Our neighbours are selling - for the ridiculous price of R1.35m - for a house that isn't much and 7 acres. Prices have gone through the roof here - although it would be wonderful to buy the property next door and would be the answer to all our problems it just costs too much. While I won't be sorry to say goodbye to the present Plot 2 people at least they were quiet, unobtrusive even if weird. What happens if we get some townies with buzz bikes and noisy parties - help!
This has spurred me on to start browsing the property pages again - especially since sarah & Charlie have sold and need to move before June. We went to look at one place together - we both have the same goals, want a small farm with a reasonable house but neither of us have enough money- so I suggested we look at a place that had 2 houses and we buy it together and then sub-divide. So, we went to have a look at a place in Hartzenbergfontein - asking price R4.5 m but the neighbour reckoms we could get it for R3m. Its very nice even though it is on the main road but even though we would go into a business partnership legally it is still a scary prospect! The main road will eventually become a double carriageway but the development on either side will be limited to tourism and home industries - not light industry.
Anyway - stuff to think about! I was working out bond repayments etc but then realised our ages - we don't have 20 years to pay it off any longer! Horrors!
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
I'm going to Eygpt, I'm going to Eygpy tra la la la la la la!
I really am so VERY lucky! Each year at RMB every department is allowed to go on a weekend away - there is a budget for this and you can save up one year and combine it with another so that you can go somewhere really nice. So far we have managed to go to Mozambique, Zanzibar and now Eygpt! In between years we have goen to the DrakensBerg and one really memorably bad place in the Waterberg (geve us stuff to drink and then showed us the bottle - had a pickled python inside!).
This years itinerary is:
29 May 21h45 Depart Johannesburg on Egypt Air flight in Economy class
30 May 06h45 Meet & Assist at Cairo airport, then transfer to the hotel
Accommodation at the Ramses Hilton Hotel in Nile View rooms including breakfast
10h00 Half day tour to the Citadel, Mosque & Bazaar including lunch at a local restaurant
Situated on a spur of the Muqattam Hills, the citadel dominates Cairo’s skyline and was the nerve center of the city and Egypt for almost 700 years. Its construction was initiated in 1176 by Saladin and completed by Muhammad Ali. Mameluke Sultans and Turkish governors later on made it their residence, building palaces and mosques within the citadel walls. Facing the citadel is the Mosque of Sultan Hassan,
built between 1356 and 1363 and perhaps the most majestic monument of Arab architecture in Egypt. The tour also includes a visit to Khan
El Khalili, a famous Cairo bazaar dating back to the late 14th century.
18h00 Sound & Light show followed by a Felucca Dinner
31 May Full day Alexandria Tour including lunch
A three-hour drive from Cairo. A special seafood lunch is provided on the bay of Abukir, scene of the naval battle between Nelson & Napoleon.
01 June Full day Cairo Museum, Pyramids & Sphinx Tour including lunch at a local restaurant
The Egyptian Museum has the largest collection of Egyptian antiquites in the world and features artefacts from the Pharaonic and Greco-Roman periods. The pyramids of Cheops, Chephran and Mycerinus, were considered by the Greeks, as one of the Seven Wonders of the World. Not far
from the Pyramids is the Great Sphinx of Giza, which dates from the time of Chephren (2620 BC).
19h00 Traditional dinner at Felela restaurant
02 June 09h00 Half day Memphis & Sakkara Tour including lunch
Memphis served as the capital of Upper & Lower Egypt some 5,000 years ago during the 1st Dynasty. Menes, the first pharaoh of this dynasty, built a great white-walled palace & the Temple of Ptah here
Sakkara one of the most exciting historical & archaeological area in all of Egypt is Sakkara, situated about 12 miles South West of Cairo.
The site is dominated by the famous step pyramid of King Zoser. It was the first pyramid to be built in ancient Egypt, preceding those at Giza
by many centuries, & is the work of the famous pharaonic architect, Imhotep.
02 June 19h00 Nile Cruise dinner
02 June Transfer to the airport
03 June 02h40 Depart Cairo on Egypt Air in Economy class
09h40 Arrive in Johannesburg
Unfortunately we won't have time to go down the Nile to Luxor but I think we are really packing in as much as possible. I'll be getting off the plane and zooming off to the SAOUG conference where I may have to present a talk on automating news clipping tasks previously done by humans - I hope thay put me on day 2 not day 1!
This years itinerary is:
29 May 21h45 Depart Johannesburg on Egypt Air flight in Economy class
30 May 06h45 Meet & Assist at Cairo airport, then transfer to the hotel
Accommodation at the Ramses Hilton Hotel in Nile View rooms including breakfast
10h00 Half day tour to the Citadel, Mosque & Bazaar including lunch at a local restaurant
Situated on a spur of the Muqattam Hills, the citadel dominates Cairo’s skyline and was the nerve center of the city and Egypt for almost 700 years. Its construction was initiated in 1176 by Saladin and completed by Muhammad Ali. Mameluke Sultans and Turkish governors later on made it their residence, building palaces and mosques within the citadel walls. Facing the citadel is the Mosque of Sultan Hassan,
built between 1356 and 1363 and perhaps the most majestic monument of Arab architecture in Egypt. The tour also includes a visit to Khan
El Khalili, a famous Cairo bazaar dating back to the late 14th century.
18h00 Sound & Light show followed by a Felucca Dinner
31 May Full day Alexandria Tour including lunch
A three-hour drive from Cairo. A special seafood lunch is provided on the bay of Abukir, scene of the naval battle between Nelson & Napoleon.
01 June Full day Cairo Museum, Pyramids & Sphinx Tour including lunch at a local restaurant
The Egyptian Museum has the largest collection of Egyptian antiquites in the world and features artefacts from the Pharaonic and Greco-Roman periods. The pyramids of Cheops, Chephran and Mycerinus, were considered by the Greeks, as one of the Seven Wonders of the World. Not far
from the Pyramids is the Great Sphinx of Giza, which dates from the time of Chephren (2620 BC).
19h00 Traditional dinner at Felela restaurant
02 June 09h00 Half day Memphis & Sakkara Tour including lunch
Memphis served as the capital of Upper & Lower Egypt some 5,000 years ago during the 1st Dynasty. Menes, the first pharaoh of this dynasty, built a great white-walled palace & the Temple of Ptah here
Sakkara one of the most exciting historical & archaeological area in all of Egypt is Sakkara, situated about 12 miles South West of Cairo.
