We've had Anna here for a night and day, a stop off on her normal monthly selling route - which is great, as it means we should see her each month. After the obligatory bottle of red with dinner (once she finally found us), and the farm tour this morning, we put her to work in what will become the vegetable garden. It's a huge fenced off area which the old lady who owned this place had for her chihuahuas to run. Very overgrown (as it everything here) but the three of us managed to clear it in a few hours, felling a couple of trees and adding to the firewood/bonfire stack. Rupert is currently building a pig sty, and we are picking up two piglets on Monday - their first job will be to carry on clearing the area, before being moved to their "real" pig run a little further along the track. Anna did very well considering it was her first time with a chainsaw!
Other ongoing work - Rupert's been dealing to the massive macrocarpa which is leaning on the shed roof - more firewood, more bonfire! He also had a go at trimming some of the trees that run along the phone line in an effort to improve our broadband speed - unfortunately he felled a tree onto the line, cutting us off, but has now fixed it with a bit of number 8 wire!
I've made a start on clearing the back paddock which will become the orchard (more rubbish, more wood, more bonfire piles!) - and have found a lovely nursery near here who will supply me with my fruit trees. Can't say I am looking forward to digging 50 holes! The paddock is north facing and sloping, and a couple of small holes dug have made me very happy - the soil is beautiful.
We had an inside day yesterday, sorting and cleaning and tidying - much better, though the real tidy up will come when the kitchen is in, hopefully a month or two. We are managing quite well with a temporary kitchen in the lounge and just using the sink and cooker in the actual kitchen. We're waiting for a rainy day to continue with the renovations inside - next on the list is the spare bedroom.
Grace is starting to find her "country" legs - the kids from next door came over the other day, and after some very intense lego play, they all went over to the woolshed to play. Judging by the screams and laughter, a good time was had by all. She also had her first quad bike ride, safely wedged between the two girls. She got off and looked at me with a huge grin. "Mum that was sooo awesome!". She is still talking about her friends in Auckland and missing them, but I think that will ease when kindergarten starts again in a week's time - poor kid is not used to holidays.
So, all is well here - we feel like we are finally getting to the end of the rubbish for removal - I think Rupert has taken at least 6 trailer loads to the dump, and we have had one big bonfire, with two more under construction.
Paula and Rupes
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