Its a hard life for a Peedie dog

The wind and the weather are back to being utterly vile again, deep joy. However, they don't appear to be bothering Peedie the cairn too much today, I tried to find him for a walk............ I have no idea how he got that cover (my nice one) over him!

Crazy daisy weather.....

Its that time of year again - everything is bursting into life - crazy daisy weather! The nights are so light so long - and then light again so early sunrise at 4am, sunset at 10.20pm - soon we'll be out at midnight reading the paper in the twilight - its very surreal! Everything growing like crazy out there!

Doesn't Peeide look lovely and happy - here he is at the edge of my crop (willow), or should I say my old crop frolicking in the daisies. Excuse the late post - I'm not sleepy - I'm all at sixes and sevens - I've just finished my pesky thesis write up - but having gone from crazy busy to job done two copies in the post to the University in the 'sooth'. Now what? Um, tidy up desk - wait for the oral exam (viva) - file everything 'willow' related in a lot of files and put them on a shelf............feels really wierd - my poor crop, I'll miss thinking about it (in a good way). We've gone through alot together over the past 4 years, but I'll bore you about all of that another day. I'll even miss the cutting, lugging samples around and weighing and measuring it all over and over and over again lots of times! Me and the salix have become quite good buddies over the past wee while.



Always good at helping with botanical field work - um, are those my fieldsheets peedie????

Having come vaguely out of my post write up haze - I've had a look around the house (which needs a huge clean!) and apart from that it currently looks like an explosion in a garden centre. Plants on windowsills everywhere - some planted up, some not planted up (many).  The gardens not in any state to have anything out there and the past week or so of really bad winds have even trashed the shallots I planted out. I never learn - here you don't plant anything out until June. Oh, its june, rats - I'll have to get going soon I've a garden to sort out for planting up!

The veggie patch to be - getting there in Januray, but more work needing done.

I did a recky around the house with a cup of peppermint tea...........to survey the carnage and the indoor vegetation situation. It's alot like this:

Indoor chilli having a shower to get rid of aphids last year - got a good crop from it though!

The utility room has plugs of melons, tomatoes, jalapenos, rosemary from seed and wandering spider plants.

The kitchen a tray of 8 physalis desperate to pot up, big pot of chives, window box of coriander, pot of sage, rosemary, spider plant babies, eucomis, spring onions and some random cuttings of a plant I don't know the name of.

Downstairs sunny room (dining room) - bursting with chillis (7 types), tomatoes (2 types), various cuttings.

Downstairs bath room - ginko tree, purple hazel tree, birch, fig, a chilli on the naughty step (it has aphids) and a wandering spider mummy, 9 cucumbers in the bath (they aren't bathing, just having a rest in there)

Gamerboy bedroom - one tub of tomatoes one mixed lettuce

Cellist hasn't let in on her window sills yet - I'll break in soon and leave a couple window boxes in there

Upstairs loo - italian flat leaf parsley but only a small pot - very small windowsill

Living room/Conservatory upstairs - 9 window boxes of tomatoes - one of basil (on its 5th hair cut), one cucumber with an almost ready cucumber (go Horatio!) on it and one window box of strawberries.

My bedroom windowsills are as yet un planted - need to get on with that one!

Last years sage from a windowsill grown pot - then it got rehomed to a friend - for her to plant outside - it doesn't survive in my garden outside unfortunatley. But makes a nice house plant!

I'm thinking I'm needing to get this polytunnel up and soon - I've started to make a few enquiries about the things I need (ground posts and a cover) - I'll need to do a bit of saving/paid work - cover will be £300, the ground posts I might get here (or something that will do) - but the delivery for the cover is over £120 + vat  to get the cover here as we're an island - but I'll have to try and fathom a plan to get it delivered to scotland (only £20 delviery from the polytunnel company) and then get it over here by a local courier - which should be another cost but hopefully cheaper than the figure quoted by the company in England.

My own tunnel  is recycled from a man in Orkney who inherited a house with two and wanted one of the them to go to a good home - this is hopefully a good home  -  and it will look a bit like that! How cool?!

Fingers crossed we get something sorted soon! Otherwise the plants will take over the house more than they are already. I had put out a thyme and it has got trashed in the wind, not sure it will come back to life - very sad. Thankfully the rosemary, sage, chives, parsley, basil and coriander are all inside - they'd not stand a chance out there at the mo. Not if I want anything from them in the way of leaves.