The site is dominated by the famous step pyramid of King Zoser. It was the first pyramid to be built in ancient Egypt, preceding those at Giza
by many centuries, & is the work of the famous pharaonic architect, Imhotep.
02 June 19h00 Nile Cruise dinner
02 June Transfer to the airport
03 June 02h40 Depart Cairo on Egypt Air in Economy class
09h40 Arrive in Johannesburg
Unfortunately we won't have time to go down the Nile to Luxor but I think we are really packing in as much as possible. I'll be getting off the plane and zooming off to the SAOUG conference where I may have to present a talk on automating news clipping tasks previously done by humans - I hope thay put me on day 2 not day 1!
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
Whoops - long time, no write!
Lots to write about but no time (and no inclination either I must admit..)
In Chronological order then.......
Wednesday - after thinking I could do it myself and finally realising that the only person I was fooling was myself - I joined Weight Watchers! Shock, horror, shame! Its a big thing for soemone who was always skinny to admit that they are losing the battle of the bulge! But... I am so sick of the few things in my cupboard that fit and all the others hang there in mute accusation. So, now I have joined, was weighed and have to follow a points system - which doesn't seem to give you much to eat... I have to lose 6.5 kgs in 8 weeks. What it has alerted me to is how much I drink (alcohol I mean) - by day 3 I had drunk my weekly allocation and that was when I was trying to restrict myself .. hmm, damn! Am trying to be very good about it - no use in paying for this if I don't stick to it! But I'd better have lost something when I get on the scale next week!
Thursday - picked up Jessie for Line dancing (gives me 5 more points for food!) - she is still staying at home and she has to visit a psychologist regualarly with her mum. In the meantime Jessie refuses to speak to her mum... what a strain it must be for both of them. Anyway, line dancing went pretty much the same as last week except that now we have smart lime green golf shirts with "Boots 'N Hats" printed on them! I still get muddled in the middle and there is one step with a little jump in it that I can do when practicing but lose it completely when the music starts! But am meeting lost of nice people from the area as well as getting some exercise. Pat keeps telling us about the competitions we can enter and do exams..... will have to think about that - not the way I'm fumble footing at the moment! Chatted to Jeremy in the bar and he told me some more about the property down the road from his farm that is for sale - sounds worth a look!
Friday - big day for Zoe - off to Pretoria to be assessed by the Friesian judges from the Netherlands. Little Megan went along to keep her company. No problem getting them into the box, I've been leaving the box open for the last couple of weeks and sprinking lucerne around at the top end, so they have all been walking in and out and standing in it for ages - easiest training ever! Brian and I were smartly dressed in white outfits - he to pull her at the front and me to run around at the back should she refuse to move! All went well and she was registered with the FSSPA as a 3rd premie. It's very complicated to explain as most of the documentation is in Dutch but it is a good thing! Now we have to wait for the linear score to be sent back from the Netherlands which will rate all her good and bad points.
Saturday - Sarah and Charlie came with us to have a look at a farm on the R82 outside Walkerville. Two big houses in good condition but much attention needed on the outbuildinsg - we'd have homeless horses for a while! The owner apparently wants R5m for it but Jeremy (neighbour) reckons he will take R3m - still too much for us so we would need to go into a partnership. Risky but we are thinking about it, seems the only way we'll ever be able to buy the amount of land we'd like!
In the evening Elsie, Willie, Sarah & Charlie came round for dinner - brilliant, I didn't have to do anything! Sarah brought a salad, Elsie also, plus some potato salad and Johan roasted 2 legs of lamb in the Weber - with a mustard and herb marinade that I made - really delicious. Toasted Zoe - its taken me 7 years of failed pregnancies, new horse, death of new horse etc to get as far as actually having a Friesian registered in the proper book! So we drank Veuve Cliquot!
Sunday - woke up and looked at my Blackberry - to discover that Muriel had sent me an email saying that Mum was in Warrington hospital having had a minor heart attack last Monday - no wonder she didn't answer the phone! Would happen when Bruce is away and my passport has expired! So I phoned the hospital and she sounded quite chipper - have asked my cousin Linda to please get a letter from the Doctor so that my passport application can be done asap - just in case!
My mum has inisted on living alone at home since my dad died 3 years ago She has one leg, one eye and is blind in the other one, and has been a diabetic for almost 60 years - despite this she has coped reasonably well (thank goodness for the British support system) and goes shopping by herself (calls a taxi) and has managed to keep herself fairly safe and sound all this time. However, recently she had a fall and another time burnt her had badly in the kitchen which has been very worrying, However, she has now said that maybe it is time she moves into a more controlled environment -the first time she has ever admitted this - so maybe we can help her move when we go over in June.
Plot 1 (Sherry & Clayton) have borrowed the tractor in order to mow their fields - they have had 4 large rinkals's on their front stoep and in their fields - plot 2 has had 2 and we have had 2 - Quidditch was seen playing with one and Brian caught another one eating all the eggs in the chicken run - wonder why they are all invading us? We know there is one that lives somewhere in the front garden - there is a hole and occasionally we see the old skin that it has shed, it has also been seen sunning itself but it leaves us alone so we are not going to hunt it down. EEEURRRGG - they give me the creeps!
In Chronological order then.......
Wednesday - after thinking I could do it myself and finally realising that the only person I was fooling was myself - I joined Weight Watchers! Shock, horror, shame! Its a big thing for soemone who was always skinny to admit that they are losing the battle of the bulge! But... I am so sick of the few things in my cupboard that fit and all the others hang there in mute accusation. So, now I have joined, was weighed and have to follow a points system - which doesn't seem to give you much to eat... I have to lose 6.5 kgs in 8 weeks. What it has alerted me to is how much I drink (alcohol I mean) - by day 3 I had drunk my weekly allocation and that was when I was trying to restrict myself .. hmm, damn! Am trying to be very good about it - no use in paying for this if I don't stick to it! But I'd better have lost something when I get on the scale next week!
