Noah's Ark

Feeling a bit like Noah on account of the incessant rain and the number of animals that we are accumulating.

The latest acuisition is Donna a Giant Flemish Rabbit that Stuart bought from Kaitaia Market last Saturday. He had been complaining on and off that he was the only child who did not have their own pet. Now he has a rabbit. She will grow into a massive thing. I have tjo keep reminding myself that she is not a meat animal, though crosses of Flemish Giants with other rabbit breeds are apparently good for meat. While she is being doted upon in the first glow of ownership, she spends the days outside in a large coop on the lawn. She is brought inside at night to be cuddled and to run around the front room looking for cables to chew and things to amuse her. She is quite cute. Zephyr the dog and Camo the cat were trying to work out why the rabbit was allowed inside when they were banished into the wet and cold.

You may have noticed in the previous pictures that there was a photo of 2 pigs. We have gone porcine. They are interesting compared to sheep. Very noisy when we go to feed them - squeal their heads off. I will try and remember to take a pic of their pen after a couple of weeks. It has been trashed. As one bloke round here said there is one month's difference between pigs being good for the ground and ruining it. The plan is that they will root up a whole area of grass, crap all over it and then we will be able to grow spuds and pumpkins on it before we get new stock next year. We bought them at 2 months old for $50 each. We will kill them early December and turn them into hams bacon and sausages in time for Christmas.

Other news: no more lambs though I think that Dippy is pretty close. Chickens are coming back into lay with 3 eggs most days off 9 females. The ground is sodden from all the rain so it is hard to get much work done on the place. That's my excuse anyway. Eric and I did make an extension for the pigs last weekend. I have been clearing long grass down our Eastern boundary, partly to increase grazing for the sheep, partly to make way for their race, and also to give to the pigs so that they churn it up and make even better soil.

Family (human) news: Chantelle has been hit by an illness this week. It is sweeping round the country, a sicky, throat coughing bug that has also hit Paddy and Eric for a day each. Paddy moves into his new class room on Monday and wanted that mentioning in here. Eric has started at the gym and is doing some punchbag work. I let him punch some cushions the other night and he nearly knocked me over. He will be a force to be reckoned with if he converts a bit of marge into muscle.

Stuart has been selected for a school chess team playing against Kaikohe Intermediate. He has had a few games with me of an evening and is accepting advice on how to improve his game. Paddy had a game last night and he shows promise as well.

We have the wood stove burning here to fend off the gales, it is Friday night and I have cold home brew in the fridge. Have a good week folks.