Going, going........

We have now got three beds set up in the new house. Of course the telephone did not arrive on time and after last weeks promises that they would definitely talk to us this week and get it done we are not surprised to have had no word and still to be unconnected.
The TV and internet were probably not as bad. We left it to the two grandchildren and their partners to set it up at Springfield but they had TV and internet facilities elsewhere so Oscar and Emma left to watch that.
Barnaby set up the old bookcase from the Glebe and unloaded tons of books. He also organised the chest of drawers and the bed in the spare bedroom. He then set up a table in our bedroom and he, Janet and I watched or sort of helped Becky, the nurse set up my hospital bed and inflatable matress. The two of them, bed and mattress are plugged into the wall and hum when I go to bed. They also have a slight steady movement to stop bed sores. I may be sleeping there in a couple of weeks.
I got the chance to get on the bed eventually but was not allowed to treat it as a trampoline. Becky thought I should have a second mattress because power cuts lead to gradual collapse of the mattress onto the bed. I thought she wanted to see what effect a pea would have if she put it underneath, but no.
I went to the consultant in Lerwick last week. I asked about the anaemia and he said they would monitor my blood. If figures show it is worsening I will get a blood transfusion. They do not recommend iron tablets as this could lead to a build up of iron and the body would have to deposit it somewhere. I thought of finding my kneecaps getting rusty and dropping off so agreed with him.
He cannot be definite about the effect of the hormone therapy but will probably know this week and let me know. The main thing is the lung cancer. If it does not respond we will suspect the it is driven by Malignant Melanoma rather than the prostate gland. They may then try other treatment, chemotherapy or radiotherapy but we will know this week. That may not be very effective against M.M. but the positive view is that it may not be necessary.
The medical people respond quickly to things at present. Janet had to take her sister to Lerwick the other day for a check. Following the checks they called her in suddenly yesterday. Today they are off to Aberdeen Hospital (ARI) for more tests, checks and possibly treatment before coming back.
While Janet is away the nurse will stay longer with me when she visits. She comes every other day now including week-ends. One of the ladies at SOLI will also check me out and the lady who looks after the old people here will also come in to check on me regularly. That is Frances. I expect she wants to see if I am aging.
Barbara, my sister-in-law will arrive on Thursday. She will be able to drive our car while she is here so will help move more bits and pieces from Stakkafletts.
The second astronomical telescope has now been removed from the loft here and taken to Springfield. The next thing will be the fishing rods and their supports. I'll get one of our neighbours to do this later.
Barbara will help me move the two telescopes to the garage for use in the near future and next year when we start sky watching again. I have tried to get all the interested parties here interested in setting the big telescope up. Some of them watched but I do not think they will try it alone.
I have received comments from readers of this blog. It is possible to add them using the facility at the bottom of each entry.
I expect to have constant internet access at both house until the final day here. So I will see and read the comments. I may then comment on the comments. Then people could comment on my comments on the comments. Then the whole blog thing will run itself. You will not know I'm not here until some time after I am gone. But my present estimate is that I will be here for at least a year. The medical profession may also be worried that this is true. I can remind consultants and such that I am a statistic. They will certainly concentrate then.
Those comments may be smart but in fact I have had a consultant in Lerwick go out of his way to help and it appears that he was not popular with Aberdeen consultants who had their hypodermics at the ready. My District nurses are very good. The MacMillan's nurse has gone out of her way to help and the OT has arranged so much we will have to throw furniture away to fit all the goodies into the new house.
No more sightings of the red kite since last week.We have had redshank in numbers on the field behind us at Stakkafletts and there seem to be tufted duck in Papil Water behind Springfield. All the geese seem to be in that area too. If we set up a telescope on the back porch at the new house we should catch the long-tailed ducks soon.
I can't write much more as I will have to read it before signing off.
Once Janet leaves today I will comb my hair and prepare for scrabble with senior citizens. They are very good and tolerate me. Of course they may not understand my accent.

Moving Soon??

