Archives
- February 2025
- January 2025
- December 2024
- November 2024
- October 2024
- September 2024
- August 2024
- July 2024
- June 2024
- May 2024
- April 2024
- March 2024
- February 2024
- January 2024
- December 2023
- November 2023
- October 2023
- September 2023
- August 2023
- July 2023
- June 2023
- May 2023
- April 2023
- March 2023
- February 2023
- January 2023
- December 2022
- November 2022
- October 2022
- September 2022
- August 2022
- July 2022
- June 2022
- May 2022
- April 2022
- March 2022
- February 2022
- January 2022
- December 2021
- November 2021
- October 2021
- September 2021
- August 2021
- July 2021
- June 2021
- May 2021
- April 2021
- March 2021
- February 2021
- January 2021
- December 2020
- November 2020
- October 2020
- September 2020
- August 2020
- July 2020
- June 2020
- May 2020
- April 2020
- March 2020
- February 2020
- January 2020
- December 2019
- November 2019
- October 2019
- September 2019
- August 2019
- July 2019
- June 2019
- May 2019
- April 2019
- March 2019
- February 2019
- January 2019
- December 2018
- November 2018
- October 2018
- September 2018
- August 2018
- July 2018
- June 2018
- May 2018
- April 2018
- March 2018
- February 2018
- January 2018
- December 2017
- November 2017
- October 2017
- September 2017
- August 2017
- July 2017
- June 2017
- May 2017
- April 2017
- March 2017
- February 2017
- January 2017
- December 2016
- November 2016
- October 2016
- September 2016
- August 2016
- July 2016
- June 2016
- May 2016
- April 2016
- March 2016
- February 2016
- January 2016
- December 2015
- November 2015
- October 2015
- September 2015
- August 2015
- July 2015
- June 2015
- May 2015
- April 2015
- March 2015
- February 2015
- January 2015
- December 2014
- November 2014
- October 2014
- September 2014
- August 2014
- July 2014
- June 2014
- May 2014
- April 2014
- March 2014
- February 2014
- January 2014
- December 2013
- November 2013
- October 2013
- September 2013
- August 2013
- July 2013
- June 2013
- May 2013
- April 2013
- March 2013
- February 2013
- January 2013
- December 2012
- November 2012
- October 2012
- September 2012
- August 2012
- July 2012
- June 2012
- May 2012
- April 2012
- March 2012
- February 2012
- January 2012
- December 2011
- November 2011
- October 2011
- September 2011
- August 2011
- July 2011
- June 2011
- May 2011
- April 2011
- March 2011
- February 2011
- January 2011
- December 2010
- November 2010
- October 2010
- September 2010
- August 2010
- July 2010
- June 2010
- May 2010
- April 2010
- March 2010
- February 2010
- January 2010
- December 2009
- November 2009
- October 2009
- September 2009
- August 2009
- July 2009
- June 2009
- May 2009
- April 2009
- March 2009
- February 2009
- January 2009
- December 2008
- November 2008
- October 2008
- September 2008
- August 2008
- July 2008
- June 2008
- May 2008
- April 2008
- March 2008
- February 2008
- January 2008
- December 2007
- November 2007
- October 2007
- September 2007
- August 2007
- July 2007
- June 2007
- May 2007
- April 2007
- March 2007
- February 2007
- January 2007
- December 2006
- November 2006
- October 2006
- September 2006
- August 2006
- July 2006
- June 2006
- May 2006
- April 2006
- March 2006
- February 2006
- January 2006
- December 2005
- November 2005
- October 2005
- September 2005
- August 2005
- July 2005
- June 2005
- May 2005
- April 2005
- March 2005
- February 2005
- January 2005
Meta
Monthly Archives: December 2009
New Year’s Eve
Karola and the grandsons dagged a couple of very dirty wether lambs today, numbers #910R and #916R. We drenched them with Cydectin that has a withholding period of 10 days before they can be slaughtered for meat. Unlike the London petting zoos with sheep and rabbits and so on, the boys had to get up close and personal with these lambs, holding them so that Karola could wash their bottoms with a hose.
