The storm is here and, touch-wood, we still have electricity so here we go ….. today’s blog.

I had made preparations for this inclement weather and fed the sheep in their second-best bedroom (no wifi, but a new bale of straw plus renovations last year, ie structurally more stable walls were added) instead of their field.  Lambie hates eating with ‘Ster and ‘Bert as they eat faster and then hassle him.  He hates this, goes into a decline and gives up, rather wetly in my opinion.  So, as his Muzzah, I know this and Lambie and I reverted to Plan B.  I fed him his breakfasty privately in the porch.

Luckily Lambie understands this and happily followed me back to the house.  Like I said, we are prepared.

A favourite – Stauffer’s Animal Crackers sent from America.

A bag of Cheesy Smiles for emergencies (organic, no less).  Only the best for Lambie.

And a healthy option – carrots which they all adore.

The other two Boyzens came a-knocking looking for their “friend” (who you can see ducking – he hates hassle) and I topped them up with carrots and crackers ready to face the storm.

BeAnne has also spent her day in a total decline.  She hates this fierce weather and noise.  I loaned her my Christmas present, a silk bolster, for reclining and declining on.

Meanwhile, I went back to my felting and made this part sheep, possibly pig.

I was trying to make a very small sheep but its head was bigger than I intended.  I learned a lot today.

He is only two inches long.

Next time I will make the head and ears first, then the legs and lastly the body so I can get the scale right.

Live and learn.

We have a Force 10 storm approaching – this time tomorrow we will be in the worst of it.  I cannot guarantee a blog then.  We will see if the electricity lasts.

With this impending doom, we made the executive decision to move everyone to our “storm field” – the one with good shelter and some nice sprigs of green grass.

Daisy decided to lead Taktur, Flossie “boofed” the stragglers and I opened the gate and shouted helpfully.

No one needed asking twice.

The herd set off happily.

They all, to a horse, knew which field we wanted them to go in.

All except one.  Daisy let Taktur go as he told her knew where he was going.  She believed him but watched dismayed as he then managed to miss the huge wide open gate in front of him and head off in the wrong direction down the side of the wrong field.

Then Taktur got into a panic when he realised what he had done but luckily didn’t attempt to jump the fence.  Our Icelandic horses don’t know how to jump and if they do, tend to take whole fences with them.  Always a disaster.

Taktur is not the brightest star in our firmament.

Even if he is the most handsome.

But he was very happy (read relieved) when he found the others.

Taktur and Efstur went off racing around the field.  Goodbye horseshoes.

(I told you they don’t know how to jump)

Efstur showed us what a superb and floaty trot he has, even in a rug.

Haakon looked on with vague interest.  He remembered the days when he used to gallop about like an idiot.

And now we will all wait for the storm to arrive.

The hatches are battened down and maybe the storm will go in another direction at the last minute.  It has been known to happen.

I am trying to walk as much as possible.  The theory is that  I will walk my spinal pain into submission.

So, after going for a very quiet ride on Haakon with Daisy and Iacs, I followed up by a walk. For company, Flossie and Klængur came along too.

And BeAnne, obviously.

We walked along my usual route – the road to the cattle grid and back.

Haakon was with me.

I thought I would see if Klængur liked thistles, or fistles as we call them.  Haakon adores these prickly plants.  They are a delicacy to him and on the way home, he always drags me off to find them on the side of the road.

He eats them right back to the root.

After little encouragement, Klængur found he liked thistles too.

Klængur took huge mouthfuls around the whole plant like it was boiling hot or a whole chilli.

Flossie likened it to eating a pop-tart hot from the toaster (an unknown concept to me).

I am sure thistles are good for the horses. They would’nt ask to eat them if they didn’t want to. It is odd, however, but at no other time of the year do my horses bother to eat them.

After we had stopped for every thistle on the side of the road, we wended our way home.

PS All the thistles at Leradale have been ripped out and eaten too.  Most odd.  Maybe it is an Icelandic horse thing.

I have always been fascinated by the art of felting and wanted to have a go at it myself.  Some lovely friends listened and sent me kit(s) for Christmas along with all the necessary so I could have a shot at it.

So, armed with everything required plus BeAnne, I drove over to a friend who knows all about this sort of thing.  She is very arty and crafty.  I am not.  All geared up, my friend got me started.  I learn much better seeing things being done in real life, rather than through films, books or lectures.  I had my own private tutor.

BeAnne was with me too as her New Year’s resolution is to widen her horizens and to travel more.  She settled quickly, which meant I didn’t have to worry about her.

I did attempt to read the instructions that came with the equipment.  They were excellent and informative, if strange.

And off I went.  I was trying to make a whale from the Whale Kit.

I quickly gave up on the whale idea and started making some legs instead.

Yup, I drew blood.  It was inevitable.

Can you guess what I wanted to make, or who?

I made sure I went outside regularly to stretch my legs and my back as I am still suffering.

And this is my finished creation.

I must admit I am feeling well chuffed with myself.  I think I have found what I want to make in my studio. I really enjoyed myself.  I had an excellent teacher and learned what to do and what not to do.

The future is a large flock.

A boring non-animal day today.  OH and I went to Lerwick with the van to collect building supplies for my studio.

A good few hours were spent measuring, cutting up and loading insulated plasterboard.

There were neat piles of the stuff in a huge builder’s yard shed and the pile we chose from was the damaged stock being sold for less than a quarter of the normal price.  A bargain not to be missed.  So we measured, cut and lugged many sheets of the damned stuff, going through a huge pile trying to find the best and least damaged sheets.

After that trial, on to the electric department for cabling and bits.

Lerwick was deserted – most shops still being shut for the Christmas, New Year, and possibly going into next Easter, holidays.

My back is agony now.  I got home, took some painkillers, clipped BeAnne onto her lead and took her for a walk along the road to try and exercise my agony away. I did not succeed.  I have my acupressure mat to lie on after supper.  That usually helps.

I tell myself it is all good moving onwards and upwards with the studio build.