Things Come in Threes

Something that I don't understand is when people ask how our farm is going. We don't have a farm, we have a very large suburban block of nearly 6acres out of town, not a farm. We don't grow crops and we don't rear animals, we have a vegetable garden, some fruit trees and some chooks that think they own the place and can do whatever they want, so it doesn't really describe a working farm where we make a living.

Anyway, one thing about having a very large suburban block is it does take more work and of course more things to go wrong.

To get water into the taps of the house requires a water pump, if the power goes out no water and if you don't listen properly and take notice of what it is doing and turn the tap on, off, on again it will cut out. So of course over Christmas this happened and it died completely, a blown circuit thingy. This was eventually going to happen as it was getting worse and harder to restart but it was not a good time.

My very smart partner in crime and life figured out how to bypass it but every time we wanted water we had to turn the power switch on first, this was because everything was shut down for Christmas. However, seeing he is so smart, he fixed it and we are now back to normal but we do need to replace that circuit thingy, and living with having to switch the power on every time we wanted water for over a week was a pain. All good now though.

The next thing is our dog's ear is puffing up. She had this last year on her other ear and it took three operations to fix, so far it is not very large but we are keeping an eye on it and hoping it will just go away :)

The third thing is one of our small water tanks split and we lost all our water out the front. It wasn't a huge amount of water but it was the water we use for the chooks and dog and feet washing and so on. We had always planned to replace those tanks with a larger one, but of course things only happen when they become a priority and get bumped to the top of the list (this is because it usually costs a fair bit to do stuff so only do it when we absolutely have to).

So this became a "must do" thing as we need the water, so I had to whip out the emergency fund and we built a frame, filled it with crusher dust and put on a 2,500litre tank. It is only small but it will provide, when filled, the water needed and we can also drink out of it too. It has a tap on the bottom, high enough to fit a bucket under it and it is all ready to go, just need some rain now, come on rain.

The fourth thing that happened is we had to leave one of the small chicks, now three and a half months old, out for the night. Our number one son and I were going out for the evening and that one chick would not go back into the pen. It ran all over the place including down the creek embankment and falling down the creek, luckily dry. So running late I had to go down, make my way through all the bush and get it out as it would never have found it's way and it just had to stay out.

When we got home, do you think we could find it? No. So after a shower and in my PJs with boots on I went bush again to continue looking, back down the creek in case it fell down again. I was thinking that maybe it was perching on a branch somewhere and I was right, on the skinniest branch ever of course, halfway up, as I was down in the creek, halfway up the vertical bank, I eventually found it in the dark. As I certainly couldn't get to it either up or going down, she had to stay there and hope a bush python didn't get her during the night.

It was one of this lot that wouldn't go in the pen.

I got up really early the next morning to go find her in case she couldn't get back up and had fallen down the creek again but there she was, at the crack of dawn, wandering around the pen no worse for wear. At least she slept in the safest place she could find.

We have been making this very yummy feta cheese with my new cheese maker I got for Christmas and we just can't get enough. Feta on biscuits for lunch, yum, also a bit of homemade mango chutney with it is nice, well I like it but my partner in crime and life doesn't (the chutney with feta that is) but that just means more for me :P

So life is busy, I have been sketching, reading, crocheting, gardening, cooking and when school goes back in a week and half we will get back into a routine, which much as I like not HAVING to get out of bed so early, routine actually works best for all of us.

ON OTHER MATTERS

This article at Survival Mom reminds me to continue to learn new skills. I like learning new stuff especially if it is useful. My current new skill is the cheese making, which my partner in crime and life are learning together. My other new skill is rope climbing, not sure how useful it is but it does contribute to my fitness level, there is skill and getting over it in your head and a bit of strength. Anyway, I plan on learning more skills this year.

Check out this recycling project, pipes being used for book shelves. It stirs the imagination :)

If Down To Earth isn't a blog you visit regularly then you are just plain crazy and you must go and have a look, it is lovely. Check out this post and then read all the others.

Now, I have just have to figure out why my laptop screen is fading, everything I have tried so far hasn't worked so it is something beyond me and I must wait on the expertise of my partner in crime and life. Better be something simple and not something to add to the list of "things come in threes" :D