West Mainland show day

Thursday 12th Aug 2010
It is West Mainland show day today. A bit of drizzly rain first thing but the forecast is OK for the show.


I took disobedient dog down to the beach for a run first thing just to try and get her tired. It didn't work. I think that I would have worn my legs down to stumps before she showed any sign of being tired. Maybe one of those old fashioned roasting spits with a dog in a giant hamster wheel is the answer.

Later in the morning we went to the West Mainland show. Half of the West Mainland must have been there.


I was surprised at the amount of agricultural equipment on show. There were four combines, a lot of expensive tractors, feeders,tankers, loaders and so on.
I think that the Orkney farmers are supposed to have had a good year as beef and sheep prices have been high so they are all out to buy big new expensive toys.


There was a dog agility class with a border terrier in it. I thought that this was rather optimistic but it didn't do badly and didn't run off at all.

Another dog in the agility show was an ex guide dog. She was very good but had to be excused from doing the see-saw because she decided that it was not wide enough for both her and her handler, a hang-up from her guide dog days.

There were some lovely beef cattle as you would expect.
A border terrier won the dog show which Pam thought was quite right and I heard on the radio that it is going to be mated to a good border bitch up here but I will not tell Pam.

I thought that I would have a look at the poultry as I am thinking I may get some chickens once I have made a proper run but it was a bit disappointing. there were a few nice birds, mainly bantams but it was surprising how many moulting birds were in the show. Maybe there will be a better turn out at the county show on Saturday.

WE left the show and stopped at the Waterside in Finstown for a late lunch. We were greeted like old friends and given a card that now allows us a 10% discount as regular customers. VG TICK.

Back home until 10:15 PM when we left to pick up Peter from the ferry at Hatston and back home with Pam driving so we took the scenic route in the dark.
We sat round chatting until about 1:30 then looked outside to see if the huge, spectacular meteor shower would be any good. We saw one very brief flash, hardly worth going out for. And so to bed.