Monthly Archives: October 2010

Another cold morning with intermittent gentle rain; later in the afternoon it did brighten up and Bicka and i went for our constitutional round the block.

Inside I tested out the birthday present from Bridget, an AppleTV gadget. In the afternoon I tackled Karola’s GST. Meanwhile Karola did some more on the tree guards and set up another couple of tranches of electric-fenced grazing for her sheep in the Totara paddock.

After dinner we went to Cinema Gold in Havelock North and saw “Red”, a CIA / spy film with lots of explosions and funny situations; somewhat along the lines of “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid”.

The Cottage Refurbishment

A little more on the site plan.

Weather:9°C—17°C; 2.8 mm rain [80.2] 05:20

Cold day in Hawkes Bay; for a change it’s worse weather here than in most of rest of New Zealand. I whizzed down to Mitre-10 first thing and bought some materials for finishing off the flying fox installation. The prices there for the wood were very high so I went to GoldPine and saved a hundred dollars or so. Karola did some morning sheep work then went off to a lunch meeting of the HB Federation of Graduate Women then to visit friends. Later she returned to carry on mending tree guards. Meanwhile I had brunch at the local Bay Expresso cafe – a gluten-free big breakfast in fact. Late afternoon, in liu of a constitutional, I did some preliminary work on the revised water reticulation system.

The Cottage Refurbishment

Made a montage of photos showing the demolition of the cottage chimney and the go-between and e-mailed it to potentially interested parties.

Weather:7°C—13°C; 2.4 mm rain [80.0] 05:20

SwimGym and breakfast then Carl Baker arrived and gave us a good report on the technical feasibility for moving the cottage. Later Karola, Bicka, and I went in to Hastings for Cornucopia lunch, to pick up Cornucopia food and some other stuff.

Having planned improvements to the water reticulation system for the Karamu smallholding during the longer exercises at SwimGym, in the afternoon I went to Harris Pumps and Filtration in Omahu Rd and bought 200m of 25mm alkathene pipe plus sundry connectors and taps, enough to do all that I plan along the western boundary with Karola’s orchard. Karola did more repairing of tree guards and learned that while her ewes may not like eating prickly totara leaves they do like the bark of young totara trees.

The Cottage Refurbishment

Carl Baker of Hastings House Removals arrived around 10:30am and discussed how the cottage could be moved and then he checked it underneath. He thinks it is mostly structurally in good shape to move except for a part of the back (at present facing south) side which would need extra reinforcement. He also suggested leaving the kitchen extension on until after the move. The fireplace hearth will need to be made level with the ground, the loo removed and the water pipes disconnected. All this is quick and easy for a mover to do; we do need to get the electricity mains to the cottage disconnected beforehand. The likely route is straight out west then round between the Camillia bushes on the lawn and the pump-shed, then directly onto the new site.

The mover puts in the new foundations. In our case these are piles and these days they use H5 tanalised pine, not concrete, and there needs to be an especially deep “anchor pile” every couple of metres. Moving the cottage here at Karamu could cost around $12,000, Carl said. We told him our friend Kevin Watkins had discussed moving the cottage back in 2002 and we weren’t sure if he was still doing house moves. Carl thought not; the council and other civic activirties were taking all his time and in fact kevin was recommending Carl to people asking for a house to be moved.

Aside: Carl talked about new versus existing building requirements for bearers (floor joists?) spacings; he said cottage had legal spacing for an older building but new buildings these days required closer spacings.

Weather:11°C—22°C; 0.3 mm rain [79.6] 06:20

Paul arrived around 8:00am; Mark arrived at 8:30am.

Mark and I took the disconnected hot water cylinder from the cottage up to the big shed for temporary storage. He then completed the hole for the flying fox 12-foot pole and, after I’d fixed a wooden foot to it, rammed it in. For the rest of the day he put in three strainers and I chainsawed and hammered to put on a foot to each before he finished digging the hole. We also reinstalled one of Karola’s tree guards, banging the standards much further in than in the past and using soft wire to tie the guard to the standards. We hope this will prove more sheep-resistant than earlier experiments.

