my pet bunny

man, i really can't seem to keep a hold of this blog thing. i try to write often, but i always want to put pictures up, but with this dial up... it takes way to long, so i have to wait to go to town, which is becoming less and less.... mmm. so here's another entry with no pictures... unless i get bored later and decide to make a project out of it tonight... which i might.

so anyway, the rest of my trip with sean went great. we enjoyed our snow day and it did clear up a little the next day, but i still couldn't see mt. cook... so i'm going back in january when i'll have a better chance. the lupins were amazing, though. i've never been so mind blown by some flowers and aqua blue water...

we left the lake on friday and had a long day of hitch hiking. sean and i parted ways in christchurch, where i hitched the last leg to the farm... it took ages. i had about 6 rides for a 2.5 hour car drive... everyone seemed to be only going to the next town. it was really fun anyway. i met tons of sweet people... like the family with the two babies who had me over for tea and the guy who owned a winery and this woman who was lighting up a joint to celebrate dropping the kids off for the weekend at their dad's house and of course the crazy semi-truck driver(s) and the woman who owned a camp and told me not to hitch hike ;)

it was great. i got "home" just after dark and found ben and toby waiting for me (not really, they had just been out shooting rabbits)

anyway, i got back to the farm just in time for the insanity. i've woken up between 5am and 6am every day since i got back besides tuesday (where i slept in until 7:30am). we've been moving cows and sheep everywhere (mostly sheep though). joanie competed in this sweet triathalon on sunday and did really well. i went and hung out with her all day. we sorted out all the sheep on monday and wednesday and sold mostly all the lambs for meat or to get fattened up a bit more so they can be made into meat. it has been nuts, but i like the hard work and i love mustering for some reason. we did some dagging (cutting the shit of the back of the sheep when it gets stuck in their wool), which was a bit gross when they had maggots... which a bunch did, but the rest was fun.

we even found a nest of bunnies one day while were were mustering (collecting the sheep). we fed all to the dogs but one which i kept all day long then realized i couldn't feed it (its eyes weren't even open yet... it was the size of my hand) and even though we had a connection, i just couldn't stand to know i let it starve to death, so i fed it to the dogs. it was really hard to do because it was completely the cutest thing ever and as i was reading my new book, jonathan strange and mr norrell by susanna clarke (yes sean, i went and found it in blenheim on sunday because you made it sound so good), it totally crawled off its heating pad into my sweatshirt pocket and cuddled with me...

anyway, today i got to clean out the races for the dipping on saturday. it's going to be sweet. and by sweet i mean really intense and painful. but i like that. i shoveled shit and leaves and mud and chemicals and all kinds of who knows what out of this thing and got some of the water on my hands from the dip... and they smell... and i've washed my hands a few times now and showered and i still smell. ben and i couldn't get the whole dip to drain (we're trying again tomorrow). i bet when we get to the bottom, we'll find some dead animals... maybe even a sheep... eew.

i'm hoping to go grubbing for these tussock things tomorrow for some of the day. it's really fun, like playing where's waldo.. find the tussock on the hill side and dig it out... one point for a small one, three points for a big one, ten points for a seeding one...

anyway, we start the dip on saturday... dunking sheep in chemical bath to prevent them from getting maggots is really fun for 5 seconds. then the sheep realize what's going on and freak out and you basically have to stick your hand up their ass and push them all the way down the race into the box they go in before you dunk them... it's great fun. i am actually excited though. i love the work here, even the worst is still fun.

it builds character.

i'm not sure how long we're dipping for... depends on the weather... we can't do it if it rains... but when it's over i'll write. and hopefully pictures then...

love hugs kisses lambs
genevieve

p.s. my legs are getting strong from running up and down these steep ass hills after sheep... but i still am not that good at campusing ;)