End of Term 3

Here we are at the end of term 3.
It has been a long wet one but the weather has started to come right just in the last week. Back in the last holidays, 10 weeks ago, I said to the boys that we would be leaving the car at home a few times a week and cycling to school. That has not been an option on more than a few days, so we have not got into the habit. Next Term will be different .... maybe.
Pictures are of our piggies first. They are friendly but nervous. The girl is the more friendly of the pair and she quite likes having her back scratched. The boy is still wary and squeals blue murder if you touch him. We gave them fresh grass 2 weeks ago just after the last entry and it has been thoroughly dug over now. I give them 2 sacks of weeds a day so that they get their greens. To my amazement they seem to love carrotweed which is an umbelliferous weed. They scoff it enthusiastically slapping their lips and making more noise than I do eating which is saying something.
The other pic is of the spoonbills at Awanui Wharf, where we went for a fish and a gawp last weekend. It was very still and calm and our fishing was accompanied by a family playing guitar while they fished. We didn't catch much in the way of fish, but we had a nice time.

I went to Auckland on Monday and Tuesday with 2 other teachers and 30 Year 10 boys. They were visiting the main tertiary providers, to get a taste of the possibilities of post-school life. We had talks from Auckland University of Technology, The University of Auckland and Unitec which offers practical based courses. Lots of good messages for the boys on the importance of carrying on at school. One speaker at Unitec quoted Malcolm X who apparently said that "Education is the passport to the future". It was hard to work out how much of the message was going in as most of the participants on the trip are going through that stage in life when a grunt or monosyllable is the maximum response that it is deemed necessary to give to any adult question. We got them all back to Kaitaia safely and breathed a collective sigh of relief.

Family news: Eric was off sick for most of last week, there has been a nasty bug going round. Chantelle has been on a mosaic course today, so guess what you will be getting for Xmas pressies? Stuart wants to build - nothing new there. He took part in his school speech competition last week, talking on the subject of the damaging effects of Playstations. Paddy has been doing a space project and was pleased to get 19/20 which was a big improvement on his Skunk project!

Farm news: The ground has gone from mud to grey dusty clay. I have been planting spuds into the beds where the chicken coop was last winter. The ground is a lovely chocolate colour and looks pretty fertile. We had our first broad beans last week. Priority jobs this holiday are sowing more veggies and finishing the sheep race. That has actually been a priority for most of this year, but I can see it happening this time, fingers crossed.

Til next time.

Signs of spring

Howdy reader(s)! It is with great pleasure that I can declare that spring has sprung upon us. It arrived on September the first technically, but there is a change in the air to back up the dates as well. It stays light until about 6.30pm. That makes it almost light eough to go out and play after tea. It has been a bit warmer as well and I swear that the grass looks a bit happier. It still showers heavily most days, but we cannot have everything.

So the farm pootles along. The pigs are growing and show their displeasure at having turned their entire area into a mud-bath by escaping under the wire every day. They are high on the list for getting fresh pasture tomorrow.

The picture shows the results of a fast and furious fish last weekend. With a low due in on saturday night and a low tide at dusk, Eric and I went for a late afternoon fish at our favourite spot. We had action from start to finish and put smaller fish back to grow bigger. We pulled 6 fish home and smoked some fillets with manuka honey on Sunday. Also did some as sushi and smoked some whole fish with brown sugar and salt. Eric is displaying the fillets. They tasted very good for our tea.

Donna the rabbit escaped while we were all at school and we found her later on in a deceased condition. Stuart was bereft as she was his first pet.

The lambs are all doing well. We had some fun last w/e trying to catch 82, the ram lamb. If humans could run that well at a week old, primary sports day would be like the Olympics! After finally running him down on stewart Island, a ring was applied to his tail to keep it short.

Not much home news really. We are hanging out for the end of term in 2 weeks time.
Helen Clark (the PM) announced that the election would be on November 8th. Could be a close race this time. The opposition is provided by National who are keeping their cards close to their chests, because people are not going to be happy to hear that public services are going to take a hammering. We shall see.

Til next time.