Just though people might want to see how Connor is growing, here are two of the daily photos, top one taken around 1 week, and the bottom was last nights.
Saturday, July 21, 2007
Sunday, July 15, 2007
Something different
Ah, another 2 weeks without a blog entry, well last weekend was a bit wet and yucky, so not much really happened (I think, I certainly can't remember anything of interest except having to do an autopsy on Gleep (one of last years lambs)).
On Sunday morning we discovered she was dead, so out of interest I cut her open to see what had caused it, her liver was very pink, instead of deep red, and her gall bladder was light yellow instead of flouro green, and she had leasions on her lungs. Since I had her open, I took the rest of the skin off, and turned her into cat food (only the muscle though, didn't use any offal).
Yep, I think that was it for last weekend, this weekend though, I actually learnt a new skill (not that it is really a skill, but useful all the same). It started off around Thursday with the fire in the lounge pushing lots of smoke back into the room every time you opened the door, I thought "hm might be time to clean the chimney", but Saturday morning we hadn't organized anything, so I rang a few local hardware stores and found one close that had chimney brushes. After a quick trip to Carterton to collect one, and then around lunch time, by which time the fire had died down enough to work in the fire box (the warmth of the residue heat was quite pleasant), I got the ladder and rope out and proceed to the roof.
To cut a long story short (it ain't that exciting anyway), I successfully managed to sweep our chimney, and in all it cost us $30, it would have probably been more expensive to get a guy out.
Then on Saturday afternoon Andy, Alex and I continued chopping up that gum tree we felled a few weeks ago, not quite done yet, but made a big dent in it. That evening, Steph and I (Connor was asleep so he slept in the car seat in one of the bedrooms) went over the Jules and Andy's for dinner. They have been here now for 12 months to the day, so we all thought a bit of a celebration was in order. 3 bottles of wine, a lovely roast Bob (one of the lambs that I dispatched), a very nice crumble, and then lots of cheese. In all a very pleasant evening, we trundled home around 11, and crashed out for the night.
I did manage to get out for a hunt on Friday evening, we went down to Joe's farm, and tried a new area, unfortunately we only saw 2 rabbits, and had 6 shots at one of them, but missed all :-(
Consequently Saturday morning I spent a few hours knocking over targets, still need more practice though, as always.
Then that leads us on to today, well it's only 9:20, and I sent Steph out into the paddocks around 8, I tried getting her out at 7:30 but she was dilly dallying. Connor sleeps for a few hours in the morning, so it seemed like a good chance for her to play with Markissa.
Hopefully this afternoon if the weather stays fine, we'll do a spot of fishing.
On Sunday morning we discovered she was dead, so out of interest I cut her open to see what had caused it, her liver was very pink, instead of deep red, and her gall bladder was light yellow instead of flouro green, and she had leasions on her lungs. Since I had her open, I took the rest of the skin off, and turned her into cat food (only the muscle though, didn't use any offal).
Yep, I think that was it for last weekend, this weekend though, I actually learnt a new skill (not that it is really a skill, but useful all the same). It started off around Thursday with the fire in the lounge pushing lots of smoke back into the room every time you opened the door, I thought "hm might be time to clean the chimney", but Saturday morning we hadn't organized anything, so I rang a few local hardware stores and found one close that had chimney brushes. After a quick trip to Carterton to collect one, and then around lunch time, by which time the fire had died down enough to work in the fire box (the warmth of the residue heat was quite pleasant), I got the ladder and rope out and proceed to the roof.
To cut a long story short (it ain't that exciting anyway), I successfully managed to sweep our chimney, and in all it cost us $30, it would have probably been more expensive to get a guy out.
Then on Saturday afternoon Andy, Alex and I continued chopping up that gum tree we felled a few weeks ago, not quite done yet, but made a big dent in it. That evening, Steph and I (Connor was asleep so he slept in the car seat in one of the bedrooms) went over the Jules and Andy's for dinner. They have been here now for 12 months to the day, so we all thought a bit of a celebration was in order. 3 bottles of wine, a lovely roast Bob (one of the lambs that I dispatched), a very nice crumble, and then lots of cheese. In all a very pleasant evening, we trundled home around 11, and crashed out for the night.
I did manage to get out for a hunt on Friday evening, we went down to Joe's farm, and tried a new area, unfortunately we only saw 2 rabbits, and had 6 shots at one of them, but missed all :-(
Consequently Saturday morning I spent a few hours knocking over targets, still need more practice though, as always.
