I’d Like Some More of That, Please

In January we had our first big(ish) group of people over. We were ten! Eleven even, including the baby. There was to be a simple Sunday family lunch, then an afternoon of lounging around and catching up. We started prepping the day before our guests were due to arrive. I told our two caretakers that I would need some help with the washing up the next day. They said “Sure.” Then the next day they sent their wives over to wash the dishes. Now I know why they’ve never offered to help me wash dishes before! Their wives did a great job though of washing and tidying up.

The two horses are a big draw for prospective guests at the un-farm. In the farm where we got Takoy and Batman, Takoy was the beginner horse, the one given to guests who want to ride.  He is very sweet and calm. But still, I had to double check. Would he be ok with the visiting kids? So on Saturday, I  had the son ride Takoy around the front of the house.  The last time the son rode Takoy, he had some problems with Takoy going into the bushes. This time, Takoy did great. They were even cantering in nice, wide circles. I was amazed. My son who refused to take riding lessons as a kid because of a bad incident with a Baguio pony was now cantering around on my horse!  I never imagined such a day!

The husband said before that only certain types of people would enjoy visiting us at the un-farm. There really isn’t much going on at our place. It’s basically just lots of nature, trails, trees, open space, a small cottage, two horses, us, and the dogs. So you have to enjoy at least one of those things. Thankfully, we had the right sort of visitors that day. The un-farm is also good place for practice driving. It’s relatively stress-free to practice driving along the trails on the golf cart. There’s not much to crash into, although our teen guest almost tipped over the golf cart! She didn’t do it on purpose though and we were able to pull the one front wheel that was up in the air back down to the ground. So it all ended well and she learned a few driving skills. It’s great to be able to share our place with all sorts of people who can appreciate a whole lot of nothing!

After the kids were done riding, we all went for the “tour”. Our property is roughly rectangle-shaped. So you need to walk it or drive in the golf cart to get a proper lay of the land. We wanted to show the guests our old cement bridge, our tree planting areas, and the owl area. Since the husband and I are birdwatchers, any sort of walk turns into a birdwatching trip. A few minutes into the walk, we saw something big flapping in the trees. It was the female Pied Harrier. It flew up from a tree, circled back, then perched on our bamboo fence! The husband and I were excited that it was perched on our fence! The guests, less so. Harrier, what’s a harrier? They were not as impressed as we thought they should be. They were slightly more impressed later when they saw it’s size as it flew off.  My sister-in-law said, “Yeah, that was nice and we all saw it but what I really want to see is the owl!”.

I can understand. Owls are a much, much more popular species. We continued with our tour. I showed the kids how  the dried up pods of the Rattle Pod flower sounded just like tiny maracas. After that they wanted to check all the Rattle Pod flowers they could spot for dried pods. One of the kids wanted me to check the flowers that were growing in the middle of some tall grass, too tall for him to wade through. I went to check it and a Grass Owl flew out of the grass! “Guys, it’s the owl!” They all looked up to as it flew up and away and over to the trees to the left of us. Everyone got to see it! I was incredibly happy that we were able to show them the owl. That whole day with family, relaxing outdoors, riding, walking, seeing birds, and then seeing the owl were just the sort of things I dreamed would happen in our place, the un-farm! I couldn’t have orchestrated the day better. I’d like some more of that, please!

—-

I shared this on The Homestead Barn Hop hosted by The Prairie Homestead