# 13 It Happened in New Zealand…or Was It Australia…

Good Morning, Mornington!!

Our good friends, Geoff, Colleen and Charmaine, drop us off at Geoff and Jan’s farm the evening of  January 20.

My first morning on the farm is a bit of a shocker!  My journal entry for Day 1  reads as follows:

Up at 7:45am…slept a little late.  First thing was “cow episode.”  She [a cow] wasn’t able to get up, flailing…according to Geoff, she had been failing in health for some time, and now that she wasn’t of any use, she was shot, winched up and carted off at the cost of $100.00.  And life on the farm goes on…

I wonder, says I to myself….does Geoff stage an ominous event for every new workawayer?? And if he deems  I’m not worthy of my bed and board, could  I too be shot, winched up and carted off?…(but probably for far less than a hundred bucks!)  What a bummer!  Just wondering….just… wondering…

And while I’m on a downer…let’s get on with the…

Lights…Camera…Drama!!

Here we go again!  If there’s a pretty girl  on the premises, Len will follow her around and show off.  He’s at it again!  This time it’s with Rebecca, a 20 y/o Danish girl…a remarkable girl at that! I decide to…once again…let it go, just have fun and ignore his presence.

But….if he shows up in my space…I take it one step further…like I did tonight…

Rebecca and I are cooking dinner and throwing carrots and red peppers in the pot with complete abandon, when Len, always an astute observer, says to us, “Don’t put all the veggies in at once.  You know…carrots first…peppers later.  Otherwise the peppers will be cooked to mush.”

Quick as a wink I reply, “Just ignore him, Rebecca.  Len’s a pessimist.”

Oops!  Back peddle time for Len.  “That was not a judgment call,” says he, “just a comment from a cook’s point of view.”

Hey, I’m beginning to enjoy pulling his chain!  (Is that bad?)  He can sure dish it out, but as they say, “He can’t take it!”  Hey, I think, now that was fun…and fun-fun-funny too!

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After breakfast on Day 2, I head outside to greet the day.  It’s a quick howdy-do ’cause there’s Farmer Geoff, standing tall beside a power washer and holding a scraper and a packet of sandpaper in one hand and a power sander in the other.  I am, said he, to wash, scrape, sand and paint the shed behind him and also the bigger one on his right. And so…it came to pass!

After I do the prep work, Rebecca is assigned to help me with the painting so that makes the task  much more fun.  She paints the upper half and I paint the lower half.  And as I paint I make up  some poems: 

I once met a girl from Denmark

On our walk I heard her remark:

“I love that bent tree

It’s my favorite you see.”

And she sat in the tree until dark!

And one for Farmer Geoff:

There once was a man from Mornington

Who fancied cows without horns…not one!

He jumped on his horse

And followed his course

and didn’t come home till morning sun!

And one for Len (I think he’s dreaming of Rebecca! Whadda you think??):

There once was a man from Conneaut

Who really loved learning a lot.

He hopped on a plane

And said, “I’m not insane!”

And headed to a land where it’s “hot-a-lot

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And now…drum roll here!!… the amazing results of the Two Painters Extraordinaire!

Rebecca was standin’ way up top that ladder a minute ago…but then  down came this spider right along side her and sent poot Rebecca runnin’ scared outta her mind sir!!

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More Mornington adventures  ahead!