cabin fever

Hemmed in by wind and rain.

Cluttered up by Stuff.

The "Dominos" are poised, with jobs in line,  but until one workshop gets up, nothing moves from the house. Until the wind abates, no workshop goes up.

The rainwater drainage needs cleaning so that the runoff doesn't soak the garden..back and front are like an over sodden sponge! At least the grey water drains look to be running ok.

There is another, thankfully local, cycle jumble in two weeks....The Pirate is sorting bike bits for that. If nothing sells, they will just have to go.....

At least then a small dresser and desk will leave the living room and my heavy real wood desk will migrate to its corner there. It is too heavy to carry upstairs!

The transmitter and receiver of the WiFi boiler controls don't seem to be communicating..I think we'll leave that to a heating engineer as it probably isdue for a service. Meanwhile, the on/off switch works!

Teething problems adding more un-needed stress. Which inhibits the Pirate's healing....but we are getting there slowly.

Yesterday he bought me dress and shoes to wear at an award ceremony (I won a national championship last year).
Buying goes against the grain with me...even worse,buying new!! Still, he  does have good taste!!

Storm Henry

One has this visual image of a small infuriated vacuum cleaner, blowing instead of sucking.......

but seriously it was, serious....not as strong as over the Highlands and Islands, but not very friendly.

Not sure why the top picture went orange...I did use an exposure for fast moving things.....

We're in....

The place is a mess, but we are slowly making sense of it all.
I'll not comment about the last place, save to say that we are in a far better (and less costly) place now. We have to sit tight and wait another two weeks for the official deposit scheme to release our rent deposit......

We are having storm after storm...not as bad as the Highlands and Western and Northern Isles, but enough to blow over a heavy shed floor that was staked out and tied down. It is now tied to two convenient trees....
Until the wind and rain abate, we cannot rebuild our workshops.

We have to concentrate on sorting and clearing indoors, which is no bad thing!
At least we are warm, but I am having "fun" understanding how to use the WiFi digital central heating controller.
I long for the days of a match for the pilot light and a mechanical clock controller.

workshops moving..

Today's dismantling team is four men and Charlie the Dog.
The snow overnight is fast disappearing, thankfully, but there are still icy patches.
One of our willing team is a plumber and heating engineer from just down the road from our new home....hopefully he'll be able to get the heating working!!
Despite being freezing outside, the new home is just a bit cold inside...unlike the old one which is cold and damp!  Both probably about the same age (1920s)

how to start the year?

 enough to  make a seal laugh? On Gress Beach
we didn't....

 they did......ready....

 go!

 and....

 back again....

 that's why..

we sponsored our friend from the village shop in North Tolsta

Christmas at Tolsta

with a full moon on 25th December.

We had a much needed break, recovering physical and mental equilibrium.

We're back into full swing of moving things and trying to organize help...empty promises for the most part...not helped by the stress of worrying whether we will get our rent deposit back....at least we know we'll be leaving this place better than we found it.

Not having taken my usual laptop computer, I loaded the images from my camera all at once, instead of day by day....I'll need to sort them properly when I have time, as they didn't land entirely chronologically...at least they are all there!

Chillin' and keeping warm.,

We are on The Western Isles, relaxing keeping warm and observing the weather, of which there is plenty!!
It is doing us good but even so the big bad world outside keeps sticking its oar in!
 I've started drawing at least once a day and writing as well.
I set a challenge as well... Learn to use the tablet computer I've been given. I think I'm getting there but writing this without seeing what I'm writing feels weird!
Back to The Mainland soon, weather permitting, then hopefully there will be time to sort all the photos we've taken.
Lightbulb moment..turn tablet 90 degrees... to see what one is writing..

Back home to temporarily get both cars serviceable as mine is longer and has roof rack and a towbar, so can carry bigger things in, on or behind on a borrowed trailer....

Our heartfelt thanks go to our hosts, the author of Boxes and Bellows and lovely Eve.   Putting up with us and looking after us.

All this and we missed seeing the Aurora last night by ten minutes... Couldn't stay awake any longer !!