Monthly Archives: April 2006

More rain, making it almost a quarter of the annual rainfall falling in just 3 days. No local flooding this time – each year there have been winter storms that flood large areas of the paddocks, but no wind and no flooding this time. Harry, on the other coast, got a flood warning but the Rangitikei river stayed just within its banks this time.

The hens spill so much grain from their automated feeder that I’ve scooped up waste each morning for a few days and now stopped using it; I’ll only use it when we’re away from now on.

Fantails inside upstairs and down, making a tremendous squeeking din for their small size. Mouse upstairs keeps running around my room, the hallway, and Karola’s study – must exterminate! Swifts darting about outside; a small infestation of cluster flies, nothing like previous plague years; I expect the swifts help.

Hawkes Bay Weather: 13°C—16°C; easterly breeze; 81mm rain. [77.7]

Rain all day. I counted the sheep when letting them out this morning couldn’t get 71, was a couple short. Karola then reminded me that we’d put a couple of wether lambs with Nelson, so we havn’t lost any yet.

A major branch cracked and broke, but didn’t fall from the Chinese Hawthorne – a shrub that’s turned into a tree.

Spoke to Alan Ladbrooke about the orchard. The remaining Braeburns were not up to export standard and will be picked next week for juicing. A week later Alan will begin clearing the oldest Royal Gala block – cutting all but the main trunk ready for tree uprooting by The Green Machine. So there’s several weeks before he needs access to the Top paddock area to be planted in peaches.

Hawkes Bay Weather: 15°C—16°C; easterly breeze; 58mm rain. [78.3]

Rained fairly consistently all day – large puddles everywhere but no thunder or lightening nor gale force winds, though other parts of the country have had that and local paper advises us to expect it over the weekend.

Hawkes Bay Weather: 13°C—17°C; northerly breeze; 37mm rain. [77.9]

Took trailer back to HireEquip in Hastings this morning – $26 for a one-day hire. Then picked up replacement credit cards for us both – BNZ had 1600 card numbers stolen by thieves in the UK and our card number was one of them.

Also went to Mitre-10 and bought a 35m construction-site grade power cable and a replacement 115mm disk for the electric grinder – too large as it turned out so I’ll have to exchange it for the right size of 100mm. Then went to Farmlands and bought 25kg of universal nuts (sheep nuts) to tempt Nelson with, and 50m of runout cable for the electric fencing – you use it to go underground at gateways and the like.

Nelson and wether #503 still safely inside the ram paddock this morning; later in the afternoon I drafted wether #540 to join them and they did seem happier as a trio, as suggested by David Hildreth. Geese are not impressed though.

Karola had Sherpa Cleaners in today and they did a bit of a springclean in preparation for Karola’s monster 60th birthday bash on 14th May. I plan to let Nelson in with the ewes on 14th May too.

Hawkes Bay Weather: 7°C—19°C; no rain. [77.9]

Went into Hastings and hired a trailer with wire sides (crate). Karola put mulch on the floor and I added 4 hay bales to make a comfortable loosebox for a ram. We towed the trailer with the landrover, Bicka on the rear jump seat as usual, and went 35k up the Napier-Taihape road and then 2.3k up the Glen Ross side road to meet David Hildreth, breeder of Romney sheep. He gave us the choice of three rams, one 4-year old and two younger and smaller ones. We chose the big old one and took him home. He cost $200 (plus GST). Karola named him Nelson after one of her naval heroes. Nelson was quite a small man, so it’s a bit of a joke the ram being like a small horse.

After jointly visiting the dentist for a couple of hours, the rest of the afternoon was spent strengthening the ram paddock fence and introducing a wether lamb for company for Nelson.

Hawkes Bay Weather: 9°C—20°C; south-westerly turing to north-westerly wind in the afternoon; no rain. [78.9]

Rained all morning and very light drizzle in the afternoon; too damp to do anything except feed the animals.

Rang David Hildreth junior and we have an appointment with a ram at 10:00am tomorrow about 35k away up the Taihape road.

Hawkes Bay Weather: 12°C—17°C; northerly breeze; 18mm rain. [77.8]

I took in the tyre off the trailer that went flat on Friday – they checked and could find nothing wrong so we’ll wait a few days and see if it goes down again. I put more Zinc Sulphate in the sheep foot trough that they all go through in the morning – it’s supposed to reduce and cure footrot. Karola gave the sheep a bale of hay when putting them back in the Top paddock for the night.

