Here is Mama last year. Such a difference from the overly burdened shaggy calm sleepy sheep we are Not Looking Directly At in the hope that she will have a few lambs while we are Not Looking.
Will she ever get her figure back? Well, a good start would be actually giving birth to all those lambs Mama. Not that we are watching mind you! Not that we are on the edge of our seats waiting. Not that we are up all hours of the night checking you in a nightie and gumboots with a dog holding the torch and cats sliding along the fences in the dark! No not that!
Yesterday was terribly windy. There are three stages of wind out here. 1. Windy (almost every day for most of spring.) 2. Pretty windy, (hats fly off, bent forward as you walk, can hear nothing but wind almost every afternoon windy) and then the worst Too Windy to Garden.
Otherwise known as Bendy Tree Day. I hate that kind of wind. It heaves and tears at you all day. It blows your brain straight out of your head. Leaving you tired and strained and not quite together, but you don’t know why because your brain has been blown right out of your head.
Did I tell you that the massively pruned pear tree is coming out. It had piles of flowers at the same time as the new pear trees which was a relief. Mia! No!
Mia I said NO. 
Oh Mia, you naughty sheep! 
Here is the first lettuce crop, we are already eating the baby leaves.
Good morning. Last night, the moment the Too Windy to Garden wind dropped, the thunder and lightening began. Out here on the plains sometimes the thunder rolls for ages, with lightening in the midst of it. They come together. The sound smashed and the lights flashed for almost thirty minutes. Nothing like the gentle little thunder and lightening storms in NZ. And then it rained, a fat tropical downpour! Bliss. You know already that I love the rain.
I had to get up and close the windows when it rained. I hate closing the windows. It feels like I have had my ears stopped up with wool when I close the windows. I like to hear what is going on in the night. But once the rain had stopped, I opened them all again and went back to sleep listening to the drops pattering off the roof and plopping into the rain buckets.
The frogs have already taken up residence again in the frog garden, did I tell you? They are not singing yet but I can hear them plopping back into the water as I pass. That garden is not planted yet so no photos!
Good morning. I received a delivery from a very nice delivery man yesterday who would not get out of his van because he thought TonTon, who had barked at him, would eat him. The man gave me the new electric fence wire by feeding the box out through the partially open drivers window. TonTon sat on the verandah like he had been told and smiled meanly at him.
The new fence is a high mesh fence, good for sheep and pigs too, and we are hoping that it will keep Daisy in. Last year as you remember she just raced around the field until she had enough speed up and then jumped the electric fence like a steeplechase racehorse streaking the wrong way, out of the track. She tucked her legs in and rose up and over the fence and landed in the grass on the other side, look Ma No Hands!! Then she would amble back into the barn through my garden. She did this again and again. I told her I was going to sell her to the circus! This fence will be fuller and hopefully more intimidating, plus she is 7 months pregnant!
So I shall put this fence up in Pats paddock, so we can graze that good grass more efficiently and then attach it to my solar powered electricity maker and see what happens. There will be some banging and heaving and maybe a little swearing but the day looks fine and clear and I want to get the job finished before the wind comes up. So off to work I go.
Have a great day.
celi
The Kitchen's Garden 
77 responses to “Mama last summer when she was svelte like!”
OMG, Mama looked so different! And, barely any wool on her!
When she has had these lambs she will be shorn again and it is like another sheep steps out of that mass of wool, you will be amazed! c
Mama is simply unrecognisable!
I’m off to sow some more salads too, chomp, chomp – but we could do with some of your rain here please
Joanna was telling me that it is getting dry out there, have you been basking on the beach yet? c
It’s beautiful, sunny, warm and bright. I must admit I’m not much of a beach basker, I like it out of season in a sheltered spot. I’m such a wuss!!
Sea breezes! mm.. I understand..c
Great picture of the wind in the grass. We have a dog like TonTon on the other side of the lane who, like your delivery man feared, is keen to eat me.
Border collies have very good taste! Morning Roger.. c
Celi, I had an “aha” moment reading this post! This morning I realized that your posts remind me of a favorite book of mine–Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings’ “Cross Creek.” I loved this book and have never forgotten the way she wrote about her beloved home in Florida. She didn’t write with your humor, but she was in love with the land and her orange grove–the hardships and the hard work! Your love for the Plains and the Farmy and these wonderful animals is captivating to me, the reader–thank you for sharing so generously. I can’t wait to see your pictures of some sweet baby lambs! I’ve started showing my granddaughters your photos. To these little city girls this is a trip to the farm 🙂 Debra
I Love that you show the pics to your grand daughters.. that is fantastic Debra, thank you.. and i must find that book, we are having a literary feast this week1 c
Celi, you of all people would love that book! In fact, just talking about it has me wanting to read again!
I hate wind too! I am quite happy with rain and I love storms ( provided they don’t cause damage) but wind is just a pain.
When is that sheep going to give birth!!
I met a gorgeous shepherd in the hills the other day. He wanders down the side of the mountain so his animals can feast on the spring grass. I love it here!!!
Wonderful that you can ramble through the fields and meet shepherds like that, these guys who lead their sheep about, i have thought about doing that with mine, just walking off down the creek with them, but maybe not today. Mama has done enough walking today i think. c
I love your description of the rain. And I too dislike those winds of madness.
Morning sweetie! c
Can I place an order for the lettuce? 🙂 Hope you’re having a great week!
She is in such great shape in that first pic! It is day 7 here with winds in the 30 mph to 100 mph range and it kept me up and down last night because things were just a rattlin! Have a Great Day:)
Oh now, four days, it is the season I know, but it does wear on a girl!! c
What a wussy delivery driver and he even had his own electric fence with him! Wow, Mama does look remarkably different in that first picture, definitely svelte! Enjoy your lettuce and I hope your pear blossom survives. 🙂
I know, a lot of it ends up flying through the air at this time of the year, how anything pollinates i have no idea. But tomorrow they say there will not be as much wind so maybe the bees will come out again! c
Poor Mama. Big as a house, uncomfortable as all heck, and “someone” posts before and after photos of her. Were Mary’s little lambs treated so shabbily? I think not! Hang in there, Mama!
poor mama (laughter!!).. c
The lettuce looks absolutely amazing. I can so see myself enjoying that lettuce. And omg.. look at Mama. She was soooo slim. But don’t tell her I said that at all lol. In fact, don’t even show me a photo of Daisy thin either LOL
Oh that is so funny kay, i never thought of a shot of daisy when she was young and thin.. c
Glad to see Mia is irrepressible again.
I can just feel your rain; it’s lovely when the frogs sing and the water tanks are oveflowing.
I agree, it must be ancient this smugness when the water tanks are full of good fresh rain water! c
Holy ….. sheep!
I know.. c
Oi, Mama! Maybe if you pinned a copy of the photo on her fence, it would remind her to let go of those little lambies. I’m glad that TonTon is territorial. Maybe hunters will think twice…
It is good to have a couple of barking dogs out in the country! c