42

Duck, in snow soup

Good news! Paul the Crofter is alive and has not been consumed by his ravenous animals.

I say this because I was beginning to get a bit worried having been down for the last couple of mornings and found nothing stirring. I mean the chickens were out poking around. The piggies were doing what piggies do. And Hyacinth was already complaining that her breakfast had not arrived. But no crofter to seen. Or heard.

Now the mystery is solved. Mr Crofter had been in bed till late [relatively late that is] recovering still from the effects of flu and Dad crofter had been coming over later in the day on account of the cold weather. The snow, ice and bitter wind type of weather. I can't blame them at all.

41

The turkeys have landed.

Now the roof of their little house has been replaced and its drier in than out, the turkeys and some of the chickens have decided to go back inside at night. Meantime, flurries of snow have been coming down from time to time which the turkeys are not at all keen on. At least these two are still around!

40

Snow, straight road, crashed car.

[none hurt apparently and I wasn't driving when I took this]

Christmas has passed. The snow is still around since we had a nice dusting in the night and then it froze. As usual, there's people driving around the island like it was a hot summers day and I've seen two crashed cars near the village in two days. One would think that they've not seen snow before!Anyway, Mr Crofter is well used to the snow hailing from Yorkshire and all that. And since his chest is till coughing up the result of his flu, he is taking it easy and nestling up to the fire while eating our carrot cake. No doubt that'll be another week off!

Lets not forget Mr Crofter plus Mum & Dad crofter 'do' Christmas. There's even a nice tree in the window I noticed this morning as I lurked outside seeing if Mr crofter wa going to show himself. He did not.

39

Turk outside Turk Towers.

It's Turk, the male turkey who has been creating havoc yet again. Not sure if this was the result of an unsettling disappearance of one of their clan recently but it almost led to the demise of two more.

Turk has nice night time accommodation adjacent to the feed store where he roosts along with his progeny and partner. This accommodation has a lovely plastic roof to let the winter light in and, a 'perch' on which he settles for the night and from which Dad crofter lifts him down from in the morning.

Somehow, Turk took a flying leap [ more leap than flying on account of his bulk] at the perch and rather than land delicately on the middle section he thumped heavily on the end section sending the other end thrusting upwards and through the plastic roof. Turk was stuck wedged between thix and there and his progeny sent up and possibly up through the plastic onto the roof of the house where they seem to prefer living from thenceforth on. Dad Crofter removed a ruffled Turk from his predicament but the youngsters have yet to return to ground level.

38

The Crofter and family relax in Crofter Towers after feeding the animals and celebrating Christmas with a fine meal.

37

Mum Crofter doing all the work. Again

Flu has stricken The Crofter.

Mum & Dad Crofter have moved in so they can care for the ailing poor thing. I do know what he is going through since I may have given it to him in the first place!

Turkey numbers have dropped by one on the croft I'm informed. No doubt it's gone to meet its stuffing and will rise again in the morn.

All in all, I'm reliably informed it's been a good year at Crofter Towers and Paul, David and Sue would like to wish all the blog readers and friends a very happy Christmas and a wonderful 2010

36

You'll just have to use your imagination on this. I'm ill. Throat and all that. Nothing that a swig of night-nurse/single malt mix won't fix.

And I did venture out earlier anyway. Down to the croft, bravely picking my way down the snowy lane and managing not to fall over. I shot a couple of frames of the white stuff falling over the croft, croaked at The Crofter, drank his tea and came home.

Maybe it'll be better in the morn - and the snow might still be there.

Imagine this snap showing The Crofter knee deep in snow flakes being chased by a turkey - who, I might add is destined for the pot soon. And despite me being a vegetarian its not a moment too soon since the toe-rag has attacked me more than once.

Ok, its a rubbish snap but that's how I feel. Did you think this blog was about The Crofter??

But since you ask, The crofter was suppose to out celebrating a friends birthday in Stornoway tonight - he'll be orange from all the Irn Bru he'll be drinking. And he might have problems getting home since the snow is coming down harder now!!!

35

Sometimes, just sometimes, when the time is right, when the feed-up has been done and the throat is parched, one has to have a cup of tea. Mr Crofter Sir does.

34

It all started out so well.

"Oh botheration"

The guilty party is dragged to the Gulag

"Let me scratch behind your horns Rambo, you pain in the ........."

