Change in the weather

Well instead of gales and rain we have gales and hail this morning  (Monday) :) its been awful weather here and not at all conducive to gardening I'm afraid. I suppose at least I havent got sunburn ehh. I dont mind not seeing anyone all day if  I am busy chopping down trees or ripping out brambles but I must admit to being a bit bored when I'm stuck inside.

Well we braved the elements, togged up in wet weather gear and did a couple of hours hacking and ripping and I feel better for expending that energy. The dogs will maybe be less ancy for a while too as they had a good run around. Gus is giving himself a wash down now and getting bits of brambles out of his tail.

Tuesday now and what a difference a day makes, this morning was sunny and calm and it reminmded me what I saw in this place, the mountains looked awesome with their dusting of snow and the dogs and I spent about 5 hours with the shredder getting a workout. The area down from my patio that used to be all overgrown with fuschia bushes and brambles is now all cleared and I'm thinking of putting a greenhouse down there its on the western side of the house and pretty sheltered by trees but nothing close enough to fall on it.

Huricaine force winds

I gave my Dad a weather station last Christmas and it didnt survive the Huricaine force winds they had yesterday they are also without power for the last 24 hours and the news had this to say "More than 70,000 homes and businesses are still without power in Scotland after hurricane force winds swept through the country. Some residents have been warned it could be Sunday before their power is eventually restored because engineers are being hampered by blizzards and ice." http://news.sky.com/home/uk-news/article/16125967?d96a349c52fc4f68eea46a47ccb3d360=

Here I had very strong gales yesterday and water got in my patio doors and soaked the carpet, it has obviously happened before as the wood below the carpet there has rot in it and the carpet has had a section replaced. I was cosy enough with a big fire going right enough. Tonight is colder and calm and I have hung some Christmas decorations up so it feels the part. Angie gets home around 0200 tomorrow morning so I shall try and stay up till she gets home. Mind you its only 1830 and I dare say by 2200 my eyes will be closing lol.

Cave exposed and a bear returns

Well I was giving the schythe a workout and stepped in a hole up to my waist, was an entrance into a wee cave the back entrance actually as I uncovered a bigger entrance later, the dogs were very interested in the smells in it but I didnt find any bedding or evidence of badgers. I shall do some more schything on Friday as tomorrow looks dreich on the forecast, infact there are more gales on the way tomorrow.

Charity the Bear has reapeared after a respite of a few months, I shall keep hold of her untill January and then she is off on more travels. My aim initially was to have her travel for a year but she has been lost a few times and there arent many photos yet so she will keep going a few months yet before being auctioned on ebay.

home

Well we got home at about half four this afternoon, left Cairnryan at 0700 and took the new Stena ferry across to Belfast its a nice ship and it was a calm passage. The bed and breakfast place we stayed in (Lake View) was nice and good value but the pillows let it down as a lot of these places do.

There was no snow in Ireland just a bit of the wet stuff and the temps are about 7C.

The budget was just released and its a lot better than I was expecting, the tax rate stays the same at least. Of course with any austerity budget there are a lot of whingers but that is to expected and I didnt hear any alternative ways to pay back the huge loan the country has.

Tomorrow Angie is away to London for a course and she gets back on Saturday so I will be on my tod again, she has had lots of travelling this last few weeks but is getting an offsider in the UK soon so hopefully she wont have to be over there as much.

Gus got a doo at the kennel so is smelling sweet and looks like a showdog, he didnt eat his dinner so I guess he has been eating Jessies as she was starving.

My Dad gave me a scythe so hopefully it will be dry enough to give it a test drive tomorrow.

heading home

Well we are in Cairnryan tonight on the way back home the weather has been pretty ordinary this visit to Scotland with gales,rain, sleet then snow but it was well worth the visit and excellent to see my old folks.

Their cat is called Delanach (lightning) but should really be Diabhal as she is a devil for grabbing your sock clad feet and biting them, that will teach me not to pack slippers.

The snow was thickest at Crianlarich on the way South.

The EU crisis

It is a slow day in Carraroe (a wee Irish Village). The rain is beating down and the streets are deserted. Times are tough, everybody is in debt, and everybody lives on credit. On this particular day a rich German tourist is driving through the village, stops at the local hotel and lays a $100 note on the desk, telling the hotel owner he wants to inspect the rooms upstairs in order to pick one to spend the night. The owner gives him some keys and, as soon as the visitor has walked upstairs, the hotelier grabs the $100 note and runs next door to pay his debt to the butcher. The butcher takes the $100 note and runs down the street to repay his debt to the pig farmer. The pig farmer takes the $100 note and heads off to pay his bill at the supplier of feed and fuel. The guy at the Farmers' Co-op takes the $100 note and runs to pay his drinks bill at the pub. The publican slips the money along to the local prostitute drinking at the bar, who has also been facing hard times and has had to offer him "services" on credit. The hooker then rushes to the hotel and pays off her room bill to the hotel owner with the $100 . The hotel proprietor then places the $100 note back on the counter so the rich traveller will not suspect anything. At that moment the traveller comes down the stairs, picks up the $100 note, states that the rooms are not satisfactory, pockets the money, and leaves town. No one produced anything. No one earned anything. However, the whole village is now out of debt and looking to the future with a lot more optimism. And that, Ladies and Gentlemen, is how the bailout package works. So Hienrick or Hans jump in your wee Audi and we will see you soon.

Its another wintry day here on the island but there is hope as I can see a glimmer of sunlight through the skylight of my bedroom, bit like the EU Crisis really ehh. Anyway I head off back towards Eire tomorrow and shall have to work extra hard to work off all the food my Mom insists on feeding me.

Luing in the wind

Well I'm visiting my parents this week on the Island of Luing, it blew a hooli last night and today had strong winds and wintry showers. A tag from a lobster pot that was swept off the New England sea floor two decades ago during what came to be known as "The Perfect Storm'' has washed up 4,800 kilometres away in Ireland. Oceanographer Curt Ebbesmeyer said the tag's 20-year drift is unusually long for such flotsam. He theorized it was buried in offshore mud before drifting and catching the Gulf Stream toward Ireland in between a few years of circling in a mid-Atlantic current.

The fireworks display in Oban this last week is a YouTube sensation as all the fireworks (that were meant to take 20 mins to go off) went off at once.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L6QtigLJD_4&feature=player_embedded