We had all these plans for yesterday. I even made a list. Silly me. Three things intervened. Firstly it rained. Hard. An inch fell. I am not complaining about that. 
Then the milking parlour pump spat the dummy. 
It did a proper job this time too. So I AM complaining about that! Luckily the Pop and Bang did not occur until after the milking.
Now Our John is combing the web for Parts.. sigh. The neighbours came to the rescue yet again and we have borrowed the Blue Pump – again. 
However even though we did not get to the list – the third occurrence yesterday was that the builders finally came over to have the first discussion about the little retirement house in the garden for Nanny. It is no longer called the Gingerbread house. It has been called the Chicken Coop by other members of the family because I am styling it on the old hen houses that were is everyones back yard out here in the MidWest in the old days. And the name has stuck. The Chicken Coop it is. Though we are not allowed to call The Matriarch The Old Chook.
Much to my astonishment the builder who turned up with his boss is a New Zealander. From Palmy! It was an amazing moment for me when he opened his mouth and spoke in my own accent. How is that for an exciting development. Now we are cooking. He understands Noo Zild and very swiftly could see what I was trying to say. I can see exactly what I want, as a complete picture in my head, and he very cleverly was able to put it on paper. Now he has taken this rather jumbled collection of ideas, and scribbly drawings and is going to put it into a 3D programme so we can start designing for real! CLEVER!
So the Daily View is unchanged except for the rain.
The max/min temperature gauge has now entered the play. It is small and going to be hard to read with a quick hand held shot, so I have enlarged it for us. To read a max/min temperature gauge you have to look at the bottom of the slim blue pin. It is being pushed up by the mercury. The low is on the left and the high is on the right. This one was nailed to the Wendy House wall at about 10 am yesterday morning so the reading tells us very little except that the temperature is dropping. 
However we can practice. I took the view and the temps at 2.10. Then I reset the max/min, dragging the pins down with the little red magnet. We will see whether it works today after the milking, I will try to make it around about the same time every day, but as you know, my days are not the same every day, so we will see.
Good morning. It is a blustery morning. Windy and wet but warm, so the grass will be growing. I am always happy for grass growth after this seasons struggles. Maybe today we will get to a few things on the list. It is possible I should not have written that out loud! Ah well.
You all have a lovely day.
celi
On this day a year ago.. Bean Sprouts. I still have a jar of these on the go all the time. Especially with a vegetarian living in the house now. Sprouts are an exceptionally good food.
The Kitchen's Garden 
55 responses to “An exciting development”
small world 🙂
Lovely isn’t it.. c
I wonder if the NZ constuction guy was just as happy to hear your accent?
He has never met a fellow NZer here before either .. such a shock out here in the boonies and he lives only about 20 miles away or so.. c
I love the idea of writing out loud! Sorry about the milking machine. It’s cleared up a bit here, but not enough to hang the washing out. I can SEE our grass growing. Jock had put the mower away for the winter, but will have to get it out again.
You wanted to see Jock’s embroidery: the name has changed, as, being a portrait of my son’s Chinese girlfriend she disabused me of my ignorance – I thought Geisha was Chinese but Weiwei tells me it means high class Japanese prostitute! Fortunately, she likes the portrait, and has allowed me to use her real name as the title. You’ll find it here: http://vivinfrance.wordpress.com/jocks-embroideries/weiwei/
Thank you ViV. I shall zoom over and have a look.. Weiwei is a lovely name too.. c
The gentleman from your part of the world speaks your language and uses your same words. So much easier to communicate ideas that way.
It certainly is.. often I stop when i am talking and say.. um I don’t know the american word… and stumble about trying to explain.. c
The Chicken Coop is going to be a wonderful little house!!! Although I like the sound of the Gingerbread House a bit better! Getting that going is very exciting!!! Big bummer about the milking parlour pump….once again! Sure hope that Our John can find the parts and fix it well!!! xo
That bloody pump is in bits all over the dining room table.. of course!! c
How wonderful that building a home for the Matriarch brought you a bit of your own home!
Oh you are right, I never thought of it that way but yes.. lovely.. c
Quite exciting! Happy for you that it seems like the Chicken Coop will now really get off the ground, surely with a fellow NZ-er’s help:)
We are hoping they will pour the footings/foundations this winter before the ground freezes.. That will be a great day! c
I bet the New Zealander was a s pleased to here your accent as you were to hear his… I spoke in Afrikaans to my daughter when we were in Washington and a person that was within ear shot was so pleased to hear it he came over to chat… it was good to here the same accent in a foreign country…
I can understand that, I once saw a young man eating with a knife and fork in a thai restaurant in chicago and immediately knew he was from NZ, and I just had to say hullo with delight as I walked past.. it made me feel so good to see a fellow NZer just by chance like that.. c
“Spat the dummy.” Is that an NZ expression? Never heard it before. Good news about the Chicken Coop.
A dummy in NZ is called a baby pacifier over here in the US. I don’t know why it is called a dummy, either because it makes your baby Dumb, as in silent or it just looks Dumb.. who knows.. I never used them.. so to Spit the Dummy is when baby spits it out and then HOWLS! c
Do you find that when you meet up with a fellow New Zealander that your accent gets stronger? Mine does whenever we get together with our Lancastrian friends and family. Great that your fellow countryman seems to be able to share your vision of The Chicken Coop!
Christine
I actually leaned my head on his shoulder and sighed when he spoke.. a complete stranger.. but from HOME! and I am sure my accent thickened .. morning christine.. c
oh wow, i would love to have that little milking stool!!!! great photos today!
Thank you terry, it is an old piano stool.. the top bit is long since gone but it a good height.. c
it is perfect for the job!
What an awesome development! A small taste of home without all that extended travelling. I bet he was as excited as you to meet someone from home.
It was lovely.. morning anna.. I could do with one of your cookies right about now.. c
Mornin’.. it sounds like your soul got fed yesterday, always a wonderful experience !
happy for you !
Nanster
Morning Nanster darlin’.. c
Hooray for the contractor!
We are going to have such fun, this time next year i might be writing to you from a new house in the garden.. c
Good job the pump didn’t go bang while you were milking! Great coincidence with the builder 😉