October started wet and dreich.
It is now the 11 October and things are beginning to improve somewhat. Although it is getting colder, there are times during the day when it isn't raining. So, things are beginning to happen again. Ronnie MacColl is back, which is always a good sign. The digger is back and the first of the two cattle grids when in yesterday which means that the fence around the house site can get finished soon. A whole host can happen then; I can start planting some trees, the foundations of the house can get started, the cows will stay away from the immediate vicinity, so less mud and less destruction all around. On Sunday we saw three white tailed eagles flying, swooping and sailing and gliding and fighting, overhead. Maybe once we have a house I can borrow a good enough camera to photograph the bird life here, it is quite stunning.
It has been raining so heavily and so much that neither building work nor heavy machinery, nor indeed photography has been possible. Though Ben has been working hard with Sebastian on tweaking all the little things, which have become big things in our lives. Things such as getting some water to come out of the tap above the kitchen sink in the big shed. It is just unfiltered rainwater. At first it tasted awful, till we discovered that the roof from whence the rain in collected, was filthy with mud and dirt from the builders. So the roof was scrubbed. A large water tank was purchased and installed next to the big shed and connected up to the gutter. It is all gravity fed and as long as the tank stays full, we have running cold water in the temporary kitchen. Lovely water it is too! Ben also managed to move the caravan over to create roomier access, he hooked up a water supply there and managed to get the shower water to both heat up and for the pump to work. This means that it is possible to have a very short hot shower, if one is brave enough to strip of and not be too worried about not getting all the soap washed off. He also built up the overhang above the caravan which means the tarpaulin which had been a permanent feature over the caravan because it leaked so badly, has been removed, letting in more light and most importantly it is now much quieter. The noise from the wind constantly shaking the tarpaulin and its ropes against the caravan was very irritating. We now don't really have any excuse not to stay here all winter. Is that a good thing, I wonder.
It has been raining so heavily and so much that neither building work nor heavy machinery, nor indeed photography has been possible. Though Ben has been working hard with Sebastian on tweaking all the little things, which have become big things in our lives. Things such as getting some water to come out of the tap above the kitchen sink in the big shed. It is just unfiltered rainwater. At first it tasted awful, till we discovered that the roof from whence the rain in collected, was filthy with mud and dirt from the builders. So the roof was scrubbed. A large water tank was purchased and installed next to the big shed and connected up to the gutter. It is all gravity fed and as long as the tank stays full, we have running cold water in the temporary kitchen. Lovely water it is too! Ben also managed to move the caravan over to create roomier access, he hooked up a water supply there and managed to get the shower water to both heat up and for the pump to work. This means that it is possible to have a very short hot shower, if one is brave enough to strip of and not be too worried about not getting all the soap washed off. He also built up the overhang above the caravan which means the tarpaulin which had been a permanent feature over the caravan because it leaked so badly, has been removed, letting in more light and most importantly it is now much quieter. The noise from the wind constantly shaking the tarpaulin and its ropes against the caravan was very irritating. We now don't really have any excuse not to stay here all winter. Is that a good thing, I wonder.
Ben
The digger is back
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First Oak and Ash trees are planted
Rain brings rainbows
Gravel for the cement dumped on site. It was brought in on a barge from the mainland.
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