The Morepork

The other night I was sitting with the kids reading the new Bear Grylls adventure book to them. As we were reading about smugglers, and jumping out of an airplane over the Sahara desert we heard a loud bang against the window.

We immediately jumped up to see what it was. We looked out the window and saw a small owl (called a morepork) lying on the ground. We ran outside to see if it was still alive or dead and what we should do with it. To our amazement it was alive. Henri ran and got gloves while Anri ran to get a box and blanket to keep it warm. After bringing it inside to get warm we started trying to figure out what to do next. As it was a holiday we weren’t sure who to call or where to take the bird that would be open.

 

We called the Bird Rescue center but there was no answer. Then Amanda remembered that our neighbor used to be a vet and might know what to do. The kids and I ran over to our neighbors house and asked him if he knew what to do or could come over. He told us he would come over and check it out.

Mr. Mortimer checking out the owl

 

When he got to the house we led him to the garage where we were keeping the bird warm in a box. He stuck his hands in and picked up the baby morepork. We watch eagerly hoping the owl would be alright. As soon as he got it out of the box the owl was trying to get loose. Our neighbor examined its eyes and said it probably had a concussion but was alright. He set it on the ground outside and after a minute of adjusting the owl flew away.

We were a little disappointed that we weren’t going to be able to keep it for few days and nurse it back to health, but we were even more excited that it was alright and able to fly off.

It was quite an exciting night and definitely a memory we will not forget anytime soon.

 

 

 

Oil based paint

In case you ever get oil based paint on your hands or legs or arms or wherever here is how to get it off.

I am all about home remedies for things! I believe there is a home remedy for just about everything and I love learning what they are. One day I would like to make a book with all the things you can do with household things that you never thought you could. Like making your own goo gone (I could post about that later)

So here is your household products use for getting oil based paint off your hands.!

I know you can use turpentine but that stuff is terrible for your skin and not something you should be putting on your body.

It even says: causes skin irritation

 

The other day we were painting chairs with oil based paint and after we finished well we had a bit on us but didn’t think much of it. Anri went to wash off the paint brushes (in the sink-not a good idea) and ended up with the paint all over her hands and unable to get it off. Her hands just kept getting stickier and more coated with the paint. Of course I first told her she was going to have to live with her hands that way forever!

 

stickier and thicker!

 

I quickly looked on line to find someway to get it off. The only thing I found was to use mayonnaise but we didn’t want to waste expensive mayo on hands so I started thinking. I figured it had to be the oil in the mayo that made it work so I figured lets put some oil on your hands and then lets add salt as a scrubbing agent.

 

We did that and it worked out marvelous after just a few scrubs the paint was all off. Her hands were just oily. So with some dish soap the oil was off in no time! Her hands ended up really soft and smooth as well. I think I may want to wash with oil and salt sometime soon!

Day one of being shoeless!

I am so blessed to live in a country where it’s not the oddest thing to see people walking around without shoes. It is not unusual especially for children to be barefoot at the supermarket or running around in town. Because of that I am hoping this will be a great experience and I won’t feel to odd.

If you know me you know I love to walk around barefoot anyway so I would think this should be quite enjoyable!

Well day one was sure interesting! I decided I was going to go about my normal routine and not worry about shoes. Since it is school break I spent a lot of time around the house so that was a nice relief. It was odd to feed the Chooks and worry about hoping not to step in chook poo. Thankful I did not step in chook poo today! Yay!

Going out to feed the lambs was another story! I had to walk across really sharp rocks to get to them, I walked so slowly and took each step very carefully. It didn’t hurt as much as I thought it was going to!

The weird part was going to the shops. I thought I would be so confident as I drove to the shops. I will admit I did put a pair of sandals in my car just in case L When I walked into the first store I felt like all eyes were on my feet. I felt like everyone around me was thinking “why is she not wearing shoes?” “her feet must be so dirty” Thankfully the more I walked around the less awkward I felt. The next shop though felt the same way. I found myself walking down the shoe isle and all of a sudden thought “why am I looking at shoes when I don’t have shoes on my feet?” It was an odd feeling. The weirdest shop was the supermarket. The floor in there was so cold and I felt like everyone was looking at me like I was weird! I saw a few kids without shoes and it made me feel a little more normal. Walking through car parks was also strange just hoping I wouldn’t step on glass.

It was an amazing first day and I was reminded that this must be what it feels like when you don’t have the things we have to meet our needs. I thought of kids that come from families that can’t afford new clothes of Shoes and have to go to school in the torn, dirty clothes they have. They must feel self conscious and thinking everyone is looking at them. I definitely got a better perspective on things today and look forward to what comes next!

 you can read all about shoeless and get more details on my other blog

Shoeless in New Zealand

Limestone Island

This Wednesday for CHEW we went over to Limestone Island. It was awesome!

We met the ranger around 10am take his boat across to the channel to the Island. Limestone Island is a reserve; they have worked really hard over the years to get the island cleared of pests and make it a place to bread kiwi and other animals, insects, and plants that need to be protected. They have even gotten rid of all the ants except one kind. There are still a few pests on the island that they are still working on getting rid of.









After two trips the whole group was on the island and, Ranger gave us a history of the island. It is truly a fascinating history you can read all about the island here http://www.limestoneisland.org.nz/ The island was orignally Matakohe Island when the Maori were settled on it. The Maori had kumara plants all over the island. After the Maori the island was used as a cement factory which is what all the ruins are from. When the cement factory was abandoned and starting to fall down the air force came in a bombed the site so that it would just be rubble and less dangerous. Once our history lesson was complete, the Ranger took us on a tour of the island and showed us all about the traps and things they do on the island. He has only been living on the island a month but anyone can tell he truly loves it there!





We went up to the site of the Pa (moari settleing). It was beautiful from the top! It is always amazing to see Whangarei from a different angle and from the island it was amazing! We went to the ruins of the old cement factory, and he even showed us how he finds the Kiwi’s on the island.



Pa Site











finding Kiwi's


Kiwi egg

It was definitely the best CHEW that we have had and everyone really enjoyed the day even with the heat.