Then that leads us on to today, well it's only 9:20, and I sent Steph out into the paddocks around 8, I tried getting her out at 7:30 but she was dilly dallying. Connor sleeps for a few hours in the morning, so it seemed like a good chance for her to play with Markissa.
Hopefully this afternoon if the weather stays fine, we'll do a spot of fishing.
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Friday, June 29, 2007
If I get in quick, I can still say I blogged this week
It's been quite a good week. Oh, I only have Sunday to write about, cool...
On Sunday, since I had the chainsaw back, the main plan of the day was cleaning up the felled tree, and tanning the bunnies. Well plans are great but there wasn't much wind so I thought whilst I had the chance, I would fire off a few rounds into milk cartons and try and get some practice with the rifle. 35 rounds later, and a few holes in the milk carton, it was no surprise that the previous hunting trip was unsuccessful! Oh well, hopefully this weekend I'll get it sighted back in.
After that, I decided that I really should get on with the chainsawing, so with a nice sharp chain, and started carving chunks out of the big pile of branches, a few hours later, there were a few (but large) piles of branches, and some other timber for burning, which I gave to our neighbors.
After a lunch of bacon sandwiches (hmm yumm), we decided that it would be fun to fell one of the gums. So, tractor, bike, dogs and trailer all went down to the bottom paddock where we picked which of the dead gums was going to fall. We quickly noticed that the electric fence was going to get in the way, so I pinned it down, and Alex went up to the house to turn it off.
Once it was safe, I started chainsawing though to 2/3. As I got to 2/3's I heard this almight crack (loud enough to be heard over the chainsaw, and through ear defenders!). As you can imagine I got out of there very fast! But the tree didn't move!
So back I went, and put the chainsaw in and cut out a nice wedge, and started on the felling cut, and just as I got the chainsaw about 1/2 in, a just of wind blew the tree backyards and it pinched the bar. Bugger!
So, armed with the tractor and a bit of rope, I put the rope around the tree as high I could, and got Andy to give it a good tug whilst I nipped in behind the tree and grabbed the saw..such fun playing with trees. Anyway, the tree moved enough for the chainsaw to be recovered, and a few cuts later the tree dropped, the only problem was it went the wrong way and fell into our neighbors paddock! Bugger again!
Anyway, a few hours of chopping saw the tree deminish to a few big trunks and a trailer load of firewood. A good day!
Other news of the day was that Snowwhite kindled on Saturday night, so we've got another litter of bunnies coming on.
Other major news of the week was that Connor had his first jabs on Tuesday, and his tongue-tie snipped, not a happy chappy.
Oh and the goat is making a huge improvement, she is finally mobile, only via her back legs (still using her knees on the front legs), but she's getting there.
Till this weekend.
On Sunday, since I had the chainsaw back, the main plan of the day was cleaning up the felled tree, and tanning the bunnies. Well plans are great but there wasn't much wind so I thought whilst I had the chance, I would fire off a few rounds into milk cartons and try and get some practice with the rifle. 35 rounds later, and a few holes in the milk carton, it was no surprise that the previous hunting trip was unsuccessful! Oh well, hopefully this weekend I'll get it sighted back in.
After that, I decided that I really should get on with the chainsawing, so with a nice sharp chain, and started carving chunks out of the big pile of branches, a few hours later, there were a few (but large) piles of branches, and some other timber for burning, which I gave to our neighbors.
After a lunch of bacon sandwiches (hmm yumm), we decided that it would be fun to fell one of the gums. So, tractor, bike, dogs and trailer all went down to the bottom paddock where we picked which of the dead gums was going to fall. We quickly noticed that the electric fence was going to get in the way, so I pinned it down, and Alex went up to the house to turn it off.
Once it was safe, I started chainsawing though to 2/3. As I got to 2/3's I heard this almight crack (loud enough to be heard over the chainsaw, and through ear defenders!). As you can imagine I got out of there very fast! But the tree didn't move!
So back I went, and put the chainsaw in and cut out a nice wedge, and started on the felling cut, and just as I got the chainsaw about 1/2 in, a just of wind blew the tree backyards and it pinched the bar. Bugger!
So, armed with the tractor and a bit of rope, I put the rope around the tree as high I could, and got Andy to give it a good tug whilst I nipped in behind the tree and grabbed the saw..such fun playing with trees. Anyway, the tree moved enough for the chainsaw to be recovered, and a few cuts later the tree dropped, the only problem was it went the wrong way and fell into our neighbors paddock! Bugger again!
