Douglas creates a blog

More Photos of Kathy and Pat's visit

2007-11-06T11:36:00.000-08:00

Hi, sorry it has taken me so long to do the next post. Here are more images of Kathy and Pat's visit to sunny Scotland.

Hope everyone out there in "blog land" is well"

Take care,

Douglas

Drinks in EdinburghJillian enjoys Irn Bru. Pat tries Coke and comments "Well, it's not Mountain Dew but it will have to do"!

At Mairi Ross's house

Pat and Kathy chilling out and Stuart the Packer fan. Incidentally for all you NFL fans out there as I type this the Green Bay Packers are 7 and 1. How good is that. Go Pack Go!!

If it's Wednesday it must be Edinburgh!

2007-10-19T04:24:00.000-07:00

Drumnadrochit and heading home

2007-10-19T03:28:00.000-07:00

Hello again, here are some more photos of the trip north.

The last blog finished with dinner at the Clansman Hotel, Drumnadrochit, Loch Ness. Now, are you ready, let's continue the journey:

Dessert at the hotel!

The next day before we left we had a "wee" walk to a waterfall. Note Pat doing an impression of a one legged Haggis!!

A last photo at Glen Rowan then we were back on the road again.

We travelled through Inverness and into the Cairngorm National Park

Carrbridge near Aviemore

At the ski centre car park.........note the bus is back!!!

Can you find Kathy in this photo on the shores of Loch Morlich

Brief Tour of The Highlands etc.

2007-10-16T14:56:00.000-07:00

Greetings, well I am not going to write too much today but here are some photos taken on Sunday and also on our brief Monday and Tuesday tour of the Highlands. I can thoroughly recommend an excellent B & B in Drumnadrochit (Loch Ness) http://www.glenrowan.co.uk/ Hope you enjoy the photos.

Douglas

Sunday: after church, lunch was at Bearsden Golf Club then a wee drive.

Above left to right: overlooking Clyde submarine base at Faslane and Kathy and Pat at Dumbarton Castle.

The Sunday tour group.

Monday: we headed north to Loch Lomond then up to Glencoe where as you can see the weather was interesting. We reached Aonach Mor, north of Fort William where the plan had been to go up the gondola, but it was off due to high winds.

Above: fantastic weather on the way through Glencoe. Hey if it didn't rain there would be no waterfalls.

Above lunch at Aonach Mor, I think Kathy enjoyed it!

A brief stop to admire the Commando Monument at Spean Bridge

Pat and Douglas amazed that this boat fitted the locks at Fort Augustus

Chilling out at the Glen Rowan Guesthouse , Drumnadrochit

Dinner at the Clansman Hotel, Loch Ness

More pictures to follow soon....please try to contain your excitement

Trans Atlantic Travels : Day Two

2007-10-13T15:01:00.000-07:00

Hi, well, Kathy and Pat have survived a full day staying with us......well done. Today was a relaxing day visiting Mrs A senior then going for a walk at Mugdock Country Park. Please see the photos below for photographic evidence of the day's activities.

Thanks for dropping by my blog please look back soon for more posts.

Take care,

Douglas

At Mugdock Country Park near Milngavie

Note the sign: "Gallows Adventure Trail"

They do sell cheeseburgers in Scotland!!!

Visiting Mrs A senior

Holiday Time

2007-10-12T14:25:00.000-07:00

Hi, well the extension is almost finished and Stuart has moved into his new room(s). There are still a few things left to do externally, fit railings, fix some roofing problems etc. However for the next week or so I am not posting any extension photos instead you can come with me on a journey. What is the boy talking about, I hear you say. Well are you sitting comfortably....then I'll begin....

Once upon a time in a land far away (USA) some people decided to come to Scotland and camp in the pouring rain and wind with some local people..........(are you still awake?) Ok, let me be brief I'm an officer in the Boy's Brigade and in 2004 a group from Brigade in Neenah Wisc. came and camped with us and thus were formed strong and lasting friendship , so much so that our BB Company visited Neenah in 2005 and there have been various trips by individuals since then. The most recent is taking place at this very moment....Kathy and Pat Clusman are visiting us here in bonny Scotland and I intend to post a few photos of our travels around the country.

Here are a few taken tonight at BB.

