Category: Rain

Caught out – 7 October 2022

Posted on by Zogman

Slept late today. Must have needed the rest with all the walking and exercise recently (I don’t think!)

Scamp was out in the morning for her FitSteps class. I loaded the washing machine before she left and put it on for its hour long wash. Managed to collect the first of my six active hours. It should have been eight, but six out of eight is a good start. There was blue sky and sunshine when I came back from my morning stroll round the policies as Colin would say, and the washing was done. I decided it would stay dry for a while, so I hung out the washing. Ten minutes later the rain came on. Should I take the washing in or should I risk leaving it out. A quick look to the west confirmed my suspicions that bring it in would be the smartest thing to do. It was indeed the sensible thing to do, because as soon as Scamp came in from her class there was an almighty cloudburst.

Earlier in the morning we’d considered going out to lunch if the weather held, but that wasn’t going to happen. Instead we had a banana sandwich each and watched the rain falling. We needed vegetables and some fruit so we went on a trip to Tesco to get the messages. It was still raining a bit, but the cloudburst had gone east to dampen someone else’s day. We loaded up the car with bags and drove home.

To brighten our spirits, Scamp suggested fish suppers for dinner and I readily agreed. It was while I was walking over to Condorrat that I got a couple of photos, in the gloaming, that could be blended together to make PoD. For me it kind of summed up the grim week of weather we’d had. A queue of cars heading to Glasgow, while another string of headlights heads towards Cumbersheugh on the other lane of the motorway. Meanwhile a quite surprising and colourful sunset appears above the trees. That’s Scotland for you!

The prompt for today was ‘Trip’. Various possibilities went through my head as solutions to this request, but the one that worked best, and my first thought actually was the one you see here. The poor bloke is falling, but I’m not sure if that’s a precipice or a grassy knoll or maybe a busy road. I leave it up to you, my dear readers to decide the final outcome for yourselves! It could be titled “Did you bring me a stalk of rock?” (From your trip!)

Tomorrow looks like the best day of the week. For* ‘best’* read ‘least worst’. I think we’re intending going out somewhere … anywhere.

Even more rain – 6 October 2022

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I walked down to the shops and I do believe I saw a man building a big boat and looking for pairs of animals.

We slept a bit longer than we should have this morning and it was raining. Eventually we did get up and load up the dish washer. Hazy phoned and we talked to her for a while, talking about mortgages and Capital Gains Tax and other things related to house buying. I’m sure it will be a long winded exchange of letters between solicitors, but it will be worth it in the end. Good to hear you sounding so well Hazy. I had a look at the new Mur Lafferty book. I couldn’t remember what was special about her series, but they were the Shambling Guides, weren’t they! Travel guides for zombies.

Once we’d said “cheerio”, Scamp and I had our usual competition with Wordle (She 3 – Me 6) and then for the longest word in Spelling Bee (draw at 10 letters). By that time lunch was on the horizon. I’d offered to make paella for dinner and that meant we needed some stuff, so it was boots on and raincoat on before I headed out into the deluge. Actually it was fairly dry when I was out. Just one circuit of St Mo’s then I walked down to the shops, bought the essentials and walked back. That was when deluge two arrived. Even with boots and my Goretex jacket, I was decidedly wet when I got home. Thankfully the top half of me was still dry, although I think the jacket is still dripping as are my jeans, but my socks were dry. Good boots saved the day again. While I was in St Mo’s I got my PoD which is red hawthorn berries, haws as we used to call them.

Today’s Inktober prompt was ‘Bouquet’. I was constantly tempted, with this sketch, to add just a wee bit of colour, but I steadfastly refused. A little bit of colour here and another bit of green for the leaves would have led to a watercolour sketch in no time at all and that’s not what Inktober is about! Some people in the group are taking liberties with ’sketches’ that are really just paintings. A little bit of colour is ok, but not an entire painted sketch with no signs of ink. My group, my rules.

