NZ Filbruns

In Memory

March 14, 2016 by NZ Filbruns Leave a Comment

Over a month ago, I posted that we had a new kitten. We loved that kitten, and thoroughly enjoyed having him, but something must have been wrong. One morning last week, we found him dead in his cage. Mr. Inventor, who had found him and who was the primary caregiver, was especially sad. Here are several pictures we took while we had him. He especially liked my rocking chair.

We had to be careful about sitting down; he loved to cuddle under blankets on a couch to sleep!

These last two pictures were taken the night before he died, when we had no idea anything was seriously wrong. We’re hoping to get a couple of kittens sometime, now that everyone has had a taste of the fun they are.

Digging a Well

March 12, 2016 by NZ Filbruns Leave a Comment

When you need water for irrigation, and you know that two of your neighbors have found water at 6-10 feet below the surface, and you have lots of boys with lots of energy, what do you do? You get them interested in the challenge of digging a well by hand, that’s what! The four oldest boys have been spending every spare minute for the past week or more, digging. The soil is solid clay, under the top 6-8 inches of topsoil, and with the drought that is now well into its second year, that clay is bone dry and not quite but almost rock-hard. They are chipping it away, a 6-inch level at a time, with their spade, and using it to fill in holes in the paddock. Mr. Inventor and Mr. Diligent built a crane to lift the buckets of clay out. I thought it was pretty ingenious! It only lasted a few hours, long enough for me to get these pictures, and then a screw came out of the hinge. They are now pulling the buckets of clay up with a rope. As of last evening, the well was 5.5 feet deep. Hopefully in another week I can report success!

Gore Bay on Waitangi Day

February 14, 2016 by NZ Filbruns Leave a Comment

Waitangi Day (the anniversary of the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi between the Maori and the English in 1840) fell on a Saturday this year, so Monday this week was a holiday. As always, we enjoyed having Gayle home for the day. He and the boys spent the morning in the garden, ripping out the pea vines and working the ground to replant the fall garden, while Esther and I worked on cabbage in the house. Then, we took a picnic lunch out to Gore Bay. It was a gorgeous day, just right to sit on the beach! I thought it was a bit cool for swimming, but all the boys except Mr. Imagination went in for awhile.

Esther read for awhile.

Mr. Diligence found several rocks and experimented with what color they made when he wrote with them on another rock.

Mr. Imagination picked a handful of nasturtiums, which grow wild along the sea.

On our way home, we drove through the Domain, and came across a family we know. We invited them to our house for dinner that evening, and had a nice visit—a perfect ending to a good day!

Our New Baby

February 13, 2016 by NZ Filbruns Leave a Comment

Our four oldest boys worked in the local vineyard for a couple of days this week. The first day, when I went to pick them up, Mr. Inventor came out of the barn where they were waiting for me, carrying a little black kitten! The mother, a wild cat, had been shot the day before, and the man they were working with said he would kill the kitten, too, if we didn’t take it. Of course, we brought the little fellow home. He has become tame remarkably fast. We’re loving having a kitten around for the first time since we came to New Zealand over six years ago. We have a cat, but he was full-grown when we got him. This little kitten, named Shadow, is going to be fun for everyone to watch.

January 2016 Pictures

February 12, 2016 by NZ Filbruns Leave a Comment

One morning when Mr. Intellectual was making his breakfast, he cracked an egg into a cup and found three yolks! He was tickled at his good fortune, and took a picture of it. Then, he cracked two more eggs and they were both double yolkers! So, from three eggs, he had seven yolks, as shown in the second picture, which he took to document his good morning.

Mr. Inventor brought one of his goslings in to show me how big it is now. Compare that to when it was newly-hatched, in October!

The boys spent a rainy day playing with Lincoln logs. Mr. Sweetie was impressed with this house-inside-a-house that he built.

The big boys made towers!

We watched a movie one week, Sheffey, the story of a circuit-riding preacher in, I believe, Tennessee in the 1800s. Gayle was holding the two little boys, and Little Miss got jealous, so announced that she wanted to be on his lap, too—right in the middle! I say we watched it one week, because it took four or five evenings to get through it.

On our way home from church one Sunday afternoon, we stopped for a few minutes at Saint Anne’s Lagoon to look around just a bit.

Mr. Inventor’s ducks enjoyed the pool they had for a week or two after a recent rain!

When we went to Christchurch for a day recently, we ate lunch in a small park, and then used the playground for awhile. Little Miss loved the swing ride she got with her big brother!

Summer Afternoon

February 9, 2016 by NZ Filbruns Leave a Comment

A few weeks ago, I wrote a post one afternoon while I was outside watching my three little ones play. Here are a few more pictures I took that afternoon.

Little Miss took a long nap on my lap. That got rather uncomfortable, but she liked it! I got five books reviewed.

After playing in the water in the old bathtub for awhile, the little boys warmed up in the sun with the inner tubes.

Mr. Inventor’s geese checked us out.

