Percival (by sarah)

As of today we have a new addition to the household - a new pet and a wiggly pet goes to the first person to guess what it is!

I will answer questions left in the comments section but only one a day so you might as well leave guesses!

🙂

Oh and its called Percival incase you hadnt guessed!

Sorry Mr Mouse (by sarah)

Alaric - 'The kittens have killed a mouse and left it in the stable so be careful when we go in there.'

Sarah - 'So where's this mouse?' Squidge pop, 'What on earth did I just step on..? ... Oh! Euwwww! UCK! Ming ming ming - sorry Mr Mouse.'

Alaric - 'I dont think it really cares Sarah'

Sarah - 'I... my god its flat! And look its intestins have popped out of its side... why am I even looking?'

Alaric - 'Stop looking at it you'll only feel worse.'

Sarah - 'I know, but I can't help it! Sometimes being a scientist is a curse.'

Alaric - 'sigh'

Monsters along the drive (by sarah)

Last week we were invaded by these monsters - apparently they are ponies - some peoples ideas of small need to be reassessed - yes the little brown one was small - large dog sized and is called Lucky - the other one however was taller than me!!!!!

Becuase its back and white Jean calls them cats!

Pros and Cons (by alaric)

The downside of this morning:

Jean woke up about at 2:30am, when I was just drifting off after unwinding with a good book after a late night working, and wailed. I went and picked her up, and she quietened instantly, then fell asleep on my chest as I sat with her. I slipped her back into her cot, substituted her teddy bear for myself in her arms, and went to bed.

About half an hour later, I was starting to drift off again, when she started to wail again.

Repeat this a few times.

Then after a while, she stopped falling asleep on my chest, and instead was playful. But then screamed if I left her alone. Brought her into my room to see if she'd fall asleep being hugged, but just ended up being poked in the face by a curious baby. So we set a DVD playing to keep her entertained in her room, and tried to get to sleep again.

But the DVD finished, so she started crying. I went back and made it play again. This time, she started crying before it was finished.

Tried getting her to sleep in the bed with us again, no cigar.

Eventually, she drops off at about 6am or so. I'd never quite made it to sleep, but I managed to at about 6:30am. Slept clean through the 7:30am and 8:00am alarms to wake up in time to take Jean into nursery and woke up at about 11:30am, feeling a bit grotty. At the time of writing (3pm), Jean is still sleeping happily in her cot (thankfully...).

That's the bad news.

The good news is that the electricity bill came today!

Now, last winter, when we'd just moved in, Sarah was cold, and Jean was cold, and all we had to heat things with were electrical heating and the single coal fire at one end of the (long, thin) building, so we used a LOAD of electricity. Out here in the sticks there's no gas pipeline, and we don't have gas or oil tanks; electricity heats our water, cooks our food, and (apart from the coal fire) heats the house.

The bill for that quarter was based on an estimate. An under estimate. When they got a reading last summer, we ended up with a wopping huge bill, that they said we could pay off in installments, along with our predicted next bill, based on the new estimate of our usage.

So for six months, we've been paying £300 a month in electricity bills; half paying off the winter before, half paying for this winter.

So it's a good thing that the bill has come, because it means this period is over. The bill was for fifty pounds; their estimate of our usage, minus what we paid in direct debits. And since we now have draught-reducing and convection-limiting thick curtains over all the windows, have figured out how to convert the coal fire into a blast furnace, and have portable gas heaters, when we send them our meter readings, we're hoping they'll have found they overestimated our usage and pay us back money...

Which will be welcome, as things are still rather tight!

Monday Morning and *It* Begins (by sarah)

I have insomnia all night - fine - first rays of light I go to do the luandary and what not and what do I find? - BLOOD, blood everywhere. Disturbed I come across kittens and a decapatated rabbit - only a little one as well in the stable.

The kittens? Are they kitten killers? Not sure they did not seem that interested in it when I removed it from infront of the washing machine - so perhapse it is a Tim kill? Then on top of that the machine was already going with Barabaras washing as she puts it on timer.

I think oh I'll have a nice cup of tea only to find the kettle does not work - quick investigation - Al left it unplugged from where he used the blender for dinner. relieved I plug it in and - oh - it still doesnt work 🙁

So I currently have a suacepan on downs stairs - thinking we may need a new kettle as it is still our only source of hot water - the shower producing either luke warm or scualding trickle - you choose.

All in all not a very promising start to the week in my opion.