Glorious days, freezing nights!

Three of the boys, Fergus (front) with Fyta and Fidget behind enjoying their haylage on a bright but frosty morning this week.

Fyta, all fleeced up for winter and not bothered by the sub-zero overnight temperatures.  He loves to sunbathe and has done so often this week in the warm sunshine.

Fidget is also well covered in fleece.  Always last in line to do anything or go anywhere he is often grumpy with the other boys, stretching out his neck and making camel noises at them!

I tried hard to get a reasonable photo of the icicles on Faro's chin and only partially succeeded.  They did look funny!

A view over the paddocks with the boys in front of the field shelters on a glorious, February day.

This has been the normal morning scene at the water trough this week - no water but plenty of ice!

And finally........the seed pods of last year's giant Himalayan Lily, now empty of seeds after scattering by the wind and eaten by birds.  Looks a bit like that plant, the Venus Fly-Trap doesn't it?

Waiting for (any) signs of Spring!

Fergus (left) and Fyta making the most of the grass.  At this time of year the paddock grass has been nibbled pretty short and the new shoots are not quite growing yet in the cold earth.

Faro, as usual keeping a close eye on the photographer.  Still 'picky' with his feed supplement, most days he will eat some but some days he will ignore it completely and just graze the grass.

The four boys graze one of the paddocks in the rain.  There has been very little warming sunshine this week - perhaps next week will be better.

We mentioned once before how Fyta likes to tip the contents of his bowl on the grass and here he is doing it again.  The mixture of Camilibra, Fibregest and Charnwood mix has been tipped and now he is eating it.

It's been a cold and wet week overall with frequent sleet and snow showers.  This is Fidget showing off his wet 'blanket'.

And finally.............the daffodil shoots are now beginning to appear as well as some snowdrops and here the rhubarb is beginning to put in an appearance.  Time to put a bucket over it to force the growth I think.

A varied week.

We've got so used to using the wee digital camera for taking quick photos for the blog we have neglected a much better Sony a200 camera which we've hardly used in years.  The Grumpy Gardener decided it was time to give the Sony a bit of fresh air so after a lengthy battery charge he took some snaps.  This is Faro in his usual, 'I'm the boss so what are you doing in my paddock?' type stance - head up, ears back and tail up!

Looking down on the boys with snowy Ben Wyvis in the top right of the frame and Beaufort Castle in the middle of the frame, a couple of miles distant.

We've had several days of brilliant weather this week, warm sunshine during the day but freezing overnight temperatures.  This shot looks over one of the boys' field shelters to the hills in the west.

The Sony camera takes lovely photos but because it is bigger and has a protruding lens, not so easy to carry around - so, back to the digital!  Early in the week we penned the boys so that Faro could have his drench and Fergus and Fidget could have a nail trimming.  This is Fergus (left) and Fyta waiting to see what tasks the humans require to carry out in the pen.

Of course, not all catch-pen sessions are totally incident free. Faro's drench was the easy part but Fergus in particular was not over keen on his nails being trimmed so there was an element of spitting in the air.  Unfortunately Fyta (right) caught a whiff of Fergus's spit and that was sufficient for the 'droopy lip' syndrome to appear (above).  The boys' reaction to this is usually to grab a mouthful of hay or haylage and that seems to neutralise it and that is what Fyta did.

We had a mid-week visit from old friends Alan and Kath and fortunately, although quite cold sometimes, at least the snow kept at bay. This was also Verm-X granules week for the boys, hidden at the bottom of their bowls under their other feed!

This morning the snow had re-appeared overnight and the boys were reluctant to move from their shelter first thing. Faro (left) and Fyta are standing with Fidget lying at the rear and Fergus in front.  The snow had largely disappeared by late afternoon which pleased the boys!

And finally..............overnight snow always gives the game away for nocturnal animals.  Amongst all the rabbit and cat tracks there was a line of these footprints which I think is a badger, there are certainly plenty of them around this area. 

Visit to Seafield Alpacas

The highlight of the week has been a visit today to Seafield Alpacas at Portmahomack, near Tain in Easter Ross.  Alison and Brendan invited us together with Wendy and Paul of Woodleigh Lodge Alpacas and Graham and Kirsty with children Dylan and Bethany of Ruilick Alpacas, to have a 'pacaday' at their croft.  Here are Alison and Brendan's four boys, from the left Chocolate, Wee Eck, Merlin and Gully and all were looking in fine form.