Thursday - picked up Jessie for Line dancing (gives me 5 more points for food!) - she is still staying at home and she has to visit a psychologist regualarly with her mum. In the meantime Jessie refuses to speak to her mum... what a strain it must be for both of them. Anyway, line dancing went pretty much the same as last week except that now we have smart lime green golf shirts with "Boots 'N Hats" printed on them! I still get muddled in the middle and there is one step with a little jump in it that I can do when practicing but lose it completely when the music starts! But am meeting lost of nice people from the area as well as getting some exercise. Pat keeps telling us about the competitions we can enter and do exams..... will have to think about that - not the way I'm fumble footing at the moment! Chatted to Jeremy in the bar and he told me some more about the property down the road from his farm that is for sale - sounds worth a look!
Friday - big day for Zoe - off to Pretoria to be assessed by the Friesian judges from the Netherlands. Little Megan went along to keep her company. No problem getting them into the box, I've been leaving the box open for the last couple of weeks and sprinking lucerne around at the top end, so they have all been walking in and out and standing in it for ages - easiest training ever! Brian and I were smartly dressed in white outfits - he to pull her at the front and me to run around at the back should she refuse to move! All went well and she was registered with the FSSPA as a 3rd premie. It's very complicated to explain as most of the documentation is in Dutch but it is a good thing! Now we have to wait for the linear score to be sent back from the Netherlands which will rate all her good and bad points.
Saturday - Sarah and Charlie came with us to have a look at a farm on the R82 outside Walkerville. Two big houses in good condition but much attention needed on the outbuildinsg - we'd have homeless horses for a while! The owner apparently wants R5m for it but Jeremy (neighbour) reckons he will take R3m - still too much for us so we would need to go into a partnership. Risky but we are thinking about it, seems the only way we'll ever be able to buy the amount of land we'd like!
In the evening Elsie, Willie, Sarah & Charlie came round for dinner - brilliant, I didn't have to do anything! Sarah brought a salad, Elsie also, plus some potato salad and Johan roasted 2 legs of lamb in the Weber - with a mustard and herb marinade that I made - really delicious. Toasted Zoe - its taken me 7 years of failed pregnancies, new horse, death of new horse etc to get as far as actually having a Friesian registered in the proper book! So we drank Veuve Cliquot!
Sunday - woke up and looked at my Blackberry - to discover that Muriel had sent me an email saying that Mum was in Warrington hospital having had a minor heart attack last Monday - no wonder she didn't answer the phone! Would happen when Bruce is away and my passport has expired! So I phoned the hospital and she sounded quite chipper - have asked my cousin Linda to please get a letter from the Doctor so that my passport application can be done asap - just in case!
My mum has inisted on living alone at home since my dad died 3 years ago She has one leg, one eye and is blind in the other one, and has been a diabetic for almost 60 years - despite this she has coped reasonably well (thank goodness for the British support system) and goes shopping by herself (calls a taxi) and has managed to keep herself fairly safe and sound all this time. However, recently she had a fall and another time burnt her had badly in the kitchen which has been very worrying, However, she has now said that maybe it is time she moves into a more controlled environment -the first time she has ever admitted this - so maybe we can help her move when we go over in June.
Plot 1 (Sherry & Clayton) have borrowed the tractor in order to mow their fields - they have had 4 large rinkals's on their front stoep and in their fields - plot 2 has had 2 and we have had 2 - Quidditch was seen playing with one and Brian caught another one eating all the eggs in the chicken run - wonder why they are all invading us? We know there is one that lives somewhere in the front garden - there is a hole and occasionally we see the old skin that it has shed, it has also been seen sunning itself but it leaves us alone so we are not going to hunt it down. EEEURRRGG - they give me the creeps!
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
Wallis (sic) and Grommit
Wallis and Grommit are two lovely dogs that were foisted on us by the neighbours down the road - and we didn't even know their names!
Dennis Ford was our neighbour at Plot 9 for several years and then he decided to retire and build himself a cottage on his sons property in Midrand. We were very sad as he was a great neighbour - even mowing the lawn for us when we first moved in and didn't have a mower! We have kept in touch with him and I usually lunch with him at Wanderers every odd month or so.
Anyhow, Dennis's house was immaculate - no maintenance necessary at all, everything spick and span. And then the new people came and dennis introduced them to us - sounds snobby but not our kind of people at all - 5 kids, father a second hand car salesman (I'm sure there are nice ones but he wasn't one of them) and a mother from hell. We were introduced and thats as far as it went... until they sold and were about to move.
The kids phoned me in tears, they are moving tomorrow and dad is taking the dogs to the SPCA to be put down - could I help, they woudl give me all their pocket money each month (HA!!) I kept saying to myself, no, we do not want two big dogs, no we don't and I phoned all over the place to find them a home and I did find one. The problem was they could only be collected on Saturday morning and the people were moving on Friday.... so of course they got dropped off at our house.
We arrived home that evening to find them ensconced in the back garden - a large female young boerbull and a large white labrador x boerbull. I sms'ed the kids - what are their names - Thandi and Rascal - ugh. As we strolled along the fields that evening the dogs ran along with us... what nice dogs they were mused Johan, yes they are aren't they... and you know what happened next - we kept them, of course, as if there had been any doubt at all that we wouldn't!. Just as well, as Grommit is a decided racist and would have bitten his new owner who was a black man!
They were originally outside dogs - good, they were so big, but of course you can't have half the dpgs in the house and half out - its not fair, so Wallis & Grommit each fill up a sofa in the evenings. Wallis thinks of herself as a chihuahua and would love to cuddle up on our laps - she is most jealous of Biggles who can actually do so!
Friday, February 15, 2008
Young girl gone missing
What a week - starting on the ubiquitous Tuesday of course!
Got a phone call from Sarah & Charlie, the police had just been to visit them - searching for a missing girl - our friend Jessie! They phoned me to let me know that the police may be on the way to speak to me too as they know we are friends. Jessie! Could not believe it - such a lovely girl, 16 and has been friends with us and the kids for years, one of the most well grounded, nice people I know. Jessie used to come and ride with Sam - she used her horse as transport and would sometimes ride down to visit us - if she felt like sleeping over then we just popped her horse into a spare field. She spent a weekend with us trout fishing and we are all very fond of her. So, I jumped in the car and went to find out what was going on - nobody in her house.. so left a message.
