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”
Morning! 😀 I have my contractor’s engineer coming on Wednesday at 7pm, and I’m hoping that I can be understood by him! Accents. Pah. Had a hard frost this morning. No harm done though, so I’m not complaining. 🙂
that white truck wasn’t there yesterday. Thats a bit of change in the view!
John’s work truck, not too pretty!! c
I loved your FB photos! We used to give our pigs balls (like basketballs) to play with. They loved them ever so much! Pigs are delightful…they are smart and fun and equal dogs in the play department of life!
Linda
http://coloradofarmlife.wordpress.com
http://deltacountyhistoricalsociety.wordpress.com
They are having a hard time being locked up while the weather is so wild, I hope to let them back out tomorrow.. poor piggies..c
Such a lovely coincidence to meet a homie from so far away! That stool! I have a similar one that my uncle, a Chicago fireman, made at least 70 years ago. Just this week I got out some sand paper so I could repaint it. We keep it in the kitchen to sit on but also use as a step-stool for me. It is absolutely solid.
I have wondered, Celi, do you come across snakes?
I saw a snake once, it was quite funny, I was turning over the compost and out it came, long and black .. huge, i screamed dropped my fork and leapt the fence to get away(there are no poisonous snakes hereby the way) but i was wearing a tightish short denim skirt and as i leapt my knees were caught by the skirt and so i fell over the fence, scrabbling and shrieking.. thank goodness no-one was around.. very embarrassing behaviour.. only time i ever saw a snake too.. (shakes head) c
WHO!? is this man from MY City????? 🙂 (Wouldn’t it be a dag if I knew him too??)
How wonderful that two Kiwis have found each other – we are like a very small, very special club 🙂
Oh it does feel like a club out here too, I can;t wait for him to come back for a cup of tea!! c
The daily view in rain is simply divine. My heart lets out a sigh of relief every time it rains. I think it’s my English and Dutch ancestry poking through. 🙂
Another New Zealander! How exciting!
I would say the sunshine in your day, which really was clouds, outshone the cloudiness.
It’s looking very ‘fallish’ around the farmy! Sorry to hear about the milk pump…….
I hope you are getting through your fall list of chores.
Have a lovely day, Celi.
I like your daily view drenched in rain. It looks peaceful. I had a laugh as I read about your NZ contractor, and your further comments. It’s like finding a new best friend who you don’t have to explain everything to. If it’s was the same project in NZ you would be referring to the Chicken Coop the Chook House/Shed, as we would here. Being an Aussie, I got the ‘spat the dummy’ reference and didn’t think twice about it.
“spat the dummy”? I never heard this before but I love it! Sorry to hear it though… yikes!
Hi rachel honey! c
How wonderful to meet up with someone from your homeland, c.. heartwarming I bet! I love that your new building is becoming a reality. If I were to visit you all there.. would it be a Hen House?? just kidding:) xx
Language issues 😀 ! : Love ‘gingerbread house’ – not so keen on ‘chicken coop’: hmmm, won’t the guys have a field day after! Hope the Matriarch has a sense of humour!! ‘Spitting the dummy’: the most usual term in these parts here: well, no wonder that only too oft I get a stare and not a response saying the simplest thing in the US: perchance it isn’t 🙂 !
I am so glad you explained “spat the dummy.” I love that! And of course, I’m sorry about the milking parlour machine, but you are all so resourceful, I trust you’ll find an answer and soon! I would assume the odds on meeting another New Zealander under such circumstances would be quite slim. What a spirited day! 🙂
So, did your family find your accent to be more pronounced after talking to someone from Home? Hubby can always tell when I’ve been on the phone with my mother 🙂
Can’t wait to see the plans come together!