Chicks and Chickens

Now that we live on this five acre ‘lifestyle’ block outside Christchurch (our earthquake settlement house), life has taken on so many interesting aspects. We have the classic dog, cat, goldfish, sheep (five to be exact), a calf and chickens. Who would have known how much fun chickens could be? I am quite taken with them and this summer as been more interesting than ever. It all started about a year ago when my neighbour arrived at my house with two chickens. One was a friendly and was a sleek, black girl with little red comb on her head. The other was a truly fluffy grey that wanted nothing to do with anyone. I named them Miss Blackie and Lady Grey. No one could ever think my chickens were just birds. They have such distinctive personalities. Miss Blackie is feisty little hen who pecks at toes and fingers until she gets something to eat. She curtsies and you know she is allowing you to pet her smooth feathers. Lady Grey puffs up and runs away if you get close. She is far too royal to allow a mere servant to do anything but throw grain for her enjoyment. We put them in the run. I had spent some time cleaning out the weeds that had grown wild over the years the place had tenanted. It is such an enviable chicken run. A well protected area, with a high wire fence housing a good-size coop and shaded by a dozen mature pine trees. They looked so happy in there and I was delighted a few months later when they started laying eggs. What could be better, cute little characters that actually give back! Then it happened. Lady Grey was suddenly unwell. She would stay in the coop instead of coming to scold me when I arrived with their wheat and pellets. I was worried. But, after consulting with my chicken-expert neighbour, I discovered that Lady Grey was broody, and I came home with seven fertilized eggs to put under her. We weren’t sure how Miss Blackie was going to react to chicks, since she showed no signs of being broody at all. Lady Grey showed herself to be a wonderful sitter. I threw a little less food out for Miss Blackie and put some in the coop for the Lady. Then one day, no Miss Blackie came running for her food. Sure enough, there was Miss Blackie, in the coop sitting on her latest egg. I took it out, reminding her that her eggs aren’t fertilized because we have no Lord of the Coop. She flapped and squawked at me and then climbed on top of Lady Grey. And that was it. No imploring of mine could persuade that bird that she should not be in that nesting box. She was determined to be co-mother. Every day, I pulled her out of Lady Grey’s box, every day she went back. Then the hatching began. I pulled Miss Blackie out of the nesting books, Lady Grey came out too, followed by a little yellow chick. And to my surprise, a little black chick followed Miss Blackie into the other nesting box. As the days past, five little chicks appeared. And two happy hens clucked about the coop taking turns sitting in the nesting boxes. We had the little yellow chick, two greys, a black and a gold one. They were beautiful, and they sat under a different hen every time I checked on them. This might look like a truly modern family story. But in truth, it did become clear that the chicks knew Lady Grey was their mother. It was to her they ran if they were frightened. But Miss Blackie doesn’t seem to know they prefer Lady Grey. And sometimes, not knowing is just fine in life, whether you are a chicken or a person.

1000 Days --1 % Celebration, what is the other 99%?

Today marks 1000 days since the September 4th earthquake. That's the one that took out my house. Since then, I've lived in 3 houses. Yesterday the EQC (Earthquake Commission) and Fletcher's Building contractors visited our new house to sort out the scope of work that needs to be done here. (We bought the house and, OH JOY, we get to work through the repairs.) Isn't it funny how we love to mark time. Frankly, at 53 I'm ready to stop marking the time of my birth, except for the presents and cake bit. Sometimes you wonder if we ought to go on and on marking out the time of events. But today, 1000 days from the first Christchurch earthquake, we are marking the time. Today hasn't exactly looked like a celebration, no one served me any cake. It seems to be to feel more like a day of complaint. Now, I must say, many people have reasons to make it a day of complaint and stress. Three years on and there are still people living in broken houses, driving roads full of holes and bumps, and struggling with insurance companies. And I think of those people often. But today, I'm going to take a little time on this 1000th day to do a little personal celebration. It is easier to celebrate the 1000th day from the September earthquake, where only buildings, land and roads were broken. 1000 days later: 1. I have a house. A very nice house. Okay, it needs some repair, still it is a nice house. 2. I hardly ever feel an aftershock. 3. There is always something to talk about in every crowd of people. Even after 1000 days since the first earthquake, if the chat dries up, we can share earthquake stories. 4. I know how to drive an obstacle course. I mean, Christchurch roads are nearly all obstacle courses, so one must learn this new skill. 5. I've learned to drive the roads based on road names. Landmark buildings are mostly gone...had to learn the road names, didn't I? 6. I've made a lot of new friends. When you move to the other side of the city and have to find a new church, one bonus is new friends! 7. I've learned to appreciate the mundane. Excitement is completely overrated. 8. I am shaken out of my ruts. All those road closures force me to learn to navigate new paths to the places I want to go. 9. New Regent Street has reopened, not that my hubby has taken me out to eat there yet! 10.My daughter and son-in-law bought a new house. Okay, they had to work through an extraordinary amount of paperwork because of all the earthquake and insurance issues, and the post-earthquake house prices are way too high because of lack of available housing, but still they have a lovely new house. Did I say, it needs repairs? So, there you go, ten little personal celebrations to mark the 1000th day since the September 4th earthquake . Ten little markers to be the 1%. We'll save the 99% (complaints, grumbles and depression) for another day!

