The Pigs enoy a Day in The Sun.

What a beautiful sunny day it has been today.I know Americans think we Brits are obsesssed with the weather but they have real summers so have no idea how elated most of us are when the sun shines.Black pigwig was out pottering still at 5pm but Pinkie had finished her exercise for the day and had decided to retire though had a quick peek out when she heard my voice.There was no food on offer so she retreated quickly to her warm bed.

Mei has had her pre op assessment today, 2 long years of appointments being cancelled and mis-diagnosis of her wrist problem.She knows now she has carpal tunnel syndrome in one wrist but they still dont know what is wrong with the other, hence the exploratory I know she is worried about what lies ahead but I have seen her in so much pain, it has to be better for her to have it finally sorted out. Both Rosie and Vanessa are down to have similar ops (though they have leg problems,not wrist )so all in all the Freshfields Staff are not doing too well on the health side of things.Personally I think they are just after some time off! ONLY JOKING GIRLS.

When I filled the car up with diesel today the lady behind the counter at the garage asked if I could take a nanny goat from her!It is not really safe for goats here, they tend to be escapees of the highest order and I can just imagine the wrath of HH if a stray goat wandered on to his land.The people who lived here before me had goats and they went out one day, when they returned they could not find their goats and then heard a bleating from one of their sheds. HH had found them leaning over the wall to nibble his trees so no doubt in one of his usual tempers he had trespassed and locked the poor goats in a dark shed .They were very distressed when found.I would not want something similar to happen but I will try to find nanny a good home.

The animals being returned continues, tomorrow a lovely mastiff comes back because he has a skin problem (he has developed this since he has been adopted)and I spoke to Dawn who works with the dogs at the Liverpool shelter and they too are overwhelmed with returned animals.What is going on? I tend to think that the reason is that nowadays few people seem to be prepared to deal with problems of any kind and find it easier to simply bring the animal back.I am glad of course that they do, that is our policy but so many 'problems' are not really problems at all and the same animal may go to another home where they will tell me how wonderfully behaved the pet is or will find the issue is not an insurmountable one as thought by the previous owners. I get upset for the animals , it must be bewildering for them.

Its great to see the dogs which have been adopted come back for a visit and yesterday Toby collie came to see us, he looked so full of joy and he and his new companion Hattie the German Shepherd are inseparable. He was delighted to see me and made a huge fuss but he was equally happy to jump back in the car and leave which shows me that a dog is happy.I would be upset if the dog refused to leave, I would know then something was amiss with the home. One incident which is embedded in my mind was a dog(being returned)in Liverpool.When the owner opened the car door he nearly dragged the woman off her feeet in his anxiety to get back to the shelter. That is not the behaviour of a contented dog.Even cats can be like that, we homed one cat Felix who had been living freely here.We all thought he was such a nice natured and fairly young cat that it was not fair for him to spend his life here.We felt that Felix needed a loving family to pay him lots of attention.Well he went off happily enough with his delighted new owners and less than 24 hours later he was back.He had refused to settle and had bitten two of the family.When he came back, he climbed out of the cat basket in which he had travelled , stretched, looked around him and immediately started to purr and wind round our legs.We decided to let him stay and he never bit anyone ever again during his life here; he was always the first cat to make a fuss of visitors but he had decided he liked it at the shelter and this was where he wanted to live. I suppose it is a good life for the free roaming cats, there is no traffic for them to dodge, they have fields to explore and plentiful food and warm places to sleep.What more could a cat want?

PS: Sister Sandra has had her op and I am told is sitting up enjoying a cup of tea. I am overjoyed that she is ok . All other problems here had paled into insignificance in the light of her illness.