Fletcher Saga - 01 June 2006
Posted: Saturday, 03 June 2006 |
Surrey, our white-furred, green-eyed cat, has been christened "The Claremont Attack Cat" by our local GP, Dr George MacKay. He is an avid cat lover who calls in from time to time to see how we both are but I'm sure he really wants to see Surrey. Unfortunately almost every time he calls in to see us he leaves with a blood-stained handkerchief wrapped around one or other of his hands because Surrey behaves herself while George strokes her then she suddenly decides to find out what a doctor tastes like. The other day Surrey annoying Maureen by getting in her way while she was preparing a meal so Maureen "shooed" Surrey onto the floor. Surrey retaliated by taking a running jump and leaping onto the back of Maureen's leg with all four paws and, for good measure, her jaws. Fortunately Surrey chose to attack Maureen's "good" leg and there was no permanent damage but it was still quite a shock for Maureen who uttered some very unlady-like words in several languages.
Like most cats Surrey enjoys scratching and it is good for her claws so, to prevent our carpet & furniture being shredded, I made her a scratching post out of a piece of timber and some heavy-duty carpet. I should have used an even heavier duty carpet because within a month or two the carpet was totally shredded and I had to set to and produce a new scratching post. However, I would rather make a new scratching post every few months than replace a complete floor carpet or item(s) of furniture.
Early in May my car was off road for few days because the automatic transmission had started to leak oil all over the road. Clive from Helmsley swiftly diagnosed the problem, a leaking oil cooler, and Tait's of Kirkwall provided a replacement within a day or two. Clive fitted the new cooler and the car was fine until I discovered a slow puncture in one of the rear tyres. I took the car on the ferry last Tuesday and it was soon fixed by ATS in Kirkwall - and for the very reasonable sum of just under ten pounds.
The journey to Kirkwall reminded us that although the ferry is frequently used to carry sheep and cattle it also carries other animals and at times it can resemble The Ark. A week ago it carried a trailer containing two kids (young goats) that were going to the vet to be dis-budded (de-horned) and a rabbit that was going to the vet to have an illness diagnosed and treated. The kids, Aphrodite & Bryony, belong to Margareth, one of the island's nurses who has kindly supplied a photograph of the kids
.
When I went on the ferry to Kirkwall on Tuesday I finished up taking six puppies and their travelling boxes in the back of the car. Malcolm & Sue were taking the puppies over by to meet their new owners on the quayside at Kirkwall. One of Malcolm & Sue's dogs (father of the pups) was also on the boat - he was visiting the vet so that he could have "the operation" to prevent any more puppies arriving on the scene; he was busily barking at all and sundry as if to say, "I don't want to go!" There was also a beautiful German Shepherd Dog (GSD) with his owner who has to try to dissuade people on the ferry from feeding his dog with bacon butties. The dog was quite happy on the boat, complete with his supply of surreptitious bacon butties, but only as long as he could not see the water around the boat; this did make getting on and off the ferry a bit difficult for his owner. On the return journey to Stronsay were the two dogs - the one who had had "the operation" was much more subdued, poor thing - and, in the back of my car, some tropical fish that Bob Wilcox had bought in Kirkwall.
The rabbit that travelled on the ferry last week was escorted by Viv from Ebenezer Stores who was taking her youngest son, Jude, to town to buy some new shoes. Next day, proudly wearing his new shoes, he went with his eldest sister and when she took her horses down to the beach for a swim. The horses enjoyed their swim, Jude enjoyed playing on the beach and at lunchtime Jude, his sister and the horses returned home. When Jude got in the door the first thing his mother noticed was that he was bare-footed. It transpired that Jude had taken off the shoes so he could paddle but had neglected to put them back on again - so his eldest sister was sent back to the beach to search for the missing shoes. As luck would have it the shoes had not been covered by the tide so all was not lost.
Rosie and Nessie, the four-legged, environmentally friendly lawn mowers are on loan to Bob Tateson from Clive & Tracy (Helmsley) and have enthusiastically commenced operations in Bob's "garden". Bob is an avid hill-walker and when he erects one or other of his tents in his garden to check their waterproof and windproof capabilities he has great difficulty in persuading the sheep that the tents are not sheep shelters.
A few weeks ago we were awoken from our afternoon siesta by about 30 cows & calves mooing as they were turned out into the field behind us. The 50 or so sheep and their lambs which had already been in the field for a week or two added their bleats and baas to the cacophony. Who said the countryside was always quiet and peaceful!
In May we went to a fund-raising card playing competition in the Fish Mart Caf茅, run by Clive & Madeline. Cribbage is the only card game that I can play with any certainty of knowing what I am doing so when we found that euchre (pronounced "youker") was the card game it was a bit worrying. Fortunately John, an expert euchre player, took pity on us and called in to give Maureen, myself and Sue from the post office an hour or so of pre-competition enlightenment. When we got to the Fish Mart Caf茅 it transpired that we were not the only ones who had never encountered euchre before. The euchre experts spent the evening coaching the beginners - not only are the rules a bit complex but the rules about who moved after each "round" of the competition gave rise to some heated discussion! Neither of us still really understands the game but we had great fun, the event raised some money and everyone enjoyed the food that Clive & Madeline had supplied.
Here is a nice follow-up to the total immersion baptism of Isaac Erdman that was reported in the last Saga. As part of his preparation for baptism Isaac was asked to complete some kind of project that made use of his talents. Isaac decided to make two wooden flower boxes complete with bulbs and plants; the building, painting and filling of the boxes represent gifts given to him by God. The boxes have been placed either side of the main door into the church where they make a nice splash of colour. And it was Isaac who won the euchre competition mentioned above - it was the first time the he had ever played euchre!
