A quiet rock pool:
This little plant was in another rock pool; neatly wrapped around that rock. yes, the water really was that clear!
The tide was just on its way in, slow and steady.
Friday, 11 January 2013
A little more
I joined a "photo per week" group on Facebook and have been playing with the camera. Today I trotted down to the beach and had a play, thought I'd share the results.
A quiet rock pool:
This little plant was in another rock pool; neatly wrapped around that rock. yes, the water really was that clear!
The tide was just on its way in, slow and steady.
A quiet rock pool:
This little plant was in another rock pool; neatly wrapped around that rock. yes, the water really was that clear!
The tide was just on its way in, slow and steady.
Thursday, 10 January 2013
Just some photos
It was fairly calm yesterday morning so Pippa and I went for a walk to the beach. Sunrise was beautiful!
January, and not only is it mild, the sun is here already. Admittedly, the rain still visits, but...SUN!!!!!
There were also lots of stranded jellyfish along the tideline, the biggest I saw was about 4" across.
Also saw this plantpot. Just a plastic pot that had been underwater long enough to get it's own eco-system
These creels are down on the beach and were in a neatish pile before winter. Now they've been rearranged and moved about 10 feet along the beach. Considering the amount of rusty steel in there, just goes to show how strong the waves have been over winter. I was rather amused by the perfectly beached margarine tub on top.
Just to prove that we have had rain too. This is a field down the road; yes, field, not pond, tarn or loch.
Sunshine is popping in and out today. The birds are singing, Spring is on the way. That means the lawnmower will be back out soon! ;)
January, and not only is it mild, the sun is here already. Admittedly, the rain still visits, but...SUN!!!!!
There were also lots of stranded jellyfish along the tideline, the biggest I saw was about 4" across.
Also saw this plantpot. Just a plastic pot that had been underwater long enough to get it's own eco-system
These creels are down on the beach and were in a neatish pile before winter. Now they've been rearranged and moved about 10 feet along the beach. Considering the amount of rusty steel in there, just goes to show how strong the waves have been over winter. I was rather amused by the perfectly beached margarine tub on top.
Just to prove that we have had rain too. This is a field down the road; yes, field, not pond, tarn or loch.
Sunshine is popping in and out today. The birds are singing, Spring is on the way. That means the lawnmower will be back out soon! ;)
Tuesday, 8 January 2013
War!
Remember those cute, furry little uninvited guests? Well, nearly 2 weeks ago I declared war.
Two snap traps and one night later: 2 ex-mice.
Then it went quiet for a week.
Two nights ago I noticed that the baking tray cupboard was gaining extra poop. Moved 1 trap into that cupboard, 1 mouse that night.
What I wasn't expecting was the following evening.
I went to bed, heard the trap snap, found a mouse. Dispatched it (alas, the trap caught it by the leg rather than the neck). 15 minutes later, another snap, another one needing to be killed. And yet another while I was asleep.
4 mice in 24 hours?!
Surely that has to be all of them? Surely 6 mice is all?
So I sit quietly in the living room, deciding if I want to watch a DVD or listen to music...
pitter patter, pitter patter
You have GOT to be kidding!
More lead boots in the loft!
I'm thinking I need to buy more traps.
Still, mice in the house is better than four directional damp in previous rents.
Two snap traps and one night later: 2 ex-mice.
Then it went quiet for a week.
Two nights ago I noticed that the baking tray cupboard was gaining extra poop. Moved 1 trap into that cupboard, 1 mouse that night.
What I wasn't expecting was the following evening.
I went to bed, heard the trap snap, found a mouse. Dispatched it (alas, the trap caught it by the leg rather than the neck). 15 minutes later, another snap, another one needing to be killed. And yet another while I was asleep.
4 mice in 24 hours?!
Surely that has to be all of them? Surely 6 mice is all?
So I sit quietly in the living room, deciding if I want to watch a DVD or listen to music...
pitter patter, pitter patter
You have GOT to be kidding!
More lead boots in the loft!
I'm thinking I need to buy more traps.
Still, mice in the house is better than four directional damp in previous rents.
Thursday, 3 January 2013
2013, 151, 135
Well, it's 2013. I'm saving the year review for the end of January/start of February when we'll have been here a whole year.
151 and 135?
