Cows, rain, fat turkeys and Akitio beach

Another week has passed by. Four days left here in Dannevirke. We'll leave Sunday morning and head South for Wellington where we'll spend the day and night (sleeping in the new car, yeah?) before boarding our ferry Sunday morning for the South Island and Picton!! 

Time has slipped by so quick. Not only has it been another week, it's been one full month (and a day or two) since we arrived in NZ. We've been entrusted with milking the cows more and more often. Well, really Stacy has been doing the milking and I've been doing all the odds and ends. A few days ago we helped saw up a tree and create a massive pile of limbs and brush. That was fun. Yesterday and today were rainy with a bit of rain added on. That is to say, it has rained and not stopped. Which proved to be all right for the most part: we've worked a bit less and have had a good bit of nice, cozy indoor time. For the less part, we've been milking the cows in the rain, morning and evening. It's not so bad though. Coming back inside and eating steak and kidney stew is so warming and delicious, or any of the awesome meals we've had. 

Our host is pretty self sufficient, providing their own meat, a decent bit of veges, fruits and herbs and of course milk, eggs and even cheese. I've been really inspired by all this and their lifestyle is, for a good part, in line with what we'd ultimately like. Minus hour-and-a-half long cow milking sessions twice a day. I don't think I could tie myself down to that every day. Most of all, here at the Phelps' farm, I've come to realize a bit more how hard but rewarding this type of life can/could be. This is good. The glitz and glam of ideas I've had are being replaced by smelly cow poo, and it's realistic and good...for the soil. Of my mind. Right? Hard work is good. I like this.

Aside from work, we got to venture out to Akitio Beach just a couple days ago after visiting our host Karen's school and talking to her kids about America and the Appalachians. Akitio was beautiful, but cold, so we settled for a little nap on the beach as opposed to a dip in the big wet blue thing. The scenery on the way down was breathtaking. Imagine pictures. I'll put some up here eventually.

After some rainy weeding at our host Kim's osteopathic clinic, we visited The Warehouse (think Target or K-Mart) and bought gum boots (rain boots) and a couple other things we've been needing. It's always fun to compare prices of things. Clothes aren't too off in price. Electronics are all over the place. Video games, for example (because that would be my example), go for $120NZD for a new game that would be priced $60USD. Even with the exchange rate, that's still $98USD. Big price difference. Shampoo, deodorant, make-up--stuff like that, all priced waaaay up. Typical acne cleanser was $16NZD... same stuff in the States was $5ish. Stacy noticed mascara was $25NZD for a tube. Wow. I advise to those traveling to do research on prices and stock up beforehand on necessities. I will say though, one thing I like about the pricing of things in NZ is that they include all taxes in the price, and they also round up to the nearest dollar with change. Eliminates guesswork, usually. 

Well, to wrap up and include the one thing from the stupid title that I forgot: fat turkeys. We wrangled up (not really) and herded the four male turkeys and got them in their coop yesterday. Their female counterparts wanted to join them. Actually, I'm not sure want is right here. They all madly rushed into the coop as I gobbled and chased them in. Separating the ladies from the lads was annoyingly fun. They're easy enough to tell apart aside from their universal trait of sheer ugliness, but they're too ... unintelligent to not gobble and run straight into a wall. With some effort and skills developed from Space Invaders and Pac-Man, we got the gals out and now those four lonely boys sit in there, fattening themselves up for Christmas dinner. Ah, if only we could be around to partake. 

And for the record before anyone assumes (you would've already, though): I do not hate turkeys. They're funny-looking and easy to pick on. You know. Like that one friend we all have. And they're delicious. Unlike the friend. 

That is all.