Christmas Past, Chicken Future

It's always a relief to get Christmas over and done with. I have no idea why we all get so het up about the whole day but it seems most of us do. My Christmases have been extremely low key for the past few years with me usually spending the day alone apart from a visit from my brother and his wife. However this year I had been invited to spend the evening with Gaye and family down the road. Preparing for this meant that I had two sleeps in the morning complete with wheat pack on my back and Demelza on curled up along my front. After 11am Di and Rich called in on their way to her sister's place in Tikokino before they went to lunch with her mother in Waipukurau. They brought with them all my left over work from Creative Hastings Christmas Sale. My worst year EVER! I only sold one pendant, five brooches, one stone and some cards. Hopefully I've done better at the galleries but won't know until later this week.

Christmas lunch consisted of cheese and crackers and chocolate (I have my priorities right!)with another rest in the afternoon before I fed all the animals and had a soak in a hot bath. My friend Pete from down south gave me a call late and I was busy chatting away to him when Gine arrived. I had decided to give her one of my hand painted pendants but didn't know which one she'd like so I let her choose. In the end she chose one with a lop bunny on it.

Alhtough it's meant to be summer here it was chilly and grey outside but it was much warmer down the road at Gaye's so we ended up sitting outside until 9pm when it began to get dark. There were 12 of us there including Gaye, Gine and Gareth, Rachel, her husband Korbus and two sons, Gaye's sister in law, Gaye's other son and his caregiver and a man caleld Cedric from the village. First a pile of presents appeared on the lawn and we watched while the boys opened their gifts from Father Christmas. I also received gifts including a lovely home made tea light holder and candles from Gine, chocolates from Rachel and chocolates and a stuffed tiger from Gaye. Although there was a barbeque for all the carnivores Gaye and I had a selection of vegetables followed by icecream and watermelon. During the evening Cedric pulled out his piano accordian and accompanied Gine on her violin playing old folk tunes. When we later went inside they continued playing with Gine playing the piano and Cedric the violin. After a cup of tea and homemade Christmas cake Rachel and I hopped into the car and she dropped me off home at 10.30pm after we successfully missed hitting various bunnies, hedgehogs and a frog who was making his way home across the tarseal. It was the loveliest Christmas night I have ever had.

However next morning Gine rang me to say that one of our friends from art group had died of cancer on Christmas Eve. This so saddened me as I had only met Kate a few times but always looked at her farm when we passed it down the road and wondered how she was faring. Her funeral was held on the Thursday afternoon and most of Tikokino and many out of towners turned up for the lovely service.

Friday was a drizzly day which of course is very welcome at this time of year. My little chicks are growing fast and look as if they're all going to be speckled like their Dad "Noodle" aka Chicken Noodle also known as THE BIG NOODLE. Another hen is hiding at the moment- have no idea where or when she'll appear or what with. I have decided to put a sign out on the mail box advertising free range eggs for sale. Hopefully that will help pay the feed bill for the increasingly geriatric flock.

The Big Shake and Feathery Bumblebees

I think everyone is still pretty shaken from the large earthquake we had here Thursday night. Although it was downsized to 6.6 on the Richter scale it still packed a punch and created so much devastation in Gisborne. Mishka ran around barking while it shook while I watched in horror as the television shook and wobbled and looked like it was going to fall off the bookshelf it sits on. However nothing fell or broke although it took me a while to settle down for the night.

My main concern though were for the newest arrivals here. A bantam hen had gone broody a month ago. She had become prone to lurking around the front lawn on occasion yelling abuse at me. Thursday 13th December I went outside at 6.30am and heard her clucking and then some answering cheeps. In a panic I grabbed Kit and yelled at the dog, bundling them inside before I went to find a wire cage to put the new family in. Of course the grass had grown throught the one I wanted to use and it took another 15 minutes to pull all this out. I threw in some old hay for bedding and took it round to the lavender bush the hen had laid her eggs under. I counted five small bumblebees sheltering under her wings. Knowing I could tempt her out with mash I mixed some with warm water and put it in the cage. She was starving so rushed in while I collected the chicks and put them in with her. They weren't hungry so I assume they'd only hatched a couple of hours before.

I put the cage under the carport at the front of the house as i figured this was sheltered from the elements. They did well there until it began to rain this past week and began to flood in there so I placed the cage onto the front step where they were out of danger. A week later they've thrived and are beginning to get their wing feathers. At this stage I've sexed four pullets and one rooster.


