21 January 2014: A bit of firewood

We were preparing dinner last Wednesday when Nienke said she heard some kids playing outside. No visitors, so it must be trespassers then. Couldn't find kids or any other strangers for that matter. A few minutes later Nienke thought she heard animals in the garage. Again detective Hans went on a mission, but again I could not find and any culprits. Next day we discovered that Nienke had not lost her marbles. She had heard a sound all right, the sound of a big branch of one of our pines coming down.

So I grabbed my 'man-tools' and went out for a clean up session. Took me a full day to cut and chop the branch into convenient bits. I love the smell of the fresh cut pine. Couldn't get the 'Lumberjack'-song (Monty Phyton) out of my head.

Meanwhile my lovely wife supported me by bringing lunch, guarding the fire and giving advise (see her finger). We contributed to the global warming for 2 whole days.

Our woodshed is 'bursting at the seams', completely stuffed with wood. Fuel for the hot tub, fire pit and fire place. We're ready for the next ice age.

Meanwhile Nienke picked the fruit of her long hours working in the veggie garden and got some record size beans out.

I removed the last firewood and bags of pine cones out of the paddock which looked pristine again, except for the gaping wound of the tree.

The good old Ferguson is still running smoothly. When we were finally enjoying a beer around the fire we heard a loud crack and a second branch had started to split from the tree. So the next day I cut up that one as well, after all, you can't have a big splinter like that fall onto our calves heads.
On Saturday night we took of to Paekakeriki for a dinner with friends and their family in Paekakeriki. Afterwards we saw Tami Neilson in concert. She is pretty good, country style. I'm not a great fan of her father (a bit of a feeble-minded southerner) who almost took over the show. 't Was a great evening though which of course ended around the fire pit with a nice glass of pinot noir. Here is her song 'One thing':
We watched a shocking documentary this week about child abuse by priests and the way the Catholic church dealt with that. As you may remember I had my doubts about the Roman Catholic church after visiting Italy and seeing all the gold and glamour, but this is the final drop. The documentary is called 'Mea maxima culpa; Silence in the house of God'. Really worth to watch if you have the time: Remember, it's not the religion that's rotten, it's ground personnel! And now for something completely different. A bit of humour in the end and how could that not be the 'Lumberjack song':