Hello chums,

Warning - possibly sad aminal story-parental supervision recommended,

Weird thing happened last night.

At bedtime I could hear 'Boy' whining outside my door.
He is the elderly dog who is waiting for God.
He spends his days sleeping in the sun only moving when his bit of lawn
drops into shade.

I looked outside to see if he was ok.
It was really cold last night, just above freezing &
he looked very uncomfortable, pacing round & round on the porch & scuffing
at his bit of padding (rescued from a sun-lounger)

I took pity on him & did a 'no-no' & let him come in my room.
He has never been inside in his life & had a good sniff around everything.
I pulled his padding inside, arranged my bath mat on it & watched him get settled.

I have never done this before & felt bad for disobeying house rules but I thought
if he hasn't got much longer left then I would like to give him a bit of luxury.
I scratched his belly & chatted to him about stuff.

He only settled for about an hour before asking to go out & with
a non house-trained dog I thought it unwise to ignore his request.

When he went out who was there waiting to come in but Ginger Tom.
He was an excellent replacement cos he gives really good cuddles.
I gave up trying to write my journal as his weight on my chest
was too much & whenever I tried to write he did that cute thing
cats do when they grab the pen.

(Sprocket goes 1 step further - if you are brushing your teeth
she sits on your shoulder, grabs the toothbrush & tries to force the
bristles into her mouth..)

Uh-oh, kids back, pandemonium reigns, will resume this later.



And breathe ...

This afternoon I did my usual pm chores, fed the neddies, fed the pigs,
fed the ... oh.

No Boy.

He has disappeared. He has never gone missing before.
Chris has checked all around the farm with a torch but it looks like
he has gone. If he has I am glad he got a cuddle.

Today, Mal showed me how to prepare a field for sowing by 'scrubbing'
the surface by dragging chains along it with the tractor.
After that we drilled oats into it which will be grown for chaff (horse-feed)
It was a great afternoon, I rode on the back of the drill watching how
he ploughed the field. Behind the drill was a flock of gulls waiting
to pick up the odd insect or stray oat. They were continually flying
behind the tractor then they would land, grub about for a few seconds
& be replaced by the next gull.

It looked amazing as I looked back. Bright blue sky, chocolate brown earth,
(you would love to garden here Mum, the earth is beautifully crumbly & fertile,
no rocks for Granny to smash though) snow-capped mountain (just the 1 visible from here) soft green hills & wave after wave of gulls so white it hurt your eyes to look at them.

A good memory tucked away, wish I had taken my camera.

Then, joy of joys, 'Would I like to drive the tractor?'

How quickly can you dislodge a 78 yr old from his seat without looking impatient?

It even had a spacker-knob ! I know these days I am not allowed to say that in England but sod it - they put 'Bugger' in the papers here. I kid you not. One advert read

‘Buggered?

Why not come to hotel such-and-such for a break?'

There were more gears & levers than you could shake a stick at.
It was fantastic.

The tractor pales into insignificance next to the combine harvester or 'header'
as they call it out here. What a beast. You sit about 15' in the air.
I noticed the key was in the ignition :)

I was collecting fir cones to start the fire with this evening when I noticed
the moon was so bright it was casting a shadow on me.
I don't know if my memory is playing tricks on me but I can't remember it doing that at home.
Will some kind soul put me out of my misery & tell me ?
The moon is a sliver away from being full tomorrow & looks fat & beautiful.

At sunset tonight both the sun & the moon were visible & as I did my favourite job of feeding the neddies I hung around watching it.
I tried taking some pics but needless to say even my superb camera didn't do justice to the colours.

I satisfied myself instead by taking foties of the pigs having dinner in the dark.
I have committed a cardinal sin & named the pigs.
At 1st I did like everyone else, dropped their food in the trough & walked away.

It started with me noticing 1 had a longer tail than the other.
Then I noticed that 1 liked to stick his snout right to the bottom of the trough & slurp up the pea juice.

The other was very partial to tea-bags.
Hence, they have become 'Slurp' & 'Tea-bag'
Need I tell you I haven't told the family ?

At breakfast this morning Genevieve was continually scratching her head.
Trish carried out an examination & yes, you're ahead of me aren't you ?

Guests.

Yeuch.

We all have to wash our hair with some 'special' shampoo.
Angie-you're wincing aren't you.

This evening I received a letter from IEPUK asking how I was settling in & what the family were like.

We have discussed it & I can honestly reply saying ...

'They killed the 1st horse I looked at & burnt it, they make a 78 year old man labour on the farm, the family has infested me with nits and even the dog has run away'
I don't think they would believe me.

I have decided to hunt tomorrow as Jess may be leaving us.
As it's just the 1 neddy & no kids I will be towing a trailer
(called a horse-float over here ?) behind The Beast.
I will be taking it very easy around left-handers.
Apparently we are hunting at a 'local hunt for local people'
at Richmond Brook so by NZ standards it's probably a 4 hour drive.

Even with a 4 hour hunt I should be able to make it to Mal's for the 7pm kick-off.
Make sure you watch it you lot & think of me downing Export Gold with my mucker & cheering on St.George.
(All you bog-trotters & sweaties are of course allowed to cheer for England - we don't mind. Don't think any druids are reading Blog, but if you are, consider yourself invited)

I will close by telling you that, due to the intonation over here
I was left wondering who 'Gregory Pick' was when the newscaster said
that he had died this morning. (Sorry Justine)

Hollywood Hails De Niro as It Remembers Peck -LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - As far as Hollywood heroes go, they could not be more unlike -- one a smoldering human volcano about to erupt into violence and the other a film icon radiating stability and integrity.
But for a while on Thursday night, Gregory Peck, who died earlier in the day at age 87, seemed to be a spirit hovering over the American Film Institute's black tie tribute to Robert De Niro, who was presented with the film group's 31st lifetime achievement award before an audience of some of show business's biggest movers and shakers.
While the likes of Leonardo DiCaprio, Martin Scorsese, Jodie Foster and Joe Pesci gathered to praise the star of such films as "Raging Bull" and "Taxi Driver," they were quick to recognize the hole left in Hollywood's heart by Peck's passing.
"I had a scene with him in 'The Boys from Brazil' and I can't tell you how well he treated me. He gave me a kiss in the movie and he was the best kisser ever," said comedian Anne Meara, whose son Ben Stiller co-starred with De Niro.
"Mr. Peck epitomized the leading man. He was graceful and elegant. I watched 'Roman Holiday' about 30 times and I can't tell you my fantasies," said actress Mimi Rogers.
Jeffrey Katzenberg, a co-founder of DreamWorks studio, said Peck "was part of the heart of Hollywood and we have lost part of ourselves. It was a terrible loss."
De Niro, who looked nervous and a little out of place at his tribute dinner, told Reuters he knew Peck "a bit and he was very nice. He was elegant and distinguished and a film icon."

When it was De Niro's turn to take the stage to thank the audience and participants in the award program, the actor paid simple homage to Peck. "Good night and good night Gregory Peck," he said.

Off to see if there is a gingwah waiting to get into my room.

Night England.

Good luck the whites !

Cx