Pirates

Paddy did this pic of a pirate using Tux paint.
We were supposed to be having a day out 1:1 father son bonding sort of day, but it has not gone too well. It was rainy and cold so we decided to go to the pictures at the Swamp Palace rather than drive for several hours down to see Tane Mahuta. We were late setting off because someone could not find any shoes to wear, then when we arrived the place was sold-out. Paddy has told me that he hates me at regular intervals and that he would like another dad! My main crime has been to say that he cannot have $60 from his savings to buy (another) Lego set. This after he has spent $50 of bithday money in a fortnight. We have come to a truce whereby he saves $30 of pocket money and then matches it with his savings.
Stuart come back tomorrow from his camp.
Eric and Chan have just phoned and are off to the Titanic museum with (great) Granddad Ronald this morning

Back at the ranch

Meanwhile back at the ranch, Mike and paddy soldier on keeping the home fires burning. We have just stacked a ute load of firewood to keep said fires burning. Its pretty cold at times and having a warm house helps to dry the mound of washing.
This is an abbreviated version of the post I wrote this morning that was several paragraphs long, full of witty comments about the soap opera that is our life - who needs to watch corrie?
Anyway I was about to add a picture and publish my offering to the world when the screen went blank and the music stopped and the fridge stopped. For those people looking for a downside to this idyllic life that we are leading - one of those is the power-cuts that we suffer here in Northland. NZ is struggling to generate enough electricity to meet peak demand and most generation happens south of Auckland. Up here we are the first to lose power. A few weeks there was a major cut that lasted for several hours. The kids were sent home from rural primary schools as the sewage and heating all need electric. Auckland came to a stand-still. It was all caused by a rusted piece of metal at a sub-station apparently. Gave us a wake-up call about the need to be able to cope on our own. Mind you we all moaned up here where it is quite mild even in the depths of winter. There were farmers down in South Island who were cut off for 2 weeks by a heavy snowstorm that brought down their lines.
Anyway the blog entry disappeared into he ether and this is the replacement.
The picture shows the new chicken run that houses Rocky and 6 wives, it is an artistic representation of reality. Chantelle has the camera in the uk, so I shall be illustrating my blog entries in alternative ways!

We are here!!

Despite getting very little sleep on the plane from Auckland via Melbourne to Dubai curtoursy of the little lad in front of us screaming for 12 of the 14 hour- we are both feeling rather chipper.
We were greeted at gatwick buy mum and dad / grandma and grandad, then on arrival to Ely ,we had a quick bath and then to nick and Karla's for a barbie. Very enjoyable , made even more funny by my jetlagged state of mund that made me feel rather spaced out and feeling that i had earlier taken some drugs of some sort- which i certainally did not.
During our stop in Dubai ,Eric and myself had a shower, and we paid 88 whatever it was, and i have no idea of the exchange rate ,but as Eric said , "I feel so much better now", so it was worth every bit of dubai currentcy.

The second leg , which was 7 and a half hours was so much better , i could even cross my legs on this plane, and i think just for being half the flight time of the first.

Anyway , E and I have just returned from Ely ,with trips to boots and Wilko's.

Off to Southapton tommorrow ,so shall post on our return.

Photo's of Our arrival and the airbus and 777 we travelled on.

Look out England, 2/5ths of them are coming back!!

Yes! As we speak/write/read Chantelle and Eric are winging their way across the planet back to the UK. We went down en masse to see them off at the airport and to have a mini-break in Auckland as well.
We stayed at Waiwera on Friday and Saturday night in a tiny cabin right on the shore. It was pretty much the cheapest place that Chantelle could find, but was quite adequate for our needs: a bed each, a light and a couple of electric sockets to plug a jug and a lappie into. Toilets a stones throw away and a kitchen to cook a meal in. Lovely view out into the Hibiscus coast and only half an hour into Auckland.
We all trotted off to MOTAT on Saturday. A quaint NZ style museum full of intersting pieces, but also som good hands-on interactive stuff for the boys. The pull was the robot activities which sounded pretty good, design your own and program bots. The reality was not as impressive, but well organised by friendly staff. The boys and C all enjoyed a tour of the tactile dome. I stayed out to look after the passports and air-tickets. It was some sort of adventure circuit all done in the dark and judging by the great grins on everyones' faces as they left, it must have been fun.
Eric was getting increasingly twitchy by this point even though it was T-5 hours, so we meandered our way to the airport. Said our goodbyes and tried to find the motorway back to Waiwera.
Paddy was oblivious to the fact that Mum and Eric were't there as he had picked up a fantastic Pirate Lego boat using the remains of his birthday money. He spent most of the next 24 hours building it, keeping us informed of his progress and only requesting help for the really tricky bits. It has now been demolished in a fit of pique after it got slightly damaged on the way back from Mike and Rissy's.
Stuart was in floods of tears 5 minutes after leaving the airport. He is apparently not going to smile for the next 3 weeks until they return.
We went to the flash Waiwera infinity Hot pools to take our mind off things/ have fun/ have a bath. At $30 for 1 adult and 2 kids after a discount, I don't think we'll be going there every week, but it was hot, there were lots of different pools and the boys enjoyed it.
Had a good trip back up north this morning stopping off at Koanga Gardens on the way. Just like so many places in the UK, but perhaps less aloof and more friendly. I could have spent a fortune on seeds, books, tools etc, but confined myself to a few packets of heirloom seeds including Ponsonby Red tomatoes and Black popcorn. Look out for the harvest pictures in 9 months time.
The house was still here when we got home ( a relief), with no obvious signs of cat diarrhoea (an even greater relief). Still no lambs and I am resigning myself to a lambless spring and a need to be better organised next year.
Stuart is away on his camp tomorrow and then it will just be Paddy and myself keeping the place ticking over.