The next day, I went around and spoke to her mum - Jessie had been found, at the boyfriends mothers house (who had spoken to the police and J's mum and said she was not there). What a mess. J's mum had spent the whole day with social workers etc and Jessie was now staying with friends up the road.
Mums story - Boyfriend a thoroughly bad character, mixed up with Nigerians, drugs, housebreaking etc - she had got a court order to prevent him coming near Jessie. Did not like the people Jessie had gone to stay with - not married, she apparently could not cope with her own children so why did she now think she was capable to looking after Jessie. Jessie had become a problem child about 6 months ago (blamed on boyfriend) and spent a lot of time with these other people, had become abusive towards her mother and last week mom had hit her with a cane. Jessie ran away. Mum had been studying courses at Chruch, head of several task groups etc - all taken away form her last year when Jessie told the church that she never had any time for her.
So now Jessie was staying with the people up the road - at least she had been found and was safe!
The next day (Thurs) Sam and I decided we were going to go to line dancing at the Walkerville showgrounds (got to do something about my expanding waistline!) and we invited Jessie to come as well. She had gone home so we picked her up there.
He story: My mum beat me up, twice - I have bruises all over me. The boyfriend USED to be a baddie but has been in rehab and is now getting a job, buying a car, living with his mum until he gets on his feet - very nice boy according to her. She has no intention of going to live with the people up the road, they are not going to adopt her or keep her, she just needs a break away from her mum. The boyfriend was training to be a pastor at the church but can't contine now because of the restrating order J's mum has against him, so he can't go to church if Jessie is there.
I asked her if she would have run away if she had not been beaten - No. Says her mum never has any time for her - always at Church.
Very sad. I have told her that if she ever needs any time out or wants to talk to come along whenever she feels like it.
Anyway - we all enjoyed the Line dancing - lots of heel and toe stuff, pretending to whirl a lassoo etc! All 3 of us enjoyed it (my calves hurt!) and I've invited Jessie to come with us each week. I think we did quite well with a few bumbles here and there in the middle of each dance! Got very hot - there are soem moves that Sam knows from modern dancing and there are some hip moves very reminiscent of belly dancing - maybe just not as pronounced.
Thie morning I had more childish drama but not from my own children!
Sharon phoned to say could I look in my car as Chad only had one shoe - nice to know this happens to other mums as well as me! Nothing in the car - oh dear, Chad locked himself in the bathroom and refused to go to school!
I dragged out an old pair of Michaels - size unknown. Michael is an 11 and Chad is a 6. Never mind, picked Chad up at the corner - wearing one school shoe and one black tackie - Michaels shoes were far too big - like Donald Duck flippers! But, he went off OK when we got to school - luckily uniform inspection is on Monday - otherwise he would have got detention!
Got a phone call from Sarah & Charlie, the police had just been to visit them - searching for a missing girl - our friend Jessie! They phoned me to let me know that the police may be on the way to speak to me too as they know we are friends. Jessie! Could not believe it - such a lovely girl, 16 and has been friends with us and the kids for years, one of the most well grounded, nice people I know. Jessie used to come and ride with Sam - she used her horse as transport and would sometimes ride down to visit us - if she felt like sleeping over then we just popped her horse into a spare field. She spent a weekend with us trout fishing and we are all very fond of her. So, I jumped in the car and went to find out what was going on - nobody in her house.. so left a message.
The next day, I went around and spoke to her mum - Jessie had been found, at the boyfriends mothers house (who had spoken to the police and J's mum and said she was not there). What a mess. J's mum had spent the whole day with social workers etc and Jessie was now staying with friends up the road.
Mums story - Boyfriend a thoroughly bad character, mixed up with Nigerians, drugs, housebreaking etc - she had got a court order to prevent him coming near Jessie. Did not like the people Jessie had gone to stay with - not married, she apparently could not cope with her own children so why did she now think she was capable to looking after Jessie. Jessie had become a problem child about 6 months ago (blamed on boyfriend) and spent a lot of time with these other people, had become abusive towards her mother and last week mom had hit her with a cane. Jessie ran away. Mum had been studying courses at Chruch, head of several task groups etc - all taken away form her last year when Jessie told the church that she never had any time for her.
So now Jessie was staying with the people up the road - at least she had been found and was safe!
The next day (Thurs) Sam and I decided we were going to go to line dancing at the Walkerville showgrounds (got to do something about my expanding waistline!) and we invited Jessie to come as well. She had gone home so we picked her up there.
He story: My mum beat me up, twice - I have bruises all over me. The boyfriend USED to be a baddie but has been in rehab and is now getting a job, buying a car, living with his mum until he gets on his feet - very nice boy according to her. She has no intention of going to live with the people up the road, they are not going to adopt her or keep her, she just needs a break away from her mum. The boyfriend was training to be a pastor at the church but can't contine now because of the restrating order J's mum has against him, so he can't go to church if Jessie is there.
I asked her if she would have run away if she had not been beaten - No. Says her mum never has any time for her - always at Church.
Very sad. I have told her that if she ever needs any time out or wants to talk to come along whenever she feels like it.
Anyway - we all enjoyed the Line dancing - lots of heel and toe stuff, pretending to whirl a lassoo etc! All 3 of us enjoyed it (my calves hurt!) and I've invited Jessie to come with us each week. I think we did quite well with a few bumbles here and there in the middle of each dance! Got very hot - there are soem moves that Sam knows from modern dancing and there are some hip moves very reminiscent of belly dancing - maybe just not as pronounced.
Thie morning I had more childish drama but not from my own children!
Sharon phoned to say could I look in my car as Chad only had one shoe - nice to know this happens to other mums as well as me! Nothing in the car - oh dear, Chad locked himself in the bathroom and refused to go to school!
I dragged out an old pair of Michaels - size unknown. Michael is an 11 and Chad is a 6. Never mind, picked Chad up at the corner - wearing one school shoe and one black tackie - Michaels shoes were far too big - like Donald Duck flippers! But, he went off OK when we got to school - luckily uniform inspection is on Monday - otherwise he would have got detention!
Monday, February 11, 2008
Alpacas through the window.
I am thoroughly enjoying having my car back - zoomed through a really muddy patch on a dirt road on Saturday (yeeehhaaaa!) and used it to pull the horsebox on Sunday to go to Kempton Park.
