They lied :-(

Both of them told porkies my two most trusted weather sites that is. Both the reliable ‘XC’ http://www.xcweather.co.uk/forecast/IV40_8PF 

and the extremely accurate ‘Theyr’ http://theyr.tv/cg/cny/I1fec6c/F=njs*L=enCN*v*050811*10*SCO*scot_Stornoway?_cookiecheck=1

 

promised a dry day today, right through until midday tomorrow.

OK, I know that tomorrow is now today because it’s almost 2:00am and I know those two ‘screenshots’ are for today, which is tomorrow but they’re off live pages and said the same yesterday  (today) And if you understood that you’re as daft as me

Anyway, with a short week off and a desperation to get the house painted so we can put it on the market I’ve been watching the forecasts like a hawk and planning my week around them. So today was supposed to be the day that I actually got the roof painted, after having started it last June

Painting the roof normally takes a couple of days max and is usually done every two or three years in the spring, around May or June before the dreaded midge arrives. Foolishly the last time I did it in August or something and it was far too hot, consequently the paint lifted the following year leaving me with a lot of preparation work. Firstly all the loose flaky paint had to be power washed then all edges had to be ‘feathered’ with a wire brush

That done over the course of the last six months I’ve been awaiting a ‘weather window’ to paint it, and today looked like the day. Not at 6:00am it didn’t, not even at 8:30 when the sky still looked grey and drizzle was most definitely in the air Not enough to prevent doing the walls with ‘Dulux Weathersheild’ but far too damp for the ‘Farm Oxide’ green and primer that were going on the roof.

 

However, eventually the rain stopped the sun came out along with a good ‘drying wind’ from the south east. I started on the roof, wifey commenced on the walls and the piglets escaped off the croft Actually the gate was deliberately left open for them to go exploring and they loved it

The roar of diesel engines told me that Lachie was at work on the barn so i wandered up up press him into a little fencing work for me. I needed one strainer post removing and three more pressing into the peat. A days work with hand tools for me but only 10 minutes with Hugh MacKay’s Hitachi

 

That done I returned to assisting the wife with the painting and after a late lunch we both went to cut bedding, another job that required a dry day. After cleaning and changing Bracken, filling up the bedding store it was back to the painting for me and off to the ferry for the swineherd. For today (yesterday) is Friday and the Dude returns from the hostel usually with a couple of helpers for the weekend I’ve a busy couple of days planned for them

Infuriatingly a couple of showers stopped work on the roof,

though I did manage to get primer on all the exposed metal and feathered edges

and progress was good on the gable end and to the rear.

But the rain, or at least dampness

was never far away

It had been a pretty active day and by the time I’d cleaned my brush and roller it was dark and after dinner at the ridiculously early time of 19:00 I went to bed. Of course I was back up at midnight ‘full of beans’ and ready for a bath, but it’s 2:30 now and I’m going back there