Monthly Archives: March 2010

More Mulch Mother Please

Another 8 x 2.4 metres of the ha-ha path completed with Mark’s help. In the afternoon I went to see our architect/project manager Les Clapcott of the eponymous Clapcott Consultancy. He has a suggestion for incorporating a carport with the cottage, as we requested, but it involves a change to the roofline which Karola may, or may not, approve of. It also provides more room in the kitchen and in the utility room.

Later Karola and I drafted the sheep into lambs and mothers-to-be. The ewes and lambs have done a good job of eating out the orchard paddock, short green grass, longer brown stalks, seed heads and all. The mature ewes plus four ewe lambs, #904, #906, #919, #935 went to the Middle paddock and were joined by ‘piglet’ (#104) and his henchman, wether #630. The other lambs went into the Front paddock.

Some horrible person left a wool fag full of sheep innerds on the side of the avenue opposite us. Knowing this I hurried back from seeing Les Clapcott to count our sheep – all present and correct thank goodness. Karola rang to council to get the wool fag removed but it was still there as night fell.

Weather:4°C—21°C; 0.1 mm rain [80.9]

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More Mulch Path

Mark came over again and we did more of the mulch path along the top of the ha-ha. We have finished the piece from the little wooden gate into the Totara paddock to the corner; have the long straight bit to another little wooden gate still to do. I bought another 20 of the “edged half-round 150 x 2.4m” posts this afternoon to give us enough to get to the end. Karola’s idea to have a mulch path is turning out rather well.

Mark’s son Wolfgang fell off his bike on way to school going down precipitous street near the Ormond Chapel on the Bluff in Napier – multiple abrasions and bruises but not hospitalised – so Mark was a bit late getting here, understandably.

Mike Croucher aka Garden Groom came and mowed the lawns. Anna replied to my easter TXT message from Switzerland where she, her two boys and friends are holidaying together. Bridget has bought an Apple Airport Express gizmo so she can connect the Sony PS3, her own iMac, and possibly an iPad to the Internet from her living room – the Airport Express is a small wifi base station that plugs into any mains socket, very neat and inconspicuous.

Weather:4°C—21°C; no rain [81.5]

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Mulch Path Along Top Of The Ha-Ha

Mark came over and we began work on the next project, the creating of a mulch path along the top of the ha-ha, about 700 mm wide and edged with solid half-round retaining wall planks buried in the ground. These planks are made from half-round fence posts trimmed to be exactly 150 mm wide, so they have a flat face and two flat sides. We bury them, on edge, so that the 150 mm depth is in the ground and the curved back is facing the ha-ha. It makes a clear, solid edge to the lawn so that mowing is possible without going too close to the ha-ha. We did about an eighth of the way today.

Weather:10°C—18°C; no rain [81.5]

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Pastures Old and New

It felt like rain, it smelt like rain, and finally it did rain, very gently, and still is raining, very gently.

Karola braved the dampness with Bicka – who was showered only yesterday and was delightfully clean for a day – and sowed some grass seed.

I put together our ideas on how we wanted the pasture at Karamu to be – we’re still trying to decide on whether we want oversowing or fertilising or whatever. Harry is helping with advice.

Weather:8°C—16°C; 1.9 mm rain [81.1]

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A Little Mulch Music

Quiet day except for some mulching late afternoon; two piles in the north eastern corner of the Front paddock. Conversations via e-mail with Harry about pasture management and verification that we have indeed got a lot of Indian Doab grass in our Front paddock.

Weather:9°C—28°C; no rain [80.3]

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Soil Sampled

Karola and I took the soil samples and then ferried them into Farmlands to be couriered up to Hamilton where Hill Labs will do the analysis.

I sorted through our concrete post dump up alongside the big shed and began resiting them down with the piles of wooden posts in the South-East corner by the Griselinia under oak trees.

Weather:9°C—28°C; no rain [80.8]

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Stair Carpet Laid

Bob the Carpet Layer came and finished the stair carpet; with its expensive brass and dark wooden stair rods it looks elegant. We both had flu jabs today followed by a late brunch at The Coffee Club in Stortford Lodge. Karola was out all afternoon and Mandy Giesen called in with a couple of friends on their way back to Feilding from Gisbourne. I counted the sheep using my iPhone eweCounter program; same result as yesterday. Brother-in-law Ben has tried the program on his iPhone and says it is simple and intuitive as I’d hoped. Mark came round with yet another box he’d scraped the paint off for Karola. She’s going to use them for seating upstairs in the cottage once its moved and renovated.

