March 31, 2017. Quiet day in the Kingdom of Fife

LOCATION:  Housesitting outside of Cupar, Fife, Scotland

WEATHER:  Strange.  Periods of sun, then terrific wind, then rain, repeat.  Highs in 40s

 

At this housesit, we are taking care of two sociable cats.  We learned that all cats in Scotland have a microchip embedded in them.  Here, the homeowners have a cat door so the cats can come and go.  The cat door is coded so that only they, with their microchips, can enter. This keeps out stray cats, etc.  Brilliant!

As with every housesitting assignment, we split up our duties.  I'm always in charge of the cats.  I feed them, give them fresh water, clean their litter boxes, etc.  But, just like in every assignment, they seem to gravitate toward George.  Here is one of them cuddling with him as he reads.

Here is the cat again perched on the refrigerator, claiming her role as "queen of the house".

We are also taking care of 3 chickens.  The homeowners bought the chicks and pen just a few months ago.  The pen is on wheels.  We move it every 3-4 days as the chickens peck and scratch up the grass a lot.  It is a very good system.  Every morning, they faithfully each lay an egg.

They climb up into their pen to lay the eggs.  

In the afternoon, we went into the town of Cupar, two miles away.  We went to the local butcher shop to buy some chops to cook on the grill.  I just love butcher shops in other countries.

In addition to all sorts of meats (some of them unidentifiable), they have beautiful pies.  This butcher shop won the Scotch Pie award in 2017.

After our purchase, we stopped at the local pub for a pint.  We sat next to a guy at the bar  that wanted to talk a lot.  Almost everyone we talk with immediately recognizes our USA accent and then talk about what states they have visited.  Or, they want to talk about Trump.  We try to steer clear of that.    

Cupar, like other villages, has won awards for its flowers.  Here the local Rotary Club sponsors an arrangement.

Back home, we took our neighbor John a few extra eggs.  We can't keep up with 3 new ones a day. He then came over for a wee dram and brought us a rainbow trout he had caught earlier in the day.  Wow!    

DINNER:  We will save the chops for another night, and instead grilled the trout.  It was wonderful.  I baked it in aluminum foil with a slice of smoky bacon in it.  Yum!