I had hoped to post more images but the system seems to be down, but fear not I will try again tomorrow. Feel free to leave a comment if you wish.

Douglas

Aberdeen & Dundee

2007-09-08T14:53:00.000-07:00

Hello, Stuart and I are just back from a trip to Aberdeen to see a friend join the ministry team in an exciting church there.

I decided to put my camera in the car and you will be glad to know THE BUS IS BACK!!! Check out the views of Aberdeen (below) and see if you can spot it.

We stopped in Dundee on the way up and visited the RRS Discovery. The pictures above were taken at Discovery point in Dundee, (http://www.rrsdiscovery.com/) well worth a visit if you are ever in the area.

Not much to report on the extension but the builder has promised a lot of progress this week!!

Saturday was Doors Open Day in Aberdeen, this (above)was the queue at The Roundhouse , which was the old Pilot building for the harbour.

The pictures below were taken from a road that overlooks the harbour in Aberdeen....I know, that's kind of stating the obvious. I was playing with some of the settings on my camera and changing the depth of field etc. .

Well that's it for now I hope to be able to blog again soon with pictures of the extension all finished.....don't hold your breath!!!

Douglas

Some photographs of The Island of Arran

2007-08-15T14:57:00.000-07:00

If you have never been to the island of Arran in the Clyde, then you must try to visit one day. It is advertised as "Scotland in minature" and has got something for everyone. I hope you enjoy looking at the images.
Douglas

Sailing into Brodick Bay

The Arran Hills ............................ Holy Island

Brodick Castle ...............................MV Saturn

Peace and quiet .........Spectacular scenery

The suns sets over Arran

Douglas

Hi I'm back!!

2007-08-15T14:29:00.000-07:00

Greetings, well as the title says I'm back, actually I have not really been away it's just that nothing much happened in July!! The work is now moving on with radiators fitted and doors hung as well as a floor laid in Stuart's room. Yesterday saw a lot of the rubbish piled up at the front put into a skip and the front levelled a bit. Sadly there has not been any progress in the wet shower room. Thanks as always for dropping by. I will post more images when things move on a bit.

Hope you are all well.

Douglas

The front garden looking a bit better.

The side view, drainage work has still to be completed.

Looking from existing kitchen, note new walls painted!

Stuart's room note floor laid and walls painted.

Stuart's room looking to the door

More Photographs

2007-07-01T09:30:00.000-07:00

Well, you wait for new updates for weeks, then two come along on the one day! Here are a few photographs taken today between the rain showers.

Looking towards the new back door, note the wall and old back door are away.

Stuart's room looking to the door(left) and to the shower room(right).

The walls are beginning to look better, more than can be said for the back garden!!

Now if you thought the back garden was bad, here's the front garden. You have to admit is has a certain charm doesn't it?

That's all for now. I will post again soon. I hope everyone out there is well and enjoying the summer, unless you are in the southern hemisphere, because I guess it will be your winter. Thank you for having a look at my blog. Look out for the yellow school buses in the next post!!

Douglas

Extension update

2007-07-01T09:04:00.000-07:00

Hello again, I am back with photographs of the recent work done on the extension. Things have progressed well and there is even talk of a completion date in the next two weeks! All these images were taken on 17th June There are no yellow buses to spot this time....but don't worry they will be back soon.

The back garden may need some work when the builders are finished!!

Looking from the kitchen to the new back door.

The front garden is going to need some work too!!

Fantastic Progress

2007-06-16T15:17:00.000-07:00

Hi, this is a very quick update to let you know that there has been a tremendous amount of progress with the extension this week.

Plumbers have fitted the new boiler......but.......bad news........although not unexpected......we have to renew all the existing upstairs central heating pipes. Internal walls built and plastered. More electrical work done, floors all down, doors chosen from catalogue....etc., etc., . I will try and get some photographs taken tomorrow.

I know all of you out there in blog land can hardly sleep with the excitement and anticipation of seeing the next photos!

I just thought what will you look at when the extension is complete? Should I start a new blog? What subject will I choose....yellow school buses or Haggis Hunting secrets? Any other ideas?

Look out for the photos soon.

Hope you are all well........and do you really have nothing better to do than read this?

