A Small Reward

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Last night the weather was horrendous.  Utterly horrid. All I could do was think about my poor animals outside but they are tough, fat and I was not going out there again.  Pepper and I got very wet just putting the ducks to bed and getting the sheep home.

So this morning, feeling slightly guilty about my heartlessness last night, I gave out breakfast and added a small surprise treat for the little ones…..

…. who are not very clever and could not work out how to reach their bowls.

I said things like “just go around to the wide open gate and walk through!”  Apparently this is not something they could work out or do.

So I went over to the open gate that they’ve gone through hundreds of times and showed them their route.

Duh!

And then they saw their bowls and I stopped feeling guilty.

I like to think that each pony got their surprise carrot and enjoyed it.

How They Danced

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I received an alert from a friend last night that the Merrie Dancers (aka Northern Lights, Aurora Borealis, Mirrie Dancers) were dancing.

So, I quickly finished up cooking supper and stood outside the back door to see if I could see anything and whether it was worth staying out there.

And yes, they were beginning to rev up.

There was definitely potential so I kept popping outside every few minutes but it didn’t really get going until much, much later.

After supper, I checked outside, saw nothing much (I may be a bit blasé about Northern Lights these days – they’ve got to be pretty spectactular to make me leave my supper or a warm room) and went to my desk in the sitting-room to transcribe my Great Great Aunt Kate’s diaries.  I’ve reached February 1947.  I like to get two weeks done every night and it is not easy – the writing has not got any bigger.

But I had the genius idea to put the Burradale webcam up in the corner of my screen so that if anything kicked-off, I could see it in the comfort of my warm sitting room.

And then the sky really kicked-off.  I ran outside with my phone and took as many photos as I could manage (it was cold and windy) standing from my best vantage point – the compost heap (or Northern Lights Observational Point, as my OH likes to optimistically call it).  A spade is a spade in my language.

I  can honestly say this was the best display of the Merrie Dancers I have ever seen.

This morning wasn’t too shabby either.

While the sun rose, I put Haakon in the garden (shh, don’t tell OH) and took off his sugardine poultice that the farrier had put on yesterday (just to get out any final bit of infection).

Red sky in the morning…. and yes, tonight is F11 with heavy rain.  Meh.

Asking for a Friend

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This morning’s entertainment.

And this evening’s (Isn’t Lambie the most handsome sheep in the sunset?)

Apple Peelings

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I made apple crumble today.  The apple peelings and cores were sitting in the “for animals” box and I thought to myself “who would like this most?”

So I clambered over the fence into the hill field where the Shetland ponies live and decided that, as they had done so well in the storm, they deserved a small treat.

That went down very well with the troops.

However, Albie was not too sure – they were cookers, after all and quite tart.

I know that the ponies like playing with anything, so I put the empty box down for them to investigate or play with.

I knew Newt wanted to see if there was anything inside…..

But the others were not going to let him near it without a small discussion first.

 

Newt made his argument.

Albie lost interest and Waffle almost said no but he had already played with the box so he quickly gave in.

And then box was Newt’s.  Sadly it was empty now but it didn’t stop him having a full investigation because there might be some secrety apple peel/core compartment no one knew about.

 

The ponies are enjoing life at the moment in their hill field, mostly because we are between storms and it is also quite warm – 10℃ which makes a huge difference too for everyone.

Everyone Fed

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I woke up this morning after cat-napping throughout the night, feeling very over-tired and not looking forward to going outside one bit.

But there was a slight lull in the foul weather and, armed with the relevant bucket for the right animal, I went forth.

The Shetland ponies were all waiting for their breakfast, which helped hugely. I hate having to shout for them knowing they would never hear in this storm and then probably starve to death.  Anyway, they ate, argued and wandered off.  So Shetland ponies fed ✅

Then back to the house to get more buckets.

Again, the others all seemed fine and actually beginning to dry off too.

I gave everyone a bit extra, mainly because I wanted them to feel full today in this filthy weather. No buckets went flying, so that was a plus.  Icelandic horses and Shetland ponies now fed ✅

Once eaten, teeth cleaned (Vitamin), eyes de-goobed (Fivla), they all wandered off oblivious to the weather that was going on around them.  I was pleased to see them completely unbothered.

Meanwhile, Gussie and Dahlia had come inside when I went to feed the Shetland ponies.  They made a quick bee-line for the shed where breakfast was being served.

And the haynets (apologies for Lambie looking gormless – he’s been like that all day). Every time I’ve checked up on them, Lambie has been standing there looking, well, still gormless.

Gussie got to grips with the washing up.  So sheep all fed too ✅

It is not fun outside at all and has revved up again for the night.