Attingham Park

Since I've been to Attingham Park three times in the last week I thought I better write about it!
As with all National Trust properties it's a beautiful place and has a mixed history. Attingham as a property has seen a lot. The man who commisioned to have it built died before it was completed so it was passed to his son when it was finished. The son however changed the design of the house and had more work done. He furnished it extravagantly and lived beyond his means until he was forced to flee to Italy to evade his creditors. 
Furniture and fittings were sold and the building left largely abandoned for many years until, in the 1920s, Lord and Lady Berwick moved in and tried to restore some dignity to the place. The trust took over the building around the 1980s and have been restoring the building and adding to the collections since. 

The trust is also restoring the gardens and greenhouses. The gardens are always my favourite part of any property tat we visit and at this time of year I like to see the volunteers planting out the new seedling and also seeing the early flowers coming into bloom.

 
  At the moment in the gardens they have a focus on what it would have been like during the war. They have a pen of chickens on one of the vege plots and this cute sign to show you that, during war years, chickens were enlisted too! These chooks were super friendly too and wandered over to the mesh to eyeball us and see if we were going to feed them. 

 Every large garden should have a cat to keep the rats and mice down. This curious fella followed me and Dad through the green houses and out to the gate. I think perhaps he too was hoping we might give him some breakfast.

While I'm on the subject of animals I should mention one of my favourite reasons for visiting Attingham is the deer herd. They have so many that it's really quite a sight the first time you see them. I'm not sure on the trusts breeding policy but since it's spring I'm hoping I might see some fawns soon at the feet of the does. 

 
 For now though I am content just to see the hinds and the stags with their large antlers. They really are a beautiful creature.

Attingham is also a farm and has a few different herds of cows and sheep that graze the outer pastures. Today we saw this gorgeous little bull calf out the back of the property with his mother. I have a thing for cows, espeicially speckled ones .

 Not content with pets and farm animals, Attingham is also a haven for wildlife. Squirrels, rabbits and pheasants all call the fields and woods their home as well as wood peckers, crows and hares. There is even a pair of swans nesting in the reeds this year.

I really enjoy going to Attingham as there is always something new to see in the garden and there are so many animals to watch. If you are ever in the Shropshire area you should really give it a visit.
 

Ashley Park Country Fair

Summer is finally starting to tentatively show it's face and today was a lovely sunny day. Me and Mum drove out to Ashley Park and spent a nice few hours wandering the stalls and looking at the animals during their annual country fair.

Day 13 - Fantasy Land

I've been having a bit of a hard time lately finding things to write about as I find winter a bit of a miserable time and I don't want to fill this space with negative thoughts. The other day at work though my imagination ran away with me and I planned out a whole future career idea for myself so I'll write a bit about that instead. I apologise in advance if I goon too long. My fantasy lives interest me far more than my real one!

So my idea was to start a petting zoo! Wanganui doesn't currently have one and I always find this strange since the people here love animals and I know quite a few people who have crazy little collections. Perhaps they just don't want to share them. I personally dislike children so a petting zoo is perhaps an bad idea for me too since the majority of the custom would be people with children. I think I could perhaps tolerate them though if they were there to appreciate my animals.
So what would I have?
Sheep of course. Llamas/Alpacas (even though they scare me), goats, pigs, rabbits, chickens, ducks, geese, guinea pigs, cows, donkeys, lizards etc etc etc

I even planned out admission fees and money making ventures. I thought entry should be cheap, $5 for an adult $2 for a child. That way on the brochure it would look really enticing with lots of bang for your buck. The catch of course would be to offer loads of pay for extras that the kids would pester their parents to pay for. Pony rides for $2. Little bags of pellets for feeding the animals $1. Pig races, where the kids and parents can both be involved $2 for a ticket, choose which pig you think will win and if you're correct you win a bag of lollies to share.

Another idea I had was lamb feeding of course. I think this would have to be free though and just a first in first serve basis, 4 feeds a day and what ever lambs I can scrounge from neighbouring farmers. I could offer to raise them as a free service and then return them to them afterwards. Win win for both parties as the farmers get a hassle free orphan at no expense and I would get a good supply of adorable babies to draw in the punters without having a surplus of adult sheep that aren't required.
There would have to be a few adult sheep kept around though. I reckon I could harness train a few and put them in front of a little carriage. $5 a ride for two kids or one kid and one adult. It would have to be a minimum of 2 sheep pulling the cart but 4 all harnessed up would look impressive.
The milk from the lambs could be sourced from the cows. After all most dairy breeds produce far too much for just one calf so in theory I could have lambs and a calf all being supplied by one cow. Milking could be another demonstration for the public or perhaps even another pay to have a go at thing.