Anyway, a few hours of chopping saw the tree deminish to a few big trunks and a trailer load of firewood. A good day!
Other news of the day was that Snowwhite kindled on Saturday night, so we've got another litter of bunnies coming on.
Other major news of the week was that Connor had his first jabs on Tuesday, and his tongue-tie snipped, not a happy chappy.
Oh and the goat is making a huge improvement, she is finally mobile, only via her back legs (still using her knees on the front legs), but she's getting there.
Till this weekend.
Saturday, June 23, 2007
Bit of a catch up
It's been a couple of weeks since I last gave you a full update, and whilst it's only Saturday, I've just managed to get Connor to lie down for a bit (it's amazing what 80's music can do when it's louder than his crying!, but saying that he is now fast asleep).
He's currently enjoying Harold Faltermeyer and Axel F, a true classic.
As you can see from the previous photo, he's doing well and has mastered smiling and making cute noises, hopefully soon I'll catch some on video. He was weighed the other day (finally got a plunket nurse), and just before the 6 week mark he was 11lb and something, or 5.12Kg. Despite the amount that comes out the far end, going by that weight gain, some of it must be staying around!.
Thankfully he's still sticking to his night time routine of only waking once around 2am.
Anyway, what else is happening down on the farm...The goat is still alive, she's eating well, slowly getting motor functions in her back legs, but the front is taking a bit longer.
Last week, as we're so desperate for grass, I fenced off all around the arena, and we're now grazing all the way around except for near the flaxes, hopefully that will hold the sheep and alpacas out for a few more days.
The rest of the goats are still out the back, and very low on grass, we're having to feed out hay every night, and it's the first time ever we've had to do this, bloody dry summers!
I've finally started tanning the rabbit hides, I've just got 9 hides out of the pickle and will flesh them after writing this, so hopefully they will be drying for Wednesday, when I'll kick the rest off. Not sure what I'm going to do, maybe make a bedspread or a coat for Steph, we'll see.
Today was quite productive, this morning Connor was having a bad morning (read Steph was having a bad morning), so I took Connor into Masterton when I went to pick up the chainsaw, he slept all the way in and back thankfully.
Once I got home, I got into the trees on the back lawn, I've only got a few boughs left to chop up, and now it's much better, I'll post photos tomorrow, it's a bit dark now. It's going to be one massive bonfire, the pile of branches is about 2m high, 2m wide, about 5m long, and that's only 1 of them, there is another pile about 3x2x2m and another collection too! Might have to start that burn in the morning, but we can't burn that until I've got the 3 wire electric fence done down in the 3 tree paddock (our only paddock with grass left in at the moment). Hopefully tomorrow I'll sink a few posts and get the fence up so we can strip grass it with the alpacas, goats and sheep! I'll be glad once we get rid of the alpacas; last night I even considered if they would taste good!
Anyway, time to flesh some bunnies.
He's currently enjoying Harold Faltermeyer and Axel F, a true classic.
As you can see from the previous photo, he's doing well and has mastered smiling and making cute noises, hopefully soon I'll catch some on video. He was weighed the other day (finally got a plunket nurse), and just before the 6 week mark he was 11lb and something, or 5.12Kg. Despite the amount that comes out the far end, going by that weight gain, some of it must be staying around!.
Thankfully he's still sticking to his night time routine of only waking once around 2am.
Anyway, what else is happening down on the farm...The goat is still alive, she's eating well, slowly getting motor functions in her back legs, but the front is taking a bit longer.
Last week, as we're so desperate for grass, I fenced off all around the arena, and we're now grazing all the way around except for near the flaxes, hopefully that will hold the sheep and alpacas out for a few more days.
The rest of the goats are still out the back, and very low on grass, we're having to feed out hay every night, and it's the first time ever we've had to do this, bloody dry summers!
I've finally started tanning the rabbit hides, I've just got 9 hides out of the pickle and will flesh them after writing this, so hopefully they will be drying for Wednesday, when I'll kick the rest off. Not sure what I'm going to do, maybe make a bedspread or a coat for Steph, we'll see.
Today was quite productive, this morning Connor was having a bad morning (read Steph was having a bad morning), so I took Connor into Masterton when I went to pick up the chainsaw, he slept all the way in and back thankfully.
