Heights

I am NOT a fan of heights, but needs must.

Fitted a clay terminal on this chimney pot which is the disused chimney in our bedroom.  This will stop the water getting in and making the wall damp and will also stop any rats or other wildlife getting in to the loft.

There's one more to do on the middle chimney which is the one for the fireplace in the living room -- that will have a stainless steel cowl -- but my legs are still trembling, so that is enough being on the roof for one day...

On the chicken front, Danny has got the girls literally eating out of his hand!  The boys are not particularly interested...

 

The Value of Things

One of the most bizzare pieces of junk mail I have ever received arrived the other day:

Now, we have here on our property a disused quarry -- as you can see in the photo, full of old scrap metal of various sorts:

When we first came here, we foolishly thought that we could sell this metal for scrap and get a bit of money.  Anywhere else, this would be at least a few hundred pounds worth.  Scrap metal prices are actually going up at the moment.  But no.  We have since discovered that the cost of getting the metal off the island means that it effectively has no value.  So we will have a quarry full of scrap metal forever.

You see this all over the island.  Piles of scrap metal.  Cars that have reached the end of their useful lives, just parked up and left to rot.  When my last car spectacularly failed its MOT, I was offered £85 by the scrappie.  Not here.

Don't get me wrong, I like a glass of whisky as much as anybody else, but what does it say about this world that I can get my whisky collected for free to sell, but not the metal -- which seems to me in the long run to be a more inherently useful and practical substance?

 

Cocks...

No, not that kind...  :)  

We went to Mainland on Wednesday and picked up some new additions to the flock!

They are settling in nicely and getting to know each other...

And this we spotted from the ferry -- in case you are thinking that where we live now is remote, can you imagine living on THIS island???!  :)

 

Not all fun and games...

Lest you think that life out here is an endless round of going for walks on the beach and playing with chickens, I hereby give you today's tasks/accomplishments:

And, just so they don't feel left out, the chickens -- who are still refusing to be photographed together -- every time I see them together I run for the camera, but by the time I get back, one of them has wandered off!

Start Point

On Friday we went for a walk to Start Point lighthouse, which is at the Easternmost point of the island.  Designed by Robert Stevenson, this was built in 1806.  It is the only vertically striped lighthouse in Scotland, and it was the first Scottish lighthouse to have a revolving light (an original 4th Order Fresnel lens to be precise!!!).  AND, we can see the light from our house!

Island Logistics

Eventually we will have our own pigs, but until then, in our quest to shorten our food chain, we found somebody on Eday, the next island over from us, who was selling 1/2 a pig for the freezer.  So far so good, but how to get the pig from Eday to Sanday...

Fear not, the pig farmer had the answer...  On Tuesdays and Thursdays, the morning ferry from Kirwall calls at Eday before it comes to Sanday, so he put the pig on, and I went down to the ferry to meet it, and after docking, one of the ferry staff comes walking off the ferry with my box of pig...!

Tasting larger cuts of meat will have to wait until we get an oven, but I can say that the sausages are yummy!

Plum Jam

Not a huge quantity of fruit on the wild plum/damson we found in the garden, but I thought I'd better make use of it before the birds eat it all -- been a while since I last made plum jam!

On today's nature walk/fishing spot scouting expedition we saw cormorants!

And obligatory chicken photo because chickens rock...  :)

 

Bring on the power cuts...

Chicken duties aside, our days at the moment are mainly spent trying to get the house arranged and liveable.

The previous owner died, and we have "inherited" quite a lot of her things, some more useful than others.

In this case, as we have been warned to expect power cuts in the winter, this lovely candle holder has made its way to my bedside table in case of emergencies...

 

Sunrise & Sunset

This morning:

And last night:

 

Catching up -- already!

As I suddenly realise that my camera is filling up with photos that I haven't posted...  Must make this a daily habit...

The hens are settling in nicely.  I tried to shoot some video of them coming out of their house for the first time but technology is not cooperating with me these days so...  They tend to follow Danny around and get in his way which is rather funny as Danny then talks to them like they are dogs and have some level of comprehension...  :)

Speaking of coming out of their house, big thank you to John & Steve who gave us the chicken coop that they were no longer using -- despite carefully putting all the fastener bits into a container and taping it up and labelling it, we've had to go to the store and buy new fasteners as can't find the container now...!

For everybody who has inquired about Freya --- this is from Monday night -- her first mouse!  I think this is proof that she is settling in well and has thoroughly recovered from meeting the chickens...  

Our first rainbow at Sparrowhall -- you could actually see both ends touching the ground, but it was so big I couldn't find anywhere to take a photo from that got both ends in -- I would have needed a fisheye lens!

And in case anybody was wondering why it's called Sparrowhall -- they are everywhere...!

 

Chickens!

Danny bought some chickens today!

These are Dorkings, and they have five toes.

In other news, I helped a little hedgehog cross the road, and we found a plum tree (we think) in our (very overgrown) back garden!