There would be set times for holding rabbit and guinea pigs in a controlled area. A comfy chair to set the kid in with a towel on it's knee and then add the animals. Safe for the rodents and no mess for the humans. In theory!
I would love a reptile room too with large tanks containing whatever types of lizards or snakes that are permitted in this country and special handling times for these too. Also feeding times at some point during the day as an extra little event for the customers.

I would also love for it to have a large herb and vegetable garden for people to wander around and show their kids how things grow. There would be lots of little signs to say what things are and how long they take to grow.
There would of course have to be a cafe and shop. I thought it would be cool to sell produce from the animals and garden. Fresh grown fruit and veg could be used in the cafe or sold fresh. Eggs from the chickens and ducks could be sold. Wollen clothing items made from the sheep or alpaca fleece. Honey from local bees. Herbs from the garden could be sold dried, fresh or even in beauty products. Perhaps even milk from the cows.

I would love to have a lake for the ducks and geese. Preferably with fish in so that people can feed those too. Paddle boats could be hired. In my mind there would be a grass verge on one side for people to picnic on leading down to a pier where they could look into the water and feed the fish or climb onto the boats. The rest of the lake would have a forest edge with a walking track through it and at some point a tree tower that can be climbed to get a good view over the park.
So what do you think? Am I nuts or am I onto something? All I gotta do now is find a million odd dollars to set the place up and I'll be away!

Taranaki Touring. Part 1

I apologise if it seems like I wandered off for awhile because, well, I did...
The interesting thing about being a house sitter is that you never really know when the jobs will come in. Sometimes I seem to get multiple requests just when it's highly inconvenient  and other times the requests arrive just when I'm waiting a break and are really quite welcome. They can be a blessing or a burden depending on the circumstances. The last job I did was a real blessing, my cousin wanted me to look after her farm while her and her family went away. She lives in a rural area about 2 hours drive from where I live and about 1 hour away from New Plymouth which is a town that I was planning to explore with Dad.
The entire area around where she lives is very scenic so it was really a gift for me and Dad to be able to stay there and have not only free accommodation but get paid to stay. We did of course have to look after her animals which included a house dog (an elderly terrier), 3 chickens, 2 pigs, a cat and 8 farm dogs which may sound a lot but only took an hour or so to care for morning and night.

I'm getting a bit ahead of myself though. On the Thursday we traveled up in a very leisurely manner. We were taking the coast road so we stopped at all the beaches along the way and found things of interest at every one. At the first beach we stopped at there is a bit of a camp ground and some of the people who were staying there had apparently had a party on the beach the night before. They had set up a wind break and benches out of drift wood and had themselves a large bonfire. When we arrived the ashes were still warm so being the pyromaniacs that we are we wanted to see if we could get it going again. I found some beach tumble weeds ( I have no idea of the proper name, they are some sort of seed from the sea grasses I think and when its windy they roll along the beach like mini tumbleweeds. Turns out they make good tinder) and Dad got some small sticks which we stacked onto the warm ashes and then we wandered off along the beach. On our way back we saw someone else adding sticks to the fire before scuttling off down the beach so we reclaimed our space and built up the flames until we had some big logs on there. The people we had seen adding sticks then came back to join us and had a chat with us while they enjoyed the heat from our fire. It was all very impromptu but that always makes the best memories.
 

The next stop along the way was a beach which I knew sometimes had seals and I was really hoping there would be one there. I was in luck! I always forget how much they smell though, like some sort of mix between old wet dog and stinky fish and ocean. The one we saw was alone and somewhat nervous so although we got close enough to take pictures it wasn't too keen on us being around and headed down the cliff and out to sea not long after we had moved away.

 Up next was a beach that had a super cool old sea wall that we just had to walk along even if the tide was coming in and making it look a little dodgy. It was perfectly fine of course and we didn't even get splashed by the waves. There was also a ship wreck washed up on the beach that we had a mooch around and through. A few years ago when my sister visited we went to the same ship wreck and as she stood in front of it for me to take a photo a huge wave came over and splashed her! It was hilarious at the time and so we couldn't resist going over to it to take photos again but we did make sure the waves were breaking further out first.

The final beach on our tour had lots of rocks which made a great rock hopping course. Even at 71 Dad is still a keen rock hopper and he even made it to the ocean edge before me. Although I did get a little distracted looking in the rock pools for awhile. I didn't see much life except a few little quick darting fish but I did find a rubber end to a milking machine which will make a good dog toy.

