Getting Re-Antiquated

I know that  heading (above) makes no sense but I have a challenge that once I have written my title  I must keep it. Sometimes the weirdest phrases and re-spellings get  stuck in  my head.  I am very grateful that you are all the kind of kind people who bear with the slight eccentricities that you discover on the Blogosphere. 

To stay awake I worked hard all day yesterday, mucking out pens, tidying the barn, counting hay (not enough), conferring with the kiwi builder.. (the best way to get a fast decision is to ask a sleep deprived woman)… and getting back into the rhythm of farm life.

I took the Shush Sisters for a walk, they behaved perfectly, remembering all their commands. They are definitely taller than when I left.  Our next task is to prepare Charlotte for her assignation with the Boar in January.  

Minty and Meadow have been banished for a while from the barn, for gate jumping! Having those two galloping about the middle of the barn, sticking their heads in all the bins, and putting Hairy MacLairy the ram on high alert is not going to happen any more. It is still warm enough outside for the sheep. Miss c is home, no more naughtiness.

Mama the policeman made me do it. She has some tales to tell about mice playing while the cat was away.

I brushed Daisy and we talked about appropriate milking behaviour.  She agreed with me that she could do better then promptly forgot all her promises, being a cow after all. To begin her retraining I have taken her right back to her initial ‘introduction to the milking parlour’ routine of brushing her before and after the milking. 

Maybe she will relax a bit again and let the milk flow without all the kicking and carrying on.  Half the problem is that one of her quarters is taking so much longer to milk out than the other three.  I need to find out why.  

Kupa spent a lot of time showing me his girls.  He is still very tame. He most certainly remembers me which is lovely. He and Pania and Tui  seem to have come to some kind of arrangement and are spending a lot more time together now. Maybe I should start thinking about building nests up in the top of the barn. Evidently they like big old tires filled with straw… well I can certainly do that! 

I have it in mind to sell the progeny to locals. When they are a year old they are worth a hundred dollars each.  But let’s not count our eggs before they are even laid.

Good morning. I slept well last night.  Thank goodness. My prairie muscles are flexing and starting to work again. While I was away it  caught me by surprise to feel my hill muscles (walking around Wellington and Auckland).  They were blasted out of hiding.  Especially my shins and the arches of my feet. I was reminded, by my body, that I have spent too much time on the Flats. My New Zealand family and I have always preferred to walk places rather than drive and they all live on hills.  Walking up steep hills and down dales and through valleys in the cities, with their hidden paths and old steps, laden with packages,  woke up my hill muscles thoroughly and sometimes painfully! Not to mention all the beach walking! What a lovely problem that was.

Luckily, Deb, my friend with the garden, is a netball coach and gave me the exercises necessary to loosen the knots.

Today I will muck out another pen – the flerd pen where Mama’s flock and  Bobby Blanc hang out together.   A flerd is when I have sheep and cows together. This one has old hay mixed with the straw so it does not go into the compost heap,  (grass weed seeds are hard to kill) so it will be spread on the fields straight away. Also I need to prune the grapes, the pear trees and mow the asparagus. I had better get busy.

By the way, while I was gone, the ice wine was racked again (decanted from one huge demi-john to another – leaving behind the grime that has settled to the bottom) and is a very beautiful colour. I look forward to seeing how it tastes. But NO drinking for a year. I promise to be good this time.

OK, off to work for me,  it is still dark out there and below freezing too.  I need to start checking the weather. So much to catch up on. Have a lovely day.

celi