Easter !

And then, all of a sudden Easter has arrived and the last blog was almost 14 days ago.. time flies when you have lots to do on a farm indeed ! As said in my last blog I tried to save my favorite 'bankstel' from the mice in the 'garage' and put them into the lounge.. Here and there some damage was already  done and will be fixed somewhere in the future but I was very happy to have this furniture dry and safe, and  in place.. I've had this furniture since I had my shop in Laren, NH, Holland, almost 20 years ago, and still love it.. !!!  The lounge was all of a sudden transformed into this warm and homey area which made me feel even more at home "in the middle of nowhere"... 

Then we covered  the floor in the attic of the cottage with building plastic and put much more 'in the roof' where most of the stuff, beds, bedlinen, chairs, lamps and what have you, up the ladder and safely into it.. There is still quite some stuff standing in the 'garage' but it seems to be out of harms way now. Unpacked another 7 boxes with kitchen and other stuff.. 23 boxes to go ;-)

On Tuesday got the lovely news that the proceeds of my house in Sea Point, Cape Town, were on its way and that made my Tuesday of course.. and Wednesday came and indeed, what a wonderful event, it was there ! WHAT a lovely feeling.. the best deal is always a done deal..

Went to Caledon to fetch paint and stuff and my guys started painting the wood work, as in doors and window frames all around and in the house,, a lovely dove grey. Never mind that lots of the newly painted white walls were touched as well,  and will be touched up by the 'master' (me;-) at a later stage of course.. 

My attorneys, charged with the transfer of the farm, repeatedly tried to contact me, but used an email address not in use, so that was a bit of a hitch, but corrected when I started wondering why I did not hear from them.. long story but that is also sorted, and done.. The transfer of the farm will now happen after Easter, which will then make me into the proud owner of a lovely small holding in de Hemel en Aarde (Heaven and Earth) valley in the Western Cape !

The rest of that week proceeded pretty uneventful until I thought, 'time for the horses' and Skyped Michelle from Rheebokskloof, where I bought my first 2 horses from, and indicated that we would start with the fencing soon and I would be ready for my very first farm animals 'next week' ...  A date was set and now we had a deadline, so got some extra guys in who, until dark several days running, worked their *sses off to get it all done.. here's the team ! We started that Saturday, and continued on Monday, and after several days, the fencing was in place.. so far so good.

The first camp is now surrounded with the help of 55 tar poles and 2 x 875 mtrs of barbed wire, so its safe to say that we put over 1.6 kilometres of wire in place..  Irrigation all round and grass is shooting out of the soil !!! Droppers will be inserted at a later stage, but we were 'ready' for the first arrivals, and this happened last Thursday, waauuuw, I was very excited to say the least, and here they are driving up the farm path !! I just had to pinch and pinch myself to believe it..

To be unloaded by Michelle and me... Once in the camp, everything is of course new and interesting.. they come from a rather posh area (vineyards and hardly 'other' creatures in their surroundings), and here they see sheep, who knows for the very first time in their life, in the distance....

Standing in front of the 'old cow shed', ugly and  inherited from the previous owner, but hey, the structure is in place, clean and  dry but not aesthetically pleasing at all, which, of course, will be tackled in the near future..

Michelle stayed the night, and the next day, after a fabulous breakfast,  we took them for their first, if short, out ride just to test the waters, and the land of course.. and I was in 7th heaven, its happening !!

After lots of instructions ( I'm quite green when it comes to owning horses, because these are my first ) she left and here I was, with the huge responsibility that ownership brings.. I did work with horses in my youth, for many years, but after all these years , owning them is a different story all together of course.. but I'm sure I will learn as we go, and Michelle is always available for advice.... 

Good Friday, my dear friend Tony came for the Easter Weekend, and whaddayaknow, he is familiar with horses because he, unbeknown(st)  to me, grew up on a farm... So we groomed and groomed on Saturday

Tony and Vossie, after a good grooming and ready to saddle up !

 

saddled them up and went on a very nice outride in the area.. Up at the protea's it appeared to be too rocky, so down the property we went and took it easy along the dirtroad into a veld nearby, where we scouted some more.. Have to make a path through my trees, leading through my stream onto the property of my neigbhour, from where we can ride into the mountains that will provide us the 'fine bos' experience and views of Gansbaai and Hermanus in the distance.. where the soil is better and softer on the hooves of these horses, since I would want to try and keep them 'unshod' and in a natural state, which they are used to.. 

That evening my friend Ashraf joined us with Kim, some 6 weeks after their first visit, and they were impressed with the progress.. They stayed for braai and drinks and a very lovely evening was had with the four of us.. my first Easter on my farm, and we 'wetted' the roof yet again, with fine wines, champagne and home cooked food !

Tony left Sunday afternoon for Cape Town again, after a sumptuous breakfast, with the promise that he may very well be back here again soon.. we had a thoroughly enjoyable weekend indeed ! THANKS Toan.. ;-))))

So.. Sunday night, here I was.. a contented man looking back on a fabulous week and weekend, sitting at home, and, more important, feeling @ home.. !. Dogs in my lap ? Check.. Horses outside ? Check.. Stove on ? ... Check.. TV works ?? .. Check.. Wineglass full ?? .. Check.. Roof waterproof ?.. Check.. Happy.. ?? As never before !!! How can one not be ??? when this is how privileged one is ??

Received news from my friend Theresa that she and the family are in the Wilderness area for the long weekend (Wednesday is yet another public holiday in SA.. we have many many of 'these things' over here ;-) and on the drive back to Cape Town they  may  pop in for a visit and a tea, if time allows.. very much hope she will make it ! Visitors always welcome..

And so its Monday.. yesterday rains started and about 6 mil fell.. good for the land, and happy with it of course,.. but not nearly enough for the area.. we had the driest summer according to the locals (and my well is still going, good sign!) and the land is gagging for water.. Usually Easter, or after Easter, brings a weather change, and lets hope the rains will continue ! As I'm writing this, its partly cloudy, and who knows, according to the weather forecast we'll have more rain later in the day.. Its cold out there and the stove is roaring !

Have a fab rest of the Easter dear readers !!

P.S. Max and 'WhyNot'.. becoming great friends, and both loving Lucerne !!!!

xx and greetingszzz.. 

Rick/Teslaarsdal