Farm Life - 12. FAR Chapter 12

All of the roads had been sealed the previous day, and the curbing was being done as we arrived, and each property has marker pegs, indicating the boundaries, with power, telephone and water installed to the front gate.

The beach car park was also sealed, and marked with 32 parking spaces, and there are locked gates at each end, with emergency access only signs on them. A winding gravel footpath leads through the nature strip to the beach, with fencing in place to keep foot traffic onto the footpath, and not onto the nature strip or sand dunes.

The real estate agent and a professional photographer arrived, and they were impressed with the new property development, considering it was privately managed, instead of by a large property development company, a few hours later they left to return to the city, with an agreement in place for promoting and selling the hobby farms.

We returned to the homestead, arriving just before lunch time, and we informed Mum and Gran of the estimated value of the 60 hobby farms, that the real estate agent gave us, both of them were stunned at the 2.7 million-dollar value, and with the 900 thousand dollars spent developing and promoting the land, from burnt out farm land last year to hobby farms, we would be getting about 1.5 million in profit.

During the weekend, the family just relaxed and we just spent some time together working in the garden around the homestead, which had suffered a lot from the radiated heat of the fire, and a lot of the plants had to be replaced. Gertrude was also home for the weekend, so we had the whole family together again, even if it was just for two days, and Gertrude informed us that she was enjoying boarding school, but she did miss being at home on the farm.

The start of a new week, brought us to just two weeks left of summer, which I was pleased about, and we kept busy with feeding out hay to the stock, as the pasture was fairly low now, as well as keeping a close eye on the water tanks and troughs in each paddock. When Nick arrived home from school, he would fill up the fire unit, then call me on the radio, to let me know he is ready to help with watering the trees.

When I arrived at my cottage at the end of the day, I was surprised to see the young echidna had returned, and he was just sitting on the door mat having a snooze. Smiling I picked him up carefully and carried him inside, where I located my gloves, and once I had them on, up turned the little fellow over too check on his tick wound.

I was not happy when I saw that it was red and swollen, placing the little fellow on the lounge, I went to retrieve the animal first aid kit, and I got to work to clean up the wound, and to cover it with some gauze. I made up some honey water mix, and placed some antibiotic drops into it as well, and I was pleased to see him drink it all up.

When he finished, he waddled down to my bedroom, and straight to the cardboard box, which was still where I left it, next to my bedside table. I picked him and put him inside and he snuggled down in amongst the towels, and went to sleep. I went to the kitchen to retrieve a pair of scissors, and as quietly as possible I cut a section away at one end, so he could get out of the box on his own.

After a shower and change of clothes, I made up some food for the echidna, before making my way over to the homestead for dinner, where I mentioned to the family that the little echidna had returned, as his tick wound had got infected. During dinner, I got to thinking about the echidna family, and I decided that I would do some research into designing and building a safe enclosure for them. Back at the cottage, I retrieved my laptop and started to search online, when my mobile rang and I smiled when I saw that it was Preston calling.

“Good morning to you” I said as I answered the call, “Good evening to you” Preston responded and we both laughed. Then un-expectantly another voice came over the phone, “Hello Lewis, how are you and the family in Australia” Rose said to me. “We are all well thank you Rose, although my little echidna friend had returned as his injury has got infected, he is asleep in his box at the moment” I replied.

“Yes, Preston has shown me all the photos that you have sent to him, they seem to be very troublesome little fellows” Rose said to me, and there was a lengthy pause in the conversation, before Rose continued, “Lewis the reason why we have called you today, as we have an idea that we want to run by you, we have been doing some serious thinking since you returned home.

Preston is miserable because he is missing his Aussie best friend, Ronny has not been doing very well at school since his dad passed away, and I think they both miss being on the farm. Maisy and I have been worried about both boys, and we did a bit of research and learnt that both boys could continue their studies in Australia, as long as they have a host family” Rose said to me in hope of finding a solution.

“Well this is a bit of a surprise, I can see no problem, as we have good private schools and good universities here in Western Australia, but I need to consult with my parents and grandparents, will it be the whole family? And when do you hope this to take place” I said to Rose, as I put my boots on and walked back towards the homestead.

“Well it wouldn’t be until either the Easter Holidays on March 21^st, the Summer Break on May 30^th, or the Summer Holidays on July 19^th, to allow Ronny to have a smooth transition, and Preston will have to wait till the start of 2^nd Semester in Australia” Rose said to me as I approached the kitchen door of the homestead, and walked inside where Mum and Gran were finishing cleaning up the kitchen.

“Rose, I am at the homestead now, I am going to put you onto loud speaker” I said to Rose, and on hearing what I said, Mum went to get Dad from the lounge room, and they both reappeared quickly. “Rose is Preston McCulloch’s mum in Glasgow, Scotland” I announced to everyone in the room, “Rose I have my Gramps and Gran, and my parents – Thomas and Celia, in the room with me” I added to make all the introductions.

