The Last Bass Outpost
Main Forums => The Outpost Cafe => Topic started by: Highlander on April 15, 2016, 04:48:14 PM
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Well, as of this Friday, just gone, we signed off on the house we've been renting for the last 7 months which is now ours, excluding the 10% we owe the bank, which is all we needed to secure it...
Been somewhat distracted by the beauty of the Highlands, and the uncertainty of where we would be living, until we found out for sure the owner would sell, then all the fun of the legalese...
Done-and-dusted...
Beauty...? a 30 second exposure of a rather fine auroral display in early March, taken just outside our front door... that's one of our 15 pine trees... a fully mature Scot's pine, of which we have two...
(http://i655.photobucket.com/albums/uu280/kjrstewart/US/2016%200306%20Camlie%20aurora%20raw%2011%20test_zpsr4afapya.jpg)
Those of you who I call my friends, and you all know who you are, will be welcome to stay with us if you ever find yourself in the Highlands of Scotland... We're 2 miles off the main road down a single-track road and about 500' up with a clear view east, excluding the trees to the right of the house... 1/4 mile behind us is all forest up to the 1000' mark which is Ord Hill... the view's none to shabby... this was just before dawn back in September... presently trawling through the many thousands of pics I'm preparing to upload for a website...
(http://i655.photobucket.com/albums/uu280/kjrstewart/US/2015%200927a%20views%2035%20test_zpsemus2iem.jpg)
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Wow! Gorgeous view. Congratulations.
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Congrats Kenny!
What a beautiful shot there.
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http://scottishsquirrels.org.uk
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That truly looks exquisite.
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And lest you all forget: That part of Britain is gonna stick with us, meaning the EU, no matter what the tribe in the south with the Panamanian investor at the helm decides. You vote Brexit/Scotland flexit(s muscles)! 8)
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Congrats, Ken. :toast:
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All the Best! My grey squirrels are envious.
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Those two pics would have made great covers with one of those esoteric labels like Windham Songs! Lovely. Or for a Runrig compilation. 8)
We were enchanted by Scotland when we were there. Those dumb Romans, forgot about the best part.
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Lovely photos, and a wonderful outcome! Congratulations, Ken.
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Nice! Congrats Ken
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Lovely Ken!
It's just outside Inverness? I don't recall if you said.
Don't be surprised if you see a Scotch toting Yank coming up the path someday :)
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I'll look forward to that (or the pair of you turning up) ... You can help me with my aircraft recog skills whilst we enjoy a dram... :mrgreen:
Inverness is just off centre-top in the pana pic, btw... I just have to redo the SG in Inverness Green
Billy... I have a pic on that site; more to follow... by sheer chance I had pulled over with Jackie and Roshina to try and spot some otters and settled for seeing an osprey, fresh in from Africa ( :o ) and a gent who let me use his scope to see it runs that squirrel site ... seriously small world ... :mrgreen:
I've bought the rights to a website name (passingplaces.co.uk) but not running it yet... FB page is running but just touching it so far... I'll post a link when I do the major upload...
Companies sending me up to Orkney a week Tuesday... I may actually sail through Scapa Flow... 8) I just can't believe that I'm getting paid to drive through these places...
Carlo... what will your Florida greys make of this little Lady... on the rail by our kitchen last month... ;)
(http://i655.photobucket.com/albums/uu280/kjrstewart/US/2016%200131%20Camlie%2079%20test_zpsfmrabkle.jpg)
Cheer's for the wishes Gents...
Oh yeah... Uwe... MSP elections next month... ;)
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Congrats on the house, Ken! :toast:
Great photos too... share that link to your site when you put it up
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Will do Joe... ;)
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Post pics anytime...
The sunset was so perfect, I made it my desktop wallpaper
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Sunrise, my friend... pm your email and I'll easily top that one for you... that was just what I get looking down the hill... ;)
Ah... unless you meant the aurora shot, taken circa midnight...?
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That Aurora picture is incredible Kenny
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Awesome and congrats Kenny! How's about few pics of your place? What passes for a respectable shed in your "neighborhood" :)
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God bless ya, laddie! I'm envious and happy for you. I feel the same way about our home and the view out the back. Hope you have decades of happiness there!
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Awesome and congrats Kenny! How's about few pics of your place? What passes for a respectable shed in your "neighborhood" :)
IIRC this place has nice facilities for a workshop. We have to give him time to get settled in before we start bugging him about getting long-delayed projects done.
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Looks like a heavenly place. Enjoy!
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Buzz... existing shed is a bit of a wreck... presently has holes in the roof, a section of rotted timbers to the back... now a store for the critter fodder, and the critters that have moved in to hoover up the spillage... big risk as we have owls in the garden on a regular basis... i intend to get a new shed (not as a workshop this time) and turn this into a bird-watching hide...
