Fruitless :-(

Even though I never caught anything this morning I’m quite upbeat, none of the traps were ‘sprung’ this morning and all the bait was still untouched. The venison mince I’d been using must have been irresistible to the mink cos I was tempted to eat it myself Venison is always tastier when it’s a little whiffy  

 

So, after doing the rounds I returned for a shower, breakfast and some tea prior to going out to do some work. By now it was almost 7:30 and this huge cruise liner was heading for Portree. At this point the day wasn’t very inspiring, kinda damp and midge infested but within an hour or two the sun was out and there was a good breeze from the west.

With the sun and wind dealing with the old midge I set off for the shore to collect a few things then went over to my mates ‘off grid’ property to do a few jobs.

  

Back flushing the water filtration system, running up the trusty old Lister for an hour or so whilst I checked on the hydro turbine.

 

The Harris turbine http://harrishydro.biz/  got a good flushing too whilst I was at it. This trusty little turbine charges a the 24V battery bank directly, being basically a Ford alternator with a Pelton wheel on it.

Charges it really well in fact, those are empty deionized water containers Seriously, one thing about these Rolls batteries http://rollsbattery.com/ , they just drink water.

Yes, it is ‘that time of year’

After all that I headed home for ‘number 2 breakfast’, the proper one with Arnish eggs and sausages. Once that was out of the way and with the sun blazing I headed for the shed to do some work on the ‘Old Girl’. It’s Belladrum http://www.tartanheartfestival.co.uk/ on Thursday and our first festie since starting the house four years ago. I also wanted it to be a smooth journey there and back so planned doing the front brakes, swivel housing gaiters and fixing the lights. I was hoping to make it this year without setting on fire, seriously, it’s happened twice!!!

I must have been in a really good mood, for when some Kiwi dude called at the house around before 9:00am asking for a tow I didn’t ‘blow my top’. Not that I’m particularly volatile but when you’ve towed as many pricks as I have out of stupid places you soon get pi55ed off with them.

Who in their right mind takes a van down the Torran track? Even the halfwit’s with the 4×4’s get stuck here and end up reversing back for miles, usually destroying the ditches and drains on their way back. Incapable of walking this chap decided to try getting his hire van down here then got stuck whilst trying to reverse back up the hill.

 

 

Luckily for him I was in a good mood and wanted to try my winch out. I’d fitted new batteries recently and the terminals did not match up with the old winch leads so I had to extend them. Having just done this yesterday I was keen to test the winch under load prior to going to Belladrum, you just never know, I’ve used it at festivals before I did mention this to him so I guess that’s why he never offered any payment, perhaps I should have bollocked him. The last folk I chastised gave me a bottle of Vodka and £20

 

  

Next task was changing my own water filters, there’s three, 100 micron, 50 micron and 5 micron. There’s also a UV filter but I only switched that on when ‘Building Control’ came round. Been drinking this water since 1989 with no ill effects so don’t see why I need to be running a 30W UV light 24/7 to make it safe, that’s .72kWh per day that I could be using to power the broadband mast or MVHR system.

New front discs

Next on the ‘to do’ list was the front discs on the Land Rover, I may not be too fussed about bacteria and water quality but I do like to have good brakes on my 2 ton truck.

 

Good tip if you’re ever doing discs on a Landy, or anything else similar I guess’ drop the hub into the upturned wheel whilst you undo and remove the disc, it makes a fantastic vice without damaging the threads on the wheel studs.

I know I should have used new gaskets on the drive flanges but I could not find them, nothing like a tube of Hylomar http://hylomar.com/ to substitute for missing brain cells.

 

That’ll be the cruise liner heading away from Portree when I came in for my steak pie.

Britpart Shitpart

 

This will be the ‘Britpart Shitpart’ water pump belt that failed after just a few weeks use. Sure the ‘Old Girl’ has always been heavy on belts on all three of the different engines she’s had, 12J, 19J and 200TDi. I drive a lot at night with 4 spot lights blazing and two heaters going, also the road is full of puddles so the belts often slip but they’re usually good for a year or so. Not so the Britpart Shitpart ones, this belt hasn’t done a 1000 miles!

And then there were six!

22:30 now and I’ll be in my bed shortly, just as soon as I’ve finished this fine glass of Hardy’s, made a coffee with Baily’s and then brushed my teeth. Truth is, I’m feeling quite smug with myself cos I caught one of those wee f****** that has been causing carnage at the north end and blew his brains out this morning

At just after 5:30 this morning I went out to check the traps and to my great surprise there was a mink in the first one

 

Not as surprised as the unwelcome American import that hissed and spitted his last prior to succumbing to a serious dose of lead poisoning right enough, but surprised indeed. This was not one of the super Fenn traps loaned me by ‘Rona Bill’ https://isleofronalog.com/2016/07/20/it-is-that-time-of-year-again/ but the regular one I’d been using for months and caught ‘diddly squat’ in. Must have been the chicken breast I used as bait for I’ve been setting the trap in this drain ‘on and off’ since Christmas.

A couple of the others had been ‘sprung’ but I guess they’d missed their quarry due to my inexpert positioning of the bait. Still, I’m working on it,

as is my son who’s getting a refresher course on shotgun use

Anyway, most of my day was spent pottering about doing wee jobs around the croft

 

and delivering hens. Out of almost 90 at our peak we’re now down to just six, Bill taking six yesterday and Donnie Oliphant took six today. That leaves us just half a dozen which will, when they finally recover from their trauma, start laying more than two eggs a day!

My son and I delivered Donnie’s half dozen this afternoon

 

and they seemed to settle in quite nicely. Donnie having already lost four of his own to an uncontrolled dog

Looks like they’ve been busy at the hotel/distillery.

No need for all these feeders just now

Sea eagle at Tarbert

 

 

OK, I know it’s a carp picture but there were two of them and it was seriously impressive, honest!

Welding up a caravan step

  

I know, I know, ‘dull as dishwater’ but hey, you all moan when I don’t post anything