This is Merlin, looking cuddly with plenty of bits of twigs etc as adornments! Carrots were on offer from Alison and all the boys enjoyed crunching their way through them.

And this is Chocolate who is Merlin's big pal.  He is a lovely colour - chocolately! As the day wore on both boys got involved in a bit of neck wrestling and fun.

Graham and Kirsty with Bethany and Dylan coaxing Merlin closer to the fence.

Almost there - Merlin did eventually get close enough to touch Bethany's hand.

This has been a cold, wet and windy week and today was no different.  As the day wore on the wind seemed to get colder so coats and hats were called for!

Apart from alpacas, ducks, chickens and dogs to look after Brendan and Alison also have a working railway in their garden. Much to the delight of the children (and the men present!), Brendan fired up his steam driven locomotive to do several circuits of the track.  We all had a lovely day at Portmahomack, thanks for a lovely lunch folks and an opportunity to just talk alpaca and see your boys.

And finally.............I mentioned some time ago the covey of red-legged partridges that visit us regularly.   Earlier this week they momentarily lost their shyness and these four appeared on the patio.  Unfortunately the camera flash has picked up reflections from within the room but the birds are plain to see.  The boys are in the paddock near the field shelter in the distance.

Gertrude's hangover.

Storm 'Gertrude' has a lot to answer for this week with very high winds and some snow.  We escaped the worst of it, but that didn't make the storm feel any less powerful.  The cloudy mornings make everything look dark as this photo shows, the boys have just emerged from overnight in the shelter and would now like their breakfast - thank you!

Just got their hay buckets filled again in time before the next snow shower arrived. The boys used the shelters a lot this week during the days when the wind was blowing hard or the sleet and snow was coming down.

"Follow me for the haylage, chaps!" Faro leads Fyta and Fergus, followed by Fidget at the rear.

This morning, another day - another shower of snow!  Fergus and Fidget displaying pretty wet blankets and top knots!

And Fergus shows the best way of attacking a mouthful of haylage!

And finally...........this morning, the four boys in the rough paddock looking for some grass which only became visible though after a human scraped away some snow!  Hopefully this lot will clear soon before storm 'Henry' arrives tomorrow evening.

From white to green surroundings again.

Sorry about the delay with this week's blog - 'uploading Blogger' problems I'm afraid.  Anyway, last week's snow and frost lasted until Thursday by which time Fergus was eager to queue up twice a day for his haylage.

It wasn't a deep layer of snow but enough to cover most of the grass which the boys do not like.  Fidget in front here, Faro behind and Fyta in the adjoining paddock.

Thursday morning dawned green instead of white, much to the relief of the boys.  It was also windy and dry so their coats were able to dry out a bit.

Fidget with his usual 'surprised' look!  Behind him are a couple of the new veg plots in the rabbit- proof garden (hopefully!)

Dog alert!  Our neighbours' two dogs are behind the hedge and close to the gate so the boys become very wary and Fergus often gives the 'bugling' alarm call when he sees them.

The dogs didn't appear at the gate so the boys wander off to pastures new.

In this case it's one of the rough paddocks - Faro leads the way followed by Fyta, Fergus and bringing up the rear as always is Fidget.

And finally..........thought you'd like to see 'Cupcake', another neighbour's cat who looks pretty pleased with himself on the Grumpy Gardener's fave chair!

Cold and clear

This has been a week of sharp overnight frosts then gorgeous, sunny days.  The boys seem to enjoy this sort of weather.  Fyta (left) and Fergus having sugar beet one morning and normally Fyta hits the bowl with one of his feet spilling the contents onto the ground.

See what I mean?  He makes a good job of hoovering it all up off the ground though.  This photo was taken later in the week after some overnight snow.

A common sight this week with the water troughs freezing solid overnight and having to be kept clear of ice during the days too.

Not a care in the world - Fidget having some haylage first thing in the morning.

The afternoons have been really sunny but it only manages to partially melt the frost which hardens again during the night.  Faro in the foreground with Fidget chewing the cud in the shelter behind.

As well as frosty grass to eat this week the boys have also had their monthly dose of Verm-X granules in their feed.  This is Fyta getting very cold lips!  The Strath Glass hills to the west are behind him.

The grumpy gardener has been grumpily grafting this week shifting two bays of composted 'paca poo - sometimes during a snow shower!  Each bay held 33 barrowloads so the new veg plots will benefit from some of this.

And finally............taken today, looking north to Ben Wyvis.  Faro stands out in the paddock but the other boys are there too, near the field shelter.