogs are wonderful and are obviously enjoying it as much as their owners. Their eyes are bright and eager and their tails wag furiously(the dogs not the owners)This and agility are great ways to alleviate boredom in intelligent lively dogs and I am always pleased when a prospective owner shows interest in doing this.
The good weather also meant that there was more interaction between visitors and the animals here, last year it was so cold and there was torrential rain and unfortunately most of the ponies were hidden away out of sight in their shelters. Yesterday several of them including the three youngsters Celt, Merlin and Shamrock ,were very interested in the unusual activity and spent a lot of time poking their heads over the fence being admired and fussed over , the pigs too attracted their share of interest though unlike the ponies, were fairly unimpressed by the extra attention and continued snoring happily in the sun.Interestingly but I am sure completely untrue -I have been told the pigs and I sound exactly the same when in a deep sleep. Some people can be very hurtful!
3 kittens were reserved on the day and there is some interest in Buster the cross labrador though nothing definite but even with a special poster to advertise old Precious and Magic the two longhaired cats which are constantly overlooked in the main cattery, there were no takers. I confess to feeling a bit disappointed, I was really hoping someone would take pity on them. Never mind , all in all it was an enjoyable day .From a personal point of view I also had the pleasure of a friend visit for the weekend whom I had not seen for a few years. Tracie worked for me in the Liverpool shelter Cattery and moved to South Wales 10 years ago so it was good to spend time together again. We had a good reminisce about our days in Liverpool.
The money from the day is still being counted, poor Veronica was here till 10pm last night counting so I should know by tomorrow if we made a profit.I am keeping my fingers crossed.
Nobody has claimed the two terriers although strangely there was a telephone message left from someone who had lost two terriers. We rang back twice and left messages but nobody returned our calls! It looks to me as though once the owner knew they were in our care, it was decided to leave them here for rehoming.It would have been nice to know something about them, as often happens with strays picked up we do not get to know their history or if there are any bad habits we need to know about .
I have also been rescuing caterpillars from the picked ragwort and relocating them off our fields.I have earned some very odd looks from people walking past, I must look very strange kneeling down in damp grass and groping about .They are not to know I am feeling around for any lost caterpillars. Who cares what people think, its the one good thing about not being young anymore.(there has to be something after all)I no longer care what others think of my strange behaviour,not that I behave strangely ALL the time. Years ago I would have been mortified, I know others the same age will identify with this.
I cannot believe what has happened today. Before the Open Day (as if we all were not harassed enough) we were put under great pressure to place 2 dogs which had nobody to care for them after a relationship break up. As there was some urgency about the situation - the owner was going away the following day(wouldnt you think she would have cancelled this?) we endeavoured to find people to foster and we did so eventually after many hours on the telephone. I then advertised them for homes, one went quickly leaving us with the older dog. Now I am told the womans husband is claiming ownership and wants them back even though he left her with the dogs and he is in a job which takes him away for weeks at a time! I might add here that last year they brought us an unwanted litter from the female dog and it is possible she is once again pregnant. He is now threatening to have me charged with being an accessory to theft!!!!!!! Honestly sometimes I wonder why I do this work! Well of course I know why really,its for the animals but this incident and others which have occurred in the past cause me such anxiety that I do question my ability to continue dealing with what after all is down to the duplicity and dishonesty of those who have requested the help in the first place.
Anyhow as the saying goes "Tomorrow is another day" and on balance it has been a good weekend which we have all enjoyed and I hope that our visitors yesterday also had an enjoyable couple of hours.
Photos are of the cinnebar caterpillars- sorry to those who have a fear of bugs and scenes from The Open Day including one of children with Celt one of our youngsters and finally Tracie, me and Meirwen enjoying a moments break from the chaos of the day.
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