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Starting from number one there are five new photographs on…

Starting from number one there are five new photographs on the Photo Page.

The five photographs were all sent in by Simon. Simon and his family stayed at Denbury a couple of weeks ago when the photographs were taken. I will put five more of those he sent on the Photo page in a few days time.

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Starting from number six there are five new photographs on…

Starting from number six there are five new photographs on the Photo Page.

One I took at Dungeness, just before an amazing sunset. Jill

Also a passionflower in my friernd’s garden. Jill

Starting from number six there are five new photographs on the Photo Page.

A beautiful field of poppies. Jill

This osprey in Maine/USA seems to be growing a garden in her nest! Marie/NJ

Swans were local to me. Peter.

Elsie sent this letter in. A lot of those killed are to young to be there. 18 year olds who have never seen life let alone be involved in a war.

He was killed on 2 June 2009. This is the letter he wrote to be delivered to his family if he died:

Hello its me, this is gonna be hard for you to read but I write this knowing every time you thinks shits got to much for you to handle (so don’t cry on it MUM!!) you can read this and hopefully it will help you all get through.

For a start SHIT I got hit!! Now Iv got that out the way I can say the things Iv hopefully made clear, or if I havent this should clear it all up for me. My hole life you’v all been there for me through thick and thin bit like a wedding through good and bad. Without you I believe I wouldn’t have made it as far as I have. I died doing what I was born to do I was happy and felt great about myself although the army was sadly the ending of me it was also the making of me so please don’t feel any hate toward it. One thing I no I never made clear to you all was I make jokes about my life starting in the Army. That’s wrong VERY wrong my life began a LONG time before that (Obviously) but you get what I mean. All the times Iv tried to neglect the family get angry when you try teach me right from wrong wot I mean to say is I only realised that you were trying to help when I joined the army and without YOUR help I would have never had the BALLS, the GRIT and the damn right determination to crack on and do it. If I could have a wish in life it would to be able to say Iv gone and done things many would never try to do. And going to Afghan has fulfilled my dream ie my goal. Yes I am young wich as a parent must brake you heart but you must all somehow find the strength that I found to do something no matter how big the challenge. As Im writing this letter I can see you all crying and mornin my death but if I could have one wish in an “after life” it would be to stop your crying and continueing your dreams (as I did) because if I were watching only that would brake my heart. So dry your tears and put on a brave face for the rest of your friends and family who need you.
I want each and everyone of you to forfill a dream and at the end of it look at what you have done (completed) and feel the accomplishment and achievement I did only then will you understand how I felt when I passed away.

[To his brothers:] You are both amazing men and will continue to be throughout your lives you both deserve to be happy and fofill all of your dreams.

Dad

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There are five new photographs on the Photo page starting…

There are five new photographs on the Photo page, starting from number eleven. Getting short again.

Butterfly in my garden in Connecticut. Eastern Tiger Swallowtail. Anjela Connecticut.

Mallard ducklings,there were 10 for her to look after. Lindsay.

Feeding the Robins in the lane near my house! PM.

Photo of one of three bearded dragons that belong to my boyfriend. Vicky. Derby.

Newstead Abbey. Nottinghamshire. Judy.

One of our Holiday Guests was watching the Geese on their live webcam monitors that we have installed in our cottages, when a Fox nearly had the Goose last night. By all accounts it was only inches away. Although he went to the lake to make sure that the Fox had gone, it may have returned to take the Gosling that was missing this morning. The Fox may not have been responsible, but with the help of our holiday guest we electric fenced around the area on the near side bank that Goose and Goslings lay out on. We could well be putting the danger in another area, but it seems to be the most dangerous part for the Goose and the Gosling, as other than a small leet, that would be easy for the Fox to cross there is no protection. On the far bank there is a five to six foot drop into a stream making it a less dangerous area. I am not convinced that it was a Fox that took the Gosling last night. It could have been a Magpie. What ever it was, it will try to take the two remaining Goslings and the Goose.

We have found a new home for Sonny our companion pony for Smuggler. We have been trying to re home him for quite a while. We have had a number of enquiries for him, but we had to make sure that he was going to the right home. Sonny is going to a family in Devon who have two young children and two more ponies. So hopefully we have let him go to the right people. We need to break Smuggler as a riding horse and he will need to come down from the paddock in to the stable area. Although both Smuggler and Sonny have been well looked after, being in the paddock away from the stable area they have been deprived of attention. Both really like to have a fuss made of them. The family taking Sonny will be able to break him themselves and it is good for both the family and Sonny to get use to each other.

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We have been trying to sell Smugs one of our…

We have been trying to sell Smugs one of our Horses for over a couple of months. He is a really good Colt, laid back and very kind. He is a good price, in fact less that what it cost for the Sire covering fee. There have been a few people looking at him. Every one who has looked at him likes him. There is nothing to dislike. He is a popular size and an attractive horse. But that’s Horses, some sell to the first person who sees them, other just hang about.

A couple of years back we decided to sell a few of our pet smaller Ponies, Jazz, Bracken and Velvet, they were to small for any one on the farm to ride, and they would have made good riding Ponies for children. It was about this time of year that we put them up for sale. They had spent the Summer in the field where the Badger camera is. At one time it would have been partly an Orchard, there are still a couple of cooking apple trees in the field. Jazz was not really broken, but a women who liked him insisted on trying to ride him. She didn’t stay on Jazz to long, he bucked her off and ran up the drive. But she was not a time waster, for although finishing up on her backside after riding him, she did buy Jazz.