I've been working on a blanket. It's made by knitting lots of little "hexipuffs", hexagonal puffs that are hollow, and then stuffing them with a little bit of stuffing and sewing them closed. When I started each puff took about an hour, now they take about 30-40 minutes, depending if I make an oops.
151 puffs are now complete:
Total area now covered? 20x30 inches, or approximately 4.16 square feet. (20x30=600 12x12=144 600/144 = 4.16)
The 135 is my approximation on time taken. Yep, 135 hours of knitting. Here they are all laid out with a mug for comparison:
And, just to give you an idea on time, remember this shawl?
This is approximately 25-30 hours of knitting time. In the time I've taken to knit 151 tiny little stuffed puffs I could have knit this (beads included!) between 5 and 6 times.
Anyway, back to knitting the other 200+ puffs required for a nice sized blanket...
Happy 2013!
151 and 135?
I've been working on a blanket. It's made by knitting lots of little "hexipuffs", hexagonal puffs that are hollow, and then stuffing them with a little bit of stuffing and sewing them closed. When I started each puff took about an hour, now they take about 30-40 minutes, depending if I make an oops.
151 puffs are now complete:
Total area now covered? 20x30 inches, or approximately 4.16 square feet. (20x30=600 12x12=144 600/144 = 4.16)
The 135 is my approximation on time taken. Yep, 135 hours of knitting. Here they are all laid out with a mug for comparison:
And, just to give you an idea on time, remember this shawl?
This is approximately 25-30 hours of knitting time. In the time I've taken to knit 151 tiny little stuffed puffs I could have knit this (beads included!) between 5 and 6 times.
Anyway, back to knitting the other 200+ puffs required for a nice sized blanket...
Happy 2013!
Saturday, 29 December 2012
Happy Holidays!
Christmas has been and gone, we had a huge lunch and a quiet afternoon opening pressies and digesting.
Our parents clubbed together and sent us money to get a dishwasher, so that should be with us in the new year.
All pretty quiet here. We're enjoying the rest, Jo is playing on his computer, I'm knitting and taking care of odd jobs.
Bike's been up on bricks again. We got a new inner tube due to the current back one having punctured twice (yes, I did swear at it the second time). So I spent an hour this evening taking the back wheel off, changing tube, pumping tyre, refitting wheel, cleaning and re-lubing chain, blah blah. Bike probably hates me by now.
Madam doglet is on antibiotics. We gave her the turkey giblets on Christmas day, there was lots of crunching, then yesterday she was really lethargic. Didn't even do her usual insane dance when I said "dinnertime!". Andrew from next door kindly took Madam and myself to the vet, after lots of screaming(from the dog), restraining and the vet prodding and picking, turns out she'd cracked a bit more off a broken canine and it was infected. Gave her the first of ten tablets last night, this afternoon she was back to her sweary self. Dinner was far too slow at being served! She's also had her yearly vaccinations done, so that's ticked off the to-do list.
Madam's now also on very limited exercise. She *wants* to walk, but her joints don't, she'll settle for a few rounds of tug and a wrap in her blankie though. We did get a good walk in on a calm day, how? I made her PJ's.
They still need a bit of work, some poppers we think, as one leg falls down and exposes her knee. Yes, she looks silly, but she loves the freedom offered by them and that's what matters. We even met some collies a few days ago, they were tag-teaming; one would sniff one end of Pippa while one sniffed the other. They also weren't keen on going back when their boss called them.
Oh yes, Christmas eve, got up as usual, got dog on her leash to go out for morning relief, opened door, let dog out, looked up...
Erm. Hmmm. No, those cows were not meant to be there. The white one was the leader and had discovered a gap and led a group to, quite literally, greener pastures. I did find how they'd gotten out of the common grazing: there's a gate from that patch of land to the common grazing land, it's knackered, rusted hinges, rotting wood, the works. Between the strong winds and the cows, it had come open and the ladies had helped themselves. A bit of rope from our coil and me very unladylikely hopping the fence saw that sorted before any more got out.
But what of the escacows? Well, they paid a visit to Beachcomber, got chased off, paid a visit to postie/farmer across the road, wandered down a bit. Got followed by me and two were returned to the grazing. But 6 more were free.
