Seasoned

I arrive at the farm in the evening, and unpack the car. The temperature inside the house reads 17 degrees C. 16.4 on the other thermometer. In the past, a mere year ago, this would have had me rushing off to the woodpile and starting a fire.

Not so today. It's not exactly balmy warm, but the fire won't make much difference once I am in bed under my superwarm doona. And in the morning the fire will be out anyway, so really, why bother.

Letter box

I arrive at the three letter boxes, enroute to farm. The middle letter box is ours.

As I drive up to the letter boxes, I glance unintentionally at Sabina. Her eyes are fixed on something. They grow bigger, wider, more intense. She has stopped blinking, and perhaps breathing too. It's as though she has seen a snake hanging on the fence behind the letter boxes.

Yeah right! I giggle to myself, and turn around to look at the fence. OMG! I almost jump in my seat. There IS a snake hanging off the fence!

Never, ever, doubt your children's facial expressions!

Mushrooming

Sabina and I drive off into the pine plantation next door. A couple of kilometres later we park on the edge of the track, and joyfully jump out, bucket in one hand, knife in the other.

It's been raining a lot recently, and mushrooms have popped up everywhere. Mainly the poisonous ones, but there is also a solid supply of the edible ones.

First we find the "maslaki" and I show Sabina how to recognise them. She collects them into her bucket.

Then we find "rydze". They are plentiful, and growing everywhere, and Sabina is forever fascinated how they hide under the pine needles.

A short time later, with one and a half buckets of mushrooms, we drive back to the ranch.

I clean and fry a few "rydze". Sabina loves them, and asks for more.

Have generator, can ...

open garage doors, use the stove and water. How good is that?

But, can't use the lights, fridge or kettle. No, if you want to use those, you have to plug the genrator into a different power socket. Then of course you can use the lights, but you no longer have running water.

Love it!

Have generator, will ...

read instruction manual.

We have finally bought a generator. Because out here, on the perimeter, when you lose power you lose the water pump, the lights, the stove, the ability to open garage doors. It's like going back in time a 100 years.

And, out here on the perimeter, you lose power pretty often. Once a week on average.

And, sometimes, when you do lose power, you better be the one to call the power company. Because it may turn out that the problem is your very own power pole in your own back paddock, and no one else but you and your two best buddy neighbours are experiencing a black out. And your best buddy neighbours have a generator, or three, so they don't care!

So we've bought one.

And tonight, husband is sitting and carefully reading the instruction manual.

The table

We've inherited a table from our friends. The beautiful wooden table is cleaned up and assembled.

The existing table is moved out, against the sofa. We clean the floor, then move the new table into position.

The new table is beautiful, don't get me wrong. And we really appreciate getting it. But it's huge in comparison to our old family kitchen table. It has converted our meals area from a cosy farm kitchen, to a ... well, boardroom. And I just can't get used to it.

In the meantime, Sabina has placed a lamp on the old table, and converted it into a desk. She looks like a football in the middle of the football field. Or like one of those super talented children in some movie, studying materials far beyond her five years.

We look like a bunch of hill billies who struck oil, got rich quickly, and lashed out without much thought or consideration for style.