Week 22

We have livestock in our paddocks now! The neighbours next door have fixed up all the fences, cleaned out the water-troughs, and, as of Monday, there are horses and cattle in at least one of our paddocks. It's a great feeling of relief to finally have some stock in there, even if it's not ours.

Winter has arrived early this year. It has been SO COLD this week. And I shiver just thinking that there is still much worse to come. There is snow on the Tararua Ranges and the mornings have been about 1 or 2 degrees outside, 10 degrees inside. I've had a fire going most mornings and evenings. We've hung up a blanket to separate the dining room (where the fireplace is) from the hallway (where the cold air is) and it has made a noticeable difference to how quickly the room heats up.

The girls and I have all come down with our first cold of the winter. They were both supposed to go to daycare today however because they were sick I kept them home and we watched TV and played games instead. It has been a Very Long Day.

Despite all the cold weather, we have daffodils blooming in the garden. In Autumn! What's up with that? The only reason I have is that it's in areas where I put down a heavy mulch back in January. Maybe that fooled the ground into thinking it was winter? It's very weird.

Still haven't figured out what to do with all our feijoas yet.

-M