• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Lots of Helpers

Our family's life in New Zealand

  • Home
  • Our Library
  • Math Freebie
  • Contact Us
  • Legal Policies
    • Disclosure and Disclaimer
    • Privacy Policy
You are here: Home / Archives for Away From Home

Away From Home

Bringing the Cow Home

July 27, 2011 by NZ Filbruns Leave a Comment

On the way to fetch the cow:

We decided that today was the day to bring the cow home.  She’s been in a neighbor’s paddock, about 600 meters (a little over 1/3 mile) down the road.  They had grass going to waste and offered it to us.  About six weeks ago we put the cow and her grown calf down there, and have been walking down to check on them a few times a week.  The past week, we’ve checked on them every day, as she is getting closer to her due date.  Well, that day is tomorrow, and she’s looking close!  This afternoon, after school was finished and house was cleaned up, the whole crew went with me to fetch Chestnut.  She’s very calm, and leads extremely well, especially considering how wild she was when we first got her a little over a year ago!  Now, she’s trying to figure out where her daughter is, just wandering around the enclosure we put her in.  We’re hoping for a new calf tomorrow or the next day!

That’s last year’s calf; she’s old enough now to be bred herself.

Leading the cow to the road.

She didn’t want to leave!

Once we got on the road she went willingly. Almost home, now–that’s our house up ahead.

Filed Under: Away From Home Tagged With: Animals, Cow

Seals

July 24, 2011 by NZ Filbruns Leave a Comment

On our way home from church today, we stopped along the coast to fill our jugs with seawater (we evaporate it on the woodstove to make salt).  The waves were wild today, so it was challenging to get the water.

I got soaked when a particularly large one caught me by surprise.


What ended up working best was when Simon filled our drink thermos with water and handed it to Seth, who handed it to me, and I poured it into the jugs.

We found a deepish spot under a boulder that was partially sheltered from the force of the waves, to fill the thermos in.

He wanted me to take a picture of this special rock.

After the jugs were full, I got in the van to try to warm up, but Gayle and the boys walked around and explored the area a bit.  Several of my boys brought me beautiful little flowers–I have no idea what they are.

After awhile, Gayle came back saying, “You really have to come see this!”  So, Esther and I went where they were.  We were surprised–there were seals (New Zealand Fur Seals) all over on the other side of the rocks from where we had been getting water!

There were a lot of babies, and some bigger ones.  They were on top of rocks as high as a two-story building–how they get up there is a mystery to me!

We also got to watch some swimming in the waves.

Here we were standing two stories above the water!It was so fun, also, to watch Joe as he watched the seals!  He yells, “See!  Seals!”

Wild parsley grows along the path to the rock where we were watching the seals.

The sun came out just as we were leaving.

 

Filed Under: Away From Home Tagged With: Ocean, seals

  • « Go to Previous Page
  • Page 1
  • Interim pages omitted …
  • Page 38
  • Page 39
  • Page 40

Primary Sidebar

  • RSS Feed
  • Facebook
  • YouTube
  • Goodreads

Recent Posts

  • Franz Josef
  • Book Review–God Storys
  • Church Picnic and Coal Mine
  • Napoleon Hill
  • New in the Library! March 2026

Archives

Disclosure

Some links on this site are affiliate links.

Subscribe to the Blog

/* real people should not fill this in and expect good things - do not remove this or risk form bot signups */

Intuit Mailchimp

The Family:


Dad and Mom (Gayle and Emma)

Girl #1, Esther, my right hand

Boy #1, Seth (Mr. Handyman)

Boy #2, Simon (Mr. Inventor)

Boy #3, Mr. Intellectual

Boy #4, Mr. Diligence

Boy #5, Mr. Sweetie

Boy #6, Mr. Imagination

Girl #2, Little Miss

Girl #3, Miss Joy

Book Reviews Website

IgniteLit

COPYRIGHT © 2026 · TWENTY SEVEN PRO ON GENESIS FRAMEWORK · DISCLOSURE & DISCLAIMER · PRIVACY POLICY