Egg-cellent effort from Brian’s feathered friends.

Well, here we are with the last Rural Living issue for 2011, and on reflection, it’s been a good news and a bad news type of year.

Sadly, it’s been a difficult economic period with most of us feeling the pinch and having to delay some of our forward planning ideas or holding off on making purchases.

Our sympathy goes out to the Christchurch people and for the continued grief of those involved in the Pike River mine saga.

Let’s hope the New Year brings them all some normality.

The good news for me has been the Rugby World Cup. It really was the icing on the cake. Those of us lucky enough to have been at some of the games and who experienced some of the activities on the Waterfront will retain the memories for a long time.

As always, we lifestylers have had our year dictated by the weather but on the whole, 2011 has been reasonably good to us.

Last summer was one of the best for a number of years and although we ran short of feed over the winter, the weather was quite mild and kind to our animals.

Spring this year was great with such good growth so here’s hoping for another great summer.

Our horse Elsudoku is back at work having benefitted from his four month spell. He has grown a lot over this time and we are hoping for a win or two in the new year.

Brood mare, Willowbrook is looking superb and is in foal to Real Desire. Our young steers have grown enormously and have benefitted from the abundance of spring grass.

The sheep have been shorn and are looking contented while our hens have been behaving themselves with egg production really high.

Not forgetting our ducklings – they are nearly full size and so tame. They’ll even eat right off the top of my shoes if any crumbs have fallen that way.

So, as you can see, things really are looking good for summer. What’s more, I must say ‘thanks’ to all the people we rely on to service our property.

Special thanks to our Rural Delivery team of Ruth and Dave Watson. They are always so obliging and so helpful. If we are away they store our mail and on the day we return with find it on our doorstep.

Also thanks to the repair teams at Mr Motorcycles and Downs Stihl Shop and also to the electricians, painters and many other tradespeople who have assisted us over 2011.

I have also been amazed, at the feedback my column has received and for this I thank you, the readers.

Finally I have received several letters relating to my fireworks article which I will follow up on next month but do read the article on page five which directly relates to my own concerns

In the meantime, I wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.