In reply to Post #234
Well i am now home the specialist thought home was a better option than staying in, so i would like to thank you all for the kind remarks i was deeply touched i am a bit bruised from the injections of warfarin in my stomach but it has got rid of the offending clot thank god it was not very big i shall now be going to see a specialist in the near future so once again a big thank to you all mods included. god bless you all pete

In reply to Post #240
Brilliant news...Put your feet up and start writing!

In reply to Post #240

In reply to Post #230
I think i have told you all about a dear friend called charlie Patterson he has long gone but he was a character he was known from the one end of the county to the other, he would carve beautiful walking sticks with badgers heads even foxes they were beautifully finished and hand painted he could have made a fortune, his order books were always full there was a waiting list he would only charge pea nuts for his skill. But it was the love off the country side that made him stand out from others. He was also well known for foxes every bit of spare time he had he would be out looking for his beloved foxes i suppose he was a bit like me but he also ran the Patterson hunt and was in big demand from the local farmers especially the hill farmers although he loved old charlie the fox he also cleared any up that could spell trouble for the farmers latter on.
His hunt consisted of twenty guns maybe more at times, plus the walkers that did all the beating driving the foxes forward to the waiting guns funny charlie did not like killing i have offered him a gun many times but he always said no it was just just a job of work to him i would take him around to see the local farmers at Christmas by the time i took him home he would be drunk as a skunk i would take him to his door and his wife and myself would put him in his old arm chair beside the roaring fire he was a great friend one i really miss we would walk through the woods together and he would say can you smell him Pete i can charlie we have walked miles together as i have said before he liked a bit of fishing Christ his rods were something out of the iron age years old he never bought any more all the years i knew him i really thought they would break if he had a big fish on but they did not i have told you all before about the salmon he caught at Atcham come on Pete lets get home what a procedure as he put this salmon down his trouser leg i fell about laughing he really stank the van out as i made for his home at wenlock.

I have never seen the likes of charlie before or since he would walk miles he never learned how to drive when up in hill country he would clime those hills like a mountain goat and leave some half his age struggling for breath me included he would just look and laugh get up of your arses he would shout your only young i suppose he was getting towards sixty then but he was very fit , he would walk miles with his terrier, the ferrets in a box over his shoulder, the keepers and farmers loved old charlie and he was allowed to roam more or less where he wanted any rabbits he caught would be gutted and left at the nearest farm to be pick up latter when he could get transport. I have laughed, until i have nearly cried at some of the antics he got up to he was a true country man he was with me when we found the albino fox cubs he said they were worth a fair bit of cash so we moved them on by leaving our scent on the earth before they were found by others and dug up, we never did see them again they would have a job surviving in the wild i have often wondered where the vixen took them to i would like to think one or two survived we were sitting down the woods this one day having our sandwiches when he said Pete i have got a problem whats that charlie, i have high blood pressure a man like you that walks miles are you sure yes m8 that's what the doc says he says i must relax a bit more no more walking it was the beginning of the end his wife found him not long after sitting in his favorite arm chair by the roaring fire the great man was gone he had passed away when i walk the woods now i quite often i hear old charlie whisper can you smell him Pete . well a bit more latter.

In reply to Post #243
Hi Peter glad to hear your INR is good enough to be allowed home,,

have had an pnuemonial emulism. umm (spelling/Words) myself and DVT in the Groin. 10 days I was in there bored as ever an hungry, even got a bus home one day from hospital an made a packed lunch and went back.

Luckily my warfarin course only lasted 6 months an then my INR was ok for me to stop,

hope its the same for you. pain taking different dosages all the time..

worst thing was couldn't eat no green veg an i love my veg,,

So happy to read another tale......

All the best Peter.

In reply to Post #244
Thanks pete very much appreciated

In reply to Post #245
good to see you back pete, all the best.