We watched the first Portrait Artist of the Year tonight and, as usual, we were impressed with some and dismissive of others. “You can please some the people some of the time …”

It’s still raining. It hasn’t really stopped all day. We’re hoping for a drier day tomorrow so we can go out somewhere that’s not Cumbersheugh.

An early walk – 5 October 2022

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I was out early to the post office to send off a parcel to Samsung.

I’d recently bought myself a Samsung phone and as part of their deal, got a discount if I mailed them an old, but working, mobile phone. Scamp volunteered her Huawei P Smart which is now on its way to them. As I was walking over to the post office in the rain, I overtook this snail that was also heading in the same direction. It seemed to be quite sure where it was going and, as it was making fairly good snail time, I said good morning and passed on. At this point I must thank the couple on the other side of the road who stopped and waited while I took a couple of photos. I don’t know what they thought I was doing. I thanked them and walked on.

We had half intended to go out for lunch today, but as it was raining and miserably we agreed we’d walk down to Broadwood Farm for lunch. It’s a part of a chain and, of course, has never been a farm, its main stock in trade now is as a carvery of sorts. That suited me fine, but as Scamp doesn’t eat all that much meat, she had her usual Fish ’n’ Chips. I had the carvery, Turkey, Ham and Roast Beef with all the veg you could eat. Years ago Broadwood Farm was a decent pub with a fair selection of beers. Today I fancied Guinness, but they didn’t have any ‘at this time’. In that case I’d have a Belhaven Best. Oh, that was also off ‘at this time. I asked what they did have, and it turned out they only had lager, no beer. There used to be a song about “A pub with no beer”. Now it’s become a reality. The food was decent pub grub although I could have used the roast beef to repair the soles of my shoes. Next time I’ll have turkey and ham. We took a long way home via M&S for bread and fruit.

Much later in the afternoon I went for a walk in St Mo’s and bumped into another teacher from school who was out walking her dogs and moaning about it. It was obvious that she was really enjoying it, but didn’t want to say so. Some folk are just like that. As the light was fading I walked on, still in the rain, but although I took a few more photos, there was nothing interesting in them once I’d downloaded them to the computer.

I was just thinking the other day that I’ve not seen any swallows recently.  I think the last time I saw some was about a month ago. I think they must all be back in warmer climes now.  Lucky them!

Today’s prompt for Inktober was ‘Flame’ and in an attempt to enhance my sketch I made the flame be a candle flame, put the candle in a candle holder and then had three moths flying around it. Like Moths To a Flame. It’s important to make it one candle and three moths. Odd numbers of objects are seen as more interesting than even numbers apparently.

No plans for tomorrow, now that Scamp has been dumped by her wee sister!

White Rabbits (x3) – 1 October 2022

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A new day, but the same weather. No wind today, but heavy rain.

We couldn’t decide what to do with today. Neither of us really wanted to go for a walk, because the dry spells were short and the rain, when it came was heavy and lasted for ages. Eventually we agreed that we’d stay at home. No sense in getting soaked for no real reason.

I offered to make pizzas for dinner and that was agreed. Lunch was a sandwich each and a cup of tea. My tea was normal Ceylon tea and Scamp’s was white tea ie hot water.

Last night I’d struggled with WhatsApp. Today I fixed it properly. It now has all my ‘Chats’ transferred over from the old phone. The camera in the new phone is quite amazing compared to the one I had before. Battery life which had been criticised in every review I’d read is fine. Storage is adequate. It’s much faster than the old phone and it doesn’t take ‘blackouts’ like the old one did. Recently it’s been going through the motions of shutting down, as if it has run out of power, when there’s about 25% left in it. Sometimes it just refused to power up. Lots of little things. Maybe it had just had enough of being in my pocket.

We didn’t get out a walk, but I did go for one circuit of St Mo’s pond then found a little dandelion growing out of the gap between two bricks on the way home and that became PoD.

