Spontaneous plans always the best!

A very good morning to you everyone, I hope that you are all well.

Today its Motoko blogging as Jenny is dog walking with our daughter Amanda. So it’s down to me to up date you all on the things that have been going on of late since we last posted a blog, but as normal let’s check out the Cumbria weather forecast for the week ahead.

Up next is the weather forecast for the week ahead in Kyoto, Japan. Why I hear you ask? Well keep reading and you will find out!

Well then first of all, all the yard building work has come to a dramatic stop. Seems that the builders and workmen who are doing all of the work here have said they can’t do a lot of the needed tasks in this current weather. This current weather I may add has been a lot of heavy rain and wind. So this means that the predicted finish date will be dramatically changed in the on coming weeks.

The yard at the moment due to digging and building has become a mass of muddy gray and building rubble and looks rather unsightly at the moment. I have spent every working hour dressed up in waterproofs as it the rain really has been non stop.

Because of all the wet weather I have also been wearing wellies for the whole duration of the working week. Though I must add I wear wellies and rubber riding boots a lot anyway so this isn’t really a big change for me. But need them more than ever with all this mud and clay thanks to all the building work.

As the blog title suggests we have made some fantastic spontaneous plans this morning, we have booked a holiday. For years and years at work we have always put the job before ourselves to make it work. Now that was good for the stables but not so good for ourselves, and some very good friends we known for ages made us realise that we can’t carry on like that forever. So this year when we brought the yard from its original owners we have been taking mini weekends away and so on just to unwind and relax. But talking to these very good friends of ours (Steve and Jess) online last night about holidays it dawned on me that This month till middle of next month is the only time that we as a family will be able to have a proper long holiday. So this morning I have booked a flight to go to Kyoto with my good wife Jenny and our fantastic daughter Amanda. We are going on the 23rd of May 2011 and flying home on the 13th June, we are flying first class as a treat to Amanda as she never been on a plane before. So I thought she should go in style! Our flight is listed below. While we are away I have my younger sister in charge of the yard, she is a bright young women and I have every confidence in her. I also have my good friend Sam Mia to keep an eye on my younger sister as well as make sure the building work is done correctly and do help my younger sister keep things running smoothly.

We are going to stay in what was my father’s home, but when he passed away he left it to me. The home is fantastic and very, very stylish in traditional Japanese building work. The house has a massive living area with open kitchen as a central room, and then a master bedroom which is home to my queen size bed which is really love. The master bedroom has a grand en-suite bathroom. The guest bedroom also of a good size and has an en-suite bathroom as well. I also have a live-in maid in the house looking after the cleaning and the bills, and sorting the mail out and so on. She is friendly and polite and that’s all you can ask for from a domestic isn’t it, oh and she does work hard and has to put up with me so she needs a medal for that! Below is a picture of the area where we shall be living for the holiday, which is the area where I have my house in Kyoto. It’s in an old district, and it’s so beautiful and wonderful. It really is a great place to live, can wake up an open front door to be greeted with a fantastic view of the old streets with their wooden fronts and cheery blossom trees. I am sure that Amanda shall love it, as it’s not like the city as this area is very old and traditional.

But I was not born here; I was born in Kyoto Fushimi. Below is a picture of that area. It’s another great area of Kyoto and is home to Fushimi Inari shrine, which I think is the best shrine in the whole of Japan.

Things that we will need to pack is a good map of Kyoto and a Kyoto guide for jogging my memory, also for Amanda who as not been here before. Also packing a full Japanese dictionary for her and a full Japan guide book, all of which she can read on the plane when we are flying there.

I think the holiday will be a mixture of walking around some great parts of Kyoto while showing Amanda all the best bits to see, as well as taking her to see Fushimi Inari shrine. We shall be going to a really nice spa with plenty hot spring type pools and saunas. Eating out shall also be a part of the holiday and the most important part of the holiday is to be with my amazing wife and our great daughter and just relax. Best part of having a live-in maid is that you can relax fully knowing you don’t have to do all the small housework jobs and so on. But I shall be cooking for everyone at some point and yes that include cooking for the maid as well.

You can’t do Japan unless you fit in some Kendo right? Well I plan to take my family to a nice dojo for a round or so of Kendo in proper Japanese surroundings. This is really for Amanda as she is really keen on Kendo now where better to teach her a little bit more than in Kyoto?!

Catching up with an old friend Esumi and her wife while we are out there at some point as well and we shall all be going to Dark Cherry for a nice cup of green tea and to relax. Also doing a small Shibari shoot for them as well, that is always fun and gives me a little extra cash. But as I said before this holiday is all about relaxing and recharging ourselves in time for the yard we now own to re-open for the summer season. It’s also a very special holiday as it’s the first holiday that we have had as a family.

But now it’s time to end the blog as I have I have typed a lot and how no wish to bore you with it. So take care everyone and we shall blog again real soon.

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As always we are supporting the RNLI, click the banner below to find out what the RNLI is all about and what do can do to help and support them.

