Blog Archives
Fruit, Fruit and More Fruit
All the rain, and all the sun, have meant that everything is in full spring growth. Unfortunately that includes the grass… 
On the positive side we have fruit growing on our trees. The apricot trees have apricots, the plums are fruiting, and the bees are buzzing merrily around the in blossom trees. Touch wood, but it looks like we are going to have a good season. Yum. 
What A Ride
What a year it has been. This time last year the house had just been put back on piles on the new site, after being carried on the back of a truck the 12 kilometers from town. We were living out of the caravan and tent waiting for the power, phone, septic and water to be connected. There was no driveway, no real fencing and a lot of mud everywhere!
During the year I finished a novel and podcast it, I also changed jobs to start commuting to Wellington for part of the week. We took the eldest to Melbourne for a trip, and then he won a trip back there as part of becoming a toyologist. I ended up visiting the hospital after waking up with cramp and fainting after standing too quickly. We blew through four water pumps, and had a stinky septic tank.
We now have fences, gardens, a garage, driveway and a ride on mower so my nightmares of grass overtaking the property have eased. Our fruit trees are providing us with a small amount of fruit and promising to flood us with produce in future years. We have had happy sunny times on the riverbank amongst the willows, and every morning we wake up to a beautiful view.
Hopefully this year will be a year of solid consolidation, but knowing us that ain’t gonna happen. It’s likely to be another wild year
The Garage Arrives
The movers have left to have breakfast.
The garage
Arrives in the dark
The big truck parked in the drive
Toys, Birthdays And Growing Chicks…
The eldest T.B.T. has hit the ripe old age of eleven.
The mountain cake as decorated by himself...
Meanwhile we have bravely gone into more debt and bought new toys, I mean really useful tools, a scrub-cutter and a ride on lawnmower! Now that grass will no longer give us nightmares, nor will we need to have other people cut the grass in the orchard.
My new toy!
And just for a little chick update, here is mum with Yoda, Yoda and Chuck Norris
The chicks.
Freedom Campers In The Driveway
It has been an interesting New Year so far!
The haymakers have been and cut the grass where the heifers weren’t allowed to graze. All that lovely grass has been bailed and the neighbour is happy. We are not so happy as they cut down three of the fruit trees 
We will not be letting them do that again, and are looking at our grass cutting options!
The E.I.C. has torn/pulled a ligament in her ankle. She is laid up for a couple of days.
Most amusingly we awoke this morning to find a van parked at the end of the driveway. At first I thought it was someone parked up while they went down to the river to fish, but it looked like the door was open. I went down to check out what was going on and found a couple of chaps asleep in the back! We had been freedom camped…
A Bird On A Wire: One Of The Flock
This is one of the many birds that have been visiting us. We have a flock of sparrows, three magpies, fantails, finches and a morepork or two.
I am not sure what this one is, but three of them visit with regularity, and they are becoming favourites of ours
A Frosty Morning
It was a cold and frosty morning this morning.
- Frost on a shell on a table
In fact it was still settling as we got going for the day.
- Frost on the car in the mist
To say it was the hardest frost of the year would be an understatement!
Which means it was a good thing that last night, while watching the All Blacks thump the Boks, The E.I.C. finished her knitting project, a jersey for the youngest.
Editing What I Thought I Wrote, Not What I Did Write, And The Redundancies of Dishwashers
The editing process is quite interesting, in a painful sort of way. Apart from finding the wrong there, their or they’re, and of or off floating though the manuscript. There is also the passages where in my head I wrote something, which didn’t quite relate to what I typed.
And then having the E.I.C. come along and find more, as when I am reading to edit, I often read what I think I wrote not what I thought I wrote. That’s so confusing. I can see why the editing process can be difficult. One gets so close to what one is writing that one losses focus of it’s bad spots. “Every single word is a perfectly placed gem.”
If I every get to the stage where a professional editor is working with me to get it published I hope that I will be prepared. I understand it can be quite brutalizing, especially for those who feel that their work is perfect the way it is.
In a completely random change of topic, we sold our dishwasher this morning. Having moved out here we have used it not at all, and we didn’t think we would. Mainly because it would chew through the water, and being on a water tank makes you very aware of your water use! So away it goes, and in it’s place we need to find some nice wicker baskets…
The End of The Golden Weather
Well not really, but in some ways we wish it was.
With the last of the plantings done, the tradesmen gone, everything cleared from the last property we have come to a lull in the proceedings. Whilst we have a number of jobs to do around the grounds, tidying up here, straightening this there, chopping and lugging fire wood there, a general tiredness has settled over us. I think we are a little shell shocked from the speed of everything.
The lovely sunny days weirdly enough are not helping. While it is lovely to enjoy the property in the sun, it does lend to a sense of guilt over unfinished jobs. Besides that we really, really, really need the rain! Our new trees need a good watering in and the tank needs a top up.
Maybe what we need then is cupcakes, and tea on the toadstools with the TBT’s
The Fairy Ring