Later I took Anna and Bicka and the boys to Rush Munro (again) and on up Te Mata peak. In the dark we were able to see most of Hastings and Napier spread out far below but we went home well before the firework displays at midnight.
Hawkes Bay Weather:5°C—21°C; no rain [77.9]
Posted in General
Comments Off on New Year’s Eve
Biking? No, Kayaking
Today’s adventure was intended to be a bike ride along the Napier foreshore. We pumped up tyres and found helmets and so on and put my bike and Karola’s bike in the small trailer and trundled off to Napier to the Pandora Kayak hire shop on the edge of the lagoon. Unfortunately the shop did not have bikes suitable for Felix and Barnaby even though we’d rung ahead and they assured us they did. In the end it turned out very well because while karola, Bicka, and I had our picnic in the shade on the edge of the lagoon, Anna and the boys went out for an hour kayacking together and they thoroughly enjoyed it.
Hawkes Bay Weather:7°C—28°C; 1.3 mm rain [78.3]
Posted in General
Comments Off on Biking? No, Kayaking
Bridget Returns to Wellington
Bridget and Chris, Chris’ mother Anna-Marie, and the two grand daughters Natalie and Alex drove off back to Wellington today. Anna, Felix and Bicka and I went to Napier where Bicka and I walked and the others used the Ocean Spa pools.
Hawkes Bay Weather:16°C—30°C; 0.2 mm rain [78.1]
Posted in General
Comments Off on Bridget Returns to Wellington
Our Posh Restaurant Lunch
Long relaxed lunch at Clear View, a posh restaurant/winery on the coast near Haumoana. Afterwards there was swimming at Ocean Spa heated pools in Napier.
Hawkes Bay Weather:16°C—20°C; no rain [78.4]
Posted in General
Comments Off on Our Posh Restaurant Lunch
Splash Planet
The main event today for the children was a trip to Hastings “Splash Planet” with all manner of water rides and splashing machines. Rush Munro icecream (gluten-free) was eaten again today; this was a recurring feature of Anna and Bridget’s stay at Karamu.
Hawkes Bay Weather:16°C—26°C; 0.1 mm rain [78.3]
Posted in General
Comments Off on Splash Planet
Boxing Day 2009
Another nice day and so we set off for a picnic at Waimaramara with its 5 km of golden sand. Relaxing drive through typical Hawkes bay countryside and we parked on the beach domain mostly in the shade and Bridget brought a beach canopy they’d just bought for their holiday up at Katikati in January and that was set up on the beach while the children swam and made sand castles and got slightly sun burned.
Hawkes Bay Weather:12°C—27°C; no rain [78.3]
Posted in General
Comments Off on Boxing Day 2009
Christmas Day In New Zealand
We had a big breakfast; the weather was excellent. Chris helped the children erect a couple of tents on the lawn; Karola spent several hours helping them make a bivouac from bamboo poles and tarpaulins; Bridget and Chris finished the swing and test it. This was the background to a morning session of present opening – a pair of remote controlled toy helicopters from Bridget were a great hit with the boys; Anna brought a DVD of episodes of the BBC series “Outnumbered” which was also a serious hit with the boys over several evenings.
Felix began his responsibility for feeding the hens and geese and collecting the eggs which he did all the time we were at Karamu.
Anna-Marie More, Chris’ mum, had arrived a day early with Chris and helped with the meals and the children.
To Karola’s annoyance, Anna, Bridget, Bicka and I went off to Napier after a light lunch and had a refreshing walk along the foreshore path, leaving her and Chris to look after the children. We did come back mid afternoon and helped set up for the Christmas dinner of turkey and many vegetables followed by an assortment of pavlova, cheesecake, cheese board, and fruit.
