It's been a funny week, one filled with so many feijoa's that it's difficult to get my head around them. I made five, yes five feijoa cakes in two days. The first day I made one, simply for something to do in between my milkings. A bit of an experiment, if that's the best description for it. Just to see what would happen, and yeah, with the intention of killing off a couple of those green fruit! Ok, so maybe just three feijoa's were needed in the making of that cake, but it was so yum!
I went to work telling Cam that I'd spent a part of my day making this cake and he replied, jokingly - "did you leave it in your car?" AKA, he kinda wanted some, now that I'd mentioned it. Honestly, lol.
I'd done a whole seven day stretch on this farm for a change, and finished up on Thursday. So that afternoon I took along a feijoa cake for Cam and Hamish to enjoy before I came back today, Saturday. I had spent quite a decent part of my day making four of these cakes, freezing two of them for winter (we've been freezing quite a few sponge cakes as well, just to use up the eggs we're getting), leaving one for us and taking one to work. But I sliced them in half and filled them with cream and sliced feijoa this time round - apparently it was really good, so that's some good feedback. Actually, they ate the whole thing in one day, so. lol
*Edit, fast forward to Sunday :)
Yesterday I made a good effort and did some feijoa preserving, only seven bottles as we didn't have enough seals. Today I got in another 12 bottles. however now I look at those evil little green things (or not so little, in some cases) and squirm. Almost 20 bottles later and I'm sick of the idea of them! There's still a fair few on the tree and on the ground, but I reckon they can just stay there and go back into the cycle of nature, or something!
I'll tell you what though, I'm sick of this cold weather, and it isn't even winter yet! We're getting the southerly winds now so it's pretty icy. One minute the sun is out - take Friday for instance, we were scorching in the heat building some stock yards for a client. Now, the wind and rain comes with random bursts of enthusiasm, and the likelihood that it will suddenly start raining when you decide to pop outside (when previously it was quite sunny), is very high. It's annoying. Autumn has been quite chilly this year, but I'm still in the summer clothing - save for wearing a jersey every now and again. I'm kinda thinking that pulling out the old trackies for future use might just be the way to go in the next couple days!
Tessa the Terrier is always feeling the cold, constantly in her little doggy jumper or snuggled up on our lap, trying to soak in some extra heat. I'm telling you, these dogs of ours are fire and ice, one can't handle cold weather (my gosh, if she lived in the south island!) and one can't handle the heat. They freaked out with their first thunderstorm on Friday night, so winter/spring with the little rascals is definitely going to be interesting.
Last Monday was fun, I took the afternoon off work and went to Rainbow's End with Chantelle, Sam and Bee. A real girls day out for Chantelle's 21st birthday. It was fun! The last time I went there, I was only a little kid, probably in the region of about 3 or 4 years old. I can hardly remember it, but this time was really cool.
Chantelle, Bee and I all went on the "Fear Fall", which isn't actually that high, but in saying that I won't be going on it again. That moment of - holey moley we're falling, was a little too, yeah. See if I jumped off something - say skydiving or bungee jumping, at least I would know when I would start trying to defy gravity. But just sitting there, up in the air, looking around and omgosh we're falling! For about a second. Then you're back on the ground again. It wasn't exciting, wasn't terrifying, was just one of those things I probably wouldn't bother with again!
But it was super fun over all, I had two favourite rides, Invader and the Stratosfear. The latter of which is like a pendulum, that swings 360 degrees, so you're hanging upside down for a little while which is pretty awesome. I just couldn't stop laughing on that one, you expect people to be screaming - a few did, but I'm hanging upside down in hysterics because it's so blimmen stupidly weird. It was funny.
The Bumper Boats were cool, apart from getting soaked. They sure are a ride for the more warmer months. We went out for dinner afterwards to Nando's then trekked our ways home again, leaving poor Bee in Auckland (I really couldn't live there!) and Sam drove Chantelle and I home back to a more northern part of the country. Sam got her Visa to go to California that morning, so it won't be long until she leaves us in September for her big study trip to the USA. It's gonna be sad to see her go.
But alas it is almost milking time again. I get to go out for an hour and a half and annoy Hamish with my sarcastic comments and jokes. I'm getting really fast in my aging youth, that I quite often spit out a funny remark without even really thinking about it. It's pretty funny. Then I've got days off again on Monday and Tuesday - a trip to town is in order on Tuesday with Mum, to get some things done and get my car repairs done at the same time.
Thinking forward, I've got Kurtis' 21st birthday party to go to in two weeks, then the wedding I'm going to a week after that on the 11th. As I'm sitting here with a shivering puppy on my knee, I'm getting more and more conscious of the fact that winter weddings aren't too clever. It's okay for guys, they'll all be wearing their suits or nice jeans and jackets. Girls with our nice dresses and shoes are going to freeze our toes off - I will hazard a guess that I'll come home with blimmen frostbitten toes. Ok, hehe, maybe not that bad, but it's gonna be cold!
