Tuesday and the sound of chainsaws

It was a rude awakening this morning for some of us. Jungle John was here bright and early using his little "chainsaw" to trim the tree out the front. He did a great job too - and while I would have sworn the noise would have been just about impossible to sleep through, S did manage it for a little while! M had already been up (she was expecting JJ) and I had a relatively early start - planning to get a jump on something - which was so important it now escapes me!

The sun was out today and, taking advantage of the weather, both M and S were In washing frenzies - and, just for a moment, it seemed like competition for the washing machine would be as fierce as it had been for the shower yesterday. We're going with "great minds think alike".

When Pearl and I wandered down the lane this afternoon, B stopped us to ask if we'd been to the bottom paddock to see the job he and Ja had done with the mowing down there. It had taken him a while to get to it - first the mower had broken down and taken five weeks to fix and then, of course, the rains had set in.

As soon as we were back at Latimers, Pearl and I did go down to check it out. And there was no doubt about it, they had turned it into lawn and yes, it does look like the best paddock in the Valley! Good job! B said they couldn't get right down near the river and the plan is to "throw three horses in" and have them work on it over the Winter.

The back paddock

And speaking of horses, they were all a bit unsettled for a while there this afternoon - except for Hermes and his agistment mate who were down in the shelter in the back paddock, oblivious to whatever it was that had the others galloping back and forth in their yards.

It really felt like Wednesday today or maybe even Thursday. The reason - well partly, M and I did CSP tonight because she and Mouse are off to a show at The Big House on our usual night. The table was kinder to us than it has been in quite a while and I definitely would have shared my winnings with S if I could have worked out how to split the dollar chip!

Dinner at Zen was as good as it always is and, no surprises, M and I had what we always have ... rice, noodles, vegetables, and Sichuan beef - accompanied of course by Chinese tea and iced water. Yumm. It will be interesting to see if we do branch out and try something else next time.

Because we were eating dinner while the game was on we didn't have to wait until the last five minutes of play to see Australia earn its way into the soccer World Cup. There were some excited people around but let me tell you they weren't at The Big House ... the fans they were so subdued, you could have been forgiven for thinking that Australia had failed to qualify.

Meanwhile, back at Latimers, S is progressing well with the scarf which will be her mother's birthday present. I'm not sure if Maggie Is being her usual helpful self but, from time to time, she has been sitting up on the couch next to S as she knits and, from this position, it is quite easy for her to hold the wool for S. There's nothing quite like a helping paw!