A Farmers Wife and Life

Walk (or run) with me as I share our story.

A Bugle Calls and “They’re Off” Resounds Through The Air July 20, 2012

Filed under: Animals,Family,Nanette,Travel — cntryrose @ 11:38 am
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Recently I crossed off a “bucket list” item… and boy of boy did I have fun!

I was born and raised in San Diego County… the home of Del Mar, its fair and its horse racing track. But I’d never been there for the horse races. When you think of the Del Mar race track you conjure up thoughts of Jimmy Durante, Bing Crosby, Dean Martin… and all of the old favorites sitting in their private boxes watching fabulous thoroughbreds running the track.

Well, we didn’t have a private boxes to sit in, but we did watch some fabulously beautiful horses running like the wind in the cool ocean breeze. But that’s not all we saw…

We saw lots of people!

We saw lots of very expensive cars!

We saw some really beautiful, and some really odd looking hats perched upon lots of women’s heads, or in a few instances perched on their foreheads!

Did I mention that we saw lots of people?

We also saw kids bouncing along the track in their own little race.

And being a wife of a farmer I, of course, had to take pictures of the beautiful (yes, tractors can be beautiful) John Deere tractors grooming the track. With the American Flag right behind one of them it’s an “All American” in my opinion.

My sister, Penny King, my niece Lindsey King with boyfriend Tyler Twohey and my nephew Brad King all very much enjoyed the day… we didn’t win anything but we did gather up a lot of wonderful memories to reflect back upon – which in my book is just as good as gold.

Here is a pictorial of what we saw… enjoy the view… and if you ever get a chance to see Del Mar and all of it’s finery, please do yourself a favor… and go… enjoy… and maybe you’ll even win!

 

(Getting) Older Bones Don’t Bounce! May 27, 2012

Filed under: Family,Flowers,Garden,Nanette,Scenery — cntryrose @ 1:41 pm
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OUCH! I’ve been working on thinning out grasses and poppies, weeding and removing seedling trees in our “cactus” garden. This garden is a native garden and rarely needs attention. However, twice a year I need to thin out the Mexican Feather Grass and remove the California Poppies that have overgrown and gone to seed. I’ve been working diligently on this project the past three days during the cool of the morning.

Below are the “before” pictures of the garden area I have been working on. As you can see, it was a bit overgrown (to say the least!). But I just don’t have the heart to pull the poppies before they are done. They are so colorful, so bright early on in the spring when you are craving color after a drab fall and winter.

Poppies Gone Wild!

Today – I was digging up and or pulling up 4 foot “baby” Mesquite Trees. Five of them. On tree number 2 I gave a big tug after digging around its root system, its tap-root suddenly broke (DANG!) and down I went!!! Right onto a boulder… I landed on my right hip and my right elbow. OUCH!!! Besides my dignity being severely bruised I’ve also bruised my elbow, my hip and have a small cut on my knee (from the thorns on the tree which fell with me landing on me). However bad this was… I’m just forevermore grateful that I did not land on the cactus right behind the boulder! I’ll take a hard landing any day over a SHARP landing! LOL

The Rock!

The “Almost” Alternative

Rock and Cactus

And here are the “after” pictures… a much more presentable garden!

A Clean Walkway

All Done!

And the pile of pulled poppies and grasses… we’re going to spread them around some of the ponds and the dry riverbanks to see if they’ll grow there as well as they do in our garden.

Seeds and Mulch

I “was” going to paint our bathroom today, but I think I’ll leave climbing ladders for another day. A day in the near future when I’m not so sore, and not so stiff. For the rest of today… I’m going to go and curl up on the couch, knit or read, and keep taking something to keep the soreness at bay. Nope… (getting) older bones just don’t bounce like they used to! :-/

 

Time to Go Home May 7, 2012

Filed under: Bruce,Nanette,New Zealand,Scenery,Travel,Uncategorized — cntryrose @ 4:52 pm
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As it always happens, time marches on and we find ourselves enjoying our last day of New Zealand in Queenstown. In the afternoon we will board a jet to fly up out of this beautiful mountain town to Auckland where we will board a bigger jet to fly back to Los Angeles where our little “family” will split up and head our separate ways, back into the “real” world.

Queenstown is a very picturesque town, nestled in between mountains and resting alongside a gorgeous lake. The evening that we arrived we were treated to a stunning sunset.

The View From Our Hotel Room

Looking out our room window the other direction.

The sunset that evening develops into stunning colors all around us.


It may be summer, but there was snow on the mountains when we woke up.

