Our family's life in New Zealand
I happened to have my camera in my pocket the other day when I was in the garden and discovered this beauty!
Preparing lunch the night before for our trip to town. It takes a lot of sandwiches to feed this crew! Making them assembly-line fashion helps.
What do you do with a big pile of coasters from the dump? Build castles!
Sunday afternoon fun. The little boys were trying to play the organ.
Mr. Diligence was playing with a bean bag.
I looked at the pictures on Esther’s memory card yesterday, and found some from the Sunday School picnic in March that I’d like to share! This picnic is an annual event at the home of a family way up in the hills, nearly to the mountains. After lunch, we walked out in a paddock behind the house. A couple of our boys had spent two nights there in December, and wanted to show us where they had played. It was quite interesting! They discovered that this tree was hollow, and opened up a hole just a bit more so they could fit inside. Here is Mr. Inventor peering out.
This is how you get it—turn sideways and wriggle through! No thanks.
The valley the tree was in.
They also wanted to show us the big willow trees they played in.
This was the original house on the farm, built about a hundred years ago. Unfortunately, it is in very poor shape now. It was quite interesting to look at, though.
The day after the picnic, we took a picnic to another place: Gore Bay. The boys wanted to try out an inflatable dinghy they were given. It didn’t work very well in the waves here, but when they tried it on a quiet lagoon, it worked well.
Little Miss is terrified of the sea—she wanted to stay safe with Daddy.
Mr. Inventor built himself another forge this week. He cut apart a propane cylinder and used the top for the place for a fire. He welded it to a pipe and used the bottom of the cylinder for a stand. The pipe coming out the side is to attach a blower to (he uses an old vacuum cleaner) for air for the fire. He welded a metal grate inside to hold the coal fire up off the air hole.
Here is the forge in action. It worked great—it was so hot they could hardly get close enough to work with the fire! However, it melted the grate. I’m not sure what he’s doing next!
My computer is still acting up; we reset to factory setting two weeks ago because it had automatically updated to Windows 8.1 and this computer won’t work right on that operating system. Now, it’s demanding that we put in the product key for Windows 8! I’ve been talking to the technical support at Acer, and getting very frustrated. Most of them are difficult to understand, and don’t really want to listen to me. When they told me what to do, it didn’t work, so I called back and they said to reset to factory settings again! So, I’m going to write and schedule a bunch of blog posts with all the pictures I have ready, so I can delete those folders, and then back up my computer, and then reset it. Then, we get to set it up again for the third time in three weeks, and copy everything from the backup into the computer again, and spend a day installing updates again, because there are so many that they overload the system, and search for the particular update that enables the upgrade to Windows 8.1 and block it, and reinstall all the programs I use! What a bother. Esther is getting really good at setting up a computer. I tried, I really did, but messed things up so she had to fix them. I told Gayle today that Esther isn’t allowed to leave home—I can’t figure out my computer without her! I have a feeling I’m allowing myself to be lazy about it, though and could do it if I spent a lot more time with it.
Anyway, here are the random pictures from May.
Little Miss loves to drape clothing around her neck as a scarf.
Socks and shoes are her favorite items of clothing. Socks over pajamas? Why not!
One afternoon on the way home from church the sea was so still we could see reflections. Barney’s Rock was so beautiful this way!
An apple in a cup—the perfect way to eat it!
Mr. Handyman holding our biggest pumpkin of the year. I can’t remember how much it weighed, though.
A new dress! This came from either her grandmother or an aunt, on Gayle’s side.
I thought this was funny—three boys using three computers.
We had quite the harvest of peppers. I planted four types, Bell Peppers, Anaheim Chilies, Jalapenos, and Cayenne. Such a pretty assortment. Today I need to be washing the last of them; I picked a bushel basket full (40 liter tub) a few days ago when the plant were mostly killed by frost.
Mr. Intellectual was given a margarine tub full of stamps from around the world. He had great fun sorting them and discovering what countries they were from. There were a lot of double-ups, so his brothers got some, too.
