Haakon, is now officially 30 years old.  I have always loved his eyes.

Iacs, or Bibble, was on the rampage for the contents of my pocketses.

The frilly (forelock) remains silly.

These two – Haakon and Iacs – are cousins.  They have been together for 20+ years and are the best of friends.  Interestingly, when Haakon arrived with me he was 3 years old.  I was told about his cousin, Iacs, but didn’t buy him.  Then, some years later, my business partner and I decided to start a riding school, and so we went to see Iacs and bought him.  Despite many years absence, both Haakon and Iacs instantly recognised each other, walked over and started to groom each other, like this.  They have always been friends. I also secretly think only Haakon understands Iacs while Iacs will do anything to keep Haakon going.

And then Kolka joined the herd.  She has formed a bond with Haakon and they get on fairly well.

A bit like an old married couple.

It’s not the same relationship, like Haakon and Iacs, but it works.

Kolka is not a huge fan of Iacs.  She puts up with him and they argue after eating their buckets.  Huge shouting matches along with some reversing.

Still, Kolka has fitted in well and is actually a valuable member of the team. She makes the Old Men walk, find food, exercise and even think.  Without her, they would just stand by the gate and wait ……. and wait……. and wait………

Now the cruise ships have returned to Shetland for the summer months, I am back trying to make two felted sheep a day for the Lerwick shop, Jamieson’s Knitwear.  I hate an empty field so I want to always have stock ready to take to town, if requested.  All the bags of sheep I made over winter have quickly been sold, which is good.  Sheep = money = feed bills paid.

So I am in my shed all afternoon and later after supper, stabbing away trying very hard not to be distracted by anyone or anything.

It’s not easy.

Monster did his very best to get my full attention and, for a while, I gave it to him, hoping he would soon settle, which eventually he did.  Phew. I could now get on with my creations.

And I worked around Monster.  He was not helpful.

I tried very hard not to be distracted by his very photogenic self.

Isn’t he gorgeous, though?

And he took up a lot of space.

When wool meets fur!

I had no access to my iPad either, which was probably a good thing as I am very easily distracted in a oooh-look-a-squirrel sort of way.

Meanwhile, the dogs were good and left me alone but they have bribery.

I had to take both dogs to the vet this morning for a check-up (do you know, you can’t get basic wormer, etc anymore if they haven’t seen the dog/cat in a while?) and I was also worried about Pepper. She rolled off the chaise longue in my shed a few days back and then walked funny for a while.  Anyway, both Pepper and Ted behaved appallingly, just like two wildly over-excited terriers.  I was ashamed.

Afterwards, wanting some calm time, I took them to the beach for a walk.  It was possibly me that needed the calm time.  You should’ve seen P&T – chaos.

The beach was deserted and we all walked up and down enjoying the instant peace.

This is a beach where occasionally I find a groatie buckie – the Shetland name for the Northern cowrie shell (Trivia arctica – I could not love that name more)

My method is to pick a tideline with small debris, look down, give up, stop looking and then have a conversation with the sea with my request and bingo, I found two!

I was very pleased.

The downside of groatie buckie searching is that I can spend the entire dog walk with my head looking at the ground, which is not ideal as small dogs can take advantage of this and leave the scene.

Anyway, I was on the case and, having had my request fulfilled by the sea, I pocketed my two groatie buckie and gave up my search, concentrating fully now on the dogs.

This was a perfect way to spend some time after the tortuous visit to the vet, created entirely by my two dogs. Ted even bit me when I picked him up to sit on the examining table.  A new low!  And that’s why we don’t go to the vet very often.

After my lovely drive around the westside of Shetland yesterday, I did my afternoon rounds in the fields checking everyone was ok.

After the ponies, I went and sat with the sheep to see if Lambie could manage to talk to me.  He did….. a little, but grudgingly.

I love this photo so much.

Good old Ted was with us but kept a respectful distance.

Monster found his spot.

And today, I saw my first orchid.  Summer is coming.  This is, I think and I could very possibly be wrong, a Heath Spotted Orchid.

And then I realised that I hadn’t wormed the horses and ponies, which was a job I’ve been meaning to do, so I went back around and wormed everyone including myself, my shirt, my trousers, the grass and possibly some equines.   Kolka spat it out three times.

Vitamin was being a cowbag and refused to be caught so I ended up herding her into the small paddock and catching her in the corner.  Some days, she is completely batty.  I think it’s because I put a rug on Fivla when it suddenly started to rain and she thought she would be next.

And this is my List (I used the Shopping one as it was the only way to get Siri to “write” it down).  I laughed when I saw what Siri thought I was saying, while having a valiant stab at trying to make sense of it.

Fila = Fivla
Tiles = Tiddles
Nude = Newt
Aldi = Albie

Who’s going to tell Newt he is now Nude?

It was a beautiful sunny day and I had a visitor, a birdwatching one. So, after a cup of coffee and good natter, I offered to show off my Shetland – my neck of the woods.  I may have had a bit of an ulterior motive as I want to identify and learn about Shetland birds.

First stop – Dale beach where there is fabulous view of Foula. Only there wasn’t because there was a haar (sea fog) waiting to come in.

Then we drove over to Sandness, about 4 miles away, and looked at potential bird-watching sites and yes, I was told what this wee bird was, but I am not sure I can remember….. possibly a chiffchaff (note-to-self, it’s possibly wise to write these things down at the immediate time of telling because I have the brain of a hen).

I also saw a beautiful Red Admiral which, for me, rather eclipsed the wee bird on a wire in the distance.

But onwards, ever onwards to Melby beach.

We saw Dunlin and Turnstone (I think).

Next, Sandness beach where Mr and Mrs Red-breasted Merganser were bobbing around.

And a White Wagtail.

With a Fulmar nesting in the cliffs.

The tirricks (Arctic Terns) are back too, which is always good to see. I consider them the spitfire pilots of the bird world.

I really enjoyed showing Shetand to my visitor but even more, I enjoyed learning about the birdlife in Shetland.  I know I take my environment for granted but it is always good to learn more about it.