Douglas

Extension 3rd June

2007-06-03T13:01:00.000-07:00

Well, here are the very latest images of the extension. Things seemed to move fairly slowly in May, but recently quite a lot has been done including: drainage, some of the roof tiles, block work, new boiler delivered etc., etc.,. There is a meeting on Tuesday and I hope to be able to announce an estimated completion date after that.

I apologise again for the lack of posts and aim to up date every week from now on. Thanks for visiting and if you have nothing more exciting to do please leave a comment here or send me an email.

Oh by the way, look out for the yellow bus in the inside photographs.

New Photographs as Promised

2007-06-03T12:44:00.000-07:00

Hi here are three photos of the extension taken in early May. Note the clear blue skies!!

New Photographs very soon!

2007-06-02T14:09:00.000-07:00

Hi sorry (again) for the lack of updates. Things slowed down a bit on the extension, but I am delighted to say there is now a huge amount of progress to report. I will try to get some photographs tomorrow and show you the roof, all the block work etc.etc.. I know, you can hardly contain your excitement but don't worry I will post the photos as soon as I can.

Sorry for lack of Posts

2007-04-19T10:19:00.000-07:00

Just a very quick post to let you know that I will be putting up some new images of the extension fairly soon. I might even add some pictures of a day trip that we did to the island of Arran in early April. If you don't know it Arran is descibed as Scotland in minature: mountains, golf courses, castles, beaches, a distillery and if you are lucky you might even catch sight of a haggis!

Anyway sorry for the lack of posts please look back next week for some updates.

Walls and the start of a roof!!

2007-03-24T13:44:00.000-07:00

Hi, well here is the next update on the extension, the kit walls are all up and some of the roof trusses are in place. The builders have again worked really hard this week.

Stuart looking out of his bedroom window and Jillian looking out of Stu's en suite window.

Detail of a complicated section of the roof. Note : this was completed by the 19 year old builder, well done!

General view of the site. I climbed on top of a rather unsteady pile of blocks to get the picture from this angle.

The weather today was fantastic so Jennifer and I went out for a walk at a nearby Country Park (Mugdock). This view was taken by the old castle.

Once again thanks for dropping by my blog, I am amazed at the people who have visited, from as far away as Wisconsin and Texas, possibly even Alaska! Hope you are all well.

A wall appears!!

2007-03-19T15:16:00.000-07:00

As you can see some of the kit walls are starting to appear. The weather was better today, dry most of the time but very cold and windy. We met with the builder and disscussed some of the plumbing and electrical work. The yellow bus makes another appearance in one of the images!

I thought you might like to see some photos taken from roughly the same angles in January. It's interesting to see the changes....well I think it is anyway. Thanks for having a look. Feel free to leave a comment or send me an email. I will post more stuff soon.

More Ski Trip Photos

2007-03-13T14:47:00.000-07:00

My companions for the trip to France

Risoul, our hotel is on the right I can recommend it, but don't tell anyone we don't want the slopes to get too busy!

A glorious day on the slopes.

A view looking down to Risoul. Can you see the yellow school bus in the photo?

2007-03-12T16:24:00.000-07:00

1st February 2007: The extension to the house for our son Stuart finally begins after four years of planning and consultations with the local council. Old garage base has been removed.

1st March 2007: The foundation trenches have been dug but sadly, due to the rain and mud, look like something out of the Battle of The Somme from the First World War!!

12th March2007: The concrete was poured last week and much of the block work for the underbuilding was done at the week-end. Those of you who know me well should look out for the small yellow object on one of the blocks!

I hope I am not boring you but this work has been so long at the planning and funding stages we are all just so pleased to see progress. I will post more photos soon.

Douglas

Photographs!!

2007-03-11T14:00:00.000-07:00

Well here I am posting for the second time, but now with photos....is there no end to this mans talent I hear you say? These pictures were taken on my recent fantastic ski trip to France. If this works I will post more images soon.

My first ever post to a blog

2007-03-11T13:40:00.000-07:00

Greetings, well here I am writing my first ever blog. It's a bit strange because I don't really know if anyone will read it. My intention is to post lots of photographs and occasionally let you know what is happening in my life. I have just realised there is a spell-checker at the top of the page....how good is that!

Right that's enough for my first blog. I am going to post it now....where did I put my stamps? No even I know I don't need stamps!!

Thank you for reading this whoever you are.

Cheers,

Mr A