Almost 2 weeks between posts

Wow time flies its been 11 days since I blogged last. Whats been happening here? well Mark came and went and no one suffered alcohol poisoning thankfully, lots has been going on in the garden of course, there are two new rockeries a dredged pond, cuttings taken from bushes propagating away in a wigwam type greenhouse made from ex glass doors, early spuds are down, as is rhubarb, onions, garlic, parsley, strawberries and carrots, courgettes, parsnips and a few other seeds I harvested last Autumn from the likes of Hostas and angrypanthers and a vast tract of land near the road has been cleared and is awaiting meadow flower seed to be sown. Bulbs are popping up all over there should be a good showing of Dafs and bluebells this year and the snowdrops miniature crocus  and camellias are out. I will have to get the camera out tomorrow and take some photos. The garden is really starting to look good now, having the excavator in did a bit of damage tracking around but it was really worth it and lots more air will get through the place now and hopefully keep those dang midgies away later in the summer.

Alan (the Yank) is here for another two weeks and we will have a visit from Sheana , Sacha and one of his pals at Easter and John may come up if he is feeling well. I will have to get the boat antifouled and back in the water prior to them visiting. The three guys I have had through the HelpX website have all been nice lads and it has been a worthwhile exercise, after Easter I will have more but this year I wont bother after October as the weather is too cold and miserable to ask then to work outdoors. 

Rossaveal is full of fishing boats just now as the mackerel shoals are just off the coast here and this is the closest port for them to land at.  I was down at the marina earlier and ran my pals boat for a while and made sure she was bailed etc. also had a good chat with the harbour master about various things including the loss of a local boat a few weeks ago that capsized off the Scottish coast.Thankfully the crew were airlifted off and taken to Stornoway.

I have a couple of chainsaw projects underway, making a donkey bench, and some seats hewn from a big log. We had bonfires for 3 days this last week and got rid of lots of branches and roots that were dug up, there was about two weeks of dry weather which helped things along great.

Taipan and my Ausie mate Mark

I have my Aussie mate Mark visiting this week, his Mum died last week so he is across for the funeral in England and came to visit us here for a week before she is released after a post mortem.

Mark was telling me he was bitten by a Taipan snake earlier in the year, he was really lucky as the snake did not inject him with venom and also the one that bit him was the slightly less venomous cousin of the Inland Taipan which is the worlds most venomous snake, the coastal Taipan ranks third in the world. Its venom contains primarily taicatoxin, a highly potent neurotoxin affecting the nervous system and the blood’s ability to clot. Bite victims may experience headache, nausea/vomiting, collapse, convulsions, paralysis, internal bleeding, myolysis (destruction of muscle tissue) and kidney damage. In case of severe envenomation, death can occur as early as 30 minutes after being bitten, but average death time after a bite is around 2.5 hours and it is variable, depending on various factors such as the nature of the bite and the health state of the victim. Untreated bites have a mortality rate of 100% as it always delivers a fatal dose of venom, so seek immediate medical attention even for apparently minor bites. Before the introduction of specific antivenom by the Commonwealth Serum Laboratories in 1956, nearly all bites were fatal.

We have had a couple of nights out since he has been here, I won at poker on the first night (thats four second places and one first in the five times I have played in this particular venue :) ) then we went on to a sesun at another pub and enjoyed the live music. Last night his girlfriend stayed over and we had dinner a few drinks and popped down the road for one before coming back and watching movies. 

My Yankee helper is staying the weekend in Galway with his girl and will be back on Tuesday so I am hoping the cold dry spell that we have today lasts for a good few days, the forecast is good. My diet has kind of stalled due to beer but I am still off the bread and dairy products. I have lost about six kg and hope to lose 10 more before Paddy and Emma's wedding, so I can get the kilt on easier.  I will have to start thinking about a speech as I am the best man at the wedding. 

World darts championship

Just been watching the darts over the holidays and they were brilliant, Gary Anderson from Scotland ended up beating the 16 time world champ Phil Taylor in a nail biting final. At one point Gary had three darts fall out of the treble 20 all at once https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=DRuMitbYWDg In the match there were 31, 180,s which is a record too and that's not counting the one that fell out. Even Angie has been glued to the TV over the last 5 days or so and she hates darts.

My helper didn't arrive today it looks like Thursday before he will be here. I have an appointment to see a Ortho something about my left anckle which has tendinitis now on Thursday as well in galway and aim to get some tiles for the laundry floor when I,m in the town. The ford needs its NCT on Wednesday, hopefully it will go through ok as it only has 84,000 on the clock and no dramas.

