The weather has disintegrated again. We are now in the middle of a five day gale. No one is particularly thrilled (I took this photo just before it all started).

Dad and son.

I haven’t put on rugs because it is actually very warm, despite the constant Force 8 gusting 10.

This morning, we brought the Old Men and Ladies in. I don’t like seeing their hay blowing everywhere so we gave them the morning off.  No one complained.  Haakon was happy to eat his breakfast on his own while we were busy filling haynets for everyone.

This time of year the sheep always get two haynets hung in their shed.

They love them and I often find Harrel-the-Barrel just snacking by himself.  He would take himself off to bed for most of the day if he could.

Lambie likes to follow me around begging for the horse treats that he is particularly fond of at the moment.

But while the weather is vile, we have had some spectacular sunrises and sunsets.

The typical “red sky in the morning” today and the shepherds were correct. It has been horrible.

I don’t mind the wind particularly, it is the rain that drags everyone down.

If you were missing the others from yesterday, well here they are.  I didn’t include them because they don’t suit the black and white filters very well.

Tiddles

So glorious.

He was lurking around in the background while I was taking the photos.

And, at the front end, Albie was busy being harrassed by Storm.

I sometimes think they never stop.

There is always one little naughty boy annoying another one who would’ve annoyed him if he had thought of it in the first place!

Always someone somewhere.

But no one is stupid enough to annoy Fivla.

Anyway, they are nice snappity snaps in colour.  They give a general feeling of the day.

A blowy day again but dry so I took my big camera out with me to see the Minions.

Waffle

Silver not looking like Silver at all

Albie or Albert-Potatoes (no idea why but he is)

The magnificent Vitamin – she is such a gorgeous old mare with presence.

And the equally magnficent, but in a different way, dearest little Fivla.

Newt – ’nuff said.  I have no idea what he was thinking but my, he looks pathetic.  Maybe that’s his “urchin – adopt-me” face.

So a few snappity snaps from today.

This is the face of one who has been told off!

The usual puppy stuff….. no recall, random peeing (just when we thought we had it sussed), ragging the cat, ragging Ted, never stopping ragging everyone, eating valuable instruction leaflets and/or anything really that stops moving long enough to fall in her mouth. Of course it is never Pepper’s fault, she will tell you.

Today has been a nice busy day. First thing and I was off to town to get more hay.  I rarely stop to take photos of my journey but I parked the van into a lay-by to take this photo.

Very magical.

The hay collected and I went off to the Street to survey my little Sheeple field.

I added more stock with a few I had created over the Christmas break and took note of the colours of sheep I need to make more of.

No time for lunch, so I made a quick dash back home. The hay is unpacked and stacked (thank you OH and Floss) while I had a few more things to do and now I have a giant mug of tea beside me as I write this.

Shetland is very beautiful this time of year.

Floss and I were out at the first glimpse of daylight this morning with everyone’s haynets and/or buckets.

I stood guard beside Haakon because his bucket (TurmerAid and soaked sugarbeet) is bigger and he takes longer to eat it.  I was deliberating whether to put a rainsheet rug on him for the next few days as the weather is disintegrating again.

In the end I thought I wouldn’t as Haakon hates wearing anything and walks about far more without one on. There is plenty of shelter in the field and he is nice and fat too.

He has a thick winter coat and I could see he had been happily rolling and gathering mud in case I felt the need to brush him.

Luckily, I didn’t.

We tied the Old Men’s haynets on the gate so they didn’t have to stand in the mud to eat. When the wind is this fierce, there is no point putting hay on the ground – it just instantly blows away.

And then on my way home, I met Harrel.  These days he is trying to be a small table.

Maggie came to join him and I took a family photo.

So, now the wind is howling and it is raining a bit but I am glad I didn’t put a rug on Haakon. He will be fine. I will not worry. I will not worry. I will not worry.