Motoko & Jenny Carterr

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It’s Bank Holiday Monday, and Yes We Are Working!

It’s Bank Holiday Monday, and Yes We Are Working!

Hello bloggers it’s Jenny here, I finished work half an hour early to do some paperwork but thought I would type up a short blog too! Well as normal on a Bank Holiday me and Motoko are working, I can’t remember when we have given ourselves a bank holiday off. Best not think about it as it may depress us if we remember how long ago really actually did give ourselves a Bank Holiday off. Today was very lacking in customers, which is normal for a Bank Holiday in August, we did have a children’s group lesson this evening but that was basically the sum total of customers apart from people who keep their horses or ponies here on D.I.Y Livery.

Before we set off with the main blog, here is the Cumbrian forecast!

To keep Motoko happy, here is the Kyoto forecast as well.

Well had a feed delivery today and some of the feed inside the sacks where gone off, musty and mouldy. This is a real pain as we will have to wait for them to be collected and swapped with good sacks of feed. This will not happen until this Friday, so Motoko had to get some feed else where to tie us over until Friday! Picture below is how shocking the feed was.

Saber my new horse decided he would go and trash his new rug today as well, naughty horsey. Yes, I am talking to you Saber! While he was busy ripping his nice rug open he also ripped himself apart as well. *sighs*. Luck we could sort it out without the need of our local equine vet.

Chilly today and was raining on and off, so the ground is really very soggy again. But not very flooded now at the moment so we are all hoping that the ground will not so water logged to a point where we will have very little turn out. One reason we have Ocean Crewman© waterproofs and Dickies coveralls is that Cumbria can be harsh to work outside in and was glad to have warm coveralls today.

Motoko brought some fly wipes that keep flies away from horses, you can use them around areas of the horse that the horse my not like to be sprayed with repellent for insects. They are great for doing around the horse’s eyes and face, so we highly recommend them.

I am not a great fan of rubber riding boots but I decided to give them ago since the ground been so mucky of late and although I don’t mind riding in hunters I prefer not to. So got some toggi rubber riding boots to wear when it’s muddy and when I have to ride and I have to say that although they are not as good as leather ones they are good. Was surprised that they were fairly comfortable as well, and fairly hard wearing and a reasonable price.

Me and Motoko spent the weekend at our friends Sam Mia and Moira fields home, which was a nice welcome break. We have a few good lay-ins which we really needed and the company was great. Sunday we watched F1 which was one of the best F1 races of 2010. So Sunday morning me and Motoko got up, after spending the night in a single bed together, we could have spent in the two singles but Motoko climbed in with me. Had a epic full English breakfast cooked by Sam Mia and then me and Motoko went back to bed, but used Sam Mia’s and Moria’s bed (as it’s a double) for two more hours sleep where we were not cramped into a single bed. Then got up, had shower and then settled down to watch the F1, while having the lap data flowing on laptop screen next to us. After the race we had post race chat as we always did. Had a game of monopoly afterwards and then Motoko in the evening cooked a fantastic ramen dish for us all and then we left after we finished the game of monopoly.

Going to be my turn to cook tonight, and me and Motoko want an early night so going to do a cheat meal and put two twelve inch oven pizzas into our Rayburn for dinner tonight. May wash it down with a bottle of ruddles county, which our favourite ale at the moment.

So I shall finish blogging for today and change out of work gear and have a cuppa and relax for a while with Motoko who has just arrived in from work. Take care all.

Click the banner to learn about our wonderful paradise in England, which Is Cumbria.

As always we are supporting the RNLI, click the banner below to find out what the RNLI is all about and what do can do to help and support them.

Jenny and Motoko Carter

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Change in the tide!

Change in the tide is upon us I will reluctantly say in case the water rises again. But for now the flooding has not got any worse where we are and in fact it has started to withdraw from the drive and back into the lane, which doesn’t look as bad as it did a few days ago. A few days ago it resembled a white water river, but now it’s like a bubbling stream. Because the lane is still flooded that means that we still can’t get out of the stables grounds and that also means that we are still getting no customers, or the part time girls arriving to work fri sat and sun. Which is why me and Motoko have been on the yard this morning mucking out and doing odd jobs, we are still going to work the mornings on the three days we have off until all this flooding is over, and the rest of the girls are doing afternoon and evening work.

Our home now has ten sand bags in front of our front door and ten sand bags behind the front door, this works really very well and hardly any water is steaming into our home now, so this is a really good thing! Also currently have some nice big logs on our fire and the warmth is really very welcoming and slightly romantic. As you can see from the picture below our floor is water free.

I put on my waders and strolled out to the sign I painted and put on the yard gate the other day, as I had to re-tie it back onto the gate as some of the cable ties snapped in all theses high winds that has been battering us. Motoko watched from the edge of the drive-way waiting for me to slip up and fall in the flood water, but sadly for her I didn’t hehe. Some of the paint has run off the sign but it looks ok, which is the main thing.