Are these ewes pregnant?

We rounded up 4 of our 5 ewes yesterday and checked their undercarriages for signs of pregnancy. They had been together with a ram up until February 12th and one of them was brought to us apparently pregnant. Those people reading this please advise us if these look like the teats of pregnant ewes or are we hoping for the impossible?

Watch a video

We have been enjoying the website www.youtube.com where you can watch all manner of videos that people have made. There are lots of music videos of bands ranging from the Beatles to the latest hits. We have even made our own for your "enjoyment". Thursday is TV free day in our house so today we made our own tv.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M7dyfILwn2c

Sponge-bob Patrick and muddy fields

Well it was a close run contest but after 24 hours the votes have been counted, the pictures taken and here are the results. With one vote each, we have spong-bob Patrick surrounded by Lego and "pregnant" sheep surrounded by muddy fields.

In the bleak mid-winter

The shortest day has passed in a howling gale of cold southerlies, with chilly showers. The ground is sodden after weeks of regular heavy showers. BRRRR!! it's cold.
We are all in various stages of illness. The bug going round makes you shiver and ache and gives you a nasty head and ear-ache.
To lift the spirits, 3 of us went to a Christmas Party at the College last night, complete with tree. decorations and Santa.
Paddy was seven on Tuesday and had a small party last Saturday. He asked for a Subway for his birthday tea, and was very happy with Sponge-bob and Pirate lego presents.
Still no lambs! Are these ewes actually pregnant? Having said all that, the lambs are probably better off inside their mums than out in the wet and cold.
My head is banging every time the boys talk at the moment, so I am going to tactically retreat from the computer to my sanctuary, with a hot Lemsip. Pictures may follow, put in your votes now:
Do you want pictures of:
a) Patrick in his Sponge-bob cape
b) a muddy field
c) dying duckling sat in box by fire with suspected cancer, stroke etc.
d) other - specify
Vote now and the winning option will be posted.
(Competition outcome subject to suitability of picture requested!)

Three Lions

Thanks to Grandma and Granddad Cambridge for the parcel of patriotic goodies.

Weekend before Winter Solstice

Howsit Folks!
Another Friday and in another week we will be heading back towards Spring and warmth and light. It has been wet again with a hailstorm and thunder and lightning here tonight. At the same time the top temp in the country was 18C here in Kaitaia. There seems to be a greater extreme of temperature here.

It has been a quiet week, it feels like time to hibernate until the days get longer. We are all finding it a bit tricky to get out of bed in the mornings, even Eric who sets his alarm at 5.30 am!

Farm news: one of the hens has started laying again down the bottom. That is welcome news as even Mrs Chicken has gone off lay. We are hatching plans to confine the chucks into a number of pens as they are all congregating in the garden, roosting in the wood shed and crapping all over the wood. I am getting a bucket of chicken sh*t every week to put on the veggie garden, so I shouldn't complain. We managed to vaccinate all the ewes with 5 in 1 vaccine last Saturday. This should protect them and all their lambs (if they ever pop!) against a whole host of nasty diseases. Apparently without this vaccination, one can lose an entire crop of lambs to diseases with strange names like "pulpy kidney".

