Tag Archives: Shetland

A Perfect Day

8 Replies

It’s been a glorious day.  Total calm and the sun has shone.

I am trying to be organised because I leave for London tomorrow.  If I see something I should take, I grab it as I go past and quickly put it by my bags before I forget again.  Carpe diem because in the next second I will have forgotten.

Pepper has assured me she will behave and not go visiting or looking for me.  I believe her not.

And because it was so nice, Floss and I fed the ponies a little early giving them all their hay in a big heap to munch through.

Please can everyone pray for no dramas during my absence as Floss is (very capably) holding the fort.

So I shall pack my bags with vaguely clean clothes but not ironed because I can’t find the ironing board and fly off south.  I’m not sure if I will write the blog or not. I’ll see how I go.  This is my holiday, after all.  A break from everything.

Back soon!

Country Mouse

1 Reply

It’s been a very blowy day – the sort of day you could lose your car door if you’re not careful.   So I was careful.

Flossie (who is home to look after the animals when I go away) and I fought our way round serving breakfast in the low buckets that rarely blow away.

Afterwards, I drove to Lerwick for a hair appointment. I want to try at least to look a little less Country Mouse when I go to London. And then I’ve got to find some clean clothes!

Lerwick was deserted which is unsurprising as Shetland Wool Week is finally over.

There were a few woolly hatted visitors wandering around but Lerwick felt like it was going back to sleep now the tourist season is well and truly over.  Shelves were empty and shop-staff looked happily exhausted.

The hair was cut, shopping was done (including some sheep, horse and poultry feed for my ever-increasing getting-ready-for-winter piles).  This is not panic buying. I call it being sensible and thinking ahead.  It will always get eaten.

I came home late and this lot were waiting and tapping their watches.

I apologised and put out two of the fullest haynets I could find and all was forgiven.   I didn’t bother looking for the sheep – after yesterday’s debacle, they were nowhere to be seen. I’ve given up caring. I am glad they are finally doing their own thing.

Definitely Autumn

Leave a Reply

It is definitely Autumn now. It smells like Autumn. It feels like Autumn and the garden has quickly departed from it’s hanging-onto-the-last-of-summer mode and moved swiftly to Autumn. There will soon be dead leaves everywhere too.

I used to say Autumn was my most favourite month in Shetland but I think I am changing my mind. These days I prefer Spring.

In Shetland dialect, the word Hairst is used = n – the harvest; the work associated with that season. Da hairst’ll shön be comin on, wi aa hit’s wark; autumn. Dey mairried ida hairst.

Anyway, I had finished my afternoon chores (sheep coming home, haynets out for the ponies and giving the ducks and hens their tea-time grain), when I saw someone lurking and looking hopeful – Iacs.

So I turned around and went to the kitchen for some carrots.  Five, to be precise.

I mean, I couldn’t exactly walk away and give that hopeful little face nothing.

Everyone had one carrot and that was the ration.

But the little face refused to give up. Ten out of ten for perseverance.  The others had looked slightly surprised but grateful.

I went back inside the house hoping Iacs won’t starve to death over night.

Rainbows’ End.

2 Replies

I was out first thing this morning to feed the starving hordes.

⬇️ This starving horde is Gussie ⬇️ (who is rotund and lying!)

Anyway, there was a faint but definitely-visible rainbow and I swear the end was on the container.  I was sorely tempted to go and find a shovel and start digging for my pot of gold but sadly there was much work to be done, ie the starving hoards to feed.

(though I do wonder just how much would be in hard cash – and, look, another faint rainbow on the other container.  As far as I was aware there was only Shetland pony poo from the night before).

Monster supervised in a condescending way.

Later two ladies from Wool Week came to see the sheep.  As per instructions, they arrived with a packet ginger biscuits and took photos of everyone eating them. Of course Lambie was being mysterious and aloof so I had to go and find him separately to give him his ration.

Obviously I mentioned Fivla and Vitamin, who had worn those Fair Isle sweaters many years ago for a Visit Scotland (Scotland’s tourism board) advertising campaign.

The old horses and ponies were resting down the bottom of the hill, so we clambered carefully down and were duly ignored.  Such is the way of the celebrity some days. Too busy eating.  Still, there’s always the gold from the rainbows.  Off to find a shovel then.

A Huddle of Horses and Ponies

4 Replies

Today was much calmer, weather-wise.  Phew.

It makes a huge difference to everyone when the weather is nice. Everyone can regroup from the past few days.

I was on dog-walking duty this morning, so decided to incorporate an electric fence check as well.  I like to know there are no bad bits or problems as there are a certain five Shetland ponies who will know in an instant and then take full advantage.

Upon my return from the fence-check-dog-walk, I found all the horses and ponies together, which was interesting considering the big ones have absolutely no interest in the little ones.  I know this because the minute they were all in the same field together when it snowed earlier in the year, Kolka, Haakon and Iacs behaved about as badly as anyone can.  Rotten dinosaurs.

Luckily for everyone at the moment there is a fence separating both herds.

I won’t lie – I am dreading winter. I hope it is kind to us and all the animals get through it. I am trying to be prepared as much as possible and thinking ahead with supplies and stores.. It can be very tough on the animals, especially if they hate going inside.

(though Vitamin and Fivla love going inside.)

As it was now a flat calm, I gave the Shetland ponies a treat. They had their two haynets emptied out so they could stuff their little faces.

No one needed asking twice if they wanted this.

And there was a lot of shovelling accompanied by happy munching sounds. Very satisfying.

We are reaching the time of year when we take every day as it comes and adapt accordingly.  That’s all we can do.