We acquired two kittens toward the end of April, Leif and Linda. They were awfully cute, playing together. When we let them in the house in the morning, they would spend the next hour or so playing with each other, then settle down for a nap on their favorite chair. We thoroughly enjoyed playing with them and holding them for a nap. Unfortunately, Linda was accidentally killed only a month after we got them. We’re still enjoying Leif, though. He’s growing fast, and full of life. He searched for his sister for a day or two after she died, but seems to have forgotten her now. Mr. Inventor allowed Leif into his room so he wouldn’t be so lonesome at night, and now the kitten sleeps with him.
The fire-worshippers!
The only time we saw Leif up this tree was when he was searching for Linda—she used to climb it.
Guarding a schoolbook?
We also have some very cute chicks. This hen has hatched chicks for us quite a number of times; she’s getting pretty old—Esther found a picture of her from 2013, when she was young. We think someone gave her to us. This time, she hatched 16, out of 16 eggs—quite an impressive record.
It’s pretty funny to see all 16 chicks under their mother at the same time. She can’t relax! All you can see of the chicks is a few feet sticking out. I’m really impressed by how a mother hen takes care of her chicks. It’s really cold in the mornings here right now, with heavy frosts. The chicks run around and forage for awhile, then duck under their mother’s feathers to warm up. Then they run around for awhile again. When we put feed on the ground for them, she races over and starts virtually ordering the chicks to eat.
These white chickens were raised by the light brown hen you can see just in front of the red tub. She and another hen, between them, hatched 23 chicks within a few days of each other in April, and have successfully raised all 23. We locked them up just a few days ago, because there were too many chickens on the loose.
“Eat up! You don’t know when you’ll find more food!” says Mother Hen.
I was thrilled one evening when I came across this scene! This is only the first or second time ever that Mr. Diligence has voluntarily read a book! Mr. Imagination loved listening, of course.
We saw this impressive cold front on its way up from the south as we came home from church one Sunday afternoon. Unfortunately, it blew over without dropping anything, although we did get a bit of rain later that night.
Is that a kiss—or a bite?
For our last homeschool gathering of the year, we went to a campground by the Waipara River. We were the first ones there, so the boys spent some time building dams while we waited for others to arrive.
Little Miss tasted rocks.
The boys discovered Little Miss with a jar of jam she had managed to get open. Instead of cleaning her up (we were supposed to be leaving in a few minutes for a barbeque!), Mr. Inventor started snapping pictures. It was cute, I’ll have to admit, to see her dipping in for yet another handful of jam! Thankfully, it was sugar-free, so not bad for her.
Mr. Sweetie was happy to get his cast off. The boys were all very interested in how it was done.
When Esther and Mr. Handyman came home, they brought gifts from the grandparents. This was Mr. Imagination’s favorite. He needed help putting it together a few times, but now he can do it himself.
Little Miss discovered an empty cupboard, and then Mr. Imagination joined her in it.
A couple of weeks ago, the boys noticed a peacock running along the fence on the north side of this property. The next morning, the peacock was in our paddock, preening and generally making himself at home. We frequently see him showing off his ragged, beautiful tail, and the sounds we hear multiple times through the day make it sound like a zoo here!
I got out this box of milk bottles so I could put milk in the freezer. Looks like the rats got there first. I was glad to hear that the bait we put out is gone; we haven’t seen signs of rats recently (these bottles have been stored in that spot since about March). Why they would eat empty, clean milk bottles, and the calf bottle, is beyond me.
Mr. Imagination
Gayle decided they needed to find out what exactly it was like in the underground water tank. The water level was down to about 2 feet deep, after watering the garden for a couple of days, so he tied a rope around Mr. Diligence and lowered him in. He walked around and reported that the floor is solid concrete, covered with a layer of mud and debris.
I liked this—all the boys laying around the hole, looking in.
The boys found this hedgehog while they were feeding the chickens one evening.
Little Miss was delighted to be able to see the hen with her four chicks!
Mr. Sweetie can read! I found a couple of beginning readers for him the other evening, and he didn’t want to go to bed; he wanted to keep reading. I told him he was allowed to get up early in the morning to read. He didn’t like that idea, but as soon as he was up in the morning he was reading!