The morning of the day we are to leave we wake up, in the middle of summer remember, with SNOW on the mountain tops! 

And while the locals, and some tourists too I suppose who were caught unaware, are walking about in sandals and shorts… we bundled up to walk down by the lake and enjoy our last few hours of New Zealand.

Bruce enjoying a very tasty pot pie.

Reflecting back on our various stops during this trip we sat by a crackling fire in one of the local pubs and enjoyed a warm pot pie meal together. 

Bruce & I both feel so blessed to have been able to take this trip, and doubly blessed to have the wonderful traveling companions that we found ourselves sharing those two weeks with.

Our group, plus the owner of the sheep station we were visiting.

But that’s part of farming I believe, there is so much camaraderie whenever a group of farmers get together. It’s always just been a wholesome fun time when I’ve been with any group of farmers, whether for business or for pleasure and this trip was a prime example of that.

Our trip to New Zealand was exhilarating, and gave us a look at a country that both Bruce & I came to love and hope to visit again. We have memories of the steadfastness of the Christchurch people rebuilding their town building by building, of the beautiful aqua colored lakes of the South Island, of the Maori and their traditions that live on so richly today, of various farms that we’ve seen; cattle, sheep, kiwi’s, grapes, deer and forage crops. Then there are always the people… friendly, outgoing and curious as to what our lives are like. And you know what… we’re all pretty much the same, they just speak funny! LOL Actually I like the way the Kiwi’s speak, but I just can’t figure out why they could always know we were from America because of our “accent”!

Looking down upon Queenstown from the Skyline Restaurant after riding a gondola up the mountain.

Walking alongside Lake Wakatipu in Queenstown New Zealand

 

Jet Boats….??? May 6, 2012

Filed under: Bruce,Nanette,New Zealand,Travel — cntryrose @ 2:49 pm
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Jet Boats?

Yes…. while in New Zealand we rode on JET BOATS!!! And, Oh. My. Goodness. are they FUN!!! WooHoo!!! While in Queenstown we had an afternoon to ourselves, so Richard & Deanne, Jim, Jon & Anna, myself & Bruce decided that this was a “must do” while it was available. And did we enjoy our time on the boats!

Driving into the canyon we could see the river peaking between boulders… teasing us. “Is this where we’re going to be on a boat?” we wonder. The river looked very shallow and flowed very, very close to the boulders; in fact, it flowed right up to the edge of said boulders. And yes, it was where we were going to be.

Our ride started with getting into our life jackets… which, some had never worn. It was interesting to see the bewilderment on faces in trying to figure out the straps and fit. But, patience prevailed and soon we were all set to go.

 

We boarded the boat and listened to a brief safety talk. Then we proceed to pull away from the dock and suddenly we are flying down the river. Flying down the river headed right for those BIG boulders I mentioned! But no fear… we didn’t hit them. Actually, as my husband explained later, the water that the jet boat is pushing away from itself becomes a bumper between the boat and the boulder, so unless the boat loses momentum it just doesn’t hit the boulders… the water pushes it away from them and you proceed on down the river.

As I mentioned the river was shallow… very shallow, sometimes only 3 or 4 inches deep. The boats bottom is flat and meant to take a beating and that it did as we skimmed over the river rocks below us. Bumpity, bumpity, bump as we crossed over rocks worn smooth by the river and then SPLASH as we do a quick 360° turn in the middle of the river. Laughter, shrieks and great big smiles as we do several more on our altogether too short of a trip.

Yes, jet boating was thrilling. Something that I do want to do again (and again?) and feel so privileged to have experienced it in such a place of beauty as Shotover Canyon.

 

The Milford Sound April 6, 2012

Filed under: Bruce,Nanette,New Zealand,Scenery,Travel — cntryrose @ 8:54 am
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Beauty… what does “beauty” mean to you? I think it comes in many ways… a new-born baby, a pretty face, a sunset that just takes your breath away, or maybe the first time you gaze down into the Grand Canyon or look HIGH up into the tops of the tall, tall redwoods of the northwestern coastline.

Beauty… we saw a lot of it in New Zealand.

Then we saw the Milford Sound.

It is beyond my meager words to describe what we saw. Picturesque. Stunning. Beautiful. Huge. Serene. Vertical.

It was a warm dry day when our group went out on our ship The Milford Wanderer to see the Sound. And although we were told that during a rainy day there were hundreds of waterfalls, we were glad it was bright blue skies and didn’t miss the waterfalls that “weren’t there” as there were plenty that were there. Glistening, dropping, flirting with the wind, falling water almost everywhere we gazed.