I did make pizzas for dinner, but they weren’t the best I’ve ever made. Scamp put on a brave face and ate all of hers, but I know it was tough going. More practise needed.

Today was the first day of Inktober and the prompt was ‘Gargoyle’. I chose the Alien gargoyle up high on the roof of Paisley Abbey. The abbey dates back to the 12th century, but around 1990 when some renovations were being done, it was discovered that some of the gargoyles were in very poor condition. So poor that only one of them could be saved. An Edinburgh stone masons company was drafted in to design and carve new gargoyles. It seems that one of the masons had an affection for the 1979 film.
I’ve seen the gargoyle, but not up close. Too scary!

We’re not making plans for tomorrow. Whisper it. There is no rain in the forecast. Pass it on!

Off to the dance – 8 September 2022

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Tea dance today, so we were off to the hall and we arrived there ahead of time!

As you will have read, yesterday’s blog did a disappearing act never to be found, so I spent most of the morning rewriting it.

Lunch was a piece ’n’ banana and a glass of orange juice. Then we were off to Glenburn Community Centre. We were one of the first ones there, for once. That’s what happens when you leave the house at the proper time and don’t get caught up in traffic. I didn’t think we did all that well with our dancing today. Too many mistakes in the simple dances like the waltz, but there two dancers who stood out. Before they even held hands, you could tell that these were semi-pros. We’d seen the girl before dancing by herself at Gorbals. She was a bit strange, other worldly, but my, could that pair dance. One thing I’ll say about the group who go to the tea dances is that they are never overawed by the semi-pros, nor are they critical of beginners like us, because, despite what Scamp will say, we are beginners.  HOwever, we did a brilliant salsa routine just before we left.  That made up for all the mistakes.

We were sitting with a couple we’ve not spoken to before and I doubt if we’ll rush back to be with them again. I found them quite condescending, but Scamp liked her golden shoes! Thankfully two others came to join the table and we’d met them many times before, and a good laugh.

We left early, just after 3pm to avoid the worst of the school rush and came home by the M74. A much quicker route compared to that bloody Kingston Bridge. In fact we only took about 40 minutes which beats our usual 50 – 60 minutes along the M8 / M80. We might try that one again.

Tonight’s dinner was to be Bacon and Borlotti Beans, but we didn’t have any mushrooms for it, so I walked down to the shops to get some. It had been raining heavily in the afternoon and there were puddles everywhere. One of the oak trees that line the path was starting to lose its leaves and the leaves in the puddle made PoD.

Later when we tried to catch the news, it became apparent that things were not right with the Queen. Half an hour later the announcement was made that she’d died. She was a good age, but didn’t manage her century. It’s always sad when someone dies and so it was tonight.

Tomorrow we’re intending to parcel up a bag, in a bag and then put the combination of bags into another bag. I hope she likes it.

Rain! – 6 September 2022

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Today we drove to Stirling for lunch.

A week or so ago we went to Coast, a restaurant on the banks of the Clyde. Today we went to its sister restaurant, River House in Stirling. We’d been there many times in its previous incarnation and the food was always exceptional. Today we weren’t disappointed. Steak and Sausage pie for me. Fish ’n’ Skinny Chips for Scamp. We both agreed the owners may be different, but the food had remained the same.

We couldn’t decide whether to go shopping or head home. Eventually we decided to just go home and I changed the route, to take us over the wild switchback that is the Tak Ma Doon road. I wanted some photos form my favourite place near Loch Coulter and it didn’t disappoint today, although I must admit the sky was a lot greyer than the one you see in the PoD. Just one of the tweaks that’s possible with new software.

We had just left the parking place when the first raindrops hit the windscreen. After that, the rain just got heavier and heavier. It wasn’t the easiest drive home, but the wee blue car dealt with it well. However, we got soaked just running in to the house from the car!

I spent most of the rest of the afternoon researching new mobile phones. I’m not exactly settled yet, but I think it’s going to be another Android phone. So may different prices with confusing ‘deals’ from different providers. After spreadsheeting the results, I think things are becoming clearer and the ‘obvious’ deals are maybe not so good as they seem. It’s a changing picture.

