31 March 2015

March 2015

The end of another month !
Here are a few snapshots 
of what has been happening on and around the croft.
 
 What can I say ? except this is one happy dog !

 The geese are doing just what we want them to, keep the grass down.

 We had so, so much rain in March
 that the geese were able to swim around the croft !

 Our goose has just started to lay some rather wonderful eggs,
each one weighs in at 8oz,
and one had to be tried...

 ... and after a 25 minute boil...

 Malcolm was ready to tuck in .


The wild goats at Dundonnell now have their next batch of young
 
 and have begun to show them how to cross the road

to the camouflage safety of the rocks.

 The first digger arrived on the plot,
across the road from us,
to start the foundations for Malcolm's Mum's new house !
The house should be ready around the beginning of September.
Watch this space !

 Great to see you Jon and Sandie !

 Glad you saw the Highlands in good weather most days.

 Sandie not quite sure how to tackle the 
"California Blue" coffee at
Hillbillies coffee shop and bookshop
in Gairloch,
always a great place to enjoy coffee.

A newly found cave at Cove

Windswept sands at Firemore Beach

 Amazingly I won a huge bunch of daffodils
 for winning the Beetle Drive organised by 
Bualnaluib School.
A fantastic, very noisy, enjoyable evening,
age group from 2 years to 82 years.
Platefuls of scrumptious cakes were devoured
and the best array of select-yourself raffle prizes.

 Meet "Breeze", Janette's whippet,
who comes along with her for our Sunday morning swims
in the loch.
Breeze does not think very much of the idea
and often prefers to snuggle up in the back of the car.

 A sunny day on the shores of Loch Ewe.

 A very grainy, out of focus photo 
of geese on the loch
but I just like it as it looks like a water colour painting.

 On a trip into Inverness 
we went in search of Leakey's Bookshop,
in Church Street,
that we had been told about.
Wow !!!!!
If you love secondhand books, you'll love this place.

Starfish, now renamed as Sea Stars,
are often left behind by the tide.
Not only are they beautiful creatures 
they are also amazing !
Apart from many other attributes, I've learnt
that they can regenerate their limbs and 
sometimes their whole bodies,
most have the ability to comsume  prey 
outside of their bodies,
they can live up to 35 years,
they have no brains and no blood,
their "blood" is actually filtered sea water,
they have an eye at the end of each arm and
if it has 40 arms (which some of them do)
they have 40 eyes !
Just some useful info,
I thought it was fascinating anyway .

Happy Easter to you all,
enjoy the chocolate,
June & Malcolm

6 March 2015

February 2015

How did February go so quickly ?
We spent most of the month hibernating,
 sawing logs, bringing logs in, burning logs, sawing logs ....... 

 There has been a smattering of snow on the hills
but no snow has settled in Aultbea
although there have been some fierce hail storms.
 
 A wintery Loch Tollie.

 Just to prove that we do get sunshine
and clear blue skies here,
even at this time of year,
in February we had a total of 38.7 hours of sunshine.
We also had 114.3mm of rain 
over a total 26 rainy days !
 
Fortunately the weather has not stopped
the Sunday morning swimming in Loch Ewe, 
have still managed every Sunday.
 
 The hundreds of deer on the route back from Inverness
are never bothered by the weather.
 
 A beautiful morning at low tide in Gairloch.

 An exceptionally low tide in Aultbea.

 There is always something that catches my eye
on the beach...  alien looking seaweed,

 sparkling waves....

 rocks.....

and barnacles.


Putting the geese to bed.


 A very tired crofting dog out for the count.


This photo of Lulu is especially for Elaine.

The wind and rain at the moment is ferocious
and relentless,
I feel a bit more hibernation is needed
but spring is around the corner !
Bye for now.

30 January 2015

January 2015

The storm in the early hours of January 9th
certainly made an impact on Aultbea !
Wind speed of around 113 miles an hour were recorded
and I have never experienced a storm like it.
 The noise of the storm was such that no one
 in Aultbea slept that night for fear 
of something coming crashing through the windows.
Everything shaked, rattled, rolled or flew through the air.

 
Our lovely polytunnel did not survive, 
despite the assurance of the supplying company
(who supply tunnels further north in the Orkneys)
that it would withstand the west coast winds, 
and despite all the strengthening bars.


However, Premier Polytunnels have been an 
excellent company to deal with and 
have refunded the full cost without complaint.
Thank you, Premier Polytunnels.
 
 Our chickens had a fright that night,too,
when a tree was blown down on to their shed 
and turned it over.
Remarkably all 17 chickens survived
 but only laid 1 egg between them that day !
Thank you Jock and Ed 
for very kindly returning the shed to its upright position
in about 5 seconds flat ! 


 Our iron lady "Joycie" withstood the wind
and didn't move an inch.

 It has been 10 years since the last storm
 that did so much damage, so hopefully
 it will be a long time before the next one.

In the meantime we need to think about plan B,
post polytunnel!


Our Lulu now spends most of her time 
in front of the wood-burning cooker....

 along with Wilma.


One of the projects for our home 
has been to turn two bedrooms 
into a kitchen/dining/living room  and let in some light
and have a wonderful view of Loch Ewe,
here is the result,

 looking south across Loch Ewe towards Aultbea


 looking west towards the Isle of Ewe



 Nothing seems to bother the local wildlife,
even in the daylight hours.


On 23rd January the Wester Ross Burns Club
celebrated their Burns Supper at 
The Myrtle Bank Hotel in Gairloch
and we were honoured to be invited 
as guests of Bryan Islip.
Thank you Bryan and thank you Myrtle Bank Hotel
for a lovely evening.

The days are getting noticeably longer, lets hope
that February will be kinder to us. 

1 January 2015

Happy New Year for 2015

Happy New Year everyone
have a fabulous 2015 !

 A great way to start a new year,
10 year old Duncan got his first wetsuit for Christmas
and decided to join us.

 Christmas morning sunshine over Loch Ewe.

Wilma's Christmas morning walk.


Boxing Day swim, just can't keep us out of the water !
 Wilma wanting to join in without getting wet.
 
 Rudolph's friend joined in the Boxing Day festivities ..

and Ozzy Osbourne made an appearance too !
 
 Thank you Beatrice and Mike for a lovely Boxing Day

Wilma and Lulu taking it easy after lunch.

 
 Christmas festivities started early 
with the Aultbea Ladies at the Aultbea Hotel
on 4th December
and carried on from there !

A lunch time storm coming across Loch Ewe,
a day to batten down the hatches, 
drink tea and eat toast.

The polytunnel and the croft are still providing us 
with produce from eggs to tomatoes
and pumpkins to parsnips
and still a few raspberries.

Wishing you all a happy and healthy 2015