Boxed in???

You'll need:

• boxes
• someone to help carry them home from the supermarket
• Celotape
• scissors
• wrapping paper or colouring pens

Now what should we make????
You'll need to switch off the TV, Jake, or you'll never get started.

OK I'll switch it off...

That's better! And he's off....What can it be???

Walls to connect two boxes together?

A corner support. What is that zebra doing there?
Oh yes, that's a sock I got for Christmas.

Taking shape. One wall and two corner supports.

But before we tape them together, 
we're going to cover them in 
red wrapping paper.
Lots of it left over from Christmas -
that's because it was lost in the boot of the car.

Four bits to cover the corner supports.

Like this...

Tape them in place.

Done.

Both sides.

And the top goes on like this.

This will be the back.

Like this.
Jake won't fit, so who is it for???

Ahhhh!!! Want to try it, Watson?

Not really? Go on, in you go...

Hmmmm

How about we pimp it up a bit???

That's better!

Fairy lights too. But he still won't go in unless we put his food in it.
He'd rather sit on the sofa or a lap.

Both if possible :o)

More beach combing discoveries

Who says there's no sun in Denmark in the winter???

Well, maybe they're right but Dr Watson found a Sun Fish
on the beach that had washed up after a storm a couple of weeks ago.

In Danish they are called 'klumpfisk'.

WOW!!! We thought. They are rare in Danish waters. And smelly.
So we waited until it was time for Dr Watson's last walkies
and took a big black plastic sack with us.

It was a lovely moonlit night but I forgot the camera so you'll have to imagine
Jakob and Jake strolling along with the sack swinging between them on their
way back from the beach to our cottage
(a little like Winnie the Pooh and Piglet, perhaps, on an expedition). 

We hung the sack from a beam in the carport so the fox wouldn't get it.
Then next day, we put it in a box with lots of road salt and barricaded 
it under a table.
I then called the National Aquarium and another expert and
found out that

50!!! Ocean Sun Fish have washed up  

on Danish beaches over the past year. 
Probably because of global warming making the water warm up.
So they've let us keep our Sun Fish and we'll see if the salt stops it smelling.
If not 'the fox' might get it one night when they're not looking ;o) 

Our Happy New Year began with beachcombing after the storm

Look what washed up on our local beach!

They're not the best photos in the world because I took them
on my phone but it was blowing a gale so let's pretend the
graininess is sand blowing in the wind.

Boy these railway sleepers were heavy! But they didn't half look tempting so
we took a trolley down to get them and with Laura's dad helping... 

...we slogged all the way back up the beach and over the mountains of seaweed that had washed up overnight.

And no, Jake isn't about to hit Laura on the head with the shovel!
Though it does look a bit like it.

And in this photo Laura is carrying the huge pieces of timber
balanced only on her left shoulder! Amazing!

Finally back at the car. And yes, it did fit. Laura's dad has a photo of it actually
poking out of the boot of the car. He also has photos of me pushing and pulling. By this stage I was busy keeping Dr Watson from
making friends with the black dog in the background.

This is what it looked like in the gallery, where it is
drying out and adding an olde worldy touch of charm.

Well worth the effort.

The next day we found two more sleepers that had washed up
but we haven't had the energy to go and get them yet!

We hope your New Year got off to a good start!