(http://i655.photobucket.com/albums/uu280/kjrstewart/US/2016%200131%20Camlie%20132%20test_zpsa0ishjcn.jpg)
... and as for the house itself... this might do for this years Christmas card... :mrgreen:
(http://i655.photobucket.com/albums/uu280/kjrstewart/US/2016%200214%20Camlie%2010%20test_zpsd77bh4bu.jpg)
House in detail... the whole of the left side 1st is our daughters room and ensuite... to the right is ours and to the rear of ours is the third bedroom, with a roof access, floored, lined, and a velux window, ready for completion, above the double garage... roof space above 1st leaves us with a monstrous amount of storage space... downstairs is a huge kitchen, decking to rear of it, a lounge of equal size on each side of the front door, and another bedroom... to the rear is the double garage, which I intend to split, turning one part into a music room, and the other into a workshop with space for a car too, if required... it would be possible to park a tour-bus to the right of the house, and still get a car round to the garage... space for circa 10 to 15 cars on the gravel round the house... grounds are just shy of an acre... still trying to figure all the trees... definitely have a good plum tree (made jam and chutney from it last autumn)... theres the already mentioned pine trees, a huge willow tree, quite a few silver birch... I'll count all the trees and come back to you...
Another aurora shot, looking approx 90 degrees to the left of the other one and at the house... really odd red streak in the sky, but there it is... not visible with the naked etc...
(http://i655.photobucket.com/albums/uu280/kjrstewart/US/2016%200306%20Camlie%20aurora%20raw%2043%20test_zpsrvbujh0u.jpg)
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You should do Christmas card prints with that last one, Ken! Make you a wealthy man.
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Jackie's the card specialist... :mrgreen:
her FB page... (https://www.facebook.com/SquirrelNutKraft/)
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Awesome place Kenny! Sounds like it's four times the size of your last place. Owls in the backyard? Too cool though I'm guessing the owls turning your local nut eating rodent population into and all you can eat buffet might run counter to your goals! :o
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You spotted that then... yeah, garden might be a bit bigger too... :mrgreen:
Nah, the squirrels are safe (mostly) as the owls go for mice and voles...
An issue for the squirrels might be eagles, mind you, as a local specialist has advised me that we do get Golden and White Tail Eagle here, passing over too and from the central mountain areas... I have seen a golden eagle when passing through the central region (all single-track road) as you can't mistake those big "plank" wings... local eagle wing-span is 7' or 2m+ in new money... but they mostly go for rabbit, which we've got... biggest regular birds are pheasants and crows, though we have had a buzzard park itself on a fence post, and red-kite are common...
We do get a true killing-machine pass thru on a fairly regular basis, called a sparrow-hawk...
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Wow, what an awesome place. You lucky dog!
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Woof...! :mrgreen:
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Jackie's the card specialist... :mrgreen:
her FB page... (https://www.facebook.com/SquirrelNutKraft/)
Such a lucky woman, equipped with a nutkrafty hubbie and all!
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Such a lucky woman, equipped with a nutkrafty hubbie and all!
... but... :mrgreen:
Technical Management, not...
Jackie to Ken... "Do you have any idea where we packed XYZ...?"
Ken to Jackie... "Nope..."
Yes, we have a comprehensive (sic) packing list, but when you have circa 300 boxes of stuff... :vader:
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Ha, good luck! I still have unpacked boxes from when we moved from Toronto to Buffalo in 1989! Now where did I put that lemon juicer..........
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Beautiful pics Kenny, the house and location looks amazing! You know, I will visit some good friends on Manchester area next year, who knows maybe I will go a bit norther too if I have some time...
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There'll be room for a welcome diversion, Kostas... ;)
Bill... some of those boxes I helped move up to Livingston (betwixt Edinburgh and Glasgow) in the 80's, then dad moved them to the Hebrides (to the west of me at my present location) after we lost mum in the 90's, then I took them south after we lost him in '01... now they're back in Scotland... they will be unpacked, even if in rotation... :o
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There'll be room for a welcome diversion, Kostas... ;)
Bill... some of those boxes I helped move up to Livingston (betwixt Edinburgh and Glasgow) in the 80's, then dad moved them to the Hebrides (to the west of me at my present location) after we lost mum in the 90's, then I took them south after we lost him in '01... now they're back in Scotland... they will be unpacked, even if in rotation... :o
Why would you do that? Let you daughter move them around for a few decades when you're gone! ;)
And I'm still jealous :sad:
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There'll be room for a welcome diversion, Kostas... ;)
Bill... some of those boxes I helped move up to Livingston (betwixt Edinburgh and Glasgow) in the 80's, then dad moved them to the Hebrides (to the west of me at my present location) after we lost mum in the 90's, then I took them south after we lost him in '01... now they're back in Scotland... they will be unpacked, even if in rotation... :o
Glad I'm not alone! 8). You always make feel better. ;D
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All part of the service, Doc... ;)
... and as for Buzz... love you too... :mrgreen:
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I'm Super late to this party, but...Congrats on the new place, and thank you for posting the pictures! I'd like to see more of the area, too. The one place I've been outside of the USA was Scotland, and it was such an amazing trip I vowed I'd be back ASAP. Well, life intervened and it's been nearly 20 years now...
