What’s The Downside Of Living In The Country?

I’ve told you before that I live in the country and I also have to tell you that there is some downsides to living in the country. One of them happened this week.

I have lots of trees around my house and around my property which is great. I love having trees round, it’s somewhere to the birds to live and I just like to look at trees. But there is a downside to trees.

Because next to my front gate I had an old tree that was pretty much dead. And then I noticed that it was starting to lean over and I decided that it was probably time to have a look at it. So I did and I decided that it was dead enough that it had to come out because if it didn’t come out it would eventually fall over and wreck my gate.

But I had no idea how to get it out because it was massive. I have a chainsaw but this tree was way too big to cut down with a chainsaw. I really had no idea what to do about it.

But because I live in the country I have farmers around and the local farmer came past on his tractor at the exact same time I was standing there looking at the tree wondering what to do about it. Farmers are very inventive and he had an easy solution.

He had a long cable that he attached to the tree about 20 feet above the ground and then he just pulled it down with his tractor. It took a few seconds and the tree was down quite safely. That was good because I was worried about getting hurt trying to cut the tree down with a chainsaw.

I was very grateful and so I offered him the firewood but he said he had enough firewood, though a few of the branches chopped up might be nice.

I had no problem cutting up the branches with my chainsaw and so he got a pile of firewood for his troubles helping me pull the tree down. (more…)

« It’s Time Again, Holiday Time

It’s Time Again, Holiday Time

I told you a few weeks ago that I love going on holidays and holiday time is back again, I’ve got another weekend away coming up. I’m really looking forward to it this time as well.

This time I can’t go with my family because they all have some concert thing to go to that I’m not particularly fond of so they can’t come and I get to go with sa friend.

We are planning to camp out. I have a great tent, canvas, water proof, big enough to be really comfortable and its forecast to rain, so I may need all of  that. I hope it doesn’t rain on us because rain isn’t what you need when your go camping.

I don’t like getting up early, I resist it when I can, but we have to go at 4 am Friday. It’s a 4 hour trip to where we are meeting up with some of the others, and we meet at 9.

But getting up early on Friday will be just fine, I’ve got something great to look forward to. And I really am looking forward to it heaps.

But my car is pretty old, I really hope the car makes it there ok. It’s not that it’s breaking down all the time or anything, in fact it goes really well. But it is old and I just keep my fingers crossed that it makes it there and makes it back.

Saturday is going to be a wonderful day. Nothing is planned at all, just a hang about day to do what you want to do. I plan to take some fishing gear along and do some fishing, in fact I bought a new rod this morning. I broke my old fishing rod a while ago.

My old  broken rod was one I made a long long time ago. I bought the fibreglass blank and all the runners and made it myself and I’ve used it and used it. I was pretty impressed with myself that I managed to make my own fishing rod, no experience.

I have no idea how it broke at all. I was just walking through a patch of trees and then I looked at it and the tip was broken off. What happened to it? Who knows. But it was a pretty sad day and I had used that rod so much.

I found out today that it wasn’t worth a lot  of money. That’s because I went to a shop and bought a new one and it wasn’t expensive. But it still  had sentimental value, after all I made that rod myself.

And I couldn’t believe. 50 bucks for a new fishing rod. They certainly aren’t expensive now. But the new one isn’t the one I made. I’d rather my old one back than a new one. (more…)

What’s The Downside Of Living In The Country? »« I Love Holidays But I Hate It When They’re All Over

I Love Holidays But I Hate It When They’re All Over

I told you I love holidays and I really do love holidays, but is really nice looking forward to them and it’s really sad when they’re finished.

It’s all done, my weekend I mean. And was it a great weekend? I loved it, though  getting up quite so early was a little tiring. Way too early in the morning for me.

I got up at around 5 am, really way early for me. It was way dark and it felt like the middle of the night. Was it hard to get myself out of bed, but I got out  because I knew that I had a good weekend to look forward to so that made it worth it.

I picked up my friend and we got started early. He had a lot of stuff to load into the car and we took longer to get going than I thought was a good idea really. Because we were meeting  some other cars on the way  and the meeting was at 9am, so we had to get started and get there on  time.

It was raining by the time we got there which was sad. That was a shame as it has been such good weather lately, the one weekend I want good weather its raining on us. But that’s weather, you cant do anything about it can you, even if you want to?

We were all camping (not great in the rain) and so we had to get there and put up the tent. We were lucky that by the time we got there most of the rain had all stopped. There was still a little bit but nothing like the rain we had on the way. It’s not  nice putting up a tent in the rain. And it was a long drive there.
(more…)

It’s Time Again, Holiday Time »« I’ve Made A Choice To Live With Birds

I’ve Made A Choice To Live With Birds

I think I’ve already told you that I made a conscious decision to live in the country. So at the same time I also made a conscious decision to live with birds.

I just love living in the country and I’m happy to say so to you.

One of the good things about the country is the birds. I love to have birds around me.

Out here there are just so many great birds. Dozens and dozens of  wonderful birds. It must be because they all like the trees around me because there’s always lotsw of birds and they sit in the branches of the trees and pick off the stuff with  their beaks and hold them in their claws and eat them one by one.