“Hello Mr and Mrs Grantham, Thomas and Celia, it is wonderful to meet you all, I have heard so much from Lewis about your farm and the family” Rose said via the phone, “It’s a pleasure to meet you too, and thank you for looking after our son, while he was on your farm, we are sorry to hear of your husbands passing recently” Dad responded.

“Thank you, Thomas, it has been difficult, but it was your son who took over looking after the farm, when all the family drama was happening, our farm hand would have been struggling without Lewis’s help” Rose said.

“You remember me mentioning the other week, that Rose has leased out the farm and is living with her sister in Glasgow, about two hours north of the farm, with her youngest son Ronald who is 15, attending boarding school, and her oldest son Preston in his third year at University, studying Vet Science” I began to fill in the family on the earlier conversation, and I saw my parents and grandparents nodding their heads.

“Well, Rose has asked if we could be the host family for Preston and Ronny, so they can continue to be in a farm environment while continuing their studies” I added, “My sister – Maisy and I would come along for a short holiday, to help them with the long journey and settling in, before we will return to Scotland” Rose announced, and I looked at my parents and grandparents to see what their response would be.

“I see no problem with that, the boys can stay with Lewis in the cottage, when they are up on weekends and holidays, and an extra two pair of hands will be useful on the farm” Dad said with a smile, “When will this be happening?” Mum asked. “Well it wouldn’t be until either the Easter Holidays on March 21^st, the Summer Break on May 30^th, or the Summer Holidays on July 19^th” Rose said in reply to that question.

Mum looked up towards the large calendar that is hanging on the side of the cupboard, near the landline telephone, “Well its Feb 20^th today, so 4 weeks from today at the earliest, or 5 months at the latest” Mum said out loud to everyone.

“Ok Rose, go ahead with plans for coming over here with your boys, just let us know when you are leaving London, and we will pick you up from Perth International Airport” Dad said to Rose, “I am so thankful for this opportunity for my boys, I will keep in touch, bye for now” Rose said and she ended the call.

There was a period of silence in the homestead kitchen, as the telephone conversation sunk in, and it was broken with the sound of the twins fighting in their bedroom, and Nick had added to the noise by shouting at the boys to stop fighting. I got up and headed towards the twin’s bedroom, as I approached I motioned for Nick to return to his room.

“Right you two rascals, pack it in or suffer a punishment” I said to the twins who immediately stopped wrestling and shouting, I knew that what I had just said was a big mistake, knowing that punishments that I had ever received from my parents was spending half an hour or more in isolation from the rest of the family, or sent out to the wood shed to chop wood, once I was old enough to do that.

“Oh yeah, and what sort of punishment would that be?” the boys said in unison as they crossed their arms across their chests, thinking they had outsmarted me, not that it happened very often, and I was madly trying to think of a punishment for the 6-year-old twins. “Yes, I would like to know what you have for punishment too?” Dad said to me softly so only I could hear, as he remained just out of sight of the twins standing in the hallway.

I remembered that the twins complained last weekend when we were all working together in the homestead garden, and I remembered the idea I had for echidnas, “Ok smart guys, if you do not settle down and get ready for bed, then you will be both helping me, without any complaining, in building an enclosure for the echidna family” I said with a big smile, and I could see Dad smiling too as he turned and returned to the kitchen.

Once I had the twins settled and in bed, and read them a story, I said goodnight to Nick as I passed his bedroom, and returned to the kitchen. After a cup of tea, and a bit of a chat, I returned to my cottage, and I went to my room to check on the echidna, who was looking around for some food. “I’m sorry little guy, I will get you some food and honey water right away” I said to the echidna, which I had decided to name Emmy, short for Emmanuel.

After Emmy had eaten and drunk some more he came into the study, where I had resumed my research on my laptop, and he gave my foot a little nudge with his long nose, so I bent down and carefully picked him up and held him close to my face, where I received a sticky tongue on my cheek, I chuckled at Emmy and I placed him on my lap, and he lay down and went to sleep, while I continued doing some online searching.

I heard the front door open, but I couldn’t move with Emmy on my lap, and moments later Nick appeared, “I heard the punishment threat you mentioned to the twins, are you really going to build an enclosure for the echidna family?” Nick asked me as he walked into the study, “Yep, I’m just doing some research on it now” I replied as Nick approached and leaned forward to look at the computer screen, and that is when he spotted Emmy, asleep on my lap.

Quickly Nick grabbed my phone and stepping around to the side, he took some pictures of me and Emmy, before doing the same with his own phone. “Make sure you send them to your friend in Scotland, he will love seeing this” Nick said as he waved goodbye and left the cottage. After printing some pages that I had found online, I shut down the computer, and I carefully I picked up Emmy and carried him back to his box and I too went to bed.

The next morning, I found Emmy having some breakfast from the food I left in the bowls in the kitchen, once I had dressed and made sure there is plenty of water and food for Emmy, I headed over to the homestead to get some breakfast. I found Mum and Gran looking at Nick’s mobile phone, I presumed looking at the photos he took last night. “Good morning son, it looks like someone has grown attached to you” Mum said to me with a smile as she poured me a cup of tea and handed it to me.