Hawkes Bay Weather:11°C—24°C; no rain [77.7]
Posted in General
Comments Off on Christmas Day In New Zealand
Anna Arrives in New Zealand
Karola and I flew up to Auckland, leaving Bicka and Bridget’s family behind to look after the house. Anna’s flight was 20 minutes early and we didn’t have long to wait until we met her and the boys in International Arrivals. The boys rushed off for drinks and snacks while Anna got her brteath – she really hates flying and was so relieved to be off the plane; she said the boys were very very good on the flight to HongKong and on to Auckland.
We picked up the hire car and all got in, just, driving off towards Matamata aiming for Taupo and then Hastings. We stopped for a bite to eat in Titau and had another bio and snack break in Taupo – glorious weather all the way, and then on to Hastings and Karamu. We followed routes: 2, 27, 1, 5, 2, 2B, 50, and 50A to arrive in Twyford, Hastings and Ormond Road.
Hawkes Bay Weather:8°C—25°C; no rain [78.5]
Posted in General
Comments Off on Anna Arrives in New Zealand
Anna Arrives Tomorrow
Bridget, granddaughters and I went into Hastings this morning to pick up a “booster seat” for Barnaby while he’s here and to buy the parts for a garden swing. Late afternoon Bridget and I began the construction – well we got two holes drilled through a thick plum tree branch after much hurrumphing – the drill bits were all too short and got stuck by the sap. Smoke came out of the drill, powered by the little petrol generator. We used the Fergie bucket to get us up high enough to drill the holes.
Karola arranged for the cars to be valeted – cleaned inside – for Christmas which means they now pong but it’ll wear off soon I hope.
Anne-Marie and Chris arrived just before dinner.
Hawkes Bay Weather:8°C—24°C; no rain [78.0]
Posted in General
Comments Off on Anna Arrives Tomorrow
Two Days Till Anna Arrives
Well at last the waiting is over – the official diagnosis is that I have the Coeliac condition; it’s not known when it started but one has to have an hereditary disposition for it and then something such as a particularly virulent virus infection has to trigger it. So no more gluten for me, ever. In many ways a weight of my and Karola’s minds as the alternatives were mainly much worse. It may take up to a year to heal but even then no gluten must be taken ever, forever.
So I can relax and look forward to Thursday when Anna and Felix and Barnaby join Bridget and Natalie and Alex, and Bridget’s Chris and Chris’ mother Ann-Marie all here for Christmas.
Meanwhile Karola and Bridget toiled in the balmy afternoon sun and cleared masses of weeds from around the cottage back door.
Hawkes Bay Weather:7°C—19°C; no rain [78.9]
Posted in General
Comments Off on Two Days Till Anna Arrives
Bridget And Granddaughters Arrive
Before breakfast Karola spent a couple of hours moving electric fence in the orchard paddock but at least she thinks that’ll be all the moving needed until after Christmas.
Several holes in weepy/leaky pipe irrigation fixed by cutting the pipe and rejoining with a dollar plastic push-on connector. Huge thistle blossoming in the planting area at top of orchard drive was cut down just before blooming.
Karola and I went out shopping briefly and arrived home just after Bridget arrived from Wellington. Early nights all round.
Hawkes Bay Weather:3°C—20°C; no rain [79.2]
Posted in General
Comments Off on Bridget And Granddaughters Arrive
Four Days Until Anna Arrives
We went to the Farmers Market in Hastings to pick up our Christmas ham and other food for Christmas. Otherwise the day spent preparing for the Christmas guests.
Hawkes Bay Weather:9°C—26°C; 0.8 mm rain [79.3]
Posted in General
Comments Off on Four Days Until Anna Arrives
Five Days Till Anna Arrives
Karola spent the entire day with more cleaning and organising. meanwhile the sheep just ate and ate.
Hawkes Bay Weather:15°C—26°C; no rain [79.3]
Posted in General
Comments Off on Five Days Till Anna Arrives
Six Days Till Anna Arrives
Slow day but we did together change the two water filters that sieve out the detritus from the rain water – they were so clogged up that the pump was straining to push any water through them and we don’t want a water supply failure when Anna and Bridget are staying here over Christmas. These filters, a 20 micron filter followed by a 5 micron filter, are the devil themselves to unscrew but eventually we did it and this time we didn’t break any of the seals and got the thing all back together quite quickly, touch wood.