I thought about collecting Patricia and Shakeaspeare in the bakkie but then decided not to,
a) it might pop her stitches when she jumped in and
b) I'm still not happy about the boarded up window on the canopy.
Previously I had been about to take Oreo and Caramel to the vet, so we pushed, shoved and lifted Caramel in, shut the door and went in search of Oreo. As we turned around Brian said "Caramel is out" - I stared at him in disbelief - how could he be out - we'd only just pushed him in???
Lo and behold, there was Caramel galloping off up the field with the entire window frame dangling around his neck, glass shards scattering on either side. We always leave the window a little open so that they have air and he had launched himself at the little gap - and off , off, and way to freedom!
So, Johan put the frame back but the glass is still not in so it is boarded up - no wonder Michael looked so happy when I picked him up from school in the car instead of the bakkie - so very uncool to be picked up in a bakkie with a boarded up window - not to mention that we followed the hunt in it, cross country, the weekend before so it was covered in mud.
Sarah came with me to Lee's and we had to stop for petrol. As we were stopped at the garage I wondered what the urgle gurgle noise was.... oh no not my engine again! Didn't want to alarm Sarah so looked around to see if there were any other vehicles near us that could be making the noise....no.... started the engine and hoped it would stop....no - still urgle gurgle'ing. It was only as I turned right that I noticed that the radio had come on but was not on any particular channel so it was making this loud shrrrigin noise - not the radiator at all thank goodness!
So Patricia and Shakespeare came home and he is hop, skipping and jumping around the field. The other big boys were a bit rough with him at first so he and mum, Coco and Dustin are in one field whilst the others stare at him through the fence from another.
Sarah's little dog Lovage (also miniature wire haired daschund - but REALLY mini) had her puppies (unfortunately one big boy died but she has 2 lovely little girls) and one of Mandy's horses had a foal - a very productive weekend!
I thought about collecting Patricia and Shakeaspeare in the bakkie but then decided not to,
a) it might pop her stitches when she jumped in and
b) I'm still not happy about the boarded up window on the canopy.
Previously I had been about to take Oreo and Caramel to the vet, so we pushed, shoved and lifted Caramel in, shut the door and went in search of Oreo. As we turned around Brian said "Caramel is out" - I stared at him in disbelief - how could he be out - we'd only just pushed him in???
Lo and behold, there was Caramel galloping off up the field with the entire window frame dangling around his neck, glass shards scattering on either side. We always leave the window a little open so that they have air and he had launched himself at the little gap - and off , off, and way to freedom!
So, Johan put the frame back but the glass is still not in so it is boarded up - no wonder Michael looked so happy when I picked him up from school in the car instead of the bakkie - so very uncool to be picked up in a bakkie with a boarded up window - not to mention that we followed the hunt in it, cross country, the weekend before so it was covered in mud.
Sarah came with me to Lee's and we had to stop for petrol. As we were stopped at the garage I wondered what the urgle gurgle noise was.... oh no not my engine again! Didn't want to alarm Sarah so looked around to see if there were any other vehicles near us that could be making the noise....no.... started the engine and hoped it would stop....no - still urgle gurgle'ing. It was only as I turned right that I noticed that the radio had come on but was not on any particular channel so it was making this loud shrrrigin noise - not the radiator at all thank goodness!
So Patricia and Shakespeare came home and he is hop, skipping and jumping around the field. The other big boys were a bit rough with him at first so he and mum, Coco and Dustin are in one field whilst the others stare at him through the fence from another.
Sarah's little dog Lovage (also miniature wire haired daschund - but REALLY mini) had her puppies (unfortunately one big boy died but she has 2 lovely little girls) and one of Mandy's horses had a foal - a very productive weekend!
Thursday, February 7, 2008
Kids in the morning - maybe a cattle prod would work?
Maybe some mothers are lucky enought to have children that leap out of bed in the morning with bright and sparkling faces - eager to greet a new day - unfortunately I am not one of them. I am sure that mine are the biggest grumblers, grouches, pain creators and sluggards on the planet.
M at least does get up and gets dressed without much chasing - and then mooches to the kitchen - but anyone watching him to do a time and motion study as he makes his sandwiches would quickly tear their hair out! I just want to grab the knife out of his hand and spread the butter with one quick sweep! His hand lifts the knife, hesitates, hovers over the butter, takes a tentative prod and then back to the bread..... aaarrrggg! And whatever is in the fridge or the cupboard is not what he wants to eat.
S, on the other hand, wakes with a face like thunder, says some or other part of her body is sore, that she hasn't slept all night, that she is tired etc etc.... and then finally goes off to get dressed - with an exaggerated limp or holding conspicuously whatever part of her that is sore/achy that particular morning.
So, once they are up, dressed and have made their sandwiches then there is the problem of getting them into the car - they move as slowly as possible, and sometimes disappear and take ages doing goodness knows what! I, in the meantime am running around shouting, "its 10 past 6 - come on" "its 15 minutes past 6 - get a move on!!!" - having reversed the car out of the garage and then in desperation sit in it with my hand on the horn - NOTHING makes them move faster - except when I start to drive off down the path - which might make them shuffle a bit faster, but they know I won't really leave them behind...
Once they are in then hopefully we are off, until at the end of the road one may say, "Oh dear I've left my book/blazer/tennis racket/ shoes/whatever behind so we do a lightening u-turn and race back...
Its just so exhausting!
M at least does get up and gets dressed without much chasing - and then mooches to the kitchen - but anyone watching him to do a time and motion study as he makes his sandwiches would quickly tear their hair out! I just want to grab the knife out of his hand and spread the butter with one quick sweep! His hand lifts the knife, hesitates, hovers over the butter, takes a tentative prod and then back to the bread..... aaarrrggg! And whatever is in the fridge or the cupboard is not what he wants to eat.
S, on the other hand, wakes with a face like thunder, says some or other part of her body is sore, that she hasn't slept all night, that she is tired etc etc.... and then finally goes off to get dressed - with an exaggerated limp or holding conspicuously whatever part of her that is sore/achy that particular morning.