England have got through to the second round of the World Cup! An audience watched the first game here last Sunday morning at 1am. Eric watched it all along with mum. Stuart and Patrick were woken up but were snoring after 10 minutes. Dad could not be roused! Chantelle got up this morning at 4am to watch us beat T&T by 2 goals to nil. It is a bit weird to be supporting from so far away.

Pictures will follow tomorrow hopefully. That is when I have taken some suitable ones.

England v Paraguay

Been a funny w/e so far.
Watched Germany v Costa Rica at 4 am this morning, then went to look for Matariki (Pleidaes) in the pre-dawn sky.
The kids are all asleep now at 9pm (or are supposed to be) and will be awoken at 1am to watch England play Paraguay.
More later ...
I wrote a huge post a few hours ago and the computer froze so I lost it all.
It was better than this post ... honestly it was.

Fishing Story

We have good weather this week, despite the forecast telling us we would have showers, I don't think we have had any at all. Lots of clear crisp days with good views of the distant hills to taunt me as I go to work each day.
Last Saturday was shaping up to be a fine day after a lot of rain in the week. I did not go to town as I normally do but opted to stay at home and do the cleaning. I received an invitation to go fishing with Pat at Scot's Point that was too good to refuse. He has told me about this mythical place where you climb down a cliff and catch huge fish.

It is at the top end of 90 mile beach and was reached by driving down Te Paki stream onto the beach. We walked round the sand and cliffs most of the way because the tide was out when we arrived. It was still a tricky walk, carrying all the gear, including a big sack of ice. My legs were wobbly by the time we arrived. It was encouraging to see another group on the way who had caught a 4 foot kingfish.

Our spot was on a narrow shelf at the mouth of a smallish bay. Big waves going past as the tide came in. A steep cliff behind. We got the burley bomb out ( groundbait of minced up fish) and I was instructed to chuck in pichard heads. Soon we could see large fish swirling through the water to snatch the offerings. What a sense of anticipation! Pat has the best tackle and I picked up some good hints on how to thread a pichard on to maximum effect. Pat had caught a trevally before I had even cast in. As is the custom in these parts the first fish went back in to Tangaroa (the god of the sea). It was not difficult to get bites, the trick was getting the fish in. trevally are reckoned to be the best fighting fish pound for pound. They don't want to be caught and will head off into the weeds, or round the corner to try and throw out the hook. It was an effort to bring in each one. I caught 3 ood sized ones and Pat got 4. The odd kahawai that we got seemed like tiddlers in comparison and they were not that small.

We called it a day when we reckoned we could carry out no more and started the walk back going straight up the cliff this time. It was a feww 100m vertical climb carrying all the gear plus all the fish. Lots of stops for breathers. It was a relief to get onto the main path at the top of the cliffs and to get back to the car.

My eggs ached hard the next day, but it was a good ache. The sort of ache that reminds you of a good experience. We distributed our catch amongst friends and had a lovely fish soup for Sunday tea.

Pictures? Maybe!

I have tried about 5 times to upload these pictures. Here's hoping...

Pictures

It's Raining Again

Quiet times here in Kaitaia, with a week of work and rain. There was a brief lull in the generally dull winter weather last Saturday when we had a beautiful sunny morning. I like to get up later on a Saturday and meander down to have a look round the place without the weekday urgency to get animals fed before I speed off to work. Most days during the week, it is going dark by the time I get home so Eric has a cntract to do the afternoon round, in exchange for me doing his washing ups.

So last Saturday I was getting stuck into the gorse down by the pond, cutting back into it where the duck had her nest. I had the cunning idea of piling all the cuttings up into a fence that will direct the sheep towards their race. Eric and Stuart joined me and helped for a bit as their Saturday job.

Chantelle and I attended the NZ debut of a locally made film called "Swan Song". It has done well at some german festivals but I didn't reckon much to it I have to say. A bit awkward as the screening was put on by the director and the 2 main characters were present. Fortunately it was followed by "Woodenhead" a 90 minute film by Florian Habicht, the same guy who made "Kaikohe Demolition" , which has to be one of my favourite NZ films. I was a little dubious about Woodenhead as the trailers I had seen for it were not that enticing. It was a jewel of a piece, surreal without being unintelligible, witty in places, edgy, visually brilliant using Northland scenery.
Altogether a good night out and hopefully there will be other screenings at the Little Theatre.

Family news: Stuart is learning lines for his play, he is Evilus Ploticus in and adaptation of Julius Caesar. Patrick has been making fungus plates with his Horrible Science kit. Eric went to see Mike despatch Elvis their pig and was full of the details for days afterwards.

Local news: New Zealand soldiers have been sent to peace keep in East Timor; The street repairs continue on Commerce Street.

