Blog

May 3rd

2023

By donich_admin

New meal in the repertoire

I added a new made-up meal to my repertoire today. I call this an Italian meatball bake. Take two left over quarter pounder beef burgers (or start from scratch with mince). If they are burgers, cut each into four and roll it into balls. Heat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius. Place a small amount […]

Apr 30th

2023

By donich_admin

Lovely walk today

R and I went up what we call “The Zig Zags” this morning. This path goes from the main road up to a forestry road which runs along towards the waterfalls and ultimately joins the main path there. It was a bit cloudy but there were still brilliant views over the loch. All the wild […]

Apr 23rd

2023

By donich_admin

I have to laugh

According to the BBC “excitement is building up across the UK” over this stupid, ill-advised and unnecessary phone alert test they have been having. In 56 years I have never needed to be alerted about any kind of danger. The day I let the government send alerts to my phone will be a cold one […]

Apr 19th

2023

By donich_admin

More gorgeous weather

Very gorgeous weather here for the last few days. The cats and I have been sitting out on the patio with Amber even venturing out on the drive on her own. Saphy is in the picture too but hiding behind a plant pot. The solar is doing amazingly. We are basically not using the grid […]

Apr 12th

2023

By donich_admin

Snow back on the mountains

The weather has turned cold again and we have snow on the mountains today at about 400m – unusually for mid April. The solar is doing ok again though as it is reasonably bright. Over the last few days we have been almost completely grid independent and are managing to get the battery fully recharged.

Apr 9th

2023

By donich_admin

Dad’s Birthday

Today was Easter Sunday and my father’s ninety-third birthday. He has seen the reigns of five monarchs – George V, Edward VIII, George VI, Elizabeth II and Charles III We had a nice buffet, two quizzes (both of which my brother won), and painted some Easter eggs. From left to right – J’s owl bear, […]

Apr 3rd

2023

By donich_admin

Geese

R and I were walking down the coach road this morning when we heard a loud honking from above. R managed to snap them although it is not a great photo as they were too high. These are probably pink-footed geese and from the direction they were heading my guess is that they were on […]

Apr 1st

2023

By donich_admin

Solar in March

As the days lengthen, the solar is producing more and more. We are now starting to produce from around 7am (very small amounts) pushing up to either full production of about 12.5KW if it is sunny, to around 8KW if overcast during peak hours of around 11am to 5pm. Production then continues until about 6:30pm […]

Mar 31st

2023

By donich_admin

Marten marking his territory

A huge male marten seems to have been marking his territory – no wonder the cats get all excited and sniff that stone (which is where we put the nuts).

Mar 26th

2023

By donich_admin

Made a new friend today

A few weeks ago, R and I saw a fluffy tabby cat intently hunting something in the field behind the Scout centre. I made the usual “Here kitty, kitty noises” and it gave me a look of extreme contempt and ran off. Today we saw it in the same place again and with no expectation […]