Thing is...cows run away from humans trotting along, especially guilty cows. So, I could get to a gate and open it, but the cows weren't going to back track to go in the field and the ones in the field weren't going to stay there when the gate was open. I rang Alan to ask him to herd from his end, alas, the remaining ones took that time to go wandering again. Fortunately they went to what I'm told is an old camp ground, so they were off the road and out of harm's way.
Guess what we saw in the land behind us on Christmas day? Yep, whitey and her pals. Their owner or some other soul got them back to the common grazing before the day was over though. Now the cows come to check the broken gate at least once a day and if I'm visible they like to moo at me in annoyance.
That's about it for now. Happy holidays and I hope everyone who reads this had a lovely Christmas and will have a brilliant 2013!
Our parents clubbed together and sent us money to get a dishwasher, so that should be with us in the new year.
All pretty quiet here. We're enjoying the rest, Jo is playing on his computer, I'm knitting and taking care of odd jobs.
Bike's been up on bricks again. We got a new inner tube due to the current back one having punctured twice (yes, I did swear at it the second time). So I spent an hour this evening taking the back wheel off, changing tube, pumping tyre, refitting wheel, cleaning and re-lubing chain, blah blah. Bike probably hates me by now.
Madam doglet is on antibiotics. We gave her the turkey giblets on Christmas day, there was lots of crunching, then yesterday she was really lethargic. Didn't even do her usual insane dance when I said "dinnertime!". Andrew from next door kindly took Madam and myself to the vet, after lots of screaming(from the dog), restraining and the vet prodding and picking, turns out she'd cracked a bit more off a broken canine and it was infected. Gave her the first of ten tablets last night, this afternoon she was back to her sweary self. Dinner was far too slow at being served! She's also had her yearly vaccinations done, so that's ticked off the to-do list.
Madam's now also on very limited exercise. She *wants* to walk, but her joints don't, she'll settle for a few rounds of tug and a wrap in her blankie though. We did get a good walk in on a calm day, how? I made her PJ's.
They still need a bit of work, some poppers we think, as one leg falls down and exposes her knee. Yes, she looks silly, but she loves the freedom offered by them and that's what matters. We even met some collies a few days ago, they were tag-teaming; one would sniff one end of Pippa while one sniffed the other. They also weren't keen on going back when their boss called them.
Oh yes, Christmas eve, got up as usual, got dog on her leash to go out for morning relief, opened door, let dog out, looked up...
Erm. Hmmm. No, those cows were not meant to be there. The white one was the leader and had discovered a gap and led a group to, quite literally, greener pastures. I did find how they'd gotten out of the common grazing: there's a gate from that patch of land to the common grazing land, it's knackered, rusted hinges, rotting wood, the works. Between the strong winds and the cows, it had come open and the ladies had helped themselves. A bit of rope from our coil and me very unladylikely hopping the fence saw that sorted before any more got out.
But what of the escacows? Well, they paid a visit to Beachcomber, got chased off, paid a visit to postie/farmer across the road, wandered down a bit. Got followed by me and two were returned to the grazing. But 6 more were free.
Thing is...cows run away from humans trotting along, especially guilty cows. So, I could get to a gate and open it, but the cows weren't going to back track to go in the field and the ones in the field weren't going to stay there when the gate was open. I rang Alan to ask him to herd from his end, alas, the remaining ones took that time to go wandering again. Fortunately they went to what I'm told is an old camp ground, so they were off the road and out of harm's way.
Guess what we saw in the land behind us on Christmas day? Yep, whitey and her pals. Their owner or some other soul got them back to the common grazing before the day was over though. Now the cows come to check the broken gate at least once a day and if I'm visible they like to moo at me in annoyance.
That's about it for now. Happy holidays and I hope everyone who reads this had a lovely Christmas and will have a brilliant 2013!
Thursday, 29 November 2012
Home again, home again,
Collapse in a heap!
I've spent the past 2 and two half days in Glasgow and I can truly say I do not envy those who live in that busy place.
I said I was going to write a flying from Tiree post months ago and this time I have the photos I want to go with it.
We have a little plane that serves Tiree from Glasgow. It seats 21 passengers maximum and has two three blade propellors. Here it is coming in to land:
It really is wee, that's a Transit sized van parked there. You have to be very careful getting on that you don't thwack your head, I usually end up almost bent double, my Dad would be able to inspect his knees judging by various tall men. It's not a plane for the inflexible.
