Bak 2 skool

Well we have been back at school for a couple of weeks and for the first Friday night since then I am not so knackered that I just need to crash out as early as possible. A blog update is called for.
Putting up holiday photos has taken ages, so we have a few weeks of holiday and then the last few weeks of school to report back on.
We have some photos of various events that may or may not be posted up.
We had a good 3 weeks between coming back from holiday and starting back at school. We held a "Bak To Skool" party on the last Sunday for friends, colleagues and neighbours. A big part of this was killing 2 more sheep. We despatched tagless - an awkward ewe who we decided we did not want in our breeding flock. She was expertly(?) butchered by us this time and went from running animal to pieces in the freezer in the space of 3 hours. Now that we are eating her bit by bit, I realise that the art of butchery needs practise to master. Our technique of hacking up carcase into chunks was mostly successful, but overuse of the meat cleaver instead of careful knife use to cut up at joints results in chippings of bone in the meat that end up breaking our teeth. (Revenge of the tagless!)
A week later Ewe 14 went the same way, but she was hung overnight in the toolshed to set and then we chopped her into 2 at the waist on Sunday morning and spit roasted her. She took about 6 hours to cook but went down very well feeding about 35 adults and numerous kids.

School started as a rude shock to all our systems. I know I will get no sympathy from readers who work regular hours with 4 weeks holiday a year, but teaching is the most intense job I have ever done. Today I fronted up to 5 classes of kids of varying levels of interest, compliance and ability. I did a morning duty and took care of a house group of 20 pupils in the morning and afternoon. I stayed after school for 11/2 hours more to put things straight, but I will have to spend a few hours on Sunday back at school preparing for next week's lessons and marking homework collected today. The contrast between being in full flow as a teacher and being in full chilled out mode on holiday is massive. It takes several weeks to relax to the point where I do not think about teaching every 1/2 hour. So it takes a while to crank the old body up to required manic pitch. Nuff said!

Other news: We have 5 little chicks down the bottom, barred rock types. Another 2 hens are sat on 14 eggs between them. I am trying to rationalise the hens because we had an overproduction of eggs this year and were giving away far more than we were eating ourselves. Big project at the mo is to create a fenced paddock on the hill leading up to the race so that we can push the sheep into there and then get them into the race more easily. That is the theory anyway. We went down to Don and Ivy's tonight to help them catch a ewe that needed drenching and then bringing up to ours to get familiar with our ram. She went round the paddock evading our efforts to catch her then she decided to try and squueze through the wire fence. That made her easy to catch as her head was caught. I wish that ours were as easy to catch!

Human news: Chantelle is back at work having fun with her little people. She is getting into sewing stuff and has been knocking out some good stuff. Eric is getting used to his new school. Patrick and Stuey are still going out to Pamapuria on the bus.

Local news: The A&P show is on tonight and tomorrow. It is a big local event. Agriculture and Produce is what A&P stands for. Tonight is when the teenagers all go and get pissed and have big pitched battles. It was pretty bad last year so the police have declared it alcohol free this year. My kids at school were getting amped up for it this afternoon. School could not finish too soon. We will trot along tomorrow when the carnage has finished and look at the cows and sheep and the rides and tractors and stuff. If you are lucky there might be a report on here with pics.
LaterG as they say in these parts.

More pics

Still on holiday - but not for long!

And then we broke down

Here we are again! First pic shows us at the camp hut at Lake Ohau. Probably the most uneasy night's sleep of the holiday (even more uneasy than with the cars crashing into the tent at Blenheim and the earthquakes at Wellington!) . There was a strong wind blowing into the hut in gusts. Plus a constant barrage of suicide sandflies attacking any exposed skin. We lit a fire and all camped on the floor. I was happy to get up at first light and to climb up the hill by the hut into the meadows. Apart from the stunning views (pic 2) and alpine flowers, I found several riflemen in the beechwoods.

We headed further south towards Wanaka and climbed over the Lindis Pass. This was too much for poor Daisy (the van), who leaked coffe coloured liquid from her innards when we stopped at a little settlement to refuel. After a short period of engine inspection we decided that the liquid was the radiator fluid and that we needed AA assistance. 2 hours later we were still waiting. patrick amused himself by making plaster casts for his legs. Stuart amused himself and others by doing a magic show round the tables of the cafe. Daisy was hoisted onto the towaway truck and taken off to Wanaka. Stuart had his first experience of hitching as there was not enough room in the truck for all of us. The mechanic at Wanaka diagnosed a rusty radiator and faulty fan and suggested that we replace it all. We took our chances with his repair and headed west into the hills hit the Coast.

For the next thrilling instalment tune in again in a few days .....
In the old days people used to bore each other by inviting their friends round to look at their holiday snaps, which would arrive 2 weeks after the holiday had finished. It makes me feel old to remember doing that. Nowadays we can edit our pictures immediately after taking them, deleting the mistakes and blurry ones. we can take video and share it with the world the minute we get access to our computer. WOW! What will be doing in another 20 years time. Going on virtual holidays with each other. Instead of suffering all the inconvenience of actually going to South Island and the tedious journey involved getting there, we will go on a virtual holiday. Load the program, sit in a special chair, stick on a few touch pads and goggles. We will be transported to wherever we want, complete with sight, sound, smells, movement and tastes. The adventurous will be able to virtually bungee jump, or experience minor or major setbacks to their holiday so that they have something to share with their friends e.g. getting robbed at gunpoint or having food poisoning. You could go on holiday with anyone you wanted and have chats round the camp-fire with .... Jesus, Hitler, the Pope, David Beckham (yawn) , Richard Dawkins ... wow! I bags this idea in case anyone from Microsoft is reading this blog "Virtual Holidays Company" CR 2007 Mike Bryan