1st February - Great Day to start the month

Today the weather is wonderful. Sky is dark blue with almost no cloud. Earlier we took the dogs for a walk on the moor to enjoy the day. The temperature had just hit freezing and the puddles were covered with a thin skin of ice in beautiful cobweb patterns. Couldn't resist taking a few photos out there......

Little dog Heather made a pretty picture against the skyline running over the ling heather. This part of the moor was burned about two years ago and the heather cover is only about four inches long. This is best for the sheep to graze on as there are plenty of shoots coming through and because it is so short, any holes in the moor where the peat underneath has worn away are visible so the sheep can safely graze. If the cold dry winds continue I have my fingers crossed that we can continue with the "falaisgean" (heather burns) and get some good photos.

Then we came across one of our peat stacks - after we had cut and dried the peats in May last year, we stacked them up and put turf over them to keep them safe from the weather until we needed them. Just to check the condition of the peats, we removed one or two of the turves and had a look.......

Beautiful and dry. Hard and black. These peats will burn like coal when the time comes. The forecast is giving news of snow and cold winds next week, so maybe we will be glad of extra peats for the stove.

At the end of the track we found an old electricity transformer that had stopped working during the last series of power cuts we had a couple of weeks ago. The power company had to bring a helicopter to lift this transformer from its position on a light pole near to Eilean Glas lighthouse which does not have vehicle access. Here's a picture of a light pole with a similar transformer attached to it:

Weather, paper boats and Daisy the sheep

After a busy end of week spent organising the school library at Leverburgh, S. Harris with a colleague, I arrived home last night to find that my husband had been busy with the camera.

The sea was very rough and grey and glowering yesterday so here's a picture of the bay near to where we live.

Even though we are a couple of hundred yards away from the seashore and can't see the sea at all from the house, we are still aware of it because of the noise the waves make breaking onto the rocks, especially when the weather is stormy. Some people think that there is no noise here because we are remote from centres of population, but nature can be incredibly noisy at all times of the day and night.

Good news - my paper boat which I made from paper printed with our new Harris Tweed pattern and named "An Clo Mor" docked safely at Durness and is now part of the Caithness Horizons exhibition-in-progress. For more info see http://joannebkaarpaperboats.blogspot.com/ Friday 30th January entry - my boat is number 17. It's not too late to contribute to the exhibition to commemorate the voyage of the Westland to New Zealand. Just click on the above link.

Update on Daisy the sheep - she is doing well. Lots of new friends and new places to explore.

This is Daisy having her tea......

New Years Greetings!

Happy New Year to All

International Year of Natural Fibres 2009

We start 2009 with a beautiful sunrise. The photo shows the sun shining on the mountains of Harris - the view from our kitchen window at about 9.30 this morning. The little fluffy cloud in the centre is sitting on top of the highest peak in the Western Isles - called the Clisham. We get a very good view of it from the croft when its not obscured by rain or cloud.

Then a lovely new year surprise - in the hen house were TWO beautiful eggs. Yes, another hen has started laying. You can't see it in the picture below very clearly but its a greeny-bluey colour which means its from one of our Araucanas - three of them hatched last year. It's very small so that is probably the first egg the hen has ever laid. Maybe they'll all get the idea now!

Daisy the lamb we got from Leda yesterday (see www.bytheloch.blogspot.com for full tear-jerking details), was ready for her breakfast this morning. She has made a little friend - out of shot just now, half of a set of Hebridean twins and they are hanging out together on the hillside in a relaxed and laid back way. Daisy is quite vocal, as you'd expect from a pet lamb, but seems settled and is eating well.

These are a few of the others who come in for a quick snack morning and evening.

The main part of the morning was taken up with hanking and washing my Carloway mix yarn which I will put in the Etsy shop as soon as its dry and aired. It's so tweedy and soft and bouncy. Would really like to keep it all for myself, but with all these mouths and beaks to feed, we must keep an eye on the bottom line.......

This afternoon we're off to walk along the path from Urgha towards Rheinigidale - the path has had some extensive upgrading during the summer so we will be enjoying the sunshine and views and hoping its not going to be too crowded today. Probably won't be able to get photos as my camera batteries went dead earlier and they are on the charger.

Then paperwork this evening - end of the calendar year assessment of animal numbers, performance and whether the croft is still solvent (at any rate it's pretty wet in places!).