Once I got home, I got into the trees on the back lawn, I've only got a few boughs left to chop up, and now it's much better, I'll post photos tomorrow, it's a bit dark now. It's going to be one massive bonfire, the pile of branches is about 2m high, 2m wide, about 5m long, and that's only 1 of them, there is another pile about 3x2x2m and another collection too! Might have to start that burn in the morning, but we can't burn that until I've got the 3 wire electric fence done down in the 3 tree paddock (our only paddock with grass left in at the moment). Hopefully tomorrow I'll sink a few posts and get the fence up so we can strip grass it with the alpacas, goats and sheep! I'll be glad once we get rid of the alpacas; last night I even considered if they would taste good!
Anyway, time to flesh some bunnies.
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Friday, June 22, 2007
Sunday, June 10, 2007
Blah day
This morning there was a wicked frost, man was it cold! Seemed like a good day to stay inside and make cat food and sausages. Well when the air temperature is so low, things don't defrost so well, so the cat food production was off, but sausage making was all on.
I decided on a wild rabbit sausage, a made up recipe:
800g Rabbit meat
1 onion
4 slices bread (white)
ts fresh sage
ts pepper leaf
100g Lard
mince meat
crumb bread
mix
sausageify
Really simple, and they taste yummy!
That chewed up a good hour or so, and then we decided that the sheep needed weighing, so I went across to Jule's and Andy's and after a cup of tea we all headed back (sheep aswell) to give them a quick weigh. Turns out that they are a few weeks off, hopefully they'll start piling the weight on soon.
Once we weighed them, I and took a poo sample from the ram with a really runny bum, and set the microscope up, we had a coffee and waited for the eggs to float. Ended up finding a couple of eggs so we drenched all of them.
Then this afternoon, I slaughtered the rabbits and put them in the freeze, not bad really, 5 rabbits and 7.5Kg of carcases.
Sorry, no photos today!
I decided on a wild rabbit sausage, a made up recipe:
800g Rabbit meat
1 onion
4 slices bread (white)
ts fresh sage
ts pepper leaf
100g Lard
mince meat
crumb bread
mix
sausageify
Really simple, and they taste yummy!
That chewed up a good hour or so, and then we decided that the sheep needed weighing, so I went across to Jule's and Andy's and after a cup of tea we all headed back (sheep aswell) to give them a quick weigh. Turns out that they are a few weeks off, hopefully they'll start piling the weight on soon.
Once we weighed them, I and took a poo sample from the ram with a really runny bum, and set the microscope up, we had a coffee and waited for the eggs to float. Ended up finding a couple of eggs so we drenched all of them.
Then this afternoon, I slaughtered the rabbits and put them in the freeze, not bad really, 5 rabbits and 7.5Kg of carcases.
Sorry, no photos today!
Saturday, June 09, 2007
Bye, baby bunting, Daddy's gone a-hunting
Bye, baby bunting,
Father's gone a-hunting,
Mother's gone a-milking,
Sister's gone a-silking,
Brother's gone to buy a skin
To wrap the baby bunting in.
Well, that's todays poetry lesson! So apart from finding old nursery rhymes, what have I done today.
One thing Steph and I are noticing is that having a baby has caused us to be lazy, yep this morning it was pushing 8:30, and we were both still in bed! Last week we didn't have breakfast till 11am! Anyway, after dragging our backsides out of bed, I gave Joe a ring (a shepherd friend) to see if I could jack up a hunting trip on his farm, that all sounded good for the late afternoon, so I headed over to Andy's to check that he was keen too (all good), and then whilst I was over there shooting the breeze, we got a phonecall from Steph asking us to go up to the other neighbors to help move a lounge suite. After that I headed into Masterton for some milk and fencing stuff; nothing major thankfully.
After lunch I attempted to clean the barn whilst Steph worked Markissa, and Connor slept in the workshop, but he got bored of that and I ended up taking him for a walk around our place, down the drive and then into the farm behind us. The boys loved that, a good chance for a high speed run.
