The last couple of mornings, the early morning view from my very dirty bedroom window has been a little different.
It’s a nice sight, a pleasant start to the day and, although you can’t really tell from the pictures, days that have been pleasantly summery to boot. Two days in a row of summer is a definite oddity for this year of one day warm/one day cold.
In the paddocks, the weather has everyone a little confused. The chickens are in a constant state of kinda-broody, manically guarding makeshift nests for a couple of days before just wandering off with the flock, leaving the potential chickens to grow cold. All except one lady.
On Monday, she will have been there for the required 21 days but I’ve learnt not to count my chickens before they hatch. That said, she does have that look in her eye and has been very industrious at turning the eggs and freshening the nest. I’ll keep you posted on the fate of the nine eggs she’s stockpiled.
The sheep can’t quite believe their luck. Green pastures at this time of year? Unheard of! The last couple of years, February has seen our sheep paddock nibbled down to almost nothing and the hay feeder in high demand; this year our hay remains in reserve which is a nice feeling.
You’ll notice that only a couple of the ladies felt the need to look up from their elevenses to check on what I was doing wandering amongst them and both of them wear expressions of what do you want? You see, I don’t actually have a sheep fan; not like some…
Esme only has eyes for The Bean Counter
You might remember Esme from the bungy cord incident when, as a lamb, she ended up with the hook lodged in the corner of her mouth. Although it looked fine at the time, almost a month later it resulted in an abscess that required me to catch, clean and iodine anoint for a good fortnight and left the little scar you can see on her muzzle. That probably goes a long way to explaining why I am not on the receiving line of those kind of sheepy looks.
It’s been a week of pottering about the Homestead; weeding the gardens and catching up on the indoor chores with one day spent in town for a Farm Girl hospital appointment.
Colin visited Casa Kimberley while Shirley and I offered our services as taxi, parking at the hospital being appalling, and hung out at the Urban Homestead for the four hours the appointment took. Another operation is in the pipeline for Farm Girl but this time she was feisty: the odds she demanded look good, they guarantee she will be free to fly by December when we have another adventure planned, and the operation will take place in school holiday time. In her final year of high school, she doesn’t want to miss out on any of the fun…
Can you guess what colour her house, Waimakariri, is?
Union Homestead 
Go, green! Go, Farm Girl. And best of luck to Sylvia.
Initial reports are very favourable regarding Waimakariri’s success for Endeavour Day. Fingers crossed fir Sylvia
Hi. What’s the occasion for the hot air balloon?
I think it’s just favourable flying conditions at the moment. Ballooning Canterbury is based about 10 km down the road so we often see them in the distance but this was very close! Geographically, with the Canterbury Plains and Southern Alps, it’s a great ballooning spot.
Good luck with the patter of little chicken feet and a very proud and protective, Sylvia. Farm Girl certainly looks the part for joining in some competitive school fun.
Farm Girl promised herself she would take every opportunity her final school year offered and she was totally true to her word and had a blast! Fingers crossed for Sylvia’s little family
How nice to have balloons to look at. They would give me a lift. We just have low flying aircraft.
I hope that the operation works out well. The timing is very good at least.
In answer to your last question, I am guessing ‘green’.
I live in hope that, one day, one will land in our paddock resulting in quite a lot of excitement on my part and the gift of a bottle of wine. So far, no joy.
That would be a treat. I like the idea of a bottle of wine as a reward.