One word? When seven would do…

We’d planned to make the most of the lovely weather we’re forecast for today and tomorrow so I checked with Ali whether there was much rut action at Kilmory yet. Word is that it’s still a little early and next week will see more happening although the ‘big boys’ are assembling according to Martin from Kilmory this evening. Autumnwatch style action is but days away!

On that basis we decided that a trek to Kilmory will probably only happen once in the next few weeks so we’re better to wait and use our day on another adventure instead. Ages ago we talked about following Primrose Burn which is where our water comes from to see where it begins. On the OS map it shows it briefly forking into two and then just stopping. We refused to believe that and given there are several lochs in the hills above us (know as Mulloch Moor) we were sure it must come from one of those. Dad was around when we last talked about it and he said he’d like to come up with us to see it so we waited. But when they were here last the weather was poor and we suspected the walk may be a little much for him anyway so we did that today instead. We packed some of the kendal mint cake that What You Want To Do Dave and family had brought us which we’d been saving for just such an eventuality and headed off.

It was gorgeously warm and the light was amazing, the colours all still glorious and the views obviously stunning. We saw red deer (all hinds), a sea eagle and climbed high enough to see Eigg over one peak and Skye, Soay and the mainland on the other side. A perfect few hours.

The burn does indeed run out to just two trickles and though we made it up to one of the lochs it is not where our water comes from. We realised walking along the bank of the burn that the water is mostly coming from the ground around it, as though it were a giant drainage ditch. We’d anticipated being a little longer than we actually were but we were still ravenous when we got in and glad of some freshly baked bread I’d made before we left. As we were finishing lunch Casey called round for a cup of tea and chatter and then she went to take some pictures of the animals with Scarlett.

I sorted out dinner (we had a veg glut so I made roasted root gratin, double portions so we can have it again tomorrow, yum!) and then we all went down to the shop to collect veg and have a beer. Back home we watched the second half of Megamind which we’d started last night (and I had never seen) and had dinner.

Days of wood chopping, fresh air and exercise have me aching and longing for a bath but feeling good to have banked lots of lovely memories and have a good stack of firewood in preparation for the months ahead.

This morning Ady and I walked down to the freezer to stick in the fish that Ian bought up last night and all the brambles I picked yesterday. Then we had a long walk and picked a load more to make jam with. We took Bonnie and left D&S here drawing and lego-ing.

Home for lunch and then Ady went to clear the gate at the bottom corner of the croft – we have for gates altogether – one at the bottom which we mostly use as access, one at the top, two on the side (one about half way down and one at the bottom corner) and a gap in the fence in the top corner with no gate. The whole of one side is unfenced – the divide between Gav and Laura’s croft and ours. The bottom gate was all overgrown and brambled and we’ve meant to clear it for ages as we may use it for access. While he did that I chopped up the last of the wood we bought up yesterday – 20 bags in all. A job very well done as we now have a cubic metre plus of firewood all chopped, seasoned and ready to burn along with 3 sacks of kindling sticks. A good feeling 🙂

We reconvened and the kids spent some time with Poorly Duck who appears to be on the slow mend. Ady, Bonnie and I then did a circuit of the croft diverting off along the top trail towards Kilmory for a mile or so bramble picking and just enjoying the sunshine. Back to the house to get dinner on, make jam, knock up some bread dough and then have dinner.

We watched the start of Megamind which I’ve somehow never managed to see while eating dinner and for once everyone has had a fairly early night. This week is looking much calmer and less full that last week – we’re hoping for more bramble picking and the arrival of the wind turbine.

I love that people on Rum now call Kirsty McColl ‘poor dead Kirsty’. Clearly I wish she were not dead but I love that our own brand of catchphrases has now entered RumSpeak.

It’s been a meetingtastic week, very busy and at times fraught. On Wednesday it was the Full Board meeting and the EGM (extraordinary general meeting) for the IRCT. Ady came down with me to attend the EGM and as we were walking down we bumped into Vikki and Alan Henderson who is our current chairman and one of the panel who interviewed us to get our croft so has always shown a special interest in us. They were walking up to look at Crofts 2 and 3 as it was a nice day and they had time so we double backed and joined them to walk the north side nature trail around both crofts. It was good to show Alan what we’ve been up to and have a chat.

The EGM was very brief, the full board meeting less so with lots going on to be thrashed out. We finally finished about 345pm and then had just over an hour before the Andrew Thin event was due to start. Andrew is the current chairman of SNH and was instrumental and helpful in the handover of land to IRCT. We’d invited him here as his last term of office as SNH chairman draws to a close to show off what we’ve done, keep him on board with stuff and generally have him visit. The plan was for a couple of us directors to speak at the start of an evening event, then have Andrew speak and then handover to the floor for questions. I ended up being the speaking director and then I got nicely drunk with Lesley on the free SNH provided wine! Lesley works for SNH so was most worried she’d spoken out of turn to the point of getting sacked, then she went home and fell in the bath. I went home and fell over on the way up the muddy croft hill.I think we both needed the chance to let off some steam. I heart Lesley!

Thursday morning was an SNH and IRCT liaison meeting with was another tricky one and I chaired it. There was tough stuff to say and deal with and it was quite draining (particularly with my hangover) but apparently I did a good job. I came home for lunch and then went to do crochet with Fliss and Casey before going to Mel and Em’s at the castle for dinner and X box playing (not for me, – Davies has set his x box up in the castle on Mel’s telly on the understanding that he gets to play it and so does she so they are sort of time sharing the telly and the x box).

Yesterday I woke early but laid in bed reading for an hour or so which was lovely and much needed. Then I baked bread and made soup using some polytunnel produce. Ady was over helping Gav and Laura with some cabin building so Bonnie and I went over to tell him lunch was ready. We had lunch, went down to the ferry – we had some stuff due to arrive although the exciting package containing our wind turbine has yet to arrive and then came back and helped Gav and Laura for a bit longer. I had another meeting to go to about bunkhouse stuff so went down to the village for that and had a nice couple of hours with Lesley and Vikki working on stuff before going to meet the rest of the Goddards at Mike and Casey’s for dinner. A lovely evening ensued with plenty of charades and hilarity.

Today I started my new Saturday morning job of Mrs Post Office. Two hours of learning about special deliveries, cashing up and stuff. A regular Saturday morning job at a tenner an hour which will pay for our veg boxes each week. I actually quite liked it and think it will be good fun and a nice thing to do each Saturday. Ady and the kids came down to meet me and we picked brambles on the way home. Back for lunch then the kids stayed home to do some drawing while Ady I went back to the village to collect some firewood (Ady) and pick more brambles (me). I bumped into Fliss along the way so we picked together which was nice, I’ve missed our friendship even if I don’t want to return to how it was.

An hour or so later I’d filled my 8 Flora tubs with brambles so walked back to Ady and we brought the wood and brambles home. Ady lugged them all up the hill while I chopped up 20 sacks full of wood. I have four still to chop. Back is aching and was very midgey but the wood store is looking very full and healthy which is a really good feeling.

Ian appeared with a fish (pollock) he’d caught for us, there was a duck emergency when one of the other birds (whether chicken, goose or turkey is unclear) gave it a very nasty peck to the head at feeding time, we all heard our first stags of the season roaring and finally stopped and went in for hot showers, cold wine and dinner at about 730pm.

Grease on dvd, nice dinner and a qiick trip out onto the sporran for some star gazing just before bedtime all makes for a full and fulfulling Saturday.