Farm news: Still no sign of any lambs, probably a good thing as the weather is so wet. We ate Mrs Rocky for Sunday lunch and very tasty she was too. The goat has bad feet again - but that is normal really.

Guest posting by Posy the kitten

Miaoow folks. Posy here. Just got to go and run and catch this bit of paper .....

....where was I, prrrr prrr it's ok here, lots of stuff happening, theres a big furry thing outside thats got big teeth, but he's pretty cool and lets me jump on him. He gave me a ride like mum used to the other day, bit scary but a good larf. Need a kip .... prrrr prrrrr





back again ..... hey I caught a mouse the other night, it was nearly as big as me and all the small 2 legs got excited and chased me around. The big grumpy 2 legs grabbed me and took it out of my mouth, then he dropped it and it ran around on the floor. The nice big 2 legs (who always feeds me and lets me in the bedroom) started shrieking and it was madness, great!!!!



..... just been for a run round, gotta watch out for the aunty here, she is soooo boring, just sits around moaning all day about how crap it is here and how herlegs hurt never wants to play, .... sometimes I really miss my bros and sisters. i don't know where they are. I used to live in this big house with lots of really nice 2 legs and mum ...... sob ... sob.....

the medium sized 2 legs is nice to me and its warm here and i've got plenty of food. Uncle says I could have it a lot worse, when he was a boy times were hard and the 2 legs didn't want him and threw him and aunty away. He's got some good stories, not got time now, i'm off huting mice in the woodshed. I'll eat it outside this time.

Miaaaoowww

Rain, rain and more rain

It seems like it has done nothing but rain this week and the concensus is that winter has arrived. Mum and dad got the indian summer. So we have been make ourselves snug, getting hot water bottles and duvets and blankets. The boys get a special saturday job to do each week. This week their job was to chop up kindling for the fire. It is amazing what a difference it makes to come in from the wet to a warm house with a fire in the burner.

We have replaced our old digi-camera with a new one, thanks to a gift from the recently departed grandparents. This camera takes pictures in lots of clever ways and even does videos with sound. It has a 1Gb memeory card. It is pretty amazing how quickly things like cameras move on in a short space of time. There must be lots of boffins in back rooms working out how to make our cameras and computers faster and cheaper and smaller.

We are all bumbling along as per usual. Fighting off winter colds and infections with more or less success. Chantelle succumbed to a nasty bout of flu(?) a week after she had the flu vaccination. Not unusual apparently. Schools and hospitals offer staff the vaccination, presumably so that those same staff do not catch flu and then have to take time off. It seems to defeat the object of the exercise when they catch the flu from the vaccination itself!

Eric has posted news of his new livestock. The menagerie has also seen the arrival of Posy the little black kitten. Very cute especially when she plays with Zephyr, biting his paws. She would make a very small mouthful for him, but he has so far been very gentle with her.

We are still waiting for the sheep to produce. They look a bit wet what with all the rain.

If you would like to receive an email when this blog is updated to save checking for updates and being disappointed, then email me and I will work out how to set up a list.

Ducklings

Thursday the 4th of May our farm hosted the birth of ten ducklings.One of these ducklings hactched out in the house.Eric is taking care of them and will hopefully
be given away before the end of the happy ten weeks then mike will put them in the pot.However the duckling that hatched out in the house will not be sold or killed it will be kept by Eric for a pet. Written by Eric

The Eagles have returned!

We have been tracking the northwards migration of Grandma and Granddad. Their plane from Singapore was delayed by about 40 minutes, but has now landed at Manchester. We do not have definitive proof that they are on the plane, that sort of info is not publicly available just yet.

It is a weird feeling Friday night as half the family have been at school for 3 days, but I am still technically on holiday.

I have been into school to prepare for the new term, but I also made time for a day doing my own thing yesterday. I was torn between going birding or fishing and eventually decided to do both by going up the Karikari to do some lake watching followed by a fish at Puwheke. When it came to the crunch, I decided that i had killed enough fish recently and that at $1.70 a litre for fuel, it was an extravagant trip to make on my own. So I went for an environmentally friendly bike ride instead. I sampled the delights of unsealed riding, going all the way to the end of Church Road, down Kaingaroa Hill and then back along Fischer Road. It was very interesting, lots of things to see, houses and road cuttings and bits of bush. There were some good downhill stretches after the long climbs. then the rain came on, along with thunder and lightning. I wondered what it feels like to be struck by lightning. I was not wanted upstairs just yet and made it home soaked to the skin, knackered but very happy.