Well that's pretty much it for our first day of traveling. From the last beach we headed straight on to my cousins farm, arriving about 5pm and the family at about 6pm after showing me around and telling what needed doing while they were away. We settled our selves in and since it had been a long day we turned in early to prepare for the next day of adventure.
Look out for part two which I'll be posting soon.

Sunshine, Sand and Seagulls

Urgh! Why is it every time I forget to take my camera/phone with me there is something amazing that I want to take photos of! Murphey's law or what.

Today me and Dad took Rush out to the beach for a walk because the weather was pretty good and also so that Dad could see what had changed.

We stopped at a shop on the way to get an ice cream each, candy floss flavour, which was actually pretty good but not as fake tasting as I had hoped.

It was a pretty perfect day for being out at the beach, the sun was shining, there was only a light breeze and there were hardly any people around. I love taking Rush to the beach because I can give him almost total freedom, I still call him in if we see another dog or if he is trying to eat something disgusting but mostly I just let him go where he wants as there is ocean on one side to pen him in and cliffs on the other.

Today as we wandered along with Dad I checked out the tide line. There had been a good influx of shells and I found a few pretty ones to bring home to add to my room as decoration. I don't often pick up shells as I have so many already but the ones I got today were large and unusual for our area and they will also serve as a souvenir to remind me of Dad's visit. 

Rush was having a great time finding old walnuts to eat that had washed up on the shore, splashing through the shallows and chasing the seagulls and other little shore birds. He never gets near them of course but he likes to try. I watched him take off after a particularly large seagull and suddenly realised that he was gaining on it, it splashed into the ocean and tried to swim away from him but of course he caught up to it easily. I thought the poor bird was a goner and perhaps it would have been better for it if Rush had munched it as it turned out to be on deaths door anyway.

Rush once he realised it wasn't going to keep moving wasn't quite sure what to do with his new friend. He gave the tail a few curious sniffs and then moved around to look it in the eye. SNAP! The gull had life in it yet and had made a grab for Rush's nose, luckily though it missed or the poor boy would have been whimpering. The were still out in the waves and Rush was getting out of his depth so I called him back in and we headed further off up the beach.

Once we reached the river which marks my turn around point I found a nice log out of the wind and me and Dad sat down for a little rest and a sun bathe. There were a whole lot of large logs damming the river and they made a bridge of sorts over the river to a little spit of sand on the other side. Of course in my mind all I could see was a challenge! Could I make it across the logs to the sand without falling in and getting wet? Answer.. After a little careful testing, Yes! So for the next bit of fun, could I entice Rush over too? Definitely, but mostly because there was a dead sheep jammed in the logs on the far side!

After I got him away from that we headed back down the beach and soon enough encountered the poor dying seagull again, Rush chased it into the water again and it went under a couple of times before I managed to get close enough to pick the thing up. It was all wet and bedraggled I got the impression it was quite an old bird that had just done it's time as there was no visible injuries on it. The fact that I had it in my hands made Rush all the more interested of course but he really is a lover not a biter and he was very careful when I lowered it down to show him. I can't say the same for the seagull though as it gave Rush a resounding peck on the nose! I wanted the old bird to be left alone to die if that's what it was going to do so I moved him up to the base of the cliff away from the waves and after a final sniff from Rush we left it be. I can't say that I hope it's dead now but I do hope that it isn't suffering, neither me nor Dad had the heart to put it out of it's misery and we may have taken the cowards option of leaving nature to take its course but you can't argue with nature.

After the beach we also stopped in at Bason reserve just to check out the scenery and I made sure I took my phone along this time so that I could get some pictures. 

 

Ducks and Dads

As ever my week has been unusual. For a start my Dad flew in to visit us for 2 months which means the guest room is in use! I picked him up from the airport yesterday lunchtime and he was pretty tired. He lives in England but segmented his flights by staying over in Bali and Australia so although his flight to New Zealand was only 5 hours or so he was on a night flight so missed out on sleep.

I took him shopping for some groceries and then he came back to work with me. I mowed lawns while he read a book (from my library) and dozed in the car. I don't really have anything too exciting to report at the moment apart from the fact that I hope I will have something exciting to report in the near future! I have signed up for another house stay over the long Easter weekend, this time for my cousin who lives about 2 hours away from me on a farm so that should be interesting but I shall divulge more when it happens. Make sure to stay tuned for more weirdness to come.