Readers of earlier versions of the Fletcher Saga will remember Malcolm's hen, Matilda, which developed a liking for daytime television. Today Malcolm told me that he had found Matilda lying dead in the hen-coop a day or two ago when he went to collect the eggs. Matilda's age was unknown so the probable cause of death is simple old age.
On 04 May Golgotha monastery appeared in a feature article in the Orcadian newspaper
--
Bruce Fletcher
Stronsay, Orkney
See the most northerly passenger-carrying railway in the UK
Like most cats Surrey enjoys scratching and it is good for her claws so, to prevent our carpet & furniture being shredded, I made her a scratching post out of a piece of timber and some heavy-duty carpet. I should have used an even heavier duty carpet because within a month or two the carpet was totally shredded and I had to set to and produce a new scratching post. However, I would rather make a new scratching post every few months than replace a complete floor carpet or item(s) of furniture.
Early in May my car was off road for few days because the automatic transmission had started to leak oil all over the road. Clive from Helmsley swiftly diagnosed the problem, a leaking oil cooler, and Tait's of Kirkwall provided a replacement within a day or two. Clive fitted the new cooler and the car was fine until I discovered a slow puncture in one of the rear tyres. I took the car on the ferry last Tuesday and it was soon fixed by ATS in Kirkwall - and for the very reasonable sum of just under ten pounds.
The journey to Kirkwall reminded us that although the ferry is frequently used to carry sheep and cattle it also carries other animals and at times it can resemble The Ark. A week ago it carried a trailer containing two kids (young goats) that were going to the vet to be dis-budded (de-horned) and a rabbit that was going to the vet to have an illness diagnosed and treated. The kids, Aphrodite & Bryony, belong to Margareth, one of the island's nurses who has kindly supplied a photograph of the kids
.
When I went on the ferry to Kirkwall on Tuesday I finished up taking six puppies and their travelling boxes in the back of the car. Malcolm & Sue were taking the puppies over by to meet their new owners on the quayside at Kirkwall. One of Malcolm & Sue's dogs (father of the pups) was also on the boat - he was visiting the vet so that he could have "the operation" to prevent any more puppies arriving on the scene; he was busily barking at all and sundry as if to say, "I don't want to go!" There was also a beautiful German Shepherd Dog (GSD) with his owner who has to try to dissuade people on the ferry from feeding his dog with bacon butties. The dog was quite happy on the boat, complete with his supply of surreptitious bacon butties, but only as long as he could not see the water around the boat; this did make getting on and off the ferry a bit difficult for his owner. On the return journey to Stronsay were the two dogs - the one who had had "the operation" was much more subdued, poor thing - and, in the back of my car, some tropical fish that Bob Wilcox had bought in Kirkwall.
The rabbit that travelled on the ferry last week was escorted by Viv from Ebenezer Stores who was taking her youngest son, Jude, to town to buy some new shoes. Next day, proudly wearing his new shoes, he went with his eldest sister and when she took her horses down to the beach for a swim. The horses enjoyed their swim, Jude enjoyed playing on the beach and at lunchtime Jude, his sister and the horses returned home. When Jude got in the door the first thing his mother noticed was that he was bare-footed. It transpired that Jude had taken off the shoes so he could paddle but had neglected to put them back on again - so his eldest sister was sent back to the beach to search for the missing shoes. As luck would have it the shoes had not been covered by the tide so all was not lost.
Rosie and Nessie, the four-legged, environmentally friendly lawn mowers are on loan to Bob Tateson from Clive & Tracy (Helmsley) and have enthusiastically commenced operations in Bob's "garden". Bob is an avid hill-walker and when he erects one or other of his tents in his garden to check their waterproof and windproof capabilities he has great difficulty in persuading the sheep that the tents are not sheep shelters.
A few weeks ago we were awoken from our afternoon siesta by about 30 cows & calves mooing as they were turned out into the field behind us. The 50 or so sheep and their lambs which had already been in the field for a week or two added their bleats and baas to the cacophony. Who said the countryside was always quiet and peaceful!
In May we went to a fund-raising card playing competition in the Fish Mart Caf茅, run by Clive & Madeline. Cribbage is the only card game that I can play with any certainty of knowing what I am doing so when we found that euchre (pronounced "youker") was the card game it was a bit worrying. Fortunately John, an expert euchre player, took pity on us and called in to give Maureen, myself and Sue from the post office an hour or so of pre-competition enlightenment. When we got to the Fish Mart Caf茅 it transpired that we were not the only ones who had never encountered euchre before. The euchre experts spent the evening coaching the beginners - not only are the rules a bit complex but the rules about who moved after each "round" of the competition gave rise to some heated discussion! Neither of us still really understands the game but we had great fun, the event raised some money and everyone enjoyed the food that Clive & Madeline had supplied.
Here is a nice follow-up to the total immersion baptism of Isaac Erdman that was reported in the last Saga. As part of his preparation for baptism Isaac was asked to complete some kind of project that made use of his talents. Isaac decided to make two wooden flower boxes complete with bulbs and plants; the building, painting and filling of the boxes represent gifts given to him by God. The boxes have been placed either side of the main door into the church where they make a nice splash of colour. And it was Isaac who won the euchre competition mentioned above - it was the first time the he had ever played euchre!
Readers of earlier versions of the Fletcher Saga will remember Malcolm's hen, Matilda, which developed a liking for daytime television. Today Malcolm told me that he had found Matilda lying dead in the hen-coop a day or two ago when he went to collect the eggs. Matilda's age was unknown so the probable cause of death is simple old age.
On 04 May Golgotha monastery appeared in a feature article in the Orcadian newspaper
--
Bruce Fletcher
Stronsay, Orkney
See the most northerly passenger-carrying railway in the UK
Posted on Claremont at 06:39
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