G-Man Report

Some weeks ago, you may recall, I introduced the G-Men, namely Michael Jackson (so-called “Jacko”) and Justin Bieber (the so-called “Beebs”). They are not really Government Men, they’re Goats on long-term loan from a neighbour.

(Above): Black and white horned Jacko nibbles at a leafy snack. He would do well in a rugby scrum and is forever shunting his G-Mate out of the way – friendly nudges in G-Terms, I guess.

(Above): Skinny old big ears, Brown, tan and white Beebs grins for the camera. He is an avid eater and a great little runner. The friendliest goat you could ever imagine.

(Above): I am please to report that these people-friendly and snack-hungry darlings have settled in extremely well and have started making their little community on Goat Hill.

(Above): Jacko absolutely loves being hand-fed crunchy leaves and juicy peaches and apples, but take care, don’t drop the snacks to the ground – Jacko simply doesn’t do scraps off the dirty ground.

(Above): Beebs is the more agile and adventurous of the pair, and is frequently to be seen near the bottom of the hill (about 50 metres down) among the yummy thorny brambles – not sure if he’s find many berries there, but he is gradually consuming part of the landscape there, so it must be reasonably tasty, I suppose!

(Above): Jacko stands at the top of the Hill, looking down at fellow G-Man on the brambled slopes. Not sure of whether he feels like any brambles to day?

Goat Hill revisited

People usually give “pet” names to parts of their property, so that others will understand the location of a particular subject of conversation. Just so, we have developed a couple of such names, mostly quite coincidentally rather by conscious aforethought.

The MAIN LAWN is not really a pet name – it is really a statement of fact.

The ORCHARD is the area where a number of fruit trees are located, so I like to call it the Orchard, although it probably falls far short of the definition: “An orchard is an intentional planting of trees or shrubs that is maintained for food production”, but we probably comply with half the definition.

The SNAKE: This is a long curvy fairly wide flowerbed which separates the lawn directly in front of the house from the main lawn. Clayton referred to it as this no-name viper, so the name has stuck in my mind.

The SECRET GARDEN: When they first moved in, Brynn explored the gardens (as is the habit of any five-year-old). Being of short stature, she crept between some of the shrubs and discovered, al-la-Alice style, a “secret” garden on the other side! I’m not entirely sure whether these are the accurate facts, but I claim them in the name of poetic licence.

The VEGE PATCH and the HEN RUN are demarcated, but, as yet, they are not fully functioning agricultural centres of excellence. Clayton and Tyler have propagated a mealie-patch as well as a number of rows of fairly good-looking tomato plants.

That leaves us with GOAT HILL, previously referred to as Binnie Hill (a female “Billy” goat to be hired for plot-clearing purposes). The advent of the goat is still a future project, so the brambles and vegetation remains uneaten. Because of Goat Hill’s apparently daunting terrain, I had not previously ventured past the fencing which separates this 2,000 square metre natural wilderness from the  main lawn, kept trim by Clayton and Tyler.

Had this been South Africa, I would have only entered under the supervision of an expert snake catcher, crocodile hunter and general wild-creature-tamer. Tangled bush and long grass and all that stuff, you understand… But this is New Zealand, and a New Life, so Brynn could lead the way for me!

From about half-way down a fairly steep incline, this is the view (0549 and 0551) towards the wooden fence, a little way beyond those trees at the top. The surroundings are quite pristine and natural -- brambles, grasses and stuff…

The slope gradually flattens out near the bottom of Goat Hill, where we find a mini-forest in which I imagined we might encounter Harry Potter. If that was so, then he was out to-day, probably gone to the movies…

Granny and Brynn explore the forest:  With a  bit of clearing up of dead branches and so on, a log or two for seats, and we have a wonderful sheltered and quiet retreat in nature to read a book, contemplate the purpose of life, or simply perhaps just relax in a hammock. But, before the relaxation, there is that little bit of input to be made on our part (including clearing a reasonable footpath through the long grass from the top! – that will be a separate blog one day, hopefully in the near future.)

Clayton, a-la-gumboots, surveys the state of the woods from a flat area.

The gum-boot gang lead the party back up the incline of Goat Hill from the Potter Forest. Maybe we can start writing best-selling novels?