However, its not all windowsill growing, I've made a tiny start to the outside garden - and I've decided to put my money where my mouth is - I'm going for a total flower/vegetable take over out there too. I've got 'potato onions' in my main central flower bed, planted up with calendula, and I think I'll put carrots inbetween them all. I'm planting a new willow hedge to replace the dead fushia and flowering currants - so inbetween the cuttings I'm putting Ailsa craig onions grown from seed, lettuce, beetroot and maybe something else. I can't grow courgettes/squashes outside - so I think I'll try them in a fishbox cold frame until I can get them into the tunnel - if that happens in time this year...........otherwise I'll have to do without, its pointless with the wind - they'd not last a day out there, or of course I can grow on the windowsill - like the tomatoes.  But I'm running out of room!

Until then, I'll get on with potting up and filling the windowsills to bursting - and trying to get the bits organised for the polytunnel - no wonder I'm not sleepy - how exciting with that be? Very soon infront of that house (this side) will be a polytunnel! Can't wait until the view changes and the vegetation in the houve leaves the buidling for thier very own compound!

As for me - I'll have to learn to channel this bound up this post-post-grad energy into something else wont I? My first task was to repaint my toe-nails - long overdue - and a bit girly eh? I went for a suitable colour and tried my new toes out on the crazy daisy garden!

 

Taking a monkey for a walk

Peedie the cairn, clearly wanting a walk!

Here is another day with snow - and a monkey (Peedie pup) who needs or has decided he wants a walk. He's already waiting for me at the bottom of the track, he's got snow on his snozzle and goes a bit bonkers in the snow. Our track goes down to the beach or up to the road - its about 1/4 of a mile, not too far.

The track up to the road

The track changes alot over the year - but it does look very different at this time of year under the snow. In the spring its daffodils, the summer its wildflowers and in the autumn firely orange crocrosmia(Monbreitia) lines the way home. There are a rose a honeysuckle and a fushia half way down the track, but not evidence of them at the moment they are fast asleep. At the top of the track on our house sign we've attached some bouys we found on the shore - helps us to find the road end when we are driving and they look quite pretty, especially with the snow on the bouys today........

Part of the recycling from the beach!

There are normally cows in the field by the track, but they've all gone into the byres (sheds) for the winter to keep them nice and warm. Anyway here we are up at the top of the track on the main road - not much happenning up here today - everywhere is white and the children are sleeping as its a snow day! Getting the car out has been a bit tricky, so we've only been making trips that we really have too, after a couple of days we've managed to work out how to get out safely.

Now we are at the main road, where do we go now?

Peedie is having a look at the options - its a 2.5 mile walk to the main road into town from here, doesn't look like he wants to walk to town. The ferry to Hoy (the island in the distance) is the other option if he wants a longer walk, but today he's not too keen to go anywhere, he's just having a look. Everything looks so pretty in the snow and its very crunchy underfoot. Those clouds though look like they might be full of another down pour of snow, time for home I think! We turn around and he romps off back down the track.

Our track end, recycled bouys decorate it nicely.

I like living here - one way we can walk to the beach, if we don't want to go to the beach we can walk up the road and look at the hills, look at the birds - today I've seen several pheasants, curlew, rooks, starlings and rabbits and hares in the field by the house. Today my wellies are ankle deep in snow - I don't mind this as normally at this time of year they are covered in mud as its so wet! Time to catch up with the puppy whos trying to chase snowballs - bouncing around like a real little monkey!

Up to my ankles in the white stuff!

Adventures.....The Hermitage, Dunkeld

Off for a walk at the Hermitage in Dunkeld under the bridge, Peedie the cairn terrier is waiting for us to start!

We like to go off on adventures, often in wellies - the whole family do - when we were away last week we feasted on many special places we enjoy - one of them in on the A9 which heads northwards - The Hermitage, Dunkeld it's special to both me and my partner and my children - all for different reasons. What a glorious place for a walk with my partner and with the other good friend in my life 'Peedie' the cairn terrier when the children were away visiting their Dad, who does live with us anymore.

On the way into the woodland - Peedie the cairn terrier leads the walk into the hermitage dunkeld

Getting out of the car park and off through the bridge.....first stop its to scuff our way through the leaves - it's glorious in autumn here - and in the spring time - this area, just through the bridge is a riot of snowdrops. Peeide leads the way to keep us on our toes.



Going through into the forest, The Hermitage Dunkeld

When I was younger my Granpa and I would go here on one of our adventures with Grannie and her dog; Toyah. It was always a treat to go into the forest, look at the giant trees and Granpa would talk about the walk upto the waterfall with the goblins and trolls which lived under the bridge, wondering if we would see them. If you were lucky and they were around the left you a sweetie -  but first we needed to go through the wood of the giant trees......... 

