Yesterday was horrible for everyone equine so today we took two squeaky rubber chickens for the Minions to play with, like you do!

They were fascinated – Tiddles especially so.  He bided his time and then he struck, like a ninja!

The others were all, to some extent intrigued (except Fivla).  They particularly liked, but were nervous of at the same time, the very satisfactory squawk the chicken made when squished.

And, surprisingly, they were all very polite about taking turns.  There were two chucks to share.

Newt liked the rubber chicken very much.

As did Vitamin, which was interesting. I didn’t have her down as a squeaky rubber chicken kinda gal.

It was a foregone conclusion with Albie.

Lilja was undecided. She soooooo wanted to play with it but yet she knew it would be very uncool especially in front of Sóley.

Waffle gave it his best.

Sóley couldn’t decide whether touch it or run away.  This was about as brave as she could manage and she also didn’t want Lilja to disapprove.

The biggest surprise was Storm who wouldn’t go near it.  Of all of them, I would’ve thought he would be wearing it within seconds but no, he stood with eyes on stalks.  Maybe another time.  The chicken will return!

“Oh, the weather outside is frightful” – it truly is – Force 11 as I type.  Horrid.

But, animals have to be cared for; there is no shirking just because it is raining and blowing a bit.

On Christmas Eve, knowing this weather was forecast, I moved the Minions up to the best field because I am a very nice person, thank you very much.

And today, clutching my bag of carrots, I drove over to check everyone was ok.

This field is full of long grass and has lots of shelter.  The horses/ponies were making the most of their new quarters.  It will be interesting to see if they go back into the old field, because that is where the water is. Obviously I left the gate open.

Anyway,  I was greeted with these three and promptly laughed out loud.  It looks very funny.

The bag of carrots was fairly distibuted to the hopeful and the definitely starving (not).

I told them all that bad weather was “character building” and swiftly went home……

… to eat as many of these ….

And to shovel in the traditional Yule Log.

Beautifully made by Flossie and decorated by Daisy.

Truly a cake of great beauty – note the small flock of sheep.

Delicious – I may have had a tiny slice.

So that’s us all hunkering down and riding the storm out, eating chocolate cake to be polite!

I never for one minute thought we would still have BeAnne with us.

She is my Christmas miracle and there are no words for just how wonderful it is for us to still have her around.  There have been many very scary moments and yet here we are.

Smelly, old, pottering and definitely doitin’ but still Her Maj. There is definitely enthusiasm for life – mostly if you mention bunnies or ham but we take whatever is offered.

And there are times when BeAnne does her level best to be under feet (turn around and fall over) – horses and people. Sometimes I think she is on a suicide mission.

Another speciality is to ask to go outside, ask to come in, go out, come in, go out, come in…… repeat until you could scream!

We have adapted our lives, our day, our house and our way of living totally around BeAnne.

We can only do our very best.

The determination of this little Patterdale terrier knows no limits.

So Merry Christmas to you all. Today I have the only present I could ever want.

With lots of love from everyone at Thordale xxx

This morning we had snow!  These were the clouds yesterday.

It was looking ominous as the sun was setting.

And this morning, when we were feeding all the horses, we could see a small bit of snow lying on the hills.

The horses, who were eating outside, had a very light dusting too – or a mingy sprinkling of icing sugar!

So, who knows, we may have snow for Christmas!   Now, that would be exciting.

Back to wrapping the turkey and cooking the presents…..!

I heard a miserable bleating this morning and went outside to find Madge wandering around on her own.  She hadn’t noticed the others finding new pasture so she came home to shout about it.

So I found the rest of our flock in another field.  They had obviously left Madge behind and she was very happy to be reunited with them all.

Once Lambie was home (they had been in another field)…..

…. he went took himself quickly off to bed.

Bed is really a grotty shed that refuses to fall down so I had it shored up to withstand the Shetland weather.

The sheep all love this grotty shed, despite me having a lovely new house built for them.

Obviously they ignore that.

In the shed are two haynets, renewed daily.

Always popular.

And always finished by morning.

When I took this photo, it was good to see that the Girlzens are allowed inside too.

I hate it when there is a lost sheep.  I have to make sure they are all reunited as soon as possible.