Strangely, both Scamp and I had an upset stomach tonight. Maybe that great restaurant in Stirling wasn’t as good as we though it was, because it’s unusual for both of us to be affected.

No big plans for tomorrow. It really depends on the weather, as usual.

A late rise – 3 September 2022

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We must both have had a hard day yesterday. My excuse was that I’d been out cycling and Scamp’s was that she and the witches had been talking almost constantly for all of yesterday afternoon.

Once we’d dragged ourselves out of bed, dressed and completed today’s Wordle successfully, we discussed where to go and what to do with a very dull day. We settled on a run to Torwood, looking for something to buy for someone who has a birthday coming up soon. Unfortunately Torwood Garden Centre was having a bit of an Autumn Clean, which is really just a Spring Clean six months later. Lots of the garden furniture that usually lives outside was now inside and none of the usual stuff that Scamp expected to see had been put into storage, it seemed. For what must be the first time in our Torwood history, we left empty handed.

I suggested we try Calder’s in Cumbersheugh as an alternative, but although they had lots of things that “might do”, they didn’t have the exact article she was looking for. We were just about to leave when the heavens opened and the threatened heavy rain made us think again about walking out just then. Once the rain had eased, we ran to the car and drove home.

Later in the afternoon the sky cleared and although the sun didn’t shine, it was bright enough to take a camera for a walk in St Mo’s. The PoD went to a photo of a hoverfly on a Scabious flower, a wild scabious. While I was out, Scamp was talking to Jackie in Skye. She and Murdo are just recovering from the dreaded Covid and they both seemed to have it bad, but feeling better now.

On our walk earlier in the week, Alex and I had been discussing processing old photos taken years ago and tonight I worked on a photo of Castle Stalker in Appin from 2005. Taken with my old D70 it scrubbed up well as you can see here.

Tomorrow we may go looking for that birthday present again or we may leave that for a weekday when there will hopefully be fewer crowds

Spiders in the rain – 22 August 2022

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It was a wet day today. No real incentive to go out.

Scamp drove up to the chemist to get her meds, but I stayed at home. She walked over to St Mo’s later to post a couple of parcels and got thoroughly soaked for her trouble. So badly soaked was she that her raincoat is still drying in the kitchen.

Earlier I almost managed to choose a dry spell for a walk in St Mo’s. Lots of spiderwebs with their attendant spiders easily visible after the rain. One of those shots got PoD. I was quite pleased with the out of focus raindrops hanging from the web. It almost looked like the Milky Way to me. Although I did get wet, I wasn’t nearly as wet as Scamp was later in the afternoon.

Spoke to Fred for a while later and discussed paintings he’d done and sketches I’d done. I must get that back bedroom cleared out and create some space to get some painting done.

Dinner tonight was a very tasteless Spice Tailor daal. With leftover chicken from Saturday’s dinner. It’s not often we have a failure with Spice Tailor kits.

Scamp and I played Rummikub later because there really is nothing worth watching on terrestrial TV. Maybe we should have a rummage through the offerings on Amazon Prime and Netflix.

Maybe it was just a bad day and tomorrow will be better. It doesn’t really look like it though. Wednesday looks the best day of the week. We might go somewhere then.

 

A day in the sunshine – 14 August 2022

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This looked like it would be the last day of fine weather before the rains would come.

It’s no fun being confined to the house with the coughs and sneezes that seem to go along with the general fatigue that comes with Covid. Heaven knows what it would have felt like to those poor folk who caught it two years ago, before the vaccine became available. Although we’re feeling miserable now, it must have been a hundred times worse for them. We should be thankful for small mercies.

Well, we may not be able to go out into the wider world, but at least we could enjoy the sunshine in our garden. Scamp was busy deadheading the roses and most of the other garden flowers. Just keeping herself busy. I was happy to read in the sun with a bottle of beer to keep me company.

