Apparently Daisy and Flossie (sisters) have been privately communicating.  This, in itself, is extraordinary as they have spent many years with swords ready.

Daisy asked Floss if she could go and take some photos of the horses for her as she misses them.  You should know that I always offer Daisy the opportunity to take one with her when she goes off to university each term.  In my humble opinion, Lyra would’ve fitted in her bedroom, no problem and I doubt anyone would notice in a student house.

So off Flo went into the field, armed with my camera to see if she could accomplish this for her dearest sister.  I must say her photos are very good and she definitely has “the eye”.

So here you are, Daisy, fill yer boots, as we say, and enjoy the photos of your silly frilly,  your wild stallion and the Comtois that seems to have appeared from nowhere.  I am rather ashamed of Klængur’s shape.  It has only taken a year and he is hugely fat.  He did not arrive that shape and appears to have eaten all the pies.  Never mind.  Perhaps it will slow him down when I get on him in the dim and distant future.

And, Daisy, just in case you were asking, BeAnne is very well doing what she does best – trip me up by lying beside me at all times.  Jack is, well, Jack.  His language has not improved nor his disposition at bedtime.  Loki is trying very hard to be one with the sofa and he is much improved around the others.

I saw Wu yesterday and he dribbled with happiness on my head as he stood at the window in the bathroom.  He is maintaining a good grudge against Loki and remains unforgiving in his loathing of all things canine.

We all miss you, Daisy, but keep plodding on and it will all be worth it, I promise.

Jo and Fiona came round today to take my horse away.  Gerrumph!

Haakon was happily waiting by the gate to be removed.  Where he is going, there are ladies.

Fiona went and fetched him.  You can see Haakon’s thick winter coat starting to appear and he is going to need his body fat to keep warm.  Luckily, he has reserves.

It was nice to see the old thing.  He was not feared at all by me on a mobility scooter, which he has never encountered or seen before.  He just stood there, his normal self, trying his best to not be kissed or made a fuss of.   He is like that.

Some say “the horse is your mirror”.  I think I agree.  We are very similar.

Jo wants to take Haakon’s shoes off and sort out his foot.  All summer Daisy has been treating him for white line disease and hopefully Jo can just cut out the nasty bits now.  Now is the perfect time to do this as I won’t be riding him until next year.  He can stay with her (sadly not in her house!), if he needs more treatment too.  He has not been lame at all with this.

The remaining boys are now at a loss without their leader.  I wonder who will take on the mantle?  Not an easy choice.  Maybe they will do timeshare.

Haakon loaded fine, without discussion.  I remember the days when he would take two hours to load, having kicked all the rear lights out of the trailer one at a time out of pure fury with me.  He used to swing me round with his strong neck and I would go flying when he refused.  We used to leave plenty of extra time for loading if we were going anywhere.

We cured Haakon of this when it had been snowing/thawing/snowing/thawing resulting in sheet ice everywhere.  As usual, he started to prat about, quickly realised he would break his neck and went straight in.  Ever since then, he has loaded without a fuss.

I have really taken to my scooter (and so has Her Maj).  She sits on my knee, happily resting her head on my arm while I steer and thinks this is the next best riding experience!

Apparently I look “delightfully batty” with a certain “Je ne sais quoi”!

Just doing the little things nearly kill me.  I looked out of my kitchen window to see that the garden was looking particularly nice in the fog cloud that we alone are sitting in.

I had this idea to hop outside on my zimmer frame to photo some of the plants with the water droplets hanging off.  Having gone half way, I suddenly realised that this was not quite as easy as I thought it would be.  So wobbling on my frame, with camera in one hand, zimmer frame wobbling in the other, trying not to lose my balance in a wet garden with a shoe on one foot and only a sock on the other, I took these photos.  It was difficult.

Earlier this morning we had gone out to a car boot fair in the local village hall.  It was nice to see folk and have a natter.

We had our car washed by the local voluntary Fire Brigade while we went indoors.

On the way home, I asked OH to stop the car so I could see some Shetland ponies.  That little grey pony has always been my favourite and she reminds me so much of Fivla.

As you can see the rest of the world is not enveloped in fog.   Just us.  Our own little cloud.  Here are my horses (apparently).  They had come down and no one noticed.

I am cross with myself that life is such an effort.  I rely totally on everyone else and it irks. I am not that type of person.  I am getting bored of my own company and I am sure you are bored as hell of this blog.

A few weeks back, I put an advert on a local forum asking if anyone had a mobility scooter I could borrow.  My advert was quickly answered by the kindest person ever and yesterday, OH went off to collect it for me.

I decided that today I would get out and about while the weather was not bad so this time, dressing for the occasion and taking two walkers with me in case of emergency, like running out of battery, off we went.

Apart from sitting at a very odd angle and not having the armrest down (why?), I pottered along very happily with BeAnne at my side.  Max speed is 4 mph and the speed dial has a picture of a tortoise and a hare.  I liked being a tortoise, but had to be a hare for the hill (only way it was going to get up).

I felt a bit like an adult borrowing a child’s bike to ride and probably looked it too but hey, this is freedom and it is wonderful!

I am so happy I can go out and about now.  This mobility scooter is perfect for me. It goes at just the right speed and I have my freedom back for pottering around.  Floss said I looked like Davros in it.  Well, at least I am smiling.

Afterwards, I handed Floss my camera and asked her to find some horses for me as I haven’t seen them for ages.  They rarely come up to the house-end of their field and seem happy enough in the hill.  They will be moved soon into their next field when they have “made a clean plate”.

I don’t think I will try the scooter out with the horses.  It is not mine and I don’t want them to react badly around me.  I shall just potter up and down my track getting some fresh air.  I wish the shop was a bit nearer!

Yesterday I mentioned that Indy, Andy and Charlie did not get on when they first met.

We had just got Indy in 2007 and Jo was off to The Royal Highland Show with the boys.  I think I had broken my ankle and couldn’t go but I remember Jo phoning to say Andy had barged the fence down, got in with Indy and had the crap beaten out of him.  Andy came off worse, obviously, as Indy had to defend himself.  So, Andy went into the show ring with Charlie (luckily private driving so no one was looking at battle scars) with a black eye and covered in bites.  He did deserve it, though.  He had been utterly vile.

Andy and Indy never met again, even though Indy likes to live with geldings.

A year later we put Charlie in with Indy to see if they could be friends.  This was before we got Hammy.  Disaster again.  Charlie spent the whole time trying to escape so we gave up and put Indy in with his baby boys for the winter.

So putting them all together this winter was rather a big deal in our eyes as we have never succeeded before.  It would make our lives much easier in the future if these boys could get on  and it is nice for Indy to have company too.

We took a deep breath, had folk on hand to grab if necessary, and did it.

Hammy is doing very well.  He is round, fat and happy.  He has many friends to play with and he is definitely “one of the guys”.  All good and it will help him mature, hopefully.  He can still be a bit of a berk when he thinks about it.

So that is the winter sorted hopefully.  The field is enormous (3 fields opened up) and there is masses of grass for everyone.  They can have a silage bale if they need too.  I am not worried about these four.