I happened upon these two yesterday. I thought it was very sweet.  Both totally at peace with each other.

Walking the dogs through the horses’ field, I decided everyone has excellent camouflage.

It is the autumnal colours.

Horses, what horses?

Iacs is now sporting a fabulous beard and you can see a hint of a prehistoric zebra stripe on his withers.  He is such a dinosaur.

Haakon wanted food.  Sorry, nope, nuffink.

And in this field, you can see Pepper.

That is, if you squint.  She is the exact same colour which makes dog walks quite irksome.

Ted is easily lost too.  Nowadays, I just shout and hope.

So I hoped Pepper was following, or at least close by, and I stopped for a chat with Iacs instead.

Seriously bad weather is looming now.  I have to make some moving decisions soonish.  I keep looking at the forecast and saying to myself “it might miss us”. I fear not.

These past few days, he’s not been himself.

By “not himself”, I mean that Monster has not been nagging for food, annoying everyone by asking for food and generally demanding food. And what food he has, he doesn’t finish his bowl!  Something is not right.

I phoned the vet surgery who said he should be seen today, so OH and I took Himself in.

Monster was less than impressed by our decision.

And all semblance of dignity went out of the window at this stage!

He weighed in at 6.4kg.

Yes, you heard that correct.  But poor love had a very slight temperature.

One injection (long-lasting antibiotic) and a bottle of painkiller to take home (vet wisely gave the first dose), we are now in the “see how he gets on” scenario.

Possibly it was somebody that Monster ate who dared to disagree with him, or he is coming down with cat ‘flu as per usual.  I made him walk home from the car, parked outwith – exercise is good for you, isn’t it?

The dogs were pleased to see their old “friend” back.

I was ignored, and not thanked for my chauffeur services.

Anywho I got on with worming all the horses and ponies.

And called it a dog walk, hoping no one noticed that we didn’t actually go very far.  Monster came whingeing along too, which I took as a good sign.

So, we’ll see how we get on and take it from there.  Poor Monster. The indignity of it all.

We’ve had some quantity of rain in the past 24 hours.

I have run out of coats and waterproof trousers now. Everything is hanging up in the kitchen, dripping.

‘Ster is back to his usual self – still limping slightly, though.

Lambie is extra smiley because he hopes I have horse-treats in my pocketses. He loves them and, yes, of course I did!

I made sure yesterday, before the torrential rain (1/2″ in an hour!) started, that everyone (sheep, that is) was the right side of the burn which duly over-flowed and flooded the field.

The sheep came up the hill and swiftly went to bed.

The dogs were walked at Leradale in the morning as they do love it there and it makes a change.  These photos are the last of the autumn colour before winter hits us.  It was nice to see a hint of colour.

I have fairies at the bottom of my garden.

Well, that actually might be a typo.  I have furries at the bottom of my garden!

Today I moved everyone.

Old Men into the hill park (field – we call them parks).

Yes, we do!

And Shetlands into the Old Men’s field, that is already eaten down but much bigger with more shelter.

The ponies were thrilled.

Masses of galloping around, which I missed to film, but, believe me, they did move.

Until they discovered the grass factor was possibly less!

But, as Daisy keeps texting me, they are fat, they don’t need lots of grass.

Repeat after me “they are fat, they do not need lots of grass”. So they have shelter and pickings while I try not to feel guilty. I never saw the Old Men again!

‘Ster has been lame for a few days now, despite various ministrations that are supposed to help.  It is wet. He has bad hooves so it is inevitable.

But even so, I don’t like seeing him in obvious pain and not keeping up with the rest. After spraying his hooves, I suddenly remembered we had some painkillers left over from ‘Bert’s most recent misery.

I read the label, measured out the liquid oral dose and squirted it into ‘Ster’s mouth. And then I re-read the label and realised I had over-dosed him by a considerable amount.  I hadn’t read the next line that said 3ml rather than the 100ml I had given him.

Shit, shit, shit.

I ran inside to phone the vet.  After a brief conversation where she said Ster would have to come in, have a drip put up, and hope his kidneys/liver didn’t collapse, she asked if I had really given him the whole bottle. I said no. Just a bit of the enclosed syringe and so with that, I ran back to the stable for the syringe and found the 100 actually referred to 100kg, so I had given ‘Ster a bit over double the dose required.  He is a hefty 40kg.  The syringe measured in kg and not ml.  So sort of phew!

So back on the phone to the vet and we decided the best course of action was just let ‘Ster go outside (I had him in a tiny paddock by now, watching him like a hawk) to have his normal day and he would most likely be ok.

And that is what I did having also left my rubber boot in the mud.

And then the car started making a “funny noise” – juddering when braking and a silly, if worrying, squeak!

Anything else?  Bring it on. Bad luck comes in threes.

Some sweet bebbie photos!

Ster is fine.