Self Isolation Day 2

Don't worry. I'm not going to bore you with a blog diary of my self-isolation. I'll just do a diary type post every now and then depending on how things pan out.

I am in the 'at risk' category for quite a few reasons. Although on the face of it I'm very fit and well (which I am 99.5% of the time) and certainly don't feel nearer 80 than 70 which is what I technically am, I do have underlying health issues. They started with part of a lung removed when I was 16 because of a respiratory disease. 

So far there is no known case in the Western Isles so, in fact, I'm not completely isolated yet. I've decided that I'm going to almost self isolate for a while first. This means that I'll socialise very little. If I do shop it will be when the crowds have gone and the shops are quiet. I will go out walking and in the car but on my own. The rest I will play by ear as things develop. 

Today was chilly but wall to wall sun so I decided to drive to the Castle Grounds and do the Creed River walk. The irony is that it was such a lovely day that the world and his wife were out walking and I met and chatted (at a safe distance) to more people than I have ever chatted to in a single walk before.

After lunch I decided to make a start on the cleaning of the outside of the house. Living where I do  moss is a very big issue on the outside of the house and on all my paths. So I spent the afternoon making a start on that. 

Spring has come and the frogs are filling the pond with spawn.

The schools have closed. So, down on the pier below the house, the children seemed to be celebrating what is, in effect, the end of the school year. Not quite obeying the distancing suggestions. I can foresee problems particularly if the weather is good.

It Just Takes One Day

Yesterday I did some work in the garden and despite being absolutely brilliantly sunny  the strong wind from the North-East was bitterly cold. In fact it was so cold that I wore full winter garb and only stayed out for half an hour. It was the same the day before.

Today I spent the whole afternoon in the garden planting out tubs and so on and it was toastie.

Down in the bay the youngsters' actions said it all:

A Different Perspective

Those of you who have followed this blog for any length of time are bound to have seen many pictures of the bay below my house photographed from my house.  Few of you will have seen or are likely to remember the view from the pier down in the bay.  Yesterday the sea was boiling whipped up by 40mph winds from the East so I decided to go down to the pier and photograph what, from above, looked quite a maelstrom.  Oddly from down at the pier it didn't look quite so bad when photographed but, believe me, the wind was pretty fierce and the spray soon covered me, the camera and the Nighthawk parked quite a way back in salt.

It's Been a Long Time

I wondered.  Why had I put the bread maker on over night when I had made a loaf yesterday?  I woke to the aroma of freshly baked bread.  Not unusual.  Except when the bread maker hasn't been on.  The brain can play very odd tricks.  I could smell freshly baked bread that didn't exist.  Hmm.

Lewis has been in the grip of a relative heatwave for May.  It was in the mid 20s and absolutely wonderful.  On Saturday I managed to get all the fences painted and a deal of other garden and outside tasks completed. Unfortunately even the rare treat of a spa bath (I do sometimes wonder why I don't have them more often) afterwards didn't manage completely to allay the stiff muscles in my painting arm shoulder the next morning.

In the evening after school the children jump off the pier into water which at best could be described as less than warm or in most of our minds downright freezing.  I'm sure that had I jumped in I would have suffered heart arrest.

All this was taking place a good way from my house and I can only marvel at the ability of modern long-focus lenses (this is the equivalent of about 800mm) to perform hand-held.

On Saturday the sun brought people onto the beach below the house in numbers I can rarely recall seeing before.

Yesterday the sun shone but the wind blew - long, strong and very cold.  Apart from a few hardened dog walkers the beach was empty again.

Of Paradise and Mice

I've had a wonderful day - almost.  The weather's been brilliant for the third consecutive day: full sun, no wind and even some October warmth.

It started with good news from a friend who'd managed to solve some issues and whose life was back on an even keel.  Shortly after I had a visit from a boiler engineer about 30 minutes after I'd rung to say my central heating boiler was having problems.   He'd solved the problem before I'd opened the door to say 'hello' (my boiler's outside).  Coffee and lunch and a crossword with Gaz at The Woodlands (always a great way to spend a few hours).  An afternoon in the garden clearing things and finishing the last bit of painting I'd overlooked.  The joiners came to do some work on the conservatory.

The icing on the cake came in an email from a friend this evening.   Another issue  on the way to a solution.  The details don't matter to anyone else but it made me as happy a person as a very happy person can be to get a message.

So I decided to read some blogs and post a few pics.  Then a comment on my blog Such Cynicism in One So Young by Adrian made me think of an incident this afternoon - and I knew he was correct.  His comment included the sentence "You could post a picture from paradise and the following day a dead rat...which would get the most response?" 

The last few days have been like paradise up here:

Yesterday - Waiting for a wave

This is a third of the way through October - the sea is COLD!

Today the sea was like glass and it's still cold but we're a hardy lot up here.

And then came the bit about the rat - well, actually the mouse.   I'll spare you a picture.   Firstly before there are any animal rights activists condemning me let me say that I love mice (as a child I kept mice - I could tell you tales of daring do by Spudge and Cornelius - and rats) but I don't like them taking over my garden shed as they did one year when I didn't take preventative action.  So I put down traps - nice modern quick and efficient mice killers.  And every time I empty them I'm a bit sad.  However today has given me a real problem.  One of the mice didn't approach the peanut butter bait with his mouth but obviously tried to scoop some up with a paw - I've seen them do that - and the trap closed without breaking his neck and killing him instantly.  And I realised that deep down I'm just a big softie.  I hate to see suffering in any creature.  So now I have a dilemma.

Low Tide

Recovering Creels

One of the creel boats that set lobster creels in and around the bay below Eagleton pulled the creels last week and stacked them on the pier below the house so that they could be taken by road (to where?  I have no idea.).  At first when I saw the boat come in I was worried by the fact that it was so low in the stern.

but when the creels were unloaded the boat returned to normal

and she set off for the second load

returning less worryingly down at the stern

leaving quite a lot of creels on the pier: 240 in all if I can count correctly.

which were then collected at the end of the week.

A Southerly Gale

We were promised a gale from the South peaking at 1300 hours today and we got a gale, it was from the South and it peaked at 1300 hours. The view from the buffeted Study was quite spectacular with the long rollong breakers coming into the bay:

Seagulls

I looked out on Saturday and was rather surprised to see flocking seagulls down at the Pier. I can't recall that before. It may be that the boat that had just come in had had a good catch but not enough for that lot I wouldn't have thought.

Misty Evening Over Bayble Pier