Sitting ducks!

Both the girls, Buttercup and her daughter, are sitting on some duck eggs. When they were hinting to me of their situation a few weeks back, I moved their place around and I placed two brooding boxes in their enclosure. When the time came though, they chose to both sit in the same box. They looked ridiculously uncomfortable but seemed happy enough. In the very beginning, I tried moving some eggs across and even picked up Buttercup and gently placed her in the other box on the eggs. The next morning she was back, squashed into a corner, almost on top of her daughter. So I let her be. It’s been one week for them now, roughly two more to go and then we should have some fluffy baby ducks waddling around hopefully. Spring has sprung finally and the weather is warming up at last. Now all we need is some rain.

A fireplace clean out.

I think I’m in need of a chimney sweep. Two nights ago, I collected firewood from the stack against the garage wall.  It’s grown smaller over the past few weeks.  Dwindled down to mostly nothing actually. A good sign that winter is almost behind us now. I layered up the pine needles, cones and then the firewood chunks. I struck the match and the fire roared to life beneath my fingers. I put the protection grate in place and stared at the memorising tongues of fire before me. I tore myself away from the relaxing atmosphere of the fire place. If we were to eat dinner I had to. In a matter of moments, while I was in the kitchen and without my noticing it, the lounge filled with smoke. Coughing and spluttering, I rushed over to see what was going on. Perhaps a log had fallen out as sometimes that happens. To my amazement there was none. I saw that the smoke was not being sucked out the chimney and instead it poured into the lounge. Over the next three days, I aired every part of the house but battled to get the smoke smell out. It was truly awful and definitely not something I want to repeat. I was relieved when it finally disappeared and I am determined to sort out the blockage. I guess the skills of a chimney sweep are needed so that the fireplace is in good working order for next winter.

Tree stumped!

 Yip folks, a tree stump consumed our past weekend in all its glory. Moving into Pine Haven, we were overwhelmed by the number of huge trees around the house. Some were palms and some were not. After hearing the locals talk about the wild storms and bat problems, there was nothing to be done but to cut down the three big trees that were growing next to the house and water tank. Cutting them all down was the easy part, dealing with the remaining stumps, now that’s a story to behold. This weekend we were consumed with getting one of the two remaining stumps out of the ground. Over the past few years, we have tried a number of things to bump this particular stump out with the tractor. To pull it out with a chain and finally using a pulley like chain called “a come along”. Some suggested to set it alight and others said poisoning was the way to go, neither of these options sounded safe enough for me and grinding it out of the ground was not an option due to the proximity to the water tank, not to mention the price tag attached to this service. We persevered and every so many months, a few roots were chopped up or it was wrenched free a little more. Finally this weekend it was pulled out completely and moved out of the way. The massive hole it left behind was a crater and a half. The hole was filled up again and the ground flattened as if nothing had  just happened there. Without the memories I have, nobody would even have known there was once a huge tree there.  It was with a great sense of achievement that we ended this weekend. 

Meet Socks

Socks is a black cat, with white bits on three of his feet. He has the personality of every black cat you hear about in a story book. He is suspicious and reserved, always watching from a distance. He came into our lives by accident really or by default I guess. He was left on the property we purchased and was rather feral at the time. I’ve never had much time for cats.  I’ve never understood them or their ways. Socks is definitely a barn cat, he’s not much for lying around the house, apart for the porch at times. You won’t ever catch him curled up on a chair sleeping and the times he is found on the porch wall, he is in a position ready to escape when the moment calls for it. I guess that’s from previous years of neglect perhaps and probably a lot of his personality. The few cats I’ve come across have always seemed to be aloof to me, not caring one way or the other to be petted or fussed over. Now I know that a lot of people will disagree with me, especially cat people, but this is my experience with the cats I’ve met in my life.   Socks’ has come so far in the past three years and his subtle influences on my day have really grown on me. I have grown to love this old boy and I understand him better these days. I have gotten to know his personality and he has gotten to know mine. He has gone from appearing only in the dark to retrieve his dinner to spending some of the day on the front porch. From time to time, he will enter the kitchen while I’m cooking and preparing a meal to rub his face against my legs purring and I guess have a conversation with me in cat language. I doubt he will ever be one of those cats like the one at the feed store, which lies around all day on top of the food bags, content to let the customers and their children stroke him. Socks’ is as perceptable as an infrared camera, seeing all and sensing all new arrivals here on the farm. He knows the presence of strangers and disappears for the duration they are here. When I tell folk I have a cat, I think they disbelieve me as he rarely makes an appearance but as sure as the daylight follows night, once they leave he is there again meowing and reminding me he’s back.   

He has settled in here at Pine Haven and is a regular on my porch these days.  I expect that in years to come, he may become the cat you can stroke and pet and perhaps even pick him up.

Duck mystery!

A few days ago I really got a fright. I went down to feed the animals in the evening and saw that only the baby duck had come up for  her dinner. An uneasy feeling came over me. Where could Donald and Buttercup be? I strained to see down at the dam, whether they were still there, but I couldn't see them anywhere. I decided to go back up to the house and put on my gumboots as its still rather mushy down by the dam. I took a slow walk down to the bottom dam but they were nowhere to be seen. If they hadn't come up for dinner and they weren't on the dam, well that was not good news. I looked around the dam for any evidence of feathers or remains of duck. The fox doesn't come in the daytime so this was very confusing. I saw no evidence and continue to look for Buttercup and Donald. As the sun began to set, I went back up to the house. I was sad that they had gone and mentally kick myself for not taking Buttercup eggs and putting them in the incubator. Oh well that was a risk they took by going down to the bottom dam. I should really seal the top pond but don't have the manpower nor the energy at the moment to tackle the job of this nature on my own. The following morning they both came waddling up as if  nothing was wrong, which makes me think that perhaps Buttercup is becoming broody and has made an nest along the fence line and that's where they were instead of missing. They were both as hungry as lions and devoured a bowl of mash, then happily reunited with the baby and Waddled back down to the pond to go do what ducks do. I was relieved and realised just how important sealing off the top pond has become. With the fox around, and an ever present worry that he may be brave enough to attack in broad daylight, it was a job that  needed to be done.  I made a mental note, Come high water, the pond needed sealing off soon.