Just to give you an idea, this is a standard sized "jumbo jet" with a Transit van next to it:
And this is our little Otter behind the fueling lorry:
But there are bonuses. How many planes do you travel on where you can see the pilot and all the instruments?
And, of course, you get amazing views!
Some people worry that such a small plane isn't very safe. Au contraire, smaller planes can stay airborne at slower speeds and while, yes, there can be turbulence, it's no worse than a bus going over a bump. Give me a little otter over a 747 any day.
I didn't take any photos in Glasgow, partly because I forgot I'd taken the camera and partly because I was with my Mum and enjoying a good chat most of the time. But I had to take this one, the last bullet point is in desperate need of punctuation. Whenever I read it I wonder how mobility issues will be happy to help.
Mum booked us both into the Breahead Travelodge, double rooms with a nice bit of empty floor and a pretty gradiented painting:
I had to giggle at this, Santa looks ever so happy to have all those lovely women pulling his sleigh, dirty old man!
Glasgow was good, mostly got results I wanted and shouldn't have to go visiting again for quite some time I hope!
We did take advantage of some of the sights. We initially planned on the Tuesday to find the Rembrandt exhibition in a gallery on the university campus grounds. So, we trotted up the hill, couldn't see any signs for it, trotted down, had lunch, found some directions...Trotted back up the hill, round a bit, up some stairs, round a bit more... We were about to give up when we saw some large banners for the exhibition, one more try we agree, walk to a likely looking building...it turns out to be a church. Oh well, Rembrandt remained unseen.
We did find some bits and bobs in the various shops though. I got some Christmas cards and saved a small fortune in postage by writing them that evening and giving them to Mum to hand over at various family gatherings. Mum found some flat wrapping paper (she hates the rolls) and we had a lovely lunch.
Wednesday we decided to invade Ikea. Mum had never been to one and I had a few bits I was hoping to find. Note to all: wooden chopping boards are surprisingly heavy and should not be purchased with the plan to stick them in your rucksack to take home, your back WILL complain. Still, we went round, found some pressies, got lost (seeing a theme?) and had a good lunch. Back to our hotel for a bit and then dinner at Pizza hut. They do a main, side and all you can eat salad for £6 per person before 5pm, we got our 5 a day that evening!
Thursday morning we parted company, Mum off to get the train and me off to fly again.
It wasn't as sunny when I got home. But Tiree is beautiful from the air regardless.
So now I'm home for the rest of the year (barring emergencies). Just got to fill out my expenses form and send that off and then I can chill and listen to the cows. Angus the bus driver has been teaching me about how cows and sheep behave and how they stay in their herds/flocks so it's fairly easy to separate them off when the common grazing time is over. It really is a fascinating thing.
I shall leave you with one of our little uninvited guests that's currently residing in a tub (with air holes, water and a bit of food!) until I can take it to the Reef tomorrow.
It's a very pretty guest, shades of grey and brown and quite cooperative for the camera. Shame it keeps a pair of lead boots in the loft!
I've spent the past 2 and two half days in Glasgow and I can truly say I do not envy those who live in that busy place.
I said I was going to write a flying from Tiree post months ago and this time I have the photos I want to go with it.
We have a little plane that serves Tiree from Glasgow. It seats 21 passengers maximum and has two three blade propellors. Here it is coming in to land:
It really is wee, that's a Transit sized van parked there. You have to be very careful getting on that you don't thwack your head, I usually end up almost bent double, my Dad would be able to inspect his knees judging by various tall men. It's not a plane for the inflexible.
Just to give you an idea, this is a standard sized "jumbo jet" with a Transit van next to it:
And this is our little Otter behind the fueling lorry:
But there are bonuses. How many planes do you travel on where you can see the pilot and all the instruments?
And, of course, you get amazing views!
Some people worry that such a small plane isn't very safe. Au contraire, smaller planes can stay airborne at slower speeds and while, yes, there can be turbulence, it's no worse than a bus going over a bump. Give me a little otter over a 747 any day.
I didn't take any photos in Glasgow, partly because I forgot I'd taken the camera and partly because I was with my Mum and enjoying a good chat most of the time. But I had to take this one, the last bullet point is in desperate need of punctuation. Whenever I read it I wonder how mobility issues will be happy to help.