Weather:5°C—22°C; no rain [80.0]

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Stair Carpet Almost Done

Bob Masters called at 8:00am and the discussion about regrassing the Front paddock continued. As a result I talked again to Murray Cranswick, our agricultural consultant who’d advised me a couple of months ago on the state of the front paddock and its infestation with Indian Doab grass. Now we intend to retest the pasture soil, this time looking for the absence of specific trace elements which may be stopping the pasture from luxuriant growth. Discussion with Vince at Farmlands got us more advice and a soil sampler kit.

Meanwhile Rob the Carpet Layer arrived and has done about 2/3 of the stairs already.

I replaced the broken rear right lights on the little trailer after Karola’s small accident yesterday; I also jump-started the Subaru which “unaccountably” had a flat battery this morning.

Weather:11°C—25°C; 3.0 mm rain [80.5]

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Oak Repaired Using A Big Crane

Graeme Cameron (Tricky Trees) rang at 7:30am to say he’d be here to work on the big oak at 8:00am. He was. I worked with them until almost lunchtime; Graeme, Jeremy and a crane from Lattey Civil Engineering with driver Bruce who remembered coming here to unload and swing into position the “his and hers” 5000 gallon rainwater tanks late in 2001 (I think). They made a good job of tidying up the tree and mulching what they could; I used the tractor again to cart off the big pieces and I continued doing that after lunch when they had gone. So that’s $500 for the initial afternoon of mulching last Thursday; another $400 for this morning plus the crane hire of $417. So one branch down cost us $1300.

Later in the afternoon Karola and I cut a bough off a Rebinia leaning over the front (121) drive, using the tractor bucket as a mobile platform; I then carted away that and other Rebinia logs near the hen house along the front (121) drive.

Karola counted the sheep and I did some recounts – all present and correct.

Weather:6°C—26°C; no rain [80.3]

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Cosultants And Contractors Galore

Up early to talk to Bob Masters about regrassing the Front paddock. He thinks that oversowing is the right answer which pleased karola who doesn’t like ploughing and rotavating etc, prefers the earthworms and topsoil to be undisturbed.

Karola’s stair carpet man came shortly afterwards and he seems eager to get on with it which, compared to the 15 months or so this saga of replacing the stair carpet has dragged on, would be very nice indeed. He talked of beginning on Wednesday this week.

After lunch Les Clapcott came and we discussed the cottage renovation and move. He will be back soon with some suggestions for a carport and a CAD version of his sketch along with some elevations so we can appreciate the roof lines.

Karola took a load of broken concrete to Winstones; they charged her $15 to dispose of it – I think they grind it up and sell it as aggregate. Karola also broke one of the trailer rear lights but it looks easy to fix and she bought a replacement fitting on the way home for $30 or so, much much cheaper than light fittings for the Landrover. I continued moving posts and equipment.

Weather:15°C—27°C; no rain [80.5]

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Horse Of The Year Show

More of the same, moving posts and equipment around. Also a little chainsawing. Karola had Rowina for lunch and then took her to the Horse of the Year show for the final afternoon. Mary Wilson left her alsatian Steve here while she attended the show too.

Weather:10°C—29°C; no rain [80.8]

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Hot Saturday

More post moving – I’ve made a post dump under the oaks right in the south-eastern corner – it’s so dry there that grass doesn’t grow anyway. I’ve also started moving the tractor implements to the north-east corner under the Macrocarpa tree. I had to attach the tractor blade in order to move it and so I spent an hour or so attacking the huge bramble thicket under the oaks between the 121 drive and the road. Karola spent more time in mulching trees and watering and weeding.

Weather:9°C—27°C; no rain [80.3]

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Hither And Yon The Posts Are Transported

A day of moving posts around and cutting back tree growth – in general trying to make the place a bit more tidy and put things where they can be found when needed. Part of this was pruning the lower branches of the Macrocarpa tree in the north east corner of the Front paddock so that Karola can drive under it with ease and I can line my tractor implements up against the fence there – a new home for them, part of the making tidy task. Karola continued putting mulch on the Titoke trees along the drive.

Weather:8°C—25°C; no rain [80.1]

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Improved By Half

In the morning Karola and I went to visit a gastroenterologist specialist who has diagnosed me with gluten-intolerance (coeliac condition). This was just a check to see that now I’m not eating gluten that things are coming right, and they are. We treated ourselves to a full english breakfast at the Coffee Club in Stortford Lodge afterwards.

Mark came over before lunch and we took the opportunity for him to help me moving a large number of old posts in the island paddock and another large number of apple logs under the macrocarpa in the Front paddock that were in Karola’s way, impeding free access by landrover under the macrocarpa.

