Oh dear. There is a Woolshed behind there somewhere. A bit of firewood to cut up.
Heart of Oaks are our ships, Heart of oa……..
Category Archives: Rural
Water, Water
Another reason why I have not been doing any painting. Can’t clean the paint crushes when you have no water.
Our water tank. It is filled from water coming off the woolshed and yard roof.
Greeting loyal readers and fellow maremmas. Now as you all know We live in the countryside. As the locals would say, We live in the “wop wops“. Far, far away from any city amenities, such as water. We rely upon a combination of tank and bore water for our water needs. A 30,000l tank supplies the house with water for everything expect the toilets and outside taps, which come from the bore. The bore also supplies the household needs of two of our neighbours, as well as a number of stock troughs. Over the last week it was apparent that there was a problem with bore water supply. So it was D.I.Y Daddy to the rescue.
Firstly, the suspected leak had to be located. Our property has been in existence for over 150…
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The Big Blow
Our only damage from the weather bomb that swept up the country today. Free firewood indeed.
Honey from Farmer Van
Greeting loyal readers and fellow maremmas. Now as you all know it is supposed to be summer here in sunny New Zealand, therefore, hot, sunny and warm. But for some reason this summer seems to have other ideas. Today a weather bomb passed over the country with 154 km (95 miles) winds blowing through Wellington. Accompanied by torrential rain. It certainly was windy here and this morning when mummy went out to feed those pesky chicken she saw a big branch blown off a tree in the paddock.
Daddy looking at the branch.
So sometime this week, daddy with the assistance from Farmer Rae will be cutting down the branch. Yeah more free fire wood.
Off We go. We have heard mention of visitors coming this weekend. As loyal readers know Me and Nellie love having guests to stay. More people to give Us the love…
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Our DIY Experience
Our only damage from the Earthquake at the Woolshed. Apart from a few stacks of books and some stuff on my workbench that tumbled over. All models came through unscathed.
Greeting loyal readers and fellow maremmas. Like our good friend Easy’s daddy, our daddy is not one of bestest DIYer in the world. However, we seem to have been effected by the 7.8m earthquake of last week. As of yesterday there have been over 3,000 aftershocks. Fortunately none have seemed to have caused any more damage. However, on Wednesday mummy and daddy noticed that there was water trickling down the path towards the woolshed. At first they couldn’t see or feel any damp grass but as the days progressed they realised that there was the strong possibility of there being a leak. So today daddy got out his tools and went to work. As you see from the photos there was lots of bad language, water and mud but in the end there was success and the leak was fixed. It would appear that the pipe joint had split…
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Look What Daddy Came Home With – or – Giant Lamb for Kings of War.
How can I use this in Kings of War. A giant beast for a Forces of Nature army?
Me looking through the door
Greeting loyal readers and fellow maremmas. Now as you all know We have sheep living here with us here at Chez Jasper. Well, imagine our surprise when daddy came home with a …..
A baby lamb
Now the decision to take a baby lamb, less that 24 hours old away from her mummy is not one that is taken lightly. However, this lamb was one of triplets, with one not surviving, one being very healthy and this one being rejected her mummy. So daddy had to decided to bring her inside. Also, while the sheep have access to shelter in to the wool shed, the weather was deteriorating again so she might not have survived a night outside.
A feeding lamb
After a good feed exploring her enviroment.
Oops as slight accident.
Lambie will need to be feed every four hours for the next few…
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Signs of Spring
First Spring Lambs arrive in middle of winter. Read more at Jasper’s Doggy World. It is the middle of winter but it has been a mild one. Cold mornings but warm days, but also lots of wind and rain.
Greeting loyal readers and fellow maremmas. Now as you all know We three live in the sunny Mangamahu Valley and it is winter time in New Zealand. Soon signs of spring will appear – daffodils and magnolia flowers.
One early sign of spring’s arrival in the appearance of spring lambs in paddocks. Now as you all know We have six sheep and mummy was expecting to see lambs in a few months time.
Well, yesterday morning she was out getting some wood and happen to glance over to one of the front paddocks. There she saw something little and with a wagging tail. Yes, you guested it, new lambs. Boy she was surprised!!