Mike Croucher came and mowed the lawns today.

Hawkes Bay Weather: 14°C—20°C; northerly breeze; no rain. [78.0]

Campbell and I finished the new temporary fence today – 150 metres of netting fence. We then cut him a bundle of 40 bamboo poles, about 3.5 metres long – for building a bamboo wall at their place up in Auckland. Campbell and Jane left at 11:30am.

In the afternoon I redid the electric fence along the ha-ha; boisterous lambs pulled it apart when Karola was leading them back for the night yesterday.

Hawkes Bay Weather: 14°C—22°C; northerly breeze; no rain. [78.5]

Today I finished flailing the Back paddock, including some of the geese enclosure; Campbell took down the fence dividing the Back paddock into the Geese Enclosure and the rest; we both then fitted the post hole digger onto the Fergie and quite quickly installed three posts to hold the new temporary netting fence turning the Back Paddock into the Ram paddock (with added companionship from the geese – if theyr’e still there tomorrow). We strung three #8 wires for the netting before darkness fell – well actually just after darkness fell, working by torchlight and the Landrover headlights, helped by Jane and Karola.

This morning the Landrover wouldn’t start – clicked as if the starter motor was jammed. Karola called the AA – turned out it was simply a problem with chemical buildup on the battery terminals shorting out most, but not all, of the current. I’m a bit ashamed I didn’t spot that.

Ringa Ormond came over for lunch.

Hawkes Bay Weather: 7°C—22°C; northerly breeze; no rain. [78.1]

Hartley arrived at 9:00am. Campbell, Hartley and I then unloaded the 115 bushell boxes and stacked them in the big shed – about 1/3 of them are in good condition and another 1/3 easily made so by cannibalising other boxes – so I’ll have over 60 good boxes costing about $3 each, including transport. A cardboard archive box costs $4 – $5.

Then we set up Hartley with Karola to create some strong tree guards from old sheep netting – Hartley’s job was to crimp the ends of the wires making neat circles of netting.

Meanwhile Campbell and I cut up a large branch that had fallen from an oak near the Scott’s boundary. The Hastings Tree Surgeon team had come and cut the cracked and drooping branch off the tree, mulching the foliage and sawing the branch up into large lengths so all we had to do was cut these up into firewood and take the 4 – 5 very thick pieces to join Karola’s collection of logs under the Canary Island Pine in the Triangle paddock.

Hartley finished his mornings work by setting up electric fence for the sheep in the new grass paddock, along the top lip of the ha-ha – he actually came back for half an hour after lunch to finish it off.

Campbell and I spent an hour or so greasing and putting oil in the old, nasty flail mower and – with difficulty – attaching it to the Fergie. I then spent the entire afternoon flailing the blackberry and iris and other weeds in and around the (now removed) old fenceline between the Back and Middle paddocks. I wrapped two long lengths of fence wire round the flail by mistake; Campbell, Jane and I spent half an hour cutting it free. I continued flailing away until dark.

Meanwhile Campbell surveyed the route of the new temporary netting fence we hope to put up tomorrow – being the expected layout for the southern end of the Ram paddock. The Ram paddock comprises the current Geese Enclosure and about 2/3 of the rest of the Back paddock. The remainder of the Back paddock will become an extension of the Middle paddock. The Ram paddock will be the home for our new ram when he’s not entertaining – we expect to purchase him in the next week or so.

Hawkes Bay Weather: 7°C—20°C; no rain. [78.3]

Continued taking down the old fence – removing the post with the Fergie. Only remains to mulch up the blackberry and other weeds along the route of the fence and it’s all gone. Hartley and I then picked up 5 trailer loads of wood – from the Robinia logs along the new drive, the elm branches which were windfalls in the Back paddock, and some of the oak branch that fell down a few months ago, also in the Back paddock.

In the afternoon I completed installation of another post in the ha-ha. Campbell arrived around 5:00pm with the 115 bushell boxes I’d bought up in Auckland thanks to an item on TradeMe.

Hawkes Bay Weather: 7°C—19°C; no rain. [77.4]

Karola and I put the new white board (1metre high, 2 metres long) up on the inside wall of the office.

