Hoe Hoe Hoe !

Well what a strange weekend we've had.

Satuday started off semi normal with Georgie Tap dancing. She then had her Holy communion lessons ( before her big day in June). Sam had gone to his singing club so I ran around the town trying to get things done.

Malc in the mean time had decided that he was going to take himself off to an auction which had advertised a variety of different household lots including wine (!), computers, furniture pictures and jewellery.

I don't think he really wanted to buy anything in particular but was more interested in having a look.He decided to phone me twice ( when I was in the midle of things) to give me a blow by blow account of what was there. The end result was as expected he came home empty handed.


We went to bed quite late having watched "Sean of the dead" - not my normal type of film but actually very funny.I was looking forward to a bit of a lay in but it was not to be - 0400 - Georgie comes into our room upset and having had a nightmare climbs into our bed.

She proceeded to lie diagonally across, taking up maximum room - at one point I felt something sticking in my back and discovered that she was clutching her pink wind up torch which was wedged in between my vertebrate. She was breathing heavily and it was very difficult to get back to sleep.

Malc was balanced on the edge of the bed in a " Georgie headlock" so decided to go and play " Goldilocks" and settle his 6ft 4 " frame into the now vacant Princess bed.

I lay awake listening to the birds singing outside and just as I was about to drop off the alarm sounded and Georgie was wide awake and ready for action.

I climbed into the shower ( still not having found the spider but knowing that it was in the room somewhere!) and after went down to sort out breakfast.

A little while later Sam and Georgie went out to feed Daphne and Poops ( our guinea pigs) who live in the shed. Sam reported that the duvet which covers up their hutch had a few holes in it and that there was , I quote " A splinter of wood missing from the front of the hutch ".

"Oh well" I thought, a bit odd but never mind.
Georgie then said " It's quite a big splinter"

So in order to appease them I went out to have a look.

When I entered the shed, my mind sprang back to the "Sean of the dead film ". The duvet was shredded on top of the hutch and there wasn't a "Splinter" missing - it was the front half of the cage - which had been eaten from the outside !!!

There were a few "what I had identified as massive rat poos" dotted around - either that or the next door neighbour had paid a visit in the night.

I couldn't believe what I was seeing. I had closed the pigs in the night before and everything was safe and sound.

Luckily the pigs themselves were ok - a bit miffed but I think I would be.

I called Malc to give me a hand as I thought that the best course of action would be to completely empty the shed , clean out all the debris and find the intruder.

The next thing I know is that he appeared at the shed door dressed in an all in one boiler suit, hat, boots, long gloves and boots. All he needed was a pair of goggles.He looked like the "Exterminator" and was armed with the garden Hoe as a weapon !!

Meanwhile I was in a t - shirt and leggings.

"Right lets clear out the shed" I said;.

We began the slow process of removing very gingerly all the items , - lawnmower, planks of wood, kids toys, hay bales etc etc - knowing that at any moment the rat would pounce.

We started laughing as Sam had brought out his video camera - ready to catch the moment we found it for "You've been framed " and had the thought of £250 in his scheming mind!!

With everything out and no sign of the rat we swept up the debris and relaxed.

Malc then moved a compost bin by the door of the shed and the next minute screamed like a banshee, threw the bin over and ran like the bionic man with his legs and arms flying around to the house.

We then thinking he had found the rat ran towards the house hot on his heels half screaming/ half laughing.

"Where is it?" I yelled - he pointed over to the bin - "It's a Frog " he screamed.

Now Malc has a real phobia of frogs or toads or anything like that.

"Thank God for that" feeling lucky that we weren't about to be savaged by the biggest rat in the country but merely sucked to death by some possible three toed poisonous green amphibian.

"It's probably just a leaf you great Mucho He Man Randy Savage" ( a name from the past !)

Bravely I went back over to the bin and lifted it up and sure enough there was a frog underneath wondering what all the fuss was about and just doing that belch bubble thing that frogs do.

Malc still kitted up in his commando gear was hiding in the kitchen and refused to come out.

So I continued to load the rest of the shed back on my own !!

Eventually after I had weighed down the bin with a heavy weight so that the frog could not escape did he reappear back in the garden to help - My hero !!

We've been thinking about what to do for our summer holiday this year for quite a long time. I'd brought home half of the travel agent brochures but nothing really seemed to appeal (having had such a fantastic holiday in Disney back in October).My good friend Liz had left a message on our phone telling us about a very nice place in Holland which she thought we may be interested in - so we looked it up and it looked great.

So also this morning we booked it - in August we are enroute to Holland in convoy with Liz and her family which we are really looking forward to - I only hope she knows what she's letting herself in for !!!!!!!!!!