DON'T PANIC

Oh how much do i love this site, not alot, it seems to have a mind of its own . This being the perfect example . Not for love nor money could i get the curser to start at the top of the page. Just a little blog today, hope you have all recovered from the festive period and are getting through the January blues. Dogs are fickle things. Last week their owner took them on a long hike on the beach. They had a really good time . Scally had been swimming or at least lieing in the water and rolling in the kelp. She had brought a lot of the beach back with her, and deposited an admirable amount in the doggy room on her first shake.  Both had that oh so lovely rotten seaweed smell and baths it had to be. Now you would think that warm soapy water would be preferable to stinky salty cold seawater. Apparently not , and a wrestleing match ensued with numerous escapes and me ending wetter than the dogs. Feathers were trimmed though a couple of attempts at Scallys tail were nee...

 Well everybody , i hope you all had a lovely xmas , and the xmas you wanted. I am back in Ardwell , Galloway and at the moment staying with my mother in law for xmas and new year. Its been lovely , the family has been up from all over and i got to see the newest member of the family, my nephew Joseph who is ten months old.. Money is tight , so xmas gifts were small this year and more doing jobs than gifts. Mark is doing well on the boat. The spare berth has been converted into the new kitchen area. Much much easier , with everything side by side. Still some work to finish that. Water bags under the floor have been gotton rid of as they kept leaking and tanks in the side lockers instead. Bow bed area has been stripped right back , insulation put on and covered with a far more pleasing felt. Loads better than the old badly fitted saggy and falling of plastic vinyl stuff. Still loads to do , and hopefully ready for our mid april departure date to France. Still trying to fi...

 quickest tyre change i have ever seen. Right this was   The Scottish Hill Rally weekend od 18th of november. It was only by sheer chance i found out about this. Fueling my disco at Castle Kennedy , i was struck dumb [ briefly ] when a couple of 4x4 came in pulling Bowlers on trailers. I have always loved the landrover Bowler.Brilliant off road landrovers are turned in to extremely fast off roaders and can comfortably do well over 60 mph over fields. Now after gibbering and drooling like an idiot to the very understandable guys who had the bowlers , they told me they were heading for a rally at Snt johns town of Dalry near New Galloway and i should go. Well as soon as i got the chance , i went online , put a plea for info on my FB page and went in search of anything bowler related New galloway related and Snt Johns Town Of Dalry related and eventually after much rewording found the Scottish Hill Rally web site an...

Well christmas is coming , And as every year [ though this year i thought it would be the boat ]My car is tinseled > I know , its abit silly but it does make people smile and cheer them up. This makes me happy and i have no problem dealing with all the laughter and pointing. Plus kids love it and the one year i didn't do it , i had some disappointed  children in the area. Its abit sparse looking at the photo but more can be added later HaHa , { evil laugh as Mark hates me doing this and really hates driving it ] Top photo Hamish one of my lovely nephews from my sister. Always doing something . Lovely young lad and proud of him and his brother Angus [ who i will camera catch at some point. Bottom  photo in her parlour gear [ milking  that is] is my wonderful sis Rosie. Sporting the new end of year , highly fashionable milking dungerees hat , to protect the hair from long drop cow pats. And a few delicately placed , normally by the cows tail coo poo splatte...

 Hi everybody. hope everyone is well. Well this is where i am working . Ardwell House . A beautiful house set in a very scenic area . This estate that my lovely bosses own and run is set in the South Rhinns of Galloway . It has been in their family for more than 200 years . For many years its gardens were open to the public but sadly due to everybody being so strapped for cash and not being able to spend money on plants etc , has had to close its gates . My main jobs since coming up have been getting houses clean and tidy for new tenants, And raking of leaves. Endless millions of the wee  blighters. We mix alot of the leaves with grass cutting s from the summer. These are then allowed to rot down and later used as mulch on flower beds. It is great for keeping the weeds down and putting nutrition back in to the soil. I have known these gardens since i was 11, and have spent many happy days as a kid running round them. It was a dream come true to get to work in them and i...