Life Down Wattle Lane v2 - The Scrape

We've finally had the scrape done. This is where we remove the top soil at the new house site. 

Now, going against my unusual DIY give anything a go, and she'll be right attitude, I had a guy to do the job...he was quick but I'm still sure I could have hired a digger and did the same job in double the time of course, but for half the overall cost... but we wont know now will we 😜

We're still waiting for the council to approve our consent application, but the scrape is the first step and that is now complete... next are the foundations.

 

Life Down Wattle Lane v2 - Arapawa Ewe Giving Birth

Graphic Warning Advised

Sheep Having Difficult Birth 

I wasn't sure if I should share this, but it is all part of living on the farm, and some might find this interesting and educational.

The ewe, just known as Blake's Girlfriend, as the two hang out together, had her first lamb today. She is normally a vocal sheep as she loves her sheep nuts, and she always reminds me when I  forget to feed her. However today she was rather vocal during birth which is what alerted me there was something wrong, that and she wasn't with the flock. 

Normally the ewes give birth so quickly, they literally drop the lambs. But this ewe seemed to struggle. 

However she gets there in the end and both Mum and Lamb are doing great.

I have edited the videos to avoid most of the nasty stuff.

 

Life Down Wattle Lane v2 - Introducing...

A quick update, the newest little one survived the night and is feeding normally although in his own way.

He doesn't take to force feeding with the bottle, he seems to like it best when you put the bottle between your legs.

For this reason, we have decided to name him Boots.

Boots twin is doing well with Mum and running around with the other lambs. Quite the opposite of Boots who is very wobbly and slow on foot.

Life Down Wattle Lane v2 - The Littlest One

This morning's suprise was a set of twin Arapawa lambs from a first time mum.

All seemed ok, albeit the new Mum's always seemed shocked by the entire experience. One minute they're frolicking in the paddock living an independent sheep life, the next minute they're instant mums to demanding lambs. The lambs were up, and instinctively looking for the udder so I was feeling confident all was ok and I headed off to town for more supplies. The first thing I always check is to ensure that the lambs are up and feeding.

On my return about 6 hours later, the new mum was at one end of the paddock with just 1 lamb. Normally Arapawa's are great mum's so I was a little concerned. I searched for the missing lamb and a short while I found the little lamb sleeping in the long grass.  I have had a previous experience where the mum with twins just leaves the weakest lamb behind, so I thought if I wake up the lamb, and get it to call for its mother, while also walking mum back to where the lamb was, they might just reunite. Nope, mum was not in the least interested and wouldn't go near the little one bleating it's heart out. Mum had obviously already made her decision.

At this point you start to recall how difficult it was raising the last lamb. It takes a lot of time, nighttime feeding, and it's very expensive having to buy the milk powder. So I thought I would let them be and check back again, but after an hour the little lamb was still on it's own calling for mum. I needed to make a decision,  if I was going to raise the lamb I needed to race back into town for some colostrum powder.

Long story short... we now have another lamb to raise. Another little boy. Yet to be named... any suggestions?

Off to town

After first feeding 

In bed

Life Down Wattle Lane v2 - Spring Lamb

Yesterday we had a new born lamb, a little boy to a first time mum. 

We've also had a little snow overnight, and its its freezing outside, so I put on one of the little jackets that we have. I'm not sure mum was happy about it, but the lamb was shivering, so as soon as it warms up I'll take it off.

Life Down Wattle Lane v2 - The Battles

Tonight I'm completely exhausted. Knackered actually.  It's been all go since back in July, but the last 7 days has been extra challenging.

Lawyers 

Late last week, we had to pay the deposit to SIT (Southern Institute of Technology) for the new house, this was due Friday. Long story short, I paid SIT lawyers directly instead of paying our lawyers to pay SIT lawyers. I jumped a step and SIT lawyers got very upset, concerned that I was money laundering etc. I said, "just refund me the deposit" but noooo... (sarcasm intended) they couldn't  do that. They wanted to charge me $287 to verify us and our id. At this point I threw my toys out of the cot, and I let them know it. They finally agreed to waive the fee, and I supplied id that was previously verified by our lawyers. All should have been sorted, but then the  SIT lawyers the came back requesting further id, including a copy of my eftpos card. I think my words were, "this is bloody ridiculous, do you not want to sell the bloody house or not?" Now I had already thrown my toys out of the cot, so I threw Gary's toys out of the cot too. I sent a hotly worded email, copying in our lawyers, saying "I just can't deal with you anymore, I'm so bloody mad, Gary will have to take over from here" Lucky for Gary, our lawyers stepped in and took over, saying that they didn't require any further id, and they will sort it out. The whole thing was just stupid, but boy it wound me up. This last paragraph is a very brief version of the events, I am getting wound up again thinking about it. I have no issues with SIT, but I do have issues with their lawyers.

