Bubbling away nicely

Well the storm has arrived just like all the forecasters said but looking at UKWind and all the big red arrows further south and west we seem to be missing the worst of it.

Saturday 17th Jan

Though I think the Lussa anemometer needs oiling because it’s certainly blowing a darn site harder than 10 mph! The day was actually quite nice up until around 13:15 when the wind arrived followed a couple of hours later by the rain. I spent most of it down in the engine room lifting floor plates, power washing them and cleaning the bilge. I am very proud of my bilge! I could usually eat my dinner off the engine room shell plating. Actually that’s not saying much really because I’ve a stomach like septic tank and could probably eat my dinner out of the sludge tank without even getting indigestion. That’s what comes from years of living on a wholemeal organic water supply complete with eels, tadpoles and the occasional dead fish. Not to mention the lack of a fridge for long enough. Anyway the spell in dry dock with the required engine overhauls and the multitude of engineers, electricians and dockyard workers had left them in a sorry state so today I continued what I’d started yesterday.

Wanted dead or alive!

During my lunch break I had a run along to Fearns in the hope of spotting my wayward Soay sheep

Scalpay from Fearns

I drove to the end of the road to take a picture of Scalpay which was my home for 4 years in the late eighties, that pyramid in the background is Ben na Cailliach behind Broadford. There was no sign of the escapees so I headed back to the Loch Striven and there just past Glen Lodge trotting down the road were my three missing girls.

I was only kidding about the 'dead' bit

I called them and they came running but it was pointless trying to catch them so I didn’t even attempt it, wiser and more experienced people than me have tried and failed. These are not like your average sheep seeming impervious to fences, cattle grids and never going where the dog wants to put them.

so near, yet so far!

However if anyone can catch them there’s a nice piece of pork in the freezer with their name on it and perhaps even some Soay lamb!

A good day for wind turbines

The deteriorating weather and abysmal forecast meant we tied up after the 13:15 sailing putting on extra ropes to cope with the imminent force 9 or 10 south easterly which is the worst possible direction for the ferry. Whereupon I continued with my bilge polishing and routine maintenance until driven ashore by the weather managing to get home just before darkness fell for the first time this year. The freshening wind making me decide to move Shona the Old Spot sow into more secure accomadation as part of her house had already disapeared last week in a gale, once she was snug in her insulated  http://www.pig-arcs.co.uk/ I turned my attention to the battery bank.

48v 1000ah

This good blow was a chance to give the batteries a good ‘equalization’ charge, that’s when you over charge them once every couple of months to stir up the electrolyte and ‘desulphate’ the plates, before this however it’s wise to make sure they’re well topped up with distilled water.

58v and 38amps

With the batteries at 58v and the wind turbine putting a steady 38 amps in that’s over 2.2kw at wind speeds where most other turbines would have shut down. So with that done I went in for dinner and listened to the wind through our 3′ thick walls and double glazing!