You know my obsession with the weather. Well, today was beautiful. Not particularly warm (ten degrees Celsius) but very beautiful. Blue skies and not a cloud to be seen. Shetland spring sunshine.

I asked BeAnne where she wanted to walk this afternoon so she took me up to Clothie – my 5 acre croft where the old men (Haakon and Iacs) and Klængur live happily away in peace and quiet from Taktur.  Her Maj likes it there.

BeAnne went off hunting while I enjoyed creating Vitamin D sitting on a rock in the sun.

I had the best view.

Klængur has always liked to stand close by (read on top of) if he can.  It is actually very calming and I trust him totally.

And he went to sleep too with a lovely “smile” on his face.

BeAnne soon got bored of her hunting. I think she has emptied the field of rabbits now. She too likes these horses and came to sit next to me.

Haakon and Iacs were close by quietly nodding off too.

We all let out a collective sigh and relaxed.

The occasional boot nibble from Haakon who, although never demonstrative, didn’t want to be left out.  This is very typical Haakon.  It’s his way of letting me know he’s around.

Trust is everything.

A nice afternoon in the Shetland sun.

No lamb yet and Edna is doing well.

I am not sure whether she is about to give birth.

Or if we have a few more days’/weeks’ to go. I am new to this game.

Edna remains very affectionate (comes up for kisses) but likes to take herself off to be by herself too.  Either that or Madge is less clingy.

She is also rolling which I have never noticed before.  Both are slightly less food-orientated now which might be because the Spring grass is coming in and everyone is actually going into a field for the day.  Who knew sheep lived in fields!?

Madge is also doing splendidly.

We have decided she is probably half or part something else. A Cheviot cross?

She has the loveliest eyes and they have softened too. She still likes to cling to her Bat-Shit-Crazy persona but she is trying her best to be tamer.  She will take a biccie from me and I can catch her, rugby-tackle-stylee.

Madge has put on weight nicely too and she assures me she isn’t pregnant.

I hope she is right.

Meanwhile Lambie et al (aka the Boyzenberries) tell me that they will be kind and helpful uncles.

Dear boys.

You can see I have finally got my head around Edna being pregnant and now I’m quite excited.

We had to go up to the top of the hill to look for everyone today.

The silver lining was the whole herd had to cross at least two streams and even splosh round the edge of a fresh-water loch to get there so if they didn’t manage to have a drink en route there were a) never thirsty in the first place or b) not really trying.

Everyone looked happy enough having been on their travels around the field, though Newt was suspiciously wet (even on the top of his back) so I wonder if he fell in somewhere.  He seemed none the worse for wear and refused to answer any questions so I don’t know.  The others were keeping shtum too. I would lay odds on Storm having something to do with it, though.

Lilja was looking her usual magnficent self. When I look at these photos, I think she is too beautiful to live with my Shetland ponies.

Never mind – she will just have to lump it for the time being.  She has no choice and she has a job to do, i to look after her little sister.

I wonder what Newt did? (hmmm….). I will probably never know.

No ruddy water again in both buckets.  Just some mud at the bottom and in one of them black fur (it is the Spring moult) ….. much.

So, we sighed, looked balefully at Waffle and refilled the buckets with fresh water.  Not suprisingly, everyone was very thirsty.

Waffle decided to go down the “I am perfectly innocent” route as well as “the fact that I am not even in the vicinity means you can’t pin this on me”. But I know. Those black hairs are a tell-tale.

So, feeling kind, we filled up the dog bowl we use for Fivla’s daily TurmerAid and went round each pony to make sure they had a good drink before Waffle emptied the buckets (again).

And then the little turd wandered up for his drink too because, guess what, he was thirsty.

And then he stood there maintaining his innocence all the while.

Yer, right Waffle.

After a little while, we couldn’t face this blatant lie and we also knew Waffle was waiting for us to leave, so we herded everyone away from the buckets.

I know it is futile but at least we tried.

Also, if anyone cared to have a brain, they could have all the fresh (untainted by hooves with black fur) water they could ever want.  With my luck, we will probably find Waffle swimming in it. I am just waiting for that plan to hatch in his evil little mind.

We took BeAnne down to the burn that runs through my fields for her daily exercise and threw sticks for her, which she duly ignored.

But she did go for a little swim.  Proper doggy-paddle like a proper little doggie.

Afterwards, Her Maj had a lovely roll in as much goose poo as she could physically find.

As the Boyzens happened to be in the same field as us, they came over for a chat (I love ‘Bert’s smiley face).  They were both very cuddly.

While we sat on rocks hugging sheep, like you do, BeAnne happily entertained herself.

It was all very peaceful and surprisingly warm.

Obviously Lambie had his own personal hugger/back scratcher and BeAnne got to work, in the background.

She worked very hard, with supervision.

We did warn Lambie that BeAnne has been known to lose her temper with anyone who gets in her way.

I think he was quite shocked at her bad language.

No, actually, Lambie was very shocked!  BeAnne can swear like a navvy if provoked and prodding her bum while she’s excavating a rabbit hole is extreme provocation in her book.

But BeAnne was on a mission and she meant business.  She would not give up, back off or go home.

So we left her to her digging. Suffice it to say, someone didn’t eat much tea tonight. She had already eaten and was feeling full but very very happy.

Just what the vet ordered – we discussed it today.

edited to say a Patterdale has to do what a Patterdale has to do.