Am I ready to go, nope, not yet, I have written my paper, I have charged up my computer, phone, kindle and hard drive. I have a plug that will work in the US, my clothes are still damp!! And I have yet to pack, but that only takes minutes It was a day of slight but annoying problems, Dante got out through the road gate – which someone had opened and thought the horses would not barge through. He was caught half a mile up the road, and brought home in disgrace; at least my ankle appears a little better after the chase! Katana appeared in the field while Holly was turning on the PA, much to her and one of our regular visitors surprise!! She had seen Holly go down and assumed that of course Holly had forgotten her, and so remedied the forgetfulness. John has subsequently fixed the enclosure so that will not happen again! I tried to get my boarding pass online, went through the whole bloody process only to be told that I would have to check in at the desk, what a flipping waste of time and energy, why the hell did they not say that at the start.

I did manage to book the shuttle from Denver to Fort Collins and my car parking, so that was a bonus I think?!

Otherwise all the birds flew well, but there were niggles all day. I had to go and get diesel and air for the tyres in the car – one was very low, and managed to do it when the bloody school buses were arriving to empty Newent School, and that in itself is a nightmare to be avoided. One second male Bay Owl arrived back and the young female Spectacled Owl left for a new home and mate, so that was good. And actually I have to say that Cleeve did fly better than usual, although my Goshawk was only interested in hanging upside down – he was a little over weight.

We are doing a flying demonstration on Sat at least Holly and Mark are! and the company wanted our risk assessment, public liability insurance and method statement, what the bloody hell is a method statement. The world has gone completely mad. The only risk is our losing a bird, I don’t need to be insured (but am at vast cost) and my methods are fine thank you very much!!