The cure is a walk

I wasn't feeling myself this afternoon.  No, I wasn’t feeling anyone else either!

Let’s start again.  This afternoon, driving home from work, I had a vague feeling of physical unease.   Nothing wrong really, just felt uneasy with myself and knew I needed a long, relaxing walk. 

As “just an administrator” I want the days of stressful jobs to be behind me.  But you know what they say about the best laid plans…..yeah, well, it’s like that!  I’m trying hard not to stress about my current project but not winning that battle.  That inner thing that drives me to want to do my best is at odds with my intentions. 

I think I’m lucky that some inner part of me always knows what I need.  And this afternoon I knew I needed that walk.

Georgia was happy to accompany me and suggested she ride her bike.  She’s not as easy to keep up with when she’s riding and I’m walking but I was happy to walk a bit faster when I had the sight of her to lift my spirits.  She’s not a confident bike rider just yet so her chat was amusing.  Every time the dogs came near her she warned them away saying it wouldn’t be her fault if she ran over them.

Coming to a downhill section of the track, which then went steeply uphill, I tried to explain about going fast downhill, then starting to pedal for the momentum to carry her up the next hill.  

She looked so little compared with that hill but she gave it her best shot.  Doesn’t the body language tell the story?

Further along the track we startled a pair of ducks and she informed me they were going back to my house – they are the ones with their nest in the paddock beside my house.  How does she know that?  She very confidently tells me that the mother duck has a patch of white that other mother ducks don’t have – it’s a birthmark!!  Should I debate the point and tell her I don’t think ducks have birthmarks?  No way!

Just past this point she gets off her bike and starts kicking the ground beside the track.  We can smell something dead and she’s looking for it.  She’s thinking out loud:  No, I don’t think it is here.  It’s a big smell so it’s probably something big.  So big we will see if without looking.  I know what it is.  

And away she goes leading me to the big bad smell.  Then tells me the story of how and why the cow died. 

I love how kids just absorb knowledge…(even if they apply that knowledge a little haphazardly as with the birthmark.)

We came to our usual destination along the creek and, to my surpise, passed quickly by.

We were nearly home, all thoughts of work stress and magpie attacks long gone, when the black and white dive bombing machine struck.  Well, nearly struck.  No warning.  I suddenly heard the swish of its wings and at the same moment felt the hair on the top of my head move.   Very scarey!  No wonder the girls shriek so much when they are attacked!

I suspect I was attacked as I was the tallest thing beside the person riding the bike (as it’s never worried about me before).  I’d really love to find some literature that explains why magpies hate people riding bikes so much!

Anyway, I’d had a lovely walk and felt so much better.  

(And wouldn’t you just love to wander through graveyard and read “died from magpie attack”!) 

Magpie Chortle

Have I told you before how I love living here on the farm? Probably ten times. It doesn't take much to renew my love of the place.

Yesterday evening I was feeling a bit dismal; it could have been simply because I was tired after my first full week back at work after six months of laziness.

I takes me a while to come fully awake at the weekend. Might be up and functioning but that doesn't necessarily mean I'm really awake. By the time I was hanging the laundry out on the clothesline this morning I was in a semi normal state, at least my ears were functioning well.

Then I heard the magpies in full throat down by the creek, chortling like crazy. I'm pretty sure a chortle is the best word to describe the song of the magpie. My gran called it that and I think she had it right.

I love magpies. I realize I am in the minority. They are not generally loved in NZ, in fact they are more often than not regarded as pests. I feel sorry for any animal that has been introduced from another country (Magpies were introduced to New Zealand in the 1860s from Australia to control pastoral insect pests) and then they are despised and hunted when they don't assimilate with the native creatures and habitat. It's not their fault! The possum is a better example of this but the magpie has its share of detractors too.

My son is a major magpie hater. He gets upset when he sees them attacking native birds but I argue they do far less harm than rats and cats do.

From early July through to Oct/Nov, during their breeding season they often attack (dive bomb) children, cyclists, farmers and runners. I've been a near victim in the past but I just moved as quickly as I could away from that area and avoided it for a month or two afterwards. I say they are only doing what comes naturally, defending their young and their territory. The fact that they can get a bit aggressive makes them a pest.

Magpie attack

I found a website this morning dedicated to magpie control and elimination. I have no objection to shooting or trapping birds that become pests but, honestly, poison!! How could anyone do that?

I don't want this post to turn into a rant, just wanted to share my love of the magpie chortle and this little bit of nonsense with you:

When Dan and Heather bought the farm
they said this is where we lay our head,
And Quardle oodle ardle wardle doodle
The magpies said.

Dan's hand is strong to milk the cows
Heather keeps the calves fed,
And Quardle oodle ardle wardle doodle
The magpies said.

Year in, year out they work
While the girls grow strong, well fed.
And Quardle oodle ardle wardle doodle
The magpies said.

All the beautiful grass is turned to cream
even when the new bridge was swept down the stream,
And Quardle oodle ardle wardle doodle
The magpies said.

The magpies live down by the gate
They dive at the girls, attack their heads
And Quardle oodle ardle wardle doodle
The magpies said.

The farm's still here.
With the trees, creek and hills not far away.
And Quardle oodle ardle wardle doodle
The magpies say.