With a view to giving the potential new recruits an idea of what we do here I thought that if I recorded a typical day on Rona it would show how varied our work is.

We will be advertising in the New Year for a couple to come and help us on Rona. More details later but in the meantime here is a short November day.

The weather this morning (10th November when I started this post)was calm for a change or at least calmer. It has been blowy and wet for weeks. At this time after a long season it is sometimes difficult to get motivated but motivated you must be to live here. There is so much to do and keep a handle on that there is not much time to dwell on your situation, but there are moments such as when I had three Eagles fly off from above Dry Harbour in front of me when going to pick up a load of cut lengths of birch.

Mike and Lorraine were over helping and we had a week in front of us of catching up prior to going away for a break.

The firewood at the cottages was dwindling so top of the list was just that, not wanting it to get too low we try to top it up rather than run out. We encourage our guests to use the fires as much as possible as the hassle of getting kerosene over for the heating is trying to say the least.

Although we had cut quite a few loads of fresh birch we had forgotten piling up loads from the previous winter, so it was good to find some seasoned birch by the Escape house buried in the bracken.

Then the week started to go downhill, despite the fine days there was not much time to enjoy them as I spotted the water supply alarm flashing up at the Dry Harbour settlement. Unfortunately this is becoming too regular and the pipes need to be checked to stop the airlock that happens about every 6 months.

In the summer with lots of demand I can understand but in the winter with pretty sporadic occupancy it is a puzzle how it is running down so quick. The tank was nearly empty and with only 5 days tro go to fill it up and test it the pressure (excuse the pun) was on.

At day three of filling it was nearly at the top, the lines were checked and the pressure was back. One job ticked off.

Back to the daily list and the winter storm door was due to go back on. This outer door gives the lock, seals and porch on Rona Lodge a chance. Years ago we discovered that the computer was getting verdigris on the motherboard with the salty air coming through the gaps in the continuous winter gales, not good.

Keeping an eye out all the time you notice things that need replaced, the wee bridge over to the picnic area was rotten, someone had gone through the planks!!! But obviously had not done themselves any damage thankfully, so a more permanent solution was needed.

We had a stockpile of stone and a spare pipe so it was a more permanent solution I came up with.

It was back to carting logs, the trailer felt a bit weird so we turned it over and found the draw bar had snapped. Another extra chore to add to the weeks woes. A quick weld and off we went again. With the very rough terrian this sadly is another regular occurance.

Fixed the trailer, then I heard the mudgaurd rubbing, the bolt had vibrated out so in amongst all the mud I managed to get a bolt in but found the threads tripped so a nut had to be slid in and fitted, tricky enough but another tick done.

The Voe boat was out of the water for the next two weeks with us going away I did not want it bobbing about on the mooring. I was pleased to see the repair we did to the hull had stood up and we may get another year out of our trusty old boat.

To make room for it I had to move the RIB up to the house, we pumped up the sponsons and covered it up, work pending.

My new Garmin watch is proving useful with its tracking app. Here is the day above on the screen, the many trips back and fore to Dry Harbour. The days time and distance done. It was a busy day for the ATV but not unusual, still a surprise to have done 24+ Kilometers.

Finally at the end of the day my daily swim. I went into the water in September because my leg muscles every September/October are very stiff, crampy and sore. I found that the cold sea water helped so I tried swimming and have to say I am enjoying it.

Here we are, last thing in the day my swim track too, the Garmin works but only if you put it in the swim float, GPS does not work well under water!!

All the above was on this day, Wednesday the 10th of November.

That night the Lister Generator at Big Harbour blew up and then the fun started.