Once Steph finished working Markissa, and Andy got home, we headed down to Joe's place, after a quick chat and directing us where to go, we headed off in the truck. When we pulled up against the marcocarpas from where we were supposed to walk from, a baby rabbit was hopping in front of the truck, and just jumped into the wood lot, we decided that, hey why not, so Andy had first shots, unfortunatly he missed, oh well! We then walked bloody miles up hill and down dale (didn't see much else though, a hare and a feral cat (which in future we've been told to take out too)). Once the light started fading, we started heading back along the track using the lamp to try and spot bunnies. We managed to find one, at a range of about 75 to 100 metres. 4 shots later (first one missed, second one destroyed a front leg at the elbow,third one hit dirt infront and the forth one went through the ribcage and took out the internal organs (that's the sort of shot you're after)) the rabbit was ours, a bloody big one too, more like a hare in size. We gutted it there, and boned it once I got home, 800g of meat, not too bad. I'm going to make wabbit-wieners tomorrow (yep bunny sausages).
And then it's now, and thats bed time...so till tomorrow...maybe some photos.
Father's gone a-hunting,
Mother's gone a-milking,
Sister's gone a-silking,
Brother's gone to buy a skin
To wrap the baby bunting in.
Well, that's todays poetry lesson! So apart from finding old nursery rhymes, what have I done today.
One thing Steph and I are noticing is that having a baby has caused us to be lazy, yep this morning it was pushing 8:30, and we were both still in bed! Last week we didn't have breakfast till 11am! Anyway, after dragging our backsides out of bed, I gave Joe a ring (a shepherd friend) to see if I could jack up a hunting trip on his farm, that all sounded good for the late afternoon, so I headed over to Andy's to check that he was keen too (all good), and then whilst I was over there shooting the breeze, we got a phonecall from Steph asking us to go up to the other neighbors to help move a lounge suite. After that I headed into Masterton for some milk and fencing stuff; nothing major thankfully.
After lunch I attempted to clean the barn whilst Steph worked Markissa, and Connor slept in the workshop, but he got bored of that and I ended up taking him for a walk around our place, down the drive and then into the farm behind us. The boys loved that, a good chance for a high speed run.
Once Steph finished working Markissa, and Andy got home, we headed down to Joe's place, after a quick chat and directing us where to go, we headed off in the truck. When we pulled up against the marcocarpas from where we were supposed to walk from, a baby rabbit was hopping in front of the truck, and just jumped into the wood lot, we decided that, hey why not, so Andy had first shots, unfortunatly he missed, oh well! We then walked bloody miles up hill and down dale (didn't see much else though, a hare and a feral cat (which in future we've been told to take out too)). Once the light started fading, we started heading back along the track using the lamp to try and spot bunnies. We managed to find one, at a range of about 75 to 100 metres. 4 shots later (first one missed, second one destroyed a front leg at the elbow,third one hit dirt infront and the forth one went through the ribcage and took out the internal organs (that's the sort of shot you're after)) the rabbit was ours, a bloody big one too, more like a hare in size. We gutted it there, and boned it once I got home, 800g of meat, not too bad. I'm going to make wabbit-wieners tomorrow (yep bunny sausages).
And then it's now, and thats bed time...so till tomorrow...maybe some photos.
Thursday, June 07, 2007
Wednesday, June 06, 2007
QUeens Birthday weekend
Well, this weekend was a long one (three days), so Steph and I set out to get a few jobs done, as you can see from the first photo, I laid waste to another tree, a big plum tree (we never got the plums, it was too big), but now we have unfetered views of the hill behind us, and it really opens up the back garden (to the tune of a few hundred acres, shame it isn't ours).
The only down side was that the chainsaw decided to break 1/2 way through, so I ended up limbing the plum tree with a small pruning saw (and will continue to do so, until next pay day, damn these three fortnight months).
Sunday, I decided to rediscover the garage, wow, what a mamoth effort, after an entire day, and a full trailer of rubbish and recycling, we can now see the floor. The rat I caught in the live trap on Monday, turned out to be a mum of 3, which is good, that's 3 more for the price of 1.
On Monday morning, I dismantled an ewe for cat food, and then around 2pm headed down to the coast for a spot of kite fishing, since it's been a while, only caught 2 red cod, but they will go nicely into the cat food too.
Oh, on the goat front, it was suspected that it was Johnes disease which is fatal, and contagous to all ruminant. After a blood test, it turns out that she is negative for Johnes (phew). She just had a high worm burden, she and the rest of the flock has been drenched, and hopefully will make a full recovery.
I've been pestered a bit for some photos of Connor, so here are a few.
The only down side was that the chainsaw decided to break 1/2 way through, so I ended up limbing the plum tree with a small pruning saw (and will continue to do so, until next pay day, damn these three fortnight months).
