Dreich

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I don’t think it is actually going to stop raining until next year.  It was dreich (a great word for today).

And it was just getting light when I went outside serving up breakfast to everyone, hence the dismal photos.  Tis the way, this time of year.

So, armed with my extensive shopping list, I headed to Lerwick stopping off first at the feed merchant for provisions for all things ovine, equine and poultry.

And then a quick swoop around Tesco with my trolley and I drove home while it was still daylight.  I hate driving in the dark.

In the last of the quickly fading light of early afternoon (now around 2.30 p.m.; how pathetic is that?), Skippy and I unloaded the car and I made bedding a bit fresher for the chucks and ducks and the sheep too.

Obviously, I had my little follower.  She never left my side though her determination to be run over by Skippy was admirable (if I had a pound for every time I tell her to get out from under the wheels, I could probably pay my feed bill!)

With the ducks and hens now comfortable and the sheep bedroom slightly fresher, I saw the sheep had all come home from their day out in the field.  Even Gussie and Dahlia had turned up – a routine I want them to get into.

You can see just how wet everyone was but doesn’t Gussie-Dustbin look handsome?  He’s quite the sheep these days.

I got out my statutory biscuit tin and gave everyone one ginger biccie each.  Them’s are the rations.  I think there was muttering about bigger rations, though.  I didn’t listen as I shut the front door for the end of the day – at 3 p.m., (fer cryin’ out loud!)

 

Monster on a Mission

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Monster doesn’t usually come out with me on the breakfast round mostly because it is too early and only essential personnel go outside but today he was there, following me wherever I went, mostly shouting.

(apologies for bad picture quality, but I had a chuckle when I saw Monster with the sheep who were all waiting for their breakfast).

The weather was pretty mild so that might’ve been one reason he was out and about.

I never felt alone.

Not once.

Even when I took my three buckets over to the old horses and ponies’ field, Monster came too.  Pepper went off a-hunting and I didn’t see her for a while.

You can just see Monster (the white dot) on the old track walking and singing his way to Ted.  At this stage, Ted was trying to disown him.

Obviously Monster needed a sleep to recover from all that activity.

And luckily he has still managed to eat the requisite meals for the day.  Phew!  I do worry.

Because nothing stops Monster on a mission.  We are all his servants really.

Dull Days Please

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You know me, I hate change. I like my days to be dull, preferably with absolutely no unexpected excitement.

Everyone and everything should always be the same.

I rely on those around me to know this and, to be fair, I think they approach life pretty similarly too.

Part of our morning routine – Breakfast buckets, clean out Vitamin’s teeth with the dental woosher thingy, clean Fivla’s eyes of any caked gunk (her tear ducts have never worked), kiss her nosey for being a good girl and off I go to do the next thing, which is to wash the buckets out in the stream on my way home.

Then I grab the leftover soaked sugar beet to feed ‘Ster (in his bowl) and ‘Bert (he cleans up the bucket like a good boy), give Lambie his special portion of TurmerAid in his private dining room, taming training with Madge (I will win even if she grunts) using TurmerAid, and also a bit for Maggie and Dahlia.  Then all the sheep follow me to the field and go out for the day.

And this is always the same but just a little part of our morning routine.  There is also feeding the other Shetland ponies, and letting the ducks and hens out for the day.  It is always the same and as long as it all goes smoothly, I am very happy pottering around doing my crofting chores.

Bad weather can be a trial, though and that is on its way…… Ugh.

Anyway, I hate excitement and I hate change because then I can’t cope.

Pot of Gold, Please

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This is another quick blog and I’m sorry. Just circumstances are still out of my control.

But I have managed to get all my outside chores done in the allotted daylight hours – which are albeit becoming very brief – 8.30 a.m. to about 3.30 p.m. at the moment.

The dog walk is also rather a lick and a promise as the weather’s not great and no one is very enthusiastic, including me.

But, it is lovely to see the Shetland ponies in a huge field being completely free of track life and routine.  They turn up for their breakfast and then go off for the rest of the day bothering no one.  I am not important to them anymore, which is actually a huge relief and very nice.

I liken their massive field to being about the same standard of grazing as if they were on the open hill (scattald). Maybe slightly better, but not much.

They will stay there for as long as they remain healthy and happy.  Hopefully, for the winter if I have my way.

So we are all going along ok.  I am feeling slightly less stressed.

Just off to look for my pot of gold.  Please make it a big one.  That would help.

Sheep Therapy

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Today was much better than yesterday but the bar was set pretty low so things could only get better really.

This morning I found everyone was in the right field, ate their own breakfast, and even did as they were told so I must put yesterday’s debacle swiftly behind me and move onward, ever onward.

We went on a nice dog-walk and I quickly found the sheep who have settled well into sharing a field with the Shetland ponies. I think they are all going by the theory of “if I don’t bother you, then you won’t bother me”. It works.

Sheep therapy was at its best.  Maybe they knew I was out-of sorts from yesterday.

Gussie was practising his Winning Smile on me.

Dear Dahlia.  She is such a happy lady.

‘Ster was sporting some rather fetching moss.

Lambie was busy doing his Greta (as in Garbo “I want to be alone”).

But I managed to get a lovely smile from him too….. eventually.

‘Bert and Barrell are apparently friends today.

I have no idea what got into them yesterday. They wouldn’t stop hassling and butting each other until they were both at a stand-still exhausted and panting, a quick re-group and then they would start all over again,

Madge has come on. She will now sniff my hand and run away, grunting like a pig.  Still, that’s a vast improvement on the absolutely nothing she usually offers.

A few more of Gussie Dustbin just because he has such sweet expressions.

This is what he thinks is his Intelligent Face. I haven’t the heart to tell him.

And, lastly, Maggie who was doing her absolute best.

But obviously Lambie is the King of Smiles (though I might admit that he also looks very goofy in a the-lights-are-on-but-no-one-is-home sort of way and I can vouch for that!)