PoD went to a little industrious spider who was building its web in the apple tree. It was a tiny little thing working methodically round and round the web before it settled in the centre and waited for visitors. I guess these tiny arachnids must have the instructions for web building hard wired into their brains, because there are no teachers to show them how to do it.

Later in the day the clouds rolled in and the predicted thunderstorms arrived bringing the heavy rain in their wake. I felt sorry for the spider. All its work building that web had been washed away in the deluge. We had buckets out all over the garden collecting as much rainwater as we could. We’d also left the tomato plant and the chillies out too to benefit from rainwater.

The heat will be gone tomorrow, but there will be a fresher feel to the place. I might, just might go for a short walk tomorrow if I feel up to it.

 

Wet again – 25 July 2022

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Then after a long heavy shower, the sun shone and the clouds drifted away.

During that heavy shower I was trying unsuccessfully to repair the boot switch of Scamp’s wee red car. I took cover in the car and hoped the rain would go off because I hadn’t realised just how cramped it is in the back seat of an old Micra with the parcel shelf and the boot cover for company. Also, I was feeling the call of nature!!

Eventually the rain eased off enough to make the short trip to the house doable without getting thoroughly soaked. The boot is now locked and won’t be able to be opened until I get the switch mounted properly. The last time I fixed it, it was held together with that amateur mechanic’s standby viz: Duct Tape and Hot Melt Glue. I’m thinking I might try something more substantial this time as the tape was holding, but the hot melt glue was just sitting there, getting in the way. Allegedly you can buy replacement switches from a bloke in Wishaw of all places. Not sure I’m that desperate yet.

Back in the house and feeling a lot more comfortable, I had, what I can only describe as, a slab of bread and roasted cheese for lunch. The loaf it came from was far too soft to cut with the bread knife, really so I had cut a thicker than normal slice to make sure it didn’t crumble away (it made sense at the time). Actually it tasted better toasted than it had yesterday, just spread with butter.

Now that we were pretty sure the rain had gone, we went for a walk over to St Mo’s. There was nothing to see there and Scamp wanted to get a card in Condorrat, so we extended our walk to the paper shop in Condorrat. The next thing she wanted was a voucher from M&S to go with the card and we walked back the way we’d come and onward to the shops. We got the voucher and something for tomorrow’s lunch and walked home.

On the way Scamp got an email with a cabin number we’d requested, so then two computers were utilised to find where that cabin was located. We found it, but it was nowhere like where our initial email a couple of weeks ago had said. Never mind, another box ticked!

I still didn’t have a photo for today, so I went for a walk around St Mo’s again and this time took more heavy duty armoury with me in the form of the A7iii and the 105mm macro lens. Got some photos that looked worthwhile and came home, because in a change from tradition, Scamp had offered to make dinner tonight. Monday is always pasta and I am usually the pasta chef. Tonight it was pasta, Scamp style. It was Macaroni ’n’ Cheese and it was quite the best she’d made for a long time. Not one morsel was left on the plate.

When I looked at the photos, I knew something was wrong. Almost all of them were absolutely filthy. Not dodgy filthy, you understand. No, dust all over the sensor left black marks on the images. It must have been from the old Sigma 10-20mm lens I’d used, or more likely from the adaptor. It took about an hour with a magnifier a blower brush and a fine white paintbrush (that’s never been near paint) to carefully remove most of the dust. After that, cleaning up the actual photos was fairly easily done, but time consuming. PoD went to a wide angle shot of some wild flowers in St Mo’s.

We got some photos from Jamie showing off his tomatoes. They look great. I’m afraid none of ours are turning very red yet. I suppose that’s one of the advantages of having a ‘real’ greenhouse. Well done Jamie.

Tomorrow Scamp has an appointment with the hairdresser and I’ve just realised she might need her car, so I’ll have to tidy it up a bit so it doesn’t look such a sight!