Karola spent much of the day mending tree guards as well as feeding me and mark with morning and afternoon tea and a cooked lunch. Late afternoon she laid out more electric fence and moved her sheep.

The Cottage Refurbishment

Paul continued deconstructing the chimneys in the cottage; he finished removing all the bricks and rubble just before 5:00 pm.

I contacted Carl Baker (06-876-8741 or 0274-437-974), Hastings House Removals and he’s coming over tomorrow to let us know whether he thinks the cottage is suitable to be moved, is sufficiently sound structurally.

Weather:13°C—22°C; no rain [79.4] 06:20

SwimGym then breakfast then Paul the builder arrived then we went off with Bicka to shop and for lunch at Cornucopia in Hastings. More moving of electric fence for the sheep; they certainly do eat prodigious amounts of grass given the chance.

The Cottage Refurbishment

Paul worked all day on getting the chimney down. We helped by removing some more timber matchwood linings and then disconnecting and removing the hot water cylinder. The huge area occupied by the two fire places was exposed; much of it is rubble filling. There are two chimneys, one for the kitchen range, the other for the living room fireplace which, incidentally, turns out to be a medium sized brick fireplace built inside a larger, older fireplace. Only the inner fireplace was visible until we took of the timber facing boards, mantlepiece etc.

Paul used some old roofing iron from the homestead to cover the gap left by the absent chimneys. Removal of the flashing and iron round the chimneys while taking them down exposed the old wooden tiles underneath the corrugated iron.

Weather:9°C—18°C; no rain [80.4] 06:20

First thing I went to GoldPine in Omahu Road and bought a 3.6 metre post for the Flying Fox. Then Bay Expresso for breakfast, all of us except Bicka. The replacement optical drive for my Macbook Pro arrived with the post this morning and Bridget helped with the very fiddly replacement process; the drives were swapped and it works again. Meanwhile Chris had fastened one end of the Flying Fox cable to the small “Governor General Ferguson” Hickory tree near the Canary Island Pine. Then he dug a metre-deep hole for the 12 foot (3.6 metre) “haybarn pole” for the other, receiving, end. The sheep got another tranche of long, lush grass. Bicka and I went for our constitutional. Busy day.

The Cottage Refurbishment

Ricky McGhie (027-252-9576 or via 06-835-7933) from Copas Plumbing and Electrical in Napier came over as asked and discussed the new cottage septic tank, or as it is these days, a domestic aerated wastewater system. Paul Libby came over for the afternoon and chatted with Karola about the cottage and looked underneath and at the initial job of removing the chimney. He was surprised at the good shape the timbers were in, especially the structural timbers underneath.

Weather:11°C—18°C; no rain [80.1] 06:20

SwimGym then breakfast as usual on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. Later Bridget et al went off to Waimaramara beach for the day. Sheep had more grass. Karola weeded round the railings at the front (133) entrance. I did a bit of chainsawing and picked up fallen logs and took a couple of trailer loads to our bonfire place in the orchard paddock. In the evening Karola and I went to Jenny and Noel Hendery’s place for Noel’s 65th birthday dinner with other good friends of theirs – an enjoyable evening and a splendid meal.

The Cottage Refurbishment

Bridget helped sort out a few wrinkles in the sit plan mapping progrtam. I mulled over the location of the drive back from the cottage past the homestead.

Weather:13°C—23°C; no rain [79.4] 06:20

Pottering about day; chainsawed the tops of the new railings posts level and cut up some bigger branches that had fallen over the winter in the Island and Middle paddocks. Bridget et al went to Clifton Cafe for lunch and also took the children to the animal zoo over there for yet another pony ride. Karola mended more tree guards. Bridget and Chris went out in the evening for a pizza while Karola put the bairns to bed.

The Cottage Refurbishment

More time on the computer or out measuring; we’re getting there.

Weather:8°C—19°C; no rain [78.7] 05:20

We began with an early-ish breakfast for all at the Bay Expresso cafe in Karamu Road; our usual one in Omahu road is shut for the long weekend. Chris went off to another day of golf; today it is Cape Kidnappers – then he and Bridget are joining the others (four couples) for an expensive meal in Napier tonight. Karola is bathing and babysitting.

