I was sure I'd blogged since returning from Auckland but apparently not! It's Sunday of a long weekend (Labour Day tomorrow) and the promised rain has arrived. In fact I just jumped out of my skin at a huge crack of thunder followed by long rumbles. I am sitting looking out across the front paddock, where the cows are and Saddle (Alice's heifer) jumped as high as I did. The weather yesterday was fine in the morning and stayed dry until late afternoon. I managed to get another bed in the veg plot edged with a wooden frame, with Eric's help, and planned to paint the new office if the weather deteriorated. However the paint that I had bought in the morning I forgot to pick up!! I left Anne in the paint shop to mix it while I popped into the supermarket with the intention of picking it up afterwards. I can't tell you how cross I am with myself for forgetting it!! They won't be open until Tuesday now.
So what have I been up to. Not a lot really. Auckland was full on and busy, as per usual. With the new MeNZB vaccine the Ministry of Health has decided that all practices must be 'Cold Chain Accredited' which means they have an audit of their vaccine storage. They reckon each audit will take 1 -1.5 hours and I have about 90 practices to do in Nov/Dec. The training on Thursday was all around this. On Wed night I went through to Harriette's camp to watch the Talent Quest. All the cabins, 12 of them, had to put on a show. The boys shows where noted for their brevity!! Some were good, some were not quite so!! Harriette's group did a fear factor. They blind-folded their victims and told them to eat worms. They were actually sugar coated ones that they'd soaked to make them slimy and covered them in Milo. The power of suggestion is amazing. These kids really believed they were eating the real thing. One boy was gagging so badly they had the teacher up by his side ready to perform a Heimlich manouvre!!t They didn't win but I think they had some good ole kiwi fun. They did a 4.5 hour hike that had some of the parents on their knees and did some amazing challenges. Harriette climbed a 7 metre high pole using only large staples in the side to shimmy up. At the top she launched off onto a flying fox. Yes they were in saftey harnessess but it was a massive challenge for her and she earned a lot of respect for doing it. The support the kids gave each other was fabulous and the cheering for other groups in the talent quest was so good to hear. Still I guess that was the whole point of the camp, building camradery and team work. On a lighter note they had a mud slide (a channel dug into a hill which ended in a mud pool) and did a bush night trail (ropes and no torches) to see glow-worms. How many UK kids get to do this sort of thing? The food was excellent and plentiful. I had a wonderful roast chicken supper in the hall with about 100 children, teachers and camp parents and was quite amused when I got back to the motel to hear of the awful meal and disaterous service my colleagues had endured at the motel.
On Friday I had a bad start to the day. I needed to leave at 8am and at 7.15am Harriette asked if I had done the hem on her summer uniform. Damn, I didn't think they were in summer uniform until next week. So I had to rush to do that. I then had a surprise phone call as I was about to rush out the door that bowled me over. It is all hush hush and I cannot reveal more at present as I know Eric will read this. I promise to enlighten you when I can. I had to get out early sd I had 5 Clinical Assessments to do. Now 5 in one day is a big ask and I have told you how they were all so horrible at this practice. Well we got through the day and at the end they were very nice, even saying how they know they had been a bit anti but it turned out to be a very good learning experience for them! On Tuesday I was hoping for a deparetely needed paperwork day but I am doing a teaching session for a parenting group in Te Awamutu and then going to Kawhia on the coast to do a teaching session with a GP there. We are going to vaccinate triplets.
Yesterday was a bitty day. A trip to town for provisions and paint, or not, to start the day. On the way back I passed Eric on his way to R+R's to get sour colostrum (what did you do on Sat morning?). H and A were then up in arms as they wanted to go with him. I dumped the shopping and took them up there. I intended to drop them off but got chatting with Robyn who was baking and we ended up having tea on the deck with the boys when they had finished. We were looking at their pool, or rather the hole in the ground that has not seen any water in it for 18 months now. Despite efforts they have not been able to get anyone in to undertake the necessary repairs and put in a new liner. Eric has said he will do it with help from Richard if they have no luck pinning anyone down this week. And the colostrum? Richard has 2 tanks about 2000 litres in size that they use to store colostrum to feed to the calves. It has some preservative in (I'm sure you've had this rural lesson before). Now the calves are on pasture and the tanks need draining and cleaning. And pigs LOVE this globby stuff in the bottom of the tanks. As R+R's pigs are now in their freezer it was offered to us. I cannot tell you how awful it smells and was glad I was in the house while they worked! Anyway we bought home about 200 litres and the piglets go mad for it. They are so funny to watch climbing over each other to get to it. Oh and Freckles is definately a heifer-in-waiting care of an escaped jersey bull from a neighbours farm last summer.
Well I really ought to get up and do something, but then again it is Sunday afternoon.....
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