Breathe in...breathe out...

I was up bright and early with a frost still on the ground... which was my cunning plan not to bring back quite as much field on the dogs fronds. Failed miserably and got bonus fox poo with it. Thanks Riley.

Jake played a football match away while I stayed home and did miscellaneous housework. Followed by serious log basket hunting with Mum and Ella at our local antiques/junk centre. Just to give you an idea of what 'serious' means in E's terms; she later told M that we trawled through THREE! buildings and still didn't find a log basket!

We did, however, find a fabulous fake fur coat for E. Just a short one, in black, it looked really cool with her doc martins. Both M and I wished we could get away with outrageous vintage finds like that.

So, by 8ish we were all sitting comfortably when Jake asked if I could help with his model of the human breathing system. Still relaxed at this point I asked when he needed it by. Not thinking for a moment that it would be Monday morning. Oh yes, talented son of mine. Not so talented on the scheduling side of things.

A quick surf of the net for ideas (not helpful) and an even quicker dash to the local Co-op for two bottles of apple scented surface cleaner. 2 for £2 if you happen to need a 3D model of lungs at a quarter to nine on a Sunday evening by the way. We poured the surface cleaner into a jug and soaked off the labels while hashing together a couple of lumps of wood and a piece of dowel for the stand. Jake said he would join the straws together 'because I've got experience of these things', and he did an expert job too. I frayed string in three different colours for the bronchi. Doctors look away now. This model is far from accurate let alone a working model (which wasn't the brief thankfully).

All that is left to do is stick some labels on to the various parts. Let's hope he doesn't label them 'drinking straw trachea', 'Co-op apple scented surface cleaner lungs' and 'frayed string bronchi'. I wouldn't put it past him.

Not bad for a Sunday evening's work eh? (That glue will dry clear). Note to self, always buy cleaning products in pairs to avoid late night trips to the Co-op.