Cat vs Dog

On Saturday, my nephew accidentally let Max out of the caravan, and my uncles dog (Monty) was visiting that same day. Unfortunately Monty doesn't like cats so chased after him. We were all yelling and trying to catch Monty,  but after about 2 circuits around the caravan Monty came running out from under the caravan with Max hot on his tail. For  a quick moment I felt proud of my boy, taking on a dog. I managed to grab Max from behind and run him back into the caravan, all the while Max chomped down on my thumb! He got me good, and boy did it bleed. Monty was spared that day. The only blood spilt that day was mine and Max was wearing some of it. I called the afterhours medical clinic, and they advised to come in within 6 hours as I really needed to get some antibiotics asap. We all know where a cat's mouth has been and I didn't want to be dealing with an infection on top of everything else, so I didn't delay. 

Parkinson's 

Insurance companies... need I say anything more about that. What I will say, if we can get the claim approved, it will give me more time before I need to consider going back to work, which gives me more time to get onto a medication regime that works for me. Living with Parkinson's has its challenges. I'm becoming very self conscious about my shakes. The medication I am on really is not working. Balance is becoming more of an issue, as I get the wobbles more frequently. Tonight, in the caravan I ended up on my arse. That was a first! I'm really not sure what happened I was trying to walk from the lounge area to the bedroom and then I started falling backwards, and couldn't save myself, as my reactions were to slow (due to Parkinson's). Balance seems to be more of an issue in enclosed spaces.

So it's been a trying time this last week, but things are progressing with the build... I'll update again shortly on how the barn conversion is looking, and we just had the scrape done. 

There will still be a few more bends in the road ahead, but you just have to keep on truckin.

Life Down Wattle Lane v2 - The Plumber I Am Not

I love DIY, I love the challenge of trying something new, working it out, and then the satisfaction of completing that DIY project. So I will give anything a go.

The barn came with a fully installed toilet. What was not installed was walls or any privacy. Literally you were pooping in an open barn! As their was a small leak from the toilet cistern and we needed to install a new water pump, I thought it might be a good idea to also add a tub and basin. Basically rework the entire plumbing.

A Simple Setup:

Water Tank/To Pump/To Tap/To Laundry Tub/To Basin/To Toilet.

I headed down to the local MICRO Plumbing store for some advice... and about an hour later I was walking out with everything I needed. The team at MICRO were very encouraging, and I thought I got this!

Well all I got was leak after leak. Setting everything out was easy, connecting the fittings was easy, so I had thought. However the number of leaks was a real downer. Over a week, I had about 5 attempts, fitting, unfitting and refitting the connections, but I couldn't stop the leaks. I was starting to really hate this project.

After a few deposits to the swear jar, I relented and finally called in a plumber. $260 later, the leaks were sorted.

I could then finally start on the walls and door. 

Below is the progress... not quite finished, but can now poop in private albeit in the dark, as we're waiting on the electrician to return to put in the wiring.

Down Wattle Lane v2 - Katie's Hill

Near the road there is an old dirt loading ramp, once used to load tractors and the like into the back of trucks. The ramp has really become an overgrown mound of dirt. 

Not long after we arrived, Katie my niece claimed this mound of dirt as Katie's Hill. Katie's plan is to build a hut on the hill.

Well since putting the sheep in the paddock they've been having great fun playing on the mound.

Then today... Blake has claimed sovereignty, and challenges Katie to the title of Blake's Hill... where will this end?

Down Wattle Lane v2 - Fencing, Gates & Heaps of Painting

Buying a bare lifestyle block has it's positives and negatives.

For example:

POSITIVE: As there are no fences you can decide where to put your fences and design the paddocks to your requirements.

NEGATIVE: As there are no fences, you have to build the bloody things!

For the last 2 weeks we have been working on the first 2 smaller paddocks and a new driveway entrance. 

The property has essentially just 1 big deer fence around the boundary, with 2 big deer fence gates at the driveway entrance. The deer fence reminds me of a prison, so it is basically going. It's much nicer to talk to your neighbors over the fence than through the fence.

I'm lacking some before pics, but this should give you an idea:

Operating smarter with v2, using a tractor to put in the posts. It's as simple as...Paint Posts/Drive into Ground/Wire Up/Hang Gates... Voila a new paddock!

First fences finished, just need to add some trees.

Below is the new entrance, we're just waiting on a new sign for the gate. Hanging the gate was extremely rewarding. The gates are handmade by a local lady in Kaiapoi. http://kiwiwood.co.nz/

Also a big Thank You to my helpers, together we've achieved a lot in a short time... 

   😃Uncle Paul & Aunty Bev, 

   😏my sister Kelly & partner Ryan,

   👱nephew Justin,

   👧niece Katie, 

   😜and not to forget, Mum. 

Also not to brag, I'm loving the BBQ lunches...

Down Wattle Lane v2 - Getting Internet Connected

One of the of the first jobs was to get the internet connected to the shed. A temporary fix until the house arrives and then we run a line from the shed to the house

As with everything, it is not as simple as it sounds. The shed was 100m from the roadside to where the telco connection was located. Chorus said dig the trench and they will lay the cable.

So we hired a little digger, and my Uncle Paul got busy, digging a rather deep trench, negotiating septic lines, trees and a deer fence.

I must say I was very impressed with the local chorus guy who was very prompt. Friendly local chap. Within a week of making the arrangements and hiring the digger we were connected to the World Wide Web 😊