Say hello to Franklin and Maka!
Until a few weeks ago I’ve been living in Hugh and Katie’s beautiful bluestone homestead. But now I’ve made the temporary move into ‘Franklin’ – the loaner caravan I’ve borrowed off Tess. I still haven’t patched the flyscreens, and it rocks like a boat on windy nights but its home sweet homo and I’m happy as Larry*.
In spite of the mozzies or the wind that sometimes keep me up at night, I’m super content with my simplistic existence. However, the long term plan is to end my reliance on Hugh and Katie (ie. Bathroom/Laundry/Kitchen) and construct some kind of self sufficient living quarters. After weeks of brainstorming and imagining I continue to go around in circles about what that might look like, but eventually I’ll start work (I’m currently thinking those excess chiller panels could be put to good use!). And while I’m reasonably comfortable with power tools, I have little design/building knowledge.. but I love to challenge myself and to learn new things so just thinking about it makes me excited!
Anyway, living in trusty old Franklin the caravan seemed too luxurious for just one, so I decided to add another layer of responsibility to my overloaded brain and bring Maka into the mix. He’s a chilled out 5yo Kelpie x with a lovely nature. Due to his history – his previous owners just got maximum penalties for animal cruelty – he’s a little defensive and wary of strangers but he’s big softy and really just wants a pat on his nose. It makes me happy to see that he is enjoying having space to move around and be a dog (even if being a dog means frustratingly chasing the quad bike) and he seems to be gladly loyal to his new family.
If the addition of Franklin and Maka weren’t exciting enough then watch this space because in the next few weeks we will have yet another four-legged friend joining our farming community. She is vivacious and adorable and loves to lick!
*incidentally Larry Foley was a ‘popular citizen’ and champion fighter who never lost a fight. He retired at 32 and collected a purse of £1,000 for his final fight. So, we can expect that he was known to be happy with his lot in the 1870s – just when the phrase is first cited.
Future Farmer Ant 