Not much exercise today so as dusk fell I went out to the new fence by the back ditch out and dug four small post holes for the half-rounds to strengthen the railings and stop them warping.

The Cottage Refurbishment

Almost all day on the computer or out measuring. ridget helped with the tricky bit of the winding drives; we’re getting there.

Weather:6°C—19°C; no rain [78.4] 06:00

SwimGym which didn’t open until 7:00 am today because it’s a public holiday in Hawkes Bay today, and another one New Zealand wide on Monday. After breakfast Karola and Bridget took the granddaughters to the A&P Show at the Hastings show grounds until early afternoon. While I was out on the road measuring Chris Jones, next door neighbour Janet Scott’s orchard manager, stopped and asked if he could lease Karola’s apples. So, if the deal with Willie Thow truly is dead then we have options including the big pack house LongView (which Alan and his son Adam Ladbrook work for) and now Chris Jones. Later I spoke to Alan who was preparing for a long night of possible frost protection – he has a helicopter on standby for a block at a sensitive stage of fruit formation a short distance away.

The Cottage Refurbishment

I spent the morning working on the site plan using Google Sketchup, a veery easy and powerful sketching tool ideal for this. I now have the boundary fences and gateways all located correctly and the big Oak, Liriodendron, Canary Island Pine, and adjacent Oak all located and depicted. After lunch I went out and checked some of the measuring wheel measurements with 30-metre tape. Late afternoon Bridget helped me check a few more actual measurements with the tape; it’s much easier to do with two people, but boring.

Weather:3°C—17°C; no rain [78.4] 06:20

Mark arrived before 9:00 am and attached battens to the new fence along the back drain. I started on putting up the railings in the adjacent north-west corner. By lunchtime Mark had finished battening the fence.

After lunch I did more on the railings but was stopped by heavy rain squalls so I accompanied Karola shopping in Hastings. Then of course the weather improved and so late afternoon, with a lot of help from Karola, we finished putting up the railings.

Bridget, Chris, Natilie and Alexandra set off from Wellington for Karamu arriving about 8:30 pm.

The Cottage Refurbishment

No progress today.

Weather:6°C—18°C; 1.4 mm rain [78.8] 06:20

After SwimGym and breakfast Bicka and I went to GoldPine in Omahu road and bought some gate hasps and six half-round posts. Turned out that GoldPine didn’t sell chain so I had to go down to Farmlands in Stortford Lodge to get a metre of 2″ chain for the McNabb gateway padlocks.

The existing chain was just three links too short. The chain for the gates is in two parts joined by padlocks, one belonging to us and the other to the HB Regional Council. I don’t have a key to the HB Regional Council padlock and so it isn’t possible to substitute a longer pair of chains. Karola pointed out that we had a spare padlock and so by adding a third segment and joining it with the spare padlock the required length could be created. I used two links of the metre-long chain, cutting these off using my electric reciprocating saw and the Honda petrol generator.

Late morning I put up a small section of railings between the new McNabb gatepost and the existing strainer post for the run of fence along the back ditch from McNabb road to the Scott’s in the south. The two replacement gates are netting and hard to climb over. The railings, though only 500mm long, are easy to climb over and, as planned, will make negotiating this part of my “constitutional” easier.

Max Douglas came by and stopped to chat. Later Garry and Frances (Frances is somehow related as a Mahia Ormond descendent) dropped in. After a quick lunch I finished the little railings and planned the putting up of the nine metres of railing across the north-west orchard corner.

Sometime during the day I caught #904 who is still being troubled by her ear and squirted anti-lice/mite powder in both ears; that is what cured piglet’s ear problem.

Late afternoon Garry and Frances left and I then put up tomorrow’s electric fence for the sheep. Karola spent a couple of hours reinstalling the tree guards round her willows, including banging in lots of metal “standards”; these will be inside the area open to the sheep tomorrow.

The Cottage Refurbishment

At lunchtime I took lots of photos of the cottage, the “before” shots to remind us what it used to be like. Karola continued clearing away loads of bottles and jars finding homes for most of the jars with enthusiastic jam makers.

