Busy week down on the farm

It hasn't all been wet and windy. Thursday was a beautiful day and all was quiet until about coffee time. Then came a thundering of hooves, the theme from Rawhide echoed in the background, and the garden was full of ewes and lambs - and Mary and Helen on the quad bikes (and sometimes off and just waving their arms). Many attempts were made to avoid the inevitable by diversions behind the vegetable patch and back up the drive behind Roz's car, but Mary and Helen were too fast for them and they were soon penned up down at the sheds. And an hour or so later back they came - free of their heavy, oily, mucky fleeces at last. So for the rest of the day they baa-ed, and they baa-ed. It's the only way to find your mum when she's changed out of all recognition and doesn't even smell the same. You know that silly ice-breaker game when you're given an animal name and you have to shut your eyes and make the appropriate noise till you find all the others with the same name? Well....


Meanwhile, tractors and trucks charged round the fields and up and down the lane, cutting the silage and piling up the bales beside the Bruichladdich bonds. It really wasn't a sensible time to go for a run, but Roz and I did anyway. I was a bit worried about the corncrakes, but actually little islands of growth have been left somewhere in each field, so I'm hoping they're OK

We had another visitor this afternoon. The lambs were giving him a hard time and he seemed very keen to take refuge in our house, but I think Mum must have come and collected him because he'd disappeared by teatime.

Wet & Windy Week

Looks like the long dry spell is over - rather wet and very windy all week this week with more to come. This has meant the loss of two competitive rounds of golf, but I discovered on coming back from holiday (also a bit wet & windy) that I'd won the last competition, the Guy Quaich, whatever that is, so my first trophy, and my handicap has been cut to 11.

We managed four Munros on our hols, including the two most northerly ones, (piccy shows Ben Hope, the most northerly, with typical clouds on the top, taken from our hostel bedroom) not that we saw anything from the very tops of them. However we stayed at Tongue youth hostel, which is excellent - as can be seen from the picture of our room/suite.

Back at home the house painting is now complete as can be seen from the "before, during and after photos). I am still trying to get a hold of the fencing man, which is the last major bit of the project and will allow us to get the grass seed down. The vegetables are coming on - lots of "enviromesh" now in play to keep the wind, rabbits and slugs away. Highlight of the week was the performance by Fred McAulay at the Bruichladdich Village Hall, which was packed out ( I think it holds 140 officially). At least the rain has meant some catching up with some internal jobs, like updating this blog.

Islay Mod - and still no rain

Yes – still dry and sunny, and our friends with a croft above Port Charlotte, with their private water supply, are getting desperate. The pig consumes a couple of gallons a day, and there’s nothing to spare for watering. And since the tourists are all outside enjoying the sunshine, their art business isn’t attracting many visitors either.

Scott and I have just had a post-dinner stroll down across the fields to the shore – a bit midgy but OK if you’re smothered in Avon Skin-so-Soft, which I was. We walked back up the hill admiring our gleaming white house, which you can now see clearly from the other side of Lochindaal. Eddie was up a ladder painting the barge boards while we were having lunch. Knowing the bad fall he had a few years ago, and bearing in mind the distance between the top of the ladder and our patio slates, I didn’t really enjoy my lunch much!

Yesterday was Islay Mod day. If I’d been working all week I might have resented a stunning June day spent indoors in Islay High School, wearing a kilt and tights (and one or two other items too!). But since I wasn’t, I didn’t, and really enjoyed it, sitting in on the 5-9 year-olds and the adults own-choice competitions in the morning before the choral competition in the afternoon. Before we moved I talked about joining Coisir Ghaidhlig Ile in time to be at the National Mod in October. Couldn’t quite believe that, less than 8 weeks from arriving on the island, I was on the stage with CGI, competing against the Glasgow Islay Choir. We didn’t win of course, but it was extremely close, and given that they have the whole of Glasgow to recruit from and don’t even compete in the same section at the National Mod, we were delighted. Scott came along to support us, and since we were running late, got most of the junior choir competitions too. The prize-winners all performed at the evening concert, and were brilliant, from the P2s upwards.

Drought coming to an end?

After a very hot & dry start to the week, Wednesday afternoon saw some significant rain (not enough), followed by more on Thursday night. But still not enough. Bronwen has come back from the big city, so I'm blaming her for the rain starting.

Fairly quiet, normal week, - some golf, some good, some bad, talk from a local on his time in charge of cruise ships in the far east. Phil & Tony came for a meal so that we could sort out the bridge club scoring on our computer and I've ordered some enviromesh protection for the garden. The house is almost painted, despite Eddie taking a small tumble off a ladder.

As we are away on holiday next week, Roz looking after my dad while we're away, there will be a gap before any more blogging.

Drought continues

Brownwen has gone back to the mainland to empty dad's house,which is now back on the market, but we had to empty the stuff for Roz for move it to her new flat in Glasgow. Meantime I am trying to get Skype to work, the painting of the outside of the house has started and I have made contact with the man who will be putting a fence round the place. Luckily someone who had seen the house before but not bid as there was too much competition, went to see it again when she was there and have put in a bid just below what we had fixed it at. If no-one betters it over the weekend I guess we'll take it, although it is a long entry date of end of August.

