A bit of a swap round today.

Charles went into the girl’s field while Raw Deal was taken out.

Delia (aka Raw Deal) is still not looking good.  She will go back to Jo’s to see how she gets on with more food, a rug and a stable for the bad weather and then we will reassess.

Charles, on the other hand, is doing very well. He is what is known as “a good doer” in the trade or a Fat Bastard (depending on who you are talking to).  He looks like a miniature regimental drum horse (a Shrinkle – remember them?) with him being the drum!  He used to be such a dainty little boy and now he is, well, umm, not.

Looking at that photo, i am now even more shocked and a little depressed.

Anyway, Charles doesn’t care if he is portly or not.  He is still a hit with the girls.

Zoot was particularly taken with his good looks.  I can almost hear her shouting “come back, come back!”.

So this is where he will spend his winter – with three admiring ladies, Vitamin, Lyra and Zoot.

They will let him know when he can admire, thank you very much!

Charlie’s good looks and charm will soon bring them round or maybe he will lose some weight running away or running after them.

Jack arrived at our house in 2007 as the result of me looking at DogPages in the wee small hours and convincing the family that we needed to give this poor old soul a place to rest his weary head in his last remaining years (their words).

This was the picture that went with the advert.  He was aged at about 9 years old and had been found wandering the streets of Hereford.

So what arrived on our door was very different dog from that advertised.  Not old and creaky at all.

Jack from Day 1 was a very enthusiastic member of our family.

He mostly played nicely with our other Patterdale terrier, BeAnne, though they could squabble but never any injury (this is a great game).

He always tried his best to be a stalwart and upstanding boy.

His greatest pleasure was hunting bunny rabbits and listening to dry stone dykes (walls) – it was the birds he heard.  He was also a very keen mouser.

I forget how active he was in those days.

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=114263777264&l=71409791154036695

There was also a lot of a-buggering off and sending some poor person out to look for him. He spent much time with my neighbours who luckily adored him.

Now seven years on, he has slowed right down.  He sleeps most of the day and but manages to go out on a walk except for very harsh days.  He is blind, senile and almost continent.

The vet said think of 5 things that make him happy…..

1.  8 o’clock breakfast
2.  5 o’clock supper
3.  Thinking about breakfast
4.  Thinking about supper
5.  Open doors

He was off his feet yesterday and we so nearly made The Decision.  Today, he rallied and he enthusiastically (for him) went on a spritely walk.

Dear old Jack-et Potato.

A few odds and sods from the past few days.

These two are called Wiggins (ask Daisy why, I can’t remember – was it because she has sideburns like Bradley Wiggins?) and Elvis (yes, he is a she and I think at one stage looked like Elvis Presley but less so now she is mid-moult).  Anyway, they are the two most scheming of the hens and can hear Taktur approaching to be fed from miles away.

BeAnne is in a pose and seems to have recovered from her outside ordeal.  She reminds me of a It-Psammead when she sits like this.

The Minions are on flying form.  They all have very individual characters and I adore them.

Poor Daisy misses her Iacs very much and vice versa.  When she is home at Christmas, he will be happy. He barely bothers to come up anymore to the shed to talk as he knows he probably won’t be ridden.

Little Storm on the other hand is up and at ’em every minute.  He trots past Taktur on his way to his food and is keen on this daily routine.  He thinks it is a very good idea.

He is also surgically attached to his rug.  I forgive him as he is frailer and smaller than the rest. I just never saw myself as a rug person but as it is for health reasons, I shall cut myself some slack.

I think this has to be one of the best photos I have ever taken.  Taktur with his Minion, Waffle.  It sums it all up really.  The Minions have been very good for everyone this year.

For a comparison of heights,  Taktur is probably 13.3hh.

The Minions, like all celebrities, need to be able to let their hair (or fur) down after a hard day’s filming.

It is very unusual for Klængur to play, let alone with a Minion.  They are not his type but they were running and chasing each other very happily this afternoon in the rare winter sun.

Iacs then turned up and was duly attacked.  You can see Waffle just happening to be in the area where they then mounted a two prong attack.

Afterwards, they ran away giggling.

Storm, who had been up the top eating hay with Haakon, galloped down the hill in his new Dinky rug full of the joys, or full of carrots, hay and a big hard feed.

I think this has to be the best photo of Storm in his rug, ever!  He was so happy, he did a straight leg buck thing while trying to chase Waffle.

This set Taktur off too.  He had been face-fighting with Haakon until the three Minions appeared.

There was obviously something in the air.

Taktur was keen to join in with the Minion game too.

There is nothing like a good bit of Minion chasing and Silver gave a playful strategic kick.

Then they turned round and Taktur did a wonderful slow canter, which was purposefully not quite fast enough to catch Silver.  Bless him.  It was like watching Dad on the beach pretending to catch his toddler.

Afterwards, Silver decided to plague him by eating his back legs.

This went on all afternoon.  Lovely to watch.

At the crack of sparrows, Jo arrived and we tied up our future film stars so we could go in and out of the indoor school without them rolling in the sand.

Once loaded up with Minions, carrots, poop-scoops, hay-nets etc, we drove to the location to find the film crew had already started on the human side of things.

An Internet Documentary was being made for Vodafone and I had been asked if they could use The Minions in a couple of scenes.

A little bit of waiting and then it was Storm, Silver and Waffle’s turn.  So they walked out of their  trailer ready for their “starring” role.

The boys had a paparazzi following and posed for their pictures like pros.  Someone said they were obviously used to having their photo taken a great deal (cough *** mebbe *** cough!)

And so they filmed their big part, again and again and again. I would say that this was the first time the Minions had ever met a bus-stop, a camera crew, a pavement, a road, a parked bus, lines on the road, etc.  At one stage, a huge bus came whizzing past and they didn’t even blink.  It was like they were born to act.

We rewarded their work with copious amounts of chopped carrots and apples.

Next it was the scene in the hill park.

Lots of arranging and re-arranging according to the light, shadows and scenery.

The boys happily led wherever they were taken and, again, just got on with their job.

(I love Waffle’s sneaky nibble).

And then Storm’s hopeful one.

At the end everyone wanted their photo taken with the Minions – The producer

The Director!

I am so proud of my little Minions.  They behaved impeccably and this was mentioned more than once.

Obviously we lead them around everyday up and down main roads in front of film crews making Vodafone Internet Documentaries – she says blazély