Weather:4°C—14°C; no rain [78.3] 06:20

I put up electric fence for the sheep which took about an hour. This goes along the outside of the driveway extension to the new site for the cottage and includes that new site. It will be easier to mark out the site with shorter grass.

Mark came early so we began at 8:30 am and by lunchtime he had put in four strainer posts, one as a gatepost for the McNabb double-gate entrance and three for the railings in the orchard north-west corner next to the back drain. Karola and I had breakfast while Mark put in the gatepost. Karola then went shopping in Hastings and I pottered round doing odd jobs such as:

• locking down the recently hung gates by putting a piece of wire through the pin in each bottom gudgeon and twisting it, making it annoyingly hard to just lift the gate off its hinges.
• collecting up the prunings left under the last row of apple trees next to the back drain, including the branches I cut off to give the Landrover more room to manoeuvre between that row of Pacific Queens and the drain, and carting them to the bonfire spot in the orchard paddock. Piglet and #630 were curious as to what was afoot.
• adding hasps to hold gates in the fully open position (they already have hasps for holding them closed) – on the gate into the orchard paddock and the gate from the island paddock into the peaches on the Scott’s (southern) boundary

Karola used her largest needles and strongest twine to mend the wind-proofing cloth round a couple of her tree guards.

After lunch Karola and I mended a water trough and together we doctored #904’s ear again, this time removing the ear tag which might be the source of constant hurt and applying disinfectant and aerosol antibacterial spray liberally.

I erected the second McNabb road gate using the gatepost Mark put in in the morning.

At Karola’s request, after going to JayCar in Stortford Lodge I popped into the vet’s almost next door and discussed Bicka’s coughing with Stewart Badger. Consequently Bicka is now on a short course of antibiotics.
In the course of the day I chatted with:

• Alan Ladbrook who wants to borrow our measuring wheel
• Max Douglas who owns the orchard immediately across the back drain from us; he had lots of advice re juicing Braeburns and a host of other topics.

Matt Saunders from across the road at The Stables, who wants to disconnect our power lines for a few hours while he fells several large eucalypus trees

• Daniel Gair (027-427-6322 or 06-879-7344, dan@matipou.co.nz), Willie Thow’s orchard manager who agreed that the new railings wouldn’t pose a problem for turning orchard vehicles and also kindly sprayed inside the railings triangle for karola

The Cottage Refurbishment

Karola spent several hours sorting through bottles and jars, some containing fruit, and putting them in the garage block – though I’m not quite sure where – out of the cottage. My alternative constitutional was to go round the boundary and back and forth with my measuring wheel, taking measurements for the cottage site plan.

Weather:9°C—20°C; 0.2 mm rain [78.4] 06:20

After SwimGym and breakfast and some long debates about the cottage and homestead refurbishments I went out and wound up the electric fence, the sheep having cleared the edges of the 121 drive and the two lawn areas as expected. The winding up took an hour. The sheep meanwhile went into the goose enclosure and the geese came out onto the lawn. In the afternoon I hung a couple of gates. Between times I noticed ewe hogget #904 was very agitated and rubbing her head so I caught her and we found she had a big abscess on her left ear. We lanced it and applied antibiotic spray – will look tomorrow to see if there’s any improvement.

The Cottage Refurbishment

Karola began work on clearing the walls, mantles, and stove area round the cottage chimney so that Paul Libby , our builder, can begin taking the chimney down later this week..

Weather:2°C—18°C; no rain [78.5] 06:20

The morning spent setting up electric fence for the sheep so that they can graze the 121 drive, the lawn behind the garage, and the lawn with the plum tree before Garden Groom comes to mow later this week.

In the afternoon, long chat with our orchardist, Alan Ladbrook and also mended the wall of the big shed loo that had been temporarily bumped out when equipment was being stored. As per Karola’s suggestion I used a car jack to push the wall board back into place.

I caught ewe #673 who is limping badly, turned her over and trimmed her hooves but there was no sign of live footrot so I guess it must be a joint problem, maybe arthritis in her front right leg.

