Haakon was lying down, probably napping, and I was walking the dogs/cat as per usual.

Pepper had to go and investigate everyone, always (Ted just goes home).

This is the first time I’ve seen Haakon actually take an interest in Pepper.  He tends to usually just carefully ignore her even though he has known her since she was a little puppy.

He wanted to investigate on his terms.

Them’s the rules.

And Pepper wanted to find out more too.

I trust them both to make wise choices.

And they did.

I love that Pepper feels 100% comfortable. If I had stayed around, she would’ve probably curled up and gone to sleep right there.

And then this morning with Vitamin.   So sweet.  My funny little dog.

And now the dogs wear their hi-vis on all dog walks because no one can be trusted and of course the flowers are exactly the same ruddy colour.

So now I am thinking about losing the jackets for the summer as there is absolutely no point. No point at all.

I think everyone should be a very bright white, except on rare snow days.

At least I would know where they are.

Meanwhile, I took photos of wet sheep wool in the grass.   I shall use these as screensavers.

And… the first orchid of the summer.  My heart lifted.

And some cuckoo flowers (I type hopefully as I have actually no idea what the plant is called).

Hopefully summer is revving up now.

Kolka is a pretty lass and I’m glad she lives with us now.

Kolka waits for me and is very sociable, always coming up for a chat.  I like that and hope that it is me she wants to see, not the contents of my pockets.

The weight is back on too and I think she is “spot on” now.  The spring grass is very much here, so hopefully it won’t be hard to keep her like this.  She is a nice shape.

I know Kolka misses Klængur a lot but the old men are good enough company too and there is far less arguing.  She is rather taken with Haakon, but then who isn’t.

They make a happy little herd of three and I am pleased Haakon and Iacs have someone to boss them around otherwise they would just dither around the place not making any decisions.

I wish I could stop this, but I have days when I just worry about the old horses.  I can’t help myself. I just worry.  I watch their every move and worry.  I am feeling panicky and very anxious, especially today.

This morning they were all just hanging around, not doing much, so I opened the gate to another field to see if they wanted a change of scene.  I was worried they were not eating grass and were probably colicking in front of me.

So now the horses are nearer the house and I can watch them better.

This afternoon, after the dogs’/cat’s tea, I went down to the stream with my camera and had a sit.

Kolka came up and we had a chat about things.

She is a good listener.

Iacs is not the best listener.  He does try, but he gets bored easily.

Haakon just wants to play “elephant nose” – he sort of plays with your hand with his nose – and hates any form of affection. He’s always been like that.

I told Kolka that I was worried about everyone and she just stood next to me.

But it was reassuring to see them all drink.

And then they walked off to eat, which cheered me up too.

I need to get some perspective.

My garden is a labour of sort of love but obviously back ache and there is one major problem. You can probably guess who.

Clue: large, white, furry and whinges.

So here is my before photo.

And yesterday I went to the garden centre and spent all my money on lovely bedding plants.  Something comes over me at a garden centre – I just want to spend, spend, spend.  I resorted to Googling my own garden to see how many Belfast sinks (the answer is 6) that I had to buy for and fill.

So, I weeded the weed-things away, got a wheel-barrow full of horse manure/compost and then planted everything out.

This year it is pansies, trailing lobelia, with alysum.  The night scented stocks (gorgeous in the evenings) are in separate little pots.

The rest of the garden looks like this.

And I had my little helper. Ted was in the house refusing to ever come outside.  He had run away on the dog walk.  He has his anxiety at the moment.  I am ignoring it.

This is one of the many times, I wish I could phone my mother to ask her for gardening advice. She knew everything and her garden, as you may know, was always incredble.

I would’ve asked her if you water after you plant bedding plants. I erred on the side of caution and watered.  Mum would’ve told me what to do right.  I do miss her very much.

So, after planting everything out, I had to cover it all up with chicken wire because of Monster.

To him, this is a cat litter tray.  To me, it is not.  I am hopeful I can take the wire off once all the plants are a bit more established.  Bloody cat.  There is nothing worse than meeting plants scattered all over the ground because he back-dug after doing his business.