On a cute note we had lunch at the lake the other day and as ever we got surrounded by ducks. One cheeky chappy actually hid under the bench we were sitting on and would pop his head up every now and then to see if we had a tit bit for him. Of course it was so cute and funny that we couldn't help but feed him.

Hello, um, Human? Do you have anything to eat?

 Ooh! Whats this human? Is it tasty? Can I have it?

 *sniffs* Ooh corn snack! Yes please!

Clueless About Chickens

Being an animal lover and farming enthusiast I like to think that I'm quite well qualified for my part time job as a pet sitter. I'm even vet nurse trained, not that it amounts to much but it makes me look good on paper.
As kids me and my sister had rabbits, guinea pigs and gerbils as well as fish.  We started with cold water fish and progressed to tropical. We were even breeding guppies at one point, although not necessarily on purpose.
I've also owned rats, a goat, a cat, a hedgehog and two dogs (neither for much more than a year but long enough to fall in love). I've helped care for degus, bearded dragons, mice, pigs, horses, sheep and cows. I've worked with both beef and dairy cattle and even did a season of calf rearing.
The point I'm trying to make is that I have basic knowledge and experience with a good variety of domestic animals and I have owned or cared for almost all of the species commonly owned as pets. I have only one area of complete ignorance and that is birds.  Apart from a short term shared ownership of an elderly and vicious budgie that i was terrified of, I have very little idea about birds.  I've looked after peoples chickens of course but my knowledge is quite literally limited to the fact that you put grain in the coop and take eggs out.  

I don't know anything about when or what they need to lay eggs.  Is a rooster necessary? Why and when do they go clucky and how do you stop it? Do they sit on the nest all day and if so when do they eat? Nutritional requirements, health issues, breed differences, behavior and life span are all a mystery to me. 
I'm currently looking after 16 hens and a crabby rooster which is a bit of a worry considering how little I know. The hens are mostly very well behaved although it did take a week and a half for one of them to trust me enough to be in the coop at the same time as me.  Another sneaky girl started laying her eggs in a cupboard in the tool shed and it took me 9 days to find her nest which was looking rather full by then! I water tested the eggs and they all seem fine, she hadn't been sitting on them so I guess they were stored in a cool dark place.  

The rooster however is turning out to be a nuisance. For the first week he was great, he looked after his hens and left me alone. Then one day he decided to wage war and have a go at me which didn't go down well with me considering I'm not an uber fan of birds anyway and its always somewhat nerve wracking to have something attacking you in the vicinity of your ankles!  Especially when I was only wearing jandals and shorts, it felt like I had rather too much flesh exposed when there was a grumpy chicken flashing his talons around. 

Like a good nerd I went straight to google to see what I could do and it suggested following him around and picking him up if possible. I haven't managed to pick him up but I have found that if I extend my arms towards him he will walk away from me which is all cool until I turn my back on him and he rushes me again.  So we play a weird game of follow the rooster every night now until I can lock him in the coop at which point I then go and fetch the grain and return to feed the hens. I really quite resent him though as he has turned my pleasant evening task into an absolute chore. I really hate having to go and pit my wits again a damn bird every night especially since I do them no harm. Why can't he just be nice and eat the grain and follow his hens and pretend I don't exist like they do.

If anyone has any tips or hints or useful facts about chickens I'd very much like to hear them. Any ideas about how to cope with an errant rooster would also be much appreciated!  

Not Your Normal Work Day

Tuesday was take the dog to work day! I had decided over the weekend that there was little else I could do in Troy's garden to improve matters without first weed spraying all the bricks and paths. I always figure that it doesn't matter how good the flowers look if the path to them is a mess. So first thing Tuesday morning I went round, loaded Rush onto the ute so that he was out the way and soaked that place with a good strong solution of weed killer. 

 

Now anyone with any sense should realise that poison and pets aren't a great mix but the general consensus around here is that so long as pets are away from the area for two hours or so and don't eat the plant material they should be fine. Hence why Rush came to work for the day! I had to have him tied up for most of the day but he was attached to a 3 metre long rope which meant he still had a bit of freedom and I let him off when I could.

It's really quite liberating having a job that is so flexible and although it wouldn't be ideal taking Rush to work with us everyday it seemed to go better than I hoped. He got a bit of exercise, got to meet a few people and sniff his way around the lawns we were doing so I think he enjoyed himself and I even took him to the river for a swim at lunchtime.

Before we dropped him home I bought him a huge bone from the local pet shop as a blatant distraction in the hopes that he won't feel the need to chew the foliage in his garden and it also counted as his wages for his first honest days work!