Sunday, I decided to rediscover the garage, wow, what a mamoth effort, after an entire day, and a full trailer of rubbish and recycling, we can now see the floor. The rat I caught in the live trap on Monday, turned out to be a mum of 3, which is good, that's 3 more for the price of 1.
On Monday morning, I dismantled an ewe for cat food, and then around 2pm headed down to the coast for a spot of kite fishing, since it's been a while, only caught 2 red cod, but they will go nicely into the cat food too.
Oh, on the goat front, it was suspected that it was Johnes disease which is fatal, and contagous to all ruminant. After a blood test, it turns out that she is negative for Johnes (phew). She just had a high worm burden, she and the rest of the flock has been drenched, and hopefully will make a full recovery.
I've been pestered a bit for some photos of Connor, so here are a few.
Thursday, May 31, 2007
Life is never dull
The plan for today was I would work from home (since it's Thursday), and Steph and Connor would go into town and do the shopping. Well, this morning when I checked on the sick goat she had started scouring, not good! So we phoned the vets and had a change of plans. We would go into town with an 18 day old baby, and a sick goat in the back of the civic!
After loading the poor girl in the back and heading into Masterton, I went to the vets, whilst Steph went to Pak'n'Save.
Whilst coming home from the back of the car we heard
"Sneeze,Sneeze, Bleet" very surreal!
After loading the poor girl in the back and heading into Masterton, I went to the vets, whilst Steph went to Pak'n'Save.
Whilst coming home from the back of the car we heard
"Sneeze,Sneeze, Bleet" very surreal!
Tuesday, May 29, 2007
Life goes on
This weekend was our first by our selves. So what did we get up to..
I can't remember on which day we did what, but I remember that we dagged the sheep and checked the hooves of the sheep and goats. Whilst we were doing that we discovered that one of the goat does had lost a lot of condition and was quite weak, she's now up by the house, and getting a better diet, just to try and build her weight back up, poor girl.
On Saturday afternoon I remember felling two macrocarpas in the back lawn area, I decided that I wanted a view from the kitchen window and those trees were in the way, unfortuanlty I now need a new chain for the saw, so we've still got a tree on the lawn!
Oh, yesterday I caught the little friend in the garage!
No doubt some of you are interested in the doings of Connor, he was weighed sometime last week, and had gained almost a lb, he's feeding well, and still sleeping most of the night. Last night was the first bath without any objections.
Steph is also doing well, she has started getting Markissa back into work.
Tomorrow is our first big road trip, we're all heading down to Wellington to visit friends, should be fun.
No photos this time.
I can't remember on which day we did what, but I remember that we dagged the sheep and checked the hooves of the sheep and goats. Whilst we were doing that we discovered that one of the goat does had lost a lot of condition and was quite weak, she's now up by the house, and getting a better diet, just to try and build her weight back up, poor girl.
On Saturday afternoon I remember felling two macrocarpas in the back lawn area, I decided that I wanted a view from the kitchen window and those trees were in the way, unfortuanlty I now need a new chain for the saw, so we've still got a tree on the lawn!
Oh, yesterday I caught the little friend in the garage!
No doubt some of you are interested in the doings of Connor, he was weighed sometime last week, and had gained almost a lb, he's feeding well, and still sleeping most of the night. Last night was the first bath without any objections.
Steph is also doing well, she has started getting Markissa back into work.
Tomorrow is our first big road trip, we're all heading down to Wellington to visit friends, should be fun.
No photos this time.
Wednesday, May 23, 2007
It's fallen off
Yep, sometime last night Connor's cord fell off. That's all folks!
On the other subject of farmy things, the goats are getting their heads stuck in the fence again, time for the trick of putting a stick or something across their horns (and attaching with cable ties).
On the other subject of farmy things, the goats are getting their heads stuck in the fence again, time for the trick of putting a stick or something across their horns (and attaching with cable ties).
Sunday, May 20, 2007
1 Week.
So, 7 days old, and what's changed, well, he was weighed again today...Ah, sorry, not much farmy stuff this week so it'll have to be baby stuff instead, but next weekend we're dagging so expect something more animally next week, back to it....
His weight, he has gained 240 grams in the last week (for all those non metric people, that's 8.5 ounces).He's doing really well, last night he almost slept the entire night, we put him down at 9pm once he got back from the pub and had a "snack", and at 3:45am, we woke him up purely for Steph's comfort (other Mum's will understand!) . Yeah it's sad that we think that around 4am is the morning, but it's only 1 hour off my normal wakeup time, so not too bad really (fingers crossed for this evening).
