On The Road Again

Well the big shift is over- almost. Saturday the 15th Gine and Gay arrived early in the morning and packed up all the high kitchen cupboards for me and began moving breakables over to the new place. Diane and Richard then arrived and began shifting my spare wire cages out of the paddock. Then Stu came up from Palmerston North to measure up for the front ramp and to help with the hen house. Finally Rachel, her husband and two children appeared and between them and Gareth moved all my firewood over and stacked it in the woodshed. Nearly everyone left at midday so Stu, Di and Rich and I went back to the cottage for lunch which consisted of hot cross buns.

Mid afternoon we returned to Kainui to have a look where we'd shift the hen house to. However on investigating the existing one on the property (complete with concrete floor, nesting boxes and perches) we decided to repair this instead. All afternoon Rich and Stu worked on fixing the roof which they did with a couple of sheets of corrugated iron they found on the property. Meanwhile I was so tired I lay on the sofa that Gay had given me in the dining room.

Late afternoon we collected the fowls. Catching 27 wayward chickens is no fun. I thought the most difficult would be the little bantam rooster who has been roaming wild since the hens kicked him out but he was the first one I caught. We then piled the rest of the birds into a bank of cages and took them for a ride on the back of a trailer before installing them into their new house. Fortunately we discovered a tap right next to where they were to live- fortunately because there doesn't appear to be one outside tap near the house which makes watering the garden difficult.

I did manage to get some sleep Saturday night before getting up early to do last minute packing and to see to the animals. We had emptied out the spare bedroom and I put the cats in this with a bed, litter tray, water and food and three new baby angora rabbits who'd arrived Friday night. A sign saying to keep out was stuck to the door.

At 9am the first people arrived to help- an elderly couple from Tikokino known to Gine. Then Gay, her sister Chris and son Gareth arrived, Marie, Martina and Glenys from art along with Gleny's husband Arthur, Pat and Alec (Gleny's neighbours) Diane and Rich and finally my friends Marg and John. All in all five trailers were used to shift my worldy possessions. As usual I watched in horror as the pianola was wheeled out but tried to keep my mind off it by helping Martina pack up the last of the kitchen crockery while Glenys, Marie and the other ladies cleared out the last of the kitchen cupboards.

By late morning we were at the homestead and I sat by the hallway trying my best to direct people with boxes and furniture. The yellow room at the front took the worst beating and is so full we couldn't get the hutch dresser into it and this is still sitting in the middle of the dining room. Marie and Gleny had provided quiches, fruit and lemon muffins for a beautiful lunch and we all ate these sitting on the verandah. I had to have several lie downs on the sofa which had been moved into the small sitting room at the front as people kept telling me I looked terrible (what's new?) and admittedly I was beginning to feel worn out.

After lunch the first people began to leave so Rich, John, Gareth and I went back to the cottage to do the big donkey/goat shift. It took three of us to push Briar out the gate into the back yard, then we had to encourage her down the drive and onto the road by tugging at her halter. Once we got on the gravel she began to move more easily and even managed to keep her cool when a car came towards up. I imperiously held up my hand to stop them which only made the driver grin and wave back. Gareth suggested we take a short cut into the stock route into the field behind my place. Soon as he opened the gate into this Briar lept forward and it was all I could do to keep up with her.

Meanwhile Tobermory led like a little lamb for Richard who then sat on a trailer with him while John drove at 2kms per hour along the road to the new place. Apparently this has caused great amusement amongst my new neighbours and there have been suggestions it would have made a great video movie. Both animals settled in well to their new home and were munching on thistle heads when I next saw them.

After the big excitement everyone left except Diane and Richard but then Stu arrived to help move the ramp from the old place. While they were taking this to bits I went and comforted the cats who were hiding in the wardrobe. It took till 7pm to get this installed at the new place and then Rich and I were in a rush to move the bunnies before it got dark. We had to make three trips back to the old place and would cage up a few bunnies, put them in the car while Rich struggled to remove the wire cages from the garage in just the glare of the headlights. Fortunately there is electricity in the new shed and by the time we returned Diane would have finished putting sawdust down on the polythene I'd laid beneath the cages.

The last trip we collected the cats as well and finally finished outside at 10.30pm. By this time Rich's emphysema was so bad he could barely breathe. He was so worried as we still hadn't connected the TV, the washing machine or lowered the washing line but we were all too tired to do anything more. They both knew they wouldn't be back here for a week and a half as they were going away before Easter and so Rich made one last call on his reserves to fix my computer which wouldn't turn on. Turned out the ram was loose but I reminded him it is tupping time so no wonder. Fortunately a quick jiggle fixed the problem!

I got to bed after midnight and slept till 6am. My first thoughts on going out in the kitchen were "what a mess" and "where is the plastic shovel for the litter boxes?" Gine popped in just after 8am before heading next door to clean the old place and then Gay came for the day and cleaned out the last of the mouse dung from the kitchen cupboards here and helped me put some more kitchenware away. She also dampened a broom and got rid of all the cobwebs.

Tuesday morning I slept but after lunch went along the road returning some more of my previous landlady's belongings that had found their way here. I spent nearly two hours cleaning out the garage and found some more of my stuff that had never been brought over which I piled in front of the shed. My own hen house is still there as well so hopefully I'll find a way to get this over here eventually. It was a hot day but I drank out of the garden hose before reading the electricity metre and wending my way back via the stock route.

When I got home Gerald my new landlord arrived to try and hook up the TV for me (he couldn't as the aerial connection had been cut off the cord into the house) before sending one of his workers and my new neighbour Hamish in to try (he couldn't fix it either). I managed to eat a little dinner thanks to Rachel who dropped off salad, tomatoes and a chocolate wombat for Easter.

Wednesday was art at Otane thank goodness. I rested when I got home as I knew I had a big day coming on Thursday. An occupational therapist was due to come out in the morning. Fortunately she was running late as I had to go out in the paddock and rescue Toby who had got himself cast and needed help turning the right way up. Managed to vacume the sitting room and part of the kitchen before the OT arrived. She was here two hours finding ways to help me out.

After lunch I let the chickens out at last then returned down the road with more of Cathy's belongings and collected some of my plants and cuttings which I planted in the garden here. Whether they'll survive is anyone's guess as I only had energy to water a few of them. This morning I can barely lift my arm from carrying the three heavy plastic bags back along the road but a sleep this morning as done the world of good so now I am waiting for Rachel's husband to come and try and fix the TV for me. Lets hope third man lucky!