Life after...

It's May 30th 2013. So much time as passed since the major earthquakes struck the city of Christchurch. There have been numerous natural disasters around the world since we had ours. The news seems ever full of these huge events. I can't decide if there are more of them, or if I have become super sensitive to the pain of those who are going through such events. It has been so long since I updated this blog. The new normal of our life here seems almost mundane, but today, I realized once again that having gone through an event like ours, means that life has changed for me forever. I called Richard at work at 7am like I do most Wednesday mornings because he tries to be at work somewhere between 5:30-6 am. I always call to make sure he made there safely while I was sleeping. (So far, so good) "Did you feel the earthquake this morning?" he asks. "No, was there another?" says me. "Yup, quiet a long rumbling one. I heard it coming." I knew what he meant. A few, short years ago, that conversation would have made no sense to me. Now it is a part of my life. I reached for my phone and it was quiet easy to find geonet to check the size and depth of the earthquake. (It was a shallow 3.5, on the east side of the city). The fact that geonet.co.nz is so easy to find on my phone and computer is part of the new normal as well. But when I think about it, my smart phone is new, my house is new, having only two children living is new, my car is new. I have a new way of living. I'm alittle different myself. But not all that different and new in my life has do with the earthquakes. Life changes. I don't know what would be different in my life today if there had been no Christchurch earthquake on September 10, 2010. I don't know what life would look like for me had there been no earthquake February 22, 2011. I guess it doesn't matter. Every person who goes through a disaster, big or little, natural or manmade, personal or public, experiences change. And change can be awful...but it can also be good.

Leaving the stress behind.

I get on a plane in a few hours to fly away for two weeks. Richard keeps encouraging me to leave the stress behind and just enjoy my time away.

Here's why I find that nearly impossible.

1. We found a new house. We want to start actions on it quickly, as the market is tight. So while getting ready to go away, I have my ear to a phone making arrangements to see, and investigate negotiating with our insurance about this house. Getting ready to go is not a stress-free event!

2. Richard went away to the Phillipines and I KNEW we would have a 5 pointer while he was gone. And we did. Now I'm sure they will have one (we are over-due) a good-size earthquake while I'm gone. I think I'm an earthquake predictor now.

3. I've lost my confidence that things will go right for me. I used to be a very confident person. I felt that the world was there and I could achieve and do what I want. I felt loved and certain. But events in our lives leading up to the earthquake, then the earthquake and now in negotiating with powerful insurance companies, I feel vulernable. Even worse, I now 'know' that everything can go wrong. I worry that things will go wrong with those I leave here. I guess it is that impeding sense of doom that people often talk about.

But, I'm going to try to get on that plane and just enjoy my journey. Maybe that is what I should always do in life. Even when the trip through life is bumpy, a sense that this is a journey, and ultimately earth is not my home. The final destination is going to be great, and as much as I can, I should enjoy the journey, and hang-on, trusting God when it isn't so great.

But right now, I need to get ahold of that real-estate woman.
:)

Demolishing and Disappointment

I know and know it has been ages since I've written. It is all because of the earthquake I assure you. You probably think I'm kidding, but I'm not. I have a growing realisation that the earthquake is still affecting us in rahter big ways. One way is in great disappointments. I don't write much when I'm living in disappointment zones.

Our house deal fell through. Negotiations with the insurance over the house we were attempting to purchase broke down after 2 months of work. I don't think the word disappointment can convey the depth of emotions this produced in me for the last couple of days.

I wasn't the only one disappointed, the man trying to sell us his house also faced the disappointment and he in turn must have passed that on to people in the North Island who were to sell their house to him. Earthquakes bring a few bad days, even after they have passed by.

On a happier note, we are seeing an awful lot of demolishing of buildings going on. For the most part, we feel that this is a good thing, for clearing the rubble means we can get on with building the new. And getting on with the new beginning is what we all want to happen.

I just wish my insurance provider would let me have my new beginning.

5.5 Why?

So people outside Christchurch often question why we continue to have these earthquakes. Friends and family wonder how we endure. They also question why we remain in Christchurch.

We get alot of information about earthquakes, here in Christchurch. We are regular told that we will have aftershocks, they will decline in size and frequency, but it will be 2-10 years time frame. And yes, the thought of that kind of time-scale is discouraging. But we are also used to discouraging time-scales. Our city will be 10-15 years, or longer, in rebuilding. My church has been given a 3-5 year projection date before it's building will be restored or rebuilt. But hey, I've been out of my house for 14 months and still have no idea when the insurance will be settled. We know and must accept this long-term plan of recovery, including aftershocks.

Each time we get a swarm of aftershocks,like we had this week which included the 5.5 yesterday, we feel it. Our children wake up, we once again here every sound that might be the rumble of an earthquake, and we know our city will be set back alittle. Insurance companies point to these events as the reason they will not re-insure in the city. We can't move forward again.

A 5.5 is a respectable earthquake in its own right, it wobbles, and shakes a few things down, but it shouldn't brigh us to our knees. It doesn't have that kind power...unless we let it.

5.5 Why?