Karola had hired a man and his aged uncle to come and clean the back (south) wall of the cottage and this morning they did it – the change was dramatic, well worth doing before the Dendrologists descend in April.

Mary Wilson is over for the Horse Of The Year Show and dropped by for afternoon tea.

Weather:4°C—21°C; no rain [80.0]

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CRASH Went The Oak Branch

Brrr, it’s turned cold over night. Around 3:00 am I was woken by a loud crack but couldn’t place it so went back to sleep. At about 8:30 am there was a really terrifying CRASH and all became clear. An enormous branch had sheared off the big oak tree – missing the green shed by a metre or so, just touching the septic tank, and not squashing anything of value – animate or inanimate. I called Tricky Trees and they came after lunch. I worked with them, carting away sections of the larger branches on the tractor; they spent two and a half hours clearing up – mulching the small stuff and turning the big bits into lengths I could handle with the tractor. It cost $500. The only obvious damage was to my electric fence erected just yesterday – and even that is back in position now.

Weather:6°C—15°C; 0.3 mm rain [80.0]

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Cottage Location Homing In

Karola suggested some changes to the cottage outline and I spent the morning implementing them – mowing and hammering and marking. Also some electric fencing and then a long siesta.

Weather:10°C—27°C; 1.5 mm rain [80.3]

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Mediterranean Style Lunch

Lunch with Jenny and Noel Hendery (Mark’s parents) in Napier followed by Bicka taking me for a walk along the Napier foreshore (but not the seabed, thank goodness). Back in time to do some more thinking about and measuring for the potential cottage position, including its surrounding child/animal proof fence.

Weather:10°C—27°C; no rain [80.7]

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Lazy Sunday Afternoon

Beautiful weather again; cool night but blazing hot day. I did some electric fence moving before it got too hot; Karola, unaided, unloaded the large trailer of fresh mulch on the pile up in the Island paddock while Bicka and I slept the afternoon away in the cottage bedroom.

Weather:10°C—28°C; no rain [81.1]

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Scrimping And Scraping

Cold night but sunny day. I hitched up the blade to the tractor and moved about 20 metres of the first of Karola’s compost bunds to give her clear access for car and trailer bringing more green rubbish to her later bunds; she’s onto bund three now. We used the upper levels of the bund to build up ground over some large exposed tree roots on the track from the front 133 gate running alongside Karola’s bunds; the rest, rich humus, is piled up ready for use with new plantings. Karola went to town in the morning but spent the afternoon nearby the tractor work, mowing and clearing her tracks to the bunds.

Weather:6°C—22°C; no rain [81.3]

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Mulch Do About Nothing

I finished mulching the old, rotting bamboo pile which took most of the day. Also did a spot of chainsawing of old Robinia fallen down along the verge of the front 121 drive. A cold southerly storm travelling up New Zealand hit us just as dark fell – but it seemed to have moved on just a couple of hours later.

Karola mowed a track through the periwinkle which, combined with the space left by the mulched up bamboo, will give access for us and for Garden Groom to Karola’s “bund”s – long mounds of composting vegetation.

The ewes were combined with the lambs in the Totara paddock.

Weather:4°C—22°C; 1.3 mm rain [80.3]

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Left A Bit, Back A Bit – No, Where You Were

Karola to Hastings for a haircut but she was back in time for the lamb shearing. Bruce Richardson (HB Mobile Shearing) did the 28 unshorn lambs cleanly averaging one every 2 minutes. He thought our favourite large ewe lamb, #906, probably weighed in the high 20Kgs.

Karola and I finished repairing the railings by joining the broken post to its 1/3rd in the ground with three 12mm steel rods and then adding a quick-set ready-mix concrete collar round the base.

We have both spent quite a bit of time thinking about the placement of the cottage when we move it; I think we’re closing in on an agreement.

Weather:13°C—28°C; 0.4 mm rain [80.6]

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Taupata Fence Completed

A little bit more of the railings restoration including concreting in the 2nd broken post to see if with only a shallow collar of concrete it is sturdy enough. Karola finished attaching shade netting to the wires of the new fence along the Taupata hedge. The two sides of the hedge used about 80 metres of the netting in total.

Weather:13°C—26°C; 0.1 mm rain [80.2]

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End Of Financial Year Sheep Information

Well it’s a bit premature as the end isn’t until 31st march or thereabouts but I spent much of the morning constructing this table including who’s gone where and who their mother and grandmother were. In the morning Karola went to Hastings and then Napier, mainly shopping.

Dale from MowTec came and released the jammed bolt on the mulcher. In the afternoon Karola and I went into Stortford Lodge and bought a couple of replacement bolts along with a few more bits for the railing reconstruction.