In reply to Post #243
Although still feeling a bit under the weather and still very tired i managed to make my way down to see my syndicate god it was quite cold i did not take part myself but they were all glad to see me it was the last Saturday of the season i did ask if they wanted to have a go Monday or Tuesday as yet i have no answer as i sat in the car i watched the pheasants as they took to the wing there was a good show they were only shooting the morning as a few of the syndicate had a few pressing engagements i watched as three woodcock came over my car lovely little birds that will live for another day i was not sorry when lunch time came as really i wanted to go home its funny how a short stay in hospital can effect you so much but it certainly had with me all i wanted to do is sit in my arm chair and rest i am still very touched by all the members that wished me well i must admit i nearly shed a tear

It got me thinking a bit as i sat in my car i had another of the syndicate with me Rodger who is waiting to go into hospital for a knee operation he has also got a frozen shoulder i have told you all before my syndicate members are all old codgers most of us have seen better days but what keeps us together is the love of the country side i think the bird life in my garden may have got the seasons mixed up i have seen sparrows collecting feathers and grass for their nests i did have a dove sitting on two eggs in the apple tree but it has vanished the wind we had a few days ago blew it out the eggs were on the ground broken but pigeon and doves will nest any time as long the weather is right i got talking to Rodger about the woods and how they were many years ago things have really changed in front of us looking down into the woods is where a big release pen stood it was absolutely huge when old Gerry was keeper it held at least seven thousand birds it was fenced over a very big section of the wood i would sneak around when i was younger he had traps set all around this big pen to the right of the pen was the smaller of the two lakes so he did not have to carry water to far, god Rodger i had a few bird away from that very spot i suppose it would be late fifties maybe around 1958 or there abouts i have hidden myself many time in the thick undergrowth that surrounded that small lake i have watched him pass me by i could of grabbed his ankles he was that close, he was a big man and always wore a trilby hat he would come down to feed his young birds twice daily and to top any feeder up in the pen it must of been a hard life as he carried most food stuff down on his shoulder from the house, you could not get a tractor down there in those days, he also had the under keepers to give him a lift with the heavy stuff. do you see those oaks over there i said i shot a few of his birds from there with my old airgun that is where the feed rides were they would roost up in those trees , they were so easy to shoot and they kept us fed and our many neighbours through those hard years. well its time for home Rodg we picked my mate graham in the car park and said our fair wells to tony and our motley crew i was not sorry to see my front door and sit in my chair, all i have now is my memories of a life long ago so different from today . a bit more latter

In reply to Post #247
good to see you back at it pete, long may you continue!

In reply to Post #246
Thanks matt and you Brian very much appreciated i have got to see a specalist now but at least they have removed the clot with warfrin injections thanks both of you the only thing is i have been a bit tired since i came out but that should pass

In reply to Post #249
my grandads been on wharfarin tablets for years, he says it makes you feel the cold alot more due to it thinning your blood. he also nods off alot but think this is more a side effect of my grandma rather than the wharfarin

In reply to Post #247
i have told you about Rodger in the last thread he came to live on my village a few years ago he moved from Winchester with his wife and daughter at the time he really knew nobody on the village i was on a shoot one day and Rodger happened to be beating i suppose it was in the late seventies i don't think he will mind me saying i saved him having a breakdown he missed his friends and home so much. He had not made many friends on our village of bayston hill. Rodge liked a bit of ferreting he had a good many ferrets and they were not being used so i suggested he come along with myself and graham he was a changed man although he was very laid back and said very little but when out ferritin those rabbits he always had a big smile on his face i also got him out shooting he would come with me to a few shoots in and around Shropshire he mostly helped the beaters but it was not long before he was using the gun and was a reasonable shot but like us all he has aged since i have known him he has had two heart attacks and skin cancer but he never packs in.

I have taken Rodger with me trout fishing on more than one occasion he would make himself comfortable in the punt as we drifted down the lake casting a fly to the many trout feeding of the surface i have offered to teach him i have handed him the rod but he would always decline why i don't know but he always seemed happy to just sit and watch i always gave him two or three trout at the end of the day he was like a dog with two tales ill have um for my tea tonight he would say, he is a member of my syndicate but this year he has struggled with his knees he has osteoarthritis the same illness that i have he also has got a frozen shoulder and he is now waiting for an operation on his knees but i wonder if he will get one owing to his problems which he suffered in the past ie heart attacks but he is a grand old friend and i wish him well i just hope it does not finish him going out with his ferrets.