Karola has been furiously tidying and cleaning and reorganising but still found time for a trip to Napier to see an old friend, Hilary Jeffries, in a nursing home. Meanwhile I read and computed.
Hawkes Bay Weather: 7°C—25°C; no rain [79.0]
Posted in General
Comments Off on Six Days Till Anna Arrives
Promenade Then Latte
Nothing outside today bar feeding the usual suspects. Napier in the morning – walk for Bicka and me, shopping for Karola. Therapeutic neck massage for me in the afternoon. Strangely cold but mostly sunny.
Hawkes Bay Weather: 6°C—21°C; no rain [78.3]
Posted in General
Comments Off on Promenade Then Latte
All Mown Out
Another earlier start. I filled the several holes in the lawn dug while tracking down the leak under the plum tree by the green shed using some of the topsoil dumped here by Baywide Dingo last week. I also at last filled in a gap under the fence up at the north-west corner of the One Acre paddock.
Before beginning today’s mowing I tidied up the fence wire that I wrapped round the mower last time I did the Goose Enclosure; most of the wire will be reuseable, to my surprise.
I mowed the eastern 1/3rd of the Middle paddock – the main part being a nice crop of seeding plantain and not in need of a mow – and the goose enclosure (aka the ram paddock) and a swathe along the back of the Totara paddock and along the 121 drive. When taking the tractor into the Middle paddock from the Totara paddock I was a bit slow in noticing that several sheep wanted to get in as well. Even though the tracotr and mower took up most of the gateway they charged through and I had to turn off the mower for fear they’d accidentally touch the blades. Karola and I tried to return the 10 or so sheep that got through but to no avail, we ended up chasing them in circles, they liked the plantain seed heads so much. Finally we let all the sheep and lambs into the Middle paddock and then drove them into the Island paddock which also looked new and interesting to them.
I did a bit of Wysteria clipping on the verandah, especially where it was forcing its way up through the verandah floor.
Meanwhile Karola has scavenged some old fence posts from around the place and edged her Taupata hedge with these; she plans to put up shade netting along each side while the trees are small, weighing the netting down with these posts. Despite hares, mowers, and general abuse all the Taupata trees seem to be coming away strongly.
Karola also finished sewing the wind break cloth on her willow tree guards. In the evening Karola had a major cleaning project in washing the windows, walls, and floor of the sun porch in preparation for the Anna invasion next week.
Hawkes Bay Weather: 6°C—20°C; 0.6 mm rain [79.1]
Posted in General
Comments Off on All Mown Out
Mowing For Anna
Up a little earlier today and so after feeding the chooks, geese, and myself I went to Greenleaf Nurseries in Clive and collected our Christmas tree (living). Took it home and then went to the Transfer Station (rubbish collection point) with a small trailerload of earthenware rubble ($18) and collected a couple of lattes on the way back.
It was cool but partly sunny with a mild wind so I completed my thistle spraying programme by spraying the Middle paddock.
Late afternoon I mowed the Front and One Acre paddocks. As if on cue, a heavy shower of rain began just as I was finishing mowing.
I trimmed the Wysteria on the balcony – at this time of year it grows very quickly and tends to obstruct and interfere with essential activities such as sleeping in the hammock.
Hawkes Bay Weather: 4°C—19°C; 2.5 mm rain [78.5]
Posted in General
Comments Off on Mowing For Anna
Temporary Fencing
Mark and Karola put up temporary standards & netting fences at either end of the Orchard paddock so that we can leave sheep with access to it without relying on electric fence. The fencing is temporary because when cultivating the Orchard paddock we want to be able to use the orchard road and space around the big shed as headlands – where tractors can turn to plough or sow in the other direction.
I sprayed thistles in the Totara and Island paddocks; only the Middle paddock to do.
We went into Napier late afternoon and I took Bicka for a walk along the waterfront while Karola shopped.
