For the last few days BeAnne has been very interested in a certain amphora that lives in our garden (decoration, not function).

(as you can see, we rather need something to break up the monotony of the green theme going on here)

BeAnne is not subtle about her desire to get at the contents and spends much of her day with her snout down the opening, peering in to see if there is any new developments.

If you can prize her snout out, much to her indignation, this is the beautiful sight that greets you.

Four perfect starling eggs sitting in a bed of old straw and feathers.

Others, who are better equipped for getting the eggs, are not interested.  Loki has better things on his mind ….

…. while Wu is playing Living Tetris with Flossie’s fur animals (two “dead” cats and her pet direwolf).

The eggs are stunning but, to be honest, I am not holding my breath that a) they might hatch or b) even if they did hatch, they will get to fledge as certain small furry bog-brush-dog is not going to leave them alone.

I did think of moving the amphora but a bird expert said he didn’t think Mum would return if we did that.

What to do?

Why does this remind me of two of Aesop’s fables:

– The Crow and the Pitcher 
– The Fox and the Stork

Today started with torrential rainfall and the sky was completely grey.  However, by 10 o’clock the weather had turned glorious!

I decided to check on the Minions to see how their Spring Clean was treating them.

I left Lambie in the garden this time to avoid any unwanted chasing…

Some were less white than they were yesterday and had grubby armpits.

And they do not smell like coconuts anymore.

It’s alright if you’re a black pony because the dirt doesn’t show!

If it does, then simply stay indoors to avoid judgemental gazes.

Luckily, Silver is a lot happier for losing his matted winter coat from yesterday.

BeAnne can attest to the Spring Clean, as she also has recently ‘enjoyed’ her own.

All in all, it was a lovely day so how could you not be in a good mood?

We brought all The Minions in today to be brushed and made presentable ready for Summer, if it ever bothers to make an appearance.

Everyone was unhelpfully pratting about so we tied them all up seperately.

And they stood quietly, some creating mess as they did.

When the Minions had come out of their field, they had not been kind to Lambie – he had insisted on coming to the field with us.  They had chased him home so he cleverly took refuge in a safe place under the harness.

Daisy brushed while I coated everyone’s manes and tails liberally in coconut oil and trimmed some long tails.

Tiddles is work-in-progress though he did floof up beautifully.  I have one bag of foal fur already.  Any takers?

Waffle loved being brushed and would stand forever happily.  He was no trouble at all (apart from the Lambie debacle).

Silver remembered last year’s fuss about brushing and then quickly put it behind him.  He is becoming a very handsome chap.

And Storm remains Storm.  Still the same silly hair-do, still the same worried eyes and still bottom of the herd.  Tiddles is the boss of him now.

Lambie looked to BeAnne for his salvation and safety.  He adores her and follows her everywhere.  BeAnne remains troubled by this as she likes having a disciple, just not a lamb-type one.  What if someone saw?

Doing the rounds today so we checked up on the last remaining Thordale Shetland pony girls –  Lyra, Vitamin and Delia.  Two old Shetland pony mares and one young filly.

Obviously Lyra made her bee-line for her one love, Daisy.

I think it because they both have the same hair style and can relate to this.

I left them to bond.  It is what they both do best – their Mutual Appreciation Society.

Both of them are a pair of soppy dates.  Lyra doesn’t care about anyone else (human) like she does Daisy.   She always has done, even as a foal.  The rest of us never had a look in.

Mother and daughter are not very alike but still very close.  I think they always will be.  Vitamin will have no more foals and Lyra was the one she waited for all these years.  Two dead foals in succession and then Lyra, makes her extra special and wanted.  I would hate to split them up or split up Lyra from Daisy.

Meanwhile, Lambie has taken up residence under a table in the sitting room.  He is loving his daily walks and is a fully paid-up member of our family, despite what my OH says.

The Bear Grylls Challenge – as created by Daisy and participated in by Lambie (and Daisy coz he is not doing it on his own!)

This is tough-love Lambie physiotherapy and it will help make Lambie stronger in his legs.

No more sitting in front of the fire never moving, Lambie is up and at ’em for a good 30 minutes, over hill and down dale.

He is asked to jump, gallop and tackle a variety of obstacles invented by Daisy, which he does with aplomb and enthusiasm.  Look at him go!  I can see Lamb of the Year Show beckoning.

Accompanying this army assault course is Loki and somewhere at the back loitering with resentment, BeAnne.

We went down the track, back up the track (Jack’s walk) and then into the hill.

There were various stop-off points for nibbling moss and investigating (Lambie, not us) and all these Daisy had incorporated into the assault course schedule.

After climbing every mountain and fording every stream, we took Lambie into the school where Daisy was warming up Taktur, her Icelandic stallion, before his training.

Lambie and BeAnne sweetly sat together and watched like Mother and Son.

After 20 minutes, when Taktur was officially warmed up, they all stopped and got to know each other.  I had put Lambie on the upturned jump bucket in the hopes I could teach him some circus tricks.

Enjoy the Bear Grylls-Lambie Challenge.  He works very hard at it and is a determined little boy.