I loved this time of year it was nearly the start of spring the one wood is covered in shoots belonging to the snow drop it wont be long before they are in flower its only a small wood, the condover brook runs through the middle of the wood i have caught a few trout from here when i was a young man i would spin or worm they never grew very big around a pound but beautiful to eat no one seems to go into this old wood it like the time has stood still there are some of the old gin traps still hanging from a tree just like the day the keeper left them there, that would be old Frank bell the traps have rusted up over the years they were cruel things i have seen them take an animals leg off they have been banned for many years but when i was young they were used a lot. How thing have changed over the years it is in this small wood that i would clime and hide from the keepers and the police the old trees are still there especially the big fir where i would hide my self in the thick branches as i stand and look up this old tree i wondered how i climbed it all those years ago i certainly could not now but that is my age, my mind is still willing but my body is not. Well a bit more latter

In reply to Post #251
Talking the other day i was asked what did i consider my greatest gift i had no trouble at all answering the question love i answered love for all things your family nature and your fellow man it costs nothing i have a great love of nature just sit and watch a spider weave his Web or a salmon jumping the falls to get to his spawning ground or the eel traveling all those miles from the sargasso sea how on earth do they know were there going this is nature at its best most people do not give it a second thought but it is a most wonderful thing .

When i think back about the times i sat with old SAM and he said nature is a gift its a love of all things and he truly believed that and it showed in the way he lived his life, he was one of the old school he was a keeper although it was part of his life to clean the vermin up by trapping and shooting he had great respect for all animals i remember the time he caught a badger in a snare he did not kill it but brought it home alive for his wife to care for it, he taught me such a lot about all things butterflies birds and foxes all things really trout fishing with his old fly rods well poaching i would say what if we will get caught who by i am the keeper what about the bailiffs if they come we run it was the way he said it i would roll over laughing he would take those fish home for his wife she would make a wonderful meal with them.

It was me who he would send up the old cherry trees to collect the fruit why me i would say yer younger than me if the gaffer comes yer can run faster i would take my air gun up to his house don't e shoot any of my birds with that will e no Sam i wont. I don't know how he did it but he acquired a new spring for that gun he had a lot of trouble getting it to fit he would take it rook shooting to the big rookery in the woods, he would only shoot ten or twelve put them in a sack and take them back for his wife he would sit at the dinner table eating this big rook pie god it made me feel sick just looking dust e wont some young un no i don't you don't know whats good for yer leave the boy alone his wife would say he would just laugh, but i have told you all this before it was a real hard life in the few years after the war i think most people lived on rabbit we would have it in a big pie with a pastery covering or stewed even roasted the humble rabbit fed thousands sam would drop a couple of on his way shopping he walked every where he went he did have a bike but i never saw him on it much he would call his feet my shanks ponies i would say are you going to walk to clun sam yes on my shanks ponies he would say where that word came from i dont no but i have heard a few use it today. It was the best time of my life and in the few years i knew sam i learned such a lot but one stands out more than any and that is love for all things. well a bit more latter

In reply to Post #252
I have fished the river a good many times in this weather, althought the line froze to the rod i have had some good bags of roach and chub but in those days there were no hand warmers and you hands would hurt from the frosty conditions. we really never had the clothing we have today so we would put on whatever we could get hold of most people would wear wellingtons no good i always would put on a good pair of lace up boots which had been given a good rub over with dubbing they would certainly be water proof and with a good pair of socks would keep you quite warm funny really i would go fishing most weather frost hail or snow but today i am not so keen the older you get you are more you are likly to suffer from the cold i am seventy in may so i have not done to bad.

