Let's go for a little walk...

Enjoying a walk around the upper section of the pine forest whilst checking for alien regrowth after last year's veld fires is thirsty work. Hobbes and Baloo are seen here, not so subtly hinting that it is time to return home and get a drink!

The photographer / joint inspector reckons that being able to take photos at Oak Grove Farm is worth the investment in his fancy new Canon Digital SLR and the exercise is surely good for his body, mind and soul...

Evidence of the fire having literally licked the leaves of the Oak Trees is seen here in this photo of me in the lower dam with Hobbes and Baloo, one of the places where I practice my art of Reiki Healing for animals.
This photo shows the expanse of the farm as yet unestablished in the landscaping arena. Note the bare area around Rooibos House
Of course one needs to take time out to relax after getting fit running up and down the hill between the units. It had been quite some time since I considered myself fit in any way and the guage of one's fitness level is judged by one's rate of recovery - so I practised that a lot!! The burned pine forest in the distance still looks virtually identical
Yes, and there the dogs and I were, running up and down the hill - again! Just for the photo though... I am always looking for new photo opportunites for my other blogs, like Rainbow Kidz

BEFORE THE FIRE...
This is how the farm was in our first month of being here - before the fire! Before the houses were finished, before the gardens were planted, before, before, before...
We had just completed the wire fencing job on the white picket fence around Lavender Cottage, to ensure that our two rather large hounds, suitably named Hobbes and Baloo after their cartoon namesakes, would remain confined when necessary - and, of course, to have an accredited "pet-friendly" establishment in the future.
Note the large alien vegetation in the bottom left photo which soon got burned out! Now it has regrown after the fire to about 1m already and we are using poison donated by the DWAF Working for Water program to create areas of completely rehabilitated Fynbos land.
Personal note from author: One sometimes wonders what it is all about when your neighbour goes out hunting for the indigenous Rooikat under the auspices of them taking lambs... And that Fynbos behind Baloo in the picture of him with the Red Hot Pokers, well that is already all gone, for sheep food. I ask merely, what happens to that land if the rains don't come? Where is the respect, where is the love, where is the conscience, are we not all connected?