Ahhhhh sweet......

After a day or so of worry about the piglets and an emergency trip down to Lochgilphead to get weaners nuts things seems to be settling down. Mummy Pig seemed to have had enough of motherhood after two weeks (some sympathy there...)which led to the strongest two grabbing hold whenever she stood still near them and the other four huddling in the hut. Now they are all out and about,the family is back together. Mr Pig has broken into their field and so they come and go at will and really it is very hard to split them up as they are all so very content together. He rests his head on the girls in total contentment and as I write they are curled up in a big heap with piglets swarming all over the four of them.
The “Then” blog. For details see entry for March 7th 2009. In brief the restoration of Claonairigh House.
Monday 12th October (Peter)
Very dull today but stayed dry. No midges, no mice either
Started on lower flashing on the front of the house and replaced some broken tiles. Shottun’s workmen were clearing the timber from the old cottages all day. Wagons still moving large amounts of mixed timber. Steve called, says he is working near the Castle in Inveraray.
Tuesday October 13th
Dull and dampish. Rain at times sunny. No midges
Finished flashing to lower lead roof, dug out gateway and posthole.

A trio of triathletes

Triathlon day had been and gone again in an agony of testosterone (not me),adrenaline (definitely me)panic (ditto) and downright fear and trembling! The day dawned drizzly and deceptively still and we got on with the tasks that needed to still be done. We have prepared the night before well so just breakfast to force down into sickly tummies, the animals to feed, bikes to pop on the car and off we go. Now we will re-wind slightly to the animals to feed bit. As I was dashing off to get the bikes in-between mouthfuls of sawdust, sorry, weetabix I heard a shout of "I don't believe it...there are some piglets in the other field". Houdini has done it and produced 7 live piggies of a variety of hues. After the piglet admiration society had done their bit we managed to get everyone rounded up and in the car with all the paraphernalia necessary for a trio of tri-athletes. We duly registered ourselves in the race and the fact that Garret and I were in the next to last heat.....long wait! Toby set off with a fabulous swim in heat three, we saw him set off second out of the pool and confident for the 20k cycle. All too soon we were lined up for our briefing not feeling at all left out amongst the red and black Glasgow tri suits. My swim was good and comfortable with a PB at 8.59 breaking that 9 minute barrier that has so eluded me. Garret did not do quite so well as he struggled with the anti clockwise swimming in his lane. Still, did well enough as he entered transition as I left. There was a great moment when we heard via the commentator that Toby had just set off on his run having returned safely from the cycle and a cat and mouse chase along the course. All went well with Garret overtaking me a mile or so along the way as expected. I had a red and black suit in my sights when I tried too hard with the gears and off fell the chain...only ONE swear word later and I was off and fixing it and back on having lost a couple of minutes maybe and gained some very dirty hands.......the rest of the cycle was okay apart from a nice challenging stiff wind against us on the homeward stretch. The crowds and encouragement back at the pool was fabulous, and so tantalising for a few seconds until off once more on the run. Trying to work the suddenly seized up legs took a mile or so but then things were more or less fine for the rest of the 4 mile run out and back along the canal where I seemed to be consistently overtaken by the fast guys from the last hear and managed only one overtake of a heat 5 or 4 of my own.... and then into the waiting arms of family and friends. Toby did a stunning 1.14 and was first male jr and 12th over all, Garret was in the top 20 in 1.16 and I was NOT in the top 20 or anything like in 1.27 but was first Mid Argyll lady finisher . Garret got a prize for his very fast transition from bike to run so we all came away with a little something!

Mud, Mud Glorious Mud

Running and piggy antics seem to have take up most of the day today despite my best intentions to get out in the garden.I Met Liz at Furnace Village Hall and did my best to drag legs that appeared to have two or three hard tennis balls lodged in the place where my calves usually are round and about and up and down. This condition is a legacy from Wednesday night (see last entry) and stayed with me for the whole soggy 8 miles but were most obvious on the hilly (up) bits. I was truly scared near the end as Liz began to sprint for it in earnest just as we went through Furnace Quarry until she remembered that we had parked further away than usual and still had 1/2k or so to go.....she also had Ginny pulling her whereas Lucy was flagging (excuses, excuses, I can dredge them up from nowhere).
In order to sooth my legs and render movement tomorrow a vague possibility I eventually got into the bath mid afternoon accompanied by a good book. Halfway through a chapter dedicated to a curious mixture of Christian fundamentalism, pornography and bombers (don't ask) I heard suspicious banging noises from the pig food shed...Yup, Miss Oldest Piglet had done it again, another piggy dash for freedom and food. Linda and I eventually bullied,cajoaled and bribed her back to re-join the other good (and hence probably with a longer life expectancy) piglets and Mrs Pig on the right side of the fence.The pigs being, well, pigs and having done their job well this was a very muddy job and meant another quick dip in the bath and so the afternoon passed away. As Garret is away until Sunday it was left to Toby and me (until he hit himself on the knee with an axe, wooden bit luckily,again an explanation of how this happened exactly is really not necessary or indeed fathomable) to try to barricade the fence against further attempts. Hmmm been there and done that before. ..WATCH THIS SPACE