Not the best of weeks here, very quiet which is good after the busy season but I had caught the cold, a real stinker to match the weather. The forecast last night was quite scary but we survived the night and I was just getting over the cold, I was sleeping through the wind until 5 in the morning and L woke me, or at least she went to wake me just as the thunder was waking me. Seemingly it had been thunder and lightening for two hours, sheet lightning. The storm was passing overhead then and it was a bit crazy outside with all sorts of thoughts going through our heads it was difficult to get back to sleep but as it does it went very quiet about 6.30am, next thing I knew it was 8.30am, time to get up and check the damage.

Not Unexpected

It did cross my mind around 5.30am that maybe I should have tied the dinghy down, ah well it happens every year!!! Next thing it was down to the pontoon and sure enough the gangway had left the plate it stays on.

Big Wave!

I’m just waiting for the ‘snow’ to stop and then I’ll go down to put it back. The boat ‘MV Rona’ is well up the beach but the rope holding it onto the shed support is bow tight, looks like the tide/sea was a metre higher than normal and trying to drag it back out to sea!!  At Dry Harbour the seaweed was onto the grass in front of the Schoolhouse. The usual plastic boxes and any paper has been blown about, ladders off the roof, chimney hats gone, but I guess we are lucky that there was not any more damage. Now it is snowing really heavy.

Starting to snow.

Check out the bend on the dinghy mast!!!

The Old Inverter

A quick check at Dry Harbour and it had been given a windy clean out for sure. Nothing too obvious apart from one ‘Chinese hat’ off the Seascape chimney. With the lightening I was afraid to check the genny shed but all was ok. The Trace inverter which was getting used to handle our extra power had been bypassed but I was greeted with a full display of LED lights, who knows what is going on inside that one!! The Outback was working well with loads of power from the windmill up top.

Stormy Scene Dry Harbour

We are listening here to the radio and tales of the storms progress, it wont be the last one this winter for sure. The phones are off but the internet, radio and TV is ok. The sun has just come out too.

It had been a busy enough week but with a head cold it was difficult to concentrate, no amount of whisky would shift it either. However I did get a lot of my photos sorted out and have put together a selection of books on the iphoto/photobook pages. A lot of wee jobs got looked at and that was satisfying. I even tried to weld the damaged fire we just replaced in the Lodge. Not a great success despite good advice but at least the bits of weld that did stick will help.

Heating up the Plate For Welding.

I got the boat emptied and to-day I was going to take the engines off, I guess I better hurry up before the wind and tide have other plans.

The Annual Clear Out

The new sheep are half mad, the other half come to feed so that is good. One of them had a limp and a check to the front hoof showed a pretty deformed toe (if that is what it is called)a bit of nail clipping and it was running about quite happy, we’ll keep our eye on it. Julie of course is as hungry as ever, she is pretty thin, getting old too but still there in the morning stealing the hens food before she gets hers.

Pinching The Hen Feed

The hens have moved up to the house as their pen is awash, it needs drained. So for the winter they can live out front. The gale shifted their hen house but it was tied down thankfully. Once I had checked on everything this morning I had a look round the mink traps and here was a very large mink in one by the shore, the weather means nothing to them.