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Kim’s monthly ‘blog’

 

It’s been a relatively quite month on the home front just  getting the property and horses all ready for winter! Not looking forward to that, that’s for sure, still if we get that snow dumping again this winter, then we all know it’s going to be a good grass growth year (long as there is some rain in summer, however as I live in Wellington drought is not a word we commonly use to describe our summers).

 

The dogs have more or less been behaving – Hunter has a new toy – this one has managed to last a whole week so far (eons for one of Hunter’s toys) there is a down side to it though – it squeaks! So both Bruce and I can only last a couple of hours with it, but a sqeaky toy is the only type that Hunter is happy to entertain himself with, if they don’t squeak he needs human interaction (constant human interaction) with this ball he plays happily for hours running tossing it and making it squeak – I think he thinks it’s alive?? He has absolutely no interest in things he should be interested in being alive – not like Max – open a door and he literally shoots like a bullet out to his ‘spots’ around the place where he knows bunnies live!! He digs (much to Bruce’s disgust) massive holes, he never gets any of them – even when they run in front of him – but he is obsessive about sniffing them out – as for Finn he bounces after Max all ears flapping  having a fantastic time, but totally oblivious to the whole purpose of it just keen to be one of the ‘boys’ :o) still he’s got an amazing nose on him for a wee ‘lap’ dog and can smell out decaying anything the minute he steps out the door! He also ‘steal’s things after the lights go out :o) he literally waits to the lights go out of a night then goes and ‘raids’ what he can find – not terribly bright – he should wait a while until we are at least asleep!!! But many a night Bruce has left a ‘snack’ on his bedside table only to find it’s gone next morning – and if the snack has been eaten by Bruce then the wrapping is a worthwhile bootie as well – he slinks them out into the hall way and carefully opens the packaging up and licks it clean :o) how can you be mad at that, I thinks that’s cute and hey – if he can reach it – it’s fair game to him! he’s only 30cm tall.

 

Well Marbles is semi broken again!!! Nothing too major and probably caused by him running around chasing poor Zara or Lucky, but looks like he has strained a muscle in his stifle?! When is he going to grow up – he’s 5 now and should be past shenanigans like that – who am I kidding Zara’s 26 and still gives him a run for his money – she’s more stable on her feet though!!! Marbles tries turning quickly – he managed to get his head in the right direction but hasn’t quite got the back end follow through mastered yet :o) so he’s been separated off from everyone and now has to graze by himself for a while – which actually doesn’t faze him at all, so long as there is food in the form of inside a bucket Marbles is more than happy, by the time he’s finished the feed he’s forgotten he’s been deserted :o) and Lucky the pony is absolutely LOVING the freedom of the whole paddock and not using Clint as his safety ‘island’ to go round and round to keep on the opposite side of Marbles.

 

I am wondering what this pet owning world is coming to when did we start getting so concerned with the calorie intake of our non-performance animals, I was half listening to an advert on TV the other night about cat treats, and their final selling point was ONLY TWO CALORIES!!! I am sorry but really is that such a huge issues with cat treats??? I thought the word treat implied it wasn’t an everyday part of a balanced meal source? Anyway I just found it odd that this was such a big part of their advertising campaign :o)

 

I am a domestic goddess that Nigella would be proud of – okay not really (not even slightly!), but I did have a go at making jam and preserves the other weekend, my attempt at the whole self sustainability, living off the land kind of thing – actually it was only cause, mum and dad went to Aussie for a holiday and mum another ‘non-waster’ brought down bags and bags of fruit so I thought I’d give this jam making a go – hmmmmmm in the end if you take in time and ingredient costs I am sure it’s cheaper and a heck of a lot easier to buy the damn stuff from the supermarket!!! I spent two full days peeling, dicing and cooking fruit!! Not to mention scrounging jars from anyone that would give them to me – I now have a plum and lavender jam (that’s actually yummy), pear jam, plum chutney, spicy plum sauce and preserved apples – the jams all worked out fine – the plum sauce seems okay (have to leave a month or so they say) the chutney I am sure isn’t meant to be as runny as it is – and the apples I fear are a disaster, but the super sickly sweet syrup is nice :o) so I think that’s it for me from the whole self-sufficient preserver!!! Too

hard, too hot and too complicated!!!!

 

I loved hearing some of your funny ‘confessions’ after my McDonalds rationalisation last month (keep them coming), and a friend I hadn’t heard from in a while reminded me of the time that she and I rode our ponies through the McDonalds Upper Hutt ‘drive-thru’ windows to buy our lunch :o) those were the days we rode our ponies for hours and hours on end, anyway I had completely forgotten about that, we then rode them through the subway to a local park to eat our lunch :o) aaaahhhh those were the days! What’s the weird and wonderful things you guys have done in your carefree youth? Another one of those “DON’T DO” things we did is while jumping training – we just used sticks and brush that was around our paddocks at the time, we didn’t have much ‘fill’ for our jumps so we took turns laying under it I KNOW RIGHT HOW DUMB IS THAT!!! But we were 10 foot tall and bullet proof and the word consequence wasn’t yet in our vocabs!!! KIDS DO NOT DO THIS AT HOME!!!!

 

Well to all those mad buggers that actually enjoy winter riding – good luck to you and stay warm and safe, me as you know I am a fair weather rider, so it will definitely be fine (if not sunny) weekends only for me. The only exception for me is hunting and I am determined to get back out there one day, just got to get Marbles up and running and back on transport!!. And nope still haven’t managed to sit my truck learners yet :o) in my defence I have been working two to three evenings a week lately so that doesn’t leave much study time, but hey if I really wanted to do it I am sure I would have found the time and the money – boy it’s not cheap to get a new licence is it - $100 for learners, have to have a full medical certificate and a current eye exam cert. then I am guessing pay again to get your full licence? The thing with the full licence is they now don’t do them in Upper Hutt we have to go to Lower Hutt and the thought of driving my huge truck around the streets of Lower Hutt is just too daunting, I am almost thinking I might go over to Masterton to do it???

 

Until next month take care

 

Kim Cheeseman

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Photo above – Lucky the Shetland looking rather miserable in the blizzard

 

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Marbles blending into the snow :o)