The days are getting so much shorter. Sunrise is stunning over the sea at about 730am and by 730pm it is being stunning in the opposite chunk of sky. 12 hours is still a fair bit of daylight really given we’ll shrink to about half that in the coming three months but winter is closing in. Trees are changing colour, the stags are starting to roar and there is the smell of autumn in the air.

After Popmaster Ady and I headed to the village to get the key to the gas cage and collect the car which has been on charge (the battery only lasts a week before running out. We are pricing up quad bikes as our next investment currently), then to the pier to collect a gas bottle, put rubbish in the skip, collect the two loads of washed and dried washing we processed yesterday, drop the key to the gas cage back off at the trust office and back home again. The kids spent ages playing with the trolley (big green cart on wheels we bought to bring stuff up and down the hill and we all call ‘t trolleh’ in a northern voice for some unknown reason), we all found at least one stash of chicken, duck and bantam eggs so now have a minor glut – something very satisfying about happening upon a nest of six eggs, wandering down to the river to float them to check if they are fresh and then putting them in the honesty box ready for selling.

I took advantage of the slight wind to have a fire and burn all the cardboard and general rubbish which is alway satisfying, took some seeds and other stuff down to the polytunnel but didn’t venture in for long as the midges were briefly out and about.

Later Ady and I fed the animals then took the empty gas bottle back to the pier and walked home.

Emails today revealed two dinner invites for later this week – hurrah 🙂

Busy couple of days ahead with meetings galore.

Davies has been lego-ing lots and making animations on his 3ds, Scarlett briefly experimented with being a stroppy pre teen but swiftly decided it was a bad idea.

Far too long to try and catch up.

Davies had a birthday -teenager at last. Feels both utterly momentous and totally non eventful and run of the mill birthdayish.

He asked for and got mostly lego. A Rum friend commented that when they were 13 they still played with lego loads but in a furtive manner and would not have dreamed of asking for it for their birthday. They were being complimentary. I wonder who’s issue it is that I sometimes feel a bit defensive about compliments like that somehow.

It was another Rum birthday – his second. And was magical. He was gifted an electric guitar that has been renovated for him and the promise of lessons, two massive lego sets, books (suitably Davies tastic books), drawing stuff, a drive of Chainsaw Dave’s golf buggy, sweets, had two questions in the quiz that happened in the hall dedicated to him and the whole hall sang happy birthday to him at the end of the night (this after the Rum folk turning out to share his quadruple layer birthday cake and sing to him earlier in the evening). Times like that which make us all feel we are in the right place.

We had visitors – Johnathan and Jasper back to back with my parents. A very lovely visit from both. Always fab to see J&J (although we missed the rest of their family) and great to have more friends share our lives here and get a little taste of what it’s all about. Nice to see the sun come up twice during the week with Jonathan ;). Jasper fitted in well with Davies and Scarlett, particularly with Scarlett. Davies had some time out from the ‘kids’ practising for impending teenagerhood. Jasper and Scarlett took Jan’s instruction to run around outside like a wild animal pretty seriously and one day didn’t even get back home for lunch they were so busy off playing somewhere

Mum & Dad were Mum & Dad really. A bit annoying, a bit demanding, lovely to see them anyway and always conscious that their age and health is not on anyones side for them to continue managing to live our lives for a week at a time. The weather was poor for their visit this time so they spent a lot of it indoors with the kids. We have suggested that we come off and meet them somewhere on the mainland for their regular trips up but they insist on coming across to Rum. I very much appreciate the effort they make to get here – this was their sixth trip I think which averages once every three months since we moved here. They are by no means without their faults but I can’t say they don’t put the effort in to see us…

We had an amazing performance by Tim and Malcolm of the Shearwater play which was magical and wonderful. Some of us spent the morning with them on the beach doing storytelling, singing, poetry, art and more which was very good. The four of us variously spent quite a bit of time with them and they were both very complimentary about Davies and Scarlett which was lovely.

We had our Rum food festival Blasda yesterday which was ace – a bring and share meal with 25 folk coming along bringing Rum produce. We had venison in three incarnations, eggs in all sorts of guises, brambles, fruit and veg from the island. It was great.

I think in brief that brings us up to date. Which is the best I can hope for really. 🙂

Ady spent most of today on the phone trying to sort out an upgrade on his mobile. We rather stupidly had not changed our address on our contract phones and had been on the road back in 2011 when last we upgraded so just went into the nearest shop at the time. Hence Ady did his in Bangor, Wales and I did mine in Inverness. We had intended to not bother upgrading and keeping contract phones but the kids both want smart phones for camera / game / stuff so it makes sense to upgrade ours and give them our cast offs.

It took pretty much all day to sort out changing address, negotiating a good deal and trying to sort out
to our non mainland address. Ady still needs to ring back in the morning to finalise. I am yet to start the exercise….

I meanwhile spent the day making and baking. I did bread rolls and soup for lunch, packed up some dried herbs, baked bread, made yoghurt, made dinner for tonight and extra for the freezer, garlic flatbread to go with dinner and another to take as snacks on the Sheerwater tomorrow. And then made five jars of bramble and chilli jam later after we’d been brambling.

We had an empty jerry can of petrol to go off on the second boat so Ady and I walked down to do that at 3ish. We actually wanted to walk as there was a brief respite in the rain and I get all itchy and a bit stir crazy if I don’t walk each day. I’d fed the animals this morning and watered the polytunnel but that didn’t feel anywhere near enough fresh air and exercise. Gav pulled up alongside us to offer a lift for the jerry can (he had a full car of people) and then Neil pulled up to offer a lift so we took him up on it. He gave us a lift back to the village too and then we walked home by the nature trail and collected five tubs of brambles, The season has well and truly begun!

It started tipping down with rain just as we reached the croft so Ady went to feed the animals while I finished picking and then we stripped off and left wet clothes outside. The joys of remote living mean naked outdoorness is not really an issue! This may change when Gav and Laura finally move onto Croft 2 of course…

The weather is supposed to improve tomorrow, I really hope it does. It doesn’t feel like the winter should be setting in just yet…

Monday morning I had a meeting down in the village with Ali. In theory it was to talk about infrastructure but various things kicking off on the directors agenda meant we got side tracked into dealing with some other stuff aswell including calling in to see Mike and Casey in an official directors capacity. We did that and then had further furtive chats about stuff before parting so I could join Ady and go to meet the boat.
I then went to join Casey and Fliss for Crafternoon rescheduled to Monday from last Friday for some knitting, crochet and chat. We had a nice couple of hours and then Casey and I went back to hers for another cup of tea before going to the shop at 5pm to collect veg and meet Ady again.

We stopped for a beer and went to have a chat with some reps from SNH who were over to discuss a proposed MPA (marine protected area) designation for the Small Isles area. That was interesting and as Ady and I were in there on our own for a while they asked us where we were from originally (with our far from Scottish accents we get asked possibly more than anyone else on Rum when we say carstle and glarss and barsking shark :)) and chatted about crofting and travelling and home ed for a bit.

Back home for dinner, a foiled attempt at watching X Factor online (internet too slow) and a relatively early night.

Today was another meeting for me in the morning and then a post meeting cup of tea at Ali’s before coming home for lunch. As we were going out for the evening and the weather was pants we moved our evening to the afternoon and put the genny on to charge stuff up. I caught up with various online bits and then we went down to the castle for dinner with Mel and Emily (known as Em and M). We had a really lovely evening with them and then did our first real torchlit full walk home from the village this season admiring the amazing stars out tonight.

