I went over to Clothie (5 acre croft in the hill) to feed Taktur his special grub.  Usually the others don’t bother him while he is eating, but Kappi and Klængur were in a state of agitation.

I could see Klængur was shaking with the cold and, as it was sleeting, snowing, hailing and raining all at the same time (the official meteorological name for this is Shitting Down), I made the executive decision to get the boys in to dry and get warm.

I hate seeing them like this – so cold that they don’t know what to do with themselves.  I am aware that they are built for this kind of weather and Klængur looks like a small Comtois, but we have had non-stop rain for what feels like months.  The poor chaps have not dried out properly for ages and it is starting to get to them.  I am not prepared to sacrifice Klængur’s mental state so that he can slim down burning his summer fat to stay alive.

I opened their gate and they all followed me without argument across the scattald (open hill) into the big indoor school.  I put piles of hay down and buckets of water out.  They can stay there for the night to relax and dry out.

Klængur looked immediately happier and was following me everywhere.  I will go and sit with them in a little while.

I have been worried about them and a day off won’t do them any harm.

When they go again ready to do battle against the elements, they will be dry, warm and happier.

Water, water everywhere and not a dry field anywhere.  So depressing. Squelch.

But this does not deter The Minions.  They were on fine form today, having been stuck indoors yesterday during the last gale.

I went into their field and they came running up to me.  Silver was in a very playful mood, picking on Storm who gave as good as he got.

Silver then spotted Tiddles who was by himself happily minding his own business and hoping he would not be noticed.

But Silver was in a silly mood and tried to play with him.  There was no playful reaction back.

Tiddles ran away …

…. and took himself to be with his Mentor and Best Friend.

I haven’t put a rug on Storm or Tiddles because yesterday Storm rolled until he was fully encrusted in wet sand.  I just couldn’t bring myself to put a rug over that, let alone touch him.  Instead, I decided the rain and wind could blow it off which it is now doing.  I also thought it would do their coats good to have some fresh air for a few hours and the encrusted sand plus rug combo was a potential breeding ground for rainscald.

Anyway, they all seem happy enough in the rain.

There’s not much wind so it is nice for them to be outside and to make the most of a few quiet days before the gales start all over again.

Sometimes Wu is asleep….

Occasionally he is awake…..

Sleep is very important to Wu.

If not asleep, he can be in a playful mood (read dangerous)

Mostly he is planning his world domination.

Which takes a great deal of thought.

He has made A List.

Loki knows this.

And Loki knows he is a considered a mindless jerk who’ll be the first up against the wall when the revolution comes.

8

Yes, it is still WW3 in this house.

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The weather is utterly repellant.  Even the dogs refused to go for a walk (twice) so I have spent the day achieving nothing apart from my version of cleaning the house without my glasses on so I can’t actually see the dirt whilst spraying polish in the rooms before OH comes back from town.

The boys went out for a little while and I found they had all gone to bed early.  I gave them some big carrots to play with.

Every evening, after supper, I go and see the boys in their new abode.  Daisy usually joins me and we sit on an old caravan cushion on the floor in the dark.  The Minions then decide whether they want to talk to us or not.

I usually take a lantern and we each wear a head torch as there is no light in the shed.

BeAnne, of course, comes too and the ponies don’t mind her presence.  She sits on the cushion with us, of course.

The Minions love this time.  They loom out of the darkness one or two at a time to be hugged, scratched, tickled and kissed.

While the wind and rain hammer down outside, we just sit and listen to the boys munching their hay.  It is very soporific.

I enjoy doing this with the ponies.  It is when we get to understand each other better and I think they like the fact that the door is not shut and they are forgotten for hours.

I never force anyone to come over to us.  Sometimes a Minion will just wander over for a cursory hello and then wander back to his Sisyphean task of eating.

I am sure folk think I spoil my boys.  In my mind, they deserve spoiling, especially this time of year and being with them is never a chore, but a lovely way to spend some of the long winter evenings.

And yes, I do kiss each one good night!

(apologies for crap photos – done on phone in pitch dark so a rather random point and shoot method)

It was an unexpected day.

Daisy and I popped to the shop to post some letters and met a friend, Bessie, walking her dog, Mootie, to get her messages.  Afterwards, we were going to drive around mainland Shetland to find some big waves to photograph.

I remembered an excellent place on the east side where I had once seen an impressive wall of water but never managed to take photos.

We were just standing in the shop porch chatting with Bessie and Mootie when the heavens opened.   Well obviously we could not let Bessie walk back home in that and so we gave them a lift to their house.  While there, I took some photos of some sparrows standing on the harled outside vertical wall of the house.  Very clever.

I mentioned to Bessie that we would be driving round looking for waves and so she, now minus dog, joined us.

Here are some photos from our travels.  I was looking for waves or different scenery.  We failed rather dismally on the wave front (wind was not in the right direction) but it was nice to go somewhere completely different. We drove around like trippers admiring the scenery.

There was a bit of snow about and I drove carefully.  Every so often, I would screech the car to a halt, leap out and take a photo trying to dodge the rain.  Daisy was armed with a lens cloth so she could clean the camera afterwards. I have her well-trained.

Now here is very rare sight.  Proper full-grown trees in Shetland.

Mostly, it looks like this.

And this was our reward for a hard day’s work of driving, chatting and me leaping out to take photos.

It was yum.