We mulched some Camelia tree prunings just to reassure ourselves the mulcher was working OK. Karola then went back to her shade netting – knitting it to the top and bottom wire of the inner fence along her Taupata hedge – she’d done about a third by nightfall.

I’ve glued and screwed the breaks in the broken railings and so the main challenge now is reinstating the post.

Weather:12°C—21°C; no rain [80.6]


__________ __________ __________ __________ __________ __________ _______________
Lamb# born siblings size disposition mother grandmother
#901R 9 Aug twin large works #604 #406
#902R 9 Aug twin large works #604 #406
#903R 9 Aug twin large fatten #672 sudoku
#904E 9 Aug twin large keep #672 sudoku
#905R 9 Aug single large works #613 #218
#906E 12 Aug twin large ? #632 #403
#907E 12 Aug twin* small died #632 #403
#908R 9 Sep twin large works #674 sudoku
#909R 9 Sep twin medium died #675 sudoku
#910R 9 Sep twin medium works #675 sudoku
#911E 10 Sep twin medium ? #677 sudoku
#912E 10 Sep twin small keep? #677 sudoku
#913R 11 Sep single large works #671 sudoku
#914R 13 Sep twin medium fatten #676 sudoku
#915E 13 Sep twin medium keep #676 sudoku
#916R 17 Sep twin small fatten #679 sudoku
#917E 17 Sep twin medium keep #679 sudoku
#918R 18 Sep twin medium works #616 #217
#919E 18 Sep twin medium ? #616 #217
#920R 18 Sep single small died #678 sudoku
#921R 21 Sep triplet medium fatten #623 #206
#922E 21 Sep triplet small ? #623 #206
#923E 21 Sep triplet small ? #623 #206
#924R 22 Sep single medium works #629 #204
#925R 27 Sep twin medium works #406 ?
#926R 27 Sep twin medium fatten #406 ?
#927R 2 Oct triplet* small fatten #203 ?
#928E 2 Oct triplet* medium ? #203 ?
#929R 6 Oct twin small fatten #705 #219
#930R 6 Oct twin small fatten #705 #219
#931R 6 Oct single medium works #401 ?
#932R 6 Oct twin medium fatten #219 ?
#933E 6 Oct twin medium ? #219 ?
#934E 7 Oct single medium ? #725 #623
#935E 8 Oct single large ? #402 ?
#936E 9 Oct twin medium ? #714 #405
#937E 9 Oct twin small culled #714 #405
#938E 13 Oct twin small ? #717 #206
#939E 13 Oct twins small ? #717 #206
#940R 14 Oct triplet small fatten #719 #218
#941R 14 Oct triplet small fatten #719 #218
#942E 14 Oct triplet small ? #719 #218
#943R 15 Oct single medium works #218 ?
#944R 16 Oct single medium works #704 219
#945R 17 Oct single small fatten #403 ?
#946E 28 Oct single small keep #673 sudoku
#947E 29 Oct twin small ? #726 #629
#948E 29 Oct twin small ? #726 #629
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Railings Derailed and No More Dot

Mark came and started by removing the concrete bases from: the centre pole of the old washing line, a concrete post, and 9 galvanised pipes (50 mm diameter, 2 metres long) that long ago held up netting round the ends of a tennis court on the lawn here.

Then we tried a spot of mulching, mulching old bamboo that has been festering in a large pile for several years. After about 20 minutes the mulcher got jammed and when I tried to take the main flywheel off the hub I reamed out the allen key slot – the bolt was so tightly stuck – and so we’re stuck until Dale from Mowtec comes tomorrow to fix it.

Mark dispatched Dot (#937E) as requested by Karoila – who was pretty upset by her decision. While this was happening Karola unfortunately drove the Landrover and big trailer through the front gate and in the process smashed up the left hand railings, breaking two of the posts and 5 rails. It may be salvageable.

After lunch I finished off the wires for Karola’s inner fence along the Taupata hedge and we called it a day. We went into Hastings for groceries, materials to repair the railings, and a blood test.

Weather:12°C—20°C; 2.3 mm rain [79.9]

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Cottage Outline In Red

The day was overcast and still so I sprayed thistles with another 5 litres of Roundup – the ones I sprayed last week are all pretty dead now but new ones and missed ones are coming along fast.This was followed by a spot of electric fence moving, to include the area under the oaks that used to be bamboo and is now a rather dry area with thistles, clumps of grass, and quite a lot of lucerne that Karola sowed. After lunch I did something I’ve wanted to get done for months – I moved the pegs to show the latest position and shape of the cottage when we move it; I mowed the area and marked the outline, including the verandahs, with red ground marker spray paint. Late afternoon I got round to the intended task of the day, putting wires on Karola’s inner fence along the Taupata hedge – it’s almost finished.

