Ive gotten into a tangle with online stuff – I have a really long list of things I want / need / really must do and with limited online time I end up doing none of it and aimlessly filling time instead. Must be more disciplined about working through stuff in chunks but don’t want to let blogging slip really.
Yesterday we had hoped to get to Kilmory to see more of the deer rut and I’d even asked for permission to drive there but when we called down to Fliss and Sandy’s on Saturday they said they’d pop up on Sunday for Sandy to plan the static skirting which is our top priority just now so we decided to hang on for that instead. We should really have checked a time with them though as in the end they didn’t come up until nearly 5pm so we could have gone to Kilmory after all.
We all spent the whole day outside though, enjoying glorious sunshine and beautiful blue skies. Ady and I moved all the wood from the other side of the river onto the croft – certainly felt we’d been working yesterday with aching knees and bruised shoulders from carrying wood -like being WWOOfers again! Which reminds me, another job is to write an article for the WWOOFing magazine again, I did a big article for the Spring issue and they want another for the autumn one, shame it’s not paid writing work!
Davies and Scarlett spent lots of time outside too, playing down by the river and running about with Bonnie. These are the days we hoped for at the end of last year when WWOOFing was coming to a close and earlier this year when it was so tough living with Mum and Dad and not knowing where we’d end up. Our own space, freedom to enjoy it and the knowledge that these good days more than make up for the challenging ones.
Ady and I walked down to the village and back and Fliss and Sandy were here when we got back. Tea and chatting – Fliss and I planning a crochet group, reading group and other such dark evening fillers for Rum residents, Sandy and Ady measuring the static and planning the skirt to go around it.
They headed off and I got our dinner on, then passed the baton to Ady to carry on with it. I meant to have a far earlier night than I managed but I got distracted by photo perusing for the 50 things blog post I’m writing for WW.
Today – Sandy was due up here at 930am so everyone was up and ready. I’d planned to help if needed but actually I was more use supplying a ready stream of cups of tea and keeping Davies and Scarlett occupied so I fulfilled one of my long intended activities and got out a book from the bookcase and spent about six hours reading to them all snuggled up together on the sofa instead :). We are almost all the way through Twist of Gold (Morpurgo) which is excellent. We all three really miss such times and rarely seem to capture them these days so it was lovely to sit in the sunshine watching the progress of Ady and Sandy outside while reading to the kids.
The skirt on the right hand side is done, all of the pallets which had been laid out as a sort of decking have been nailed together as a solid plinth and a platform is now up between the two doors to create a veranda. It is fantastic and means we have a lovely place to sit outside and survey our view. Love it :). More still to do with the rest of the skirt and Sandy has some further grand plans to carry out. We’re putting ourselves in his hands really, he has the vision and the skills and is enjoying doing it too so Ady will labour for him and we’ll end up owing favours back but hopefully we’ll be left with something vastly improved to what we had before.
I went down to meet the boat and get a handover from Chainsaw Dave who is off today so Ady is doing the boats on Wednesday and Friday. We have all sorts of ferry disruption at the moment as the normal ferry is off for it’s annual service and the stand in boat runs at different speeds and capacities. Vikki came back so I ran her home and went in for a cup of tea and quick chat. Jinty had collected my shopping as that meant I missed the boat so I whizzed along to the shop to collect it from her and then the kids and I staggered up the hill with it. 18 loo rolls, 2tubs of chocolates, 6 pints of long life milk, 4 tins of soup, 6 jars of pasta sauce, 6 jars of curry sauce, 6 litres of vegetable oil. 2 whole chickens, a bottle of brandy, 2 bottles of kitchen surface spray, 2 large bottle of mayonnaise and a 12 pack of crips. I think we did well to manage that up our hill in one go! 🙂 Go me and my Sarah Connor arms ambitions!
I made lunch for everyone and then we read more book until it was time for Sandy to head off. His car wouldn’t start so Scarlett and I fed the animals and then went to collect our fruit and veg (more staggering up the hill with very heavy bags) leaving Ady and Sandy to it. When we got back an hour later it had been abandoned and Sandy had walked home. Ady and I jumpstarted his car and then I followed Ady back in it to get it home to them. Final walk up the hill in almost pitch dark carrying the fruit and veg.
My shower tonight was well deserved, as was dinner and the fire on with a hot water bottle I am now enjoying. I plan a small glass of pretend Lidls own baileys before retiring as we’re meeting the Ranger down in the village at 8am for some bird ringing before another full day of carpentry.