All go!

Wow, what a day, much better than yesterday! I miss darling Maud and Henny but I'm very glad the others survived.


I woke up this morning and found an enormous tick on Hoby's eyelid. I thought it was a monster eye-booger but when I tried to wipe it it held tight. Tick extraction at 8 am, not exactly what I expected. Yes you did read that correctly, 8 am, that's not bad, quite pleased I woke up at a reasonable time after hitting the snooze button on my phone multiple times. Massive clean up and prep for Kim and the kids, I let the feathered babies out and fed everyone. Then made a lovely Israeli Cous-Cous and Roasted Veg salad for our shared lunch. Mmmmm.

Kim arrived and it was all go as usual, I love having little people here. Of course they loved the chooks and patted and chased them continuously. However the little chooks weren't deterred at all and even ventured down to the cabin where they kept us company for most of the day. They found a beam of sunshine on the deck that they clambered over each other to lay in, then in the end they fluffed up, preened their chest feathers and spread out to sunbathe for a while. Then after they consumed the kids' sandwich crusts they stacked on top of each in the middle of my bromeliad garden and had an afternoon snooze. I took a photo, I'll find a way to attach it as soon as I can. I'm beginning to get to know their little personalities and I love them. They stay in a group walking one behind the other, as thought they're marching, one of them even seems to tweet "left-right-left" and there are a pair of little stressers at the back screeching "wait, wait, you're leaving us behind". Oh, and speaking of my garden, I've noticed that two of the striped bromeliads are going to flower, they've sent the spike out already, I wonder what the flowers will look like. I'm thrilled as I wasn't sure if they'd like the setting but it seems they do. It will be interesting to see what other flowers eventuate as they all seem to have different flowers, some send out a spike others flower only in the centre with tri-petalled perfection in the most stunning colours. Kim commented on the air plant which also looks very happy and is multiplying at quite a rate, I think that also flowers, pink or purple from memory.

We had a delicious shared lunch, Kim made a quiche with corn, courgettes and herbs from her garden, she also brought a jar of her special tomato sauce for me. She'd been cooking it yesterday for 2 hours and it smelt devine, I can confirm that it tasted as good if not better than it smelled. I stirred some through the pasta salad to give it an extra kick. It was over a kilograms of tomatoes yet the finished product was two small jam jars of sauce, I consider myself very lucky to have been given a jar.

We went to my neighbour's garden and took cuttings from her hydrangeas she has a blue one and then an odd purple one with white edges on the petals. I couldn't resist a bloom for the vase. It looks good in my semi-tidy kitchen. I even put some of my utensils in a clay pot today, and put them on the windowsill, it is very functional and looks good too. I tidied the bookshelf too which has made quite a difference. I'm looking forward to a big clean up next week and will make a start on either my kitchen or my chook run depending on what the long-distance lover's plans are as I could really do with his assistance on the chook run front.

We took the horses out and suddenly everyone arrived. Another dog control ranger turned up to inspect the "murder" scene so Kim and the kids brushed the horses. Then my mum turned up. The dog ranger had some good news, the prosecution lawyer for the council called him to advise that the case was going to court. The best scenario would be that they are disqualified from owning dogs for three years which instantly occurs if they are found guilty in court. He also said that his supervisor has instructed them to visit and inspect the property every day until the court date. I am rather impressed and surprised that they have taken this level of interest at long last, it has only taken three years, their dog chasing me on my horse causing me to fall, 8 dogs impounded from the property and 20 + chickens killed. It goes to show that persistence can pay off. I am glad I visited the MP's office on Monday and voiced my concern, their contact at the council has obviously ruffled some feathers. I hope the end result is the desired one.

But anyway, back to the horses, I promised the kids a ride on Ella, or should I say a sit on Ella's back. She did very well and was very calm. Then I took a gamble and suggested they have a ride on Tarka too. He was a star, he walked around with each of them having a turn one at a time. His hoof is a bit sore where a sort of separation has occurred, he gets little stones stuck in there and they drive him up the wall. I'll stuff it full of cottonwool tomorrow and tape it up before I leave. Ella is looking very good and is quite talkative at the moment.

Well I should probably finish up and head to bed, I have to be up early tomorrow to get some things finished before my long weekend away. I'm heading away tomorrow with my sis and her friend to stay at the long-distance lover's house, I'm really excited,

So far I'm sticking to my goal of writing each day. Writing is proving very therapeutic for me, it helps me cope when lately I've not been coping too well, onwards and upwards, I'm finally optimistic, life is good and I feel like I'm getting back to my feeling of being in control and calm. So, all going to plan I'll be writing tomorrow's installment from Owhango and I'll have some photos. Let the haymaking begin!