Bracken and Velvet were different, they were well broken, very calm and had never done any thing wrong in all the time that they were at Denbury. Bracken had been here for five years, she was a 13.2hh tubby Skewbald. That is a brown and white horse. Velvet had been here for about four years. She was a 12.2hh sleek dark bay, like Arnie and Misty. Coats that colour always shine, Velvet suited her well. We had so many enquiries on Bracken and Velvet, that in the end we got fed up with all the phone calls.

The first family that came to view Bracken and Velvet, came with their Daughter who the Pony was wanted for, she was about seven years old. We fetched the Ponies from the field back to the stables, to prepare and groom them so that they looked good before the people came to view them. We didn’t try to ride them as we knew that they would be faultless.

Bracken was saddled first to show to the family. She was walked into the yard to where the sand school is. Once through the gate the saddle girth strap was tightened and she was mounted, to be ridden to the sand school, to show the family how she rode before their Daughter got on the Horse. Instead of riding to the sand school Bracken started to twist around and generally play up. We couldn’t believe how she was acting, she was quickly dismounted and taken back to the stables. We made our apologise to the family, assuring them that this was a one off and that Velvet would be completely different. Velvet was saddled and taken the same way, girthed and mounted, as Bracken to show the family again before their Daughter rode her. This time it was even worse than Bracken, Velvet started to buck and race around, dumping her rider unceremoniously to the ground, she was acting like a Horse at a Western Rodeo. She was finally caught and walked back to the stables. As we passed the family, the little girl was hiding behind her Mother, clinging on to her Mothers hand, weeping, telling her Mother I haven’t got to ride her, have I?

We made our apologises to the family trying to assure them that this was the first time that the Ponies had ever acted like this, and it really was. We just could not understand why these wonderful Ponies had turned into lunatics. We didn’t expect the family to believe what we was telling them. They must have thought that we were dodgy Horse dealers.

We weren’t best pleased of how Bracken and Velvet had acted. Instead of the little treats that we would normally give them, they were taken straight back to their field. Taking through the gate we suddenly realised what had made them act as they did. Lying on the ground was a treeful of apple windfalls that many had been partly eaten. the Ponies had belly aches, tightening the saddle girths and mounting them had made their bellies hurt worse.

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There was a little bit of sun about today made…

There was a little bit of sun about today, made a change. It gave me the chance to walk down the valley to to look at the hay grass. A good deal of the grass has been flattened when the stream went from being two foot wide to thirty foot. The flattened grass is going to take a long while to dry, as it will be stopping the ground from drying underneath it. Could well be that we will not be able to cut the flattened grass. Unless this weather changes, we wont be able to cut any.

We have family staying at Minehead for their holiday, so with the weather being a bit brighter we went and had our fish and chips on the harbour with them. We have only been going to the harbour part of Minehead since we found the cottage for the family to stay in. They are getting on a bit and like the seaside. We found the cottage a couple of months back, when we had that really warm spell. We had purposely made our way to the harbour area to find a holiday cottage for them, and was fortunate to have seen a local fisherman, who we asked if he knew of any holiday accommodation. He pointed us into the direction of a lady’s cottage who had a holiday cottage next to hers. She only had this week available. It has turned out to be the perfect little cottage and location for their holiday. All the widows overlook the harbour, that is under twenty feet from their front door.

We sat out on harbour eating our fish and chips. We were sitting in the shade, it was absolutely freezing, so I suggested that we walked around the harbour wall, to the area where the sun was shining on. When you visit a place regularly you tend to take little notice of the area. Today we realised what a very pretty and picturesque little harbour it is. Looking straight over from the harbour wall you can see the cottages that they holidaying in, one of a long row of period fishermen cottages, that sit at the bottom of a massive rocky mound that levels out at the rear with the contours of the land, that must be a quarter of Minehead. Part of it has roadways leading up to homes, that I reckon that I would suffer from vertigo, if I lived up there. The side that their cottage is on, is nearly a sheer rock face drop, with pine trees growing out of it. From the distance of the harbour wall you can see a retaining wall behind their cottage, that you would hope would stop any landslide, although I was not convince that it would.

Walking back with the family to their cottage, we bumped into the Fisherman who had told us about the cottage. Every time without fail that we have gone for our fish and chips, we meet the Fisherman. A little bit of banter passes between us, finishing up with a little laugh. On one occasion we helped him lift one of his fishing boats, of which he seems to have many, a bit of a lump it was to. How come I keep on meeting you, what are you doing here today, he joked, I couldn’t stay away from you I replied. We got into conversation and I asked him about any landslides. Yes there have been a few he told us. He had lived at the harbour all of his life where he was born and bred, and earned his living from the sea, as did his family and most of the people who occupied the fisherman’s cottages. A stone fell on the cottage that your family are staying in, maybe a little bigger than a stone, more a rock, he continue, indicating with his hands, a rock of about three foot square and telling that the weight would have been about half a ton, went through the roof, smashed through a rafter and crashing to the ground. Had to use a jack hammers to break it up. He told of another incident when a rock went through the roof of the cottages that he was born in. The family who lived there at the time, were lucky to be alive, when a landslide of about three hundred ton crashed into their home. The occupants were found in a protected area, that miraculously somehow had been left around them.