Laddie Come Home

What I've been thinking about:

1. Dogs 
2. Holidays Wee calves (gettit?)

Ivie is fairly competitive when it comes to sporting endeavours. He'd rather score that try at touch rugby and not be able to walk the next day than shrug and save his joints. I'm pretty much the opposite in that I've never risked myself physically for anything (unless elbowing my way to the front at Bombskare gigs counts). 

Brain stretching is more my cup of tea. I get a certain sense of satisfaction from a busy day at work writing reports, planning events and managing projects. Or a good quiz. 

On Saturday night, Ivie and I went to a quiz at Rhonehouse Village Hall with some friends (I know, Ivie left the Shire. He will repent). Our strengths included fictional Scots and airport codes but we were let down by our lack of knowledge about Doctor Who's assistants and Beatles album covers. Our best fluke was guessing the price of a first class stamp (£1.35). 

Photo by Anstey

There was a whole round about dogs, including a question about Lassie's exact breed. Luckily one of our team mates knew the answer (rough collie) and the overall result was we were second. This is where my lack of competitiveness is shown to be a massive sham but I'd drunk too much wine to be disappointed for long. 

Fast forward to today and Ivie was in need of a rough collie. Sometimes wee calves go on wee adventures, you see, and become separated from their mums. Ivie and his brother spent the morning looking for a little Angus calf in amongst whin bushes, which meant Ivie was tired and grumpy by lunchtime and not particularly interested in a dog walk. 

Who's a good dog? 

Guess what the dog found five minutes into the walk? 

Ivie wasn't quite as happy as you might expect that Rudi had saved him from an afternoon of tramping through gorse. Maybe he was just crabbit that he'd missed out on lifting another first prize this week. 

Hope Springs Eternal

What I've been thinking about:

• Well timed long weekends 
• Hope over experience

I like to think that I'm pretty optimistic. I'm a glass half-full type of person with a healthy dose of realism thrown in. During lambing, Ivie tends towards the blind optimism. 

You might remember that lambing got off to an early start at The Spittal. Ivie convinced himself that this would equate to an early finish. Now, I know very little about very little when it comes to farming but even I know that's not a thing. Regardless of start date, things are usually winding up around the end of March, which is just as well because that's when my birthday is. 

This year was a big birthday and was beautifully timed around Easter weekend. Lambing had been a bit of a slog (for Ivie) and my work had been incredibly busy so four days off (my) work was very welcome indeed. 

There was a time when I wasn't sure I'd make it this far. Kidney doctors are very reluctant to make promises about how long your new kidney will last so I never thought too far into the future. A few years ago, though, they said that if you're 15 years post-transplant, that's a good indicator that the kidney will outlast the patient. I'm not sure it will be recycle-able by then but it'll have had a good innings.

Sales pitch: Home | Organ Donation Scotland

There's something about big birthdays that makes me contemplative. When I turned 40, I'd not long landed in D&G. I had a very part-time job at what is now Upland and was trying to figure out how to make a living so I could stay in this special corner of the world. Two weeks later, I received a call from Wigtown Book Festival asking if I'd like a temporary contract. Fast forward another six years and I bumped into a farmer I hadn't seen for a while at the opening party. The rest, as they say, is history. 

Now, at half a century, I have a job, a farmer and a life I love. I couldn't imagine that this is how it would turn out but I've lucked out all round. 

Anyway, back to the long weekend. We had our first night in the campervan since Nice in September. It was almost as warm in Sandhead and the dog was living her best life, tearing up and down the beach. We bumped into someone we knew (obviously) and I wondered how to explain that we're sort of related (my partner's brother's wife's brother - prizes for anyone who can figure that one out). 

It all makes me feel pretty rooted in D&G and at The Spittal. I remain optimistic that Ivie will keep me around for another birthday or two.