Sunday 22 May 2016
Friday 6 May 2016
Winning Again
The young farmers did our somewhat annual inter-club battle of Ten Pin bowling and Laser Tag last night, our third round in the last two years or so. Sadly there were only eight of us there but it was still a good occasion where only three of us went from my club.
Thinking about all the stats though, my club basically dominated the entire night. Nick, Kurtis and I were all in the same ten pin team with J from the other club joining us. J took over in the ten pin, with Kurtis and I coming in 3rd and 4th across the two teams. I won overall in the laser tag (again, third time in a row, will anyone ever beat me????), and Kurtis won for his team. So thinking about it, I reckon that basically means that (whoop whoop) we're at the top of the leader board in the competition in general. Not that it's really a competition, it's just a good time once a year, but the fact that nobody has beaten me yet in laser tag - I dunno, that's pretty outstanding.
The intention is to go down to Auckland for the next round and play a bigger, better game of Laser Force - which, according to Kurtis, is bigger, better and will really bring out the best in us in regards our ability to kill each other...haha.
The last week or so has been constantly busy. I haven't had many nights at home, so when I do get to stay home all day it's pretty awesome. Tuesday last week I went out for dinner with Sam and Chantelle. Just at one of the local pubs, nothing too fancy but it was a chance to catch up on everything that's been happening - we don't often get to meet up together. It's getting more important to hang out these days as Sam is soon to move over to California in September. She'll be over there until this time next year, so the more time we get to spend with her, the better!
As it stands we've got a plan to head off to Rainbow's End in a couple weeks. Sam already had appointments in Auckland that day, and it ties in with Chantelle's day off and also her 21st birthday. So I'll wag work that day too and we're going down for a day of it - fingers crossed some other friends are able to go too - Bee, what are your chances!?
Wednesday I went to the movies with someone, ironically also by the name of Sam and he's my next door neighbour (lol). That was pretty fun, we grabbed some dinner then watched Hunt For the Wilderpeople. My gosh that movie was so, so funny. Our New Zealand made movies are pretty out there. Like, all the typical American ones have heaps of green screen scenes, all the stunt doubles and computer generated things. Of course, that's exactly what The Hobbit will have too, but the Wilderpeople movie, just straight kiwi humour. If you haven't seen it, you definitely should.
Thursday was our young farmer meeting and Friday I also had to pop out for a couple hours for something else. Fast forward to this week, Tuesday our new post banger arrived - we'd traded the old one in and have bought a new one - that was a pretty big deal of a day. Wednesday was my first day off milking and Dad's birthday. So we got to spend the day with him out fencing all day, which wasn't too bad come to think of it. We got to have pizza from town for dinner (real pizza...mmmm) and then I went all out and put candles on his cake. Except some of them may have been those magic, relighting candles. Actually no, sorry. Half of them were relighting candles and I had put 24 candles on the cake. He he he
It was awesome, Mum, Nick and I were all rolling around on the floor in hysterics while Dad is desperately trying to blow out the insistent candles that just kept on relighting. In then end the whole room was smokey and Dad just took the cake into the kitchen and put the candles under water. hehehe. At the same time, it was like those candles were laced with something because we all felt pretty wired after being in all the smoke. Someone would say the most basic thing, but for some reason it was hilarious and Nick and I couldn't stop laughing. Gosh it was weird.
Finally, yesterday Mum and I had a trip to town for my car service which lead to a slightly more, uh, expensive day than I initially intended. I took the opportunity to do a bit of shopping while poor Ali went under the knife. I've literally nothing to wear for a wedding I'm going to in June - after having never been to a wedding other than my sister's. Suddenly, I'm some sort of expert shopper and managed to go in on a day where there were so many specials. I was a stinge last year and never bought a nice leather jacket because I gulped at the price of it at the time. We went back into the same shop and saw another nice one yesterday, thankfully it wasn't in the same price range as the last one and Mum pretty much gave me a grilling - just buy it, it'll last forever. So now I'm the proud owner of a small, black leather jacket that will be perfect for every occasion where you need to "dress well". AKA weddings, black tie dinners, etc.
The next shop we went into, I found two nice dresses. It's awesome when you don't expect to be able to wear anything in some shops, and then you try something and they fit perfectly. For someone who usually shops at the Warehouse, it was a very successful day, I couldn't choose between the two dresses and they were so cheap, so I just bought them both. I'll wear them, there's no doubt about it. The issue is choosing between them both!
Poor Ali though, she's running amazing now after the oil and filters having been changed. But she needs to go back in the next couple weeks as the radiator hose is swollen - which apparently means it's teetering on the edge of bursting, which basically means I'll lose all the coolant in the engine and I could fry the engine if it happens. I'll know if it does, they say the temp gauge will sky rocket and then eventually not read at all as the coolant will have run out. I have been given firm instructions, do NOT drive if this happens. STOP. So, I'll be keeping an eye on that until I can get my car back into town with a few more coins to pay for it, because it sounds kinda pricey. :( Car ownership, I guess. That's what my savings are for.