So, once they are up, dressed and have made their sandwiches then there is the problem of getting them into the car - they move as slowly as possible, and sometimes disappear and take ages doing goodness knows what! I, in the meantime am running around shouting, "its 10 past 6 - come on" "its 15 minutes past 6 - get a move on!!!" - having reversed the car out of the garage and then in desperation sit in it with my hand on the horn - NOTHING makes them move faster - except when I start to drive off down the path - which might make them shuffle a bit faster, but they know I won't really leave them behind...
Once they are in then hopefully we are off, until at the end of the road one may say, "Oh dear I've left my book/blazer/tennis racket/ shoes/whatever behind so we do a lightening u-turn and race back...
Its just so exhausting!
Wednesday, February 6, 2008
What is it with Tuesdays????
Last week Tuesday - thought Sam had broken her arm and had to rush out of the office - this week it's an alpaca alarm!
Patricia has been at my friend Lees' place for the past week, Lee is at home and there is someone keeping an eye on the alpacas most of the time - better than at our place. So Patricia has been in the maternity ward for the last week being monitored. Great excitement on Tuesday morning - Patricia is in labour....but not good news - the front legs are out but the head is back.... oh dear! Lee tried to rectify the situation by pushing the legs back and trying to bring the head around but failed. As she was grovelling on the floor with her nose pressed against an alpacas tail in all the yuck ... I was meeting a new supplier representative from London and being treated to an extremely civilised tea at the Westcliffe Hotel - each person gets their own little cake stand - very nice!
Next stage - The vet came and the baby was delivered - a big boy of a lovely golden colour but very weak after being pummelled inside for hours! Yayy.... but it was not all over yet - another phone call from Lee - the afterbirth had been delivered- along with the uterus! Yikes, prolapsed uterus! Poor Lee gathered the thing up and put it in a plastic bag tied to Patricias tail while she waited for the vet - baby not able to stand = not drinking.... enough over the phone - I had to go!
Rushed out of work, picked up Sam and raced to Michaels school - in the pouring rain. Phoned the school office to ask them to give him a message that I was coming to get him earlier - a very bored person said that she didn't want to go out, it was raining and what was the problem... "I"ve got two animals dying and I have to get to the vet!" I shrieked - that made her move!
Off home to grab the powdered colostrum that I had in the fridge and then off to Lee (mileage, petrol...aaah!) The vet had been, given Patricia an epidural and stitched her all back together again - poor thing! The baby was still too wobbly to stand so we propped him up (between our knees) and we got him to drink - as soon as he lay down his head and neck reverted to the position he had been in, in the womb - face on back hip facing the tail. He is quite big so had not been able to move into the correct position for birthing. The umilical cord had also broken off close to the navel so I held him up while Lee spayed him (and my nice white t-shirt) with gentian violet! Gave him a bottle of colostrum and glucose and then off home just to hope for the best!
Thank goodness for Lee and her daughter Natalie who got up to check on them twice in the night!
Next morning - good news! Shakespeare is up, walking and drinking, mom a lot less swollen! Hopefully the tide has turned.
As someone at work said, I suppose you called him Shakespeare because of all the drama he caused!
Patricia has been at my friend Lees' place for the past week, Lee is at home and there is someone keeping an eye on the alpacas most of the time - better than at our place. So Patricia has been in the maternity ward for the last week being monitored. Great excitement on Tuesday morning - Patricia is in labour....but not good news - the front legs are out but the head is back.... oh dear! Lee tried to rectify the situation by pushing the legs back and trying to bring the head around but failed. As she was grovelling on the floor with her nose pressed against an alpacas tail in all the yuck ... I was meeting a new supplier representative from London and being treated to an extremely civilised tea at the Westcliffe Hotel - each person gets their own little cake stand - very nice!
Next stage - The vet came and the baby was delivered - a big boy of a lovely golden colour but very weak after being pummelled inside for hours! Yayy.... but it was not all over yet - another phone call from Lee - the afterbirth had been delivered- along with the uterus! Yikes, prolapsed uterus! Poor Lee gathered the thing up and put it in a plastic bag tied to Patricias tail while she waited for the vet - baby not able to stand = not drinking.... enough over the phone - I had to go!
Rushed out of work, picked up Sam and raced to Michaels school - in the pouring rain. Phoned the school office to ask them to give him a message that I was coming to get him earlier - a very bored person said that she didn't want to go out, it was raining and what was the problem... "I"ve got two animals dying and I have to get to the vet!" I shrieked - that made her move!
Off home to grab the powdered colostrum that I had in the fridge and then off to Lee (mileage, petrol...aaah!) The vet had been, given Patricia an epidural and stitched her all back together again - poor thing! The baby was still too wobbly to stand so we propped him up (between our knees) and we got him to drink - as soon as he lay down his head and neck reverted to the position he had been in, in the womb - face on back hip facing the tail. He is quite big so had not been able to move into the correct position for birthing. The umilical cord had also broken off close to the navel so I held him up while Lee spayed him (and my nice white t-shirt) with gentian violet! Gave him a bottle of colostrum and glucose and then off home just to hope for the best!
Thank goodness for Lee and her daughter Natalie who got up to check on them twice in the night!
Next morning - good news! Shakespeare is up, walking and drinking, mom a lot less swollen! Hopefully the tide has turned.
As someone at work said, I suppose you called him Shakespeare because of all the drama he caused!
Monday, February 4, 2008
More ducky news
Sam & I went to try to count ducks – not easy because they all run (waddle) away from you quacking loudly and join up with the others – and most of them look the same so its very hard to tell which ones you have counted and which you haven’t. Well, the fence is doing a good job – lots of ducklings.
So we think we have:
1 Jeremy*
2 white muddle ducks **
2 mallards
Approx 6 black ducks with about 12 very small new ducklings
Approx 6 muscovys with about 16 ducklings ranging from teenage to toddler
About 5 multicoloured muddle ducks
So, all in all about 53 – not including what Johan calls the 4 “Delinquent Ducks” who have made a break for freedom and are still free range rather than live in the duck area – they sneak along and swim in the swimming pool at 1 in the morning so their days are numbered if they keep that up. Plus there is one Muscovy sitting on eggs behind the stables = about 58. However, Biggles has become a rampant duck chaser so we have to make sure the gate is firmly closed otherwise he wiggles though and leaps into the pond, motoring furiously around with just his moustache floating on the surface! However, although not desirable in the duck pond - he is very useful when trying to evict the delinquent ducks from the swimming pool.