Seals!

I know, once upon a time I used to be a professional photographer.  You'd never tell it from this, but I was just so excited to see seals!

At the moment, our lives basically consist of cleaning, tidying, organising, and trying to find things.  We are nowhere close to unpacked and it's a bit chaos and also a bit soul destroying this endless unpacking of things that I feel I only just packed the other week, so we are periodically taking beach breaks.

We've got an OS map of Sanday taped to the wall and we write notes about every beach we go to.  It's a small island, but it's got a LOT of coastline.

This morning we went up to Whitemill Bay and walked Westwards towards The Riv and suddenly I realised that we were surrounded by something like eight seals!  So we sat down and watched them and they hung out in the water and watched us.  I think it would be fun to be a seal.  They are so cute!

 

Welcome to Sparrowhall!

 

Here we are!  If you zoom in behind our heads, you will see our house.  This selfie was taken at the furthest point away from our house that is still on our land.

More to follow about our journey of self-sufficiency and trying to lead a simpler more straightforward life.

Victory!

I am pleased to report that following a letter to Mark Jewell, County Library Services Manager, and with the support of my local Councillor Edward Thomas, my AM Rhodri Glyn Thomas, and my MP Jonathan Edwards, the library in Llandeilo will now remain open on Saturdays!

Mark Jewell claims that, due to a "former staff member [who] resigned from her post at Llandeilo...temporary changes were to be considered to the existing advertised opening hours."  However, since they've now apparently hired somebody new, that will not happen.  Regardless of whether this is true or not, I'm just pleased that the library will remain open on Saturday mornings.  It does make me wonder though, if this was only to be a temporary change and only one that was being "considered" at that, why did the sign I saw on the door the other week not make any mention of either of those concepts and merely announce the new hours which were to have taken effect from 2nd February???  Enquiring minds want to know...

I did visit the library this morning and borrowed some books and was pleased to see that other people were there as well -- borrowing books, using the computers, reading newspapers -- although feel that an opportunity was missed to do anything to mark National Libraries Day...!

Llyfrgelloedd

Oh the irony...  So furious it makes me want to cry...

In the same week that I will be starting my MSc in Information and Library Sciences, my local library has scrapped its Saturday hours.  Following on from scrapping evening hours three and a half years ago, it's now impossible for anybody in full time employment to use the library...  And I'm about to spend three years learning how to become a librarian...

Bwrw glaw...

This is the only good thing about all the rain!!!

Cennin Pedr

It's the 3rd of January, we've only had frost one night so far this whole winter...  Took this photo this morning but these were actually out at least a week ago, I just didn't have my camera on me then...  Totally insane...

Nadolig Llawen... Not...

The weather here has been consistently horrible for weeks now...

... and now this news...

What I achieved last week

On the way to Carmarthen against a 12 mph headwind in the rain!  (You've got to watch it full screen to be able to see the speed camera, but it clocked me at 20 mph...)

FFS!

Good news, but wish I'd known this in advance as we could have saved ourselves so much work!!!

Sainsbury's Shelve Cross Hands Store

Lleuad Llawn

The view out my bedroom window at 6 this morning:

Hyfryd!

Ysgol beth???

Went to Llandeilo show on Saturday and got my first view of the new school close up -- it is so bit that I couldn't even get it all in the frame...  A bit scary IMO -- the kids will need maps to get around...  Just waiting for it to flood now!

Towy Texels

Llongyfarchiadau to Bridget for winning 4th Place with her Shearling Ram at the Royal Welsh on Monday!

Cartrefi Redwood Homes

Section 162 of the Highway Code says that before overtaking you should make sure the road is sufficiently clear ahead...

Section 163 says that you should give motorcyclists, cyclists and horse riders at least as much room as you would when overtaking a car...

Is this driver following either of these rules?

Spring onions!

Check out the size of these monsters I got in my veg box yesterday -- have included the apple for scale -- yum!  So much better than the anaemic trimmed things in the supermarket...!

Y Tywydd! Y Poeth!

What on earth are we looking at a photo of you might well ask...  This was a difficult thing to try to photograph!

When I went to do my hair this morning, I took the top off my coconut oil, and my initial thought (not a morning person!) was that somebody had poured some water into my tub of coconut oil.  Of course, this was completely illogical, and then eventually I realised that at some temperature, it must become a liquid, because it melts when I rub it in my hands...  According to Wikipedia, coconut oil melts at 76 °F -- so now we know how hot it was in my bathroom overnight!!!

Leaves

Some number of years ago now, my friend J gave me an early 1970s salad spinner.  It's worked well over the years, but it is made of plastic, and, as everybody knows, once things made of plastic break, they are only fit for the bin.  Plastic is the great un-repairable substance...

So imagine my great delight on Saturday to come across this lovely unbreakable vintage salad shaker -- I will never need to buy another one as long as I live -- I just have to hope it's not raining when I want to wash my salad...  :)