Journey to farmlife

19th April 2009

I nearly caught the stray cat. It was such a close call again. Saturday afternoon as I was cutting the verge grass I spotted him hiding in the long grass along side the fence. He took one look at me and darted in front of the ride on down the drain which led under the road. I thought it would be rather easy to trap him now that he was in the drain – how mistaken was I! I yelled for Jonathan and got him to block the other side of the drain and sent Michaela to collect the cat cage while I guarded the first entry. Talk about strategy!

As I was setting the cage up and fiddling with the door, Jonathan who was on the other side of the road laying down in front of the opening making all these silly noises to scare the cat my way, happened to notice about two mm from his face a group of cane toads. He let out a blood curling scream as he jumped up and the cat darted out the drain spiked with adrenaline. I wasn’t quite ready yet with the cage open so he escaped by the hair of his chinny chin, chin… again! This cat is so agile. Never mind he should return to the hiding place sometime and perhaps next time will be more successful.

All of the chickens are laying eggs now, as of this morning and it is wonderful to collect four eggs each day. I asked them this morning if they couldn’t synchronize there deposits so as to save me a trip or two. I’m not asking so much am I?

Sunday morning we visited a nursery in the area. I’m looking to get some fruit trees in as soon as possible. I’m hoping in two or three years from now I should have an established orchid going. I found a great variety at the nursery we visited and am working on getting perhaps apples, plums, pears and peaches. I’ve done my research on ready made turf too and have almost settled on a place which happens to be just around the corner from home. Yay, for the convenience of the location. Coming home I saw the dreaded site – a brown snake on top of the verandah wall. Why did it have to be there of all the places? It was busy shedding its skin. It was very long! Nobody besides me seems to care much about the snake. I sure hope it stays outside and doesn’t show it’s face when I’m on my own.

Jonathan played his first rugby game this afternoon and I decided to stay home to baby-sit the pup. Boy he’s active and so noisy and busy at night when it’s supposed to be sleeping time! I have to watch him like a hawk during the day and he keeps us all up at night. I suppose he’s just being a pup. None the less I decided tonight his quarters will be moved to the other side of the house in the laundry where he can make as much noise as he likes and we can sleep as much as we like!

The clan got home rejoicing, as Johno’s team won. First game he’s played and its victory right up. This club is so much better that the previous one. I think they won only one game last season in the other club. It’s done wonders for Jonathan’s morale. Keep up the hard work boy!

Spot’s been placed in the laundry as I promised with the tumble dryer going. Hopefully the noise and warmth will lull him into a deep sleep. The house is so peaceful and quiet now.