I spent my morning finishing up my latest order of sheep to go to Jamieson’s Knitwear’s shop in Lerwick.  OH promised to take them into town tomorrow.  That lot took me five days with no stops – I am feeling a bit frazzled now but happy knowing there are sheep in my little field while I am away.

I have done my last poo-pick too, which is a lovely feeling.  I have written out and printed The List which is every animal’s minimal requirements, cutting everything right back.

This lot will get the very definition of nothing but a haynet once a day.  Two if it rains.

I shall look at this photo of Waffle to remind myself that he is still a chubster.

As long as the ponies don’t escape into the long grass, they should be alright.

The sheep will do their own thing.  My only sadness is ‘Ster who will spend most of his days on his own unless he can remember how to get into the field by himself.  He used to know, but now he’s forgotten or can’t do it.

Ster can see everyone but has resigned himself to his fate of a lonely daytime and they do all come back for bed so he’s not totally on his own all the time.

Packing next and it’s going to be bonkers hot and I don’t think I have any summer clothes!  As long as there isn’t fog tonight, then I will hopefully be set to go at the crack of sparrows tomorrow morning.  I might leave the blog for the next few days.  I’ll see how I go but obviously I will take lots of photos and we can catch up upon my return.

So excited.

So how are the old folk getting along, I hear you ask?

Thank you for asking.  They are all fine and mostly on time for their breakfast every morning.  Sometimes I have to shout for them when they are far away and have forgotten, which is fair enough as they have the combined age of over 150!

And this summer is treating them well.

While I am south (going Friday to Edinburgh for four days), they will be fed by OH and on bare  minimum rations – one scoop of unmolassed soak beet and Bibble will get his pills. That is the priority and all that must be done.

All other supplements will be omitted as it only gets complicated.  Everyone can last for four days without extras.

So all I have to do now is write out the list of who has what and when, who should be where and why, and who can do their own thing and suck it up, buttercup! (Lambie)

I was busy in my shed for most of the day but I had visitors and as it was a nice day, I kept my door open to create a comfortable breeze to work in.

Monster obviously came in, had a quick look around….

… and then settled on a hot tin roof outside.

This is his spot when the sun is shining.

Pepper also wanted to be outside but the deal was that I forbade all hunting and she had to stay here with me, where I could keep an eye on her.

Oh yes, little Miss Pepper, no one trusts you and I wonder why.  Would it possibly be the fact that you vanish in seconds and have gone to visit all our neighbours.

So I stabbed away to many episodes of my latest US medical drama trying not to sob my heart out.

Multitasking though, I tried to keep an eye on the ever-wandering Little Miss P.

At one stage I left my chair to check on her location only to find she had gone!  I knew it.  Little **** bleeep ****.  The chicken replacement fooled no one.

Looking around, I saw her and I think I caught her just in time.  That is the guilty face of someone who was thinking of visiting the neighbours today.

Anyway, Pepper didn’t go and today decided that home was the place to stay but I still don’t trust her.  She lulls me into a false sense of security and then totally takes advantage and off she buggers!

I’ve decided that there is an actual limit of the amount of hours of US Medical Dramas that I can physically watch while I make my sheep.  Today, I reached that limit.

I have cut back to making two sheep a day because if I make any more than that I will be an emotional wreck.

This is not good for me.  I feel like I haven’t stopped crying all day what with all the emotional high’s and low’s.

However, I take regular breaks to find some normality.  That is a must.

This afternoon, after completing my second sheep, I went to talk to the real thing.

Barrel is feeling a bit more sociable now, though he severely distrusts me and any ideas I might have that might involve injections, oral painkillers, spraying his wounds…… I don’t blame him but I am beginning to think he only limps when he sees me.  After this morning’s ministerings, Barrel went and beat up Gussie so I think he will live the day.  He is a bit grumpy.

So I sat on a rock refusing to think about medical misery while various sheep came to talk to me.

I need something normal to keep me on this earth.  Just doing a few chores around the place helped. I mucked out a little shed and watched Gussie tip over the bucket afterwards.

Perhaps I should find something else to watch – I have access to Netflix, Disney, Amazon by various means.  Any suggestions? Something light, well written and no murder, violence or scary stuff.

I spent the day in my shed making sheep to sell.  Money is needed desperately (vet bills, feed bills, just bills) so I have to create my sheepie creations while the demand is here.

It was beautiful outside which meant I didn’t have to worry about any animals and could concentrate on binge-watching my latest US medical drama (New Amsterdam, which I highly recommend) while frantically stabbing away.

Occasionally, I would look up to my beautiful view outside.

And I had my ever-faithful companion with me.

And so today I made three sheep (the one on the right was from last night) and the smaller pale brown one is made from some of the last of ‘Ster’s washed fleece (small, but special).  When I emerged from my shed at 4 p.m., I decided that actually I shouldn’t do this.  Two sheep a day should be my maximum effort.  More is a killer and not particularly good for me and my back either.

For exercise afterwards, I went out with my bucket and Marigolds (rubber gloves) to poo-pick the track.

OH, who possibly has not found out about Barrel’s chocolate biscuit habit, kindly offered to strim/cut back the long grass from the electric fence.

This has made a huge difference as the grass was impossibly long and every time it touched the wire, it negated any zapping effect (this part of corridor is not currently in use or attached to the fence unit) but you can see just how long it is.

Science Fact: the grass is taller than a small orange terrier.  It is that long.