Oh yes. Spring is on it’s way.

I was surprised to see my banks of primroses starting to appear.  I think it is early but I am happy to be wrong.

But they lighten my heart and make me think Spring is finally on its way despite the many recent meteorogical set backs.  Winter is not over. It is still trying.

Even the odd daisy and this is the first one in my field – I have not found another.

And a rather bleak celandine that has suffered much from the  weather – I am feeling very sorry for this plant and this is the best I could find. I’ve not seen another. It is pitiful.

I see these flowers when I am walking the dogs.

You have not idea how happy I am when I come across a flower, any flower, trying to make an effort through a very hard winter.

All four of us (that would be Pepper, Ted, Monster and me) wander around the fields on a daily basis – we call this a dog walk – and the fact that nature is finally beginning to kick in is truly wonderful.

These are seggies – yellow flag irises – trying their very best.

And meanwhile good old Ted has become a fully-fledged member of the croft dogginess!

So Spring – yay!  No, double yay!  It has been a long time coming and no more snow please or everything will go back into the ground again. I could not bear that.  Seeing flowers again makes me think we are on our way out of the long hard winter.

The contrast from this morning – blue sky, sunshine, and happy faces.

Well, more like gormless faces, but smiley ones nonetheless.

Shovel that food in, Kolka! You go girl.

And then this afternoon, after I had spent some time in my shed making a sheep and taking photos of Pepper in her new collar (now this one I like very much) – rolled green leather – we went back outside and did it all again.

This time there was snow.

Here is a little action video of actual movement from the horses at the thought of a haynet!

The old folk did eventually climb the hill to their food.  Mr and Mrs Happy-Couple of course shared theirs.

While, on the other gate, Haakon and Iacs (aka Statler and Waldorf) had theirs.

There is a small part of me (no, actually a huge part of me) that thinks Klaengur is a hen-pecked husband!  He has that look but he is so happy.

And the snow continues…… while Monster remains hopeful.

We have a digger digging here at the moment.  Poor digger-driver has a long list on my to-do list.

In case the digger-driver turned up today to dig, I kept the old folk in their field bringing them haynets to hang on the gate.

One of the digging jobs is to scrape all the mud/poo off the hard standing where the horses usually eat and I don’t think the combination of 4 eating Icelandic horses and one digger is a good one, though I am sure the horses would be helpful, possibly too helpful and I also don’t think Iacs should be allowed near machinery. He’s not qualified.

It has been hailing or snowing on and off today.

I arrived early to feed the Minions as we were going out for lunch today, off island.  The clocks also went forward so I guess I was a nice surprise.

And it started hailing again.

So I took a few piccies of hailstones on Shetland ponies, which I think will make great screen-savers.

If anyone wants one, two ….., all, let me know and I can Dropbox them to you.

I think this might be my next screen saver – Newt’s vast bottoooom!

The Minions have started a new régime.  Having talked to someone who has thoroughly researched this science, we decided the ponies need extra vitamins and minerals in their diet.  Rough grass plus a Himalayan salt lick, is not enough.

As the majority (well, I can’t find one) of mineral/vitamin licks are molasses based which turns them into sugar-junkies, I am feeding the Minions a daily small bucket of chaff/fibrebeet with half a cup of the required amount of pony minerals and vitamins.

This should help their feet, especially the laminitic ones.

So yesterday my friend kindly helped me lug six rubber feed skips, as well as Vitamin and Fivla’s buckets of fattening food plus the large bucket of food with minerals/vitamins to be divided roughly between the rest.

We put the rubber feed skips in a row by the fence with a nice but essential gap between each.

Then I went down the line on the safe side of the fence dishing out feed, like a school dinner lady!

Of course Storm had to share with Tiddles, who got more and more annoyed, so I gave him the bucket to finish instead.

Meanwhile, Vitamin and Fivla ate their own weight-maintaining version.

It was all going fairly smoothly…..

…. until Albie was bullied off his bucket.

So, he came and talked to me instead.

And I commiserated with him about the others.  He is always the one.

Once finished, and there was really very little arguing, I put the now-empty and very, very clean feed skips back over the fence ready for tomorrow.

So that’s what I am now doing in my canteen and restaurant.  More ruddy buckets!

On Facebook last night, folk were raving about the incredible Northern Light display in their part of Shetland so I popped outside in my dressing-gown on my way to bed just to see if we had anything going on.  The aurora was dancing in the south end of the island so not necessarily going be near me.  There was also a lot of cloud about.

But I saw a little wafty cloud and took a photo not sure what it was.

It turns out it was the Northern Lights, or Merrie Dancers or Aurora Borealis, revving up.

The strange bit was that it was in the north-north-east which is not somewhere I have ever seen them before but I kept on snapping.

A tiny bit of colour appeared but it was brief.

Something creepy brushed against my legs…..

For a change, he was silent.

I stayed outside for a while. It was definitely worth it, if cold. I am not sure about tonight. Lots of low cloud, but high (plus) activity on the charts and the wind has turned north-easterly so it is getting colder.