* Jeremy – When plot one sold up and went to live in a townhouse we inherited Jeremy and Henry. They were already quite old and had lived together all their lives. Henry was a rooster and Jeremy a Peking duck. At first Jeremy insisted on staying close to Henry so went to live in the chicken run – with his own little swimming pool. But then as time went on and he saw the other ducks, it gradually dawned on him that he is a duck! So now he is completely integrated and some of the muddle ducks have splashes of white – so there is life in the old duck still!
* Muddle ducks – our name for ducks of mixed parentage, no longer a pure black duck, Muscovy or mallard – they are now muddle ducks.
So we think we have:
1 Jeremy*
2 white muddle ducks **
2 mallards
Approx 6 black ducks with about 12 very small new ducklings
Approx 6 muscovys with about 16 ducklings ranging from teenage to toddler
About 5 multicoloured muddle ducks
So, all in all about 53 – not including what Johan calls the 4 “Delinquent Ducks” who have made a break for freedom and are still free range rather than live in the duck area – they sneak along and swim in the swimming pool at 1 in the morning so their days are numbered if they keep that up. Plus there is one Muscovy sitting on eggs behind the stables = about 58. However, Biggles has become a rampant duck chaser so we have to make sure the gate is firmly closed otherwise he wiggles though and leaps into the pond, motoring furiously around with just his moustache floating on the surface! However, although not desirable in the duck pond - he is very useful when trying to evict the delinquent ducks from the swimming pool.
* Jeremy – When plot one sold up and went to live in a townhouse we inherited Jeremy and Henry. They were already quite old and had lived together all their lives. Henry was a rooster and Jeremy a Peking duck. At first Jeremy insisted on staying close to Henry so went to live in the chicken run – with his own little swimming pool. But then as time went on and he saw the other ducks, it gradually dawned on him that he is a duck! So now he is completely integrated and some of the muddle ducks have splashes of white – so there is life in the old duck still!
* Muddle ducks – our name for ducks of mixed parentage, no longer a pure black duck, Muscovy or mallard – they are now muddle ducks.
Cars, funny people, blackouts and RATS
Thurs 31st
Wow, what an awful start to the day! The dogs barked on and off all night and as there had been a recent email sent around warning us of a gang raiding garages, cutting fences etc it meant I was up and down to let them in and out !
Woken up by the alarm and the clock said 5.30 – lots of time! So we pottered around until I glanced at the kitchen clock 6.25 – the alarm clock battery had decided to fade and so the clock was not reliable! We flew into the car and raced off – and I mean raced off. We passed a car going in the opposite direction with its lights flashing, “hmm, must be police around the corner” got to where we pick up Chad – no car to be seen so off I went zooming around the corner – until Sam said – Chads in the car behind us and they are flashing their lights! Stopped – and woe and behold, smoke came out of the bonnet….oh NO! We peered under the bonnet – nothing was hot and the temperature guage seemed normal but there was a horrible burning smelll… I wanted to CRY! Anyway, couldn’t waste time looking at the engine so we all piled back in and off we went – thankfully no more smoke! Chad said – you must have been going 200 kms per hour – we were going at 170 and couldn’t catch you! (I only went 140, honest!)
I was determined to go to buy a new clock radio but with our current power situation maybe the battery system is best.
Subaru came to collect and then checked it out (cleaned it again… maybe I should make this a weekly occurrence) so all fine on the car front - for the moment! More bad news at work, 3 people off sick and work flooding in… never mind, these days happen. But worst was to come.
At the beginning of the year we had decided to automate our press clipping function – easier said than done. We had over 400 clients and over 1500 subjects. Now we know what we mean when we say we want articles on the SA economy but you have to explain it to a computer – requires a thesaurus and lots of structuring. Then we had the problem that the server they were using was not big enough as they had underestimated the volume of usage – so that needed to be swapped. That then meant that the emails to the clients all bounced as the email administrators had not opened the system to that server… and now I find out that approximately 100 emails are still bouncing due to the addresses being wrong…. Phew. On top of that, one of the people who actually does receive what they are meant to complained about the format…. Coronary getting closer!
And so the day went on. The best thing was that I went to have tea in Sandton City to see my friend Jenny from the UK who was here for a couple of days. She looked great and it was wonderful to see her again. We spoke far too much about me rather than her and she kept reminding me of stories… i.e. the belly dancing outfit debacle, taking Michael around Russia and I can’t remember what else but they will all feature in this blog at sometime or another!
Isn’t it funny how some people crop up again and again? Today in the newspaper in the “Your SMS feedback” column I had a giggle. It read “Mrs X comments are pathetic and she should not hold the position of MP because she’s incapable”. Now Mrs X did a course at the WBS when I worked there – dressed always in a khaki skirt and pith helmet. She was dreadful – one of those people we always had to hunt down. But she got very clever. She would come in, go behind the journal shelves, replace the journal and then come to the desk to complain that of course she had
returned whatever it was and then march to the shelves to produce it – very indignantly at being so badly treated by us incompetents! Then there was a book that we never got back. When I heard that she was campaigning in Houghton I actually thought of marching up and down outside the voters hall with a placard “Don’t vote for Mrs X – she steals books”!
So…now she is an MP and obviously just as immoral and useless as most of the others.
Friday night – a lightening storm followed by a blackout so an typing by torchlight. Not sure if this blackout is due to the storm or ESKOM load shedding. We were well prepared as I bought ba paraffin lamp every time I went to our local shop (advantage of living in a rural area our shops have very basic stuff!) However, the hardware shop has sold out of wicks and bits of material cut up don’t quite do the trick (makes me feel very self sufficient to be tearing up my own wicks! = very “boer maak a plan’ish”) So decided to come and write about it while Johan and M have gone to get takeaways (theres a bright side to every blackout = no cooking!) but where oh where is my laptop – the minute I leave it it is whicked away by the blasted teenager who wants to either watch dvds in his room or use up all my internet time downloading stupid Mangas – at least Sam limits herself to mixit on her cell phone – M is an internet menace in the amount id downkoads, so console myself with a very little whisky and type with a little torch on either side of the keyboard – now I wish I’d learnt to touch type instead of peeping underneath the apron covering the keyboards of the Remington typewriters at school. The other night, the power went before it was dar so we had no lights on and spent hours with candles etc …
Until Sam switched on a light – goodness knows how long the power had been back on! Frogs in full song so going to sit on the stoep, just thinking, isn’t it weird how even though you know you are in a blackout your arm automatically reaches out to switch on the light = which means that you find yourself in a blaze of light as soon as the power does come back on.
