Christmas Eve joy

Happy Christmas from The Beard and Louise

This update is being written while I am being serenaded by a mix of Christmas songs and A is behind me preparing sausage rolls for me (the only thing I actually requested be made for Christmas) and so it is that I wish you all, my lovely readers, a very Happy Christmas :) thank you for reading my ramblings.

Right, let's get this over with :)

Us

It's been a pretty cool week for us; we've had work and play time and enjoyed ourselves very much. The puppies have also had a good one and even Rambo and the chickens have got involved.

A steers a course on Mario Kart

Breaking up frozen earth with a fork

Plastic tunnel hoping to warm the soil a bit

A wheelbarrow full of coal for the neighbours

The first picture is from while I was writing the last update; A was in the nook playing Mario Kart on her Wii and loving it; she's sat closer to the sensor which makes the controller respond better and it was great fun to watch her having such fun. We haven't only been stuck inside though - it's been largely glorious weather here and so we got outside and prepared some more of the garden. We also put some seedlings out which was necessitated by a lack of space inside to keep them growing however they all died - it was WAY too early for them and the frost at night is very hard. I also got into the coal store again and dug out a wheelbarrow full of coal to take next door as a little gift.

Louise rocking her moustache

This is NOT for you, puppies

Threading a cabbage

Hard at work scrubbing the windows

Having a lovely meal to celebrate the beginning of Christmas

This next picture just had to be taken - Louise got a bit of fluff caught and it looks like a moustache. Bless her - I think she knew we were laughing about it. We had a very welcome visitor during the week when Bekir arrived bearing a huge goat leg for us as requested. The puppies were so interested, and no surprise. It's huge. One job that had been on my list for a while was to drill a hole in a cabbage that A had bought to hang in the chicken house. I finally remembered to do this and then A used the drill bit to drag some cord through. It made a huge mess but if they eat it then it'll be worth it. I was put back to work after this and cleaned one of the windows in the kitchen - it was filthy. I was aiming on hanging the blinds but found that the surround was mainly insulation under the skim so had to go out to get fixings and it still isn't up. We took ourselves out for a meal again, as we enjoy at least once a week, and it was a lovely evening. A had to go shopping afterwards so she dropped me at the bottom of the hill and I walked up looking at the stars and enjoying the peace and quiet of where we live - I think I'll be doing that more often.

Two puppies tugging

Louise giving it a good rip

They love playing

Super shaking time

Thelma all tucked up and hidden

So as I said we have been having some fun with the puppies - they continue to bring huge amounts of joy to our lives. Thelma is the one who is addicted to toys and often she wants her ball or her ring, which she plays with on her own as Louise just isn't interested. Quite often, however, she'll demand the rope tug toy and that then brings Louise into it. Louise is the noisy one and growls as she shakes and tugs and then Thelma gets more into it and joins in. It's great fun. Of course the mornings are a massive contrast as Thelma refuses to move for at least an hour after she's come down to in front of the fire. One morning I didn't get it lit quite quickly enough so she dug herself into the rug on the sofa and hid there for ages. You almost couldn't see her.

Family Photograph 2016

Family Photograph 2014

Finally for this section we have managed to get the family photograph taken, reproducing as closely as possible the picture that S of SandS took two years ago. This will be sent to the printers and put onto a canvas to go on the wall. What a lovely shot, and how awesome the place looks now compared to before!

Workmen

Ahhh it's slightly later in our Christmas Eve here - much has gone on (of which more in a bit) but we've just finished watching Die Hard and dinner is not far off so I've got some time to crack on with this.

Our two workers

Pushing barrows through the snow

Sand going onto the floor

We had two days of workmen this week as Nejo came back with a friend and got on with digging out the floor in the men's room. He really is a very hard worker and it's a pleasure having him in the building - he turns up at 8am and leaves at about 5.30 and only takes about an hour break in total through the day. They were very cheerful and chattering away all the time and I do hope that when he returns in the New Year this worker comes back with him. He was keen to work yesterday and Monday and Tuesday but we didn't want our holiday disturbed however he did get all the floor dug out and the sand put down on the lot so when he does come back he'll be straight on to putting insulation, waterproof membrane, steel and concrete down. Exciting times!

Weather etc

As the more observant of you will have noticed the workmen were pushing their barrows through some snow. That, however, was the total of it and we are once again back to no snow on the ground - our promised 20cm of snow for a White Christmas has just not happened.

Snow falling at night

The next morning, fire in the sky and ice on the ground

Four chickens running through the snow

Blue skies return and they have stayed

It snowed over night on Tuesday night but as I say it didn't fall for long, though it was quite hard while it was coming down. The next morning was lovely over the valley with the white hills and a firey sunrise. The chickens normally avoid snow (indeed yesterday they didn't come out of their house at all all day!) but they were running towards the front lawn while I was washing up. The early clouds cleared through the day and have not been back since and as I say all the snow has disappeared now. It'll be back, probably in January and February.

A very cold morning (about -8 C if you must know)

Red snow clouds head our way

The sun drops below the cloud level

Beautiful the next morning though

An amazing salmon coloured display

Other than that I've just got the photographs above of some lovely sunrises and sunsets as per usual. It never ever ever gets old. I cannot get bored of watching these shows. What an awesome place we live!

Live music

And so I'll leave you with a few videos taken last night when we went to watch our friend's band playing at a cafe in town. There were two bands playing and they were both really good - it was a great night. I took four videos of my friend and one of the other band. Please do check them out, if you get time.

This was them jamming while the guitarist changed his strings - just a total off the cuff improvisation piece. Brilliant.

I don't know the name of this tune but it was great to watch.

This is their version of "Fever" - a classic!

Finally most of "Birdland". I'm gutted to have missed the first bit as it was superb. Next time, maybe?

Finally a brilliant version of "Rock Steady".

The first four are my friend and the last one is the other band...

So it's now time to go and enjoy the evening with A and be very very excited for tomorrow.

Happy Christmas everyone!