There is a lot of arguing going on in the Minion field this time of year.  I hate it and feeding time is not a peaceful experience.  It can all get very stressful.

As it is a two-man job, I asked my OH to help as I was on my way home from collecting him from the bus.

For his own safety, I wouldn’t let OH into the field as Newt has become an unpredictable lethal weapon.  We have words.

I didn’t manage to catch on film Newt’s worst crimes of today but you can see he goes round wreaking havoc/revenge on anyone he can.  He may be small but Newt will take on anyone.  Both Lilja and Sóley have learned how to defend their buckets.

And then Newt (and Storm) smile and of course I forgive him.

These two were good boys.

As was Silver in the background. Tiddles was twanging the wire fence to see if I would react. I couldn’t because it would put Fivla off her food and he knows that.  That is The Look of Knowledge.

Storm was trying to get into my pocketses.  All I could feel was his nose trying very hard.

It will be a happy day when we can stop feeding Fivla, Vitamin, Sóley and Lilja.

❤️ Sad news….. RIP James II. He went to sleep and never woke up. ❤️

Spring is starting to try now.  The clocks go back next Sunday and James II is still alive. So all is good.  We think James II has gone back into hibernation as he is always asleep, so we change his bedding when needed and put out fresh food and water, just in case.  Let’s hope he will wake up slowly and feel more like himself soon.  That’s all we can do.

Luckily the no one else is really interested in James II.

This is Monster’s very excellent Bitchy Resting Face!

And this is Monster looking a bit more cheerful.  A Cheshire cat moment.

The horses are all doing fine.

They are have started to look for the new Spring grass, apart from Taktur who wanted some alone time.

I found him standing by himself deep in thought when I came home this afternoon having taken the car to get petrol.

I told him he looked very gorgeous.

Such a Handsome Prince. Be still my beating heart. ❤️  I wish everyone was as nice as Taktur.

Feeling now worried about my sheep’s mineral and vitamin intake (something I just took for granted as they have unlimited hay, grass, Himalayan salt and a generous daily handful of “sheep crunch”), I was told of the 5kg Horslyx Smallholder mineral block I could buy – it would help.

So I bought online and the block arrived the other day.  Up here everything for sheep comes in large amounts for flocks of 50+.  I wanted one for 5 sheep and this is perfect – 5kg – especially made for “the smallholder situation where reliance on forages from grazing, hay, haylage or silage form the greatest proportion of the ruminants diet.” – well that describes our set-up to a tee.

Wherever I go, I have Edna with me.  She is forever hopeful I will feed her and is also my best friend. And so she found me opening the box and swiftly decided that lick was her’s.  I left her to it for a while.

Edna was one happy sheep!

We stayed silent, telling no one.

Didn’t we, Edna!?

Once she had had her fill, I took the block outside.  ‘Ster was next up and straight in.

Lambie was intrigued.

And a “suspicious Aloysius”.

Honestly, Lambie get a grip!

Soon they were all in.

Lambie even tried it. Oh well done, what a brave boy!

They sort of took it in turns.  Now everytime I meet Edna she still looks covered in lick but very happy, if slightly sticky.  She is following me around the croft less too. That Horslyx Smallholder mineral block has her name on it!

Well, it has been a rollercoaster ride with James II.

This morning, he was pronounced dead.  It was a sad time. We all felt we had failed him and questioned our care and I asked myself where had we gone wrong.  We had honestly given it our best but obviously that had not been enough.  And so, we fed the horses, sheep, poultry feeling very depressed but, hey ho, life goes on and we need to keep going.  We were all miserable, though.

Coming indoors for breakfast and to get James II out of his cat-box to bury, we discovered he was actually alive!

Oh the joy! You cannot imagine just how happy we all felt.  We had been given a second chance.  Life rarely does that.

Ok, James II has not eaten since yesterday but he is still sound asleep in his box in the kitchen under the stairs.

I have been in communication with a Hedgehog Lady in the Isle of Man who confirmed this can happen.

We check James II regularly for breathing – which has calmed down since yesterday. I reckon he has gone back into hibernation.  Good choice not-so-wee James II!

Today has been a gamut of emotions for all of us.  I’m exhausted. I am not made for this.

Yesterday evening, cry for help from a friend and a hedgehog was dropped off with us.  Her dogs had found it.

Hedgehog was quickly named James II (James I lived with us many years ago and used to wander around the house at night, and was found snoring behind a cupboard!)

After a quick inspection, we put James II in a cat box with a towel, food and water. He (or could be a she, who knows) was breathing quite rapidly and so we decided to leave him to have some peace and quiet for the night.

This morning, James II was still with us and had eaten and poo’ed so that was a good sign.  We got him out very carefully with gloves and had a better look.  No immediate damage, though we were not happy with his left foot not being tucked up.  He curled up nicely and grunted a bit.  Poor little lad was clarted all over in mud but he was a good size and weight.

I quickly googled “can you bath a hedgehog?” and apparently you can so we watched a YouTube video first.

And in he went.

OH donated an old toothbrush and the bath-water was quickly very muddy.

A bit cleaner, we put James II back to bed and left him in the warm kitchen with food and water.

There was a bit more activity this afternoon.

So we thought James II could go out into a shed to live. The plan being to leave food and water out for him as well and he could come and go as he pleased.

We left the door open to his cat-box and left.

It’s nice in the shed.  Easy access but peace and quiet.

When I checked James II this afternoon, he was curled up and looking cold so I brought him back into the kitchen to warm up a bit.  He had his front foot curled inside himself, so that’s a better sign.  I think he possibly came out of hibernation too early (it’s been a warm) or was disturbed while in hibernation by the dogs.  Anyway, we’ll see how we go.