Day out with the boys

Today my favourite young boys took me and Traveler out for an adventure. There was an amazing river to play in with the strangest pale green water. I just loved the water....The big boys played with a fly fishing rod. I really ought to give that a go sometime soon. But I think it could be as addictive as rowing - which still eats up most of my time - and one is wise to limit the number of obsessions at a time I reckon.
And of course there were many many birds to feed.


And this beast which somehow was connected to Lord of the Rings (so many things here are - though some really stretch it)....

Chickens and cooking with horses

****Chicken naming contest****

Our friend Linde has suggested a wonderful set of names for our chickens:

1. Bluecheese
2. Indigo
3. Cohiba
4. Corona
5.  Melanzane (eggplant)
6. Zenzero (ginger)

We now just have to pick which name best fits each bird! 

 Suggestions welcome!

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Sometimes I feed my chickens in the little red wagon out front.  


 It makes for good cooking entertainment for me


Sometimes they hop on the fence and look in while I am making breakfast

And yesterday the horses tried to do the same, but the glass angled window confused them

Photo phone moments

And because I can't seem to do anything coherent or sensible in my cold induced brain fog, here are some random photos from my phone camera. My real camera was broken as I took a photo of Mt Taranaki a few days ago (and one post ago). Perhaps it is time to invest in a new one. Just like I did the week before leaving Boston when I killed that camera by dropping my keys on to the screen. I am a very good technology tester, so long as you are looking to test out rugedness... phew that I mostly use a toughbook for work now!

Photo 1 - Ivy. This is the view from my work parking spot. It means a lot to me because well this is what the cover of the marketing book for my college looked liked. I didn't much like my university at times and I have a strong association with the phrase 'bait and switch' with this image. Lately I am really liking Ivy becaus I associate it with my cool job and well yes it is a weed, but it is kind of cool in a way. And I love the way the world Ivy sounds.

Photo 2 - This is my breakfast today. It was shared with lots of people who just showed up to eat with me. Yay living in the country. All the main ingredients were from my garden. My free range eggs from my birthday chickens were the core bit, then fresh green beans, tomatos, swiss chard, basic... I did toss in some store bought onions and garlic though...

Photo 3 - I love my chickens, but I don't take them camping with me.... or to rowing regattas
Photo 4 - My rowing teammates play a game called SPOT IT. It is very simple. Yell spot it and hit the person hear you if you are first to spot a yellow vehicle. It helsp that a main courier company here paints their vans yellow. I like the parking meter bouquet in front myself.
Photo 5 - This is a number 3 bus with no windows going to a bus graveyard. I may have even riden that exact bus when I used to live in the suburb the 3 bus served. I see the most interesting things driving in the middle of the day.



Photo 6 - Like seeing this old fashioned truck full of wood when I was ducking into a shop to buy a new shirt between seeing kids because the first kid spilled stuff all over me and well I didn't really wanted to meet the second kid's mother for the first time splattered with goo. Photo 7 - Yes I don't take my chooks camping with me, but I do love it when they are all waiting at my door for me to come up. It is a very sheltered spot, but I think they just want a chance to get an extra round of food.

recent adventures - dedicated to Laura, Pete and FINLEY!

This post is dedicated to my dearest friend Laura and her husband Pete who just welcomed into the world their wonderful son Finley. I hear Laura is looking for posts here while she is on Mat leave, and so I submit the following thrown together post as I nurse my cold and prepare to fly to Twizel for Rowing Nationals.

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Last weekend was Sevens weekend in Wellington. People dress up to attend the rugby matches. Anything goes, the only rule is to get a bunch of mates together and wear matching outfits. Always entertaining!I spent the weekend up in Wanganuni, about 3 hours north of here along the west coast of the North Island. It is a charming town, although it seems like most of the stores are always closed and I had the worst meal ever here the night before I left. It was nearly $20 for an all you can eat Mongonlian Grill... and well I couldn't even eat and just walked out. Oh well, live and learn.

I was there to row not eat anyways. And row we did. My fours team took 1st place and our eight didn't have a chance to race due to poor water conditions each afternoon.
Actually, I think we did more watching and sunburning than we did rowing...


As is our informal tradition, we stayed in a school hall near the river. I kept looking for the basketball hoops, but I guess basketball and school hall aren't as linked here.

I thoroughly enjoyed my new Christmas present from Traveler to pass the down time. Podcasts from NPR are a godsend when spending hours on end listening to teenagers verbally process life. I find both fascinating, but like to have a chance to alternate between the two forms. Kind of like I like switching between cooked and raw food throughout a meal.

And of course we went grocery shopping where I snapped this photo at Pak N Sav, park of their 'we save you money' campaign. Trolleys are shopping carts. Some use the word trundler as well for this thing. I just miss the bar to rest your foot on that are on American ones.
On the drive home I saw a llama on the back of a truck.. you know, as one does.

The next day I was flying back up the coastline for work. The plan was to fly over Wanganui up to New Plymouth. Unfortunately New Plymouth was covered in fog ALL DAY. So we landed in Wanganui and then were bused north. I was so glad to see this the following day because it meant the ceiling was plenty high enough for me to fly out.

Views from now

At nights we often walk up to eat with our neighbors or at least have a cup of tea or borrow an ingredient for our dinner.


Often the neighbors' horses are near by and our chickens are most social. They race to us whenever we open the door... if you are wearing gum boots they are extra excited.


My mornings are about rowing. If you are wondering why I have little time to hang out, it is because I am exhausted by the end of the work day and I race in regattas every weekend at the moment. Some nights I run up hills of sand or steps.