Mid morning, alerted by loud baaing, I found #922 with its head stuck through a netting fence and unable to figure out how to get back. I grabbed its legs andf turned it upside down and it quickly found its head would come back if held sideways. This is the second such incident in two weeks; I don’t think it’s hunger but curiosity and snacking on delicacies in sight but not (supposed to be) in reach.

Karola’s day was spent outside too; she finished making the last netting tree guard of the current batch and continued weeding round the house as well as a spot of sheep moving.

Weather:13°C—19°C; no rain [80.3]

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More On The Taupata Hedge Fencing

Helped Karola with her mulching around the Taupata hedging and put in the other end post for her inside (lawn-side) fence along said hedge. iPhone computing the rest of the time. Meanwhile Karola attackes her weeding tasks with energy and determination and the results are beginning to show – but there’s so much to do before the IDS tree people arrive in April.

Weather:13°C—20°C; 2.9 mm rain [80.3]

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Cool Nights, Hot Days

In the morning, before it got too hot, we hoist the old washing line pole out of the ground with the tractor, despite the pole’s very heavy anchoring concrete base. We’ll see if Mark, who is expected again on Monday, can get the concrete off with a sledge hammer.

Karola was absorbed in fruit processing just like her ancestors – peaches and plums and lots of glass bottles. She also went into Hastings to pick up sharpened saws, a repaired mower, and some sharpened chainsaw chains. An e-mail arrived saying that Karola got a very good price for her lambs for the time of year and their size – over $1000 for the dozen.

Late afternoon I finished putting one of the thin, long posts in for the inside fence along the Taupata hedge. Meanwhile Karola cleaned up Dot (#937) and gave her a much needed drench with Scanda (withholding for meat of 10 days).

Weather:13°C—25°C; no rain [80.7]

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Meanwhile Much Munching

Karola liberated a lamb with its head stuck through the netting fence. She carried on weeding etc. I carried on programming with a short break to start digging a couple of post holes for the inside fence along Karola’s Taupata hedge.

This morning my small praying mantis had disappeared to be replaced by a brighter green mantis twice the size. This evening there’s no sign of either one, but many little Monarch caterpillars munching.

Weather:9°C—26°C; no rain [80.9]

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Dinner With Peter and Diana

Quiet day; me programming and Karola baking. We had dinner with Diana and Peter Arthur (Touchwood Books) 45 mins up the Taihape road – ostensibly to discuss Peter and Karola’s plans for the April NZ tour of New Zealand, including Hawkes Bay, of the International Dendrologists Society, IDS.

Weather:7°C—27°C; no rain [80.1]

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Shade Netting Erected

Apart from a haircut in Hastings I spent the day doing more programming – well more learning than coding – for the iPhone. Karola put up shade netting along the inside of the new fence along her Taupata hedge. She also moved sheep around a bit more and cleaned up a couple of lambs that were particularly daggy.

Weather:14°C—26°C; no rain [80.3]

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Multifaceted day

Mark arrived at 9:00 am and worked with Karola putting more mulch on her Taupata hedge until 10:30 am when we yarded up the 12 lambs for slaughter, bundled them into the trailer, took them down the road, put onto the race at the meat works and away. We were back by 11:15 am. Mark and I took the stock crate off the trailer. Lambs departed are: #901, #902 (lost its tag), #905, #908, #910, #913, #918, #924, #925, #931, #943, #944. When yarding up the lambs Mark found #909 dead overnight. No obvious symptoms other than four little legs in the air so-to-speak. Mark later eviscerated the dead lamb, buried the entrails, and took the rest home for his dogs. That left #914, #921, #926 and #932 as being too small at present. They rejoin the other lambs, being the only ones already shorn.

I finished Karola’s GST and it’s now posted. Meanwhile Mark and Karola had cleared a trailer-load of suckers and saplings and lower branches from trees along the road, stuff that was impeding a good clear view of the road when leaving our drive. Later Mark and I cut some more off the Tasmanian Blackwoods by the front (133) gate. All these cuttings were taken into the Front paddock and added to a small pile of stuff to be mulched. Mark and I then mulched this pile, then detached the mulcher from the tractor and went in for lunch.

After lunch I had a siesta and Karola played one of those tile-sliding games only with sheep until she got everyone where she wanted them.

After dinner Karola and I went to a film called “Nine”, ostensibly about an episode in the life of a film director rather like Felini – with an obvious play on Felini’s film “eight and a half”.

Weather:15°C—27°C; no rain [80.7]

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