I was cooking supper last night (Beef Thai green curry with brown rice).  I walked over to where the saucepans are kept on the windowshelf, looked up and nearly had a heart attack.  There was a face looming in the window.  The face of Iacs.  Words failed me.  It was quite a scary moment for a second.  So of course I grabbed my camera, laughing with relief as I realised this was not a scene from a horror movie.

The boys, who are staying around outside of the house, because of Klæengur’s hoof abscess, had somehow let themselves into the garden. The secure gate must’ve been not quite as secure as my OH thought!

This morning, OH complained of “the mess they had made in his garden”.  I told him he should’ve used a better latch.  With slight remorse, I went into the garden and decided my OH was over-reacting. His “lawn” was not that bad.  Not too much evidence of destruction. I had seen worse.

And then I went round the corner and it was exactly as my OH had remarked – “you can see exactly where they went”.  Yup, you could.

Exactly. They had left a present or two.

I threw them out last night and this morning they were both where I had left them not even looking ashamed.

The others were down in their field.

Suffice it to say that, after dressing Klængur’s foot, the miscreants have been evicted and are now back with the others.

I am eating humble pie because of the mess they made but not enough to do anything about it.  Anyway, manure is good for the plants!

I now have a cunning plan for Christmas, though, which a friend illustrated rather well.  Off to find a pair of “antlers”!

(I might have overdone it yesterday.  My ankle and spine are in a very unforgiving mood now.)

Today was spent in Lerwick.  First my weekly flute lesson, which I am loving.  The sound might not be up to any standard but it is certainly a good brain work-out which I am in desperate need after all those painkillers.

Afterwards, I went on to Lerwick for physio and some shopping.  I had some time to kill so did what I always do – take photos.  This time of the boats in harbour.

Now I like boats to look at.  I think they are very beautiful and have a grace and energy that goes with their design.  (I just hate going on them.)  The Beken of Cowes photos fill me with admiration.  I could not begin to emulate them but I like to experiment.

With Lerwick being the principal commercial port for Shetland, there are many incredible visiting boats.

And then there is this!  Sans Vitesse – Without Speed, literal translation. My jury is out on this one but it is still worthy of a photo.  At present, this 75 metre long barge it is on charter to Petrofac who are using it for accommodation for their Sullom Voe workers.  Quite extraordinary.

So that is The Beast.

And this is The Beauty – the amazing gob-smacking sunset on the drive home tonight.  I am very partial to a nice sunset.

And here is a Shetland pony, if you are feeling hard done by.  I hope you are enjoying the Advent Calendar.

I went for a ride today.

I know I am supposed to wait until January but …..

(and here I will list my reasons) :-

1.  My private physio said it was a good idea.

2.  My NHS physio said she didnt see why not.

3.  My Pain Clinic Consultant Anaesthetist said he couldn’t see why not either.

4.  I needed to.  I promised to myself to only get on and remain in walk.

So three professional opinions plus mine meant I tacked up the Piggy-Porker, aka Haakon who is ginormous and shoeless.

Jo squozed Iacs into a saddle and girth combo.  It was touch and go at one stage and that girth did not need tightening, ever.

I got on and Haakon lost the ability to stand still for his photo.  We walked round the school just to determine if everything worked vaguely – steering, brakes, etc.

And then we went out, remaining in walk and put the world into perspective. It needed doing.

We weren’t out for long.  We just walked for a bit along the road, watching the two boys communicate with each other by the language of twitching inside ears!  When we had reached a certain point, they both swung round like synchronised swimmers and decided to go home.  So we swung them back and went a little further, trying to make the point that we were the ones in charge, thank you very much.

Klængur’s abscess seems to have burst through the sole of his hoof and he is walking much better so Jo put a poultice on to draw the nasty smelly yuk out.

Klængur immediately seems much less hoppity and Jo will dress his foot daily.  As we had no VetWrap, I will buy some tomorrow in town (physio and flute lesson).  Meanwhile, we used gaffer tape (Duct tape) as a substitute.

Klængur is living with Staff Nurse Ever-Optimistic (for-a-Carrot) around the house for a while.

(I do not want to be blasted for riding, please – it was perfect and a necessity)

RIP Ljósfaxi from Rickarton
Aged 27 years old

(We made the decision for him to be put to sleep this afternoon.)

Much loved and an excellent teacher of taking responsibility for your actions.  There was no better.

Mad as a box of frogs, mind, but in a nice way.  Nothing dangerous as you set off at a million miles an hour down the road past everyone just waiting for him to stop eventually.

The best tölt ever.  Automatic tölt too and dressage that took your breath away.

He had excellent manners but did tend to quiver unless he was formerly introduced to Mr Saddle Cloth, Mr Saddle and Mrs Bridle.

An excellent babysitter and popular with the whole herd, even on the edge of sanity.

I rode him a few times but he was predominantly Jo’s horse.  Her love.  Once we swapped horses on a trek just to see what would happen.  Jo rode Haakon and I rode Ljossie.  Neither of us was given an easy time by our noble steeds so when we were half way, we swapped back and everyone breathed a huge sigh of relief.

You couldn’t crash and bang on Ljossie.  You sat still and thought about what you wanted to do and he did it as well as he possibly could, unless he imploded and buggered off.  He was retired a few years back.

These last few weeks Jo has been sucking her teeth.  Ljossie was losing weight so Jo did his teeth and found he had very few.  The nights he has been in because of the snow storms, he didn’t eat any silage, just a sloppy bucket mix.  He hated rugs, he hated stables (he was hysterical by morning) and people input so a life of cosseting would be a life of hell for Ljossie.  Pure torment.  Better to make the right decision, so we did.

Sleep well, my friend.  You had the best life and you were loved.
Always better a day too soon, than a day too late.

❤ x No one can ask for more x ❤

First, a spot of house-keeping.

• Thank you to my friend, Nick, who filled in my blogging gap with his lovely guinea pigs, calendar etc.  Much appreciated, as ever.
• Also, if you are feeling kind or mildly appreciative, please can you vote for me for the highly prestigious Haynet Blogger of the Year Award – http://www.hay-net.co.uk/haynet-news/6051/nominees-announced-for-haynet-blogger-of-the-year-2013—please-vote

I am thrilled to be nominated.  So thank you.

✥✦✧★☆✯✡✩✪✫✬✭✮✶✷✵✸✹✺❊✻✽✼❉✱✲✾❃❋✳✴❇❈※❅

Arctic conditions here – the weather forecast said so and, based on what has happened these last 36 hours, I would concur.

4am (2 nights ago), I was woken to thunder and lightning.  As BeAnne shot into our bed, I shot out to go round the house pulling out every plug I could find.  Sadly the router got it and after 24 hours of no inter-super-highway (as my neighbours call it), I cobbled together an ancient router, started up an old computer with a 30 second working window, quickly entered the password before it broke again, and ta-da here we are, back on the net!  It was like a scene from the Crystal Maze.  I am feeling rather proud of my techie abilities.

We have had constant gales and it is Arctic out there.

As the wind blew, it was pointless putting out silage for the horses, as it would have been blown away immediately so OH opened the gate and the lads went into the more sheltered field and were fine.  They have been playing, eating and even lying down in the most horrendous conditions.

Today the wind has died down.  We took the dogs out for a quick walk and then we put out two bales of silage for the horses.

Although the snow is not very deep, it is brutally cold. 

Digestion apparently generates more heat than any other body function.   Ours are very good at eating.

The burn never ices over so they have a constant supply of fresh water too.

BeAnne luffs the snow and had a delicious silly half hour.