 

When we got home there was a message to say that our home kill sausages and pork joints were ready so we jumped back in the truck to collect it. Along the way a bumblebee managed to kamikaze it's way into the ute and onto Mum's lap which wouldn't be a big deal apart from the fact that she is deathly afraid of them and was operating a 2 tonne vehicle at the time. Luckily it didn't sting her on impact or I think we would have ended up in the ditch. I froze in horror for a moment trying to decide whether to rid mum of the bee or make a grab for the steering wheel but Mum seemed to be staying on course so I grabbed a cloth, scooped up the bee and shook it clear outside the window. Terror over (or so we thought) we continued on our way.

Just as we turned into the village where the butcher lives Mum gave a squeal and stopped the truck in the middle of the road. Again, luckily, we were on a quiet country lane. Turns out the stinger from the bee had been on her neck and as we turned it stung her. I dived out and ran around to her side of the ute and on the door where she had flicked it was the bum end of the bee (which is disgusting, just so you know) I searched her shoulder and top to make sure there wasn't a second bee and then made her get out so I could check the seat and floor and get rid of the bum end. Mum was in half panic at this point because as a kid she somehow got a bumble bee trapped in her armpit and it stung her repeatedly so she was waiting for the extra stings.

Once back in the truck I delved into our first aid kit (the glove box) and used the witch hazel spray on her neck. It doesn't really do much but it's cooling and it helps mentally.

After that we were finally able to go see the butcher and collect our small order of 80 kgs of meat! We now have two chest freezers full to the brim with sausages, pork patties, pork roasts and various other cuts. It's all amazing for the first month or so but soon enough I'll be desperate for some beef or chicken or lamb or anything that's not pork!

By the time I got back to the Waites and sorted all the animals I could hardly be bothered to feed myself. As I wandered through the garden I picked an asparagus shoot for my starter followed by a cob of corn for my main and then I grabbed an apple off the tree for dessert. This really is my favourite time of year and there's something special about being able to forage your dinner, even if it is only from a well tended veg bed. 

 

Meep! Sheep!

It's high time I introduced you to my favourite pets, my sheep! They are also my only pets but that's just a technicality. Our current mob are all between four and six years old and are very friendly. They like to be petted and when at home they follow us around hoping for treats. Jack is our only boy and my personal fav as he is such a fuss bucket. He likes to lean against my leg so that I can scratch the top of his head and if I stop too soon he chews on my tshirt to remind me to carry on! He's a cheeky chap but amazingly gentle considering he weighs more than I do. 

 

Monday was sunny and hot so in the evening so we went to check on the flock of 5 pet sheep who are currently grazing in a neighbours orchard and since we have had so little grass growth we took them some hay and apples as a treat. I was leaning on the fence enjoying the antics of the chooks who were running in and out under the noses of the sheep to try and get some apples when Ruffles came up towards me and did a graceful little pirouette. I couldn't help snort a laugh at her but realised as soon as I laughed that dancing sheep mean trouble. 

 

I called Mum over and we both watched her for a few minutes, she was wagging her bum around and licking her lips and side stepping her back legs which would be hilarious to watch if we didn't know that it usually means fly strike. So we raced home for some supplies and were back in the orchard within 5 minutes with some more apples to coax them over. I'm the official sheep holder and Mum does the doctoring just because having kids makes her less squeamish and means she has more experience when it comes to patching things up and I'm younger and better on my feet so firstly I'm less likely to fall and secondly, if I do, I should heal quicker.

Once everyone was distracted munching on apples I, rather unceremoniously, grabbed Ruffles by the leg and then got her head into a lock between my knees. It's not very dignified for anyone involved but it's the easiest way for me to control her without hurting her. She's not particularly bothered by the whole idea either since she's gotten used to it over the years. In fact she's so relaxed about it that while Mum prepped her gear Ruffles happily nibbled on tit bits of apple from my pocket.

Treating fly strike isn't a fun job but luckily we had caught it early and we have a magic liquid that you pour into the wool and all the maggots just up and leave on their own accord. It's hideously fascinating to watch and very satisfying to see your pet so instantly free of such horrible pests, if only they had something similar for fleas. Once the procedure was done we reassured everyone with lots of ear tickles and bum scratches and of course they obliged me by posing for some photos. I'm always pleased when they still like us after we have to do something unpleasant to them and I like to think that they know we are only doing it to help them. After all sheep are so easily frightened and once the fear grips them it takes ages to calm them down, perhaps it just goes to show how much time we put into them as lambs has desensitised them to us and our weird ways.