Karola planted her five new Totara trees at last. We used the tractor and auger to make the holes; Karola then planted and mulched the trees (as in surrounding them with mulch, not chopping them up) and put up tree guards she’d made earlier, although not with the final standards holding them up, just two per guard for now to stop the guards blowing away in the gales.

The Cottage Refurbishment

A few more measurements.

Weather:10°C—20°C; 0.3 mm rain [79.5] 06:00

Karola and I nailed up 10 battens (two runs between posts) on the back ditch fence so that Mark, if he comes on Tuesday and it isn’t raining, can begin straight away putting in the three strainers for the railings in that corner. Then we spent a couple of noisy hours mulching the rest of the Casuarina trimmings which more than counts as an hour’s constitutional – though without Bicka because of the noise, dust, and general mess. Late afternoon I wound up the kilometres of electric fence round Craig Vernon’s horse paddock and front paddock where he’d let us graze the sheep. The sheep had eaten all the sweet grass and were turning up their noses at the rank stuff still left, so we ended their vacation stay.

Karola has chosen the sites for her five Totara trees and has already got tree guards for them.

The Cottage Refurbishment

A little more on the cottage site plan.

Weather:5°C—21°C; 0.2 mm rain [79.2] 06:20

We took the Subaru in for a service when we went to the SwimGym, then had breakfast then I spent much of the day pacing out cottage site plan measurements. Mid afternoon I did a little mulching of Casurina trimmings and even later installed a large post in the big gap between strainers on the recently finished new section of boundary fence and the back drain fence. I chainsawed off the top of an old 1.8 metre strainer and wired it into place.

I took Karola in to the dentist in Hastings – she’s having some problems with a tooth extracted last week. Karola then picked up her Subaru and later we went into town and did a little light shopping just as everywhere was closing for the weekend.

The possibly broody bantam is not; maybe she’s just confused.

The Cottage Refurbishment

I spent the day pacing out cottage site plan measurements with my little measuring wheel and trying to convert these to accurate site plan positions consistent with a site plan for the homestead done in 2002 and with measurements I made in 2003/2004.

Weather:12°C—21°C; 0.3 mm rain [79.2] 06:20

Very little wind but it rained all night and on through most of the day; the ground is sodden again. We went to Napier to Cafe Divine for breakfast. At lunchtime Karola went ot the dentist and shopping in Hastings. I spent the day using Google Sketchup to create the site plan for the Karamu cottage refurbishment project. Bicka and I went for our constitutional between showers as dusk fell. It’s going to take me several days.

The chook I thought was unwell is just broody I think; Karola suggested it so we’ve put her in a separate coop and given her some eggs to sit on.

The Cottage Refurbishment

Work on the site plan needed for requesting resource consent for the cottage refurbishment. I now have an accurate base map of the Karamu Homestead title with the buildings on it in their correct orientation to the boundaries, the north, and Ormond Road.

Weather:12°C—16°C; 0.1 mm rain [79.7] 06:00

Gentle rain most of the day. After SwimGym and breakfast, at 11:00 am “cottage business”. In the afternoon Karola entertained Jenny Hendery while I joined up the back drain fence wires, stapled the wires to the posts, and tidied up all the little wire loose ends – now I’m ready for tomorrow when, if the weather permits, Mark and Karola will put on the battens.

The Cottage Refurbishment

AT 11:00 am Les Clapcott brought Paul Libby, builder, to see us. He is a large, affable sort of bloke, seems to have lots of the right experience and is neither a cowboy nor too precious. He will begin by demolishing the cottage chimney sometime in the next couple of weeks. I will be able to help him on suitable pieces of the job. $40/hour + GST and materials. So far it looks very promising.

Les also sent over updated plans following our discussion last Monday and apart from some small corrections and a couple of questions it seems the design has settled down to a basic structure that Karola and I like.

Weather:11°C—14°C; 77.7 mm rain [79.4] 06:20

Mark came at 9:00 am and we worked on the back drain fence again. The reused strainer post that is also a McNabb Rpad gatepost is lifting out of the ground and so Mark dug it out and put in a new strong #2 strainer. While he was digging I put a foot on the post and created a stay post to go with it. The new strainer is strong and rock solid but three of the running posts put in earlier had to be resited to line up with the rest of the fence.

