Out of the window

 The snow has gone but the wind is still blowing well. Two nights ago there was an Aurora and some of the cloud broke up about midnight. Trouble is, if it's 60 mph wind you don't get away with slow shutter speed. So, it was time to hang out of the velux and use the window as a bit of a windbreak 

It was still pretty even with the cloud.

With the wind it makes it hard to get out for Rob, but we did make it to our friends Finley and Catherine for a lovely coffee and chat, it was a good catch up.  Catherine had kindly got a Hall ticket for us for UHA for our guest 

Today Rob is still at home doing the next level of Paperwork concerning the  heating flood. He is also liaising with the parliamentary office. Interestingly after our article in the paper, others have approached the MP over similar issues, so that is good . We have such a good MP which is a novelty.

Jill popped to town to get some decorating bits and bobs, and a bit of shopping. The waves in town were stunning. Got a bit damp!

Quick Melt.

 It started melting in earnest yesterday, with inevitable issues 

Today there were still patches around but mainly where it had drifted. We had a quick drive round Sandness as we haven't had the chance for a Jan 1st birdwatch.

We got 40 species which wasn't bad as it was so dull and got dark quickly..

Raven, hooded crow, Rook, Jackdaw, Redshank, Ringed Plover, Purple Sandpiper, Oystercatcher, Fieldfare, Turnstone, Curlew,  Chaffinch,  Herring Gull, Common Gull, Kittiwake,  Black backed Gull,  tystie, Guillemot, Shag,  red throated diver, Great Northern Diver,  long tailed duck, teal, mallard, wigeon, tufted duck, collared dove, starling, blackbird, house sparrow, Greylags, mute swan, cormorant, rock dove, golden eye, snipe,  goldcrest, fulmar, moorhen, collared dove.

,

And still......

 Yup. We have had a bit of a break from the white stuff, although it's trying again tonight. It's still lying though with only a bit of melt. So, we've stayed in . 

Robs still doing the reports for MCS and the other bodies over the heating system. MCS phoned fairly quickly after the report went in for a quick chat, they can't find them registered with them and nor do they have a website, or insurance registered, which they must have to trade. Surprise surprise!! The good news is, they wont be stuffing it up much more as the ECO 4 grant scheme for heating and insulation ends in April as the Government pulled the funding in the budget. Valiant are kindly sending out a different engineer to fix the problem of it keep switching off, that is,  when he can get out. Thank you Valiant.

As we have had to have the heating up high to stop it dropping out so it has dried out wood panelling out. Jill has been refilling and repainting the doors and panelling.

As we haven't been out much. There has been lots of cat cuddling.

Bit of TV. Although the Sky dish has broken in the snow. And, some garden/ window birdwatching. Jill's been trying and failing to get shots of the three Jack Snipe that have been around. Lots of Common Snipe though.

We are feeding around 500 starlings. 10 kg of seed in 3 days

Jim popped over today for coffee and cake. It was really good to see him.