Every thing in its proper place
This time of year, as we gear up for the busy season, everything is re-placed in its proper place, House AND Barn and woe betide anyone who borrows something and does not return it. I work alone – so that would be ME whose Woes will be Beti-ded. And the house is small so everything needs a place to live. So this last week and the next will be all about putting everything in its proper place (and a lot of shovelling winter manure into its proper place).
Because I do not have time to be searching for a hammer or eye drops or my knife. Or my clothes for the morning or some toilet paper. Or the grater. Gentle controlled speed is coming.
And the proper place for a goat is not on a box next to her light. I have remedied that situation.
In fact. Life is a lot easier when things are where they are meant to be. Plus I do think that our minds are easier when our rooms are tidy. And believe me I can be the messiest person in the world – I have to work hard at putting everything back where it belongs.
Yesterday (because John was home) I got him to help me place Sheila (and Poppy’s) new hut in its final position up against the barn. This way I can secure it firmly before the spring winds (they are coming). It will be perfect in a few weeks when it is warm (it is on the shady side) but we are still chilly (every night dropping below freezing) so I have left Sheila a big bed in the sun.
Talking of pigs I let Tima and Tane the kune kune pigs out the back yesterday so they could search for greens. They were having such a nice time and being so slow about it that I left them out there with TonTon and Boo and I went to hang another load of clothes on the line to dry. I was pegging out towels when all of a sudden Boo stood and raced out into the field behind me. I turned to see Tima and Tane, followed by a frantic TonTon, steaming at full speed across the empty fields. Boo shot like a speeding submarine straight at them – on a course to head them off. I called out to Tima and without breaking her stride she turned like a pea class sailing boat tacking against the wind and ran back at full short legged pig speed straight for me, dragging little Tane in her wake.
Poor wee fellas headed straight for the bucket of water under the tap and then meekly followed me back to their paddock. I don’t know where they thought they were going. But they slept deeply the rest of the afternoon.
I have to sneak up on the goat kids to get a shot like this. They are like pigs – always on the alert. You have to double over and change your profile and walk weirdly- and momentarily confused, they do not recognise you as YOU (read food) and leap to their feet. 
I hope you have a lovely day.
Your friend on the farmy,
celi
63 Comments on “Every thing in its proper place”
Leave a Reply
JOIN OUR NEWSLETTER:
DO A LITTLE SHOPPING:
Thank You So Much For Your Kind Help with Maintaining This Blog
thekitchensgarden 
They all look so content without snow 😉
Good morning my friend! Like you I have to work hard at being ‘tidy’ but hate clutter so need to be strict with myself. I have a friend staying with me at the moment who is in the process of clearing his big house after a messy divorce. He keeps bringing me boxes of ‘stuff’ which whilst very kind of him, is driving me crazy. I spent all winter emptying drawers and cupboards to now have all this ‘stuff’ back in there filling them back up again. I can’t hurt his feelings though so will hang on to it all until he returns to the UK, then have another clear out!
Sun is starting to warm the place up and I am spending long days in the green house getting all my seeds started. next to start planning/planting the beans, peas, and cold weather stuff. Having to feed Sam lots of veggies in his diet I need to plant so much more this year, and I am late starting due to long winter, but I will get there.
Have a lovely day – and I am SO enjoying the goats!!
Oh I do understand, My mother in law bless her is always coming out with one trinket or the other and I smile and think now WHERE can I possibly fit this.. c
What wonderful WATCH dogs you have! I can just picture the chase! I would love to hang clothes out in the fresh air, but the mud would never let me accomplish that yet.
soon I hope.. c
I too am by nature untidy but disciplined about it! I am incapable of keeping drawers and cupboards tidy but can usually put my hand on the thing I want. So there must be method in my madness. And I always tidy the kitchen, living room and my bedroom before I get dressed every morning.
Those goats are rapidly becoming Farmy Favourites, closely followed by Tima andTane. But top of my all time favourite list are Boo and Tonton.
Have a good tidying up day.
love,
ViV xox
Boo and Ton are the glue that holds us all together. I was on my belly peering in to catch the wee chicks this afternoon and smelt Boos breath as he levered himself down exactly next to me, legs out behind, looking where I was looking, intent.. (imagine that from above) needless to say he was gently led to the chain in case he actually did try to help.. poor fella is not to be trusted with baby birds.. c
Good morning from a rather cold, grey and windy Scotland. It’s trying to be spring here too and we’ve had a few lovely days, but the nights are still cold. Lovely pictures from the farm as always. I’m really enjoying your posts.
Pray do tell what were you grating toilet paper for? Laura
Laugh!! c
I was wondering from the title if it was possible to keep a goat (or even a pig) in its proper place, and I read not. Googled peapod boats because I wasn’t familiar with the term. You can see just how they get their name. Look great fun. Just as well Boo and Ton know their job where the kune are concerned – your description made me laugh. I function much easier in an ordered environment but have to work at it, and am still recovering from a long period where I only covered what absolutely had to be done, so still lots of stuff to be sorted. I am approaching it like one would eat an elephant… small bites. I’ll get there. My garden is showing springlike signs but the greenhouse is one of those things still to be sorted, oh, and the seeds. Love the pics as always.