Mum booked us both into the Breahead Travelodge, double rooms with a nice bit of empty floor and a pretty gradiented painting:
I had to giggle at this, Santa looks ever so happy to have all those lovely women pulling his sleigh, dirty old man!
Glasgow was good, mostly got results I wanted and shouldn't have to go visiting again for quite some time I hope!
We did take advantage of some of the sights. We initially planned on the Tuesday to find the Rembrandt exhibition in a gallery on the university campus grounds. So, we trotted up the hill, couldn't see any signs for it, trotted down, had lunch, found some directions...Trotted back up the hill, round a bit, up some stairs, round a bit more... We were about to give up when we saw some large banners for the exhibition, one more try we agree, walk to a likely looking building...it turns out to be a church. Oh well, Rembrandt remained unseen.
We did find some bits and bobs in the various shops though. I got some Christmas cards and saved a small fortune in postage by writing them that evening and giving them to Mum to hand over at various family gatherings. Mum found some flat wrapping paper (she hates the rolls) and we had a lovely lunch.
Wednesday we decided to invade Ikea. Mum had never been to one and I had a few bits I was hoping to find. Note to all: wooden chopping boards are surprisingly heavy and should not be purchased with the plan to stick them in your rucksack to take home, your back WILL complain. Still, we went round, found some pressies, got lost (seeing a theme?) and had a good lunch. Back to our hotel for a bit and then dinner at Pizza hut. They do a main, side and all you can eat salad for £6 per person before 5pm, we got our 5 a day that evening!
Thursday morning we parted company, Mum off to get the train and me off to fly again.
It wasn't as sunny when I got home. But Tiree is beautiful from the air regardless.
So now I'm home for the rest of the year (barring emergencies). Just got to fill out my expenses form and send that off and then I can chill and listen to the cows. Angus the bus driver has been teaching me about how cows and sheep behave and how they stay in their herds/flocks so it's fairly easy to separate them off when the common grazing time is over. It really is a fascinating thing.
I shall leave you with one of our little uninvited guests that's currently residing in a tub (with air holes, water and a bit of food!) until I can take it to the Reef tomorrow.
It's a very pretty guest, shades of grey and brown and quite cooperative for the camera. Shame it keeps a pair of lead boots in the loft!
Thursday, 8 November 2012
TTW 4
So, two weeks after the event, Tiree Tech Wave 4.
As featured in The Oban Times, no less!
Well, last time there were about 7 of us, 2 from the island, 5 visitors. This time 20 people came visiting and there were 3 from the island, a recently returned resident came to see what all the excitement was about. The Cobbled Cow folk did a fantastic job of feeding the masses and I can't help but think Alan who works there enjoyed the challenge of feeding such hungry techies.
The MacBook invasion was amusing and at least two people said "for such independant thinkers, there seems to be a common theme" or words to the effect of. There was also a 'sheepbook'.
This...contraption is the future touchtable:
Up on that wooden platform is a projector and an overhead projector mirror to direct it at the table. Hanging from it is a dismantled XBox Kinect.
Alan was sorting out power for it, so this ladder spent a day being walked under:
Alan enjoyed himself up the ladder, even taking photo's from his vantage point. I'll linky if he ever gets to posting those somewhere.
Along with all the techie stuff, including about 10 sets of Arduino development kits, there was also some fibre crafting. Fiona, Alan's wife, brought up her snazzy (but very short!) new Japanese weaving loom and set herself up in the auction hall:
You change the sheds using those pedals, rather nice to operate if you're not 5'10". I ended up a bit stiff after hunching. Fiona also taught a techie how to make felt:
(Photo of finished felt stupidly forgotten!)
The lady felting decided she wanted to put some RFID tags in and will be programming those when she gets back to Wales. So not only was felt made, it was techiefelt!
Tech wave was Thursday through Monday and seemed to be thorougly enjoyed. Nights weren't spent with us all crammed in Alan and Fiona's living room, instead Thursday night was somewhere, I don't know because I went for an early bed. Friday night was curry. I believe the tech wavers defeated the curry house but they argue that the left over rice and naan meant they won. I say it would have gone if we hadn't all devoured the curry that goes with.