It’s mad windy which makes sleeping a challenge but I think it is forecast to die down after tomorrow. Which would be nice…

Friday was a rainy day. Inbetween showers I chopped some more firewood and Ady strimmed around the pig fence. We’re currently researching micro hydro vs wind turbine so Ady did some more research and learning on that.

I’ve been making friendship bracelets as I made a few to put in the craft shop and they sold out. I have a Klutz book with some cool designs so I have been playing with those and have another batch to put in the craft shop. It doesn’t really fit with the ethic of friendship bracelets to have them being sold to strangers I know but cash is cash and I guess the purchasers consider themselves friends of Rum 😉

After we fed the animals Ady and I took advantage of another break in the rain to nip down to the shop to collect some stuff that had come on the boat including some of Davies’ birthday presents and a cool box. Now the weather has changed we can keep more chilled food up here at the static and a cool box with ice packs doubles that space.

Mike and Casey came up for dinner and we had pizzas. Last time we went to them we played charades and this time Casey introduced us to a more complicated version. You write down ten words, phrases, songs etc and hand them to the other team. They have a timer set to a minute and the first round is explaining the clue without saying the actual word – there used to be a version of it on Richard and Judy – you get through as many as you can in the minute and then it’s the other teams go to do the same.

Once you have gotten through all ten you move on to traditional charades for the same clues, bearing in mind you do know them because you have already guessed them and possibly been explaining them yourself once already. Again with a timer of a minute. Once all done that way the final round is using just one word to describe the clue.

We had very topical clues for us here which included things like zombies, fellow islanders, pizza. It was a really riotous hour or so, lots of fun 🙂

They left around 2am.

Saturday – In the morning I did some more wood store stuff – carried up a couple of pallets to stack wood on and create dividers, more sacks of wood and more wood splitting. Ady made another galvanised sheet storage pen. The kids had Art Club with Coryla at 2pm so we all went down, dropped them off with her and then Ady and I went bramble picking. We got five tubs – still a bit early really so not easy picking yet. We had a really nice hour or so wandering about, foraging and chatting. It’s always good to be away from everything just chewing over ideas and thoughts. Collected the kids and an ice cream each from the freezer and then came home for a cup of tea.

I was determined to finish the wood we’d collected so far so we got up the final few bags and I chopped and stacked it all – my back ached loads by the end of it but that is 12 feed bags of logs all split and ready with two sacks of kindling sticks chopped up. We need to do the same again at least four more times to be ready for the winter, particularly as we have already started lighting the log burner with small fires to take the chill off in the evening, determined to foil the damp this year before it sets in. It’s a good start though and feels like we are meeting the coming winter head on.

I didn’t finish that til nearly 7pm, then came in and made dinner (tacos and fajitas) and turned the brambles into four jars of jam. One of those nights I could have done with a soak in a bath.

Sunday – another rained almost all day day again today. Ady went off to meet the boat at 11am as we had diesel cans going off to get refilled. I stayed in bed reading and Scarlett joined me for a while. When Ady got home he and Davies made a lego animation on the 3DS together while Scarlett and I looked at Playmobil catalogues together.

We had a window in the weather so headed off to the village for community teashop which was Mike and Casey this week. Casey makes amazing cinnamon rolls so we had those and sat and chatted with Gav & Laura who were there with Gav’s aunt and uncle who are over for their second visit, Mel and Em, Abby, Fliss and Mike & Casey. It was a quiet week for them I think with poor weather and not many tourists around this week.

Back home again just missing the weather. I read some paperwork in preparation for a meeting tomorrow about infrastructure. Then it was time to wait for another window in the weather to head down to the village again for dinner at Norman’s. Norman is quite an enigma and can be hard work but offered to have us for dinner and a dvd way back last year and it never happened. He made us dinner to take away last week (lasagne) as a surprise and insisted on having us for dinner tonight. He made pizza and chips for the kids and a three course indian meal for Ady and I which was delicious. He is a chef and his cooking is amazing. We watched 2012 on his big screen surround sound tv which we’d not seen and was an excellent choice of film to watch like that. A slightly odd evening but good food.

We came home just about as it was getting dark at 9pm. This evening we have mostly been researching quad bikes with trailers and alternate versions thereof as transport will be a pressing problem before too long – the Pajero is very much dying.

Its been showery today so we’ve been dodging the rain while trying to get stuff done. This morning we got nine tin sheets up to the static ready for the wood store before breaking for Popmaster. I made a picnic and then we walked down to the village to collect the car before the Shearwater.

Casey came along so I chatted to her lots on the boat. We saw nothing other than birds today, not even a sniff of a porpoise. Actually that’s not true. we saw seals off the coast of Rum. I am so glad that last year was so amazing for wildlife spotting. We’ll definitely do the Sheerwater every week again next year as its a tenner very well spent each week to have that two hours off, literal and spiritual perspective of moving away from Rum and coming back along with the very real possibility of seeing amazing cetaceans. But this has not been the year for it and I am glad we were so spoiled last year with minke whales and dolphin superpods.

Back at home we finished the wood store and changed our original plan to roof it. We need to bring some more pallets up and the rest of the wood we gathered yesterday but I split most of the bags of wood we already have here which has filled a pallet with about four layers of wood. My dream would be to have it filled for the winter – we’ll see.

Dinner was a joint effort of fish cakes. Scarlett has discovered the lure of a new console game and has been awol all day with her head over the tablet doing something while Davies for the first time learns of the frustration of competing with electronics for attention. He made a poster to advertise his birthday cake sharing to put down at the shop

I am feeling the effects of two days of lifting, shifting and hulking things about which is at once both pleasant and exhausting.

I didn’t sleep well as I had two unfinished things on my mind along with another thing playing on my mind last night. To that end once I’d got up and had a shower this morning I decided to head to the village to sort them out. Ady came with me :

The first was whether or not Fliss was taking venison – she had asked for a price for a whole beast to be cut into minced, diced and steaks and we’d quote for it then done it for her. There was considerably less meat than she’d expected and she didn’t really want it. She tried to beat us down in price but as she was already saving over £100 on the retail price and we were making less than £100 on the meat (which just about covers the cost of Ady and Neil’s wages in doing it) we were not able to reduce it further. In the end she has not taken it but it took a lot of humming and hahing before she eventually decided that and took far too much of our morning up. Grr.

The second was a washing machine that Claire had asked me about buying off Richard and Caroline who are leaving. At the time it seemed like a good idea to go halves on a washing machine so I said yes but circumstances have changed for her and actually although we’d not have to pay to use this one I think the saving of buying tokens at £2.50 a time will not account for the hassle of trying to use it so I said we would not use it but I was happy to pay half towards it as I had not let her know in time. She refused to take the money and told me I was being stupid which was good. As in good she reassured me.

That done we came home for lunch.

We have various things on our job list for this week but starting to think about getting ready for winter is top of the list so we decided to make a start on building a firewood stash. Down to the yard to scavange for more galvanised sheets and we found a huge pile we had not spotted before and they were in really good nick. So we took a car roof ful of about 25 and brought them home to unload. That done we went back to the village and filled up 12 bags with logs that Rhys had cut for us and brought them back to the croft. Half is already up next to the static, the other half is on a pallet covered with a tarp to come up. Weather permitting tomorrow’s job is to build a wood store and start splitting and stacking the wood. We reckon that’s about a months supply, we’d like to have about 6 months as despite it only being August it is already cold enough to be thinking about the fire lit so I think we need to assume October through to March will need the fire. It feels good to have made a start.

