The weather is vile – ok, it has stopped blowing but it is cold and wet.  The horses are being very stoical and I love them for that.  Actually apart from the mud, they don’t seem to care.

I took these photos 5 days ago, when Shetland looked its best.  The sun was going down and I was going to the shop.

I could take nothing for today – outside is dismal.

This is my local village – Walls – it is about 4 miles from me.

Known locallly as Waas – which means in Old Norse “sheltered bay” – voes. Apparently the Ordnance Survey (map people) added the extra ll’s as they thought it was a corruption of “walls”.

There is a lovely new marina and a pier (built in the 18th century) and apparently (and I did not know this), Walls was a centre for fish curing.  The boat from Foula docks here.  We have a shop with petrol/diesel pumps, a bakery, 2 churches (Methodist and Church of Scotland) and a Nursery and Primary School.

Addendum: and our own community indoor heated swimming pool!

Anywho, I have also been in my shed most afternoons making my sheeple.  One every day to add to the pile that will hopefully end up at the Jamiesons Knitwear in Lerwick.  There is the usual range of curly or non-curly in a variety of colours.

I am trying hard not to hibernate this winter and have given myself daily tasks that must be accomplished – to put one thing on Ebay a day and to clean and tidy up a drawer somewhere in the house/shed every day!

This afternoon, I drove over to the other side of the island to deliver some horse rugs that needed attending to. I want them to have leg straps put on as I am fed up of losing them in a gale – they blow over the horse’s head and then sit in a heap in the mud, always the mud, looking invisible or like a slightly different rock.

So, after dropping off the rugs in someone’s garage (I hope to God it is the right one or a random stranger now has 6 of my very best rugs), I decided to go home via a long scenic route.

I seldom visit this side of the island so I had some time to myself and looked at the spectacular east side of Shetland.

Some interesting facts: In Shetland you are never more than 3 miles from the sea.

Shetland is nearer to Bergen (Norway) than it is to Aberdeen.

It is further north than Moscow or Southern Greenland (I did not know this!) It is on the same 60ºN latitude as Helsinki, Finland and Anchorage, Alaska (I did know this!)

“Shetland was Norse until 8 September 1468, when the islands were mortgaged to Scotland for 8,000 florins as part of the marriage agreement between the future James III and Princess Margrethe of Denmark. In 1472 the Scots annexed both Shetland and Orkney.” – Undiscovered Scotland

There are over 100 islands in the archipelago that makes up the Shetland Islands.  Only 15 are inhabited.

Shetland’s population is around 23,200 (last counted 2014).

The North Sea is on the east coast and the Atlantic Ocean on the west coast of Shetland.

And there is no such place as The Shetlands!

So you know – Shetland, yes, Shetland Isles, ok if you must, but never The Shetlands.

We all have our routines and our places in the house.

In the morning, after feeding everyone their hay, Floss and I go back inside for breakfast.  Floss sits in the sitting-room (while I am in the kitchen) with her slice of toast and sits in “her spot”.  Today, someone else was there and he wasn’t moving.

That would be Monster, aka White Panfa!

So Floss ended up in Daisy’s spot – this now marks the end of civilisation as we know it.

With more work to do, we are back out at 11.00 to do the rounds with the hard feed – or meals-on-wheels as we think of ourselves.  We came home in time for lunch around 13.00 and guess who was still in Floss’ spot.  However, he had turned round. Good effort.

When he hears us in the kitchen, Monster joins us to sit in His Spot!

Everywhere is a potential spot if you are a large white cat.

BeAnne doesn’t have a spot. Where I am is her spot.

Monster has many spots – see what I did there….geddit?!

He is speshul.

It has been six whole days with these ladies and already I am seeing a change in so many ways.

Mother is still pushy but she is learning the magic word “back, back” which means you don’t walk into the house or feed-shed uninvited. She is also less pushy and is filling out.

Wherever I go around the croft, I have two devoted followers. ‘Bert has also decided they could be his best friends because they get three meals a day and he only gets one!  Today, the Boyzens went into the hill. Lambie is still furious but I told him to suck it up, Princess.

Anyway, this weekend I was given some Muscovy Ducks.  I adore them.  In the dim and distant past, I had one Muscovy. Now we have seven.

Six lady-ducks and one drake.

They don’t move around much – preferring to stand outside their house (now sharing with the hens in perfect harmony), waiting for me to arrive with food.

I have to make sure that everyone (ie sheep) are somewhere enclosed as they cannot steal the duck feed. It is poisonous to sheep.

And certain sheep are on the scrounge 24/7 at the moment. It’s a full time job.

I am trying to convince the ducks to follow me and I can show them where the water is but so far they just stand and watch.  They do a lot of watching and possibly judging.

The followers always follow.

BSC (Bat-Shit-Crazy) Girl is getting less reactive.  She will take a gingernut/snack from my hand, she will eat from a bowl in my hand and she will almost let me touch her. She sniffs me when she thinks I am not noticing.

They also love the horse’s barley rings which make the perfect snack and bribe. I keep some in my pockets.

The way forward is definitely food.

My days are spent wondering if my horses and ponies (and possibly sheep) are too fat or too thin and then worrying accordingly.

At the moment Hetja is constantly in my thoughts.

She is still feeding Sóley-the-Foalie, which is fine and what we wanted, but she has started to lose weight and I can feel a rib if I press her sides.  Brá did this when she was nursing Dreki – suddenly dropped all her weight and was skin and bone.

So, rather than concentrating on her usual maintenance ration of hard feed, we have upped her feed adding more calories.  I have also opened up a small hay-park that I was keeping for just this purpose.

My thoughts being that if we can limp along, keeping Hetja’s weight from dropping while she is feeding Sóley, then we can wean her daughter in March. Well, that’s the plan.

Sóley is a big lass now and she has her big sister to watch out for her.

Lilja is good with her little sister and, despite the bickering, they are actually very close.

And we will also open the gate, when we remove Hetja, and let the Minions work their magic on Sóley so that she forgets to miss her Mum, and concentrates on being distracted and weaned instead.

I will be glad when Spring finally makes an appearance. I think we all will be.