2 inches on my belt size

Well the last couple of weeks with little exercise and lots of grub has seen the belt go out two notches and I'm about the same size as I was when working at Baystar and eating Effie burgers and chups on nightshift all the time. Its a shame as the Dr had commented on the weight I had lost since he saw me last when he saw me prior to Christmas anyway its a good excuse to go on a diet as I have a wedding coming up in May and have been asked to be best man and I need the kilt to fit better, at the moment its at maximum extension and not comfortable.

The weather has been alternating between lovely and dreich, today was lovely. My next helper arrives on Monday and I shall be back into the manual work again which should knock kilos off. I,m going to borrow the excavator again and level off an area for the poly tunnel, other jobs it will be handy for are dredging the pond and making a rockery out of a fallen wall down past the pond.

There is a full moon tonight rising at the same time as the sun is setting wish we got more of this weather here but I suppose I shouldn't whinge as we dont have bush fires threatening the house, thoughts go out to all the folks in the Adelaide hills and Victoria who have lost their homes in the last couple of days in the worst bush fires in 30 years.

    

Lovely morning with ice on the car

Awoke to a lovely morning sunrise and discovered ice crystals that looked like ferns on the car.

We still have roses in bloom at the front door too which is a first, usually they are well and truly blasted by gales by this time. John went home yesterday morning, he wasn't feeling great so its just the two of us again. I might ask the neighbor if he fancies coming over for New Years day dinner if he is alone too.

Its such a glorious day here I,m going to head out shortly and take some photos just waiting for my camera battery to charge up.

I got my bulbs planted yesterday along with two of the bigger plants I got for Christmas, some of the bulbs I planted earlier in the season sprouted so they will probably die off in the cold weather and not flower in springtime, either they weren't deep enough or the plants were fooled into believing spring had sprung really early.

I hope we get a spell of this dry weather as all the rain is depressing, I have another helper arriving on the fifth of January from Marthas Vineyard in the USA, he is a horticulturist whos family have a garden center over there.

Christmas, what did you get up to.

The local shop owner Tike, gave me an unexpected present on Christmas Eve. I was in the shop stocking up with last minute bits and bobs and he told me he was really tired as he had been up all night with his wee bairns they had a tummy upset that kept them going to the loo. So I shook his hand and spent the next 12 hours on the loo myself. Looking on the possives it made more space for all the hundred weights of food we had in for the three of us.
I did really well in the way of presents, three bushes / , Rhus typhina or stags head, Acuba japonica "golden king" and  Mahonia japonica. One is early spring flowering one summer and one autumn/ winter. Also got a load of spring bulbs to go with the dozens I already put in the ground. They include crocuses tulips allium and bluebells. Also got a yachting book written by a friend of my parents who has a cottage on the island they live on and has clocked up 26,000 miles around the western isles in his wee 27 ft yacht. I,d be out planting the lot today but 1 it is raining 2 I can't move yet. Had to change my shirt mid afternoon as I had grown out of it.
After today the weather looks like it is improving so I shall spend today teasing John and the rest of the week working off the Christmas cheer. 
Nolaig Shona agus a bliana a bha ure.

Gales, wind and more gales

Today is dreich driving rain in gale force W winds, good day to be indoors. Seas at the entrance to the bay are between 4.5 and 5.5 meters, the whole week looks windy. One tree down this morning thankfully it is just the wee Christmas tree on the front lawn, baubles scattered and the elaphunt lost an ear, the Santa hats on the other animals are fluttering horizontally and its a sort of dejected looking party of animals at the moment, the chance of a white Christmas is virtually nil however the mood indoors is better, nice fire blazing, cozy house with lots of festive cheer about. Had visitors last night and exchanged presents with them always nice to see kids faces when they open presents, the older you get the more satisfying it is to give, than receive, so Angie recons, so shes getting nowt :) hehehe.

I will have to go down and check Ron's boat is ok but am putting it off till the rain stops. John arrives tomorrow for a week or so and I have an American helper starting on the 5th of January so i,m hoping the weather is better, this guy is a qualified horticulturalist from Martha s vineyard  whose family have a garden center there, hope he is as good as Clement was around the place. I have plenty of bushes and plants that I'm hoping can be propagated from cuttings and transplants, it might be the wrong time of year but I shall pick his brains as to which ones should go where and I aim to make another big rockery and pond.