I have also "volunteered" to be the official scorer and record keeper for the bridge club as the man in charge of that is about to depart the island, for Cardiff of all places. Took dad to the Thursday lunch club again and had an excellent talk about a trip, in a very small sailing boat, to Antartica.

The whisky festival week has had great weather, with the exception of Wednesday when we had some welcome rain. This coincided with Bowmore's open day and the brewery open day. I went to the brewery one as Eddie, who is painting the house, was playing there (he plays guitar and sings - a man of many talents). I met yet another couple who are about to build a house and think that Kenny is going to build it for them - that makes three, and I think it is a race to get a building warrant and that's the one Kenny will do.

I have been chasing our building completion certificate, which Argyll & Bute insist was sent to our agent at the end of April. David denies every have seen one, so we've agreed it must be lost in the post and another will be issued. STOP PRESS - it has turned up - sent to our old address in Dalkeith.
The cat is going out a bit more now - still not too sure about those sheep, but they seem to have been moved away from our field just now, so she is happier.

Some vistors and a trip to Colonsay

Dorothy, who has bought (almost) the plot next door came to visit with her daughter and granddaughter on Monday- she cannot wait to get going on the build. Final trip to the skip with the last of the "removal" rubbish and filled up the car with even more expensive diesel (£1.33/litre). Got the first produce (lettuce) from the community garden.

The next day, Colin & Ann from Edinburgh arrived in their camper van, bearing goodies from the Bowmore bakery. We went with them on Wednesday (the only day you can do it due to the ferry timetable) to Colonsay (photo above shows Colin & Bronwen) for an excellent day's cycling - including a mile over the sand to reach Oronsay at low tide. The photo below shows Bron on the return journey, where this time her chain did not come off half way. Finished off with a couple of pints of the local brew and rushed back in the evening to catch the second half (and extra time) of the Champions League final. Managed the 14 miles from Port Askaig to home in just over an hour (wind was mostly helping).

One good night's rain has not made much difference to the ground, (I had to water the veggies again this evening and got caught by the midges for the first time) and as usual the whisky festival has started with excellent weather - well actually it is always the Sunday, Bruichladdich Open Day, which has the good weather, and this year was no exception. As you will have seen from her contribution, Bronwen features strongly in the programme as one of the "local entertainers".

A present from Ed, currently in deepest Peru on holiday, means that we now have a webcam and will be installing Skype for those of you out there who have it.

Bron's first contribution

I never got around to contributing to the original blog - was just happy to read Scott's take on things. But I really do exist and it's time I added to our account of island life.

I'm sitting looking out over Lochindaal as the martins and swallows swoop backwards and forwards past the office window. Scott has now learned not to leave the garage door open. Even while he was loading his golf clubs into the car this morning they were in and prospecting for a home!

Friday night, and a busy weekend ahead at the start of Feis Ile. Scott came back from Debbie's shop yesterday to announce that my name was "up in lights". I was doubtful, but then remembered that I had agreed to sing at the opening concert on Saturday in Bowmore. "No", said Scott, "It's Sunday, in Portnahaven." On investigation (a trip down to the shop to read the notices) I discovered that somehow I appear to be singing both on Saturday in Bowmore and on Sunday at the Clootie Dumpling Ceilidh in Portnahaven, in addition to singing with the choir at Lagavulin on Saturday afternoon and at Islay House for the ecumenical service on Sunday afternoon. That's what comes of whispered conversations in Gaelic in the back row of the altos with a Feis Ile committee member. One too many "Tha sin ceart gu leor"! Just as well I have four songs in my repertoire!

Islay is a wonderful place for drying washing (at least when it's not raining!). You can actually hang out the washing, go back inside and do last week's ironing, and then collect and do this week's! Here are some instructions, should you happen to offer when staying with us:

1. Load basket carefully - the heaviest and wettest article at the bottom, the socks, knickers and hankies on the top, covered with one final large article.
2. Go outside and assess wind direction. Position self and basket on upwind side of line (to avoid being blinded by shirt sleeves or strangled by sheets.)
3. Leave peg bag in basket. Do not attempt to hang on line unless you wish to spend next ten minutes retrieving pegs from 20 square metres of mud.
4. Now carefully extract socks, knickers, hankies one at a time from under large article and peg to line. Continue pegging out washing (never less than four pegs to a garment) until the final article.
5. Before lifting final article out and pegging to line, wedge basket firmly between lower legs.
6. Stop. Look at view. Listen to the lambs. Wave to Duncan, Mary, Peter, or whoever else happens to be passing. Check whether any eagles are in sight. Pinch yourself to make sure it's real.

To collect washing in, reverse operation, making sure you leave the socks, knickers and hankies till next to last. Use peg bag to anchor them down whilst retrieving a large article to cover them with.

And you only need a prop if you have really long things which will drag on the ground. Otherwise the wind at ground level is quite adequate for all drying purposes!