Wood you believe it...

We got up early and slipped away from Mum and Dad's so that we could get back home, make sure everything was ok and feed the kids.  We were also having our neighbours Sharon and Sean around for dinner this evening so I needed to get my act together.

We worry about the cats but I ask you does Minnie Mou look bothered about the fact she was left home alone last night?  Not on your life - once she has wormed her way into our bedroom and snuggled down onto the duvet she doesn't give two hoots!  Still we much prefer it when they are both around the house or garden somewhere or another, because there seems to be a lot more shooting going on at the moment and that is a bit worrying.  She did make me laugh today because she got up and ventured out having a nosey in a bag of rubbish which was waiting to go into the bin and managed to attach herself to a Coke can!  I didn't manage to get a photograph because I was too busy trying to catch her and remove the offending can which was almost as big as she is and was impeding her movement!

Both John and I seemed to be suffering just a tad from our night out - god we are by no means pub fit I can tell you!  So what is the best remedy for a baggy head - bacon butties that's what and that's what we tucked into this morning before facing the rigours of the day.

We were just sitting down and chilling with the sunshine streaming in through the kitchen door when we had a text message from Sean to see if we would like to share a load of wood which he was getting from Dimitri down the hill.  Although we only had a load delivered yesterday we are keen to stock up so that we have enough to see us through this winter and into the next.

Dimitri and his son came up with the delivery of wood in their twin cab and made a valiant attempt to start Sean's car which has been sitting untouched for about a year.  

They tried but failed but as Sean pointed out a week's car hire was less than a new battery so until he wants to use the car for a prolonged period of time he is going to leave it as it is and with it parked outside their villa it does make it look like someone is home.  Anyway I applaud his optimism  that it just needs a new battery - it looked and sounded pretty terminal to me!

I am not very good at judging amounts, distances or weight so this load of wood looked quite small to me although each individual piece was a fair old size - it was a mixed load so there was a bit of all sorts.  Anyway the rate that John likes to stoke the burner to nuclear levels the more wood we have the better.  Sean and John decided to split some of it and store the remainder until it is required.  It was typical of Sharon that she would appear with a blingy gold wood splitter!  You can see by the size of the one that Sean is tackling that once split there was a lot of wood there.  Sharon shuttled about four wheelbarrow loads up to our house valiantly doing the first lot with a flat tyre on the wheelbarrow.  I piled it all into the woodstore and was amazed when John said that we had only had about two-thirds of our share and we would take the remainder at a later date.  At the moment we have no more room to store any so at least we shouldn't go cold for the foreseeable future!

Having dealt with the wood delivery I need to get cracking on the meal for tonight and my thoughts turned to Laura.  Not because she and Mark are moving out of married quarters into their new house this weekend but because I spent quite some time dutifully removing the 'poo sacks' from prawns!  Like Laura, Sharon does not eat meat and like Laura, Sharon does not like to find the intestinal tract of a prawn adding to the flavour of her meal!

Vix, you will recognise the hoodie that you brought out for me.  I have to have it surgically removed as it is warm and fluffy and when the sun has gone down or if we have had all the doors open in the house it does still get pretty chilly.

Anyway back to the dinner I was preparing, we were having mum's grapefruit with yoghurt and mint dressing starter followed by my lemon chilli garlic prawns and noodles and finishing with my apple and yoghurt cake with cinnamon swirl served with Lidl bourbon vanilla ice-cream.

As you can imagine John wanted to show off the wood burner and chose the biggest log you can imagine to 'keep us going' whilst we watched the England v Wales rugby (hence the shirts).  Poor Sean got the hot seat right next to the fire and was threatening to go home and change into his pants and vest!  Not on an empty stomach surely!  The rugby was pants so we decided to drown our sorrows (not Sharon as she doesn't drink), eat our meal and then recommence the men v ladies Droushia Cribbage championship.  The men had a very very very lucky win when a slightly socially confused Sean declared he needed a 24 hand and bloody well got it - whether he could count it or not is a different matter but having been about to pull stumps they then snatched victory from the jaws of defeat - spawny gits!