Hawkes Bay Weather: 10°C—25°C; 0.9 mm rain [78.4]
Posted in General
Comments Off on Temporary Fencing
Hay There
Karola arranged to buy some hay she’d seen advertyised and so off we went mid-morning to Waimaramara where we loaded up 20 bales of not-so-wonderful hay at $5 per small bale. But it will serve as our emergency supply should the grass give out and the sheep become really hungry during the summer drought.
After we returned Karola spent several hours moving the electric fence in the orchard paddock – including cutting the grass from beneath the fence so that it didn’t short out. While Karola did the fence I sprayed thistles in the Front paddock, Goose Enclosure, and part of the Totara paddock. Later we unloaded the hay bales, spreading them out on the floor of the big shed to air.
Hawkes Bay Weather: 12°C—27°C; no rain [78.5]
Posted in General
Comments Off on Hay There
Not Town Again
Another morning blown by a trip into town – this time Napier then Hastings. Karola is still searching garden shops for a large living fir tree to be her Christmas tree and then planted out afterwards. I took Bicka for a walk along the Napier foreshore again, she does like that walk, and then Karola and I had a Latte at “Soak”, the cafe attached to the heated swimming pools on the foreshore.
After lunch Karola, with a little help from me, finished strengthening the office book shelf; in fact we also added two shelves in each of the three 700mm wide units, tall enough to take paperbacks.
Karola continued creating her tree guards, they’re all crimped into netting circles but need the windshield fabric sewn around – this keeps out enquiring sheep noses, and hares, and rabbits.
I tended the Fergie – oil, water, diesel. I then continued with our leak-finding gopher-like hole digging. We solved the mystery we think. It seems that there is already a valve to close off the ancient and very rusted steel irrigation pipe but as this pipe and its many spurs extends for several 100 metres there was enough water in the pipe that turning it off didn’t seem to do anything. Overnight we let that water drain away and it appears that the valve is working and does close off the leaking pipe.
Hawkes Bay Weather: 13°C—27°C; no rain [78.6]
Posted in General
Comments Off on Not Town Again
Two Weeks Till Anna Arrives
Yet another shopping expedition into Hastings. In my case this was to get wood from Mitre-10 to bolster up the sagging shelves of the ticky-tacky bookcase I bought a couple of years ago from K-Mart. I assembled it and it held several tonnes of books in the store room until requisitioned by Karola for the office – then the sagging shelves became starkly apparent.
After lunch we cut the three sheets of MDF into shelf-sized planks – using pre-cut pine planks would have cost $450 whereas the three MDF sheets cost $60 – and doubled up the sagging shelves with the MDF on the bottom.
As evening broke I did some exploratory holes in the lawn near the plum tree, to try and find a persistent leak making a large muddy area under said plum tree. Three holes later we’d located the offending pipe near the plum tree and either I’d located the leak or, more likely, caused another one.
Hawkes Bay Weather: 20°C—30°C; no rain [78.3]
Posted in General
Comments Off on Two Weeks Till Anna Arrives
Penultimate Lawn Mow Before Christmas
Garden Groom came in the afternoon and mowed the lawns.
Again Karola and I (and Bicka) went into Hastings, shopping.
I spent half an hour spraying thistles in the One Acre paddock in the cool of the evening. We’ve gradually realised that spraying is more effective and less physical than chopping the thistles out. Chopping often doesn’t kill the thistle (certainly not Californian Thistles, it just aggravates them and makes them sprout more relatives) and does disturb the earth allowing more weeds in. We’ve also realised that finding all the thistles is difficult; one is never quite sure whether one has sprayed it or not, so now we mark each sprayed thistle with red paint as we go, significantly reducing the accidental repeat sprayings, we think.
Hawkes Bay Weather: 12°C—26°C; no rain [79.8]
Posted in General
Comments Off on Penultimate Lawn Mow Before Christmas
Lamb Mop-Up
A productive day; glorious weather too of course. Sharpened 3 spades, 1 favorite grubber, 2 shovels. Bought 28 cardboard boxes for the store room, and at Karola’s request a duct tape dispenser. Bought diesel for the tractor and petrol for the lawn mowers.