The wind was brisk and cold once we were out upon the water, but that didn’t send us downstairs into the warmth of the cabin. No, we stayed on the deck where we watched the scenery as it went by, and where we tried hard to impress the beauty of the surroundings into our memories to last a lifetime.

The Milford Sound is an incredibly beautiful fjord. Located on the southern west end of the South Island it leads out to the Tasman Sea and on your journey you will marvel at the straight up cliffs, the water cascading down the crevasses and enjoy the occasional seal sunning on rocks. If you are very lucky, we weren’t, you’ll see a whale, dolphin or penguin. But, none-the-less, whether we did or didn’t see some of the aquatic wildlife on our trip what we did see was….. beautiful.

Beauty

 

Let’s Visit Some Worms… Who Glow? April 1, 2012

Filed under: Bruce,Nanette,New Zealand,Travel — cntryrose @ 9:14 am
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Worms who glow, rushing water cascading down into dark caverns, a darker than dark cave, with an unworldly beautiful green glow shining down from the ceilings. That’s what you’ll see, and hear, when you visit the Glow Worm Caves of Te Anau, New Zealand.

A magical place that came with, for me, an eerily scary feel as you climb into your motor-less boat, trust your guide to keep a hold of the rope as he silently pulls you along the caves passage. Along this journey you listen to water rushing…. rushing where? You can’t see it, you just hear it… roaring somewhere in the utter darkness… causing you to wonder… if he (the guide) lets go, will we all tumble down some deep dark waterfall? But that’s my “control” side getting a hold of me. We stop, all is utterly still and quiet except the roaring of water. We turn around and that’s when I breathe deep, take my husband’s hand, and look up….

Wow! Just an oh my gosh WOW! Resembling thousands of small fiber optic light tubes the emerald “lights” emitting from the worms shine down from above us. There is just enough light that you may catch a glimpse of your fellow explorers craning their heads to look above at this extraordinary sight. We sit silently utterly amazed at this incredible sight. Rushing water is forgotten as we take in the other worldly glow above us.

Creation is a wondrous thing… these worms have been occupants of this cave for untold centuries, a Maori legend for years. In 1948 the cave was discovered by Lawson Burrows and has since become a major attraction for the area. The limestone caves that contain these magnificent creatures are still relatively young – 12,000 years – and are constantly being carved by the water that endlessly rushes through. All the while the little glow worm goes about his industrious day… dangling up to 70 sticky gooey fishing lines down from the ceiling hoping to entrap a clueless moth or flying insect who has been drawn by the green light above.

Since we could not take photos while in the caves all photos shown here are courtesy of  NZ real Journeys – http://www.realjourneys.co.nz/Main/GlowwormCaves/ and were included in the package of photos we purchased.

 

I’m BACK! March 29, 2012

Filed under: Family,Nanette,Travel — cntryrose @ 9:24 am

Well, sort of. I’m sorry everyone for dropping the ball, so to speak, on this blog. I will be finishing up our New Zealand trip – hopefully this coming week. I’ll also be adding all of the reasons that I’ve not been able to post recently.

Whats been keeping me so busy? Well, it started out with our son’s graduation from Motorcycle Mechanic’s Technical Institute and the delightful weekend we spent with both our boys in Sedona Arizona. Then I’ll talk a bit about the Water Forum at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo that my husband Bruce spoke at and the delightful time we had at the Apple Inn. Within a week of that trip I took off for a bit of traveling by myself and went to Maryland to visit with my daughter, her family and our son Shane who had just moved there after graduation. While I was back east I met my sister in Virginia and we spent two delightful days exploring Pennsylvania and the Cherry Blossom Festival in D.C.

I returned home last Saturday and my husband and I left (again) on Sunday for Sacramento – and there’s a story there as well, he received a well deserved, but humbly accepted Water Customer of the Year award from the WateReuse Association.

Stay tuned… dairy news, family news and the rest of New Zealand will be coming soon. :)

 

Age, Experience & Wisdom March 10, 2012

Filed under: Bruce,Family,Flowers,Garden,Nanette,Scenery — cntryrose @ 4:56 pm
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With age comes experience and with experience comes wisdom ~ right?

Well one would hope that with age comes experience and then along comes wisdom with that experience. So that’s why I can say… from experience and from wisdom of a job done… that yes, I LOVE my new gazebo, and yes, it was fairly easy to put together, in fact it took us about 3-1/2 hours  from start to finish.