Hartley finished removing the middle 6 staples from the posts of the fence to be moved. He then rerouted electric fence to avoid sheep eating the young Pittisporum trees in front of the geese enclosure, and he deconstructed an old small roof that Karola had been wanting to get rid of for over a year.

Late morning Hartley and I began dismantling the last remaining very old fence – that separates the Middle paddock from the Back paddock. About 1/2 done.

In the afternoon I went back to the ha-ha and continued with some fencing there.

Fantail is making itself a regular visitor inside – chirping away and flying from lampshade to lampshade.

Couple of days ago the sheep knocked over the automatic chook feeder, spilling quite a lot of wheat in the process and losing the little red bung. Well I found the bung and replaced it, and today I, noticing that the chooks or something else had eaten all the spilled wheat, reinstated the automatic feeder. It was quite charming to see the chicks – well young hens really – stretching their necks to give a gentle peck on the red button – releasing a gentle shower of fresh wheat.

Jane Heslop arrived late this afternoon; Campbell Ewing arrives tomorrow – they’re staying for the weekend.

Hawkes Bay Weather: 9°C—21°C; southerly turning to northerly wind in the afternoon; no rain. [78.0]

Hartley came round at 8:30am and between us we put up a waratah (metal post) and netting fence between the end of the Island paddock and the southern (Scotts’) boundary. This is so that the sheep can be contained when I quickly take down and move the current fence between the Top paddock and the orchard once Alan says he wants to start cultivation preparing for planting the peaches.

My $170 whiteboard arrived today – 1m x 2m. It’ll go up on the wall in the office tomorrow.

Rained most of the afternoon; ha-ha basically very muddy so no work there until it dries out a bit.

Hawkes Bay Weather: 11°C—17°C; northerly wind; 17mm rain. [77.6]

Much mucking about with the sheep – they escaped into the garden whilst we were rearranging some of their electric fence and they took off down the drive to feast on acorns. Eventually they were all back where they were supposed to be – and no native trees were damaged in the process – whew!

More with the ha-ha in the afternoon, and Karola continued gardening.

Hawkes Bay Weather: 12°C—22°C; northerly wind in the afternoon; no rain. [77.0]

Sheep inspected; geese fed and inspected; bantams counted – all OK. Computer work with the Mac mini in the morning. In the afternoon I did a bit more on the ha-ha – but wires broke and things generally didn’t cooperate so by evening I was approximately back where I started out. Karola did more weeding, her favorite occupation when it’s nice outside.

Hawkes Bay Weather: 7°C—20°C; northerly wind in the afternoon; no rain. [78.2]

We got back around 8:00pm. Place still dry and the animals are all OK.

Hawkes Bay Weather: 7°C—18°C; southerly wind turning northerly in the afternoon; no rain. [?]

Hawkes Bay Weather: 7°C—18°C; southerly wind; no rain. [?]

Hawkes Bay Weather: 5°C—19°C; no rain. [?]

Hawkes Bay Weather: 8°C—16°C; 2mm rain. [?]

Hawkes Bay Weather: 10°C—19°C; southerly wind; no rain. [?]

Hawkes Bay Weather: 9°C—21°C; southerly wind; no rain. [?]

Diverted in the morning to talking with Bridget on the phone about trying to fix her husband’s computer – or at least find out what’s wrong with it. By this evening it had started working again with no-one really sure why; frustrating.

More work done on the ha-ha.

Sheep into Back/Middle paddocks where they’ll stay until we return. Jackson Smith is going to come and look the animals over every couple of days while we’re away.

Karola is having a 60th birthday lunch next month – she spent last night and this morning sending invitations.

Hawkes Bay Weather: 13°C—21°C; north-westerly winds, gusty, no rain. [77.9]

Spent morning doing backups – Bridget called yesterday to say her husband’s home computer was playing up and they hadn’t got a recent backup so she’s worried. Karola suggested I too should have recent backups – so I did some for Karola’s e-mails and documents (2 CD-ROMs) and then my own – 35 CD-ROMs so far.

Worked on the ha-ha from lunchtime onwards. Finished two strainer assemblies on the corner where the ha-ha turns 45 degrees to go south.

Fantail keeps coming inside – into the dining room and hall downstairs, the hall and our bedroom and my study upstairs, and upstairs in the cottage. We keep letting it out by opening windows.