A beautiful place to have a sit and a think, The Hermitage Dunkeld

When I go here - I remember so many fun times - too many all muddled into one - here's the bench I put my bike against last time I went with my partner and the dog and the bikes. It's where Hazel threw her first snowball, Jamie made is first sword, we've walked with many friends in the wood and Peedie who's from Orkney, where there are not many trees, had one of his first ever walks in the forest. It's a special place to us all even though these days it's 200 miles away.

Autumn colour in The Hermitage, Dunkeld from the beech tree wood, mixed in with the douglas fir trees

One of my favourite times of year is the autumn - I love the colours, the swishing of the leaves on the ground and walking through them crunching away - I love the way the leaves fall like snow all colourful and bright.

Bridge by the waterfall, The Hermitage Dunkeld

Here's the very bridge the trolls would leave sweets when I was little (Granpa told me!) - to tempt you to stay, so they could fatten you up to keep you on there longer and feed you up ready to eat you when you toppled over the bridge looking into the waterfall - they never ate us - we were always too quick - maybe it was Granpas way of keeping us going on our walk, keeping it interesting!

Looking from the bridge, The Hermitage, Dunkeld

The waterfall is amazing - there is a 'folly' built just up from the bridge where you can stand and hear the full noise of the waterfall when you are up above it - truly amazing - well worth a visit - especially in the autumn for the colour - but at any time of year it's beautiful - it's a small walk - 1/4 of a mile maybe - but magical all the way.

The waterfall end at The Hermitage, Dunkeld

You can't imagine the beauty of the place - the smell and the sounds - a favourite adventure of ours when on the mainland to recharge the soul and of course to collect a pile of cones for the fire! After a big adventure of course the pup needs a big drink!  

A lovely drink later in the car park for Peede the cairn terrier, The Hermitage, Dunkeld

We'll go back again at Xmas - we always call in, it connects me to my Grandparents and my partner to his family - lucky we've this special place in common together and from before we met. My children love it too and when they were little - the sweets magically arrived on the bridge for them too! But, we were always too fast for the trolls to get us when we looked over the bridge to the waterfall..................



An adventure in odd socks......................

I've mentioned odd socks before haven't I? A family favourite more fun if they don't match

I think we often forget why we are doing the harder things in life and sometimes a bit of a change of  scene helps. We're trying hard to be very frugal, grow our own, home cooking, making extra pennies to make sure we can live in a breathtaking place. Whilst its beautiful here, it's often hard work, weather is harsh and often we feel isolated; although working hard in a busy town can make you feel very isolated as well. Maybe now and again we need a bit of a rekindling of our spirits by looking at things from a different angle to get them into perspective. I'm a great one for a change of scene to recharge the batteries - although I often forget to have one - too much to do, not enough time, can't manage this weekend - how often do we tell ourselves that?

Anyway, thankfully my partner is more of a 'why not' or a 'why don't we' person - so he's often planning those last minute adventures to make you remember why you're alive and working so hard. Here's one we all had lately, it sees him booking a trip away on a Friday night for us all, with instructions for an early to bed! We're bleary eyed and straight into the car the next morning to hop on the ferry a bit nervous as the weather does not look good! But, all fine and we're off the other side in mainland scotland and after a bit of a drive over the top of the north coast, we arrive at the beach, where the socks came off and the toes got wet!

To start the adventure for a stretch of the legs, we had a tramp here - a beach I've been before but new to my family! Its nice to share it with them. Beaches feature heavily in our lives, so when away we try to get some new ones in too. But I have to say, what a funny name for a beachm my gaelic is not very good and how beautiful!

Ceannabeinne Beach (Translated the name means 'the beach of the burn of the old woman')

Not long until the feet are naked and enjoying the texture of the lovely warmish beach. Beaches are one of our favourite places, we go almost everyday at home - this one is new to my family - I've been before they are free - we can run around, walk, talk, shout and have fun for not even a penny.  



Beach graffitti - never lasts long!

A bit of wave jumping before lunch, always works up an apettite........

When did you last do something silly? We try everyday!

Wave jumping is to be encouraged at all ages - when was the last time you did it? My last wave adventure was a week ago. Peedie is not very keen on the water, but does love the beach - he gets to run about like a lunatic!

Peedie the cairn terrier on the beach.

We were dragged away from the beach, but this was followed by drive down the coast to look at the mountians. Then a walk in the forest to explore of some very tall trees, we think they belong to giants. Hazel is way up high looking for them, Peedie can't spot them either but he normally looks for sandwiches when out exploring.

Giant hunting in the forest.........

