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Fishing

Fishing and Milking

February 15, 2020 by NZ Filbruns Leave a Comment

One Saturday afternoon in January, a friend invited us to go out to the sea with him while he put his longline out to see what fish he could catch. Gayle and Mr. Sweetie were already in town (Greymouth is along the coast), so our friend took the other boys with him. Esther and I and the little girls went later, when we learned that everyone else in our church was there, too! They caught 11 elephant fish, a kind of shark. Someone put one of them in the coals of the fire that was going, and we ate it while we were there. Someone else took several of the fish home with them, and we brought eight of them home. The boys and Gayle filleted them the next day (they were in a chilly bin on ice overnight). Yum! This is Mr. Intellectual with one of the fish right after taking off the longline.

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Simon starting to fillet one of the fish.22-IMG_3067

Those are big fish. One of them is more than enough for a meal for our family.

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One morning I finally remembered to take a camera along when I went to milk. Mr. Intellectual had to go out and bring the cows up to the shed. The cow, Poppy, is in the lead; the heifer, Pansy is following.

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Poppy goes into the stall with no hesitation; she knows there will always be treats waiting for her.07-IMG_3015

Pansy wants the treats, too; most of the time, she comes and tries to get them.08-IMG_301609-IMG_3019

They actually spend a lot of time hanging around the shed, chewing their cuds, it seems like. Most of the time lately, they’ve been waiting for me there when I go down to milk.10-IMG_3020

See the roses climbing high in the tree?11-IMG_3021

The neighbor’s rose hedge was amazing when it was in full bloom! By now, it’s done blooming, and last week, she pruned the whole thing back to not much. This kind of roses grow very fast, though; soon it’ll be beautiful again. I walk past it every morning and evening when I go to milk.12-IMG_3022

Filed Under: Activities at Home, Away From Home Tagged With: Cows, Fishing, Milking

October 2019 Photos

November 9, 2019 by NZ Filbruns 1 Comment

Here are the last of my photos from October! This year is almost over already—how can that be?

One more bubble picture, from when that was the fad. This is Mr. Imagination.

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Gayle and all the children except Miss Joy went fishing one Saturday. They didn’t catch anything except a blackberry vine, and they lost some hooks and the handle of a reel—but they had fun!

05-IMG_249806-IMG_249907-IMG_250208-IMG_2504Little Miss wanted to dress her baby sister one morning, so I let her try. She discovered it’s a little harder than dressing a doll! Mr. Imagination helped her.

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The cow and calf enjoyed the sunshine a few days after the calf was born during a rainy spell.04-IMG_6076

The boys were trying to make a stack of people. Mr. Sweetie climbed onto Mr. Diligence’s shoulders, but when Mr. Imagination got on, the stack collapsed.04-IMG_6119

Mr. Sweetie and Mr. Imagination made these fish out of silly putty. The fish are playing with a ball, and the top of the frame is the sea.07-IMG_6091

Simon bought a new backpack, and Mr. Diligence wanted to try it out. He got Little Miss to climb in, and gave her a ride. She loved it!

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This enormous dump truck is used in mining, likely coal mining. It is not licensed for using on the road, so they had to haul it this way.08-IMG_6094

Mr. Imagination was quite impressed with the length of this potato sprout when he helped his daddy plant potatoes a few weeks ago!08-IMG_6126

We enjoy watching episodes of MasterChef together, and Mr. Imagination has been inspired to create pretty food. This was a “dessert” he made one morning. He has pieces of banana and orange, and he made a sauce with mashed bananas and cream.09-IMG_6127

Miss Joy at a little over two months. She lives up to her name most of the time, and is a joy to have in the family. As I type this, she is sleeping snuggled up on my chest.10-IMG_6128

Some friends gave us a praying mantis egg case. We were fascinated to watch the baby insects hatch! Esther took a video of it, then sped it up 8 times.

Filed Under: Activities at Home, Away From Home Tagged With: Fishing, Random Photos, Videos

Fishing

April 7, 2019 by NZ Filbruns Leave a Comment

Two weeks ago, on a Sunday afternoon, a friend called and asked if we wanted to go fishing. He has a kontiki, or longline, which pulls a fishing line a kilometer or so out to sea. They leave it out for awhile, then pull it back in and hope for a fish on each hook! Of course the boys wanted to go. I needed a nap, so Gayle and the boys and Little Miss all went. I took a nap, and Esther worked on packing the picnic we were planning to have down by the river that evening anyway, in honor of Mr. Imagination’s birthday. We followed about an hour after the boys left, and arrived just in time to see the fish being reeled in.

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Here is the contraption that takes the line out to sea.

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There were quite a number of sharks on the hooks. Most were small enough that they were thrown back in, but I think there were five big enough to eat. Our friend saved one for his son, and he and Simon cooked the other four on the fire for us to eat right away. They cleaned them, then put butter and seasoned salt inside the cavity. They put sliced lemons on the outside of the sharks, and wrapped the whole thing in several layers of foil, then put them directly on the coals of the driftwood fire they had started when they got to the beach.

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While we waited for the sharks to cook, we roasted sausages and marshmallows over the fire.

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When the sharks were cooked, we dug into them—yum!

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Here is a few down the beach.

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Mr. Imagination wanted me to take a picture of his rock. He says this was his best birthday celebration yet!

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Filed Under: Away From Home Tagged With: Fishing, West Coast

And on the Home Front…

March 9, 2019 by NZ Filbruns 2 Comments

My sons who stayed home from America had quite a surprise for us when we came home. I thought they were joking when they talked about building the bunkbeds in their room which I had suggested some time ago—but they actually did it! I was very impressed.

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On the other side of the room, they built a closet to store their clothes and other belongings. This takes the place of some shelves that used to hang above a bed, which I always thought was a bit dangerous, and a couple of dressers. There are a lot of shelves inside this closet. The room feels much larger now, and the boys have room to have a table at which they can play games or build models. So nice! They were very excited to show it to us when we arrived home; I had to look in the window at it before I even came into the house! They also installed a light in the kitchen that I’d been wanting, to replace a fixture I hated.

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They also had time for some fun. A few days before we came home, they went fishing with a friend two evenings. He has a Kon Tiki, or longline, for fishing in the ocean. A small motor pulls the line out, and then another reels it in. They didn’t have a camera, but Gayle took a few pictures of their catch with his phone. These are mostly sharks, which are fairly good eating.

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Filed Under: Activities at Home, Away From Home Tagged With: Building, Fishing

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The Family:


Dad and Mom (Gayle and Emma)

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

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