She has learned to do a lot of things in the past month. About two weeks ago, she started walking, and now she goes everywhere she wants. These first two pictures were from about three weeks ago, when she first learned how to go outside by herself without falling on her nose. She would sit down at the edge, swing one foot out, then the other, and then plunk down on her bottom. I love that look on her face! She was so pleased with her accomplishment.
Here, she was quite upset because she was locked out of the kitchen while the floor was being washed. She did her best to pry the door open, screaming in frustration the whole time.
Here, she was very pleased to be able to play with the broad bean pods after we shelled them. It’s so much fun to scatter things!
Just waking up from a nap.
She’s discovered the joy of playing in gravel and dirt in the past couple of weeks. She loves to push it back and forth with her hands.
She worked out how to climb into a box of toys.
All ready for church.
Mr. Imagination loves to play with soft toys, and he lined his dolls and stuffed animals up on my rocking chair one morning. Little Miss was delighted to play with them, too.
Now that she can walk, she loves to carry things around. Here, she found the handle of a croquet mallet. She wanted it in the house, so she threw it in the door, then climbed in herself and walked around brandishing it.
Checking out a Silverbeet (Swiss Chard) leaf.
The boys and I have been spending an average of half an hour a day, each, on the garden. It’s really amazing how much can happen in that amount of time! The garden is thriving. We’re watering when we have to, from a large cistern by the house that collects the overflow from our half unit of water from the Council. We’ve had a little bit of rain lately, which does wonders. We also save all the water we can in the house, such as from washing lettuce, or Little Miss’s bath water, and bucket it out to the garden. We’re loving having all the lettuce salads we want. We’re going into my favorite time of the year!
These first three pictures were taken the last week of November.
I took this one a couple of days ago. The boys were finishing up their 30 minutes, with Little Miss’s help, while I fixed lunch. Left-right: Mr. Sweetie, Little Miss, Mr. Inventor, Mr. Diligence.
This isn’t quite the garden, but it is a plant! We were recently given a couple of pitcher plants. They are catching a lot of flies for us—so many, in fact, that the plant can’t digest them all and gets indigestion. We’ve had to cut off a few traps that were dying because of all the flies inside them!
Mr. Inventor has been very busy living up to his nickname lately. Here are pictures of some of his projects just in the past week.
He built a forge out of an old 20-pound propane cylinder. He had watched a YouTube clip online, and and added his own ideas. He cut off the top of the cylinder and attached a pipe to the lower side to which he attached an air pump. Then, he lined the lower 2/3 or so of the tank with an inch or two of clay and let it dry for a day. He started a fire in it with wood, and then added coal to get a very hot fire. He was able to get it really hot by pumping air in.
After getting the bar of steel red hot, he beat it on a piece of railroad rail with his hammer to try to make a chisel. He later ended up melting this end of the steel, though, when he was experimenting to see how hot he could get it! When he pulled it out of the fire one time, part of the bar was missing.
He made this handle for a chisel with his wood lathe.
He also built this hand-crank bench grinder one day. He spent a lot of time on YouTube trying to find directions for building something like this, but couldn’t find any, so he made it up himself, if I understood right. He wanted to make another, and make a video of it to post on YouTube for other boys to watch who want to make the same thing! He used the bike pedal that was originally attached to the gear at first, then made this handle on his lathe. He likes the bike pedal better, though, because it’s easier to turn. Actually, now he’s saying to take off the pedal but leave the bolt it turns on.
He’s also using his lathe again to make wooden bowls. There has been a lot of creativity here in the past week!
After the bowl is shaped and sanded, he oils it for several days with olive oil. These bowls are beautiful!
Of course, the boys had to have fun with the forge, too! Besides melting aluminum and making odd shapes with it (Mr. Intellectual has now made a clay mold in which he wants to try casting an aluminum signet ring), this short video shows some of their other fun. And by the way, after only doing this trick four times, the bucket of water was hotter than dishwater!