The first night we moved into this house there was a power failure. The furniture truck had been and gone and the place was full of packing cases and boxes. Johan drove back to our old house in Lyndhurst to check everything and the kids and I were sorting things out. Then, pow, no electricity. Not a candle, match or torch anywhere that we knew of. The house was in quite bad shape then – holes in the ceilings, rats in the roof and cupboards, so we stood in the dark and then we heard it….. gnaw, gnaw, ganw, scamper, scamper scamper – RATS and close by! I was petrified, I hate rats… phoned Johan and screamed get back here quick – with candles! What a welcome! At least now (with 4 cats and some very good ratting dogs) its only the stables that have the odd intruder!
Wow, what an awful start to the day! The dogs barked on and off all night and as there had been a recent email sent around warning us of a gang raiding garages, cutting fences etc it meant I was up and down to let them in and out !
Woken up by the alarm and the clock said 5.30 – lots of time! So we pottered around until I glanced at the kitchen clock 6.25 – the alarm clock battery had decided to fade and so the clock was not reliable! We flew into the car and raced off – and I mean raced off. We passed a car going in the opposite direction with its lights flashing, “hmm, must be police around the corner” got to where we pick up Chad – no car to be seen so off I went zooming around the corner – until Sam said – Chads in the car behind us and they are flashing their lights! Stopped – and woe and behold, smoke came out of the bonnet….oh NO! We peered under the bonnet – nothing was hot and the temperature guage seemed normal but there was a horrible burning smelll… I wanted to CRY! Anyway, couldn’t waste time looking at the engine so we all piled back in and off we went – thankfully no more smoke! Chad said – you must have been going 200 kms per hour – we were going at 170 and couldn’t catch you! (I only went 140, honest!)
I was determined to go to buy a new clock radio but with our current power situation maybe the battery system is best.
Subaru came to collect and then checked it out (cleaned it again… maybe I should make this a weekly occurrence) so all fine on the car front - for the moment! More bad news at work, 3 people off sick and work flooding in… never mind, these days happen. But worst was to come.
At the beginning of the year we had decided to automate our press clipping function – easier said than done. We had over 400 clients and over 1500 subjects. Now we know what we mean when we say we want articles on the SA economy but you have to explain it to a computer – requires a thesaurus and lots of structuring. Then we had the problem that the server they were using was not big enough as they had underestimated the volume of usage – so that needed to be swapped. That then meant that the emails to the clients all bounced as the email administrators had not opened the system to that server… and now I find out that approximately 100 emails are still bouncing due to the addresses being wrong…. Phew. On top of that, one of the people who actually does receive what they are meant to complained about the format…. Coronary getting closer!
And so the day went on. The best thing was that I went to have tea in Sandton City to see my friend Jenny from the UK who was here for a couple of days. She looked great and it was wonderful to see her again. We spoke far too much about me rather than her and she kept reminding me of stories… i.e. the belly dancing outfit debacle, taking Michael around Russia and I can’t remember what else but they will all feature in this blog at sometime or another!
Isn’t it funny how some people crop up again and again? Today in the newspaper in the “Your SMS feedback” column I had a giggle. It read “Mrs X comments are pathetic and she should not hold the position of MP because she’s incapable”. Now Mrs X did a course at the WBS when I worked there – dressed always in a khaki skirt and pith helmet. She was dreadful – one of those people we always had to hunt down. But she got very clever. She would come in, go behind the journal shelves, replace the journal and then come to the desk to complain that of course she had
returned whatever it was and then march to the shelves to produce it – very indignantly at being so badly treated by us incompetents! Then there was a book that we never got back. When I heard that she was campaigning in Houghton I actually thought of marching up and down outside the voters hall with a placard “Don’t vote for Mrs X – she steals books”!
So…now she is an MP and obviously just as immoral and useless as most of the others.
Friday night – a lightening storm followed by a blackout so an typing by torchlight. Not sure if this blackout is due to the storm or ESKOM load shedding. We were well prepared as I bought ba paraffin lamp every time I went to our local shop (advantage of living in a rural area our shops have very basic stuff!) However, the hardware shop has sold out of wicks and bits of material cut up don’t quite do the trick (makes me feel very self sufficient to be tearing up my own wicks! = very “boer maak a plan’ish”) So decided to come and write about it while Johan and M have gone to get takeaways (theres a bright side to every blackout = no cooking!) but where oh where is my laptop – the minute I leave it it is whicked away by the blasted teenager who wants to either watch dvds in his room or use up all my internet time downloading stupid Mangas – at least Sam limits herself to mixit on her cell phone – M is an internet menace in the amount id downkoads, so console myself with a very little whisky and type with a little torch on either side of the keyboard – now I wish I’d learnt to touch type instead of peeping underneath the apron covering the keyboards of the Remington typewriters at school. The other night, the power went before it was dar so we had no lights on and spent hours with candles etc …
Until Sam switched on a light – goodness knows how long the power had been back on! Frogs in full song so going to sit on the stoep, just thinking, isn’t it weird how even though you know you are in a blackout your arm automatically reaches out to switch on the light = which means that you find yourself in a blaze of light as soon as the power does come back on.
The first night we moved into this house there was a power failure. The furniture truck had been and gone and the place was full of packing cases and boxes. Johan drove back to our old house in Lyndhurst to check everything and the kids and I were sorting things out. Then, pow, no electricity. Not a candle, match or torch anywhere that we knew of. The house was in quite bad shape then – holes in the ceilings, rats in the roof and cupboards, so we stood in the dark and then we heard it….. gnaw, gnaw, ganw, scamper, scamper scamper – RATS and close by! I was petrified, I hate rats… phoned Johan and screamed get back here quick – with candles! What a welcome! At least now (with 4 cats and some very good ratting dogs) its only the stables that have the odd intruder!
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