I'm collecting pine cones for the fire at home - I always take a bag (or two) to the forest - cones make an excellent firestarter and they are free. Before they get burnt they dry out at home in a basket giving the smell of the forest to the house. I like forests, we don't have them at home, well not as big as this one! The giant redwoods stood all around, like, well, giants!! We didn't find any giants but we did find this little chap - how lovely - a quick photo and then let him off on his adventures again.

 

Next we arrive at our destination Ullapool in the north west of scotland! And, here's the view from our fun adventure weekend, mountians and water and its just breathtaking. We planned the trip to places we miss seeing when we are on our little island, mountains and forests we miss very much, beaches we have a home and are always a treat!

Best of all the adventure was largely free (aside a tank of petrol and money for fish, chips and lemonade) we minimise our everyday spending by being as frugal as possible to be able to have these lovely treats every now and again to feed our our souls..................................... and faces.  Of course now we're here, its time for our favourite treat - fish and chips at a little pub in Ullapool  washed down with some lemonade!

Hens!

I know it's been a while, I'm trying to get better at updating - its been six months since we moved back into stickland and we've acquired one of my favourite assets - HEN's!! We've six of them and after a few weeks of settling them in they've rewarded us with an egg each a day since - every single day.  Ours cost £5 each and have already saved us alot of money in home fresh eggs. You can generally get hens locally, from a local farm, enthusiast or you can rescue hens from battery hen farms (http://www.bhwt.org.uk/) there are many other sites that might be able to help you if you're interested in hens. We lived too far away to get any of those we had to 'order' our hens when a delivery of hens was due on the island in early summer. Very exciting waiting for the 'hen call'. Thankfully, the call came the day we returned from France and couldn't have been more perfect. I've kept hens before - but have bought 'keeping chickens for dummies' its a great book - but lots others out there.

The girls

Here the girls are - they've had several names - and nothing really settled yet - we did call them after all of our lodgers at our old house - which seemed fun - one particularily adventurous hen - we've nicknamed Karin - after the most adventurous lodger girl we had stay with us. Thankfully, unlike the lodger (who was known to want to go off walking around stone circles at midnight, these stones below,  infact have had many a midnight jaunt......!). Thankfully our hen Karin, only wanders around the garden. How she gets out - I've yet to figure out.

Ring of Brogar, Orkney, NOT at midnight.

The eggs are a lovely bonus from these lovely and easy to keep pets - daily I'm in awe of their abundance. We use the eggs as barter (they've 'paid' for lifts for the kids, house sitting, septic tank clearing, plants, books, bags of grain and straw; and just to say thank you). We also sell a few (£1 a half dozen, £2 a dozen) hen money from eggs pays for the pelleted food they need for all their minerals- its a small start to our 'goodlife' wishes for the house out here. We get 42 eggs a week at the moment - more than enough for us/barter/selling. We recycle all our food/garden scraps to the hens (much to they annoyance of peedie, who has been known to voice his opinion!). Of course we also use them ourselves - for baking, cooking and just plain old boiled eggs - there is nothing like a fresh egg, with the rich colour - to make you really appreciate the finer things in life.

The hens live outside the back door at the moment, they might move into a byre in the winter. The hen house was recycled from an old meat/cheese shed given to us and an old wine box - mend and make do - free hen house. We used old stobs (fencing posts) we found on the beach and from around the byres to make the fence, the gate is made from a cut down pallet and I only bought chicken wire - so their run/house had minimal expense as well. Of course the minute you buy chicken wire, someone tells you they have some spare, but its an investment in both my hens and my garden - hens often don't mix with gardens if you want to have any flowers!! Although I might let them mill around the garden over the winter to catch any slumbering beasties. I'll try and remember the fence is a good idea when I recall being wedged between barbed wire, nettles and an electic fence which zapped my apple shaped tummy, or my very short bottom, it wasn't much fun - but I managed to get the fence up in a couple of hours - stung, zapped and pierced - I was glad it was over quickly!!!

The house was a bit of a recycled job - I'd looked at new houses but delivery to our island was more than the hen  house. But, with alot of attention with a hammer, which was very good for anger management we managed to 'recycle' our own hen house!

Before when attacked by a hammer........



Inside all gutted out

A lovely use for an old box, it's now the nestbox

Ready for a coat of weatherproof paint and a lid for the nest box.

I'm glad we got the hens they've been a great start down the road of 'good lifing', I love watching them and feeding them treats. Much to peedies disgust, they love cheese and sometimes get a treat of reduced cheese thrown to them if I can find any. It's the least I can do for the lovely eggs everyday and watching their little characters develop! Peedie often sulks, but can be found inside hunting his next favourite thing after all foodstuffs - socks!

Peedie eating a treat the hens can't get........(well he loves socks)