Back home for cups of tea and some quick bread making for garlic bread to go with dinner, then animal feeding and back to the village to put the car battery on charge and for me to go to my directors meeting. A really positive, constructive meeting for a change which felt like we’d moved forward with things. I had a quick chat afterwards with Sylvia and then got home just before darkness fell walking really fast because I had not brought a torch. I startled two deer just before I got to the croft and that had my heart racing even more!

Home for dinner, chats with Ady and weather forecast watching as we think the Sheerwater may not run tomorrow due to forecast winds.

of everything, but quite specifically wine to post a proper lucid blog post but as I am filled with good intentions I will do something in note form.

Awake earlyish (for me) to feed the animals as Ady was off to the larder to process venison. It is quite literally like a zoo with chaos reining until they are all fed and then blissful peace as they all munch on their breakfast. The pigs need feeding first as they may escape, then the chickens, ducks and geese (ducks need letting out as they are penned overnight so we can collect their eggs), while they are distracted I sneak off with the turkeys to feed them somewhere else in a covert manner – they are eating growers pellets rather than layers but also need to away from the others otherwise they get bullied away from their food. I did some egg collecting and pig watering and then came back up. Scarlett had joined me in her pjs as Bonnie had come back up to the static having got a shot to the nose from the pig fence and woken Tarly up.

Breakfast for kids while I washed up and we all chatted about plans for the day. I made some yoghurt and washed up a load of jam jars which had been kicking around in the kitchen for ages, then sorted out the kitchen cupboard. I had a form to print off and needed to sign up to companies house for directorship of IRCT so headed down to the trust office to do that. I met Ady along the way which I had been anticipating so we stopped to catch up and then he came up home while I carried on to the village.

Various things done I came home and we all had lunch together. Neil popped up for a cup of tea and chat about a couple of things in the afternoon. Ady brushed down the sporran which was covered in turkey and goose poo while I made bread, pastry and got the washing in. I then popped down to the polytunnel to do some watering and pick some salad. Dinner was quiche with our eggs and salad from the herb spiral and polytunnel along with Katy Salmon’s carrot salad. I have this tatty old blue notebook filled with recipes and where I got them from – lots of you are in there along with some recipes we gathered while travelling. Both children have asked me if they can have the book when I die!

Vikki came up for dinner and we had a really nice evening. The nights are drawing in and it’s dark not long after 9pm now which is a real culture shock. I reminded myself at 5pm that in just a few weeks it will be dark by then.

Knackered now so off to bed, but I blogged! 🙂

Bloody blimey the real world is a crazy full on place! And that was just Oban!

Last Monday morning had me at a skype meeting with the architect design team for the community bunkhouse, then home for lunch and last minute packing. In the middle of all that I had an email from the car club to say the car we’d booked was not available so would a smaller one be ok? Not really and for a brief while I thought we had no car booked at all but we made do.

Ady and I went to the pier to meet the ferry as some people were coming off. I had an email from them about 6 weeks ago to say they had been reading our blog for ages (since we were WWOOFing) and were coming to Scotland so thought they’d visit Rum and meet us. I’d said they could wild camp on the croft and use the compost loo and to get in touch when they had dates in mind. I then got an email to say they were arriving on Monday 19th for 6 days. This was not ideal as we were leaving on Monday 19th for two days plus we were coming home on the Wednesday with The Barts. Not really knowing how to put them off I’d explained we would not be here and would then have other guests but that it would be good to meet them anyway and we’d spend what time we could with them.

I walked back with Naomi and Dave while their kids took a ride with Ady up to the croft. We had a cup of tea with them, showed them where things were and then headed off to the pier. It was possibly the oddest feeling I’ve ever had waving off four total strangers stood on our croft as we drove away. I felt very uneasy and just wrong about the whole business.

The mainland was as it has always been on our trips off so far – stressy, busy, expensive and filled with too many logistics, schedules, appointments and duties. One day I’d like to go and not actually have anything specific to do. This was not that time though. Car collecting, drive to Fort William, dash to Lidl before it closed, dash to Morrisons for some food shopping for the morning, to McDonalds for dinner which was considered a treat by the other three, a sufferance by me 😉 then to the wigwam for the night. It was the one we had stayed in the night before we moved to Rum 18 months ago, the day we’d collected Bonnie and the last day of our old life. We were not expecting Corinne, the owner to remember us at all but she greeted us like old friends, had seen me on the telly the other week, exclaimed at Bonnie’s size, asked about our Pajero (she has one too) and was just so lovely and welcomming. It felt really nice to be made so at home there. 🙂

We unloaded everything from the car and had a fairly early night for us. Bonnie was not happy without her crate and was pretty restless and I had a really bad nights sleep on a single pillow, really struggling to wake up the next morning.

Into Fort William for a quick dash to Morrisons (we’d bought a really cheap little tent the night before reduced to a tenner which will be perfect for the odd camping trip here on island plus be emergency accommodation in the summer on the croft and then kicked ourselves for only buying one. We also picked up some lunch to eat in the car later), then a quick look around the charity shops in the town before going to the dentist which was the real reason for the trip.

Davies is fine, Ady is more or less fine, I have some issues with potential gum disease which I was aware of and is hereditary with my Mum having all sorts of dental problems, Scarlett has an issue with her bottom back teeth which have very little enamel. The dentist is considering extraction in the hopes the adult teeth around them grow to fill the gaps but is consulting with the orthodentist there ready for our next appointment.

That done we piled back in the car and drove to Oban. We’d heard it was bigger than Fort Bill which it is and had more shops which it does. It was really, really tourist busy and crowded and smelly and expensive and we hated it, not even lasting our paid 2 hours parking before we gave up. We did Tescos there and Aldi and then drove back to the wigwam to have dinner and a very early night. I repacked all the bags ready and Ady loaded the car up and the alarm was set for super early again for the next morning. Lovely Corinne gave us a huge discount, barely charging us for two nights what it should have cost for one 🙂 We left our email address as she may have some contacts for us for peacocks and a few other crofting things Ady and her were talking about.

We left slightly later than hoped and diverted off to Farm Foods on the way to get some frozen food. The ferry times meant that we didn’t manage to buy any fresh food at all and were very conscious of having The Barts with us for at least 3 dinners so copped out and went for frozen pizzas and sausages! The smaller car meant we had to have the last things on our laps so by Corpach I could no longer feel my thighs thanks to the block of heavy frozen food on my lap!

At Mallaig there was the usual fretting about getting all our freight on the ferry, getting the car swept out and returned to the parking space, the key back in the keysafe on the other side of the pier and then finding tickets to get back on the boat. Kirsty and I had spotted each other but the kids had not seen each other and we got on the boat last so they were all already installed when we got on. Our friend Izzy was also getting on the boat (she worked at the castle last year) as was Abby (castle staff member) and it was a really busy boat. I love feeling so at home on the ferry, chatting to the staff, knowing people getting on. As we were about to get off so Billy appeared – the builder who was so good to us last year lending us his mats to get the static up on to the croft so hugs all round there too.

As always the best part about going off is coming home and as the boat pulled in to Rum pier and Rum friends were waving and greeting us it just always feels so right :). Ady and James headed off in the car with all the stuff, the kids went off together and Kirsty and I walked up to the croft with Bonnie. We learnt that the Lock family had decamped to one of the Kabins after two very wet and windy nights camping in the croft.