Mark Hendery came this morning and helped us with moving beds and stuff in preparation for the grandsons visit. Mark and Karola also spent an hour spraying bamboo now trying to make a comeback out in the Totara paddock. They also banged in standards for several tree guards needed to protect Karola’s willow trees.
Rounded up the sheep into the yards. Replaced lost tags for ewe #675 amd lambs #912 and #926. Drenched youngest ewe lambs that missed out two days ago with Cydectin, withholding for meat of 10 days: #922, #923, #936, #939, #946, #947, and #948. Lamb #938 escaped prematurely back to her mother and has not been drenched. We also rechecked the gender of a few lambs and believe our records now do match the lambs.
Hawkes Bay Weather: 11°C—25°C; no rain [79.9]
Posted in General
Comments Off on Lamb Mop-Up
Prep For Grandsons
Both had haircuts in Hastings then spent most of the day reorganising rooms in preparation for the arrival of the UK daughter and two grandsons. This will play out over the next fortnight I’m sure. I also spent an hour or so reconciling the data taken from the sheep activities yesterday and the records already taken during lambing. We’re getting close, the amazing thing is how often we get the sex of a ewe or wether lamb wrong.
Hawkes Bay Weather: 10°C—24°C; no rain [79.3]
Posted in General
Comments Off on Prep For Grandsons
Sheep Management Day
Sheep affairs in the morning; lunch at Pernel Fruit World; Karola went shopping in the afternoon while Bicka and I had a lazy time reading and soaking up the sun.
Ewes, wether, and ram drenched with Cydectin – withholding for meat of 10 days. All sheep treated with pour-on Zenith, with a withholding for meat of 7 days. Some of the lambs from the Middle paddock mob, #937E, #921R, #940R, #941R, #943R, #944R, #945R, were given Combi-Tape drench, withholding for meat of 10 days. Lambs #922E, #923E, #936E, #938E, #939E, #946E, #947E, #948E were given the pour on like the rest, but no drench.
We weighed representative large, medium, and small lambs and they were roughly I guess: L=25kg, M=15kg, S=10kg
Karola called Gary and he came round and dispatched and removed #677 who wouldn’t feed her lambs and has not recovered from chronic mastitis.
We trimmed the feet of #675 and sprayed them with anti-footrot stuff – there were signs of old footrot in all feet and some signs of active disease in the back left foot.
Lamb Notes
- #901R – large
- #902R – large
- #903R – large
- #904E – large (keeper)
- #905R – large
- #906E – large
- #908R – large
- #909R – medium
- #910R – medium
- #911E – medium
- #912E – small (no-tag, keeper?)
- #913R – large
- #914R – medium
- #915E – medium (keeper)
- #916R – small
- #917E – medium (keeper)
- #918R – medium
- #919E – medium
- #921R – medium
- #922E – small
- #923E – small
- #924R – medium
- #925R – medium
- #926R – medium (no tag)
- #927R – small
- #928E – medium
- #929R – small
- #930R – small
- #931R – medium
- #932R – medium
- #933E – medium
- #934E – medium
- #935E – large
- #936E – medium (“Dora”)
- #937E – small (“Dot”)
- #938E – small
- #939E – small
- #940R – small
- #941R – small
- #942E – small
- #943R – medium
- #944R – medium
- #945R – small
- #946E – small (keeper)
- #947E – small
- #948E – small
Ewe Lambs
- Large: 3, Medium: 8, Small: 10, Total: 21
Ram Lambs
- Large: 6, Medium: 12, Small: 7, Total: 25
Total Lambs
- Large: 9, Medium: 20, Small: 17, Total: 46
Adult Sheep
- Ram #104 and wether #630
- #203, #218, and #219
- #401, #402 (bad leg), #403, #406
- #604, #613, #616, #623, #629, #632
- #671, #672, #673, #674, #675 (no tag, back left foot problem), #676, #679
- #704, #705, #714, #717, #719, #725 (skinny), #726
So that means we have: 3 * 7-year old ewes, 4 * 5-year old ewes, 13 * 3-year old ewes, and 7 * 2-year old ewes that lambed this year; 27 breeding ewes plus #104 (piglet) and his bodyguard the wether #630.
