Sunday, May 28, 2006

Belle the Terrible

The landlord has five dogs here at the moment including "Belle" a hunterway who apparently came from an abusive home as a younger dog. She is a nasty dog, pack leader to the other sheepdogs and the only one that has bitten me (twice). Belle leads the other dogs into all sorts of mischief including worrying cattle and the horses which she backs into a corner. She absolutely loathes my Sheltie Mishka and takes every opportunity to sneak onto this property, defecating in front of us to establish her dominance.

Thursday was a balmy warm late Autumn day so I decided to give Mish a bath. To do this I fill two buckets with warm water and have a hose running nearby while I wash him on the patio at the front of the cottage. We'd finished and I tied him to the front wrought iron railing while I went inside to find the blow drier to finish him off. As I went past the front window I noticed Belle come in over the front cattlestop. The next thing Mish had slipped his lead and was trying to chase her out. By the time I got out she had him pinned onto the front lawn and was taking a chunk out of his back. When I yelled at her she ran out the front gate with Mish behind her- I am hoping he took a piece out of her leg as she was limping as she ran away.

So Mish had to be washed down yet again as he was covered with dirt. I spent a good twenty minutes drying him off despite being shaky. Couldn't find any wounds on his back so looks like his thick coat saved him yet again.

A few years ago Belle and another dominant bitch called Jess bailed Mish up on the front lawn. Jess bit Mish in the jugular and Belle in the back. What got me was this was witnessed and I never received an apology. Instead I had a $50 vet bill for antibiotics.

Time has marched on and Jess has gone to that great dog kennel in the sky and I'm hoping that Belle won't be long following her. The other dogs here are all friendly with Mish so she's definitely a problem dog who is out to establish her superiority. Frankly I would never keep an animal that worries my stock as this "game" can so swiftly change to something more dangerous.

Tuesday, May 23, 2006

Timber!

My landlord came in over the weekend to say that he would be removing the wattle tree that fell into the backyard during the big rain a couple of weeks ago. I asked him to start the chainsaw up away from the rabbit shed so they're weren't startled and I would sit in with them for the duration. He also mentioned wanting to cut down all the trees on the eastern boundary (along my driveway). This was pretty startling as it meant I would lose all my privacy but on the plus side some sun would come into the end of the cottage.

Sunday morning work began but stopped almost immediately when the chainsaw broke. Resuming at lunchtime Ken took nearly two hours to chop down the wattle and remove it. I sat with the angoras who were absolutely terrified. I put my hand on Cadbury who was nearest to the noise in order to keep him settled.

After finishing with the wattle the shelter belt along the drive was the next to go including twenty foot high bottlebrush trees and a few native shrubs. I asked for the smoke tree and a very tall native tree that I don't know the name of to be left. Also two silver birches and a gum down the end were left as they really don't take any sun from the cottage (the photo is an old shot showing the gum tree near the gate- you can see how dark the backyard was from the shelterbelt). Ken then got his tractor and pulled the branches into the middle of the paddock and these will later be burnt.

Yesterday was the moment of truth- would the sun come into the cottage? The answer was sort of. Yes it is lighter in here but there is a shelterbelt of tall pines on the northern boundary of the field next door and this is what is stopping the sun coming in here during the winter.

Sunday, May 14, 2006

Farriers


Farriers have become as scarce as hen's teeth here in the Hawkes Bay over the past few years. Part of this must be blamed on the lack of young people going into the profession and who can blame them? It's back breaking work (literally) plus you have to bear the indignity of dealing with the horse fraternity- not all of whom are polite or used to dealing reasonably with other people.

My first farrier was a tall guy from Napier who was hard to get hold of unless you rang him late at night (he worked on the wharves). The last time I saw him was in 1998 before I moved out here. His back was so painful he was having to give up farrier work. I then was told of a local man who lived slightly south of the farm. He didn't like working with my donkey at all although she really only got cranky when he touched her left hind foot. Also he would only come several weeks after you'd called him so I ended up ringing him before I needed to so that by the time he arrived the horse and donkey's hooves were ready to be trimmed. In the end he got a full time job and gave up his farrier work.

Finally I was told about Darryn a young farrier based down Central Hawkes Bay. Unlike many people he was happy to travel out here as he worked as far north as Tutira. What's more Briar the donkey adores him. He doesn't even have to tie her up to work on her feet. Goes to show what a good judge of character animals are. Sometimes he talks about cutting down his workload but I always hope that he won't as he is an important part of our equine friends' lives. Lately I have had trouble getting hold of him and was worrying that he had finally retired but last week managed to call him on his mobile phone and he's coming on Monday to trim Briar's feet.

Oh and another benefit of farriers- they know all the gossip and can fill you in about anything happening in the horse world!

Monday, May 08, 2006

Webbed Feet

Two things I am wishing for at the moment. Webbed feet and a digital camera so I could show the devastation caused by all this rain. Had two lots of visitors over the weekend and they couldn't use my driveway in from the road as the culvert has washed out. Instead they drove round to my landlord's gateway and then made a shortcut across the paddock in front of his place into mine. Hard to explain without a photo but at least they were able to get in here.

Today is meant to be sunny which will at least mean that I can do some washing before the rain returns for the rest of the week. It's also nowhere as cold as usual for autumn which for me confirms that our climate is changing. Last year was a warm wet winter and this one looks like it's going to be even worse.

My chick is four weeks old now. She is brown with a few white speckles on her back so lets hope she is going to turn out to be one of the painterly chickens. Cordelia's wheezing was non existent yesterday so am wondering if the pile of garlic I threw into the henhouse late last week helped. I have given all the other animals apple cider vinegar and garlic in their drinking water to help build up their immune systems.

Otherwise my life consists of mud, mud, and more mud.

Friday, May 05, 2006

Building a boat...........

The rain storm we had last weekend lasted three days and dumped ten inches of water (the wettest it's ever been up here on the farm apparently). If it had stayed at that it would have been ok but after only one day of sunshine the rain came back in a big way. The soil being too sodden to hold anymore moisture caused my henhouse to go under water and the rain even ran into the rabbit shed and flooded that although the bunnies were safe and dry as their cages are suspended. But the worst part of all was that when I came home from town on Wednesday afternoon (yes mad dogs and kiwi women go out in the teeming rain) the large wattle tree at the southern boundary of my place had fallen into the backyard. The ground was so wet that the roots just pulled free so now it's lying on top of the lemon tree.

The road is also in a bad way and someone who was heading out here to see me ended up bogged down in the shingle in the new section of road my landlord is constructing to bypass all the winding sections. She did free herself but turned round and went straight home for a shower as she was drenched. Now she says she won't come out here for another week and only if it's sunny!

Yesterday was sunny and warm so there was frantic reconstruction of the drive by the landlord in his tractor while I did the washing, dumped dirt into the holes in the henhouse floor to mop up the water and worked with the rabbits as their coats are beginning to web after all this damp. And the weather forecast......yes more rain coming from late today.