Thinking about all the stats though, my club basically dominated the entire night. Nick, Kurtis and I were all in the same ten pin team with J from the other club joining us. J took over in the ten pin, with Kurtis and I coming in 3rd and 4th across the two teams. I won overall in the laser tag (again, third time in a row, will anyone ever beat me????), and Kurtis won for his team. So thinking about it, I reckon that basically means that (whoop whoop) we're at the top of the leader board in the competition in general. Not that it's really a competition, it's just a good time once a year, but the fact that nobody has beaten me yet in laser tag - I dunno, that's pretty outstanding.
The intention is to go down to Auckland for the next round and play a bigger, better game of Laser Force - which, according to Kurtis, is bigger, better and will really bring out the best in us in regards our ability to kill each other...haha.
The last week or so has been constantly busy. I haven't had many nights at home, so when I do get to stay home all day it's pretty awesome. Tuesday last week I went out for dinner with Sam and Chantelle. Just at one of the local pubs, nothing too fancy but it was a chance to catch up on everything that's been happening - we don't often get to meet up together. It's getting more important to hang out these days as Sam is soon to move over to California in September. She'll be over there until this time next year, so the more time we get to spend with her, the better!
As it stands we've got a plan to head off to Rainbow's End in a couple weeks. Sam already had appointments in Auckland that day, and it ties in with Chantelle's day off and also her 21st birthday. So I'll wag work that day too and we're going down for a day of it - fingers crossed some other friends are able to go too - Bee, what are your chances!?
Wednesday I went to the movies with someone, ironically also by the name of Sam and he's my next door neighbour (lol). That was pretty fun, we grabbed some dinner then watched Hunt For the Wilderpeople. My gosh that movie was so, so funny. Our New Zealand made movies are pretty out there. Like, all the typical American ones have heaps of green screen scenes, all the stunt doubles and computer generated things. Of course, that's exactly what The Hobbit will have too, but the Wilderpeople movie, just straight kiwi humour. If you haven't seen it, you definitely should.
Thursday was our young farmer meeting and Friday I also had to pop out for a couple hours for something else. Fast forward to this week, Tuesday our new post banger arrived - we'd traded the old one in and have bought a new one - that was a pretty big deal of a day. Wednesday was my first day off milking and Dad's birthday. So we got to spend the day with him out fencing all day, which wasn't too bad come to think of it. We got to have pizza from town for dinner (real pizza...mmmm) and then I went all out and put candles on his cake. Except some of them may have been those magic, relighting candles. Actually no, sorry. Half of them were relighting candles and I had put 24 candles on the cake. He he he
It was awesome, Mum, Nick and I were all rolling around on the floor in hysterics while Dad is desperately trying to blow out the insistent candles that just kept on relighting. In then end the whole room was smokey and Dad just took the cake into the kitchen and put the candles under water. hehehe. At the same time, it was like those candles were laced with something because we all felt pretty wired after being in all the smoke. Someone would say the most basic thing, but for some reason it was hilarious and Nick and I couldn't stop laughing. Gosh it was weird.
Finally, yesterday Mum and I had a trip to town for my car service which lead to a slightly more, uh, expensive day than I initially intended. I took the opportunity to do a bit of shopping while poor Ali went under the knife. I've literally nothing to wear for a wedding I'm going to in June - after having never been to a wedding other than my sister's. Suddenly, I'm some sort of expert shopper and managed to go in on a day where there were so many specials. I was a stinge last year and never bought a nice leather jacket because I gulped at the price of it at the time. We went back into the same shop and saw another nice one yesterday, thankfully it wasn't in the same price range as the last one and Mum pretty much gave me a grilling - just buy it, it'll last forever. So now I'm the proud owner of a small, black leather jacket that will be perfect for every occasion where you need to "dress well". AKA weddings, black tie dinners, etc.
The next shop we went into, I found two nice dresses. It's awesome when you don't expect to be able to wear anything in some shops, and then you try something and they fit perfectly. For someone who usually shops at the Warehouse, it was a very successful day, I couldn't choose between the two dresses and they were so cheap, so I just bought them both. I'll wear them, there's no doubt about it. The issue is choosing between them both!
Poor Ali though, she's running amazing now after the oil and filters having been changed. But she needs to go back in the next couple weeks as the radiator hose is swollen - which apparently means it's teetering on the edge of bursting, which basically means I'll lose all the coolant in the engine and I could fry the engine if it happens. I'll know if it does, they say the temp gauge will sky rocket and then eventually not read at all as the coolant will have run out. I have been given firm instructions, do NOT drive if this happens. STOP. So, I'll be keeping an eye on that until I can get my car back into town with a few more coins to pay for it, because it sounds kinda pricey. :( Car ownership, I guess. That's what my savings are for.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)