This life.

Come oan fur a wee trip aroon the place....

Well, today the heavy, heavy rain must have stayed on the plane. It's just glorious and don't our animals know it! And I mean all of them.

The dogs just love basking in the sun, especially miss Murphy Brown. I've posted a picture of the 3 amigos, this is not as easy as it looks, especially Mr Kodak, who after 4 attempts, actually stayed still for 10 seconds. Right after this shot he bolted out of the shot, every time the camera is there, he gets all naughty puppy on me. He looks right royal with his chin pointing upwards...I can guess what he might be thinking!

I just love the image of Miss Peg leg peggy, our lucky chicken. About 6 weeks ago she dared to enter the dog zone, and yes you guest it, she got a wee fright. She took a few weeks to get herself straightened out again, but she is fine and dandy now. The image with the blackened background, was a lucky shot, but I love it...she looks like she's peeking round the corner.
The feeding station we built is to allow the chooks to access their feed when they need it and in turn, no food is wasted. They peck the base of the unit and food drops out, they eat until they are full, then leave the rest nice and dry for when they need it next.
Our sheep are doing really well, Mamma-juke has the chicken feeder Sussed....clever sheep.
We gotta make sure when we let them though to have a graze in the chook area that the feeders are pretty empty or she will steal the lot!
Two of our girls have been away 'meeting the boys'.... And I'm delighted to announce, little lambs are expected around late September.
Off out tonight to watch the All Blacks take on France.... And for the record, the Scottish football team beat Croatia 1-0 in the World Cup qualifier match.....Yayyyyyy!!

Stay well friends, and ' don't sweat the small stuff'. Maggie.

Doors, tables and drenching.

Doorway to table top...

When we renovated the bathroom we found ourselves with a spare door?

Question: when is a door not a door?

Answer: when it's a table.

Brooke had seen some cool photos of tables that were once doorways and that was all it took really. So trade me got a few more dollars from us with these cool and kinda funky adjustable table legs. They are perfect, because like so many old homes, the floor is a little imperfect, but a few wee twists here and there and voila! a level table.

Just waiting for it's first meal to arrive

 

 Home made quiche and relish...yum yum yum!!!

The best thing is, our place mats (missing in picture) fit perfectly into the panels, which means no rocking plates...it's just magic.

The next challenge is to build a big corner bench to go along the wall and under the window...watch this space.

Our sheepies got drenched today.

No photos I'm afraid, but it's a wee story you can easily imagine in your mind.

Plan

Organise with Sue (our farmer friend) to come over and drench our sheepies.....

Sue did arrive about 3.30 and we headed out to round the sheep up and guide, bribe, con, plead, chase and eventually just hoped to move them into the holding area.

What happened next:
Well, Brooke did her shake the bucket thing and all but 2 of the wee buggers came in quite happily, but as all "farmers' know, it's all or nothing with getting the animals in...so oot they all went again. Mind games followed, running up and down the paddock and eventually securing them all was such a relief. The drenching was quite easy as we discovered once you tilt the head just slightly, the sheep does not move. But 2 of the wee blighters made the great escape and ended up in with the chickens...can you imagine it yet?
The new plan was to slowly walk in, get them into the corner and just grab them..it was only 2 to go after all!
We eventually got them, but in the debrief we had an acceptance that we need to improve our planning and keep to our own job....
We plan to improve the holding pen and next time we will get it bang on...

The last wee thing to share is this little insect I discovered under a rock...It was actually pretty big, so big in fact I had to run get my camera to share with you...sorry I couldn't get something to share it's scale...I reckon it's about my palm size..aarrggg!!!!

 The giant Rock Spider

As I told Sue:

"Some things are hard to remember...other things are easy to forget!"

Bathroom renovation start to finish....

 

March was a great month. The weather continued to be lovely and our spirits were so high, we decided to rip out the old bathroom and install a whole new one. The journey was to be filled with challenges, breakdowns and breakthroughs. Who knew gibing was so rewarding, Gib stopping so satisfying, pulling down old walls, so exhilaration, tiling, well? this was the biggest challenge at the beginning, but the absolute best outcome by far.

Let's go on the journey to the bathroom!