As you all know i was not past doing a bit of poaching it was a necessity really but did not like to go in snowy conditions as the baliffs or keepers could soon see your tracks and know you had been there but if you had no food or not much money needs must. There was so many pheasents around in those days that you never had much trouble catching a few i would feed along a hedge row with a few razins or currents mixed with a bit of corn you would soon have them feeding with confidence all you neaded was a bit of fishing line and a good strong hook and a current mounted on the hook i would lie in the hederow with my water proofs on they were easy to catch and i would soon have a few in the bag i would always cover my tracks the best i could the problem was getting the birds home especially in the day light so i would hide them and fetch them when darkness fell, i got quite freindly with a family of gypsies they were Real Romanys and had lived in shrophire most of there lifes i got to know the one quite well his name was jack but to me it was jacko he liked a bit of poaching himself he owned a couple of lurchers and he would be out all hours catching the rabbits and hares that inhabited the big estates of shropshire infact he showed me how he tickled the trout he was a good poacher a master of his craft but he did not like company when out at night i did go with him a couple of times have you ever tried carrying three or four Hares over the feilds heavy i can tell you it was not for me. but we remained freinds for many years untill his untimly death from cancer.

Infact i made many freinds that were gypsies some even went to school with me i could trust them with my life the one family had a number of ponies they would let me ride them no sadle infact old joe would come with me he loved those horses as much as his family he would break them in and sell them on at the big horse shows he would go all the way to cumbria to one such show selling and buying but i think it was an exuse for a drink or two he was a bit of a lad and could use his fists no man frits me pete he would say you could see he was well muscled he would fight any man as long as there was money in it he would return home black and blue but a bit better off in pocket his wife would play hell althought she was very proud of him she was worried in case he got badly hurt but he never did i have not seen joe for some time as he moved away but most of his family are still here they have now moved into houses joe liked to be on the road the last i heard he was at another village in north shropshire
he must be getting on a bit as he went to school with me i have some fond memories of old joe and our times at school together. well a bit more latter

In reply to Post #253
There was one lake about 6 miles from my home i desperately wanted to fish i suppose i was about seventeen at the time it was a beautiful lake and i was told it held some big tench and the odd carp but the problem was getting to fish the water it was so very heavily keepered it was about ten acres in size with extensive Lilly beds and reed fringed i made up my mind i was going to give it a go but none of my mates would go any where near the place they were to frightened i would take only one rod a few worms and maggots if i could get some from our local tackle shop a chap by the name of ken Phillips owned the place and you could get some useful information about the local lakes, from him i mentioned the lake he said don't go you will be caught it is strictly private and they have some big shooting days on the estate, but i would not be there in the day only night time, and so it was on the Friday night i was away rods tied on the cross bar of my bike bag on my back with an assortment of tackle and a few sandwiches and a bottle of pop arriving at the estate i hid my bike in the undergrowth and made my way across the field skirting the big house and keepers cottage it was nearly dark by the time i reached the lake it was fringed with reeds i made my way towards the water through the reed bed it was quite firm under feet i decided to ledger and use a big lob worm on the hook i used the back light from my bike which gave a nice red glow and positioned it so it showed up my bobbin, which was a piece of doe, i could not be seen in the big reed bed and i found an old tree branch to sit on i did not have to wait long up went the bobbin i played the fish with some excitement landing the fish with my hands no landing net in those days it was a perch about a pound or so but it was a start the next fish was a tench not big but very welcome i froze i could hear talking from some where behind the swim noise travels at night so i was not to concerned then i heard dogs barking it was the keepers.

I really got a bit worried i wound my rod in and peered into the wood i saw no one, the talking had stopped but i could still hear the dogs barking in the distance i wondered what was up why were the keepers about in the woods at this time it was around one in the morning maybe looking for poachers i managed another couple of perch and a good eel well about three pounds that would go home for eating we loved them my mum would strip the skin from the eel then cut it in chunks dip it in batter then fry it was lovely with a pan of potatoes and peas, before i left the lake i shone my torch up a couple of trees there were pheasants every where i would certainly be back and have a few of those i nearly got caught the first time i went ill tell you more latter