After weeks of guests we just had our first week with the house all to ourselves. That gave us a chance to catch up but with two stags to butcher, last week was far from quiet. We got all the cuts done and frozen down but it is not all steaks, there is a fair amount of minced venison from the bits that don’t sell unless it is a burger or sausages. With a freezer full of burgers from the first stag that was shot the previous week we decided to make sausages.

All About The Venison

Basically the same mix as the burgers with a little more fat, we mixed it all up and then let it sit. I went to the fridge for sausage skins and disaster, no skins. There were packs of bigger skins but we had found that they were too big, 6 sausages weighing 600g!!! We made a few then abandoned the exercise as it just was not looking good. Back to the burgers. 150 later we finished our butchering for a while.

Tying the knot.

Our French visitors are on holiday but need to get onto the internet to do some work, funny how emails are very important even on holiday. There is some debate about wifi in the cottages and in fact in the Bay for the boat visitors and the more I think about it the more I tend to agree that it would be good, no one is forcing people to log on I guess, it would be a matter of choice, we will see.

Holiday Time

I keep thinking the internet is a bit like when mains electricity came to the more remoter places in Scotland and how that changed peoples lives, the internet is much the same. Maybe to a lesser extent but equally important. More important to me is the Chantrelles. It has been a good season so far and our French visitors are foragers, I pointed them in the direction of a good place but checked the place out first myself. Needless to say they never found it but a few days later in a round about way the stumbled on the place.

A Good Haul.

Talking about food I took in a fleet of creels last week  because we just were not getting the time or weather to collect them, I have to say the sea is very quiet too, not too many Dolphins or whales this year but I did see Terns on my way back from Portree on Friday (all 5 of them) , which was good to see. I heard their numbers took a hammering here years ago because of the Mink  but this year the Sand Eels are thin on the ground so it was a surprise to see them.

In For The Winter (already)

I had to empty the boat because there was a new ATV ordered from MacGregors Portree and Friday was looking good. Flat calm and dry, so with a trip looming it was good to get the boat emptied and washed out. I had the first bag of wool from our sheep to deliver so in an effort to keep it clean I gave it an extra wash.

Not So Quality Wool

Unfortunately the wool wont be the best quality but at least it is going to be of some use, nothing worse than dumping it. I left very early Friday to get there before the tourists had left their accommodation and started clogging up Portree’s streets.

Brand New

I did the shopping, the bank and the picked up the papers in record time. John from Macgregors took the bike down and with a bit of help from the FishFarm boys we loaded up and very quickly I was heading back to Rona.

15 knots

It was much calmer on the way back and the boat was flying along at 15 knots. I thought the bike at 300kg would make for a slow trip but not to-day.

Waiting for The Tide

The boys in Portree were wondering how I was going to lift the bike off, no problem, been there done that.

A Quick Lift

I was keen to get it to the shed to get it dry and give it a spray but the bit of rain we had was good at least it would wash the salt spray off it. It has been in the garage since (Now Monday!!)

The Sick Goose is Better Now

The sick goose seems to have got better, the rest of the family hung about with it and now they have taken up residence in the garden, what a mess and I don’t think George the cat is too pleased.

Saturday came, grey as usual but it did develop into a better day and at last late in the afternoon, sunshine.

Invasion

The Island all of a sudden became a very busy place, the three or four yachts that had come in had plenty crew so venison sales took off and after a busy changeover there was no rest. Ronan and family arrived late on Friday night on his yacht Aisling, they knew we were busy and left it till late Saturday until they popped up but we had calls from Kayakers who were coming, the first for a while.

Ronan And Seamus

So, we had a dash to get the bunkhouse ready. Not much time for socialising.

The Paddlers

The kayakers had gone into the water in Portree around 2.30pm and the wind was fresh from the South so they had a good run up, it was a lovely night and for once it felt like summer.

Kyle Rhea’s £20

We had a birthday celebration Saturday night so late on (around 6.30pm) we were heading up to the cabin for a drink and a movie (despite the sunshine). The crew of Yacht Kyle Rhea arrived up for showers, so we left them to it and they said they would leave their mooring fee and shower in the utility room. It was not until late Sunday that I spotted it on the wall.

Ab Fab

The same thing happened this morning when this Dutch crew on charter boat Ab Fab left their tenner under a stone at the top of the pier. Maybe there is more lying about, must have a look.

Enjoying The Summer Sun At Dry Harbour

It is good to be able to post some sunny pictures of Rona, at last. This week the visitors are having the best of it for sure. Last night promised a better day to-day with this sunset and we have not been disappointed.

A Sunset At Last.