05

Parameters? - Low cost, much fun, keeps ALL the children, male and female, busy at once, and is simple enough for me to understand. Not that I'm asking much. I might try a variation on a programme I invented for my Sunday School class, with lots of things revolving around spheres - balloon busting competitions, bubble blowing, lotsa balloons in very large cardboard boxes...

As you can see by the photographs, we have two hatchlings amongst the meat pigeons, and four eggs newly laid. I do have a problem with rats getting in the aviary, though, so if you have any way of curing that, I'd be grateful.

I only worked seven hours today, and part of that was lunch, but boy! I'm bushed! It was my first day on the job, and entertaining kids for a good first impression surely takes it out of one.

I managed to get a lot done between 5:30AM and 8:30AM today - dishes (a very large lot, Craig came over last night, and I made Vietnamese food - bonza! and I was too tired to wash them last night), fed all of the animals, fed me, exercised the German Shepherds, checked out the bargains in the local paper, had a wonderful time with Bible Study, cleaned out the stove pipe and had the fire going. Alice, thankfully, made her own lunch and breakfast, and is now, of course, well and truly old enough to dress herself. She even found time to dry the cutlery before we left, bless her!

The calves, except for the newest one that Aaron was given by his boss, Russell, for working so much overtime, are all drinking independently. We are now letting out the bigger calves into the dog paddock, but not at the same time as the German Shepherds. The gate to the bigger calves was not secured one night recently, and the GS went in to play with them. They are all alright, but one calf escaped the pen and wnated to get RIGHT away from the dogs. It took a bit of maneuvering, but I managed to get the GS back in their kennel and then put the calf back in his. Phew! I had visions of calves everywhere and two very fat and happy GS.

Then the other day, when we were in a hurry to get in and help with the Salvation Armys Red Shield Appeal, we realised that someone's steers were running down Commercial Road. Brian at first tried to coerce them into the dog paddock, but they weren't having any of that, so he headed them back the way they came. It took a while, but I am happy to be able to say that I'm sure our neighbours would do the same thing for us.

I am very annoyed with our local butcher. Brian went there last night to buy our usual chicken frames for the dogs, and he is now charging $1/kilo! This has gone up massively from his former .10cents/frame, and last week, .20cents/frame. Brian says he was also very rude, so I'll gently check this out today. I'm hoping Brian was given "stranger's rates". If not, then I'll be moving butchers. If age has given me anything though, it's the ability to slow down and say, "What are the circumstances for this person's behaviour?" It's not just a matter of walking in their moccasins. It's more than that. False accusations don't always seem that way when they are made. The number of times I have just opened my mouth to change feet can be counted only by the Lord. I remember reading about Abraham Lincoln, and what led to his being mild-mannered. I have always been blessed by that.

I didn't get to the butcher's today, just too many things happening! Still, on the way home I found a rabbit that had just been run over. Mowgli is enjoying it. I couldn't think of anything healthier for him. Big difference between most city and country kids: showed Alice and she wasn't grossed out.

Craig very kindly has offered to try and source some free second-hand computers for our After-School Care. Kids should love that. They are already putting in orders for PlayStation 2 and X-Box, but I told them plainly that if they want that sort of thing, they'll have to get more kids to join them in ASC, as that way we get more money coming in. I want feedback from all of those concerned, it's amazing how it all becomes a great jigsaw puzzle, with pieces slotting in from all over. Today I sorted out two supply cupboards, and have left pages marked "Shopping List" on the doors of the major cupboard so that we (hopefully) will not run out of anything.

Sorry if I'm boring you to tears with all of this, but this is now a major part of my life, and sharing it with you is important to me.

The Standard recently published (May 15th) an article titled "How the Other Half Lives". It's a fascinating look at Europe's top class dairy cows. Apparently they even get automatic back scratchers - two large round brushes, a lot like bottle brushes, which, when a Brown Swiss leans against them, starts rotating, and itches, loose hair and dull coats all disappear. What an indulgence. Still, if it improves the placidity of the cows, and therefore increases their milk yield, more power to them I say.

Another couple of major differences - one farm in Europe had their cows constantly shedded, according to Rosemary Roche, who went over with her husband, Pat, with 28 other farmers to see what went on. Because of the tethering in concrete stalls, food and water were constantly available, but if the poor animal did not back up to a drainage area for when relieving herself, she received an electric shock. Normal cow legs were a liability, so cows are selected for straight "posty" legs, and are less likely to get 'strawberry heel', which is what happens to cows that stand on concrete all of their lives.

Posty legs would be no good on our farms, as usually cattle have to walk a fair way to the dairy or between paddocks. When an animal has all her food brought to her, problems like an undershot jaw are mostly irrelevant, where on a normal farm, this would be definitely listed as an undesirable trait. If you are saying as I did, "So what?", remember that a lot of semen goes moving from country to country, and what may work out as a good milker over in Holland, would be hopeless, genetically speaking, here. In 1985, the average Friesian yield in Holland was 5765kg of milk over a 305-day lactation. This increased to a whopping 8016kg in 1999. They have the same problems as our dairy farmers, however, with not enough being paid, and quite often the subsidy is paid only on milk exported. That subsidy becomes almost neglible once the bureaucrats have been funded. Same ol', same ol'.

Lisa McInnes-Smith has this quote - "Beware of what you become, in pursuit of what you want."

Autumn

I rest here, snug

in bed, quite content.

In a moment, just a moment,

I'll get up and start my day

Feeding animals, looking after Alice,

exercising dogs, cleaning, cooking

But for now, I'll just savour the moment -

warmth that I might not get the rest of the day

and outside -

rain, hail, a high wind that sends the

barbed wire humming and rattles my window.

Just one more minute, just one. Just one.