nats blog

Hi Everyone

I cannot believe another year has past, where has the time gone

We have had quite a lot of changes in the past year.  We moved from our previous house in Lewis to Isle of Scalpay

We also have had a loss to the family…. Bob the one eyed ferret passed away at a ripe old age of 10 years.

We now have no ferrets at all as his mate Roxie passed too.

We are now trying to decide what to do next for this fresh year ahead.  Do we look for a house and croft to rent back on Lewis or do we check out another Island, if so which one

The kids are not so keen to stay on Scalpay and really it is not remote enough where we are now.  Also has no land.  So any suggestions you can give about other Islands would be appreciated

Lottie and Splodge went up to the common grazing earlier this year (the sheep roam free here for most of year).  They were released again around the end of September, and sadly Lottie has not returned, Splodge is roaming free further up from the house.  Still frantically looking for Lottie.

Amongst other things like health issues, all in all not a real good year.  Hope this one coming holds better times and new adventures.

On a cheerier note, hope everyone has had a nice Christmas and has a good new years eve,

Hello to all on IB.

Just thought I would blog whilst sat here by the fire keeping warm. 

I hope everyone is keeping well and warm.

There has been a lot happening over the last couple of weeks which is not so good Laura was diagnosed with Raynaud’s Syndrome, Olivia has had Pyelonephritis too  and we have just had her renal scans.  They came back clear which is good.  Emma is being monitered for Arthritis in her hip and back, too.

What is with this weather, it is really bizarre. All that stress and mayhem for a few days of snow and cold. And it is set to return this week.

I am so annoyed because I lost one of my lambs to the cold and it just seems such a tragedy

On a happy note all the other animals are keeping well and I hope it stays that way. I think Lottie is the fattest sheep on the Island

I have come to the decision that it is not a good idea to try and wrap christmas presents whilst 2 ferrets are loose. They had a ball with my bows and ribbons. Bob was in the bags and Roxy kept nicking off with the cellotape. t resulted in a very stressed me chasing 2 very happy ferrets around the room After collecting my bits together and sitting on the floor wrapping Roxy decided she was going to try and go up my trouser leg I think this was a diversion whilst Bob  tried to pinch my bits again.

I have  put 2 pics on one is not so small Lottie being real nosy.

The other is of my 2 new lambs before Ilost pink splodge.

Orange splodge is doing well but I need some help in picking a name for her.  Any suggetions

xx

It is hard to believe that we have been here a whole year (plus an extra few days).

The time has gone so fast, and with so many different eperiences from growing veg to bottle feeding a lamb.

The weather seemed a lot better this time last year though.

Lottie is growing into a beautiful fat sheep, she is so funny and clever. Mischieviuos too.

I didn’t think that we would adjust so well, mainly the kids but they proved me wrong. It has been me that has a few dodgy moments adjusting

I have been plodding along with my business and it is getting there and we have a few more customers thatn we did last year. I never realised setting up a business was so time consuming and tedious but I can see the benefits slowly beginning. I am still putting new stuff on daily so still quite busy.

I shall put in an advertising bit now check us out at www.allexmilitary.co.uk

We have a few new additions to the chicken family. My original ladies went to live with a neighbour and we got some new ones. Lottie was not impressed by this and got a bit jealous at one point now as long as she gets a treat when i feed the chickens she is cool

Well back to work again, cup of tea and biscuit time over.

Hope everyone is keeping well.

xx

Lottie is now 8 days old. The photo diary I have been keeping are stuck on my camera and for some reason will not load onto my pc

Yesterday I realised that everyting that was left around Lottie would try and eat so myself and the kids are constantly going round moving things.

Laura (who is 7 and owns Bob) decided to open a pack of Fishermans friends, she managed to drop the pack and thought she had picked them all up.

Later on I saw Lottie having a good old munch on something I put my fingers in her mouth to try and scoop what it was out. She was not giving in too easy and was not pleased at me

Anyway after a minute or so of wrestling I got it It was a Fshermans Friend. She was really enjoying it and ground her teeth at me and went to sulk

I am now beginning to wonder if I should introduce some solid feed, as eating this is better than eating all my bits and bobs.

