OCTOBER 2011 - TYING UP LOOSE ENDS

Well it certainly has been an interesting and stressfull year. Mom and I finally sold our house in Jozi, papers signed, deal done. She is moving into the cottage here on the farm, and the man and I will move into the main house. What a job. Main house has absolutely no plumbing or electrics chased in the walls, no bathrooms, no kitchen. Still have to install all the burglar bars and security gates to make it safe and the slate floor is a disaster. LOTS of work to be done.

The man has started to move mom and all her belongings, the gatherings of a lifetime. So much stuff. And she is stressing no end about bringing her two dogs here. One Mastiff and one Russell. Ah well, we will just have to cope. Live in harmony or bugger off, I say. (Meanwhile back at the ranch, I'm am also sh*tting myself at the initial introduction...)

The rains have come. A few flash storms which didn't do much, but now a nice fine rain has set in and it's really looking beautiful here. Farmer Brown mowed the lawn the other day in his ol' John Deere. Still having to drag it down the road to start it, but it does the job.

Patio of the main house looking a whole lot better with a built in bar and jet master braai place. We've used it a lot already - much fun!

I think we will make a lot of memories here.

Cottage - THEN and NOW (Jan 2011 to Oct 2011)

Ah what a sweet little cottage this turned out to be. It was so sad when we first got here. I reckon if the roof gets a lick of pine needle green paint, she'll be almost perfect!

A bit of trivia here.....the previous owner popped in for a visit. Said the rights things you know, like, ah, so much work done, looking good, etc etc. Told him I battled a bit through winter with all the plants dying, but we were trying our best to get all the shrubs and trees going again. He said "Ja, best you do, my dead ma's ashes are buried under that Cape May" and points to a bush that I thought was long dead. Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa! What a thing to say!

So with copious watering and pleading and classical music, I coaxed the bladdy thing back to life. Thank the Lord. It's the brilliant bush in the front of the pic with tons of pretty white blooms.

Shew! My nerves, I swear. Hope you're happy Mrs Harper. Just stay where you are.....

Whahahahahahaha!

Slip sliding away.....

Ah the joys of rain, and mud, and 4x4's. On this particular morning we went for an early drive to see the new dam and ooh and ahh and the wonder of it all. It had been raining for a few days. Mud everywhere. We sat close to the side if the dam, looking at the new bird life we had attracted when suddenly the man says....."sh*t".

Now "sh*t" is not something you want to hear first thing in the morning when you're sitting over 1km away from any other person who knows you're alive in a 4x4 next to a newly developed dam.

And then I felt it. I felt the truck schloop every so slightly down towards the dam. Yip, we were sliding. Sliding down towards the water. First thing I think is "hell, I just drove my car into a ditch because of mud, if I fall into this dam with my cell phone, nobody will insure me ever again". Okay okay, not the smartest thing to think of at the time. I reckon I'm getting out. The man says "don't even breathe".

So I don't.

There are some real benefits living with a modern-day McGyver, and it's not the hair style. He called the two Malawian men from the farm, told them to bring pick handles and a big pole....and make it snappy. They don't know I saw them snicker behind their hands. They're lucky the man never saw them chuckle. And still I am not breathing, not talking, not moving, and at this point, not worrying about my stupid cell phone, because if we land up in the water, someone will have to drag me out in my old slippers, pj's and my expensive leg will probably rust!

They bang the pick handles into the ground against the two tyres to stop any more sliding, lay down the pole (a stick actually) so it's a (pathetically puny) barrier between us and the water, and hey presto.....the man manages to very gently move FORWARD and away from the bank.

Enough excitement for one day, I think. And back in time for breakfast.

I'd like to know, though, what kind of 4x4 gathers enough mud on all the tyres to stop the traction and create a tyre surface much the same as using ice-skates on ice?

The day everything changed..... :)

Well, the decision to move into the REAL sticks was made relatively quickly. Within a week, in fact. Signed sealed delievered....it's yours!

We made the huge step at the end of October 2010, and well, things have never quite been the same. It is rather late to start blogging about it now, but really, so much has happened that I feel guilty not writing it down.

Tears, laughter, disaster, everything. As I write, we are still sitting with no electricity, and no running water. We moved completely at the end of January this year. It's tough, make no mistake.

But here starts the story of our great move into the wilderness of the Magaliesburg, where, quite literally, nothing happens. Nada!

Introducing the Broke Down Farm - photograph taken on the day the offer-to-purchase papers were signed. Nice from far, hey? I am hoping someone comes on this ride with me....because it's been one hellava journey, and we're not halfway through it yet!