Where are all the seal pups

Thursday 14th October 2010
Pam was feeling a bit better today and was getting bored at home so we went out to Windwick on South Ronaldsay to see if there were any seal pups as it is pupping season for the grey seals.
There were no pups yet at Windwick although I could hear a seal calling but we couldn't go far as Pam is not up to walking far yet.

Maybe we just looked in the wrong place as the Autumn Watch team from BBC television are up here at the moment to film the seal pups but they have gone to Stronsay.

At least Pam had a nice trip out so it will stop her going "stir crazy".

On Friday Pam went down to see the surgery practice nurse to get her stitches out. I didn't realise that many of them were staples. I thought that they looked like a zip and wondered if it was some NHS scheme to make any future operations easier.

She has just told me that it was 35 staples and 12 stitches over 5 incisions so she looks like a noughts and crosses board.

This photo from this morning just proves that it does sunshine in Orkney in October. There are at least 3 places where the sun is shining.

When we got back from the surgery the builders had begun to knock through the end of the house to create a doorway into the extension. Looking at the wall when they knocked through it is fairly obvious that the house was built by a fisherman and not by a builder or mason. It is plainly OK because it has stood for 100 years but he probably got it right by luck more than judgement. Almost all the houses here are single storey, maybe they tried 2 storey houses and decided that as they all fell down it was better to stick to single storey houses.

As Pam says that I have not put any photos of the progress of the extension up for a while, here are two.
One looking from the house through into the extension and









one looking from the new bedroom to the new lounge.

Pam's return

Monday 11th October 2010
Molly and I were uip early so that we could tidy round before I had to collect Pam. Unfortunately Molly's efforts did not seem to be aimed at making the place look any more tidy but we eventually managed then I shot off to the airport.

Pam was the last one off the aircraft as she had to wait until all the other passengers had disembarked and then one of the staff pushed her to the terminal in a wheelchair. I am sure that she will not have liked the indignity of being pushed in a wheelchair as she is to independent for her own good so I took a photo.


It was lovely to have her back and she was equally pleased to be back.
At home she slightly overdid it and made herself knackered (no surprise there then)

On Tuesday afternoon the phone went off, probably as a protest at being over used since Pam returned. I checked with the builders who swore blind that they had not pulled at the wires. I phoned Sky and they said that they would get back to us within 72 hours but on Wednesday morning BT came to check it out so 10 out of 10 for BT.
The problem was of course that a wire had been pulled out just where the builders had been working but they said that it was not them so it was obviously just a coincidence and the wire had fallen out all by itself.

Domesticity

Saturday 9th October 2010
After taking Molly for a walk down to the village to tire her out (It did not work), I thought that I had better get some of the domestic chores done before Pam returns.
After looking at my instuctions I decided that doing some washing was possible so I sucessfully got a load done (Is there no end to my talents). There was one minor problem. When I hung the washing out on the line, the line was covered in cement dust from the rendering on the extension and so all the washing had a nice grey stripe across it. I blame Pam for this as her instructions said nothing about wiping the washing line down. Anyway perhaps she will not notice or maybe all the dust will fall off.

On Sunday I was surprised on my return from dog walking to see Duncan and Hamish on the roof doing some tiling. Duncan said that it was because he could charge double time for sundays but I think that it is because he knows Pam is back tomorrow and he is scared.

I did lots of domestic things like vacuuming, washing, making bread etc so that it is not to bad when Pam gets back. (See I am scared of Pam also).

Pam is chomping at the bit to get out of hospital and I have told Molly that she is not to jump up at her but we will see.

Back home again

Friday 8th October 2010
Well maybe the prayers or whatever worked.
I returned from Aberdeen today. Pam had her Op on Monday and though there were complications, all went well and she is due home next Monday.

I picked Molly up from the kennels where she has had the lady who owns the kennels eating out of her hand so to speak although it did seem to be the other way round as she was getting loads of tit bits.




When I got home the builders were here and Duncan and his dad were on the roof doing the tiling.
The extension is beginning to look like part of the house instead of a shed (Shame).

The blockwork is up for the walls and is cemented over, the velux windows are in the roof and most of the roof is tiled.

It took me about 30 minutes to actually get into the house as Jock was here and Molly was going demented so I had to take them both for a play in the field first but I suppose that she is entitled to a bit of a play after being in the kennels for a few days even if she does seem to have been spoiled in the kennels.

Say a prayer or whatever you believe in

Pams Op today as I write this. I am off to Aberdeen in a few minutes.
Say a prayer for us please.

Pam leaves me.

Saturday 2nd October 2010
Up early this morningg to go to the airport as Pam is going to the hospital in Aberdeen today prior to having her Op on Monday.
I am going down on Monday as we can't get Molly into kennels before then.

Even so I have been left enough food to feed an army, all with full cooking instructions. I have 4 A4 pages of instructions ranging from where everything is, to how to work the cooker, dishwasher, washing machine and drier. I even got a note telling me that the washing machine was in the kitchen and the drier was in the bathroom. Just because I made a simple mistake a couple of times.

I have also got a list of instructions for Duncan the builder. The main instruction seems to be that he is not to do anything that I tell him to do.

Sunday just seems to be a dog day. Took the dog for a walk and did a bit of training with her. She is not doing bad.

After two goes I finally found the kennels that she is going into tomorrow. I thought that I had better not leave it till the morning as I have not got much time spare after dropping her off before I have to be at the airport so I do not need to get lost.


I do feed and water Molly properly but why is it that she seems to think that this is the best place to drink from. She always has a bowl of fresh water but it is not good enough. If she ever finds the bathroom door open she is in there.

Last blog entry for a few days as I am off to Aberdeen to see Pam tomorrow.

Orkney's weather wins and I learn to embed videos

Friday 1st October 2010
The day started a bit breezy but the forcast is for gales later.
We have tickets to go to a "Help for Heroes" concert in Kirkwall tonight. It should be a good one.
The weather stayed reasonable until about 3:30PM then it started raining which with the high winds was a bit uncomfy outside.


"The Chair" and Saltfishfourty both playing along with some other good singers and groups.



I thought that it would be a nice night out for Pam before she went into hospital tomorrow morning.
Unfortunately Orkney weather won again.

During the afternoon the wind got up to force 9 (severe gale) and although we got over number 3 barrier with no problems, when we got to number two barrier it was closed. I think that even if it wasn't closed I probably would not have attempted to cross it. Our end was OK but we could see the waves at the far end crashing right over the top of the barrier. It may or may not have washed the car off into the sea but it would certainly have done severe damage as a few tons of water descended on the car.

Deciding that discretion was etc etc, we returned to Burray and went for a meal and a jar at the Sands. At least it did not feel to bad wasting the tickets as the money we paid went to a good cause.