I spent the afternoon building this little sheeple.

So afterwards, I took the dogs out for a run.  We went to Clothie – the five acre croft that is a little walk across the scattald (open hill).

The field has not been grazed since spring, I think, so the grass and flowers have gone mad growing.

It is stunning and we enjoyed walking/running around.

There are flowers everywhere.

Red Clover

Marsh Thistle

Selfheal

Bog Asphodel

Common Cotton-Grass wet from the rain

Marsh Lousewort

And these are “Dockens” or Docks

If I have any plant identifications wrong (which I probably have), please let me know soonest so I can correct any errors.

hentilagets n. – tufts of wool lost from sheep’s backs and gathered from pasture. (Shetland dialect)

Floss and I were out again this morning to build the second leg of our electric fenced track for the Minions.

I don’t think the ponies were very impressed but it has to be.

The second bit will eventually join onto the first bit and goes around the rest of the field, missing out our septic tank which is always a squishy bit.  I also needed to leave a track so I could lead the horses out of the field without too much bother.

We encircled Vitamin and Fivla with electric fence but they have the rest of the field – the inside bit – and they seemed happy enough with that.  There is much more grass and they hate moving around, tending to stay close by the others, probably lording it over them that they have all the grass.

I briefly thought about strimming the dockens but decided not to as I would have to clear them all up afterwards and actually nobody minds them so who cares.

Newt also likes walking through them. Camouflage. Not.  They tickle his very low to the ground tummy.

So we worked hard working out the maths of it all, ie which hurdles we can use for gates and how to get horse and ponies in and out.  We didn’t want to paint ourselves into a corner!

I am pleased it has all come together now.

My vision is realised and, I think, works….. so far.

Floss was wonderful and lugged, set up and helped.  She was full of ideas too, which I needed as it all got a bit impossible at one stage.

And no one is alone and miserable.

There are always visitors.

A few days back (when there was sunshine), I found these two sunbathing in the garden like an old married couple on holiday.

Typical bloke. Pepper’s face is a picture.

Later on, Monster was exploring a drain that runs under the track. This photo was at the beginning of the reversal process

And then this is Monster’s rather inelegant exit.  I’m not gonna lie, I was laughing as he squoze himself out of the drainpipe. Pop!

The ponies are also fascinated by Monster.

I wonder if they talk at night when I’m not around to supervise.

Today, however, was a different matter. It had been raining hard all day so I hadn’t walked the dogs at their usual time in the morning.  No one would’ve gone with me.  To make up for it and because the weather had cleared, I took everyone out after their tea…..

…. including Monster.

“The Struggle is Real”.

The ground was very wet from all the rain and Monster, understandably, was desperate not to touch any actual ground.

And so the majority of the walk was spent walking on the drystone dykes (walls) that are in the field.

The dogs made the most of their walk, hunting and exploring in the long grass.

And, yes, there was muchos whining.  There always is.  Floss remarked that possibly Monster was the most vocal of all the cats who have chosen to live with us.

And home we went, with Monster taking long strides so he could minimise the actual feet-on-the-wet-ground feeling.

Floss and I drove to town this morning as we felt we deserved some lovely things after our strenuous fence building yesterday. I always like a good excuse.

It was a lovely sunny day and we strolled down Commercial Street enjoying the sights.  The place was brimming with people.

And this caught my attention – Jamieson’s Knitwear’s shop side-window.

And, look, look, my sheeple feature.  I am thrilled, so happy.  I have a cheesey grin on my face just seeing them again as I type this.

In fact the whole window was inspired.

More wanderings.

And here is one of the reasons for the crowds.

A mahoosive cruise-ship.

Apparently it was the AidaSol – 253 metres in length and 32 metres in width, a modified Sphinx class (and I have absolutely no idea what that means but there you go).  It can carry 2,174 passengers and they were all possibly in Commercial Street today.

As Napoleon Bonaparte once said (and I did not know this) ….”If you want a thing done well, do it yourself”.

As everyone is busy shearing sheep or building windmills in Shetland, today Floss and I built part of the track-system for the Minions.  Although not ideal, it gives me an idea of what I want permanently.

It was hard work but I had my plans and showed them to Flossie first.

We shifted hurdles for the first bit which will give us some lee-way for moving sheep and ponies through gates without frying.

The Minions’ field was getting beyond disgusting.  They needed a change.

Once the first part of the track was built, we moved them all in…..

Newt followed eventually.

Then we added the old ladies, stepped back and looked at the situation.  Too much grass.

So we swapped Waffle for Vitamin and shut the little ones in the small paddock to eat down.

This will work. The Minions can eat the grass there as well as spending their nights in it – 12 hours on and 12 hours off.

The small paddock is not as great as it looks as it is mostly pineapple weed and docks with a small smattering of grass.

The old ladies were happy to be on the track doing what they do best….. eat!

And the Minions will have this new set-up for the rest of summer.

While Floss is home (6 more days), we can both move everything around so that this all works smoothly and with minimum lugging and effort.  Well, that’s my theory, anyway.