After she woke up, Little Miss went exploring again.

That was such a lovely afternoon!

The Two Littlest

February 7, 2016 by NZ Filbruns Leave a Comment

Mr. Imagination woke up early one morning, but by 7:00 he was asleep again on my chair!

She did it! Little Miss figured out how to get a cloth over her head. She worked on that trick for a long time.

One morning after a rain, Little Miss found a puddle just her size and had fun stepping in it.

She also thought it was fun washing her hands and feet in the milk in the cat dish. Mom was not impressed (and neither was the cat!).

Little Miss is a Daddy’s girl! She wants to be with Daddy whenever she can be. Just before I took this picture, I saw her standing there with her hand on his back, watching intently.

Mr. Sweetie took this one.

Everyone likes to play with Little Miss. One evening, she was “throwing” a ball and chasing it, to the great delight of everyone. Another time, Mr. Handyman brought her into the house in a bucket. She frequently gets bucket rides. This picture with a ball was taken on her birthday.

Mr. Imagination didn’t finish his breakfast, a pancake with applesauce, cut up into bite-sized pieces. Little Miss found it and ate about half, then scattered the rest across the floor.

Mr. Imagination found this dress in the closet one day and badly wanted Little Miss to wear it. The boys love seeing her dressed in really girly clothes.

While I was shelling peas one day, Mr. Sweetie got the camera and took some pictures of the two little ones. This is what I was enjoying watching while I shelled the peas.

That turkey is as big as she is! Mr. Inventor thought it was pretty cute to see her investigating the turkeys. He said she walked right up to them.

While we were eating outside where it was cooler one evening, she stuck her foot in Daddy’s plate. That wasn’t what she wanted to do!

One day, she spent half an hour or more sitting on this box, playing with her empty pill bottle and one or two other things.

After I emptied a jar of yogurt, she took it and the spoon and cleaned out more!

January Garden

February 3, 2016 by NZ Filbruns Leave a Comment

The garden is doing splendidly! My boys have been a great help again this year. We’ve picked cabbage twice; this is the first harvest—30 heads! We made 110 pounds of sourkraut that day, more than we need for the year. It took only about 4 hours from picking the cabbage to finishing the cleanup.

Another day I picked a bushel and a half of peas. It was a lovely day to sit under a tree to shell them.

Little Miss loves to eat peas!

Mr. Intellectual has his own beautiful garden at the edge of the big garden. Here is Mr. Imagination showing the size of his brother’s sunflowers and corn.

This is our corn and pumpkins, with cabbage just beyond, and potatoes on the other side of that.

Little Miss likes zucchini, too!

Mr. Intellectual has been harvesting dandelion roots as well, and making them into “coffee”. He looked up directions and figured out how to roast them. Yum!

Breakfast on the Go, and links

February 1, 2016 by NZ Filbruns Leave a Comment

We went to town a couple of days ago. Going to town, meaning the nearest city to us, is an all-day affair. We have nearly an hour and a half drive to get there, so we try to leave early in order to get everything done that we have to do and get home before too late in the evening. We usually eat breakfast on the road on those days, and the current favorite breakfast-on-the-go is egg sandwiches.

We start by scrambling eggs; we ask each person how many eggs he wants and scramble the total, with salt and pepper. Then, take a piece of bread for each egg and spread it with mayonnaise (we make our own). Put about one scrambled egg on the bread, and top with a thin slice of cheese. Put it under the broiler or in a hot oven for a few minutes, just long enough to melt the cheese.

We usually do all that the night before, and refrigerate overnight. In the morning, we pull them out and put them on baking trays again, then reheat just a little while. For my share, because I feel better if I eat Trim Healthy Mama-style, I make my own bread substitute. I grind 2 Tablespoons dried coconut and 1 Tablespoon flax seeds in the coffee grinder, add 1/2 teaspoon baking powder and a pinch of salt, and stir in one egg. I put a piece of baking paper on a small tray and bake in the toaster oven for 6-7 minutes. You can also cook in a microwave for 1-2 minutes, but I like it better baked.

Esther has posted on her blog several days this week, and I love the pictures she has posted. For some really great pictures of our boys, please go here and here and here and here and here and here.

Book Review–Jack

January 27, 2016 by NZ Filbruns Leave a Comment

I discovered Chautona Havig’s books about a year ago, when I read Ready or Not for the second time. After reading the next two books in that series a few months later, I was hooked. When she asked for people to help her launch new books, last September, I immediately volunteered. Jack is the second one I’ve been able to read before publication. Today is the release date! Buy it here.

And, without further ado, here is my review, which, as with other reviews I post her will be taken down when it publishes on Esther’s website.

For the past year, I’ve been enjoying Chautona Havig’s books. When I had the chance a few months ago to sign up to help her launch new books, I took it—it means I get to read them for free before they are published! I probably would never have read Jack otherwise; I’m really not into cowboy stories. However, I found myself enjoying this one, as I have her other books that I’ve read.

Read my full review here.