We went to the house the other day to set the sighting scope on the Dobsonian telescope.  I had a spot of bother and took it off completely so that I could start from scratch on another day.
We went again on a bright sunny day and saw about 40 greylag geese in the field below the house. Then I realised there were as many again on the water.
Suddenly they all started fluttering about and I saw a large bird above them. I thought it must be a buzzard but it flew closer and I realised it was a red kite. It had evidently been around for about three days.
I sat on the back veranda in the wheel chair. They had fitted the glass panels and there was a gravel path coming round the house to the steps leading up. The front of the house was drying out and they had started putting down hard-core.
They also agreed to put a shelf in the entrance hall and a rail under it for hanging coats.
The various hand rails that re being supplied by Occupational Therapy should be put in by someone other than our builders so we agreed to that.
We have got to the point where we know the date we move in but not whether the removal men can deliver on time. The hospital beds are included in this little problem. We have asked for the chair to be delivered but have no guarantee of a date for this. Otherwise everything is going very well.
The ponies have somehow managed to move themselves again. We will have to arrange for them to be moved back to one of our bits of land.
 There is another when? for this activity.
All the potential visitors will be given jobs when they arrive. We have not told any of them yet that they might have to bring tents if the moving arrangements have not been finalised.
I see the Woodland Trust have 3 million trees to plant. Problem is we would need 3 million visitors to help plant them - not that we  would get all of them. We will do something but perhaps on a smaller scale.
Janet has been advised about the under floor heating and has two remote controls for opening the garage doors. We can spend  an afternoon  sitting in the car opening and closing the door.
Today I played a couple of games of chess on a 10 by 10 square board.
There are three extra pieces to contend with and certain complications inherent in the use of one of them. It makes a change but is quite tiring.
There are oystercatchers, curlew and the odd wimbril about. I have yet to see or hear the golden plover. It can't be long now.
I have put on almost all the weight I lost before Christmas so I shall start being careful about what I eat.
I have discovered that I can take a little wine for my health's sake.

Progress

We went to the house where I tried to set up the big telescope and failed.
The heating engineers were there. They said they had tried the under floor heating earlier and that they would finish the heat exchange system this week.
We will be able to move in before the path from road to house is finished and I think we will.
Next we will arrange for the easy chair to be delivered and then the bed and bits and pieces of furniture and fittings.
After that we have to prepare for the removal of heavy stuff from the current house. This means packing a lot of stuff to get it out of the way of the heavy mob.
I have had offers of help with moving and will get a couple of people to help move pots of plants, various implements, pressure washer, strimmer etc. from the front garden. They will not look so much like a rubbish dump when they are rearranged over our new land.
Meanwhile we are playing Scrabble every Monday and go to the old peoples club every fortnight.
I am playing chess every couple of weeks and tafl every month or so.
I also play a version of chess with a board 10 squares by 10 plus four extra corner squares. There are three extra pieces. I think they are counsellor, wizard and fool but I'm not certain about counsellor.
I will try to play more frequently when we move and at home to avoid too much travelling.
It still keeps raining. The ponies paddocks are a mess. They were chopped up by their hooves and have not recovered yet. The ponies themselves are quite happy trespassing on Harry's land. We will put them in the croft house (ruin) garden again soon. But by we I mean Janet and a co-opted neighbour.
We have to contact Gregor to finish the en suite. He has a cupboard to put up in their. It was designed for various medical equipment I used before but we will use it for stuff I need now.
We have seen redwing and fieldfare passing through recently and curlew, wimbril, oystercatcher on their way back to Fetlar to breed.
When we move in we hope to see snipe, redshank, curlew and possibly greylag geese all nesting in the back garden.
I have seen more rabbits about. One of  them looked really big. I may have to be sure I have someone with me when I go out in the garden.
We are looking forward to a succession of visitors and will encourage them to smack in fence posts, move furniture, plant spuds and help build rubbish sack containers in the garden. Luckily the days are getting longer so they may have time to go fishing for our tea etc.
I'm not sure who's reading this stuff. If there are readers I should say that I am indoors at present with a strong wind outside and driving rain. I have a cold...well its probably man flu but I will get over it soon.
Mycomputer is getting stroppy so I will publish this before it gets eaten by gremlins.

March 5th.

Lets start with the Loch of Velzie. This is pronounced Villy. The alternative name Papil Water is easier to pronounce and used more by us. It is the fish pond at the bottom of our garden. Only brown trout but a favourite of many.
At the other end of the island is the Loch of Funzie, naturally enough it is pronounced Finny and we use the name all the time because it is here that the red necked phalarope is to be found in the spring.
If you visit us at the new house you will be able to see some of these wonders of Fetlar.
There is a short title to each picture. That should give you some info but there is a "comments" option on this blog so I will take it that everything is crystal clear unless I get a query from you.

Pictures

I am about to put a number of photographs on this blog to show the development of the house and the area around it. This will show where we used to live, the old croft house we are buying, the view to the lake (Loch of Funzie) and how near we are to the existing road.
We hope to be able to move in this month but there will be difficulties.
At present we have lost our telephone number. They took it away because we were moving but didn't and gave back a different number, not telling us this. We should be on our original number by the end of the week.

 1. Clearing the plot - See the ruin on the right hand side

2. Looking across the plot towards the road and the ruin.

3. The foundations taking shape with Papil water and the Kirk behind.

4. The Ruin.

5. Close up of the foundations

6. About to put some walls in place

7. At last something higher than 2 feet.

8. Putting the walls up.

9. Looking up towards the road and the ruin.

10. Nearly finished at the back.

11. The new house from the back garden.

12. Seen from the Right hand side.

13. From the road.

14. Looking down from the road.