Today is apparently St Paddy's day. It is the day that Chantelle and I renewed our wedding vows back in Lancaster _ years ago, so is our seconfd wedding Anniversary.
We celebrated by getting a baby-sitter and going fishing at Maitai Bay at the end of the Karikari Peninsular. Very beautiful location and a lovely peaceful evening. We had some bites and both hooked into small fish. It did not really matter.
School continues through gales and waves of illness. If you are interested in some of the writings of my pupils have a look at www.caniusethetoilet.blogspot.com . I take a small Language class and encourage the folk to read and write. This is their blog about the things that have been happening to them. I am looking to increase the hit counter especially with overseas hits so that the little map at the bottom has some hits from around the world. Tell your aunties and uncles in Khazakstan and Chile!
Not a huge amount of news at the moment, we are too busy getting used to being on the school treadmill again. It takes some getting used to as I might have already mentioned.
Farm news: we are watching Skippy the ram closely to see if he is doing his business with his 4 ewefriends. Our 3 have been joined by Don's from down the road. He has a Border Leicester and is anxious that she becomes pregnant. The owners of the flock from which we bought Skippy et al told us that the Pitt Island rams can mate with larger sheep, but they are a lot smaller and it would be good to see it happening.
Chickens are all well, not laying much as we head into Autumn. we have 9 chicks at the mo and are going to do some culling of adults before we go into winter to ensure that we keep only the best hens. Patrick tells me that he found a duck sat on eggs this afternoon, so we might yet get some ducklings before winter.
The veggy garden is starting to go over. It has been a much better year than last with good crops of beans, courgette, potato and pumpkins. I have had some good cherry tomatoes and lettuce in the top garden. There is one aubergine that is swelling up, but we will save the picking until Margaret and Ian arrive in a weeks time. I have developed a system for expanding the beds with minimal effort. It involves sheet mulching the kikyu grass - like couch grass on steroids- witha thick later of chicken manure and straw, then cardboard then topped grass on the top. I will plant gross feeders like pumpkins on top, then dig it over after a seaon, by which time the soil should be workable and suitable for a potato crop.
The big family news apart from the imminent arrival of the in-laws (and associated stepping up of cleaning duties!) is our trip to the uk planned for Christmas this year. we booked the tickets today, so our plans have taken a big step forward. We are having to cut back on our spending, but that has its compensations. The boys have cut their weekly pocket money from $5 to $1 and as they understand the reason, they are not too bothered about it. So look out UK we are coming back!
Saturday, March 17, 2007
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