August Update

Hello everyone,                                                                                                                   24 August 2016

The last few days of winter and we’ve had a high of 26 degrees, lovely. We also haven’t has any rain for a week, so the mud has started to dry up, also lovely. It must only be a matter of days until the end of winter / early spring cold snap reminds us who really is the boss.

I’m just watching Joe climb the side of the change table... I’ve just rescued Joe from hanging off the side of the change table... and he’s learning to not try to climb up and stand on his chair after he’s put it on the coffee table. Today’s lesson will be that chairs stay on the floor and it’s proving to be a hard one. He has all four first round teeth coming through so can be a little fragile when he’s determined in a task I’m trying to dissuade. To round out Joe’s mountaineering achievements, he climbed the ‘child-proof’ baby gate , then the stairs!

Joe (we) enjoyed a whole two months of sleeping in his own bed, derailed by getting his first cold. Tony got the particularly virulent ‘man-flu’ variety with threatened fatal side effects and me the ‘soldier-on-mum’ strain, we were all tired but poor Joe didn’t know what was going on and reverted to his comfort place – sleeping sideways between mum and dad. We’re all recovered the cold, but Joe’s refused, in vociferous toddler fashion, to return to his room.

After one too many what Tony described as Thai massages, (I heard tyre massage with Joe kicking dad’s tummy) we capitulated and Kaarac (the man with the van), and I made a mad dash to Auckland, returning with a super-king sized bed. This installed with new super-king linen is an improvement, but a 30 cm bed size gain and a 78 cm tall toddler mean we’re still on the edges and realigning him throughout the night or enduring tyre massages. I don’t imagine he’ll still be in our bed when he’s 16, well not sideways anyway! I’ve heard there’s a California king-size upgrade but suspect we’d need walkie talkies to conduct pillow-talk.

From thirteen (that was getting ridiculous), we’re down to nine pigs! Ethyl, Sausage and Olga and her six piglets. The last two of last years litter are in the freezer (a slow roast belly in the oven for tonight’s dinner) and two of the weaners gone to grow into another freezer. The wedding feast piggles are selected and the boar we are growing up to replace Boris has had a ring put in his nose. We’ve been trying to get an orphan lamb or two, but unsuccessful so far.

Tony’s Suzuki Escuardo (Ess-car-go, like a snail), is retired to most likely become a pile requiring around six months reminding (nagging) to get disappeared. It served for almost three years on the driveway as the main shuttle vehicle, especially since I rendered the quad unfit for purpose with full roll-cage, roof, windscreen and car-seat. It’s gained some fantastic accessories during its time here; a strap hinge holds the lift in driver’s door within easy reach – it was door-less but a wet summer meant Tony often had wetter pants than Joe. It also has terrarium features including grass carpet and a manuka tree growing out the passenger door... It’s actually a tidy well maintained Hoki vehicle!

It’s almost the six month countdown. Hope your plans are coming along. We have plenty of ‘hard-camp’ sites and limited soft-camp sites, let me know what you need.

Take care.