A fab time as ever with The Barts. So enjoy their easy company and so proud of them for their fab adventures and travels this year. Very excited at the prospect of return visits and maybe even settling somewhere more northern than most of our other friends who all seem to migrating south these days 😉

Davies and Scarlett got on well with the Lock children and are hoping they may see them again. They left on Saturday morning having spent their daughters birthday here on Rum on the Friday. Off to Eigg to have a comparing the islands adventure over there.

The Barts stayed a bonus extra night til Sunday which was lovely, we did the Sheerwater trip which they’d missed last time they were here as it was cancelled due to bad weather and we saw many porpoises. It was a gorgeous day and the scenery was stunning. The kids managed some fishing and plenty of exploring along with lots of minecraft, dvd watching and a bit of lego-ing I think. Kirsty joined me and some other Rum folk for Crafternoon Friday at Fliss’ and we all got midged a fair bit.

We waved them off yesterday morning and went to Sunday Community Teashop to catch our breath a bit. I’d arranged to meet Emily (newest Rum resident, wife to Mel the castle manager) for coffee so hung on for that and had a lovely hour or so in the sunshine with Mel, Em, Vikki, Casey, Abby and Laura. Lots of laughter 🙂

Back home I started doing some stuff with the herb spiral but it suddenly got midgey and then Claire and her boyfriend Danny came up for a cup of tea so I stopped. I did have about an hour of dirt under my fingernails reconnecting with growing things though and did manage to pick a load of herbs to dry.

Dinner, film and some catching up online made for a later night than I’d planned.

Today has been equally full on and has me deciding to work out all the various things I have committed to do, what I want to do and divide up my time more efficiently so that I am not doing headless chicken impressions, achieving nothing and not doing any of the things I actually want to do like spend time with Davies and Scarlett and get an updated croft plan in place. Lots of venison stuff all done though which is good and I see my article as guest columnist has made it to the Scottish Islands Explorer 🙂

This week I am hoping to knock some of my heavy weighing job list on the head, spend some time bramble picking and actually get to enjoy some of that slower pace of life stuff I bang on about having moved here for!

Over a week? Surely not.

Not even going to attempt to catch up day by day then.

Weather – a mix of sunshine and rain, just like any other ten day period on Rum really. Midges have been having their last hurrah and out in force whenever the weather conditions conspire to make it suitable for them. Overcast, still days are their domain. Bright sunlight sees them off as does a breeze. Fortunately other than being massively annoying to the point it is literally impossible to work outside none of the four of us are badly affected by their bites. Small mercies…

Rum – All well. Sandy is back and laying low, we’ve not seen him at all and our friendship with Fliss is noticeably cool. Her and I locked horns last week over a community tractor purchase, I forsee future horn locking to come over various things but have high hopes that it will be done amicably and with affection even if we are never again as close as we were. I had a mad night with Sylvia last Wednesday when she read my runes. Well most of them… we started at 8pm and at gone 7am I left to weave my way home. I arrived back in the static exactly 12 hours after I’d left and met Ady coming down the croft hill to feed the animals as I meandered up it having only stopped drinking whisky at about 6am. I went to bed for 3 hours and got back up for the Sheerwater which felt very surreal. Suddenly lots more friendships seem to be opening up now it is widely known that we are not as close to Fliss and Sandy. It’s the last Market Day tomorrow and we have lots of venison processing booked with sales so far going really well. I’ve been tinkering with a website for it and sending out lots of emails locally promoting venison. What else? Erm lots of meetings for various things – bunkhouse, directors stuff, visitor management group, crofting things. Very busy. I’ve been foraging for raspberries whenever I can and have about four jars of jam stashed, the trouble is Ady eats it almost quicker than I make it so I need to find more foraging time. Erm not sure when that will happen…Kids are fine, have been spending lots of time outdoors flying kites, playing with Bonnie and I got them to sit for about an hour today in amoungst all the birds and do some spotting cocks and hens in the little chicks from Jinty which are about 4 weeks old now so quite easy to tell apart.

Scarlett had a chick up here for 3 nights, after one of the hens let two of her chicks die we rescued one that she was rejecting. I thought it was past the worst and Scarlett was amazing with it, taking it everywhere with her including down to the shop (very funny – the kids got into a pool match with some random tourists that were here walking, the tourists bought a load of drinks and sweets for the kids as prizes and made a huge deal of telling Ady and I what awesome kids we have 🙂 I think pool hustling may have to go on their CVs). The chick didn’t make it in the end, I suspect because although Scarlett was very attentive and we had it in a box with a hot water bottle we simply can’t replicate a brooder or a mother hen up here off grid. We were very successful at incubator hatching and then a brooder lamp back in Sussex but they need the light and heat and we just can’t pull that off up here. In some ways I think it was a blessing, I imagine Bonnie would have been very jealous of a beloved pet chicken. All of the other chicks are doing well – 12 from our own hens and over 20 from Jinty’s. We’ll keep another cock or maybe even two, fatten all the rest of the cock birds and keep the hens.

Gav and Laura have very reluctantly told us they’ll not be taking two of our piglets. It is for the best for them, they have taken on way too much. It briefly left us with a glitch in our planning for pigs but some research suggests breeding one of the girl piglets with Tom (her Dad) is okay so we’ll keep Scarlett’s favourite, the one she was getting upset about killing and eating. They are now 16 weeks old and should be ready to slaughter between 26 and 30 according to our pig book – between 36 and 40 according to ‘slow food’ sources. I think we will plan to kill the two wee boys first and let the other girl go as long as we can before needing to think about seperating her from Tom. More research needed, particularly specific to our breed of kune kune, Old Spot crosses.

The turkeys and geese are all fine and well and the mother with a duckling is now out and about although she has yet to venture down to the river with it.

We had an excellent night last Friday with a band here called Wingin It who were very good. Only complaint was that they didn’t play long enough but we all really enjoyed the evening and Davies had his first electric guitar lesson afterwards from Ross. He’s pretty good and seemed to pick it up quickly. I can enthuse about this with all the confidence of an off grid parent 😉

I think that’s a fair summary. Good intentions to return to daily blogging renewed once again.

Friday – Ady and I spent the day helping Gav and Laura mostly. We’d agreed to go over to Croft 2 for some concrete mixing at 9ish so having fed our animals and checked on the new chicks we headed over there. The first task was bringing up a big box they have built six of to construct the concrete pads to put the ringbeam on. Laura is now six months pregnant so stuff like that is out of bounds for her so while Gav bailed out water from the hole it was to go into Ady and I fetched the box. It was heavy but mostly just hard to carry because all the weight was on your hands or fingers, none of it able to be shouldered. My hands are still sore now, I should have used gloves.

That brought up we set about measuring stuff and trying to make a water level indicator gizmo work. It did work, perfectly well, it’s just that thanks to an optical illusion of the slope that the crofts are on we all failed to believe what it was telling us and insisted it was wrong. A knocked up beam with a spirit level which somehow we all had more faith in simply proved it to be right. Bonnie and Finn enjoyed playing together while the grown ups talked physics and then we broke for lunch and Ady and I returned to see Davies and Scarlett.

We had lunch and the kids were quite happy staying home drawing and playing lego so I went with Ady to the castle for his appointed meeting with the doctor to have an injection for his tennis elbow. The doctor was not there and it turned out he had gone without waiting for Ady. There are all sorts of problems with the locum service we currently have and we have just learnt that the practise which had pitched for the Small Isle medical practice has not managed to recruit sufficient GPs so is going to advertise again…. any GPs reading who love the highlands and islands…..? 😉

Ady and I hitched a ride with Gav to the pier where our car was as we were almost out of diesel so had decided to leave it there until it came on the boat. It was due but didn’t arrive. The gun from my Dad did though. Hoodies beware….