Rambo was in trouble today. Again. One moment he thought all his hogmanys had come at once and the next he was in solitary confinement.

It started on this lovely sunny morning - the warmest place in the Uk they said - and I can believe them. Mr Crofter Sir, went to feed up some sheeps in a croft he had been kindly given use of and found that the time had come to move them So, off went the little tribe led by the able Rambo who, obviously was keen to get back to normal surroundings.

Soon, the sheeps were in a holding field on the croft and it didn't take more than a mo before Rambo was chasing the young lambs that were already living there around intent on getting his manly way with them. "Oh botheration" said the Crofter. Or something like that. In a flash, Crofter Sir was in among his flock and grabbed a distracted Rambo by his everso slightly trimmed horn and dragged him into the cell thing. Rambo was not a happy bunny i can tell you. Or Ram come to that. But order was restored for the moment and a nice cup of tea was in order. So I left them to it and went and had one!

33

This might be Tinga

Been a bit lad low so have not been out to be attacked by one of the turkeys - or humped by another. But will be back in full flow soon. I hope.

32

I'm wondering whether Mr Crofter went out for an Urn Bru or two last night since when i hammered on the door at 10 am this morning there was no answer. The curtains were closed and the turkeys were looking shifty. I was hoping Mr Crofter might accompany Eve and I on a little strollette over the local hills. Still, we went and we came back and now I'm looking at some snaps I took of Mr Crofter and Dad crofter harvesting the Manglewurzels.
Maybe it'll be service as normal in the morning. If the gale subsides and the cow byre is still there!!

31

There's a couple of other crofter sites I've been put onto. The first is that of the Mangelwurzel Ale - Dennis with his Musings from a Stonehead, and also Paul on Raasay. Apparently Paul works on the wee ferry there.Tis a nice ferry to - Eve & I were on it last year :-)

30

Here it is the 30th post of this little blog-ette - and the crofters are still speaking to me. In fact we had quite a lovely conversation this morning in the sunshine on a cold winters day. We were discussing the raising of the Manglewurzels - along with the turnips and swedes. Mr Crofter Sir uses the Manglewurzels for feed for the livestock - and I can refer you to a previous post regarding the anceint machinery from Wexford - is 'chipped' by the mangle-chipper. That's what it is.

I'm also reliably informed that manglewurzels can also be used to make wine - but then so can just about eerything else it seems. I did some digging around on the ww and came up with a recipe for Manglewurzel Ale courtesy of another Scottish crofter. Please tell me if you try or have tried this!

BTW; the weather is still holding out. Cold but lovely and the hebridean sheep are just loving it! Seen above.

29

I called into see Mr Crofter, yes the new grazing committee man, and had a little chat. As I do. We passed the time of day, I passed on a few hints on how he should do his work - and he rightly ignored me. All the time Mr Crofter was expertly making some teeth in his dental technician mode. I mentioned a stroll to the beach. Mr Crofter worked a bit faster and joined me in the lovely sunshine. Piggy grunted contentedly outside.

28

I mean, just look at that. Eh? I get this every morning. Well at the moment it seems that way. When the winds not howling, the rain not coming in horizontal and roof-tiles flapping, threatening to break loose to form little flying head-cutters.
I snapped this up on the way down to The Croft the other day. I'd already been down on the beach for a paddling/walking meditation and then I get this! It just fair lifts the heart at this time of year.
The Crofter has a collection of machinery aimed at aiding the running of the croft - although sometime it takes more time to keep this ancient kit going than it does help. Or something like that. This is the dumper truck. I know its hardly F1 or even Massey Ferguson - a marque loved a revered among the locals - but it does Mr Crofter and his dad. Currently it sits on the croft slowly turning rust red - but i am assured it will start first - or maybe second time. Well, they will get it started somehow anyway. Possibly.

27

It seems at one time, that Wexford in Ireland was a centre of much agricultural machinery manufacturing due in the main to the work of Philip Pierce &Co. Needless to say, one of its implements has made its way onto Mr Crofters premises. I have no idea what it is called but it looks fantastic and does a great job at doing what it does. Apparently. According to the newly elected grazings committee man anyway. I must listen next time he tells me what it does.

I took these snaps in a gale - a complete contrast to yesterday i can tell you. Then I was out on the beach at dawn! Now, its wet and blowin and the ferries have stayed put for the day.