Hawkes Bay Weather: 8°C—25°C; no rain [79.0]
Posted in General
Comments Off on Sheep Management Day
Charlotte and Simon Depart
Charlotte and Simon left at lunch time for their next stop, Taupo and then on to walk the Tongariro track beginning tomorrow, weather permitting.
Karola gave Rowena lunch and then they both went to a Pophuri for Rowena and other Maori patients on dialysis at Hastings hospital.
Late afternoon we prepared for tomorrow’s sheep work, weather permitting, drenching and applying anti-fly-strike liquid.
Hawkes Bay Weather: 10°C—22°C; no rain [79.1]
Posted in General
Comments Off on Charlotte and Simon Depart
Lunch At Vidals
Leisurely breakfast and then Karola went wine tasting with Simon while Bicka, Charlotte and I went for a walk on the Napier foreshore. We had lunch at Vidal’s in Hastings and then Simon and Charlotte did more wine tasting, sight-seeing, and shopping.
Hawkes Bay Weather: 10°C—18°C; no rain [79.4]
Posted in General
Comments Off on Lunch At Vidals
Galvanised Lamb
This morning Mary’s rain gauge showed 60.5 mm of rainfall out by the pump shed since last I emptied it on 28th November.
To my surprise I got a dental appointment right away to repair an old filling that had fallen out at the weekend.
Then Charlotte and I walked most of the Homestead boundary. On the way we fixed an irrigation pipe connection that had come adrift by the yew hedge – explaining why the well pump had been going continuously for several hours until I turned it off late last night. Charlotte noticed a ram lamb tangled in electric fence wire in the Totara paddock, one of the triplets and we untangled him, I don’t think he’d been there very long.
After that Karola and Bicka came with me into Hastings for my tooth repair. We also did some shopping before returning for a leisurely lunch.
Simon and Charlotte went out sight seeing a couple of times and I took Bicka for a walk on the Napier foreshore and bought some lawn seed which I mixed with lime from under the chook house and spread over the newly levelled area along the top of the ha-ha. Otherwise a quiet day, overcast with low temperatures and occasional rain. Karola took recyclable bottles and cardboard to the recycling centre.
Hawkes Bay Weather: 11°C—14°C; 11.1 mm rain [78.9]
Posted in General
Comments Off on Galvanised Lamb
Testing, Testing
Quiet day; Simon and Charlotte went off to sample the delights of Napier; Karola and I went into Hastings for the morning; rained quite hard most of the night and drizzled all day.
Good, normal results: 125/75 (151/90) 67 bpm, 97% oxygen in blood, 36 degrees.
Hawkes Bay Weather: 10°C—13°C; 5.3 mm rain [78.8]
Posted in General
Comments Off on Testing, Testing
Good Rain For Trees
Constant drizzle became constant heavy rain by evening. Gill, Ben and Mary went off towards Wellington around 2:00 pm. Simon and Charlotte Nash arrived cheerfully around 4:30 pm.
In the morning Karola planted her 10 Coprosma Lucida trees down near the 121 entrance and we set irrigation going although by 8:00 pm it was so obviously a decent soaking rain that we switched it off again. Ideal for the Lucida and Monday’s planting of Ngaios.
Hawkes Bay Weather: 11°C—24°C; 57.6 mm rain [78.8]
Posted in General
Comments Off on Good Rain For Trees
Mary, Gill & Ben’s Last Full Day
More eating and conversation with Mary, Gill, and Ben. Lunch at Pernel Fruit World just down the road. Initially cloudy and patches of drizzle but ending up with blue skies and warm breezes. Guided tours for Gill and Ben yesterday and Mary this evening.
Hawkes Bay Weather: 14°C—23°C; 0.6 mm rain [79.5]
Posted in General
Comments Off on Mary, Gill & Ben’s Last Full Day