We came back up with Gav and sat chatting for a while before deciding no more was going to happen that day. Rather a wasted day really but it was nice spending time with Gav and Laura even if not a lot was achieved.

In the evening we all went down for a beer to the shop. Paul is back for 2 weeks to work his notice so was down with his two dogs and there was a good turn out of people including Mark and Doug the two seasonal ghillies from last year who are back now til Christmas. Our resident numbers have taken a real boost temporarily. A really nice evening down the shop with lots of people out. Home for pizza.

Saturday

Rain, rain, rain and rain. I had a very productive morning ticking all sorts of tasks off my to do list, mostly online stuff but all very worthwhile and good to have done and dusted. The kids both had showers and I brushed Scarlett’s hair which took about an hour. Aby sent me a message to say our diesel had finally arrived and was at the pier so after lunch during a dry weather window Ady and I walked down to the pier, filled the car up and brought it home again.

We fed the animals and I spent about an hour in the polytunnel looking at strawberry runners, sorting out the tomatoes and generally tidying things up in there. July and August are write off months in there as it is just too midgey and cleggy to do anything other than a speedy water but it all looks a little less neglected now.

Davies had been making some 3D minecraft characters out of paper so I helped him make them into marionette type puppets with some string.

We’re watching Black Books on dvd at the moment which the kids are really enjoying, adult moments aside, so we watched a couple of those.

Sunday – a rainy morning so while Ady nipped out between showers to do various things including some strimming and I popped out to pick some herbs to dry it was a lot of indoor stuff too. The kids carried on with their crafty stuff they’d been doing and I worked on the newsletter a bit.

The kids didn’t fancy going down for community teashop so Ady and I walked down on our own and sat with Gav and Laura chatting about off grid living and what you most miss (washing machine). The weather had totally picked up by the end so we walked home, collected the car and drove down to put a load of washing on. While it was on we picked raspberries around the village, which I brought back up and turned into 2 jars of jam straightaway. Squirrelling away supplies as we get them for tastes of summer through the bleak winter months ahead 🙂

I hung the washing out while Ady got the roast lamb joint cooking on the barbecue and fed the animals. I then sorted out the herbs to dry and finished crystalising some mint leaves and some borage flowers – very impressed with them, particularly the mint leaves. I also got the vegetables on and then had a brainwave to make a cheesecake for pudding as we had some soft cheese which needed using. I walked down to the shop to buy biscuits for the base and stopped for a beer as a few people were there. Then home to make the cheesecake and serve up dinner.

I managed to explode a half bottle of elderflower fizz all over the kitchen which was most amusing, if rather sticky.

Dinner was gorgeous, I don’t think we’ve had lamb since we moved here and it was lovely with freshly made mint sauce, followed by cheesecake.

It’s been a good week – 12 chicks hatched, all of the rehomed chicks from Ross and Jinty doing well and lots of productive stuff achieved along with TV and radio appearances of course… 😉

This morning Ady was helping Gav move lots of parts of their house that has been arriving over the last few weeks. It alternated between midgey and rainy so the kids and I hung out indoors. I had a couple of pressing things to do online (actually I have more than a couple but I did prioritising as Scarlett had particularly asked me to do some stuff with her). We did some chatting, some breakfasting and some doodling and stuff. I am ever reminded that the times they spend wanting to hang out with me are both slipping away and even more important than ever so try to put everything else aside. I don’t want to have invested so much in the early years only to blow it now, particularly when they are actually at their most interesting to spend time with stage ever.

We packed up lunch and headed down to meet Ady only to find him walking up to meet us. We checked on all the animals (seven hatched chicks so far, soooo cute!) and decided to take the car down to the pier and leave it there – we are almost out of diesel until more comes off the boat so rather than play roulette is made sense to just leave it there til it arrives. Plus it was raining and it meant we could leave Bonnie in the car with a walk at the end rather than in her crate at the static.

It was just us four and a family of three (small toddler) on the boat. They did lots of shy smiling at us and when she sat inside the undercover bit and breastfed the toddler I had a moment of awww-ness for small children but they didn’t chat so we didn’t either. Aside from a couple of porpoise spottings we saw nothing but as ever it is a nice two hours to do nothing but look at the sea and chat and I love it for that regardless of wildlife.

Ady and the kids and Bonnie headed for home while I walked along to Fliss’ to join Fliss and Casey for crochet. It was nice and Casey has picked up both knitting and crochet really quickly. Fliss had guests to feed (the BBC folk actually) so Casey and I left and went to her and Mike’s for a cup of tea and chat which was really good. I feel Casey and I have really clicked 🙂

We walked round to the hall for the RCA meeting which was fairly straightforward this month. Ady had come down too and we chatted with various folk after the meeting before heading for home and dinner time. The internet is crazy slow tonight but we just about managed to listen to me on the radio and watch me on the telly.

really I can!

Mad busy Wednesday today.

This morning I got stuff ready to take down to Market day and labelled up the herbs I’d picked and dried through the week. I had a plan to sell them for £1 a pack which feels a little like daylight robbery really but I thought it would be worth a punt and if not I’d use them for the actual purpose I’d grown them which was cooking with ourselves. I had ten packs in all – mostly mint, some rosemary, tarragon, oregano, basil.

We loaded the car up and headed down to the craft shop to collect stuff then round to the hall where Ady dropped me, the kids and the stuff off so I could set up and he went to meet the boat. The good news was loads of stuff came for us, masses of Amazon subscribe and save food things, animal feed delivery and fence posts, co op food shop and the petrol we were not expecting until Friday (which is good, petrol runs both our genny so means we have power and also our strimmer which means various jobs we want to do this week will get done, weather permitting), the bad news was that diesel, which we were hoping would have been here last week was still not here. The car is on the red light so probably has just one trip to the pier left. Eek.

I was setting up the Market Day and chatting to a couple of foreign tourists who have been buying our eggs from the honesty table and were a little starstruck to actually chat to me in person and talk about our travels and our plans (we have a poster up giving a bit of info about us for tourists at the croft gate). They have been here three days and love it having only otherwise been to Eigg, Fort William and Chichester, Sussex in the UK. Quite odd that they’d been 20 miles from where we came from and to here but nowhere else. So they were really interested in talking about our time travelling in 2011 and how different the culture and local areas can be in different parts of the mainland UK.

I like talking to tourists 🙂 Particularly when they buy six loaves of my bread 🙂

Then it was all change as Ady came to take over the market stall and I went to join a board meeting. Gav had volunteered to help Ady and then Mark the Irish Ghillie who had arrived on the boat joined them as did Neil so the four of them sat there chatting to tourists and selling home baking and crocheted items 🙂 They did well, I eavesdropped a bit and they were excellent at welcomming people to Rum and telling them that the shortbread was ‘to die for’ 😆

Meanwhile the board meeting went ok – I had to do a couple of bits on my volunteer program vision and the most recent developments in Visitor management group meetings and I got vocal about road charges. It was generally a good meeting though. Midway Sarah interupted us to say that the scheduled TV filming for tomorrow which I’d agreed to was actually happening today if I could fit it in.

