Wednesday and Water Issues

Wednesday died yesterday morning. She had been going downhill for a couple of weeks with her heart giving her problems and then her kidneys began to fail. Yesterday morning she appeared to have rallied but when I went out later she had passed away peacefully which was all you could hope for with an elderly rabbit. I have had some great times with her although she was the worst mother I ever knew.

My landlord has been here since Saturday installing a rain water tank. Smedley isn't sure where my water is coming from but part of the agreement for Cathy and Brent buying this place from them last year was that they had to have their own water supply by October 2007. Brent cleared out the tack shed of Cathy's stuff and installed a pump. Yesterday the tank arrived- it is a 15,000 gallon one, only a metre and a half tall but very wide. He and the driver rolled it across the fields to where it was going to reside (the back of the hedge) although it made a break for freedom at one point and crashed into a fence. Everything is a bit chaotic with pipes being dug underground etc. plus it began to rain heavily yesterday afternoon which isn't helping matters. You are so conscious of water when you live in the country and after being without it once for four days at my last rental I am particularly paranoid (well more paranoid than usual let's say!)

Sheepish Shennanigans

When I came home from Portraiture Class at Otane yesterday I was shocked to find at least 50 sheep in my paddock. I rang Jeff down the road and left a message on his answering machine asking why they were there. Two hours later they'd gone but I still have no idea who authorised them to graze here. I do know that if they'd remained overnight I would have been left with no grass for Briar and Toby whatsoever.

The past few mornings I have been woken up by the call of a Morepork in the trees by the drive. They have such a haunting call, especially when answered by another owl from across the field. There is also a pheasant population explosion at the moment and you see plenty of birds along the side of the road.

Crazy cat playtime still takes place at 5.30am every morning. The other day I heard a smash in the kitchen followed by rattling and scraping sounds for a while afterwards. Turned out Peaches and Gypsy had found a small clay sculpture I'd made on the bench top, pushed it off onto the lino where bits flew in all directions resulting in small yet interesting chips which could be gently patted under cat dishes (all the better for staring intensely at) and placed carefully under rugs for pulverization when I unknowingly went over them later. Gypsy also has a tendency for pulling covers off furniture, her favourite being a cream shawl placed on the piano stool. She then lies on her side and kicks the life out of it. No matter how many times I put it back when I return to the sitting room it's back on the floor in a neat little pile. This is fast becoming a battle of wills which I have a sneaking suspicion she will win.

Miffed Pets

Demelza is pretty miffed with me this morning as Peaches has usurped her usual place on my knee. She's prowling around the office making annoyed whinny sounds and doing naughty things to gain my attention. Last night a friend rang so Melz tripped the light fantastic along the mantelpiece and although she did get down when I yelled at her a minute later I turned to find her with hind feet on the arm of the sofa and front feet propped on the mantelpiece, just standing there to see if I would turn round and look. She was so mischievous that in the end I sat on the sofa and she came and cuddled up with me which is apparently what she wanted all along. She is a four year old child in a furry body.

My friend John visited yesterday bringing half a cord of firewood to hopefully get me through the last of the colder weather. He threw it under the front carport to dry out. He and his wife have been so incredibly kind to me in the ten years I've known them that I don't know how I would have got through at times without their support.

The other excitement was that Briar attacked Toby again. I watched in horror as she stood over his inert body but by the time I got out in the paddock he was standing up again although Briar was still huffing and puffing. She never did this before she came to live here and with me she's the gentlest animal you'll ever meet.


Got some photos back last week and found this shot of one end of the kitchen looking towards the "gallery" where I hang paintings for sale. It is a sunny room for much of the day and so much larger than my previous kitchen. The cats surely love it as they spend much of their time in there.

The Big Stink

I'm sitting here with Demelza on my knee, the heater on, wearing two jerseys and still shivering. I wonder if there's snow outside? After a few warmer days a cold southerly has swept up the island and we're bearing the rainy brunt of it.


However this hasn't stopped the spring bulbs from beginning their spectacular show. The farm next door has a "host of golden daffodils" flowering in the field by the road. I have two...The pink camellia bush at the top of the drive has been flowering for weeks now and still looks stunning. I tried to take photos of it last month and Mishka insisted on posing in one of them.

Smedley have been grazing the long acre the road verge)all this week which meant that whenever I open the front gates as I am going out a few minutes later I will have found the cadets have shut them again. As I am venturing out into the big world where the normal people live four times this week making the long trek down the driveway in the bitter wind to open them again is a pain in the behind(I'd say something worse but my swearing has toned down since I've lived here). The cows responsible for all this hoohaa are being held most of the day in the stump paddock next to me. After coming home from grocery shopping the other afternoon I noticed the most terrible smell outside. It was all encompassing making the pungent Peaches' mini tornadoes seem small by comparison! Looked out and saw silage had been fed to the cows. Well at least I now know what that smells like and I'll state here that chicken manure seems like Chanel No 5 in comparison.

A couple of my hens have gone broody already. One is determinedly breaking into my garden where I assume she has a nice little clutch forming. I usually find her loitering with intent near the back gate at various times during the day. Doesn't matter how many times I threaten her with decapitation she still insists on coming back. The call of impending motherhood is strong in this one.

Trough Trouble and Toby's Horn Returns

Yesterday morning I spent in Otane at a portraiture class. It was so warm and sunny but on arriving back here at lunchtime Glenys remarked that it was a "different world" i.e. a cold wind was blasting from the south.

I had just finished lunch when Jeff from Smedley Station came to the back door. They were moving the large round trough from the back paddock to the stump one next door as their cattle will be grazing the long acre (along the road verge) soon and they're using that field as a holding paddock. A large tractor was brought in to move it but they also shifted an old concrete trough to just behind the hedge by the back gate so my animals have somewhere to drink. Unfortunately this means I'll have to refill it with water every day as there is a crack at one end and it leaks slowly. As I will be going off Smedley water in a couple of months and onto rainwater (after my landlord puts in a tank to collect rainwater from the roof) I am worried I may run low. I don't ever want to be in the position of not having water as I was at the last cottage.

Anyway I told Jeff about Tobermory losing his horn but he already knew as he found it way down by the old trough. He said it looked like it had snapped off. When I went out to put the chickens to bed he'd hung it in the wire netting on the gate. Poor Toby- I bet it hurt.

I was collecting my mail when Rachel drove past. She stopped for a chat and said once her nursing course is finished at the end of the year she'll be popping in for coffee. I am amazed at how friendly people are in this area compared to where I lived before.