Saturday night was hosted by Lancaster house, Sunday was Cardiff house (all those from Lancaster stayed in one house, Cardiff stayed in another house. Sunday was curried fish, mushrooms, rice, chicken and some tomato on toast with a lovely dressing of some sort. It started with three groups spread through the various rooms but eventually we all gathered in the living room where The Box Game was played.
I hadn't played that game since University. You take a box, in this case a cereal box, and place it on the floor, each person has three attempts to pick up the box with their teeth/lips while only touching the floor with their feet, no other body part may touch the floor. Cardiff won, but only just, Tiree got to the final round (piece of flat card on the floor) but our competitors either couldn't reach (me) or couldn't get it to come off the floor (returned student) Alan did very well and got down to about 8" of box, not bad for someone who's never tried that before. The winner from Cardiff showed us all up though, she just stood up, flexed, stood with card. Only one male managed the final round, also from Cardiff; 'hairy Steve', who also gave a presentation on design on Saturday.
All in all, a most enjoyable weekend was had. The weather mostly cooperated and only rained 1.5 days of the available 4.5.
Sorry for the delay in posting, it's taken me this long to get my thoughts in order. I'll post a crafty post soonish, then next week will be about flying, I'm off to Glasgow again and this time I'm taking the camera!
As featured in The Oban Times, no less!
Well, last time there were about 7 of us, 2 from the island, 5 visitors. This time 20 people came visiting and there were 3 from the island, a recently returned resident came to see what all the excitement was about. The Cobbled Cow folk did a fantastic job of feeding the masses and I can't help but think Alan who works there enjoyed the challenge of feeding such hungry techies.
The MacBook invasion was amusing and at least two people said "for such independant thinkers, there seems to be a common theme" or words to the effect of. There was also a 'sheepbook'.
This...contraption is the future touchtable:
Up on that wooden platform is a projector and an overhead projector mirror to direct it at the table. Hanging from it is a dismantled XBox Kinect.
Alan was sorting out power for it, so this ladder spent a day being walked under:
Alan enjoyed himself up the ladder, even taking photo's from his vantage point. I'll linky if he ever gets to posting those somewhere.
Along with all the techie stuff, including about 10 sets of Arduino development kits, there was also some fibre crafting. Fiona, Alan's wife, brought up her snazzy (but very short!) new Japanese weaving loom and set herself up in the auction hall:
You change the sheds using those pedals, rather nice to operate if you're not 5'10". I ended up a bit stiff after hunching. Fiona also taught a techie how to make felt:
(Photo of finished felt stupidly forgotten!)
The lady felting decided she wanted to put some RFID tags in and will be programming those when she gets back to Wales. So not only was felt made, it was techiefelt!
Tech wave was Thursday through Monday and seemed to be thorougly enjoyed. Nights weren't spent with us all crammed in Alan and Fiona's living room, instead Thursday night was somewhere, I don't know because I went for an early bed. Friday night was curry. I believe the tech wavers defeated the curry house but they argue that the left over rice and naan meant they won. I say it would have gone if we hadn't all devoured the curry that goes with.
Saturday night was hosted by Lancaster house, Sunday was Cardiff house (all those from Lancaster stayed in one house, Cardiff stayed in another house. Sunday was curried fish, mushrooms, rice, chicken and some tomato on toast with a lovely dressing of some sort. It started with three groups spread through the various rooms but eventually we all gathered in the living room where The Box Game was played.
I hadn't played that game since University. You take a box, in this case a cereal box, and place it on the floor, each person has three attempts to pick up the box with their teeth/lips while only touching the floor with their feet, no other body part may touch the floor. Cardiff won, but only just, Tiree got to the final round (piece of flat card on the floor) but our competitors either couldn't reach (me) or couldn't get it to come off the floor (returned student) Alan did very well and got down to about 8" of box, not bad for someone who's never tried that before. The winner from Cardiff showed us all up though, she just stood up, flexed, stood with card. Only one male managed the final round, also from Cardiff; 'hairy Steve', who also gave a presentation on design on Saturday.
All in all, a most enjoyable weekend was had. The weather mostly cooperated and only rained 1.5 days of the available 4.5.
Sorry for the delay in posting, it's taken me this long to get my thoughts in order. I'll post a crafty post soonish, then next week will be about flying, I'm off to Glasgow again and this time I'm taking the camera!
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