So yeah, show us more of your neighborhood!
We have a couple thousand squirrels in our yard, want me to box up this guy
(http://i427.photobucket.com/albums/pp360/dannew2008/DE3C0492-BE94-4A9C-8131-79882F092167_zpsa9m9urvx.jpg) (http://s427.photobucket.com/user/dannew2008/media/DE3C0492-BE94-4A9C-8131-79882F092167_zpsa9m9urvx.jpg.html)
and a few dozen of his friends and send you a house warming present? :mrgreen:
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Ha, good luck! I still have unpacked boxes from when we moved from Toronto to Buffalo in 1989!
OK, like how has THAT never come up before? Ya hoser.
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We have a couple thousand squirrels in our yard, want me to box up this guy
(http://i427.photobucket.com/albums/pp360/dannew2008/DE3C0492-BE94-4A9C-8131-79882F092167_zpsa9m9urvx.jpg) (http://s427.photobucket.com/user/dannew2008/media/DE3C0492-BE94-4A9C-8131-79882F092167_zpsa9m9urvx.jpg.html)
and a few dozen of his friends and send you a house warming present? :mrgreen:
What?!!!, an albino squirrel? Never seen one of those before. Creepy.
You live close to a nuclear plant or some military installation?
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Albino squirrels aren't that rare around here. There was one in my old neighborhood (about two miles from here) that was around for several years. No nuclear plants in that neighborhood, although there was a Pizza Hut. Its dumpster was probably almost as toxic.
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Never seen or heard of them here in Germany. Maybe the European (red) squirrel doesn't turn albino as easy. Freak of nature.
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Eastern grey squirrels are sometimes white but I guess that makes them Eastern White squirrels.
I like the black one's around Michigan too.
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Grey squirrels, unfortunately, have a virus they are immune to, but is fatal to reds... sad but true...
Been away for a few days off shore... not up to spec yet... knackered, in a word...
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Maybe it's me, but everywhere I've lived, there's been an albino squirrel... Milwaukee, near Madison, MPLS/St Paul, and now where I'm at... There was a park in MPLS that had grey, black and white squirrels. I wanted to start a breeding program to see if we'd end up with zebra striped ones. Or maybe Holstien Cow spotted ones. :mrgreen:
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And I thought I was nuts (about squirrels) :mrgreen:
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my friend belongs to the Inman Park Squirrel Census Team. realy.
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Now THERE'S a band name: Squirrel Census.
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OK, like how has THAT never come up before? Ya hoser.
We lived in Toronto for a couple years. Took a hospital administration job in the mid 80's and moved there from Ohio University. Got homesick and moved to Buffalo. It was a good experience. Nice people, even though it took a boatload of money to live there.
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Tom ... I love you...! :mrgreen:
They even have an FB page...! ... "liked"
... and a Squirrel Ball... ;)
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Maybe it's me, but everywhere I've lived, there's been an albino squirrel... Milwaukee, near Madison, MPLS/St Paul, and now where I'm at... There was a park in MPLS that had grey, black and white squirrels. I wanted to start a breeding program to see if we'd end up with zebra striped ones. Or maybe Holstien Cow spotted ones. :mrgreen:
Spotted Cow? Sounds like a good name for a Wisconsin beer. ;)
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You have a beautiful home!
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I think Albino Squirrel would be a good name for a pilsner beer.
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Or a band name!
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The Black Squirrel could be a good pirate ship name, oh wait that was The Black Pearl.
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http://www.squirrelcensus.com/
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Spotted Cow? Sounds like a good name for a Wisconsin beer. ;)
I always try to remember to pick up at least a 6 pack any time I cross the border. :toast:
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We lived in Toronto for a couple years. Took a hospital administration job in the mid 80's and moved there from Ohio University. Got homesick and moved to Buffalo. It was a good experience. Nice people, even though it took a boatload of money to live there.
Ha, a friend of mine is thinking of moving to Buffalo now.
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I always try to remember to pick up at least a 6 pack any time I cross the border. :toast:
I'm about 25 miles from the nearest store (in Houlton, WI). The border stores here do one hell of a business in New Glarus beers, especially Spotted Cow.
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Local brew-house is called Black Isle Brewery and has named one after a local rare bird called Red Kite... rather nice too...
Distillery's closer, mind you... :vader:
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Local brew-house is called Black Isle Brewery and has named one after a local rare bird called Red Kite... rather nice too...
Distillery's closer, mind you... :vader:
You should try to convince them to name a brew after the red squirrel.
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Er...
Red Squirrel Ale (http://www.arranbrewery.co.uk/shop/arran-red-squirrel-ale-mixed-case-12-x-500ml-bottle-pack/)
:toast: