Fletcher saga 15 August 2004

The headline news is that Rocky was was sheared (with good old-fashioned hand-clippers) on Tuesday 03 Aug. At first Rocky was almost unrecognisable in his smart, new, slim-line coat but, because he spends a lot of time lounging around in the muddy bits of his field, it was not long before he developed a horizontal "tide mark" around his clean fleece. Most people, particularly the children and dog-walkers, who pass Rocky's gate will stop and pass the time of day with him. The dogs will generally ignore Rocky unless they have some collie in them in which case they will try to face Rocky down. But Rocky doesn't know about collies so he cannot understand what they are up to. On Friday Rocky had a wonderful time when the children who were playing football across the road accidentally kicked their ball into his field on several occasions. In each case Rocky pounced on the football in a trice and head-butted it along the ground trying to evade the children who wanted their ball back.

More dramatic news! On 05 August, whilst wandering around the side of the house spraying some weedkiller over the thistles, I came upon a large pool of stagnant foul-smelling water just outside the kitchen drain. At first I thought that the septic tank had failed and needed emptying. However, the local handyman responded to our plea for help in his usual speedy and cheerful way. He soon produced several sets of rods and quickly cleared the blockage. A few checks on Internet sites specialising in septic tank maintenance and a quick check on our own tank showed that it seemed to be working alright. However, just to be on the safe side I ordered some new "bugs" which arrived in the post a few days ago. These have been flushed into the tank and are now, hopefully, doing their stuff. My knowledge of septic tank technology has now increased beyond what I ever thought possible (or necessary!).

The local handyman (who sorted out our drains when they were blocked) and his wife have quite a few animals - I have already mentioned their lambs which hid their heads in the henhouse when it rained. Now Matilda, one of their hens, has taken it into her head to stroll into their living room every morning at 1030-1100, sit in a corner and, after a great deal of clucking and squawking, lays one egg before strolling out again. The 6 cats watch this performance but make no move because they have great respect for hens since one of their number who was stalking a young chick was violently attacked by the chick's outraged mother. The lambs have grown enormously and have now developed the habit of drinking from the watering can if it is left lying around in the garden.

I had yet another day out in Kirkwall earlier this month. The primary purpose this time was to visit the chiropodist. That may not sound terribly exciting but I do assure you that my feet feel SO much better; before the visit I became quite grumpy if I was on my feet for any length of time.

Our own garden is doing well despite being so neglected this summer. The montbretia is flowering but is crammed into a small bed and needs to be split when the flowers have died off. The chilean potato vine has now finished flowering and has been trimmed back so that we can now walk down the garden path without edging along sideways. The two fuschia hedges have been trimmed quite severely as they grow at an alarming rate. One was too tall for me to trim therefore it has had 4 feet lopped off its height so that I can reach it next time a trim becomes due. After I had trimmed all the hedges the sparrows had a grand feast on the small bugs & insects which the the trimming had revealed. The sparrows looked for all the world like construction workers on a high-rise building as they scampered around the heavily trimmed hedge with its bare branches and twigs exposed to the light. One side effect of all the hedge trimming and branch lopping is that my arms and shoulders feel as though I have been worked over by a particularly sadistic masseur. No doubt the doctor would say it is good for me but I have my doubts.

At the start of this month we at last found time to visit the Stronsay fish mart museum which lies just off the main jetty. The museum successfully depicts life in Stronsay during the heyday of the herring fishing and has several small rooms containing many artifacts from that period. It is incredible to realise that the population of Stronsay is now only one tenth of what it was before WW2. Attached to the museum is a small cafe which always seems to be well patronised.

Last updated 15 August 2004