Yum, Christmas lamb!!
Mummy thinks we might get some more lambies soon. Watch this space.
Love Nellie, Jasper and Itai, the three bestest maremmas in all the land.
Me and Nellie having a frolick in the long…
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Six Green Bottles: An Interesting Find
Mrs Woolshedwargamer was doing some gardening in the back yard and found these buried. I hope she finds more. Pop over to Jasper’s Doggy World and see some of what she has turned up on these old bottles – other than the old bottles of course.
All the bottles
Greeting loyal readers and fellow maremmas. Now as you all know, We live in a very old house (by New Zealand standards). 87 years ago, Two summers ago, mummy was out in the garden digging under the Robinia tree when she discovered these bottles. She put them in a bucket, thinking “I must clean them later” and promptly forgot them. (Her memory ain’t what it used to be).
Well, today she found them out in the back of her old potting shed, when looking for something else. Well, she cleaned them up and brought the bottles inside to consult with our friend “Dr Google” to see if she could find anything out about them.
Symington’s Coffee Essence
- Coffee and chicory essence was a thick syrup, used as a form of instant coffee during the 19th and early 20th Centuries.). The chicory, a plant root…
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Happenings on a Sunny Sunday Mangamahu Afternoon.
Another small taste of our rural life. Hope you enjoy this post from Jasper’s Doggy World.
See Me and Nellie in the afternoon sun, waiting for mummy to come home from town.
Greeting loyal readers and fellow maremmas. The weather still continues to be warm. In the afternoon the temperature often reaches 22 C (71F). Not bad for halfway through autumn. Now as you all know We live on a lifestyle block in the sunny Mangamahu Valley. Mummy and daddy run a couple of cows and a few sheep. Today, neighbour Paul had to sort out some of his sheep and return our stud ram called Romeo. So, mummy and daddy said they’d help him. For some reason Me, Nellie and Itai were left at home. Something about being a nuisances and distractions.
Once the sheep were in our woolshed then the fun begun. The sheep had to be separated in the race, sort of long corridor with a gate at the end. When the sheep…
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An Autumn Walk
It was more like 21km and 12km of it was uphill. In a few of the pictures you can see the old Coach Road (abandoned nearly a century ago) that serviced the remote hill farms. They were abandoned when a new road was cut along the river valley in the mid-20s and the farmers built new homesteads along the new road.
And we were sore the next few days.
Mummy and daddy at the start of their tramp.
Greeting loyal readers and fellow maremmas. Early on Saturday morning, mummy and daddy abandoned left Us three and went off in Mummy’s little white car. 87 hours later they came home, very tired, with muddy feet and moaning about sore muscles. As if We all cared. It would appear that they had been on a 15 km (nearly 9 miles) tramp up (in as one would say in New Zealand) the wop wops. Which in this case was 30k (18 miles) up the road to almost the end of the Mangamahu Valley.
Lunch time was at an abandoned old farm-house, referred to by the locals as Siberia because of its remoteness.
Mummy’s muddy paws.
Stunning scenery. Now you can all see why We live in the sunny Mangamahu Valley. Love from Nellie, Jasper and Itai, who by the way are…
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Our House
Just some background history to our property and some of the neighbouring properties in our valley. From our very clever Maremma dog Jasper’s personal blog.
Lambhill
Greeting loyal readers and fellow maremmas. Last weekend, mummy went on a house and garden tour to one of the oldest houses in the area. The site has been lived on since the early 1840’s, which in terms of New Zealand history is an eternity. It was first owned by Dr Allison, The following is from: The Cyclopedia of New Zealand [Wellington Provincial District] Farmers, Old Settlers etc.
“Allison, (Dr.) James, Sheepfarmer, Wanganui. This pioneer colonist landed in Wellington in 1840, afterwards settling in Wanganui, where he remained seven years. He then removed to the South Island, taking up a sheep-run in the Wairau Valley. In 1855 he sold out and again came to the Wanganui District. Twelve years later he left the Colony to visit the Old Country, but died on the voyage.”
Now this got mummy thinking about our house. Not a lot is known…
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The Woolshed Wargamer 