![\"Maisie,](\"http:\/\/www.charmedlife.co.nz\/cowboybootsandbrokenfingers\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/bailing-twine-2015-10-27-96-1024x683.jpg\")
<\/a>Maisie, looking as if she could never be a Bad Dog…<\/p><\/div>\n
Giselle\u00a0sat there wobbling, looking down at the rushing water while saying\u00a0“book-book” in\u00a0despondent tones. We left her there to sort herself out, but an hour or so later her wobbles were\u00a0wobblier and her ‘booking’ more mournful, and a rescue effort was deemed necessary.<\/p>\n
The\u00a0Forbearing Husband and I took one side of the willow tree each. He made encouraging noises and tried to gently herd Giselle toward land with a bamboo pole, while I waded in — ready to grab\u00a0her should she fall. It was deeper out there than I had thought and both my\u00a0gumboots promptly filled up with very cold water. Giselle first pretended not to notice us, and then turned her back and began to jig up and down in a way which seemed to communicate her intention to jump to her death if\u00a0we persisted in\u00a0being so very vexing.<\/p>\n
There was nothing else for it. I removed\u00a0my wet clothes (about then the Forbearing Husband may have been\u00a0humming The Stripper<\/a>\u00a0— <\/em>he’s known to make the best of any situation), and climbed into a kayak in my underwear. Paddling down stream was surprisingly enjoyable. The stream is about 4m wide and perhaps 2m deep, lined with\u00a0overhanging willows and flaxes. On the other side is a large dairy farm whose\u00a0grazing cows serve nicely to\u00a0complete our\u00a0scenic outlook (thank you neighbour!). Anyway, about 50m worth of gliding gently through this bucolic bliss brought\u00a0me up alongside\u00a0an hysterical and possibly suicidal guinea hen.<\/p>\n The stream on a different day. Ignore the foreground weeds – ragwort I think. \ud83d\ude41<\/p><\/div>\n Working against the current I painstakingly\u00a0positioned the kayak’s bow to create\u00a0a bridge between Giselle\u00a0and the stream bank. Then with some effort I held everything\u00a0steady.\u00a0Giselle declined to board. I was close enough to grab her, but frightened\u00a0to in case she panicked and flapped and both of us fell out of the kayak to a watery grave.<\/p>\n There we sat for several minutes until with an exasperated ‘BOOK-BOOK’ Giselle\u00a0flew to safety. She’d just suddenly remembered she could, she said. And, she said, if you hadn’t been BOTHERING me so much I might have remembered sooner. The Forbearing Husband and I retired to the house for a hot shower and a cup of tea.\u00a0Sigh. That’s what you get for trying to rescue fowl.<\/p>\n Giselle + Ghost Dog 4eva<\/p><\/div>\n After her little adventure Giselle has been sticking even closer to Ghost Dog. This afternoon my\u00a0cousin Rachel read in an old Lifestyle Block<\/em> magazine that guinea fowl often choose a\u00a0mate for life. I guess that may mean that sometime\u00a0soon we’ll find \u00a0‘G + G.D. 4eva’ inscribed\u00a0into a\u00a0Macracarpa trunk. Anyway, next time she needs a rescue mission he can do the kayaking!<\/p>\n <\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Continuing the saga of Giselle the guinea fowl… [There are no\u00a0photos of the actual events described here due to the photographer being precariously balanced on stream banks, on the stream bed, and in a kayak. You will have to use… Continue Reading ![\"The](\"http:\/\/www.charmedlife.co.nz\/cowboybootsandbrokenfingers\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/bailing-twine-2015-10-27-99-1024x683.jpg\")
<\/a>![\"G](\"http:\/\/www.charmedlife.co.nz\/cowboybootsandbrokenfingers\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/bailing-twine-2015-10-27-98-1024x683.jpg\")
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