I woke first thing to see this waiting for me.  Snow.  Ok, a smattering, but still snow and it was icey underfoot.

As a treat, I gave everyone a carrot.  The little ones had a small one each.

They were very happy. Tiddles was behind me, munching.  The Shetlands have nothing to eat but soaked hay and fibre-block.  There is nothing in their field, absolutely nothing.  The farrier said he wanted them on the equivalent of “the moon” and this field is just this now.

Meanwhile, next door, the big ones – aka Haakon, Klaengur and Iacs – have everything. The grass is very long.

But they still liked the idea of the carrots I had brought them.

They got the huge carrots (always some in the bag).

One each.

Klaengur looked like he was smoking a cigar!

This afternoon, I was in my shed making a sheep out of Harrel-the-Barrel (body) and Maggie (the fleecey bit).  Their wool is a nice combination.  Maggie’s wool has turned out well too.

So we are keeping busy.  Snow always does that.  Everything takes twice as long.

The weather has been driech today. Totally meh and I was the one taking the dogs for their daily walk so they accompanied me to Leradale when I went over to feed the ponies.

There was barely any light and I could see the last of the hail that arrived last night. It woke me up as it was so noisy.

I walked up the hill and suddenly realised I was all by myself. My two dog companions had left me and were busy at the bottom of the hill, hunting.

You have to be fast to see Pepper. She vanishes usually taking Ted with her. She is a very bad influence.

I walked back down the hill to find both dogs playing in a ditch together like muddy little guttersnipes!

So not the best dog walk today. I cut it short. I am not walking miles by myself while the “kids” run away to play in the dirt!

First thing this morning, Monster surprised us all with his presence.  While we were busy feeding hens, ducks, ponies, horses and sheep, he was busy yowling about the mud and getting his legs dirty.

Yup, a dirty Monster. A rare sight.

There is someone or something living under the feed shed….. Monster and Pepper hunt as a pair.  A pair of what’s, I am not sure, though.

Note how Monster is perched on a rock minimising his nearness to mud.

He entertained himself by biffing Pepper with his paw from his hideout in the shed or, as Monster likes to call it, the world’s biggest cat litter tray!

Back outside, chores done and we are all on our way indoors for our breakfast.  It’s our turn.

For a brief moment, Monster thought about attacking an ignorant Ted.  This was just before he did that sideways hoppity thing that makes us all laugh.

Ted didnt have a clue what was going on in Monster’s head. Probably just as well.

So Monster pretended to stalk Ted instead.

A few photos of Waffle for you.

Mostly a sweetie.

Enigmatic.

Sometimes think he’s a stallion, so can be a bit of a berk.

Easy to work with but has his moments.

Always handsome.

Huggable.

Lovable, when it suits or he wants something.

Still, he is our Waffle and is ten years old this year (I was shocked when I typed that!)

The roof from our old lambing shed left us yesterday.  Daisy said she heard some noise. The rest of us were oblivious.  Anyway, it landed in the garden and OH quickly tidied it away for possibly burning later.

It wasn’t a great roof, to be honest, and we all said we were amazed it had lasted this long.  One of those things.  There are bound to be casulties in a Force 11 (not quite a hurricane).

Today was a different story.  Beautiful calm. Barely any wind but frozen under foot.

I am leaving all the little boys out 24/7 now.  They have soaked hay in their box and there is barely any grass in their field (seriously nothing – and possibly more on the moon). My aim now is to get some weight off (the winter weather should help), while managing the laminitis without getting colic.

The Old Men are next door with loads of old grass.  They are very content and sort of friends with their small neighbours.

Storm and Albie still get a daily bucket of nothing with painkillers.

I will see how everyone gets on with this new regime.  I hope it works. I don’t like having ponies indoors all the time. Fresh air is good for everyone.