Kris Massie's memories of Kitwe.
Part 21
In time we built an office in the style of a Nissen Hut at the rear of the house. This is a prefabricated steel structure made from a half wall and cylindrical skin of corrugated steel to form the roof. (A variant of the Quonset hut used extensively during WWII and as far back as WWI). Inside the office to the right near the front door, was the office proper. The rest of the space sported a full ‘N’ scale electric model train set, all laid out and in working order! Husband had been collecting carriages, engines, stations, buildings et al for years and I was even roped in to make trees from matchsticks for the trunks and ‘pretend’ foliage of lichen bought in packets ... when friends came to visit after lunch the men would be off to 'play trains’ ...
I had given up active Red Cross duty as it was not feasible to continue when living a little further out of town. Husband continued in his capacity as a Director and he was also a Kitwe Lions Club member. As the wives of the Lions we could attend functions with our husbands but also lend a hand with fund raising.
We now had three dogs, an acquired black Labrador answering to Penny (mostly Fat Belly Penny despite being initially christened Lady Penelope) to make up the trio. On requesting strawberries one day I was told there weren’t any. ‘What? Don’t be silly there are many!’ ‘No, nothing ready yet’ was the muttered reply from our house servant Luka - ‘the dogs …’ ‘Dogs? Now that’s outrageous, someone’s stealing!’ ‘No Madam, the dogs. Wait I show you.’
So a couple of days later when Luka summoned me and in hushed tones said ‘come’, we crept over to the edge of the terrace to view the patch. There to find Penny and Snoopy slowly wandering down each row, sniffing, and eating the ripe berries - taking it in turns too mind!! I would never have believed it if I hadn’t seen them with my own eyes.
Three black cats, Polly the only female with Wally and Doodle (‘all-the-day’) made up our menagerie. It is just as well to relate a subsequent litter Polly had of four black kittens plus amazingly, one absolute Siamese look-alike! We kept ‘her’ and ‘she’ was named Cleopatra … and on a given day to our horror, the ‘she’ we discovered to be a Claude …
The cats were mainly outdoors during the night as they hunted the rodents one always finds on farms. It was one night when we heard an awful screeching sound and on investigation could neither see nor find anything. The following morning I missed Doodle when giving them their breakfast. A little later one of our workers came with the news he’d found Doodle, spread eagled on the lawn and quite dead with claw marks in his back. It was that night he’d been unfortunate enough to be taken by an owl we think, who had found him a little too heavy to fly with and so had dropped him.
A friend visited one day accompanied by a holidaying Australian vet. During the course of his visit an idea was put to him and he heartily agreed to 'doctor' our three remaining cats and in exchange for this he'd take payment in two bottles of Campari I had somehow acquired. I have no idea how I came to have these in our cabinet and perhaps they were left by the previous owner. Anyway ‘our’ vet adored the stuff so fair exchange-no robbery was the deal!
We acquired pigs after building 4 styes across from the track opposite the pine forest, each having two ‘rooms' separated by a low wall and open one end between the two for access to both. One room had a thatched area for sleeping and the other for feeding from a large trough. Pigs are really clean animals, they select their toilet in an opposite corner to their trough. It was hosed every day with a change of straw and the manure collected for drying and compost use, as was the manure from our other animals.
Our one sow was such a lovely animal. She would hear my voice and grunt her greeting well before seeing me. The minute her small eyes met mine she’d throw herself on her side waiting to be tickled. If you stopped before she had had her required dose she’d nudge your hand with her snout! She duly delivered in excess of ten piglets for her first littler – tell me they aren’t beautiful!!
Cattle, goats, rabbits, chickens and ducks followed. Adjacent the stiles we built the cattle camp with a barn type building and following on, the goat camp and their quarters. A further building housed rabbit hutches and a little forward of these, a chicken and duck run behind the office.
A word about our Ram – he deserves a capital R … Rumbles by name and inherited from the previous owner. Oh, and hand reared and sometimes becoming just a wee bit too familiar … he got out of the enclosure one day and trotted, well probably galloped to the front door which he had spied with his calculating yellow eyes to be open. Luka was busy in the lounge when Rumbles made his entrance and a somewhat startled and now much paler Luka sprang onto the dining table trembling in fear. Rumbles commenced having a go at my indoor plants ignoring Luka’s yells but no 2 heard the commotion and came running. Rumbles took fright and tried to exit via the large window and most surprisingly, his lovely horns did no damage! He’d upset a few pot plants before being chased out onto the veranda and round the house where the herder got hold of him.
I had a personal 'encounter’ with Rumbles. It was a Sunday and we had given the herder the afternoon off which required our keeping an eye on him and his harem of Nannies. Time came to herd them into their sleeping quarters. No problems with the Nannies but Rumbles, now he was playing very hard to get. I was standing with my back to their quarters gesticulating with my hand and firmly using a loud voice shouting ‘Get in right now. Come on.’ This had no effect so I raised my voice an octave … and the next minute, head down, he charged! There was absolutely no time to think nor indeed, find a hiding place … my husband had meanwhile retreated behind a tree … as Rumbles was about to butt me.
I instinctively leap-frogged over him using his horns as leverage … Not only was I surprised by my act but he looked around positively bewildered at not finding his mark. I now yelled at him then and thankfully in shock, he quietly went through the gate which I quickly closed. I then turned on my dear husband and decorum forbids my relating the words I used!!
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