woohoo - it's feb 1st!!!

today was an awesome day! have a peak:



pretty eh? here's out back:




it was about 0C(32F) but the sun was shining so strongly and brightly - it was a super nice day and a great way to welcome the middle of winter! winter is half over and spring is right around the corner!

today was also "first-naked-playing-cards-on-the-plastic-wrapped-porch" day - woohoo! we went out on the porch at about noon, after many dips in the hottub all morning and after doing some odd jobs around the house. but at noon, the porch was about 20C (70F) and with the fresh air blowing in through cracks and holes in the plastic - it was like a balmy, sunny, summer, suntanning day out there. we promptly stripped off, got some cards and brought our robes out. the cats all enjoyed being out on the plastic-wrapped porch almost as much as we did!  we played a hand or 2 of cards and then ran out to the front step naked to let the sun work it's magic and get us some vitamin D, then we would run back into the porch, grab our robes and run to the hottub - it was tons of fun and we did that for about 3 hours. doing odd jobs in between.

2 of our cats are older and don't much care for snow. our newest little guy, Frankie Blue Eyes goes out in the rain, hail, sleet and snow - he's out all night and day running around no matter the weather! but on a day like today, our 2 older cats get the chance to get out and run around a bit.

here's Nudie-Noo charging across the deck. jambaloney keeps the deck cleared for him every day.



we call him "the country man" because he loves being out in the country - NOT! he comes out once a day, charges across the deck, acts like he's been hunting mountain lions, sneezes and then comes right back into the house. today he managed to stay out on the deck for about 10 minutes before the sneezing started but instead of running right back into the house he stayed on the porch suntanning with us for about an hour.

here's Mobie-Moe just loving the sun and being outside - he loves rolling around, back and forth when he is happy. he was really happy to be out today and also suntanned with us on the porch.



because Frankie Blue Eyes had been out running around all night and all morning, by about noon he was crashed on his little sheet in the living room.



yes, he sleeps on his back with half of him sideways and the other half sideways the other way!

here's some delicious deep fried haddock - i dipped it in egg, flour, egg again and then panko bread crumbs - man was it good!

we made french fries out of our homegrown irish cobblers - deelish! and some kimchi to round out the meal!

this morning i made a "cleaning-stuff-out-of-the fridge" salad.

it was quite an interesting flavour combination but we like trying to combine different flavours and textures in our food. this salad is romaine lettuce, corn, cucumber and pomegranate seeds. the dressing was EVOO with ginger and lime juice. it was fantastic! we ate some of it for breakfast and some of it for our mid-afternoon snack!

 supper was a chicken, potatoe, cauliflower and onion curry with blood oranges and kimchi.



we had a blast at chase the ace this past friday. our friends c &b invited us over for supper. they had also invited c's sister and husband, m&p. we had a delicious meal of spaghetti and c's homemade super buttery buns. all of us ate more than we planned on eating and were stuffed. then we all headed off to the community centre and much fun ensued. jambaloney and i drew the winning ticket and we won $58.50 - woohoo! that's 5 weeks of playing chase the ace already paid for! our kitty for our 2 community centres and volunteer fire department is almost $800!!! it was a real hoot when we won as jambaloney went up to pick his card out of the deck. we all near fainted when he pulled the ace of clubs - THAT was a close one!

after chase the ace a pile of us went back to c&b's and there was much joking, talking and laughter. have you guys ever heard of Tom, The Talking Cat? it's a cartoon cat that says back whatever you say to him. oh did we ever have a hoot with that.

ya. we're like a bunch of 12 year olds when we get together - it's a blast!!!

so we came home last night, watched half a movie and then went to bed. got up today and did "first-naked-playing-cards-on-the-plastic-wrapped-porch" day, did some odd jobs and had a pile of hottub dips. i can't think of a better way to greet february 1st!!!

one last thing - thanks to all of you who left comments on our previous post which showcased the beautiful sign that our friend MDR handcarved out of wood. we love that sign and it will have a special place at the Manor forever. we can't thank MDR enough for the time and care that went into the sign. but we appreciate all of your positive comments about our beautiful sign...that our friend made for us. so thank you!

our friend MDR and his family are off on a huge chili cook-off this weekend - we wish them all the best and hope that they win a bunch more trophies!!!