So once the board meeting was over I went outside into midgey hell and was interviewed for TV and radio about the castle and it’s future. That should be going out on radio tomorrow morning and TV tomorrow evening on Reporting Scotland. Midges aside it went fine.

I had a quick chat with Sarah (SNH boss) and then we packed up to go home. I’d done well at Market Day with £20 bread sales and all my herbs sold. More herbs need drying and packing ready for next week!

Back at home we unloaded all the shopping and put stuff away which took ages, the kids watched a DVD which had come in the post and I cooked dinner. I’m glad the TV stuff is already done, it means tomorrow actually looks almost quiet with just the Sheerwater and some crochet and chat on the schedule.

Hmm, the ten day thing is not great blogging.

A mad, mad week last week. Wednesday was Market Day which had me sitting with Ali selling stuff and Ady round at Sandy’s on the phone to the doctor persuading him that Sandy needed to be collected from the island and taken to the mainland for proper medical attention for his finger which was now seriously infected. Eventually at 11pm the coastguard boat came and took him away. This was a thoroughly exhausting day for both of us and led to conversations regarding how the time has come to extricate ourselves from Fliss and Sandy’s lives and focus back on us again. There is a difference between being a good friend and getting sucked in to someone else;s life to the point that you are prevented from living your own.

Thursday and Friday had Ady at the larder processing deer to make venison. The kids and I did the Sheerwater trip without him as he was not finished. On the Friday we met the Screen Machine off the boat for it’s overnight visit to Rum. More dashing about on behalf of Fliss and Sandy as Fliss had arranged to put Ian the driver / operator up at their house. A conversation by email about making up beds, ironing sheets, topping up tea and coffee etc was probably the final straw after a conversation with Davies about how he felt we were putting Fliss and Sandy above him and Scarlett – the wake up call I think we needed.

The cinema was how all good cinema should be, absorbing, enthralling, captivating and thought provoking. We saw Epic which was mediocre in my opinion and The Great Gatsby which was haunting and powerful. I felt very uncomfortable with having Davies and Scarlett there for Gatsby and really welcommed the fact that I walked home from the pier with them and Bonnie while Ady helped clear up the Screen machine, which is a bit like a micro machine or transformer as a big lorry converts into a proper air conditioned cinema. We talked it all through and processed all the film had to offer before getting home and having the latest of all late dinners.

I was up super early to sit on the boat for the four hour round all the islands trip to Eigg. I sat with Sean as far as Canna and was then on my own. I had my kindle and the view and made the most of both spending time inside and out wildlife spotting and taking photographs as I was treated to a view of Rum’s coastline I’d not seen before.

The meeting was the Small Isles Community Council of which I am now a member and representative for Rum. It was the AGM at which I was elected and appointed and we covered accounts for the previous year, doctor / medical provision, ferry stuff and other island related things. It was interesting and I like Camille and Alex who are the Eigg reps. I met Ewan who is the Muck rep too which was good. I had lunch, a pint of cider, a poke around the craft shop and some quick hugs with various Eigg folk which was all good. Then got back on the ferry for the four hour or so return trip back to Rum via all the islands going the other way.

There were loads of minke whales and some close puffins, which along with the stunning scenery and constant yet every changing view of Rum as we went around three quarters of the way around it’s coastland made for a lovely trip.

Home to cook dinner and collapse a little.

Sunday was our second go at Community Teashop. We’d taken it on by default as no one else was available and though I was close to wiped out we decided to do it. Despite some early stresses it all went well and we took over £100 which is excellent. The final straw of a couple of guests arriving for Fliss and Sandy’s B&B which Ady and I had to deal with (make up beds, show them where everything was in the house so they could self cater etc.). This finally decided me that we need to extricate ourselves from such a close relationship.

We had dinner at Vikki’s which was lovely, a really nice end to what had been a chaotic and stressy week.

Monday – the kids and I had planned to do shearwater monitoring up the hill with SNH but when we arrived to set off we were told it was just too hot and midgey up the hill so were offered the chance to help move a pregnant Rum pony plus a recently delivered foal and her mother instead. This was a pretty good substitute so we did that instead.

In the evening we called round to Fliss’ to welcome her home and have the slightly tricky conversation about why we just can’t be leaned on quite so much any more. I feel a bit, well okay a lot mean having reached a point where we were a very big crutch for them but quite aside from protecting our own time, energy and family life above all else I actually don’t think we were really helping in the scheme of things anyway.

Tuesday was a lovely day. We achieved loads on the croft, I did oodles of baking and preparing for Market Day while the kids hung out with me and it was just all very perfect and totally what we came here to do.

Wednesday was Market Day. Fliss joined me and all seems well. She is clear not to be taking any favours off us and possibly a bit extreme in that but I’d rather that than feeling as though I am constantly mopping up after her. It was a slow-ish day but a nice feeling in the hall.

Thursday was Shearwater – we saw loads and loads of birds and a few porpoises. Casey came and I chatted lots to her. On the way home I foraged some raspberries and turned them straight into jam. That always pleases me lots 🙂 In the evening we painted pebbles ready for Midgefest on Saturday.

Friday morning was BBC Alba coming to film us on the croft. They were with us for ages and took loads of footage about the croft and us. They loved the kids and have been back in touch since to ask if Davies and Scarlett are up for them pitching about their life to a CBBC documentary show. They have said yes.

In the afternoon I went down to Fliss’ and we were joined by Casey for the resurrection of Friday knitting and crochet.

Mike and Casey came for pizza Night in the evening which was lots of a fun and a Very Late Night Indeed.

Saturday was Midgefest – we had some kids crafts, some kids games and a quiz in the evening, all pretty low key and not highly attended but a fun day nonetheless. We headed for home after the quiz as Scarlett was coming down with a cold and we were all pretty wiped out from the night before.

Sunday was Community teashop by Mike and Casey so we wandered down to buy some bits from them before coming home for roast dinner and watching Life of Pi which we all enjoyed.

Monday – in the morning after Popmaster Ady and I called down to the village as I needed to do some printing at the trust office. We collected some more hen and chicks from Jinty’s (we have rehomed more of their chickens – two hens and 24 chicks!) and brought them back up, had lunch, all spent some time puzzling over the best way to pen around our chicken coop as we have three broody hens sitting on nearly 30 eggs too and then put the first posts in for our fruit cage.

Down to the village for Monday beer and collecting the veg order before coming home for dinner and me starting to go down with Scarlett;s cold.

Today I had a Visitor Management Group meeting all morning, then home for lunch. We were planning to finish the fruit cage but the kids lobbied us to eat popcorn adn watch a film with them which seemed a far better use of our time in the scheme of things so we did.

Afterwards I walked down to the village with the kids to deliver eggs, put some information packs in the Kabins and pick up something from the shop, then home to make onion marmalade and some pizzas that Claire has ordered from me for tomorrow.

And finally I’m up to date, Much glossed over, much missed out, but ready to start again tomorrow with a clean up to date slate 🙂

In the middle of it all a couple arrived to stay in the B&B having been booked in by Sandy during his drunkenness. More dashing round to change beds, pacify misinformed people and mopping up after Fliss and Sandy. This about sealed the deal for us and prepared us for declining further favours.

A lovely evening at Vikki’s where we’d been invited for dinner and had a good time AND dinner cooked for us.

Monday was supposed to be going up Hallival to check on Shearwater chicks but it was so hot and still that it was declared dangerous for us to take the kids up so instead we got to move the mother pony and her newborn foal and their pregnant companion into the castle field. This entailed making friends with all of them and then leading them through the village to the field. Davies led the pregnant mare, Scarlett spotted for the pony and I mostly took photos. Scarlett utterly fell in love and it was a really nice afternoon.

