Geyser

How often does one get to see a geyser in the kitchen? Fortunately not often at all. Yesterday my walls got a good clean with pulsing hot water.  I had come in to fill a jug of warm water for the pigs, turned on the hot tap as you do and off it came in my hand.  Bugger, I said as hot water shot up towards the ceiling. I twisted the handle back on, water shooting out sideways some even out of the faucet and stayed like that, pushing down hard until John finally came back from feeding the calves across the way. By the time he got back the water was running warm. I was soaked and the kitchen was soaked and my hands stung from the burning hot water.

All this because, very foolishly, I have never asked John to show me where to turn the water off. I moved into this house eight years ago. He had been living here for almost 14 years by that time, so it never occurred to either of us to take me on a tour of the Workings. Now I know.

He quickly turned the water off but every single drawer and cupboard along that side of the kitchen was full of warm water. Luckily I have all those holes in the cracks between the kitchen floorboards so most of the water just dripped through into the basement.  So in the middle of chores I emptied all the drawers and cupboards  into washing baskets, dried everything out, wiped the floor, changed out of my sopping wet clothes, found some dry socks, put my boots back on and went back outside to finish feeding the animals.

Then we took the kittens into the vet for their health checks and worming and distemper shots. The Vet agreed with me that breeding my own barn cats was much wiser than bringing them in from other barns.  There are four kinds of distemper he said and it is rife.  One of these distemper variations is like a herpes virus, and though it does not always kill the cats they have gunky, sick and pathetic lives and cannot be cured. Best to keep strange cats out. They passed with flying colours. He was so relieved to have a box of beautiful healthy cats in his rooms. He is also very happy that I am gathering a Dutch Belted herd (of two) he loves the breed.  All together this visit cost 103 dollars.

Then we borrowed The Matriarchs 4 wheel drive jeep and drove to the next town to buy a new kitchen faucet set. This cost 103 dollars too. Spooky. 

While John did the plumbing I worked in the barn relocating Sheila’s bed back into the smaller area so we can get it really deep and warm. John helped me bring in the horse mat to put on top of the concrete and the pigs were very upset about him being in their pen. (I found this interesting, but must warn Jake to distract them with food before he pops in and out to retrieve their dishes.)

I help Sheila make her bed every night, but soon I will be gone for two cold weeks and as she will not accept other people in her pen, she is better in the winter pig palace where the straw stays put for her.  This meant shifting two gates and so forth with two pigs ‘helping’ so I was out there for some hours working on that and the other chores. Before I knew it -it was dark.

While I was working in the barn I saw Elsie mounting Queenie. Cows do this when one of them is in heat. One will climb onto the other just like a bull does.  I checked the dates and yes it is close to the day for Queenie to come into heat if she were not pregnant.  So the signs do not look good.  She will have to be sold and the money used to buy a couple of young Hereford heifers.  If we are to grow grass fed beef we need beef cows that will breed.  And as Sheila constantly reminds me, there is only room for one  big pet and she is it.  Queenie needs someone more experienced in animal husbandry than me.  Not yet though. We still need to blood test her.  But I am not optimistic. And am disappointed.

I came back  into the house  and the plumbing was done, so I took all the bits and pieces out of the washing baskets lined up on the floor, washed and dried everything,  and filled all the cupboards and drawers back up again. Thank goodness I don’t have a lot of stuff. Then I had a pear with cheese, a glass of red wine and went to bed.

Today I will start again and get everything back up to date. I really only have four useful days before I leave for New Zealand and I hate to waste even one. And everything has to be completely in order and utterly transparent so anyone can do what I do. Keeping animals alive in autumn is one thing, keeping them alive when it is this cold is quite another.

My suitcases are open so I can throw things into them.  My itinerary is printed. We are getting close.

Now that that wretched wind has dropped the house is warming up and evidently the outside temperatures are going to warm up a little too. I am absolutely sure that I will have one of those days when things get settled into their proper places. I can feel that kind of clarity happening in my head. It does not happen often.  But travel clears my mind beautifully. Almost list time. The monster awaketh!

Have a lovely day.

Love your friend on the farm

celi