Notices by Stevan (withaveeay@mastodon.scot)

Hooray! A full wood shed and the promise of a warm winter to come. Buying it now means a saving of about 40% over what last winter cost us, and there is very little as comforting as a full woodshed.
Absolutely knackered, having effectively walked 10km pushing or pulling a 50kg weight. But it's worth it.

@anniemo I would have, but couldn't work up the energy to pick up the meter! 😃

@anniemo This is very kind, but honestly, it was just a bad joke to try to make light of today's strenuous effort. Now I feel a bit bad about the poor joke. Rest assured, I rarely need a puff, as the main meds work well.
Ta for the pic of the spacer. Now I know. They're very good at our local surgery about asthma checkups etc and I have one regularly.
BTW, prescriptions are free in Scotland.

If I've been grumpier than usual the last few days, it's because I knew we were expecting the last of our winter fuel deliveries this week. That means getting it into the wood store.
Here's as far as the delivery lorry can get the pallets, and then an indication of the hill that needs climbing with the sacktruck. I can only manage about 50kg at a time without throwing up too much, so it's a long process - at least 50 trips. Herself stacks them at the wood store end

Lunch break.
And a memory when I was a littler kid, of both my grandfathers sweating buckets when they exerted themselves.
My friends, I have become my grandfathers.
On the positive side, the wood blocks mustn't get wet or they disintegrate. So it's usually a rainy day when we take delivery. But today is glorious, with a pleasant breeze.
We're more than halfway through now, and later I can go and wibble quietly in a corner.

@baz Butt away. We've done that before, when rain has meant our kind neighbour let us unload the pallet lorry into her garage. I's not very good for the car, and I think that's where we may have broken the springs of an earlier car. Goth Leo the #EV is just over a year old and we don't really want to risk damaging him.
What we are doing is keeping an eye open for a four-wheeler that might come our way. But this toil is usually just twice a year, and is a real opportunity for a good moan. 😃

For the last several years. a song thrush near us at this time of the year has put down the same riff, a very recognisable, whistle-able tune. I filmed and posted this last year, though I can't find the clip at the mo.
This year, a song thrush near us has a completely different tune. But when I took the bird food out this morning, happily I heard that familiar riff coming from the other side of the burn.
I don't know if they have the same tunes, or if they learn their songbooks
#Birds

People with an interest in the Highlands of Scotland, your attention please.
The Highland Council want to slash services to save money, almost all of which will have a disproportionate ill effect on the rural Highlands. They hope to cut the Countryside Ranger service, mobile libraries and public transport provision, among others.
If you can, please make your views known, esp. if you live the HC region.
Doc here: https://engagehighland.co.uk/29834/widgets/86849/documents/53756
Consulation here: https://engagehighland.co.uk/budget-engagement/surveys/being-more-efficient
Please boost.

Morning Walk, and the drama of the morning light already fades to grey, but we could see Cocoa and Milkshake, and yell a greeting. They are Davie the Crofter's calfies, of which he is very proud. They were named by his step-grandchildren, and even he doesn't know which is which,
#Assynt

Morning walk, and what a morning
#Assynt
#MorningWalk

Morning walk, and while the sky was on fire to the south east, to the west, the moon was setting over Meall Dearg, the Red Mound, living up to her name in the morning light.
(Quietly pleased with the timing of this pic!)
#Assynt
#MorningWalk

@walfischbucht @gemlog Ah yes, I was thinking about that but couldn't recall the name.
Closer to home, places like Tain, a royal burgh since 1066 (and therefore allowed to trade on its own account) traded extensively into the Baltic. And even as late as the time of the Caledonian Canal, as we recently learnt, a lot of Baltic trade reached, for example, Dublin.

2. But look up, and the huge chandelier is ringed with coats of arms of the trades for whom this hall exists
3/...

@gemlog @walfischbucht And I love how the Fedi often makes me dust off long-forgotten learning from my degree!

4. Not content with the heraldry alone, there are stylised images representing each trade all around the upper parts of the wall.
It's Saturday, so lets' hear it for the maltmen.
5/....

3. I photographed all the coats of arms, but here's just 4, an interesting juxtaposition of heraldry and religion.
4/....

5. But these boards of the High Heid Yins, the Deacon Conveners, caught my eye all day. Some of the boards go back to the 16th century. But what bothers me is the anti-nominative determinism
We have a Smith who is a tailor, a Maltman who is a flesher, a Wright who was a cordiner and a Millar who is a maltman.
Fortunately in another board. there is a Mason who was mason (and was probably a Mason too) so balance is restored to the universe.

@walfischbucht Had things worked out just a little differently, we'd be talking more about Hanseatic connections.

@gemlog @walfischbucht@norden.socialThe trade covered the east coast of the British isles too, although I don't think any were Hanseatic cities.

@freedosproject @bytex64 Phew! I'm cracking up slower than previously thought.
To check, I hauled out my version from 1987, and here's a screenshot showing "Format WS"
It seems to work with the keystrokes I tried.