Well yesterdays post was a bit bleaty wasn’t it. It came after a crappy couple of hours of low level bickering with Ady and a thorny conversation with everyone else about what we’d do next if and when we leave Rum. Unfortunately that is quite an emotive chat to have and so after everyone had gotten upset we agreed to shelve it for a few weeks, probably until after Christmas and to all ponder on it a bit.
Anyway… not a great night’s sleep.
This morning Ady’s alarm woke me which it almost never does and then the front door slammed when he let the cat and dog out, then I needed a wee and then I couldn’t get back to sleep so I laid in bed and read. I had to have the light on for quite a while as it didn’t get light for ages. I finished the book, read it in two days – the latest Jodi Picoult about racism. I really like her books and this was a good one. I also read all her authors notes at the end. It was really thought provoking.
I got up, woke the kids and then headed off, putting the sheep away as I went passed – sigh. I got to Fliss’ just before 10am and she had already collected the first skinned and quartered deer that Ady and Neil had done. She and I started working on butchering it and then she went along again an hour or so later to collect the final two and was followed back by Neil and Ady. All four of us got through the first beast and then  Neil headed off. The rest of us got most of the way through the second one before stopping for lunch and then doing the third. We listened to the radio, to music and then chatted about all sorts of things as we worked. It was quite nice. We did two for Fliss and made a good start on the third one which was for Deb getting all of the fancier butchery done before Ady and I headed away at 330pm to get home and feed our animals before dark. That left Fliss with some final getting meat for mincing off the last two front legs and between the ribs and the actual mincing and bagging up to do. Debs would have arrived shortly after we left to help her finish.
As we arrived home we saw Neil up at the caravan come to find his sheep who have been hanging around our croft. He came in for a cup of tea before heading off with a bag of feed to try and lure them home. I am quite worried that Neil has probably not effectively castrated his sheep and they may mate with our ewes who also keep getting out. Argh!
We watched Gareth’s Choir and I made dinner – pork chops, brandy sauce and potato gratin – yum. Watched a couple of Supernaturals and as of tomorrow we’ll be on the festive films.