Thursday morning and it is a fine day, housework this morning and some office stuff to do. The weathers been mixed and to-day it is grey but warm (and dry so far). We are having a visit from Seaflower from Shieldaig to-day and are invited to lunch, can’t wait. I may have to make some Cullen Skink there are some Spanish friends aboard. We’ll see how the time goes.

As usual it has been pretty full on since the last post.

A Quick Fish

It was such a nice day Sunday I decided to shift the lobster pots, Dhu Chamas was getting a bit tired so a wee shift elsewhere to try our luck was the plan. I spotted a few holes in the pots but the swell was still there so I decided to do the repairs another day. I came back in and found a few yachts in. A big red home made job, ‘Yacht Destiny’ a charter live aboard on tour in the West. I found the crew taking pictures of their boat for their blog.

Looking for the best shot

Sunday was a pottering day, to quote Hugh. Just a day for getting lots done. The creel hauler had broken down not once but twice the previous day so it was out with the spanners. The switch had disintegrated and the pull cord had all come out. But a good clean and a bit of ingenuity and it was back up and running. Never throw anything out on a remote Island, that is a good philosophy!!!!

Bits from the old Cement mixer

We have one mooring in the harbour and nothing annoys me more than yachts picking it up and sitting on it for two or three hours having lunch and then beetling off (without paying for its use). The problem is that a.n.other arrives having booked the mooring, finds it occupied, anchors, then when the other yacht leaves, cannot be bothered shifting as they are anchored in well (and it is a lot of work too). The end result we loose a tenner. So we have adjusted our ‘information’ on the bouy accordingly and hey presto, result.

Gone to Anchor for lunch.

It seems to be working!!!!!

Trying To Level The Road

It turned out a bright afternoon and dry so I decided to dig up the bumps in the road, after Hugh’s demonstration I thought I would give it a go. Don’t know if it is pretty but I took a load of rock out of the road surface, it certainly is a bit smoother. As I was doing that twin brothers Peter and John MacIntyre from Badachro arrived, Peter has a new boat and they were trying it out, good to see them and get all the news. With visitors piling in it is important for us to get the paths up and running. The rain has caused problems but a dry week would make all the difference. The other issue is working in the forest, the midgies like to hide there and finishing the walkway is proving a bit difficult.

Midgie Heaven

Monday morning I took a trip over to dry Harbour to check on the guests. They were looking for a fishing trip so 4 o’clock was the time and they arrived just as it was threatening rain.

Gone Fishing

We caught no fish (no surprise) but we did get a few prawns and some squatties but best of all we saw a couple of Minke Whales, the first boat sighting this season, so they were very happy about that. The sea eagle put in an appearance too.

Bright Start

When we were out in the blind sound the yachts kept passing us en route for the harbour, when we got back there were 5 of them. The next morning I had to go over to the forest early to try and get the new lamb back. It had very weak front legs and it needed some attention. The tick has been prolific this spring and the lambs, if untreated, suffer badly. So first thing I headed out, it was a lovely time to walk in the forest and the old ewe behaved and before long the ewe and lamb were in the park.

Heading Home

Tuesday afternoon we had an appointment with the Doctor, it was calm so we headed in to Portree. Did a bit of shopping and called at the Pier Hotel for a pint of Findlay’s very good lager. The crack of course was good (as always) in the company of Dan, Brian and Archie. All too soon we headed home and of course just for Lorraine the wind got up. So it was a bit bumpy much to L’s disgust. One hour after getting back it was flat calm thunder and pouring rain!! We had been to see the Vet Rhona Campbell and next day we got the lambs in to dose them and to splint up the new lamb.

The New Lamb

The lamb so far has progressed and is still a bit wobbly but hopefully will get there. When we went to dose the lambs it turns out the medicine (Bravoxin) was finished and we had not replaced it so once again the lambs were released and we were a bit annoyed having been in the Vets and Rhona asking if we needed any medicines! No time to dwell and the fence and path were top of the list. So after much running about on Wednesday I finally got the gate I was needing to make, made and hung.

The New Gate

Cuckoos

I was intrigued at the article on Springwatch when the presenters were bemoaning the fact that cuckoos are in decline. Normally we start to hear ‘the’ cuckoo around the 18th of April and this year it was late so having read about the ‘decline’ I was not surprised. However around the 27th the cuckoo arrived and it seems with all the ones that are missing from Springwatch. I have never seen so many cuckoos on Rona.In fact last weeks guests had them sitting on the garden fence on occasion. Everywhere you go you hear them and see them flying around with their followers. All too soon they will be away though. The rest of our annual bird visitors are doing well, the Greylags, oystercatchers, sandpipers, wagtails etc etc. Nice to see them but the crows, black backs, ravens and skuas are doing a roaring trade in chicks and eggs.