Also happened to spy the first monarch butterfly I've seen up here. It was trying to find the swan plant I'd planted beside the garage so I assume that's now covered with eggs. Not great news as it's only about two feet high!

Frazzled Visitors and Chaotic Trips To Town

I've been under the weather quite alot lately and for the past few weeks just sitting at the computer in the morning has proved a huge effort. Finally made an appointment to see my doctor last Tuesday which meant a 45 minute trip into Napier. I had made my appointment for 11.15am so left here an hour before. Although when I arrived I was the next patient due to go in I could see Bernadette rushing to and fro from the nurses' station down the back of the building. Turned out three of her patients had suffered fractures and these needed to be attended to which meant I didn't get in to see her until 11.50am. Bernadette decided to do a few tests and sent me down to the nurses so they could take bloods. However they were busy making sure people were being plastered in not such an enjoyable way and couldn't do my test for 40 minutes! In the end they did it in the waiting room which wasn't too great for the other patient waiting for his test since they took seven phials of blood. I joked to the nurse that she'd left me with an empty arm.


After this I had a trip into town for an x-ray. Arrived at nearly 1pm to be told the radiographer was having her lunch. However only waited five minutes before she took me which was very lucky as apparently they were holding a clinic that afternoon and were not taking any more casual arrivals. She took five x-rays of my spine so that evening I had no need of a night light as I was practically glowing!

Then decided to go to Office Products to buy some cellulose packets which I use for my brooches and cards. Mentioned to my brother that I hoped I didn't get the really stupid woman who had served me last time- well the law of attraction did its thing and she was the one who served me. First she told me they didn't have the packets I wanted any more, then she went into the back for ten minutes before returning with a catalogue of packets they could order. I tried to show her what size I wanted which she couldn't understand whatsoever so I grabbed an envelope and showed how it needed to be that wide by that long. She still couldn't make head nor tail of what I was saying so in the end she had to draw the smallest size they could get which turned out to be the one I wanted. But then she said I would have to order a box of 1000 at $80! Well that wasn't going to happen and I was about to leave when she went back to the office again for fifteen minutes before returning with the news that they could break a box for me.

Well I was beginning to feel a bit stressed at this point, especially when she went into my account on the computer trying to find when I had last bought packets. This took another ten minutes when suddenly she discovered that yes they actually had them in stock. So off she wandered for another 15 minutes and just as I was about to leave she arrived clutching 200 cellulose packets to her chest. It then took her another ten minutes to make up a docket for me. All in all my inquiry took ONE HOUR! How's that for service? That is the last time I go back there.

I had more essential shopping to do (each job taking longer than the last) and by the time we returned to Hastings to collect my sister in law from work and drove all the way home it was 5pm. Didn't make me any more fond of going to town.

Thursday friends said they would drive out to visit at 1pm. Mary had worked with my Dad years ago and had stayed a friend of our family ever since. This was her first visit here so I carefully explained how to get here. By 2.30pm Mary, her husband Bob and their neighbour Bev (my Aunt Kathleen's sister-in-law) who had come along for the ride still hadn't turned up so I tried ringing their number but no answer. In the meantime Ian had arrived for a fourth attempt at finishing the hedge.

At 2.45pm I saw Mary and Bob drive past so rushed out to the gate. Did a bit of weeding while I waited for them to return but when they did they drove right past and never saw me waving like crazy. Did a bit more weeding and heard them drive out of the neighbour's place. I went right out into the middle of the road and did some semiphore and this time they did see me. Apparently they had spent two hours trying to find me and had ended up at the main part of Smedley Station down Smedley Road. From there they rang a lady from my art group who is married to Mary's cousin and she gave them exact directions to my place which didn't help them find me either. By the time they got here they were hot and frazzled and ready to call it a day and drive all the way home to Napier.

I made a cup of tea for everyone and then Bob went round with his digital camera and took some snaps which he is going to print out and send to me. They had also brought along everything that belonged to their dear Siamese cat Sasha who died last week- all her food, bowls, electric blanket, two beds and three sheepskins. They had also brought home baking and lots of vegetables including new potatoes and asparagus. By the time we caught up with everything and they had a quick look round it was 5pm and beginning to get quite cold so they hopped in the car and left. I don't know if they'll ever risk trying to find me ever again!