Other things that happened this weekend was Steph's birthday (unfortunatly, due to the circumstances, not a great deal was done, but I've got plans for next year!), and we also had all the grandparents down, along with Aunty Amy, Uncle Nigel, and Uncle Tristan (or Amy,Nigel and Tristan to the rest of us).
Note:Next paragraph not suitable for older sisters (ie you Carisa!).
Whilst out in the garage looking for Possum this afternoon, saw one Rattus Norvegicus, the good old Norweigan Brown Rat. Consequently three traps have been set using the tried and tested bait of peanut butter, I'll get the little(actually not quite so little) bugger!
That aside, here's some snaps from the weekend.
His weight, he has gained 240 grams in the last week (for all those non metric people, that's 8.5 ounces).He's doing really well, last night he almost slept the entire night, we put him down at 9pm once he got back from the pub and had a "snack", and at 3:45am, we woke him up purely for Steph's comfort (other Mum's will understand!) . Yeah it's sad that we think that around 4am is the morning, but it's only 1 hour off my normal wakeup time, so not too bad really (fingers crossed for this evening).
Other things that happened this weekend was Steph's birthday (unfortunatly, due to the circumstances, not a great deal was done, but I've got plans for next year!), and we also had all the grandparents down, along with Aunty Amy, Uncle Nigel, and Uncle Tristan (or Amy,Nigel and Tristan to the rest of us).
Note:Next paragraph not suitable for older sisters (ie you Carisa!).
Whilst out in the garage looking for Possum this afternoon, saw one Rattus Norvegicus, the good old Norweigan Brown Rat. Consequently three traps have been set using the tried and tested bait of peanut butter, I'll get the little(actually not quite so little) bugger!
That aside, here's some snaps from the weekend.
Saturday, May 19, 2007
Connor's First Trip to the pub (at 170 hours old!)
This evening we all decided to have a trip out to the pub for dinner, the Gladdy, our local. Here is Connor, and in the background you can see the fireplace of the pub, and mural of Gladstone.
Thursday, May 17, 2007
Today's Excursion
Well, today was a major milestone for Connor, his first trip into the local hunting and fishing store.....cant start too early, 4 days old seems a good age to start.
Nah, really, today Steph and I took Connor into Masterton, since it was around lunch time, we had subway for lunch, then strolled around the town center for awhile, then went to the Warehouse and to Pak'n'Save for the weekly shopping. Connor slept all the while, and even slept through the rescue of a car on the way home. About 2km from home there was a car off the road and in the ditch, and the driver needed a bit of help getting it out. We tried putting some extra weight to see if we could balance it back down so as to reverse it out, and in the end, just straight reversing it worked fine!
Other than that, we also took Connor out and around the paddocks in the pushchair.
Ah, thats about it for today...
And no photos today (I hear you all breath a sigh of relief)
Nah, really, today Steph and I took Connor into Masterton, since it was around lunch time, we had subway for lunch, then strolled around the town center for awhile, then went to the Warehouse and to Pak'n'Save for the weekly shopping. Connor slept all the while, and even slept through the rescue of a car on the way home. About 2km from home there was a car off the road and in the ditch, and the driver needed a bit of help getting it out. We tried putting some extra weight to see if we could balance it back down so as to reverse it out, and in the end, just straight reversing it worked fine!
Other than that, we also took Connor out and around the paddocks in the pushchair.
Ah, thats about it for today...
And no photos today (I hear you all breath a sigh of relief)
Wednesday, May 16, 2007
Things so far
Well, things are getting back to normal. Connor slept for most of the night, OK early days and we expect it to change, but I'm not complaining! He had a feed at the end of Boston Legal (10:30ish) and then we put him to bed in his own room. Both Steph and I were awake from about 1am expecting to hear crying, and didn't really doze until he did at 4am! Tonight will be a different matter though, I'm going to go back to sleep! I will admit to going in once during the night to check on him because we got 5 cats and I forgot to check that there were none in there. We've tried to maintain the nursery as a cat free zone for the timebeing, but there was a few minutes before bed when the door was open and the makeshift catscreen was not in place. So around midnight, I peeked in with a torch and all seemed well.
