Its maybe blowing our own trumpet to use the adage of the swan swimming serenely along while the feet are paddling furiously underwater. It certainly doesn’t always feel smooth and well organised but there is always the work going on behind the scenes to keep the show on the road.
If you have been to Logie Steading in the last few weeks you may have seen that the “whirlygig” swing has been off its pole. The swing has been here since the 1990’s, it’s a great example of solidly made simple kit, however it was time to replace a few parts to keep it in tip top condition.
As much as possible we try to reuse and repair and in this case that’s exactly what we did. The bearings needed to be replaced as did the timber arms that hold the swing chains. We are lucky to have Dave Philp just down the road who made us some new brass bearings. Cylindrical timber was needed to get a good fit into the sockets, sadly not a product that Logie Timber supply so off to James Jones Timber Centre in Mosstodloch to pick up the timber we needed. Some fettling of the timber and bearing and, soon afterwards, the sawmill forklift was commandeered for the lift back into place. Things are back to as they should be and that nasty squeak seems to have gone!
Further a”field” on the estate we have been making improvements in one of the fields to allow the Longhorns to drink from a trough rather than the burn. Cattle drinking from burns causes erosion and burns silt up over time.
We are fortunate to have been able to pick up a water supply below the field that in the 1930 was used for the Prisoner of War Camp here. It is surprisingly good condition and produces a good amount of clean water.
The only problem is that it is below the field so getting water to a trough needed a bit of thought. A solar panel, leisure battery and small pump, all kit that is used on caravans, was put together to pump water up to a holding tank on a stand that sits higher than the trough at the edge of the field. This gives a bit of a buffer for when the cattle all come over to drink together and drain the trough!
So far so good (once we realised that the solar panel had its +ve and -ve leads on the wrong way round!)
Another one of those jobs that happens in the background to keep things going.
On the list for this week: New flags at Logie Steading, including the newly created Moray Flag; Refit the Electric car charger which has been away for an upgrade; and all the other things will crop up that we are not aware of yet!
by Alec Laing
