Stig Of The Dump

FRiday:
Cariad (who helps with the horses) sexed the baby guinea pigs as she has some of her own at home.They are all females except Daddy Pig , Mummy Pig and one baby Pig are pregnant for sure. Cariad is going to foster the females and I will book Dad in to have his bits removed so he will not be able to father any more babies. Better to do this than to condemn him to a solitary life without companionship of hs own kind.Once he is done and weeks have passed he will be able to have a female companion again.
We are completely thawed out on ground level but we still have no running water, Dave and John have been digging up pipes trying to get to the root of the problem but no result as yet.It really is becoming a nightmare. We have had to put most of the horses out where they can
access the stream, I am glad it is a lot warmer as there is not enough shelter for all of them in the fields by the stream but water has to be the priority and of course they all have warm rugs on.
I am going to a friends caravan tomorrow for a shower, she will have to pick me up because the car is refusing to start now! What next? Rhian who is in the same boat with frozen pipes is going to her parents house for a bath. We really are a dirty bunch at the moment. I look like Stig of The Dump or as though I have been living rough on the streets for a year , and I have been too ashamed to take my hat off for days.There will be NO explanatory photo shown for reasons of vanity and maintaining my self respect. Oh the joys of rural living!
This morning an old black bedraggled cat turned up here, he was crying outside the cattery this morning and seems glad to be here.I have no idea where he has come from. We know the few neighbours we have and their cats never wander over here. This one is emaciated and old with poor skin and what seems to be a broken tail. He has joined the other oldies in the conservatory and seems to be used to other cats as he is not perturbed by their presence at all. Perhaps the word has got round the local stray cat population that Freshfields offers shelter and sustenenance to the homeless?
Saturday:
YIPPEE- WE HAVE WATER.What a relief it is to have water again,I cannot wait to have a bath, think I will stay in it all evening! I probably will have to in order to feel clean again. It has been exhausting for the staff to-ing and fro-ing from the stream with water containers so they will be relieved to get back to their normal routine.
I have just had a call from someone wanting one of our dogs to live outside, her husband doesn't want a dog in the house and she has been offended that I refused her even though I explained the charity policy was that we find homes for our dogs where they will never have to live outside again and will be one of the family. Then I heard the tale of how her last dog preferred to live outside. THAT OLD CHESTNUT! Funny how in 33 years of taking in dogs , farm dogs and gundogs which had spent their lives outside in a kennel or outbuilding that I have NEVER yet found one not delighted to be indoors with the family.
Bad news about Taz the German Shepherd, the new owners are failing to cope with her, she is continuing to give their cats a life of hell and that is very distressing. They want to return her. and to be fair they have persevered for and tried their best. However, it ipresents a real problem as all my foster homes are full and she does not get on with my dogs so I cannot have her in the house. I am forced to try GSD rescues but at this time of year all are full . Is this the end of the road for her? Rhian and I are desperately trying to find a solution as quickly as possible.
Yesterday we rehomed a dog called Glenn, a kelpie cross collie(another ex farm dog)and today he has been returned. Why? because he would not settle!!! Even though we tell people that they will take time to settle and that most of our dogs are not used to being in a home environment and even though the prospective owners tell us that they can cope, this is what happens.Thankfully we have a very high success rate homing ex farm dogs but occasionally we screw up and this was clearly one of those occasions. Most people understand that they have to be prepared to work with the dogs and not expect a perfectly trained and well behaved dog within a day. This particular lady assured me she had taken in rescued dogs all her life and knew the problems!!! What happened with this dog then?The problem here is that not expecting him to be returned at all never mind the following day after he was homed, we admitted another dog which has taken up his space now.We will always take our own dogs back but when they arrive without giving notice it is not always possible to find space immediately and in this case I have had to take one of the other dogs into the house to make room. To add to my distress her parting shot was that I made money out of it!! I had in fact offered her £50 back(a fee greatly reduced as she could not afford more so did not even cover the cost of neutering) but they left before I could do so. To say I was upset is an understatement.
This has not been a good day at all, had the water not come back on it would have been a disaster but that was the one redeeming feature of an otherwise stressful and upsetting day.
Tomorrow has to be better.