In today’s Show and Tell, I have brought a swan!

It was all by his (or her)-self in the Stanevatstoe Loch (yes, I had to look that one up!).

A thorough internet search says, I think (and I am quite prepared to be corrected), that this is a Whooper Swan rather than the Bewick’s Swan.

Whooper swans are bigger than their nearly identical counterpart, the Bewick, and they have a good honk on them too. They are visitors from Iceland and are a protected species.  Many years ago, while I was driving the girls to school along this very road, a pair of swans flew alongside the car. It was a magical moment.  We all remember it.

This swan was very peaceful, mooching about, looking for food, I think.

There was a lot of this!

There is something, like hares, about swans. I could watch them all day too.

As they have a bit of a reputation with the breaking-a-man’s-arm thing, which does scare me, I would not even try to get close up.

Thankfully I have a good long lens and the car made a perfect hide.

And just to prove that I have horses, here is Dreki….

His Dad, Taktur (looking a bit tufty)….

And Efstur looking a bit, well just a bit really!

A good day.

Every day I drive over to see Brá and Hetja (my 2 retired Icelandic mares). It’s a nice drive.  One that I am very used to so no hardship.

Recently, I have spied this little chap sitting quietly a little away from the road.  Most days, he’s there.  Easy to spot.

I drove past and I thought today I would have a go at getting closer.

Mountain Hares are timid beasts – Lepus timidus – it seems a very apt name.

I left the car out of sight, and taking my camera, decided to clamber as quietly as I could around and over the peat-hags.  Every foot step sounded like giants arriving.

I got closer and closer and still he sat.

I was lying on the peat hag by now ….. (this is the closest I have ever been)

…. and he knew I was there.

My luck ran out after I had taken some photos (more luck than judgement) and off he went to sit and think about who or what he had seen.

Nope, he was having none of this.  He was off.

I watched him go wishing he had stayed longer but admiring his wonderful speed and agility.

And that was the last I saw of him today.  I hope he will be there tomorrow. I wonder if I could tame him. I wonder if he would be my friend……… I could love him and hug him and call him George or Georgina if he is a she – I don’t know.

We fed our last bale of hay to the horses this morning – because of the harsh weather over the past few days, we used more than we’d anticipated.

This morning I jumped into the van, having checked there was a good supply of hay in town first, only to find again that the van was dead.  The battery.  So, once jump-started, off I hobbled, equipped with jump-leads just in case!

My first stop in town was the garage who kindly checked the battery and replaced it.  I even got to see my old car – the one that died in England a few months’ back when I was visiting my mother. It is still lives at the garage with its undiagnosed mystery problems. *** sigh ***.

Then off to the hay merchants.

I waited in a queue gazing at my quarry.

It was very cold.

The van was filled to the brim with the request of “as many as you can, please”. I got 18 bales.  Happy days.

Feeling much relieved, and far better equipped for this winter weather, I drove home, stopping to take a photo of Whiteness Voe looking stunning.

Definitely an equine version of a pot of gold in my van.

With a nasty snow-storm on the way, we got home safely and I am having a nice well-earned cup of tea.

Phew!

The weather has not been great – icy cold with huge flurries of sleet.  To prove that my heart is not made of ice….. (I mean how could I resist those little faces?), ….

….. I opened up the Leradale “hay-park” that I had been saving for February.  Everyone was much happier then and I felt better.

We’ve had some snow at home. Enought for all the boys to come in for hay in the morning and go back out after lunch feeling much fuller and warmer.  This weather takes it out of them, especially the old men.  Haakon has a rug on.  He hates it.

BeAnne has been running around. She loves snow. It’s her thing.

If there had been more snow, a certain cat would’ve been a bit more invisible and possibly happier but it is melting, or turning to ice depending on the time of day and we can still see him.

This photo was on my way home from checking the Minions and the girls.  It was quite dramatic.

This afternoon, I went into my shed and made a sheeple.

Not a very exciting day, but productive in a little way and I know everyone is alright.

I turned around and found this looking at me.  So, while laughing, I took a photo!

To be fair, it is just a very bad angle and Monster is not really that obese, so he tells me.  He just has big bones.

There was audience participation at lunch-time.  I do not encourage this sort of behaviour but we had finished eating so I let it go, just this once.

BeAnne, of course, would never do this – mostly because she can’t jump up anymore, not because she shouldn’t.

Monster remained unrepentant.  He honestly doesn’t care what I think. If it were OH, then of course that would be a completely different matter.

BeAnne then asked to go outside so I left the backdoor open for her.  Monster was feeling mean and decided to stalk her.  At first, he pretended to be looking for an invisible mouse but I knew what he was planning and we had words.

Monster by name……. and all that.