Pea Class – yes- the first sailing boat we learn on is Pea Class.. c
I am really envying your snow-less landscape! Little piggies and goats always know how to get into trouble!
I know what you mean about a tidy room calming your mind. I feel that way too. I strive for it but never achieve it. There is always a little person behind me leaving coloured pencils, lego, tape…the list goes on. Messes seem magnetic, collect more mess.
It’s looking so lovely and you can almost see the animals breathing cautiously out as if to say “yes…I think Spring is really nearly here”!
except they are forecasting snow!! However it will come to nothing, we will blow it out of the way with our cheerful breaths! c
We will indeed 🙂
My husband doesn’t understand how mentally beneficial a tidy house is. He is content with leaving stuff all over the place. Drives me nuts.
p.s. I perk up too when I know food is on the way!
I’m new here. Glad I found your blog! Have a lovely day.
Good morning Kathy and welcome to the fellowship of the farmy. I have a husband like that too and if I lend him my good hammer or my knife, I follow him to where he is using it and retrieve it every time. His favourite is to drop his dirty clothes BESIDE the laundry basket, ah well! he is out there in the cold getting the chicks house ready – can’t complain.. c
I, too, consider the things my husband does instead of, say, putting the paper towel roll ON the holder instead of standing it inches next to it. He does all the bill-paying, which is chore I’m glad to avoid! I guess we all come out even in the end.
I have one of those too. I avoid the workshop area in the garage. He’s content to just push everything out of the way when he wants to work on something. I would have to clean it all off and put everything away before I even started! I also find that whenit seems things are spinning out of control tidying up anything is calming and gives a sense of control back. I HIDE my tools, otherwise I’d have to backtrack his steps to find them! But I shouldn’t complain, the good man is always willing to try to mend or make things for me.
I had no idea that there were so many women who hide their tools from their messy husbands. We love them Of course we do. but they have their own tools too until they lose them. When I go away I hide my knives – he leaves them in standing water – ruining handles. Or puts them in the dishwasher. HORRORS! So I confiscate them. He does not mind actually. He is happy with the selection I leave out for him. Laugh!! c
I echo all the above sentiments but when it comes to fixing stuff or going out in the storm to fix tanks or catching the snake attacking my budgies, well he earns his keep. Just wish he liked to cook 😦
yup, as we get older we do realise that working to a persons strengths is so much more pleasant than sulking over the weaknesses.. much better and more productive.. c
Well trained Kunes Miss C-bravo. They both most likely just had a talk and decided that the dogs were being much too lazy and needed a run so thought they would oblige. TonTon looks ready to pounce on Elsie as well, although most pictures of Ton see him at the read to herd something. Have a productive day 🙂
Hiya from Spring Cleaning In Italy! I love the everything in its place motto. And totally agree about how it frees the mind. We’ve been eliminating TONS of stuff, and I feel about 10 years younger. As if a weight has been lifted from each tiny brain cell. Fantastic! Love it that everyone in that last shot is black and white. And all the little goats, in their places, are darling. I have a soft spot for the brown one.
Those kune kune pigs sure know who is boss! I used to be tidy with a place for everything and everything in it’s place. Alas living alone, I set things down to put away later. What I need is a phone call to say I am having visitors in an hour…. Then watch me spring into action faster than Boo across the fields! The kidsts are very Awww-ish! Their coats look like velvet, are they really soft to the touch?
Also putting things back in the right place means that next time you need it, it will be there…instead of thinking ‘where did I last use that’ saves a lot of time… The animals look so happy and content, and I am sure Tima and Tane were not going far, just on a little jolly…to see how far it was… have a great day and lots of love to you all
Stretching their little piggie legs after a long cooped up winter. Will Tima and Tane’s hut also be secured to something? TonTon and Boo earned their supper yesterday guarding their charges. Glad they tacked the right direction….all the way home. Kids at rest..beautiful.
Yes, the kunekune hut will be relocated just as soon as we remove ONE More Car Carcass from the rat house to make room for the farrowing hut. c
Those dogs are astounding. And I love how all the parts of the kune kune appear to be on ground level. I am in Oregon just now and you will be enraptured by how blazing the green is!
I am very much looking forward to the scents of vegetation.. and green – oh my
I do hope you realise, Ceci, that I get/we get enormous amounts of vicarious joy at the results of your hard work. Those goats are adorable!
I am inspired by your massive de-cluttering project too – I am gaily hurling stuff out the door. – thanks to you.. (John is my Ming;checking everything).
Once a year our town takes most stuff left in the alley for free and every year i vow to take advantage and every year I miss it. As you would say, Celi, “Ah, well.”
