20 March 2010

Spring, maybe!

I've stopped counting our Challenge hours as with all the disruptions we've had in the last 6 months the driving has kind of taken a back seat. My daughter Jen and her fiance and Naomi (aged 4) are living in the converted barn next door while their house is renovated after the flooding in Cockermouth in November last year. You'll remember that Naomi was diagnosed with Wilms' tumour (a childhood kidney tumour) back in August. Well, she had her initial chemo, then surgery to remove the kidney and cancerous cells, then radiation therapy and a weekly chemo treatment that is only now drawing to an end. She is almost as bald as a coot, but to the astonishment of her consultant therapist she is bouncing with health - quite the opposite of most children undergoing chemo. We are attributing it to lots of fresh country air, granny's home made oatcakes on every possible excuse, and even more, lots of horsey things to do.

We have my old Fell pony Mr T back at home after his long-loan ended, and Jen has got quite enthusiastic about driving him in the 4 wheeler carriage she got off Ebay for £300. Its body was rotten but the undercarriage was sound, and my husband has carefully rebuilt it using the rotten timber as a template, and remade the shafts to fit a 13.2 instead of the very ugly sawn-down shape that must have been fitted to a Shetland! Mr T seems happy in it, and his elderly hocks are very pleased that the brakes relieve him of the weight of the carriage downhill. The carriage has been painted bright red and is known as the Fire Engine. Since my 2 wheeler also has red wheels and shafts, we are fairly easy to spot on the road, quite apart from our bike lights and reflective/fluorescent vests/leg wraps.

Naomi has her own seat in the back of the Fire Engine, with an extra back-rail, but usually prefers to come with me and Ruby in the 2 wheeler, which she scrambles up into like a monkey. We had a plesant drive this afternoon despite the chilly wind. I drove Ruby and Jen drove Mr T, who is capable of outwalking Ruby (a different story when they trot, however!)

Naomi is getting quite adept at recognising the trees along the roadside; she knows a beech from an ash by the shape and colour of the buds, and is getting excited at seeing the first flowers coming out in the gardens (snowdrops and early crocuses) and the early lambs in the fields.

When we got home she scrambled down and headed "Ruby the wild horse" while I got down, and then when Jen arrived a minute or two later Naomi did the same for Mr T. Since both ponies had done a brisk 6 miles round Orton village and back, and were very ready for their suppers, they weren't exactly going to run away from the feed-room door, but it's good to see that even a 4 year old can get the safe procedures right with practice! She helped to make up the feeds (Mr T, now 23 years young, is starting to have loose teeth and needs his fibre in the form of soaked grass nuts and fibre nuts, so Naomi loves sloshing the water into the mix). And of course she is even keener on giving the ponies the buckets of feed :-)

So a good day was had by all.