Harvest Progress

Good day on Satrurday – tried to cut the ’steep field’ of oats, but the combine would not go up the hill forwards, so cut the next field instead, which we finished ahead of the rain at 9.30 at night.    But with combining, anything can happen:    there was a change in the engine note, and [...]

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Bat Watch

The bat that we put into a tree yesterday spent all day asleep and did not move much.     I was a bit worried about it, but checking back at dusk, it had clearly flown away on its own.
It did have amazingly long ears, and I thought that most bats here were the common pipistrelli type, [...]

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Do Cats Eat Bats?

We have four cats at present who live outside and make their living quarters in the farm buildings.    They keep mice at bay, but they do catch other things as well.    Our young ginger female had kittens a few weeks ago, and quite early on was bringing them live mice and voles to ‘play with’ [...]

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Use of English

There has been quite a debate recently about use of English, and about spelling in particular.    I know that communication is much more dynamic than it once was, and different styles are called for in texts, e-mails ….. and blogs!
But for public consumption, grammar and spelling matter.    A serious message written badly with inaccurate spelling [...]

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Harvest Watch

I have cut some of my winter oats, but progress round here has been painfully slow due to the rain which goes on and on.    Repeated visits to the BBC South of Scotland weather page show endless blue patches (of rain) on this neck of the woods.     The wheelbarrow is just about full of water now.
Combines [...]

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Up All Night

Up All Night is a live radio show which runs from 1am through the night on Radio 5, or Five Live as I think we now call it.   It is good listening, because you never know what will be on it.    There are regular slots for films (good), as well as phone ins about soccer in [...]

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Newsnight Scotland – it does not work.

Oh my goodness.
Last night, Newsnight (UK) was right in the think of it, doing a great job trying to make sense of the situation in Georgia.    Difficult, but important interviews, and the presenter was not afraid to challenge both sides.    It was really good viewing.
But at ten to eleven Newsnight Scotland came crashing in, right [...]

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We’ve Done a Bad Thing……or the Difference between Oats and Barley

A short break in the rain today let us fill in holes in the road with tar planings.   When harvest finally starts, smooth farm roads make things a lot easier on equipment and result in faster journeys to and from the grain drier.
I spied two people exploring my crop of oats, and one was taking [...]

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Rain

We have had seriously large amounts of rain here over the past week.    A couple of weeks ago the fields were pretty dry, but now they are extremely wet.   
Combine harvesters are not that great climbing hills in wet conditions, although they will go up backwards better than forwards.   It won’t be the first year where [...]

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Wasp Watch

Evening has fallen.   The wasp traps have been busy, and there are now less wasps about, although there are some very determined ones left.
I was able to pick the last of the gooseberries, but had to be careful as some really ripe berries had about three or four wasps with their heads buried munching away.    [...]

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