I wasn’t finished. The goats all together! What a great shot! And those two dogs are worth their weight in gold. Love ’em!
Oh, the promise of Spring!
I have a bizarre request, and I thought the Comments Lounge here would be the best place to make it. Does anyone know where I can find an audio recording (preferably downloadable MP3 file) of a sow nursing her litter? Does anyone have a nursing sow that could create one?
Marla has a sow nursing right now.. I think she is still feeding them – Just make the coffee.. http://justmakethecoffee.com/
Thank you!
I also think that Diane has piglets due soon, she does not have a blog but I will ask her. She is one of the fellowship.
I believe this is the first I’ve read of Boo doing what he’s supposed to do without being told! Except when it comes to babies of course. The picture in my mind of Tima turning herself right around made me laugh out loud. Can you imagine the hijinks to come when there are litters of tiny sneaky Kune babies running around?
I know! I cannot imagine.. out of control it is going to get! c
It’s funny that Spring brings such hurry, hurry in many of us. I’ve waited patiently all winter to work the soil and now that we’ve had rain and warmer temps, I’m all in a flurry about getting the beds full of plants.
I have a messy drawer of handy items such as a hammer, stanley knife, tape etch and I have a saying when I lend something out… “it’s a boomerang!” meaning make sure it comes back 🙂 Our spaces too are modest, so by necessity neat, but behind cupboard doors and inside drawers can be a little cluttered. Not so easy I think to keep goats and pigs in order. Although images of the huddle of goats and Sheila and Poppy peacefully snoozing in the sun are as soothing as contemplating a tidy space.
My mother used to call that draw The In Case Of Drawer. Just in case- you know.. c
We call it the Scary Drawer!
I can just feel your sun in these photos. We are getting some today finally. FD and I are both organized and neat people. I can tell you that makes my life pretty darned smooth! 🙂
You hit the jack pot there! c
I am by nature tidy. The Husband is by nature untidy. We have an Arrangement. If it bothers me, I move it. But it doesn’t work so well with the tools, which walk away Somewhere. I brought most – and the best – tools to the marriage, and find it very difficult not to be able to locate things like I used to… Ah well. Elsie and her matching canine accessory made me laugh. It looks as if he’s waiting for her to go into labour before he comes racing back like Lassie to tell you there’s something wrong!
And that is exactly what he will do too! Marriage is a funny thing – like a see saw – and when things are running on an even keel it is just magic.. c
It is, isn’t it. Wish I’d found him years ago!
Boo never ceases to amaze me… his concientiousnss, his goodness, his love…. I would give hm a dog VC for services beyond the call of duty to all baby things and others too !!!
Valerie! Hullo darling friend. He is growing into quite a dog this one.. c
Methinks the checks and balances on the farmy seem to be working just fine at the moment: agree with Valerie about the VC for Boo tho’ 🙂 ! Well, my problems with being tidy in a small two-bedroom cottage is one of books and files! Being an avid reader of those things one actually holds in one’s hands, piles of books cover all available surfaces in absolutely every room: oh they are tidy, but . . . . !!! About two thousand volumes I guess sort’of belong in a library . . .
You ARE a library!
Were that the truth I would have avoided a lot of problems in my life 🙂 ! OK: for ANY anglophile reading this, am just in the middle of the recently published ‘CHARLES, the Heart of a King’ by Catherine Mayer and think this one of the best ‘learning experiences’ of today’s England [yep, mean England, not just dear Charles!] anyone could reach for . . . actually American-born author living in the UK . . . . . knew some, am learning a huge amount more . . . . yes, even here in Oz and coming from a republic am a Monarchist ‘if it ain’t broke’ don’t fix it’ !!!!
excellent eha, we all love a good book! I shall look for it.. many thanks.. c
Your house sounds like our house! Two whole walls of shelves plus several smaller book-cases are still not enough, and any flat surface always has books on it.
Cecilia, Eha and Viv,
My son calls my books ‘these relics’, just not the same on screen. Good tip re Charles book, not one I would have gone for. Re reading the horror of ‘The Lord of the Flies’ currently, not read since my teens. Cecilia loved your towels on line photo a while back, I remember as a child being shocked when at a friends house and her mum hung the towels vertically, quizzed my Mum on this unusual behaviour (horizontal is all I had ever seen) and got the explanation about drying time quicker and some people don’t have the space of a long line in a paddock. Interesting yours are not pegged from the ends but folded over. Love looking at washing on lines, very personal, like photos of hands.
Oh my Celi, I cannot imagine a life more different than the one I’ve known. I imagine that the workload is much more challenging than the fun you make it appear to be. Good for you for living a life filled with nature and such beautiful creatures!
It is actually just as wonderful as it looks – I am a very lucky girl! c
You have your hands full with the kunekune! They are so cute though. I’m glad you figured out how to sneak pix of the goats.
Keep sneaking .. I love it 🙂