Merry Christmas.

My oldest son, Gordon, his fiancee Mel, Josh and Oliver (pictured), and my daughter Laurie came over for Christmas dinner today. We had for starters Chinese crispy duck with pancakes, spring onions and cucumber salad, and hoi sin sauce, then a hearty lentil soup with home baked bread. Entree was a barbecued fillet steak with pepper sauce, mashed potatoe with roasted sweet potatoe and caramelised red onion and a medley of spring/winter vegetables. Dessert was a Baileys Irish Cream cheesecake. Before they arrived Sandra, Meggy and I went for a walk along the farm road. It was cold and misty, the trees bare, not the nicest day for a walk but Meggy loved it. I dont mind this time of year because we are half way through the winter.
Santa Claus was good to me this year. Two bottles of Malt, a Cragganmore and a 18 year old Glenlivet. Lots of chocolate. Thermal socks, some shirts, a new jacket and chino's, but best of all, a Canadian canoe. Have'nt got it yet but the cash is there. I'll see what deals are on the go in January. Deliverance trips this spring/summer. I'll report back.........

Wood burning stove.

Its rather cold here in Scotland at the moment. Most mornings I am travelling to work on icy roads with temperatures of -5c. Whether I'm working or fishing its always nice to come home to a warm house. The stove has been on constantly for about 3 months now, and we have used three layers of logs from the woodstore. The cottage has a central heating system which runs on kerosene, but it's very expensive to run, so for the most part we only use the boiler for hot water. First pic is of the stove with Salem, our cat close by. She thinks she's a ferral cat I'm sure because she never comes in the house during summer. Between you and me she's a fair weather ferral cat. Salem was 13 last month and still very fit and healthy. She's well capable of taking small rabbits and birds, I think that her diet consists of the food we put down to her, animals and birds she hunts, and more than likely another couple of families who thing Salem, Blackie, Tiddles is actually their cat.

Second pic as a basket of dried beech logs. Hardwoods such as ash and beech are best for a wood burning stove as they give out lots of heat, but still burn for much longer than soft wood.