I slept in til past 10am today which is crazy late even for me. I must have needed it.

Today we have finished sewing mesh to the sides and top of the bird cages so that the ducklings are protected and we are ready for collecting a mother hen and her chicks from Jinty and keeping them all safe from hoodies. Moved said mother and ducklings into their new cage.

Let the turkeys have their first taste of free ranging. They all went straight into the pigs run, meandered down to the croft gate and then stayed there til Ady brought them back up again. They now have no roof on their pen and we are fingers very crossed that they’ll be fine.

Mrs Broody Hen 1 and 2 are sitting on 25 eggs between them. We want to grow our flocks so have marked all the eggs and will see what happens. We are currently at 11 chickens, 8 geese, 8 ducks, 8 turkeys so getting close to the Defra registration at 50 birds once we get Jinty’s hen and chicks.

Ady and I picked a load of raspberries which I brought home and turned straight into a jar of jam. First of the season, foraging forever!!

We didn’t go and see Sandy at all, we’re staying away on the basis that either way we are not helping him or us. This feels harsh but self preservation has kicked in.

I batch cooked loads and loads of flatbreads to sell tomorrow at Market Day. If I don’t sell them I can freeze them for next week. Either is fine as it means I have sold loads or have less work to do next week 🙂 The plan is for all four of us to hang out for Market Day tomorrow which will be nice and may net us some cash.

Vikki came up to talk about Midgefest and brought coke and crisps and helped with the bird pen sewing for a while. Funny how everyone who comes up has offered to help with that task. I am very ready to do some volunteer leading 🙂

Tonight we had crab fishcakes for dinner from our donated crab from Marcel yesterday. I am very excited at the idea of foraging and gathering food.

which has since turned into 11 and gotten oh so much crazier but I liked the intended title for last nights blog post so I’m sticking with it!

Not going to attempt to catch up really so will do some soundbites.

Mum & Dad – had a great visit. Five days and nights. As ever it is lovely to see them, fab to spend time with them and a relief when they pack up again and go home. They have our bedroom which given they have funded so much of our adventure so far I would never begrudge them. I just wish they’d spend more time actually using it! Dad seems on a mission to spend every waking moment with us when he’s here and then a sort of super mission to make every moment a waking one! The first night was 3am, the second 5am and so on… I think 2am was the earliest to bed we were for the duration.

My Dad particularly is having some sort of life changing epiphany where he is aware of his mortality and desperate to live every moment to the full. He loves Rum, adores the river at the foot of the croft, is totally unfazed by the lifestyle in terms of water, electric and so on as it is not that far from his childhood home and he gets a real kick out of our animals, spending loads of time down with the birds and pigs.

We didn’t really leave the croft while they were here, they are not particularly interested in the rest of Rum, in meeting the rest of the people here or in exploring but that’s fine. We did lots of lovely home cooked food which is far from their usual fayre, let them do looking after livestock and crops with us, Mum helped trim the willow, Dad helped secure the bird pens and they both spent lots of time with Davies and Scarlett.

We waved them off on Wednesday which was a mad crazy day – I’d spent lots of Tuesday baking ready for Market Day and have gone for high end fancy schmancy breads to sell alongside my midges in resin and moods of Rum scarves. I made flat breads with pesto and mozzarella, tomato, olive and herbs or mushroom and garlic. I over-made with the intention of freezing stuff for next week but ended up selling out of everything and also selling three scarves which meant I took the best part of £100 making it my best day ever! Ady came down too as there was a ‘meet the candidates’ event with the 6 short listed people for the Reserve Manager job coming over to see Rum before their formal interview the following day.

We waved off Mum and Dad and Thursday was spent in a bit of a recovering daze including a lovely Sheerwater trip where we didn’t see any cetaceans but had a great birdwatching trip seeing arctic skuas, the first guillemot chick of the year, lots of rafts of shearwaters and the usual kittiwakes, shags and gannets.

I cannot recall what we did on Friday, it seems way too long ago! But Saturday was the Small Isles Games and Rum was the host. It was a fabulous day all round, amazing weather, hundreds of people, fab food, great games (axe throwing, bungee run, wellie wanging etc). Scarlett came second in the kids hill race, Ady rocked at axe throwing, I was consistently poor at everything remotely sporting but thoroughly enjoyed myself nonetheless 🙂 Ady and I nipped home to feed animals and for me to get changed (I’d spilt ketchup down my top from the barbecue) and then back to the evening ceilidh which was equally amazing with a fab band. We left after midnight due to being responsibile parents and all 😉 Word on the street is that the party didn;t stop until well into daylight hours 🙂

Yesterday was a slower day = Ady helped with hall cleanup, we took down the marquee and generally recovered. I do have lots of photos of the games which I will upload soon.

Today was overshadowed by Sandy who is here having been left behind by Fliss and the girls. I have neither the energy or the inclination to go into the Fraser household politics but it is quickly becomming a friendship I could live without…

Market Day today so after Popmaster Ady and I loaded up the car to head down to the village. Ady set off ahead of me as I was still sorting the kids out and faffing with floats and notepads and pens. He met me coming back to help carry some of the large load I had, having started the car and left Bonnie in it. The back door was open but the front doors were locked, Bonnie must have pushed the door lock buttons as she often does. Just as I said ‘the doors are locked’ Ady slammed the back door shut. So we had Bonnie, locked inside the car, with the engine running. Ady was all for forcing down a window but I sent him to fetch the spare set of keys from the static instead, knowing there was every chance the window would get broken or wedged down. Precious minutes but better than hasty action we’d later regret.

We finally arrived and I left Ady sorted out post office stuff and heading to meet the ferry while I set up the table with stuff I’d taken and Fliss had brought round from the Craft Shop. Ady met the ferry and returned – I sent him to collect a few more bits from the Craft Shop including Davies’ postcards that Fliss had not brought round and then he headed off.

I had a really strong start, selling one of my large loaves and various flatbreads and cheese scones along with a couple of Davies’ postcards. I enjoyed chatting to the various tourists that came in and had a long chat with Ali’s Mum who is over visiting too. I didn’t sell masses, I took just under £20 but it was a nice few hours and I like Market Day for the sitting and talking to people and feeling like part of the attractions of Rum. Next week more bread products and a better way of displaying my midge jewelery is in order. Davies and I are ordering him more postcards tomorrow as he is close to sold out and needs to replenish stocks asap. Scarlett also needs to get some more seaglass stuff made too.

Davies and Scarlett came down just as the Zombie Science show was about to start – a spoof lecture about what to do in the event of zombie apolcalypse which is really just a government funded lecture on health and safety in the event of a pandemic outbreak of a virus promoting hygiene and clinical medical trials but was lots of fun and highly enjoyed by the student group who are over and Davies and Scarlett. Claire had done a Zombie themed teashop with dismembered finger toasties and some frozen jelly in rubber gloves on offer which went down well.

Zombie lecture and teashop over I helped Fliss set the Craft Shop back up and then the kids and I walked home. Davies and I fed the animals and watered the polytunnel and then it was time for us all to go back down to the hall for the zombie lecture again. It was a really good one this evening with more islanders out and lots of banter. We stayed later chatting to the guy doing it and then came home for a very late dinner.

Ady and I watched The Apprentice on iplayer and it’s suddenly a very late bedtime indeed.