There’s a noisy rat chewing in the cottage kitchen – and signs of rats in the hay in the big shed.

The 3 youngest chicks are now roosting on the adult chicken perch while the 6 older ones are still nesting in the green shed against some hay bales.

Hawkes Bay Weather: 9°C—22°C; no rain. [76.9]

In the morning collected 2 chainsaw chains that had been resharpened and bought batteries for the electric fence energizers and 5 litres of tractor engine oil.

At lunchtime I went to the local garage and refilled 2 10-litre jerrycans with diesel and 3 5-litre petrol cans for the lawn mowers, topper, and electric generator.

The rest of the day was spent on fencing work for the ha-ha.

Hawkes Bay Weather: 10°C—24°C; no rain. [78.1]

More reorganising of the office and purchase of stationary for it. Got haircut and anti-flu vaccination; Karola also got the anti-flu jab.

Hawkes Bay Weather: 9°C—21°C; no rain. [77.7]

Before breakfast I used the Fergie to move the chook house closer under the big oak tree – since moving it from beside the drive last week the bantams have ignored it. So now there’s all a chook could desire clustered under the big oak, in some bushes at its base: automatic feeder, automatic water fountain, and spacious accommodation for nesting hens.

Later I took the old tennis lawn netting poles – galvanised iron poles set in concrete – up to the big shed – 2 trips and I went along the public road and up the orchard drive as the gates are wider that way. The poles are about 12 feet long and so I went backwards along the avenue from the 133 Ormond Rd entrance to the 145 Ormond Rd entrance so that the overhang to the side went over the ditch, not into the opposing traffic lane.

While we were at the big shed Karola helped me mend a loose downpipe. I went aloft in the Fergie’s bucket and applied solvent and a couple of nails; Karola pulled levers to make the bucket ascend and descend.

Next I attached the weed sprayer and Karola and I sprayed the deadly Roundup on:

• the 2.5 metre wide planting strip up the side of the orchard drive
• the 4 metre wide planting strip along the road frontage, from the end of the toitoi and manuka plantings in the northern corner up to the oak tree on the Homestead (southern) side of the depression
• the centre strip along the back drive

Then Karola suggested I top the New Grass and move the electric fence so that the sheep still go through their foot trough with its Zinc Sulphate and bark chippings solution but eat in the Triangle paddock instead of the New Grass. The topping took about 90 minutes; the sheep really liked the new growth in the Triangle.

As darkness descended I did a bit more to the Ha-Ha. After dinner we located the two bantam hens with their chicks and relocated them in the moved chook house; we’ll see if they get the hint tomorrow night.

Hawkes Bay Weather: 13°C—22°C; no rain. [?]

In the morning, after visit to the dentist, I got the PTO bar for the post hole digger mended ($80) and it arrived soon after lunch. Bevan Clarke from Waipukarau sold us the digger – an auger that is driven off the Fergie PTO and raised and lowered using the Fergie’s 3-point hydraulic linkage. He delivered it and advised and helped as I dug our first hole – it looks very promising for tree planting and for fence posts.

I did a bit more on the fence where it joins the ha-ha. Karola did a lot of weeding around the old circle at the front of the Homestead. Mike Croucher came and mowed the lawns.

Hawkes Bay Weather: 13°C—24°C; southerly wind; no rain. [77.7]

Sheep behaved. We went to look at a post hole digger to fit on the back of the Fergie – $500 – Massey Ferguson original and quite lightweight which is what we need. It will be delivered tomorrow afternoon. Needs a new PTO attachment, a long 180mm top linkage pin (#1) and is rusty but otherwise looks OK. It’s less than a week’s rental of a post hole digger.

Hawkes Bay Weather: 15°C—26°C; no rain. [77.3]

In the orchard picking of the Bramleys continued until it began raining at lunchtime. Karola and I spent the morning continuing revamping our filing system – then went out on a picnic in the drizzle over in Havelock North – as Noel Hendery said, reminded him of an English picnic.

Hawkes Bay Weather: 12°C—20°C; 1mm rain. [?]

Helped Karola convert some old flower beds behind the Homestead into lawn by delivering several Fergie bucket-loads of topsoil onto the beds.

Some more on the ha-ha in the late afternoon.

Hawkes Bay Weather: 12°C—22°C; no rain. [77.1]