Tag Archives: Shetland Islands

First Visitors of the Year

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Today we had our first visitors of 2026.

They brought carrots.

Everyone loves carrots.

First we visited the Shetland ponies.  They came running when I showed them the carrot bags.

Then we walked over to the field with the old horses and ponies.

Haakon and Kolka thought all their birthdays had arrived at once.

Iacs was not in a people mood so OH took him his fair share and he stayed far away.  His choice.

Fivla and Vitamin were very happy to see carrots.

Apparently Fivla is the one who is going home with my visitors – everyone always wants to take one away.

And Ted probably in the luggage too whether they want him or not.

After a glorious “picnic” lunch – which my visitors kindly brought for us (the best type of visitor in my book), we went to talk to the sheep who were coming home.  At first, everyone suffered horribly from “stranger danger” so I brought some food and Harrel quickly got over his fear.

As did his mother, Maggie.

Lambie refused to chat but Maggie, Bert and Harrel were very sociable.  The food helped but the sheep genuinely wanted to talk.  I always enjoy introducing them to folk – sheep are very under-estimated. Each one has their own character.  Maggie was enchanting.

And Lambie’s chosen character today was that of “standard idiot”.  His loss. He missed out.

I’ve Done Too Much

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I think I’ve done too much today. My fault, of course. I never learn so now I am resting on my bed with a heat pad hoping tomorrow will be better.

In other news, Pepper’s bloods came back normal (one slightly elevated something, but nothing worthy of note), so that rules out any nasties going on and I am relieved.  I think we will stick to a dietary intolerance diagnosis.  Luckily Pepperlikes her Royal Canin diet and I am trying hard not to let her trawl any other outside food, like bird grain, duck poo, spilled sheep feed, anything she can find really.

I am having to be tough on Pepper, which I find extremely difficult.

I have never been tough with her, which may have been the problem – but that little face……. I always give in but have to think, no, this is hurting her little tummy despite what she says.

Skippy has been diagnosed now – apparently it is the throttle switch and cable so I need to find someone who speaks/reads German and order a new one.

I did my daily put-something-on-Ebay/Etsy listing – I can’t decide which is the better platform so am dividing the jewellery between both of them to see which one has the greater range.  Ebay is winning so far just in views and interest.

I made the chap on the left today too.

Maybe there’s a potential untapped market for Muscovy Duck photography.

 

Awful ‘Haviour

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Well, we are just back from our visit to the vet.

I would love to say Pepper behaved like a dream but she didn’t – it involved a cat in a box and words were said. I was ashamed of her and had to apologise to the owners.

I thought Pepper liked cats.  I was wrong. I saw a side of Pepper I haven’t seen before.  It wasn’t pretty.  She was high on adrenaline and wouldn’t listen as I forced her to sit on my lap.

Anyway, the upshot of our visit (apart from a certain 7.5kg Patterdale terrier possibly being banned due to bad ‘haviour), is that Pepper’s chronically itchy ears (no better despite regular drops) and her troubled guts could be related to each other – ie digestive allergies. So she is now on a special (read £££) magical diet, new ear drops and we are going back on Monday for a review.  Blood was taken and she was a very good girl about that.  Thinking about it, “terrier gut allergies often stem from food sensitivities, leading to chronic inflammation, itching (ears) and recurrent ear infections”.  Now that I can believe and that’s Pepper. As for the limping, that’s for another day but she has different painkillers that won’t aggravate her tummy.

Meanwhile, in other worlds, this morning found me getting my old Etsy account a bit more up to date and I put a few things on to sell.  I am going to try and keep going with selling stuff I no longer want or need.  Money is much nicer than other people’s clutter in a box.

I had company.

I might even put the sheep on Etsy if they are not selling many in town.  It is early days as the cruise ships are not here yet.

Comes in Three’s

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Bad luck comes in three’s.  That’s the saying and my Monday was no exception.

It began well, and I was lured into a false sense of security as I started the fully-loaded washing machine.

1. It stopped working half way through the cycle – soaking wet clothes and no obvious reason.

2.  I am still stressed about Skippy dying – so that counts in my book.

3.  And, lastly, Pepper refused her breakfast and is back to wandering lonely as a cloud.

Luckily OH got the washing machine going. I know not how (something about the plug) and I can stop worrying about that.  I feel sick when the washing machine dies and would rather have no tv than no washing machine.

Skippy now has a very proficient doctor who is busy diagnosing the problem – possibly battery – and he says Skippy is basically an electric mobility scooter by any other name so hopefully it can be mended (pretty please God – a broken Skippy just makes me hear the words “a total waste of money”).

And as for Pepper – well, she ate her tea – huzzah, but apparently she doesnt like the brand we have so I opened an expensive Lily’s Kitchen tin which she loved and obviously cat food.  I can see where this is going so I phoned the vet surgery and made an appointment for Pepper to have a complete blood count done.  Then, at least, I can rule out anything suspicious and know she is just a bloody-minded wee dug who has me under her paw running around in circles for her and not IBS, pancreatitis, kidney/liver disease, cancer, Addison’s, etc…..

The washing-machine and Skippy I can let go of, but not Pepper.  I think this eating/not-eating has gone on long enough now.  Tomorrow afternoon is the appointment. Taking blood should be fun.

Fierce Weather

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I can only described today’s weather as fierce.

Trying to get to the feed shed this morning proved nearly impossible in the gale force winds.  At one stage, Flossie and I just couldn’t move forward but in the end, we managed.  The shelter from the lee of the big shed was helpful.  I worked out that if I could reach there and hung onto the side of the corner, I could cope with the full force of the wind as I had to walk into it.

We finished feeding everyone in record time, possibly because we were blown everywhere!

This time, i found it tough both mentally and physically, which then made me anxious so have been drinking chamomile tea to try and calm myself down all day.  I should be used to this by now.

The horses and ponies are fine, which is the main thing. The rugs are doing their jobs and those without are plenty fat.

I also saw the sheep in the far distance of their field later this afternoon – I had left their field gate open and told them to make their own decisions.

I spent my morning adding another page to this blog for the handmade felted sheep.  Please give it a look.

And I also joined Substack and have absolutely no idea what it is for or does – a bit like Linkedin – that’s another website I don’t have a clue about but am on.

Tomorrow’s weather is not much better.  I think we are just now in a never-ending round of storms for the rest of our lives. Snow apparently tonight. Yay (not). Winter has not gone.