Fitheach

I'd like to apologise, publicly. The poor woman went for some peace and quiet, and what did she get? Two eejits rolling-up in a campervan, blaring out the Eurovision song contest.

It was May 20, 2006, and the location was a quiet lay-by on the south side of Loch Ness. I don't quite...

Posted by Fitheach on Sat 22 May 2021

I went for a walk along a forestry style track, yesterday. Ahead of me was a ewe, with two lambs. The ewe felt nervous about my approach, and started to trot away from me. The lambs were, of course, following her closely. However, the sheep didn't trot away uphill or downhill. Instead, they continued along the track. I also continued along the track. All of us walked in this procession for some time. As the sheep were moving faster, they increased the distance between us. In a short...

Posted by Fitheach on Sun 05 April 2020

I needed to buy a waterproof jacket for use when working. I also have a Gore-Tex jacket from Craghoppers, which is excellent, but I didn't want to ruin that jacket by using it for working every day. I have a few other Regatta products which are well made, so, for around £25 I thought this Matt Jacket from the same company would be a good buy.

Posted by fitheach on Sun 29 March 2020

It is quite extraordinary, I've never experienced anything like it. We are now a couple of weeks away from Easter, which is normally the time when the summer tourist season starts. The roads would see increased traffic, and the tourist hotspots would start to be busy. Not this year.

The snow-capped Nevis range.

The travel and social...

Posted by fitheach on Sun 29 March 2020

I was without my vintage wooden Zassenhaus, so I rushed out and bought a new manual coffee grinder. The one I got is from Maison & White, and it is amazingly good. It is adjustable from very fine to coarse. Grinding is done with ceramic burrs, and the rest of the construction is made from solid glass, stainless steel, galvanised metal and silicon. They even provided an extra jar for bean storage. The best part is it only cost £10, including delivery.

Posted by fitheach on Sat 15 February 2020

A couple of days ago I saw these two boats coming up the canal towards us, as we were doing the daily dog walk. It was clear from a distance that the two boats were very close together, and I assumed the first boat was towing the second.

Two boats on the Caledonian Canal. One boat appeared to be towing the...

Posted by fitheach on Wed 09 October 2019

I took this photo on the evening dog walk two nights ago, when we had some lovely weather. I quite liked the composition of the photograph, but it wasn't until I started processing the photo that I noticed something else special about it. As it was in the gloamin my smartphone decided to fire the flash. I noticed the flash when I took the photo, so I disabled the flash and took another shot. After all, the smartphone flash wouldn't have an effect at a distance of around 8-10...

Posted by fitheach on Tue 08 October 2019

Who did this? Who added Nessie to the Highlands' welcome sign? Whoever it was, it is absolute genius! The original sign had an empty loch, someone has used a marker pen, or similar, to add the Nessie image. I drove past this sign, northbound lane of the A9 at Dromochter, about three weeks ago and I'm fairly certain Nessie wasn't there at that time.

Posted by fitheach on Mon 07 October 2019

It is the time of year when the beech nuts are developing, and, consequently, the branches are getting heavier. A few branches above the house were sagging, and as a result were touching the chimney head and the apex of the roof. These branches required to be dealt with immediately, before we get any gales. The problem is I don't have a pole pruning saw. Buying one would likely require some serious research. Cheap pole pruning saws can be bought for around £100 and they go up to (sic)...

Posted by fitheach on Tue 09 July 2019

It seemed like a good idea at the time. We were due to have a guest visiting for ten days, so I decided to clean the chimney flue in the lounge. This flue is used by the wood burning stove and hadn't been cleaned for a few months. I thought my timing was good, as our guest wasn't due to arrive for nearly two weeks. Cleaning the flue and the stove, plus tidying up afterwards, usually takes a few hours. Simples. Boy, did that turn out to be a decision I regretted at my leisure for the...

Posted by fitheach on Sun 30 June 2019