The initial challenge was.... do we or don't we rip the wall down where the toilet was. We knew by taking this away would open up the room, but it would also mean leaving a few gaps in the roof where the frame was built in to. After a few days deliberating we decided to go for it...It was awesome once we got into the destruction mode, down came the door, down came the door frame, off came the Gib and voila!! an open plan bathroom with a whole lot more space...

 

 

             Getting ready to pull the wall down      

 

     



 

  

Brooke sanding down the Gib stop

 

Painting the roof

 

Phase 1 - Out with the old by the demolition duo. The plumber established the pipes for the bath, sink and toilet. We then started to re build the place through initially re gibing and sealing them all the walls we had just pulled down, we then painting the walls and ceiling (this took 3 coats by the way...gggrrr!) and then we has to get ready to tackle the floor.

Phase 2 - If you've ever tackled the game of tiling, be sure to have a few extra bob in the account...geeez! the tiles were by far the cheapest part of the whole floor job. A wee thin  waterproof membrane, the size of a single bed sheet was $60, and we needed 4 of them, the membrane paint was not far behind this cost, then the adhesive, the grout, the sealant and finally, the edging silicone.Once we recovered from the cost, the actual doing of the task was just magic.

Yes, we did have a few wee bumps at the beginning. I, as usual thought I knew everything, and Brooke gently reminded me that just because I had tiled my Mums kitchen wall 20 years ago, this does not make me an expert. She was right.

Eventually we were on a roll and it actually started to look pretty awesome.

Waterproof membrane in place

 

 

Tiling begins

 

 

4 hours later...it's all over

Phase 3. This was such a rewarding time when the canvas was now prepared and we could at last install all of the furnishings we had gathered over the months for this day. I must say, it is very pleasing to know that all of the fittings we installed were reclaimed and that this old house was gaining some old friends who may even have been in a home just like ours many years ago.

 

 

The pedestal sink sits nicely under the window

Old bath (made in Glasgow)

settles into her wee corner

Looking out towards the dresser,

checking in on an old friend

 

Old crates mounted on wall

 

Footprints.... (click link)A quote for the heart . This is my favourite poem and one that always reminds me how important it is to be very thankful for what you have in life and especially to those special people in your life who may just be quietly helping you along without you realising it.

See you next time.

 

 

 

Challenge yourself - Challenge poverty

Every step you take.

 

So, in a few short weeks, the biggest challenge my friends and I face is just how the heck do we walk 100km in 24 hours? are we mad? probably, but just a wee bit.

 

I'll tell you why: The very basic human rights are to be able to eat, to sleep and to drink water that is not so polluted it guarantees gastro for every mouth full. But yet, some of the most impoverished villages in our Pacific take this gamble every single day, just to wet their pallet.

My wonderful buddies at the Zoo (that's us below) have taken on this challenge and between our two teams will raise $5000 that will make a difference to these people.

 

 

 

I know we are all having our heart strings pulled for so many causes every day. Social media is such a fantastic platform for addressing and highlighting such things as war, famine and natural disasters...which one do you choose to donate to, to share a portion of your earnings with? I have always been drawn to the helplessness of animals, because they do not have a voice, they cannot escape the pain they often subjected to, they hurt every bit as we do. I won't stop helping animals, I couldn't...

 

But, what if, for a moment we chose to help another human being through a consistent and guaranteed life of tragedy. A well that pumps beautiful, safe waters, a toilet that prevents disease, a bag of seeds to produce a crop and animals for food and milk.

 

We are training hard for what guarantees a tough, tough time. But what drives us all is knowing that our challenges, our tough times, our aches and pains for days after will only ever be temporary...for these people it's always. help us help them...

 

Here are some pictures of our recent training weekend

Flying the flag for Oxfam

 

 

      Onwards and upwards                                 Why am I smiling

 

       The road to nowhere                                   Fiona and Claudine

 

 

David lifting 25kg barrel of water to experience the daily load these amazing women carry. And sun setting over Forrest

 

 John ready for second round           Billie relaxing before night walk..

 

 After reading what it's all about here www.oxfamtrailwalker.co.nz and if you feel you would like to get in on the challenge, I thank you in advance for donating to team oxfam Team Zooper Tramp or Safari so Good and please know, we are sincerely grateful for your help and I am humbled for following my wee blog.

