A cardboard box arrived from Denmark today and in it was……

…. my crofthouse, Thordale, beautifully made by Jogalong & Pogwash (multimedia art)

Complete with my beloved sheeps and Land Rover.

I love it.  I have cleared (and even cleaned, because that is how much I adore it) the shelf below the window where I sit and write on my laptop.  This house has pride of place.

What a lovely present from my friend, Barbara of Lille Rosendal and Riccarton DK Shetlandspony Stutteri.  She is the artist who made it – a very talented lady.

Look at the fencing?  I wish we had fencing as nice as this.  The bird table and the seat are perfect.  The only artistic licence is the two stable doors (front door and back door).  I have always wanted stable doors but my OH has always said no!  My Theory: maybe if OH sees how nice they look on this house, then perhaps I could have them in real life on my house (if you catch my drift).

This house is so nice I could almost live there.  Oh yes, but I do!

Thank you, Barbara, for making me go round for the whole of today with a huge smile on my face.  Every time I look up from my desk and see my house, I grin all over again!

It is perfect.

What a wonderful present.  My perfect little crofthouse.

Yesterday, I knew a friend was visiting my neighbours so I phoned to see if they would like a visit.

Apparently, they would.

Since Lambie has been sheared/shorn/whatever, his cob-sized headcollar is a bit loose but he pottered along happily with it.  I only put it on to stop him from eating my neighbour’s beautiful garden!  Lambie is rather partial to flowers.

En route, we practiced our “winning smile”.

Willie and Evelyn were thrilled to see Lambie.

They totally understand caddie lambs – they are part of the family.

Gwen, who was visiting, had a good chat with Lambie.  She, too, had a caddie lamb called Jacob and Lambie did his best to remind her of the friendship of sheep.

It was hot indoors, for Lambie, so he sat down, while we had a cup of tea and a good chat.

BeAnne sulked gently on the sofa (as ever, she likes all the attention to be on her).

I was very proud of Lambie. He behaved beautifully and did not put a cloven hoof wrong – polite, kind and very loving.  There was no barging, no attention-seeking and a huge amount of generosity and patience.  He was even almost continent (I brought an incontiniece pad with me which was plonked underneath him when he did the world’s biggest pee).

Being crofters, Willie and Evelyn took it all in their stride.

Evelyn brought Lambie some water to drink (hugely appreciated) as well as some fizzy apple juice (not quite so appreciated, but worth a try).

Having put the world to right, had a good chat, a cup of tea and made ourselves totally at home, I thought we had better not outstay our welcome and so we said our goodbyes and walked home.

‘Ster was pleased to his Lambie again.  If ‘Ster could walk happily on a lead, rather than have a total hissy fit, then he could come too.  At the moment, this is not to be.

Darling Lambie – so proud (sniff).

Guess who is home?

Yup, little Storm…..

…… And his friend……

….. Tiddles (or Tids, as he is known).

Storm has a hacking cough, which I was hoping was a viral infection that would go away on its own.  But, sadly, no.  The cough seems to be bacterial and is not going anywhere unless I treat it with antibiotics.  So Storm, who is showing the worst symptoms, and Tiddles , who is Storm’s best friend, have come home to Thordale o be jabbed with a stingy antibiotc.  I would love to say that both are very good about this but I would be lying.

Tiddles, darling boy, of course, is fine.  He lets me bung the injection in, no fuss, and no performance (I love this little man).

Sadly,  Storm is a big girl’s blouse.  I favour the bottom to give an intramuscular injections, but with Storm, his bottom bounces, with a threatening kick,  We had words and I won my argument. I don’t know how long this will last as the antibiotic treatment is for five days.

So, today, Storm began his treatment.  He had his first injection (as did Tids) and some cough linctus (which Storm said would do no good, but actually hs helped hugely) – bloody boys.

Storm seems to be professionally ill with few symptoms.  Apart from attacking his fieldmates, hence why I took him into quarantine at Thordale,  I have never seen this behaviour from him so something is very wrong.

Please, healing vibes  for this little argumentative boy who tried to kick me when I gave him an intra-muscular antibiotic injection (and his friend who I am treating in case he starts to cough).

Of course, therapy for the injection involves a huge amount of hugging and telling a small piebald Shetland pony that his mother loves him and his behaviour is difficult.  In five day’s later, I will probably be a shell of my normal self.

Ok, so where are we with all this fur stuff?  I have been having a bit of a clear out.

Up for grabs……

A small packet (0.75 oz) of Tiddles’ foal fur (from last year).

Remember, Tiddles is a skewbald (not, spotted, they don’t do spotted in the Shetland Pony Stud Book) miniature Shetland pony.

It is a little bag of brown and white foal fur.

Then, there is 4.5 oz of black Shetland pony foal fur that was given to me last year by a friend, who knew I was collecting.

And, lastly, there is 6oz of Hjalti’s Icelandic horse foal fur that I brushed out of him this spring/summer.

Hjalti is chestnut, like his mother and apparently, though I might be wrong, the Icelanders used to spin Icelandic foal fur.

Let me know if you are interested in any of this wool/fur/stuff.  I am happy to send it all over the world for the price of an extremely generous donation to The Minion Winter Fund (believe me, they eat).  Failing that, it is all going on Fleabay!

Lambie and ‘Ster’s wool has already found a home, so please don’t ask for their wool.

However, if you want a Shetland sheep fleece, I can certainly get hold of Lambie’s sisters’ fleeces.  They are moorit (brown) or flekkit (brown and white) and of good quality. Let me know.  frances@fstaylor.co.uk

UPDATE:  Tidles ‘ fur now gone plus a bit of Hjalti.

I have been feeling bad about leaving Waffle and Silver out in the Fat Fighters Field.  Silver is a lovely shape now, if a tad bum-high, and Waffle has certainly lost some weight (yes, I have changed my mind since yesterday).

So I caught just the little boys and took them up to the field where I had moved the others to.

My theory is that they will all play together and muscle will replace any flab.

There was instant pile of ponies.

Everyone was very pleased to see each other.

The Minions are seldom split up and it is not something I like to do so it is nice to see them back together.

Even Delia came over to say hello (or something like “get out of my way, stop eating all my grass and never bother me”.)

She almost liked the Minions last winter so no one is new.

Lyra was intrigued by the new arrivals.  I don’t think she has ever met Silver and Waffle.

She was quite hopeful that young Waffle might be a potential Handsome Prince.

I fear she will be sadly disappointed but she is at that age when she fancies “anything in trousers!”

At the end of the day, even if Lyra hasn’t bagged herself a bloke, she still has a nice little herd to boss around and all the little boys think she is beautiful.

Silver and Waffle quickly realised their lives had changed for the better again and started stuffing their faces.

Hjalti was thrilled to see his best playmates back.

There will be lots of games and hopefully some calories burned.