I have also noticed that she has taken a shine to my big wool bag, it is filled with alsorts of coloured wool. I wonder if she can sense that this comes of sheep,

She is out in the garden today as the weather is great. She is running around with the kids doing little hops and jiumps she is soo adorable.

Easter Sunday lie in was disturbed by a phone call.  I answered the phone to be asked who was speaking. At this point I am thinking who the hell is this person.

Turns out it was a crofter from  the Westside of the Island. He had a 1 day old Black Faced Lamb hat had been rejected by it mother. He asked was I interested in taking it on.

Well, what else could I say but yes.

I hve been bottle feeding every 4 hours. I thought my days of making bottles and nightime feeds were over

But her name is Charlotte, Lottie for short. She is a cutie.

So now is the time I have to research and find out as much as I can about lambs, sheep etc

I am so chuffed and the kids have said its the best easter present ever.

Moving to the Island has given my kids so many good memories to look back on whenthey grow up and hopefully so many more to come.

It just goes to show that the best things in life are truly free. All the money I spent on easter eggs and easter colour books and pens, only for them to be chucked aside.

Well today was party day for emma (now 12) We booked the local community centre, which I was surprised how cheap it was and the facilities available

There was roughly about 27 kids (6 of which were mine)

I spent the whole time panicing if there was going to be enough food, only to find i’d done too much as usual

We had to share the kitchen with a group called the Silver Darlings, and I was surprised when they gave us plates with cakes on to add to the already too much food.

Emma enjoyed her day with some really great presents, Laura lost a tooth (only a milk one)

Had plenty of help with games and tidying up too

It was a good day all round, but my feet ache and i feel drained

I have these rather large veg plots and do not know what to do with them.

I am thinking though that as spring is in the air I should plant something.

Past history of plants etc is not good, I kill my house plants (not intentionally).

Any help on what to plant and when to plant would be really appreciated.

Is chicken poop and geese poop good for veg plots ?

Any ideas.

Hi everyone,

Hope you are all well.

Did al you mums have a good mothers day, mine was great.

Saturday was good, the school organised a sort of jumble sale to raise funds for a school trip.

It gave me a chance to build my book collection, you can never have to many books. It also gave the kids a chnace to buy my Mothers Day gifts.

They picked up some real bargains.

Sunday was a great day, here is how it went….

1. Woke to breakfast in bed from olivia (10).  It was hot chocolate, toast and chocolate cookies. whilst she was chatting to me i noticed she was drinking the hot choc and eating the cookies.

2. Got hoover out and claire (15) says i wil do that for you mum, go have a nice bath.  Bath was great, but only one room hoovered and did rest myself.

3. Mar (other half) i will do dinner, go read your book (which is great book by the way, Flowers in the attic). Then dinner made i served and did dishes.

4. Chocolates (which were a gift).  Box open, who would like one….me, me and me they all shout.  Went back for another a while later, guess what, they had been half eaten I shall teach them the definition of one!

But apart from all that, I love my family and have the best crowd (all 7) in the world. I would not change my mothers day for any other.

I awoke yesterday morning to a very cold house and now water.

To our horror the water to the house had froze which resulted in the boiler not working.

I hadn’t filled the kettle, but lucky enough I had some bottled water in.

It took a good few hours for it to thaw out

I had the sense to prepare last night, I filled up the kettle and put some extra in fllasks.

I am finally getting to grips with the way it works

We had a surprise today, 2 eggs had been laid by the geese Daniel (8) thought they were dinosaur eggs

The only problem was that they were frozen so don’t know if we can use them.

Laura (7) thinks there are goslings in them and has been chatting to them all day tried to explain to her that even though we have a gander they didn’t contain babies as the mother has to keep them warm.

She has decided to take them in to school tomorrow and show her teacher, maybe she can explain to her better than me

I awoke this morning to a blanket of snow.

I was sat in the kitchen at about 7.30am drinking my cuppa and looking out of the window.

There was a strange surreal feeling, there was no movement, the trees were still and there was not a sound.

It was at this moment that I questioned if i was actually awake

It was like something out of a storybook or as one of my children described like one of them scenes in a snow globe that you shake.

It made me think for a while that we made the right decision to  bring our children here, to a beautiful place where the pace is almost stand still.

It gave me a feeling of de ja vue.