Yet another testing Blackberry post

Yippeeeeeee I can post on the blog from my BB, how exciting is that!!! Weeeeeeee. Ok, calm down. I'm on a train to Perth (the Scottish one) and Stonehaven had lots of white fields, and just a little further south all along the banks of the choo choo twack it is all looking VERY WHITE. Keep those silly answers coming in for the pre-Xmas comp... You know you want to...

BEWARE...pre-Xmas Comp!!!

No, I'm not saying beware of the pre-Xmas competition, I'm saying, that there is a competition, now, pre-Xmas, and the aim is to guess what the sign is warning you of. Geddit? This sign is situated at Cubbie Towers, just as you come down the drive, and until a few days ago was under a weeny bit of snow, as you can see. So what do you think it's warning the unwary visitor of? Anyone who has been to the Towers and seen the sign is NOT allowed to enter and if I find out that you are entering and cheating I will chop your fingers off, slowly!

So, send your guesses in to comp AT aultan.com (yeah, change the AT to @!)

There will be a prize for the funniest answer and a prize if anyone gets the correct answer - prizes yet to be decided on! Closing date, whenever, so come on, chop chop, that's all the incentive you need!

Life at Cubbie Towers...

I know, I know, I've been awfully quiet these last few weeks. Well, if I said I'd been sitting around doing my nails would you believe me? Yeah, probably. Thought you'd like a few photos of what the daily chores have involved since the snow arrived...


Load the barrow up and dish the hay out to Horse and the sheep in four different fields...


Looby-Lou saying she didn't get enough hay!


Time for a pretty picture along the way...


The little lambies scramble to get a place at the hay rack...

Not sure who is keeping an eye on who...

Bloomin' ice everywhere. Look at my poor brand spanking new gutter, all iced up!!!

It's a little tricky getting water to the animals when there are liners made of solid ice inside the water barrels . This one is about 4" thick.

The road out of Cubbie Towers, two days ago, followed by the road home before the Big Thaw...

...when all the roads became flooded instead of snow-bound.

So there y'are, don't forget, get snapping with those cameras before the next lot of snow arrives...all I'm saying is there might be a category for a winter pic with no snow....that's all I'm saying, yer know what I mean?

Blackberry posting

I do apologise, I was just trying to see whether or not I could actually post in the post that I started on the BB, but turns out I still can't do that, which is most annoying. I'm not having an awfully good time with the BB, although I do like it, it seems to enjoy winding me up. I installed the software onto my home computer so that I could 'sync my devices' and all that happened was the pooter refused to boot up. It's working now though after I rebooted using the last know something or other settings, but how long it will last is anyones guess.

I was also looking at 'mobile blogging' through the Blogger site, to see if that might be the answer, but all it seems to be directing me to do is to register so that I can then send mobile posts to my 'new' blog. Well, I don't want a new blog thank you very much, I would just like my old one to accept posts from my Blackberry, is that too much to ask?

I'm probably going to go and spoil it all now by connection (using a wire) my BB to my pooter so that I can share some video footage I took the other night on my way home from work and get all the pics off that I keep snapping. Wish me luck....I might be right back with a vid for you, or I might not...

The Really REALLY good news, is that PHIL MATHER has agreed to be the HEAD JUDGE again for the Blog Winter Photo Competition. I've yet to think of a suitable topic, but I'm sure something will pop into my head soon, so make sure you pop back to check on the blog, and take your camera or moby phone with you on all outings from now on, so that you can capture that magic moment that might just fit into the comp category.

Right, BB is plugged in and away we go....

Wireless Technology.

Received this from a fellow Cub owner, too good not to share with you - wirelessly of course!

Thanks Jim!

GCMCC XMAS BASH

....IS ON!!!!


Just pray that the snow that's just hit the south of the country stays there and Bantam Cub gets his wish of lots and lots of snow!!

A catch-up.

Well, Hobart day was cancelled due to the snow, and that snow is still here. We've had about 18" of the white stuff hanging around for a week and a half now. It didn't stop me from getting to my VMCC Committee meeting in Burton-upon-Trent, but it nearly caught me out coming back. Heading north on the M9 wasn't too bad, but trying to get on the A9 at Dunblane wasn't happening, as the road was coned off due to the snow. A detour through Dunblane village was, erm, interesting and a little 'white', with cars abandoned at the roadside, and some vehicles completely buried. Straight through the village (or is it a town?) and back to the A9, it was easy going for several miles on a single track of the dual carriageway, with no other traffic in sight. Up ahead though, was a queue of red lights, for as far as the eye could see, all the way up the hill and into the distance. Great. The trouble was, even though I was in a 4x4, with two lanes of jammed traffic ahead, and a barrier down the middle of the road, I was going nowhere. Not all was lost though, after about 45mins of waiting and wondering, one of the cars ahead managed to get un-stuck, leaving me free to get to the Dunning junction. Eagle eyed, a snow plough was spotted clearing that particular route a little while before, and a quick check of the map showed that it would take me all the way to Perth. A stop in Dunning led to a chance encounter with a local dog walker (at 7pm on a snow bound winters night? Yep) who suggested heading to Bridge of Earn and getting onto the M90, which would make it easier to bypass Perth and reach the A90. All the roads were covered in slushy, mushy and icy white stuff, but, as they say, were passable with care. North of Aberdeen and the roads were quite bad in places, and just around a bend out of Oldmeldrum what did my wondering eyes see, but a girl racer in her girl racer Clio, on the verge on the wrong side of the road. She'd been run off the road by an idiot taking the bend on the wrong side, but luckily she managed to park in the snow, avoiding being hit and / or ending up in the field. Good job I had a tow rope handy, but unfortunately for her, she had no tow point on her car. But then a couple of nice strong chaps stopped to give a push and we soon had her back on the road. Since then it's been 4x4 travel only, with what passes for the main road still being covered in a layer of ice and snow.

This week has been taken up with clearing snow from all of the shed rooves, feeding hay to the sheep, shovelling snow from one place to another, collecting hay and rescuing more damsels in distress. Actually, what's the male version of a damsel? Cos that's what they were. Boy, it's good to have a 4x4!

So there isn't much else happening I'm afraid. Oh, getting the hang of this Blackberry lark and finding that it isn't a bad wee tool. Had a bit of bother with setting up one of my email accounts because, like most other things in my life, I don't follow the ordinary everyday patterns that most people do, but that's all sorted now. The camera on it is pretty good - see attached pics, all taken on the BB, and after downloading a few Blackberry 'apps' I now have the football and sport updates at my finger tips, and can communicate not only by voice and text, but also by Blackberry Instant Messenger (should I know anyone else with a BB with whom I wish to communicate!) and Windows Live Messenger. My brother tells me there is still much more I can use it for, but I just haven't had time to explore all of the menus and apps yet.

Shorty reports Meigle was a little (no pun) chilly the other night...

...he just had to beat me...

The temp at Cubbie Towers, early evening on 2nd Dec, I'm sure if I'd gone out to the truck and check the temp later on, it would have beaten Moscow and Meigle, but d'you know what, it was too cold to go outside!

...and talking of winter....yep, it's nearly time for the one and only, world famous, not to be forgotten GBC BLOG WINTER PHOTO COMPETITION!!! I just need to come up with a suitable theme. In the meantime, don't forget to take a few photos as you're out and about, just in case they fall into the category for the comp.

This cow doesn't need much feeding - did you hear about the Turra Coo on the news? Well I guess you probably didn't unless you live in Aberdeenshire. I'll tell you about it in a bit, right now, it's time for GBC to get some beauty sleep, wrap up warm!