It’s been a bit of a soft start to the new school year for Farm Girl with Waitangi Day falling on Thursday and the school opting to close for the Friday to allow for a long weekend, right when the weather is traditionally at its best. No complaints from us at home, but unfortunately the weather gods either didn’t get the memo or are waiting until Monday pull out the stops; those conniving little scamps have a questionable sense of humour.

So Monday morning was a little quieter for me as I went about my chores.

Xanthe and Babette barely looked up as I pottered about the paddocks. They both have their chosen posts: Xanthe’s by the grandly named Resource Pile where she can keep an eye on back paddock shenanigans while also sending out word to any critters thinking the pile looks like a cosy haven; Babette in the barn for the same critter-control reason with the added bonus of being very close to the newest Homestead residents.

Farm Girl has taken over as caregiver to the guinea pigs formally known as Brave and Oreo who failed to settle at Casa Kimberley. And who knew those names bestowed by their pre-Princess owners were their actually their surnames?! Luckily, Farm Girl has a touch of the Dr Doolittle about her and the matter has been righted. Lorraine Brave (left) and Ed Oreo (right) are settling in nicely despite the constant feline surveillance and I am working on ignoring how scittery-scampery they are.

Colin and Shirley are currently banned from paddock forays; Colin because of a recent selective hearing incident and Shirley because Lorraine and Ed are just too interesting.

Colin is adamant he doesn’t care and retaliates by settling himself firmly on the chair I favour for my morning coffee break (in the picture he has just discovered some peanut butter residue from an earlier snack) while Shirley deflects any feelings of abandonment with fruit ingestion. She’s raided the plum, pear and apricot trees lower branches and is now mowing through nashi at an alarming rate. Only her required assistance as garden waterer calls her from her fruit eating ways. She takes her irrigation duties very seriously.

So, even though the sun is conspicuous by its absence today, the feeling is fine down here on The Homestead. The ute has been, Sleeping Beauty -like, freed from the encroaching foliage and rewarded us by getting it’s Warrant of Fitness first pop despite it’s advanced years. Definite cause for celebration!

So, later on we’re heading to the Urban Homestead where The Bean Counter has been sleeping off his unplanned, last minute, paid employment graveyard shift – don’t get me started. Farm Girl is making nachoes, there’s multiple packets of bought biscuits in the cupboards, and we’re two episodes into Black Doves on Netflix. It’ll be like a little holiday! But first we’ll need to do some canine energy depletion in the form of a w-a-l-k

and maybe a quick Casa visit to check in on this little guy

He’s got a super fancy name, he’s a super fancy dude, but to us on The Homestead he’s Eli and we all know, despite his paperwork and pedigree line, it wont be long before he’s running with the pack

Colin and Shirley can’t wait!