Return to New Zealand

I arrived in New Zealand last Tuesday after a very bumpy flight across the Pacific and I'm finally getting settled in.  It's wonderful to see Heather and Mike again and yesterday we had a delicious turkey dinner with Mike's parents Rita and Dave, his god-parents Alf and Margaret, and close friends of his family Margaret and Brian, who happen to live right down the street from us.  

Heather and Mike have moved out of the Wee Mansion and into the new house which is spacious and beautiful.  A few major projects remain - installing the wood flooring, building the wall of shelving for Heather's collection of books, installing an L-shaped island in the kitchen, and tiling the walls around the spa tub in the master bath.  But overall, the house is warm and comfortable.

The baby turkeys I posted about last visit have all grown to adult size over the past 8 months.  At one point earlier this year there were over 40 turkeys free-ranging on the property and they have pretty much destroyed the garden and the plantings that we worked so hard on last year.   But they have also provided many many delicious turkey dinners as well as some income from the sale of a few breeding sets, two hens and one tom in each set.  The stories of turkeys being stupid birds are completely true.  Mike built a turkey hutch for them to roost in, but instead they just hunker down on the ground, up in a tree, or on anything that is above ground level, and sleep for the night.  The weather does not matter to them and they will sleep unprotected in the rain and even in the snow. Tried to load a video of one of the female turkeys talking to her reflection in the window of the front door, but it didn't work.  Will try again later.