Edna has a routine which I try hard to stick to.  Her feet are not the best – she is prone to limping so I like to treat them daily with an antibiotic (turquoise) spray.

I do this after her breakfast.  Everyone else, who wants to go, is let outside but ‘Ster always stays behind to keep Edna company. I would like to think this is out of love for Edna but realistically, I think he realises she gets treats and he wouldn’t say no to one either.

So, I open up the small adjoining stable door and Edna casually wanders in.

Door shut (note ‘Ster waiting behind it) and Edna, by herself with no encouragement from me, automatically goes and stands quietly by the entrance and waits.

She is currently wearing a loose dog collar and I clip this to the already-tied rope.

Next, I pick up each front foot (rather like a farrier doing a horse’s hooves), check them, clean them if required and spray them.  It is not a fight or much effort from either of us.

Edna is then unclipped from the rope but her collar stays on, told she is a good girl and allowed a free go at the treat box by herself with no interruptions – which is currently holding Tesco own-brand Cheerios!  Ster also gets his shot at it too when we come out for waiting patiently and being supportive.

I love this method of working with Edna because no one is stressed, no chasing, no grabbing or rugby tackles and, best of all, no tipping which breaks my back and makes us all miserable in the attempt.  We do this every day in our calm, peaceful way.

When I was a child, I always thought “The Glorious Twelfth” was referring to my birthday.  It seemed obvious to me.

Apparently I was wrong, but I shall gloss over that because, for me and another friend, it is our birthdays and nothing to do with shooting little red grouse for fun (ugh – they can only be barely a mouthful on a fork).

So today, I celebrated another birthday with friends and family in their various forms via internet or real life.

Here is this year’s wonderful card from Daisy.

Presents included four feed boxes and a very long hose that winds up and they came gift wrapped too!  I laughed at my suprise when I opened the shed door.

These feed boxes will be perfect for when everyone has to come inside on those vile winter days – it means everyone can have their haynets safely eating from the floor.  No more lugging from one field to the stable.  They are heavy.

Along with a superb bottle of gin, tonic, even a fresh lemon and some cake, I am now set for another year!

So, Happy Birthday to me (and my friend, Alice) xx

Absolutely no one is to talk to Lambie.  He has been sent to Coventry (and, if you don’t know what that English expression means, I recommend you look at the link. The origin of this idiom is fascinating).  Basically, no one is talking to Lambie.

Anyway, in Coventry, Lambie is or the chicken/duck feeding pen as it is better known, into which he barged to steal their food having specifically been told not to.

So, to teach LAmbie a lesson, I shut the gate and told him to wait patiently while I finished all my other morning chores.

I wanted Lambie to think about his actions and whether stealing someone else’s food was worth it.  He gave it some thought.

But I saw no remorse.

Not even slightly.  That is one not-sorry sheep.

So I opened the gate and put the string across to see how Lambie had got in and watched him effortlessly jump out!  I didn’t know he could do that.

More not-even-remotely-sorries and have-I-got-anything-else-to-eat?

But how can I be cross with that little face?

It’s impossible.  He wins me over every time.

I can’t pretend much happened today and I am not complaining.

I left fairly early to work on my eternal garlic bulb mountain – trimming roots and stems – at Turriefield.

Alone for a while, I happily trimmed away, and then two more folk came to join me, as it was persisting with rain outside.  The task became infinitely easier and quicker.  We trimmed two full wheelbarrows sorting them into four piles – small, medium, large and grot.

A good lunch and then home whereupon I let the ponies back out onto their track.  Despite my best efforts, they are determined to look fat but as long as they don’t show signs of laminitis, we can live with that.

A felted sheep made in the afternoon, and Pepper found an old rabbit that she laid claim to.  I don’t, for one second, think she caught it but said dead bunny is now her BFF and no one is allowed to dispute that fact so we are all leaving her well alone in the garden where she has now gone to sleep on it.

So, that was my day.  Not very exciting but that’s exactly how I like it.

And so to town to the dentist for my six monthly appointment.  Not fun, but not half as bad as it could be, I kept telling myself. I suffered as a child, but now (touch wood), I get off pretty lightly compared to others.

Anyway, the dentist had a nice calm waiting room and I tried to tell myself that the orchid was very pretty and not a tree made of teeth!

Mouth now gleaming bright, I went to Visit Scotland’s Lerwick’s Information Centre on the Street.

I purchased all I needed according to my shopping list.

And everything came home with me in a giant carrier bag.  I will contact those of you by email who put a request in with price and postage.

Once home, I put away my clean-and-tidy clothes, changed back into my usual slobbery and it was back to normal.

Well, as normal as you can get around here!