Yesterday we were out and about by 6am. We defrosted the car and set off for Liverpool to celebrate my Dad's 80th birthday. I had sent him flowers as always so that he wouldn't suspect that we would be up there for a surprise party. My little sis was brilliant, she had arranged everything and all we had to do was turn up. We got there in time to help put the food out, my daughter and sis had decorated the pub we were using. I then phoned my Dad to wish him a happy birthday and we discussed the weather down here and I asked him what the weather was like up there etc. He then told me that my sis was going to take him for a drink and then on for a meal with my daughter and eldest son and he was really looking forward to it. Once the room was ready sis went off to collect him and he was so shocked when he walked in and saw all his extended family there and friends that had made a special effort to be there. It was quite emotional. Sis and I held it together until his friends got him up on stage and made a special presentation of a bottle of really old whisky and Dad's eyes then looked a bit watery so Sis and I had to follow suit. It was lovely to catch up with my cousins again and some of us hadn't seen each other for about 12 years which I suppose could be looked on as good news because it means we haven't had to go to any funerals in all that time. I had been in touch with a couple via Facebook. One of my cousins dates a vegan and he makes her such treats as sprout biryani, how's that for a romantic meal? Anyway we have exchanged email addresses so will now stay in touch. Aah, the wonders of the internet, it makes it so easy now.
The party was in the afternoon and we left to travel back about 6.30 but the weather was absolutely horrendous and traffic was still heavy. Poor Si was doing all the driving and we ended up stopping before we had even reached Birmingham so that he could rest his eyes and have coffee. He really had to take it steady coming back so we didn't arrive back until 1am. He then slept in this morning and was late going to do his hard sums.
Phillip stayed and babysat the animals and when I counted them this morning we still had the same amount as when we left so he must have done ok.
The weather hasn't improved down here and after walking on ground that didn't move under my feet yesterday it took some getting used to trying to get around on all this mud again. I tried to check the animals feet this morning to make sure there were no injuries but gave it up as a lost cause because they were just sinking in the mud. Their knees are all looking fine though. I did manage to pull twigs out of their coats, they are full of them.
The boys did some more of the fencing this afternoon when we had a very short dry spell, it is really slow going because of the weather. Si has said that it won't take long to do once he can get the car up there but I think he needs two consecutive dry days and I can't see us getting them until next Spring.
No comments:
Post a Comment