May 2020 – Glengorm Castle

Last night, my six week long project of repainting the windows at Glengorm, came to an end, speedily assisted by the midges.

Tom and I have had another project on the go at the same time and I am now looking forward to have some rest and relaxation for a while.

It has been a pretty epic undertaking, but I am happy to be reminded of my efforts every time I go out of the house.

A grand total of 96 windows have been shown love. 13 were new windows which only requires some mastic and mastic painting. The other 83 needed scraped, sanded, puttied, mastic’d, undercoated, glossed, and finally cleaned. The windows came in all sizes, from one pane to 12 panes and stretched up to 5 floors.

In this period, I have got through, 10 sheets of sandpaper, 4 old bath sheets, 2 tubs mastic, 3 tubs putty, 2 tubes silicone, 4 bottles of Mr Muscle window cleaner, 10 litres undercoat, 12 litres gloss, 4 litres white spirit and a good dollop of elbow grease. I have had the same 3 trusty brushes which I have nursed and chopped and changed, as the oil based paint does not like the cold.

My skill set has improved massively, and I have enjoyed this process. I find painting very therapeutic and I haver a bit of a m methodical approach, having the same routine for each one.

I have been wearing old painting clothes for pretty much all this time and have had paint stuck to my body somewhere all the time. My hands had been battered by the elements and all the various window treatments and my phone no longer recognises my thumbprint.

My fear of heights has subsided ever so slightly but I still feel a wee bit sick in the up and down!

Our very nice neighbour loaned us a cherry picker to get started. It was a bit of a beast and took a bit of time to get used to. It weighed 6.5 tonnes and was too heavy to take round to the sea side of the Castle. Mull hire came to the rescue with their cherry picker, much smaller, weighing in at 1.5 tonnes and is on tracks so we managed to drive it round. As a larger lady, this machine didn’t feel as sturdy and had to be manoeuvred carefully to avoid jerky movements. As the weather got colder, I found myself stuck a few times, the choke is on the main part of the machine and can’t be operated from the basket. I have to thanks Tom, Asha and Jodie for being on standby and coming to my rescue on the cold days. Although Tom didn’t actually help me with the windows, he was sterling in collecting and moving cherry pickers, refuelling, collecting paint and keeping me going. A few windows couldn’t be reached by the picker, and the old ladders had to come out.

I am aware that I am a pretty determined person, but my determination was severely tested as I reached the end of the project. There have been 3 windows that I could not physically get to, was I disappointed that the cherry picker didn’t go that high? No I don’t think I was . There are 3 windows in our flat that I have not done, 1 is falling apart and the other 2 are precariously above a glass roof but we will make a plan…

For now, we get to enjoy the sight of these windows all to ourselves. I do hope we will get open again soon for others to enjoy x

Asha with her pet lamb Iona and her son Brian!

Its been all go here at Glengorm.

We have now reached the end of lambing, and we are eagerly awaiting the arrival of the last 2 calves.

Lambing has been quick this year. It started early, the end of March and it was pretty much finished after the first turn, 3 weeks later. We refer to it as a turn as when we want the sheep to get pregnant, we put the tup out in the fields with them. He stays out for 3 weeks and then we send out a chaser who will hopefully finish the job and ensure all are pregnant. The success of the first tup out will dictate how quick lambing will be.

During lambing, we lost our share of lambs. We lost a lot with dead ewes which is pretty unusual. Two years ago, we had about 20 pet lambs, this year we didn’t have any. One of the reasons for this is that we are able to twin orphan lambs on to new mothers ,when the mother herself has lost her lamb. The lamb may be born dead, or die young and if this happens we keep the ewe in a pen with her dead lamb. When an orphan lamb comes in to the shed, the dead lamb is skinned and the skin put on the orphan lamb for 24 hours and the mother will happily take on the orphan lamb. Its always better to twin a lamb on than have a pet as pets don’t fare as well in the long run.

As a result of two years ago, we have a few sheep who are very friendly. One is Iona at the top who is half Zwartble and is black, but she has a lovely white lamb. She is very friendly and will eat from your hand. Peaches, another pet lamb, and half Zwartble, had two lambs, one white and black. She is a pet lamb but not as friendly as Iona. Toms favourite is a sheep he calls Pet, she will follow him around the field.

Calving has a much higher success rates, we have not had many casualties. Although calving is not quite over, the bull has gone out to the heifers. Heifers are 3 years old when they go to the bull, and they have a bit longer as they are new to the experience.

The lucky boy, Phillip of Richmond Hill and his ladies!

Meanwhile, back at the castle, window painting goes on. I am now on window no. 54, and I have 30 plus still to go. I have 2 that I am not going to manage to get to, which niggles me. I was however delighted to wake up to mist and rain this morning so I could have the day off….

I am now on the sea side of the Castle painting. This is different as it does not get the sun until late afternoon and painting in the shade can be pretty cool. We look forward to having guests back to enjoy the very smart looking Castle, but in the meantime we will enjoy the sunsets all to ourselves.

Month: May 2020

Windows are finished!

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