Below is a picture of our predicted weather for the rest of the week, and so far it is fairly on target. Though at the moment it’s raining pretty hard, but nothing like the rain we have been getting of late.

This made me smile found this on YouTube from the BBC© TV show Top Gear. They find out that Cumbria is indeed the wettest place in England.

Also we are continuing to show our support for the RNLI. So below is another video.

Well that’s it for now, we are going to do some much needed house work and washing. Pile of work uniform to wash and other things like that. Then we are going to bake some muffins, since we ran out of our last batch.

Jenny and Motoko Carter

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Floating Nicely!

Good evening to you all bloggers, Jenny blogging tonight.

Well today we discovered that the lane at the bottom of the driveway of our stables this morning has in fact become even more flooded and deeper than it was on the weekend. It’s also moved up the driveway a little bit more which means that the water is getting close to our home, which is not a good thing really. The water is still running though the yards and down the drive and passed our home, but good news is that we now have ten sand bags in front of our front door that hardly any water is getting though. To get into our home we simply open the top part of our front door and in, simple really. Picture below is some of our grazing flooded, and this was on high ground, the bottom two fields are a good 2 foot under water at the lower end of them so no using the bottom fields again this year me thinks.

For the staffs personal wellbeing me and Motoko and told them to wear their 66North waterproof clothing, we normally only ever use for hacking out. Reason is that the 66North clothing is same type as Ocean which is that oil skin type, but its orange and very hi visibility. Unlike our Ocean gear that is Orange and Blue. So all of our staff members now wearing their 66North clothing so they show up on the yard, this means we can see each other though all this flooding and rain. Also Motoko told them to go to their provided cottages and, do a stock take on all of their food and note it down and hand a copy to us so we know how long we can all home out. It’s good news as every one as plenty of supplies for a good whole week, and by then all this flooding should be slowly going. We have a plan to use our canoe and paddle around the flooded lane for supplies from local farm shop which is not as flooded as we are. Also Sam our friend is a flood response operative and she lives on the arm with her partner. So help is a flooded lane away if we really badly need it.

With all this weather no one as you know can enter our leave our stables, so today has been customer free. So that’s not so good, but means that there are no lessons and treks to take and lead. That means there is more time to work on other things.

Also if you are a fan of the band called Muse, you will love this video.

I think it was a really great performance but not as good as their Devon gig which was just fantastic to hear.

Everyone here been really cheerful and up beat about the whole thing and Motoko has been wearing a lifejacket all day over her gear as a joke all day, that made me smile. Also have a painted sign on our yards driveway gate with a cartoon raft with lots of horses on board it. Was my idea, so I was the one to wade in and tie it to the gate, once again I got my hunters flooded. I really must remember to wear my waders next time I do anything like test the depth or put if funny signs.

Here is another RNLI video to continue Motoko’s RNLI support in her last blog.

But that is it for now, I need to see to our fire and then help Motoko with our dinner. You can’t go wrong with bangers and mash!

Jenny and Motoko Carter

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Up To Hips In It All!

Hello all you bloggers this is Motoko blogging.

Well the rain still comes and with rain comes flooding, we are now really cut off from the closeted down about five miles away. Bottom of our yards driveway and the lane it leads too is totally flooded. Jenny felt like she wanted to test the depth by walking into it. It proved that the water was hip height, so after flooding her hunter wellies and wading back out we she agreed that it was not the best way to test the depth. So she now has her waterproof trousers and her socks and hunter wellies and jeans on cloths horse in front of our log fire. Told her next time she should try something like that she should year a lifejacket or buoyancy aid and a drysuit, that didn’t go down to well and only reply I got from her was a raised eye brow followed by a frown.

This morning we mucked out the whole yard between us, it didn’t take that long really. Part time people for very clear reasons can’t get in. So until they can and the flood water goes away me and Jenny will do the mornings on the yard on Fri, Sat and Sun and then some of our other staff that live in the stable cottages can do the afternoon and evening. So far its working really well, downside is that one of our part time girls is a college student who helps on Fridays, he arrived before the flood water burst into the lanes. So she is now sharing a cottage with Anna as she can’t get home or to college for that matter.

Our paddocks are oke which really surprised me. Oke in the way that they are still there and not been swept away by the flood water, but two out of five paddocks are flooded and the grazing is not that great but we will work around it.

Ground floor flooded again last night even though we added more sand bags, its like a bunker now and still the water floods in, never mind. We broke the hunters out and grabbed a broom each and swept it out in record time, as it didn’t flood as bad as before. I’ve stocked up on logs for the fire and we have plenty of food so I am sure that we will be ok.

The RNLI need to be thanked I think for helping our little part of the world that is Cumbria. With out you people would be stuck in cars, homes and other places. So I would like to thank the brave RNLI women and men who have been helping.

Click this link for the RNLI website: The RNLI

I think that will be all for now, stay tuned for me random blogging from me and Jenny.

Kind Regards,

Jenny and Motoko Carter

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