The solution

 Heres the problem . 

And the problem is there is no grass for the sheep to graze - its all under a couple of inches of snow.

And its been like this for a couple of weeks and the forecast is for a couple of weeks more .

 

So we are getting through the hay at a rapid rate. 

 

So Michael to the rescue 

And stocks replenished

April in Orkney

A couple of videos, and then a couple more, 15 minutes later .
And its a bit windy (45mph) gusting 55 mph .

 and then 15 minutes later

The sun is back

at about this time of the year the sun comes just above the hill and hits the house.
And at 12.00 today , the sun came back, just catching the edge of the room 

and turning round and looking the other way , the sun is just high enough to come above the  ridge of the hill. So things can only get  better from now on .

• In  2014 it was  25th January  (with no snow around) 
• in 2016 is was the 20th January

There is quite a bit of snow around this time .

and the hens dont like the snow. They havent moved much  today

Skating in Orkney

It doesn't really snow here - too windy and too close to the sea. But we do get a lot of hail  - blown in on strong winds.  At a distance (see above) it really looks like snow on the hills. But close-up its not , its mostly hail.
Thats OK, as long as you aren't walking into it.  But if it then rains on  gtound , covered with hail, it becomes very slippery. 




So we are a bit housebound by the  ice on the drive

 And the sheep  - well the Borerays are ( or should be) used to it, so they get to stay out with some hay - the grass is also covered by a sheet of ice.

 but the Gotlands, limited for the moment to the hard standing are inside - they are too stupid to avoid the ice so try and walk over it and fall over. I wish i had the video !

Winter 2014

We had a bit of a storm at the start of the week

but that wasn't  too bad - the boats were off but not the planes . Radio Orkney facebook page is the best source of information for this sort of thing

the wind has gone , but we have a bit of snow .
The water around the place all had ice on it , so a forceful welly meant that  the animals would be OK

 The sheep and hens arent too bothered  by it all.

Some weather photos

From few days ago , when we had snow .

And  rainbow whilst we were  trying to round up the ewe.