Part Two of the blog from the other day, yesterday was full on, with the first ‘Cook What You Catch’ trip so I missed my spot for putting up this post, but looking back to the previous week.

Last Saturday our guests went away, Hugh stayed, the lazer level arrived and we sorted out the house site, taking levels was good fun to do and pretty easy with Hugh’s directions.

The weather of course was not helping with the first real rain arriving. The job was done (for the moment) and we are moving onto drainage around Rona Lodge next week when Hugh comes back.

Site Works

We had a new surveyors tape, 50 metres long which made the tape/rope redundant but it did its job because when we did the triangulation and levels again proper, they were pretty much spot on with our mid week attempt.

In the middle of it all late on Saturday night the power went off, we had run out of fuel. We  had 250 litres left from Hugh’s IBC so that went into the genny tank first thing in the morning.

I got that sorted and asked Hugh to level around the cabin, I went up late to rake off the stones around to find the lambs hiding underneath away from the midgies.I mentioned we had been out fishing at the end of last week, we found the spot for the Pollock but had a few Wrasse too.

Fishing

This colourfull fellow was happy to be thrown back. There is quite a bit of Wrasse fishing around the Island at the moment, they are caught and put into the Salmon pens where they feed on the parasites that the Salmon carry, a pretty good solution to that problem.

Finishing Up

All too soon Hugh was away mid-week. The road was flattened off, the roadsides battered down and the machine work was looking pretty impressive, in not much time either, well done.

Grading Off

We thought we would have to run in loads of stone but Hugh found sufficient material roadside to make the job, for the moment workable.

More Repairs

Back to the garage on a wet day and the old ATV motorbike starter went again, yet another repair. This is the 10th set of brushes I have replaced, you would think a corporation such as Honda would have a better quality starter but I understand that this is quite common, what a total waste of time and money.

Emergency Fuel Arrives

Wednesday last Kevin brought over 50 gallons of diesel which went into the tank too, we are now ok until the Spanish John arrives.

Ian Gordon Pressed Into Service

I took  a day up at the garage and had a thought to do some preparation for the new plastic on the polytunnel. Ian Gordon off Yacht ‘November Lady’ was pressed into service to help cut the battens for holding the plastic down, always good to get a hand.

Spotted a Strawberry

Working away I spotted a strawberry growing away without the plastic cover, on closer inspection I found enough for the dinner that night, nice and sweet they were. We are looking forward very much to growing stuff again in the tunnel. Been too long.

BANG, So that was what the noise was

Friday we headed over to Escape cottage to sort out the bedding and preparation for the guests arriving on Saturday. The Diahatsu has been making a banging noise for months around the back end, but could we find out what was causing it. But on Friday we did. The spring had been almost broken for some time as the crack was rusty and worn once I stripped it. Obviously it had lost its spring and the body was just bouncing about. A new one is on the way.

New Spring Required

Saturday came, the new guests arrived, another honeymoon couple for Escape, Chris and Lucy who were here at New Year were married in Ireland the previous Saturday and were here to Escape the summer tourists.

Dave and Mae On The Mooring

Mike and Lorraine were out for a trip and it was a nice surprise to see them, all too short a visit but we may see them sometime soon. We had a couple from Sunderland on the mooring for three days, Dave let me know he was an engineer when he came up to pay the mooring so I pressed him into service helping me with the new jeep as it would not start. It turned out it was a duff glow plug, now stuck in the cylinder head!!! I swapped Dave a shot of the TV for his mechanical input so that he could watch the Grand Prix on Sunday, a good deal I thought.

The Bloom Continues To Impress

The sea still has the turquoise glow and when the sun is shining on it the colour really sticks out, pretty weird. I hear from Kenny Shieldaig that it is a plankton bloom, after the month of sun it was not unexpected.

Mega Strim This Week.

This week we are catching up around the Lodge, it has been busy but we have managed to get the field strimmed and fertilised. Lots more to do but that is me up to date with the blog for a little while