Although I do like birds they do make a mess of my many of trees. When they break off a small branch to  eat the pods they drop them on the ground and it looks like a battlefield under my trees, bits of branches everywhere.

They’re mostly parrots, and parrots have strong beaks so they can do all this. But on the positive side they have stunning colors and they all look great. I get them sitting around the veranda that goes all around my house, they sit on the railing and look at me inside. And I love to see them  there so I sit still and watch them. If I sit still they don’t go away at all.

There’s some damage to the trees like I said but it’s still great having them around and I love to see them.  I could shoo them away when they start damaging the trees and then I wouldn’t have all the damage but I’d rather let them come and sit on my veranda myself. If I shoo them away they might all leave for good.

Its got to be so much better out here in the country. I’ll bet theres no birds in the city. Too many people to scare them off and no trees for them to wreck. Well there’s probably some but not many.

As I say I like all animals, not just birds. Animals are great to have around, as good as birds. I love all of them. (more…)

I Love Holidays But I Hate It When They’re All Over »« A Boat Turns A Good Holiday Into A Great Holiday.

A Boat Turns A Good Holiday Into A Great Holiday.

When you go away on holidays you need to take a boat. A boat turns a good holiday into a great holiday, because it lets you get out on the water and being on the water is the best place to be on holidays. I have a boat.

It’s a very good boat. It’s on it’s own trailer and it’s easy to tow. And I think it’s one of the best things you can do it to get out on the water. I have a  sticker on my boat that says life is better in a boat, and I think it is really.

I took my family away last weekend. It was the school holidays so everyone had the time off. We decided that we didn’t want to stay home for the whole holidays so we decided to get away for a few days of boating. 4 days actually, which was nice. It was really great though it as raining and there was a really strong wind when we left, though  that all went away after a few hours. And  then the sun came out and it was really nice to be out.

It was a nice place to go to on our holiday. There was so many things for the kids to do. Kids need so much to do nowadays. So if you’ve got bored kids then you’ve got problems, if you’ve got bored kids then they hassle you constantly for something to do and it gets annoying.

Bored kids can be the worst thing you can do for your  holiday. They are unhappy and keep hassling you all the time to play with them, when all you want to do is to sit and relax and read your book. Kids hassling you doesn’t make for a good holiday.

But no problems on this weekend, bored kids weren’t a problem. There were so  many things for them to do, pool, table tennis, a huge jumping thingy that they loved. A swimming pool that was outdoors and heated, and  they loved to swim.

And there was a games room there and they played in there for hours. There was this huge television and every night there was kids movie for them to watch.

And it’s  amazing how something like a swimming pool can keep kids entertained for hours. I can swim for a little while then I get  bored.

And more about our boat. It was great for a few reasons. Firstly it was a great way to get the bags and bikes transported. The kids bikes are too big to take in the car but if you have a boat along  then you can just throw them all in the boat and they’re taken care of.

So the boat was great to have along. We did a couple of days in the boat. One was on the local  river just looking around about, a little time spent sitting on the bank having lunches and giving the kids a swim. More swimming! And we could sit there in the sun and read our books and enjoy it. (more…)

I’ve Made A Choice To Live With Birds »« Everyone Has Their Own Animals They Love, For Me It’s Cows

Everyone Has Their Own Animals They Love, For Me It’s Cows

Everyone loves animals don’t they? I certainly love animals, I love all sorts of animals but I do have a favorite.

I really love my cows. They’re such  animals, almost a half ton in weight but ever so gentle. I’ve never seen an aggressive cow. Bulls perhaps, but not cows. Even my kids can pat them as long as they’re feeding them at the same time, the cows don’t necessarily like being patted  but they’ll stand there and be patted if they’re getting fed well. They just pull back a little when you try and pat them because they’re nervous.

The best time to pat cows is when you feed them hay. They just love their hay, and when the grass growth is getting slow because winter is coming you need to in crease their feed with hay or something else. I have hay to give them.

Now that means of course  that youre committed to feeding your cows each and every day. Once there’s no feed in the field then they need hay to eat each day without fail. So you can’t just go away for a few days and leave them or they starve to death. So you’re committed to it.

I feed them all  myself. I like my holidays though so when you go away you have to have something so that the cows are fed. I do this myself.

I have a really good system. I keep a 2 of my paddocks fenced off with the gate closed so that when one has some good grass in it I can keep it that way. The cows all eat my hay until I have to go away and then I can open their gate and let them in there and they have plenty of food for a week and I can go away knowing my cows aren’t starving to death.

And the cows aren’t silly either, they know that there is grass in there somewhere when they look through th e gate so once I open the gate they’re right in there as fast as they can go.

And then when the holiday is over I take the cows all back into the main paddock, close the gates and feed them their hay all over again.

I feed my cows right after my own breakfast. They know when I’m going to feed them and they’re right there sitting in front of the shed in the mornings when I come out to feed them all. They get their hay right in front of the shed for breakfast. Usually 1 1/2 bales of hay for them. But on a cold day I give them more.

I gave them 2 bales of hay this morning as it was cold. But it’s getting warmer and the grass is getting longer, it’s growing dast. And that’s good because my hay is getting short, I have a shed for hay and it’s pretty empty as of now. (more…)

A Boat Turns A Good Holiday Into A Great Holiday. »« Why Do I Love Writing? Who Knows?