Friday – in the morning we made more animal pens. Â Scarlett joined us for a bit and had a go at constructing one – drill and staple gun operation. She is very practical, I swear she could run Croft 3 all by herself that girl.
We had lunch and then Ady and I went to the boat – we were collecting various deliveries – co-op shop, animal feed, some amazon stuff, plus Big Dave & Faye are over for the weekend. Also, unexpectedly on the boat were two volunteers I had given up on! They were supposed to come at the start of June, then changed their dates, then went to Eigg and then she got a cold and said she needed some recuperation days back on the mainland. I was very supportive of this as we didn’t want her cold but then I heard no more so fully expected that was the last we’d hear of them, until they walked off the boat! So that was quite a surprise. I directed them up to the croft, we loaded the car up and headed up. We transferred everything from one car to the other, Faye & Dave left us to head up to the cabin having arranged to meet for a beer later, and then drove up to the caravan with everything. We unloaded, the volunteers borrowed the scythe to cut a place for their tent and we had a cup of tea and chat with them once they were set up.
Ady and I went for a beer or three at the shop, the kids stayed home. It was a nice evening in the sunshine talking about the referendum, generally chatting and celebrating the news for Trudi that she got her masters with merit. Home for a late pizza dinner.
Saturday – my usual lovely morning of crochet / crafting / radio / peace while Ady was at work. When he got home we had lunch and then he got a text from Fliss to ask if he would go down to euthanize Tinker who has been getting progressively iller over the past few months. She had started having fits daily and had a huge fit at the shop on Friday night while we were all there. Fliss and I had already talked about it when I was there for the evening in the week and we’d agreed we’d do it when the time came. She had not fully recovered from the fit (she went blind last year and has been getting worse ever since) and had had several more fits over the course of the night / morning so Fliss had concluded the time had come. Ady rang her to discuss what would actually happen and it was agreed we would go down at 7pm. On the mainland clearly a vets is the right course of action for pretty much everything from diagnosis / treatment to euthanasia but here on the island it is not really practical on a logistical basis, let alone in terms of animal welfare or cost so it tends to be dealt with by someone in a respectful and loving manner. Tinker lived her whole life here on Rum and had a good life and was much loved. Her quality of life had ceased and while Fliss went to check on Joss Ady and I had a final whispered conference and agreed it was the right thing to do looking at her lying there, barely conscious and twitching. Ady had already dug the grave and so while I sat with Joss he and Fliss led her outside and then Fliss and I chatted while he dealt with it. He said he found it hard (obviously) but was glad he had been able to do it. The alternative of a ferry trip, train ride, overnight (ferry times mean we can’t get to the mainland the same day as the vets is open) and taxi to the vets to be put to sleep, then the choice for Fliss of trying to bring a body home by public transport or leaving her there at the vets compared to being led outside to the garden and stroked and said goodbye to before being buried in the garden she had played in her whole life was not really a tough choice at all. Â Ady came in after it was all done and we had a drink and toasted Tinker’s life.
Home for dinner. Kira had been in while we’d been down at Fliss’ but gone back out and didn’t come in all night. I went to bed around 130am and she had still not reappeared but as the WWOOFers were in their tent I didn’t feel able to call her as I normally would.
Today – I read in bed for a little while before I got up. It’s been alternately raining and drizzling all day long so I’ve not really been out. I walked up to the top of the croft calling Kira at about 11am and she came sauntering up to me as though she’d not been AWOL for about 14 hours! She had clearly had adventures though as she has been in and sleeping pretty much all day.
Ady and I did carry up a chicken house with two broody hens who had started hatching chicks in and put it inside a pen. I think there are about 3 hatched so far.
I decided to tidy the bookcase; one of those jobs which takes ages and doesn’t really look much different afterwards but I *know* it’s been done which is what matters. The bookcase is behind the log burner and chimney so has lots of dust and ask so we put the genny on and Ady hoovered as I went along. We took a few books off the shelf, some of the cookery books which we never use and I moved some of the books and magazines around so that the most used ones are the easiest to get to.
Vikki is over visiting for the weekend and she came up for a couple of hours in the afternoon just as we were finishing off. It was good to see her even if only to remind us that for us at least Rum still works.
We had roast dinner, watched a couple of episodes of Lost and tomorrow is the start of volunteering stuff happening.