Just Musing

With a skittering of snow over the low ground, and rather more higher up it was a gorgeous start to the day. The sun shone as I drove up to the pastures to carry on cutting those invasive rushes. I know, shouldn't really be trundling around on the grass in the cold weather but if we get a snowy winter this job won't get done before we have to stop again for those ungrateful corncrakes. So, it's crack on, there's about 200 acres to top so it needs done.

With the topper merrily puffing out an amusing cloud of powdered snow, the tractor cab heater blasting and Jethro Tull on the iPod all was well with the world. Then, as I do, I got to thinking. Here I was, working the very ground that some of the songs I was listening to were about. Ian Anderson, head honcho of Jethro Tull used to own the estate and many of the songs feature landmarks or images found here. From the top of the field I could see his former house, the salmon hatchery he set up and the old fort at Dun Ringill. It all seemed rather, well, right. It's a shame he's not here anymore, I think he was a force to the good.

This of course brought me round to thinking about Highland estates in general and the way they are managed. To cut a long story short, the way I see it is this: The Highland estate is best managed by a wealthy and committed sporting family. They have the money to spend on infrastructure, staffing and local services. They truly love their estates and this is reflected in the amount of wildlife one sees and the care taken of it as a whole.

Sometimes

Sometimes I think it's all in my head. Sometimes I think I imagine this pain, the pain in my hands and my hips, my back and my knees but then along comes a day like today and I know it's real. A day such as this when I've taken my full complement of pain killers and cannot wait for my little blue 'oblivion' pill at bed time. A day when the bath could not be hot enough or long enough to get the cold from my bones or the knots from my muscles. A day when working in the wet and the cold seemed to go on forever, every log I picked up weighed more than the last one and every small knock felt like being hit with a hammer. No, I know it's real.

Positive Things

I've changed doctors. Should have done it a long time ago. She listened, she thought creatively, she gave me time, she asked me the right questions. She has taken action, bloods next week, huge raft of tests. Then meetings with specialists dependent on the results. She gave me a super blue pill to take at night. I slept like a log. Like I haven't slept for years. She has also given me homework, things to make me look at what's going on in my life. At last, I feel I'm making progress.