Black eye, holes and a copy of CJS Weekly.

Another week's gone by and we can't believe it's June already (well almost, we've been working on the 2 June edition since last week so we feel it's been June for a while now!) and in the post this morning was the first of the Christmas catalogues – not yet surely?
Poor Maia has a black eye – how do you tell if a black Labrador has a black eye? Tuesday morning a head long dash into heavy cover in hot pursuit of Hebe resulted in a loud yelp and a closed eye. This led to a trip to the Vets, they were very good, we phoned at 9am explained the problem and they said can you be here at 9.20, we just made it (11 miles over the moor). A full examination and home we came again with antibiotics and green tears (from the stain) but the good news that there was no lasting damage. By Thursday morning Maia looked almost normal again and today her eye is only slightly swollen but she still set off at full tilt down the lane this morning.
TB has also had an interesting week, on Tuesday a small hole appeared in the road by the land where she keeps her horses. It might be small of the surface but upon closer inspection a large cavern was lurking below and the tarmac was defying gravity to present the appearance of a road. It even stopped the postman, Highways were informed and put up 'road closed' signs. That's it we thought, that's the last we'll see of them for a while, but no- yesterday it was filled with several tons of concrete as a temporary measure. Engineers will do a full inspection at a later date and proper repairs will be made.
But despite various distractions, of a Bank Holiday, Maia's adventures, a mysterious hole in the road, reports of horse rustlers and so much more we've got the Weekly edition together and it's now on the printers to be with you on Monday post permitting. This week's edition is 12 sides with 73 new paid posts of which 46 came direct to CJS.

Plants, peas and post.

KH spent Tuesday at the Chelsea Flower Show, photos will follow as soon as we've looked through, sorted and captioned, the 100 or so taken!

However Tuesday was not so good in North Yorkshire on the plant front. There was a very harsh air frost overnight, with temperatures down to almost -6°C in some gardens, TB lost all her beans and half the potatoes and reports of plant losses in Goathland are mounting, ranging from begonias to gunneras. Thankfully our gunnera manicata was only scorched and the fatsia japonica isn't looking too happy either but both should make a full recovery. BUT the sweet peas are definitely looking the worse for wear and this is nothing to do with the frost but more to do with Labrador damage. Maia is an odd dog and for years has hunted out and eaten dandelions down to the root; just recently she's moved onto soil, especially that nice, soft, newly turn earth around tender seedlings like sweet peas! With this in mind a large quantity of cat pepper was incorporated into the planting pockets, a drench of rain and the frost removed the smell from the surface just enough for her to get her nose in and start eating, then the pepper did it's stuff but by then she'd got the taste so out came the peas and digging commenced searching for 'clean' soil. Hebe found uprooted peas a wonderful toy to toss around the garden and she's not averse to a bit of digging. Upon hearing this news Niall offered Flag's services, "Flag is now running day release courses (NVQ Level 3) in Open Cast Mining, and in Canine Archaeological Digs and welcomes Beginners and Improvers, so do let Maia (& Hebe) know. They may be interested in sitting at the paws of The Master Digger & learning how to improve their technique..."
Despite all out plant induces traumas we've put together a CJS weekly just for you, it's 15 pages containing 121 new paid posts of which 51 came direct to CJS. It is now dropping off the printers and will be on it's way to you soon. Please remember Monday is Bank Holiday so postal copies will be a day late and should arrive on Tuesday.

Special Edition supplement: Access and Rights of Way

In association with IPROW. Published today. It's eight pages of articles, adverts and information all related to the rights of way sector. The online copy is in full colour and includes several illustrative photographs that we were not able to include the black & white paper copy. Read it in full here: http://www.countryside-jobs.com/Special_Editions/Current.htm

Not enough time...

Well we've been rather busy, there just don't seem to be enough hours in the day or days in the week so the sooner we find an admin assistant the better!
Last week's CJS Weekly did go out as usual, it was 13 pages with 90 new paid posts of which 33 came direct to CJS. This week's edition is huge! It's 15 pages plus a training calendar for June of five pages AND this week's edition has a Special Edition supplement which is eight pages all about Access & Rights of Way. I just hope your mail box, be it physical or electronic, is big enough for it all…
Whilst the rest of the country has been basking in sunshine we've been shivering under sea frets which pushed over the hill, rolled down into the valley and stayed there. Yesterday brightened up a bit but today is grey and gloomy (very Eeyoreish) again. However, on Monday our Owl came back to visit us and sat on the phone wires for several hours until it was virtually completely dark before she went off hunting. On the not so good side a rabbit has also been sighted in the garden, the dogs saw it off, Hebe did a wonderful Tigger impression and almost bounced right over the wall, and so far there's no evidence of damage to any of the plants. AW is hearing the patter of tiny (webbed) feet, two goslings have hatched and are making their first excursions into the great outdoors.

Small CJS Monthly for May now published.

In case you hadn't noticed yesterday was a bank holiday and so we've received only a few ads for this month's edition. It is only four pages plus a further five of events so the printers have just about finished. Now all we've got to do is to put them all in envelopes and wait for the postie!

Summer and hangovers

It's gloriously warm and sunny, the cuckoo has been heard, swallows, house martins and swifts have all been sighted – BUT it's a bank holiday so watch those storm clouds gather! (we hope not).

Mouse droppings were seen in the feed room (bins of bird, dog and guinea pig food are very tempting) and so the trap was dug out of retirement. Bait of peanuts and a wedge of bread doused in whisky (not the good stuff I hasten to add) was placed temptingly and next morning one wood mouse with a rather large hangover was released a couple of miles away and so far has not returned. Why wood mice in the middle of this tree-less desert called the North York Moors? Well, Niall claims they're rather slow and rather than run away or emigrate they watched all the trees being felled in the bronze age and are now sitting around waiting for the trees to return!

We're just about back to normal although we're still looking for an additional team member. Therefore, this week's CJS Weekly is just about to hit the presses, this week it's 10 pages of 71 new paid posts of which 29 came direct to CJS.

Have a lovely Bank Holiday, if you're interested in our vacancy you'll find details here.