Sheep Dogs are Amazing!

 06-05-2022

We had promised Richard not to be earlier than nine o'clock for breakfast as Anthony has gone on a trip and also he doesn't have a cleaner on Sundays.  We walk in at about five after and he checks to make sure we haven't blown it!  Such a hoot!  I just have yogurt and mueslix and toast but everyone else has scrambled eggs and extras.  I'm still hunting for Ole's special gin and after we've loaded everything in the car, Ginger and I go looking for the local liquor store.  We do find it;  but it doesn't open until eleven and it's not that yet! 

Never mind, there will be more liquor stores!  We're off for the Highland Folk Museum and it's a couple of hours' drive. Before we set off, though, Marilyn shows Ginger and me the present that Richard gave us!  He says we're going to be in the middle of nowhere and we will need these!!

Now we're off.  Gwyneth has us covered and we're off to the Highland Folk Museum. Along the way we decide to get gas and take a promising exit.  It was but in the other direction.  We pull into a driveway to turn around the and he lady of the house comes out to see if she can help.  She directs us to a gas station and restaurant where we can get gas and find a restroom. She is perfectly quaffed and beautifully dressed, out in the middle of nowhere!

When you get gas one of the nozzles has a dispenser for a plastic bag to cover your hand when you pump your gas!  While I pump, Marilyn and Connie go to the restroom and Ginger buys the most delicious strawberries!  Even better than Plant City!

Onward and upward and presently we are at the Folk Museum.  Much like other of its kind it shows how life used to be in Scotland.  There are a couple of highlights and they are both people.  At the very first house there is a gentleman who gives us a capsule version of life for those who had nothing and lost even that!  And he traced the evolution of the new middle class after the feudal system.

There are several different layers in a thatched roof!

This loom is quite different from the one we saw at Stirling Castle!

The other was Doreen, the hysterical lady who was selling old classic candies!  She patiently told us all about each candy as we tried to figure out what to buy.  She told us that she used to be a size six!  (She's not any more) and kept us entertained for a long time! Such a droll sense of humor! She is actually pictured in the guide to the museum and Connie gets her to autograph her page!

Connie went back to take her picture and she didn't really want to pose but /connie talked her into it and gave her a pound!  I came later and when I walked in she asked what mischief I was up to!  I told her that I had heard that she was now so rich and famous that we had to pay for her photograph, and gave her a pound!  She laughed so hard she put her head on the counter!

There's a cafe and gift shop and we check out the shop before going upstairs to eat.  The kitchen is closed but we can get sandwiches and such.  I get a hummus sandwich and a pomegranate/orange flavored water and a berry muffin.

We're just on time to leave for the sheep dog demonstration.  Marilyn called yesterday from Richard's phone and got directions but they leave something to be desired! After some false starts and a stop at a cafe where a kind patron pointed the way we arrive at Leault Sheep Farm and Dog Demonstrations! We follow the road and don't see any place that looks like a parking place.  Marilyn calls and Neil Ross says we've gone to far and sends us back a big.  He'll meet us.  When we get back to the spot there is a tour buss full of tourists but it works out fine.

Neil and five of us border collies put on an amazing display of control and obedience!  Each dog has his own whistle for left and right and stop and lie down.  They also follow each direction that he walks!  Then he and the dogs capture a lamb and Neil demonstrated how to shear a sheep!  He even lets a couple of us amateurs give it a shot! It's not to hard because he guides the shears for us but you need pretty strong hands! 

Afterwards we get to cuddle six-week old puppies and baby baby lambs! 

We're ready to go home and set off for the Modern and Stylish Apartments outside of Croy.  We tell Gwyneth where we want to go (I've finally figured out the GPS) and sshe takes us to the little (very little) town in the email.  It's definitely not there!  Nothing Stylish or Modern.  But there's a couple in a parked car and we ask them for help.  They send us little further down the main road and we think we've got it.  There's a brand new (Modern) development of apartment buildings but nothing with a name on it! Finally we ask the girl at the Tornagrain convenience store and she isn't much help. Marilyn goes in to use their internet and check her email, while Ginger and Connie go grocery shopping and I watch the car.

Sign for the tourists!

Dinner is served!

Watching the BBC coverage of the Queen's Jubilee

Marilyn comes out with directions and the girls have dinner!  We drive to number 46 and now we need to find the outside door key. That's a treasure hunt and I win!  We get the door open but where is the apartment key? Meanwhile I've gone upstairs thinking perhaps the key we've got will work.  It doesn't, but I meet the kids across the hall and they help me find the keys hidden in a key locker inside a closet!  Great.  But we can't make the key work.  We've all given it a shot and once again we bug the kids next door.  Lily tries it first and is unsuccessful, Ben tries, too and eventually he gets it open by applying some body English!

WE move everything from the car into the lovely, spacious apartment but now we can't lock the door!  Marilyn writes the owners on WhatApp and that gets a response, although nothing else has. (I love WhatsApp).  While Ginger is cooking dinner and Connie is acting as sous chef, Ivan Tait comes over to look at the door.  He has a lot of trouble, too, although he can actually open and lock it.  None of us can and he promises to come back in the morning and fix it.

We're having chicken, broccoli, and salad with aa pinot grigio that we can get at home, and it's so great tto have a protein that's not meat and no carbohydrate and lots of vegetables!  We've all staked a claim to a bed and Connie is running our first laundry.  Some blogging for the night owls and then it will be bed time!