However, if anyone ever asks me to help them put their new gazebo together, because yes, I am experienced… but from that experienced wisdom I will wish them well and promise to them that’s it’s fairly easy and goes pretty quickly. However, I won’t mention to them the aching arms, the oh so sore back and yes, even my leg muscles which are screaming from climbing up and down the ladder many, many times; all of these “fun” experiences from this adventure today. Nor will I mention to them the broken fingernails, nor the sweat that starts running down your face and other body parts… but I will tell them how awesome it is to sit under your gazebo after construction is done, and how much we are looking forward to enjoying “fly/mosquito free” dinners out-of-doors and I will also wish  anyone well on their adventure to come… when they put their own gazebo up… without me! ;-)

 

Mother Nature’s Soccer Balls March 6, 2012

Filed under: Bruce,Nanette,New Zealand,Ocean,Scenery,Travel — cntryrose @ 10:09 am
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Mother Nature’s Soccer Balls? Well… they look like they could have been soccer balls!

One of the more unusual sights that we enjoyed on our trip was the Moeraki Boulders. Strewn upon Koekohe Beach south of Oamaru on New Zealand’s Otago Coastline they look as if Mother Nature grew tired of playing soccer. The boulders draw crowds that climb upon them, gaze upon and wonder about just “how” these spherical stones came to be.

These large stone spheres are approximately 60 million years old and were formed in ancient sea sediments by a process known as concretion and are made of mud, fine silt and clay, which is cemented by calcite. In more recent time the stones are now being exposed due to erosion of the shoreline cliffs along the coast. Several of these stones can boast that they weigh up to several tons and have a diameter of 7 feet.

A Maori legend tells that the stones are made from the remains of various baskets washed upon the shore after the canoe Araiteuru became wrecked at nearby Shag Point.

For more information on these fascinating works of Mother Nature please see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moeraki_Boulders

 

I fall in love… with Oamaru February 25, 2012

Filed under: Nanette,New Zealand,Ocean,Scenery,Travel,Uncategorized — cntryrose @ 10:16 am
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(I want to apologize for the “look” of this post… I am learning how to set up still… and for whatever reason I cannot seem to get the words and the pictures to “set” where I want them to, side by side, instead of one long column… I will be researching this to figure out how to come back and hopefully fix this posting).

On our way to Oamaru we picked up a hitchhiker! <grin> I’m sorry Jock… I just couldn’t resist saying that. J  Ok, in all seriousness, Jock Webster of Topflite Birdseed graciously volunteered to drive across the hills to meet up with us before we reached our next destination and then he toured with us to and through Oamaru showing us some of the sights of his area. This is where I fell in love (again), with Oamaru. Oamaru is truly a beautiful part of the South Island and is the one area that we (Bruce & I) personally hope to come back to, soon and more than just once. In fact… I do believe that we two could easily make this area a “winter” home (which would be summer there ~ a win win as Bruce would say!).

As we drive we see rolling green hills dotted with cattle, and around a corner we see a very unique way to show your farms name… Altavady ~ which, I have since found out,  is visible from Google Earth and has several mentions on the internet if you “google” it.

With Jock we visit a boy’s high school ~ the Waitaki Boys School. Oh my goodness… what a beautiful place to study. This magnificent school was founded in 1883 and the main buildings are built of the indigenous stone of the area, the Oamaru limestone.


This limestone is quarried near Omaru in Weston and while we did not get a chance to visit the quarry we did drive by some of the stone in its natural setting as well as many beautiful buildings built in this creamy colour.

One stop in particular that we all enjoyed was the Farmers Market. Down near the harbor the area was filled with Kiwi’s out shopping for fresh produce or handmade items to display in their homes. Some stalls are in the older buildings (shown below) of this area, while others are braving the bracing breeze off the ocean outdoors. Oamaru’s Old Towne was a young town in the late 1900′s and its population rivaled that of Los Angeles. At the time it’s economy was driven by wool, grain, and refrigerated meat. Please click on the link to read more of Oamaru’s history and see pictures of these magnificent buildings when they were new.


Bruce & I took a walk out to the bay and then looked back towards the town. Gorgeous! The old granary buildings with the back-set of the homes climbing the hills spoke of a town who’s history and current residents were well loved and cared for.

Yes, I left a bit of my heart in Oamaru, but so did Bruce. This area almost at the bottom of the globe calls to us… whispers still… “come home”… and time will tell if we listen to that whisper… or if it will blow away in the breeze.

 

 
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