Quote du jour: Tis better to regret something you did, than to regret something you didn't.

 

 

 

 

 

Brooke the Bee Charmer,

Anniversary weekend has again brought heat, sunshine and NO RAIN.......

There is an official fire ban for Auckland. I just heard yesterday a guy was fined $1000 for breaking it. Watch out everyone, the fire police are out in force!

I wanted to share the Bee Charmers update with you.  As you know, we have set out to achieve so much in the first year on our new lifestyle journey. It's been such a joy sharing our progress with you and to sit down to a plate of food which is 100% from our land was such a thrill.

What's next I hear you say!

Well....Bees of course!

Brooke has nurtured her bees over the past few weeks and today was inspection day where she checked on the progress and development of the hive.

 

The Bees have been busy at work, building the hive to a very respectable level. The hive has 3 supers (that's the proper terminology for the boxes).The bottom one is full, the middle one is half full and top which has a queen excluder will, very soon fill with honey only. The bottom 2 supers are food and egg laying areas and this is where the Queen lives.  It's truly fascinating. Brooke managed to confiscate a wee bit of honey for us to try....amazing, yummylicious. Sweet as!

 

Some photos of today's 'Operation Bee charmer'

 

 



Brooke smoking the hive to calm the Bees down

 

Top super off, the yellow tray is the Queen excluder, she canna get through from second super, so all honey can be eaten

 

Excluder off, Brooke about to inspect the frames

 

Close up of the top of super, check out the amount of Bees

 

 The Bees pouring into the frames, honeycomb visible

 

All hives inspected, ready to reassemble, time to relax again with a wee puff...

 

Brooke reckons in about four weeks, we should have our very own honey. Boy, am I looking forward to that.

 

I do hope the kiwis who read my Blog had a fantastic anniversary weekend, the Aussies...Happy Australia day. To my Dad back in Glasgow..happy 80th Birthday and my Sister Helen, happy Birthday. I love you both. 

 

Maggie.

The best of times

Like meeting up with Old friends,

We travelled (at long last) to Our wee farm up in Kerikeri to Laura and Lloyd's place where we stayed in  The Acorn cottage. This was the most beautiful experience. After a very short time in Laura and Lloyd's company it was like meeting up with old friends.

Please, if you haven't yet! checked out Laura's awesome Blog just click the link above and away you go. 

We travelled on Friday and at the last minute decided we would take all 3 dogs with us, we were just going to take Finn but heck, whats 2 more eh?

When we arrived at The Farm, we settled into the cottage no worries, Laura had left us 6 of the best (eggs) in the cute little kitchen and an invite to dinner the next evening...yippee.

 

So, we quickly unloaded the Ute and after reading the best the area has to offer in Lauras' must read welcome book, we were off to get supplies.

Kerikeri has grown heaps since I was there last, but everything you could ask for was right there.

 

When we returned to the Farm, we stopped to say a quick high to Laura and her 3 doggies. The quick high was almost 2 hours, a cuppa Tea and 6 dogs who became instant friends. We chatted about life on the lifestyle track, our journey to where we all are now and about Glasgow, where Laura and I both lived. It was a great catch up and cuppa was no bad either!

 

Saturday saw an early rise and a beach walk with L&L and 6 dogs. It's a secret beach so canna tell you where, but it was stunning and quiet (well until we arrived) and best of all the doggies could swim and play until their wee hearts content. We then headed up the cost further whilst L&L headed home for their Saturday catch up with friends. We went through Matauri bay which was stunning, and then to that famous chippy at Mangonui Chippy. this is a must see, do and try for any traveller.

 

After coming back to the Acorn, we went for a lovely dinner at the farm house and had the best night of food (thanks Lloyd), laughter, connection and the definite affirmation that a new friendship had evolved. We shall return to continue our conversation very soon.

 

The lovely welcome upon arrival

The Acorn through the trees

View to the relaxing lounge or drinks on the deck

Ain't that a pretty thing

 

 A fine day had by all

Murphy doin her thing at Matauri Bay

 

 Mangonui Bay waiting for our Fish'n chips

 

Just chillin 

 

Came back to picking this from the Garden...boom!

 

 

 

Dream big!

See ya soon. X