Today, back on the farm(let) life goes on, Steph and I moved some sheep across and setup some new fencing (only temporary electric) for Markissa (whilst Connor was asleep up in the house (with his bedroom door closed)), and earlier on Steph got to groom and lunge Markissa, something she hasn't done for a while, meanwhile I was mowing the lawns.
Earlier on in the day Connor slept through the boys barking their heads off, and me vacuuming his room - I think this is a good sign.
Oh, and I bathed him today, only drowned him once, but that's not major. Before the bath we were all eating dinner (well, Connor had just fed, so it was just Steph, myself and Jenny), and Connor was on the floor in his car seat - half way through we started exercising his lungs again, and we even had tears..So we carried on and finished tea, then since I don't chew and finished first, I had to calm him down (well attempt to). Once Steph had finished she came in and filled the bath, and I then bathed him. He was still exercising his lungs, but he did seem to enjoy being on his front. After that it was a quick dry, and a feed, and now he's in bed.
Gee's the rabbits are growing, I went out today to feed them, and they are almost ready! Oh, and I also managed to clean out the garage, as we're going to store the pushchair in there as it's going to be going cross-country every day when Steph takes him down to Markissa's paddock and we figured that we didn't really want it back in the house!
Anyway, more later, and theres another few photos on the albums ( (http://picasaweb.google.com/matthew.huck/Connor)
Oh, just one photo here today, Connor learns to flip the bird!
Bye for now.
Today, back on the farm(let) life goes on, Steph and I moved some sheep across and setup some new fencing (only temporary electric) for Markissa (whilst Connor was asleep up in the house (with his bedroom door closed)), and earlier on Steph got to groom and lunge Markissa, something she hasn't done for a while, meanwhile I was mowing the lawns.
Earlier on in the day Connor slept through the boys barking their heads off, and me vacuuming his room - I think this is a good sign.
Oh, and I bathed him today, only drowned him once, but that's not major. Before the bath we were all eating dinner (well, Connor had just fed, so it was just Steph, myself and Jenny), and Connor was on the floor in his car seat - half way through we started exercising his lungs again, and we even had tears..So we carried on and finished tea, then since I don't chew and finished first, I had to calm him down (well attempt to). Once Steph had finished she came in and filled the bath, and I then bathed him. He was still exercising his lungs, but he did seem to enjoy being on his front. After that it was a quick dry, and a feed, and now he's in bed.
Gee's the rabbits are growing, I went out today to feed them, and they are almost ready! Oh, and I also managed to clean out the garage, as we're going to store the pushchair in there as it's going to be going cross-country every day when Steph takes him down to Markissa's paddock and we figured that we didn't really want it back in the house!
Anyway, more later, and theres another few photos on the albums ( (http://picasaweb.google.com/matthew.huck/Connor)
Oh, just one photo here today, Connor learns to flip the bird!
Bye for now.
Tuesday, May 15, 2007
Connor Day 3
Don't worry, we're not going to do a blog and photos for every day (well actually I do intend taking a photo a day and then running them all together to create a movie of his development, but that won't be here for a while, strangly enough).
Today, Steph came home, and things are still going well, Connor had a really good night feeding, ie every hour or so! But Steph, as expected, coped with it well, but she did crash this afternoon for a few hours snooze, thankfully so did Connor.
But todays images are Connor playing on the play mat Aunty Amy and Aunty Carisa bought him, and his first encounter with Strider. He did also meet Gandalf, but the photos didn't come out very well, oh well.
There were going to be photos of the clothes he came home in, the blue knitted top and hat Grandma (Mum) made him, but just before we took the photo, I changed his nappy, and he pee'ed all over the top...And those buttons...grrrr...cute but I think they might be coming off (they are train shaped buttons, and are a bugger to get done up or undone)...Thanks Mum!
Anyway, here's the photos.
Today, Steph came home, and things are still going well, Connor had a really good night feeding, ie every hour or so! But Steph, as expected, coped with it well, but she did crash this afternoon for a few hours snooze, thankfully so did Connor.
But todays images are Connor playing on the play mat Aunty Amy and Aunty Carisa bought him, and his first encounter with Strider. He did also meet Gandalf, but the photos didn't come out very well, oh well.
There were going to be photos of the clothes he came home in, the blue knitted top and hat Grandma (Mum) made him, but just before we took the photo, I changed his nappy, and he pee'ed all over the top...And those buttons...grrrr...cute but I think they might be coming off (they are train shaped buttons, and are a bugger to get done up or undone)...Thanks Mum!
Anyway, here's the photos.
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