A cat, a cart and an horreo

This afternoon was spent sawing wood. I never look forward to it, but as Matt always says, 'if we don't do it now, we'll be cold in the winter'. Put like that, I can't really say no. Once I'm sawing, however, I get into the swing of things and always stay longer than planned. It's enjoyable to be out in the fresh air, getting a bit of exercise and looking at a splendid view, all at the same time.

This is where we store and saw all our firewood:

It's an horreo, a traditional Asturian, rodent-proof grain storage. You can see them all over the region. They're now protected as several years ago Asturians were in the habit of 'accidentally' knocking them over with their tractor so as to let more light into their house. Matt says he remembers similar structures in Kent when he was a young, and rather mischievous, lad.

I always have company when I'm sawing. I may head up there alone, but sooner or later Elbi, Mahou or Beeps, or all three of them, will come and join me. Today I was honoured with Beeps's presence.

Eyeing up a mushroom

On the horreo steps

On the old cart we use as a sawing horse

And even when you think she's not watching, she often still is:

Keeping an eye on me from the next-door chapel roof

I was rather surprised she was hanging around as we'd just given her her monthly flea-worm treatment which is comprised of a simple, but very pricey, pipette squirted onto the back of her neck. The other two get cheaper tablets and pipettes, but giving tablets to our smallest cat is impossible, anyone would think she were fighting for her life when we tried. We've given up with tablets as we were heartily fed up with being scratched and even bitten. As it is, one of us still has to sneak up on her, gently, but firmly grab her, wrap her in a blanket and hold her neck straight while the other one does the squirting. All as quickly as possible, as she still puts up a fight - claws out and teeth bared. She wasn't a pleased puss after we let her go but from the looks of it all was forgiven fairly quickly.

And finally, here is our lovely, growing woodpile which will keep us warm and snug this winter.

We finally see the light, but the cats get a little confused

I forgot to mention in my previous post the building work that had been done on our house this last week. It was nothing major, but it has made all the difference. We had a new front door fitted. One with glass in it, lots of glass. The old front door was a wooden affair. It was so old and badly fitted that it let in lots of drafts. For more than a year we had cardboard and old carpet stapled to it in an effort to keep out cold winds. But no more, the horrid old door has gone and we have this to replace it:

Not only does it mean the house will be warmer in the colder months, but that we get a significantly increased amount of light into the house which I'm still getting used to. The first thing I did when the door was fitted was to get myself one of these:

I love having plants in the house and was quite upset at having to give all mine away when I left Wales, including a rather splendid dracaena. We hadn't had the light or space for plants up until now.

I used to have one of the above in Cardiff, and I loved it dearly, but it grew too tall for the rental house I was in so I gave into the caring hands of my mum, who promptly threw it away when she moved house - no mum, I've not forgotten! So I seized the opportunity to get myself another one. It can grow as tall as it likes where it is on the stairs and I'm hoping it does. I always find a house with plants in it to be much more welcoming.

The only members of the household who aren't too pleased with the new arrangement are the cats. They used to have their cat flap in the old door, so Matt has had to adapt a ventilation hole in the kitchen to give them their own tunnel leading through the stonework to the flap which gives onto the terrace. The tunnel had been prepared two weeks previously to cause the least amount of confusion as possible. Matt checked on the size of the hole by picking up Elbi - who's always happy to oblige, and also the fattest of the three - and shoving her ever so gently, but firmly, through the hole. After discovering that the fat cat would fit through we left the tunnel open for investigation before closing it off until we put the door in.

Cats are conservative creatures and our decision to change the door, and so the position of the flap, has not been welcomed as enthusiastically as we had hoped. Never mind that they will be much snugger in winter, our three felines are not happy at having had their own front door moved, despite our careful planning. They will now often sit by the new door and look in or out and sniff to see what's happened. Only then, when they've checked that the flap hasn't reappeared in its proper place will they resort to using the new entrance. We have only just been forgiven by Mahou, always the grumpiest of the three, who has spent most of the last two days outside, away from the house, in protest. This morning, however, she jumped on the bed with a chirrup before snuggling against my leg and purring gently, which I'm very grateful for.