Calm after the storm

The trees are finally still. The sea is calm. It is noticeably quiet. I hear the silence, measured in the gentle trickle of the burn over rocks outside the window. There is some faint colour in the overcast sky. Storm Gertude has finally gone.  It is the calm after the storm, and before the storm.

It is unusual for our ferries to be disrupted for 2 whole days, but there were no ferries from Lochaline or Oban on Friday at all, and I think only one crossing, might have been 2, was made on the Lochaline ferry yesterday. Nothing during the day from Oban except that the late ferry at 21.45 ran and safely delivered the Co-op lorry to the Co-op in Tobermory at 23.30 last night! We had guests hoping to arrive on Friday who are catching the 10am ferry this morning.

Luckily we did not have any damage from the ferocious winds Gertrude brought with her, apart from the flying sheet of insulation from outside East Cottage. (How easily have I slipped into using the storm names, which I was so against the introduction of..!)

It was amazing to see the spindrift on the cliffs in between the Point and Dun Haunn.

Late January already

Suddenly it is Friday. Where has the week gone?

In trips to Ballygown...

In dog walks...

Feeding hens..

Feeding hoggs...

Feeding tups...

Changing over the invertors on the wind turbines...

And more... The builders have been busy down at Haunn.  East and Middle bedroom floors are being renewed, with underfloor insulation and refloored using the reclaimed flooring we used in West - part of the Hermitage Academy Assembly Hall in Helensburgh.  It looks brand new!

On Tuesday when Farmer was in Oban, A and J had arranged for the jeager to come with a load of concrete.  Unfortunately it took more than they had expected so we needed a second load.  While they were waiting for that they started insulating and cladding the outside walls of Middle Cottage bathroom.  Not only will it be warmer but it will look better too! 

Farmer went to Oban on Tuesday to sell our cast tups and stray lambs. He took a few tups and lambs for 2 of our farming neighbours too, to save them going - he borrowed a larger trailer than ours, so he could fit them in.

The days ARE getting longer, but when we do see the sun, it is not that high in the sky yet.

The Cheviots and Zwarties are in the Haunn field, a valuable part of the grazing plan.

Winter's night lights

One winter morning