In the afternoon I did more on the cottage Go-Between. Later I wound up Karola’s electric fence on the lawn. Mid afternooon Janet Scott rang to say our geese were out on Oak Avenue so I got them back before they became or caused an accident.

Karola went out to an early evening lecture in Havelock North on the beginnings of Iona School (for girls).

The Cottage Refurbishment

The timber from the Go-Between was loaded into the big trailer and parked in the garage. I washed down the walls and floor of the ex-Go-Between.

Weather:9°C—14°C; 3 mm rain [80.9] 05:20

A sudden change to cold and blustery rain. SwimGym and then sheep sent to the neighbours and then indoors work until we went to see our architect, Les Clapcott in his Mahora office at 2:00 pm.

The Cottage Refurbishment

We went to see our architect, Les Clapcott in his Mahora office at 2:00 pm. We had a good meeting and have progressed to the stage where, if we’re lucky, we’ll get drawings of the sturcture for the refurbished cottage back shortly and we’ll be able to sign them off as the design we want. I need to provide a site plan including wastewater and stormwater drainage and the position of the driveways and the buildings with respect to the boundaries. Les offered to bring round a builder to begin, if we like him, with demolition of the cottage brick chimney in preparation for moving.

Weather:5°C—12°C; 3.5 mm rain [79.2] 05:50

Kaorla began by putting her sheep on a new piece of lawn and I did s little more fencing before breakfast. Then, as planned, we began demolishing the “go-between”, carefully. It was demolished by dark although we purposely have left the floor intact and we still have a lot of nails to pull out of bits of wood.

Karola helped with the demolition and also did a prodigious amount of weeding nearby. No constitutional today for Bicka and me – a demolition is exercise enough.

The Cottage Refurbishment

The go-between is demolished; it turns out that the go-between is not just an add-on to the back door of the homestead but is tied into the wall fabric of both homestead and cottage.

Weather:5°C—20°C; 5.8 mm rain [79.9] 06:20

Karola again had the sheep on the lawn today and she put up the electric fence to keep them in, mostly. I did more on the back drain fencing project. Late morning we went into Hastings and bought a new 4-slice Russell Hobbes toaster and matching electric jug plus some bolts and washers so that I could mend the mulcher – which I did. In the afternoon we mulched some of the casurina clippings that came from the Scott’s side of our windbreak when they got the usual people to trim it. Mulching took the place of Bicka and my constitutional today.

Weather:4°C—22°C; no rain [79.8] 06:20

Karola and I have dreadful colds caught AS USUAL from Alex and Natalie More, our visiting granddaughters. It’s Friday so it began (well I was up earlier for tea and toast because of my cold) with SwimGym then breakfast then a couple of battens missing from the new fence spotted and now stapled up. After that we went into town for lunch at Cornucopia. Mid afternoon I carried on with the back drain fence – rammed the final three posts (of ten) and strained up, but did not join up, the eight wires. Also converted the temporary gate across the orchard drive to also act as gate into the Orchard paddock.

Weather:13°C—22°C; no rain [79.2] 04:50

Mark arrived around 9:30 am and carried on with posts for the fence along the back drain. I put up electric fence to repair the tangling done by lambs last night. I also added a stay post to the strainer on the back drain fence and and constructed a small additional retaining wall where the bank was falling away somewhat. After lunch I went to Tumu Builders and picked up the railings for the north-west corner of the orchard, between the two fences we’ve just created (or nearly finished). Then Elms came and added gravel to the orchard drive where it had potholes and for the 2nd gate in the enlarged gateway into Craig Vernon’s place to the north. Finally Bicka and I went for our constitutional.

Weather:5°C—21°C; no rain [79.7] 06:20

After SwimGym and breakfast I went of to do more for the fence along the back drain while the rest helped pack for the return to Wellington. Unfortunately when the packing was complete and the girls in their seats we found the car had a flat battery. It proved hard to start but finally we did it and Bridget whizzed round to Newbold Auto Electricians and they replaced the battery for her. Then we all had lunch at Bay Expresso followed by ice creams at Rush Munroes. Then Bridget and the girls set off for Wellington.

Karola and I then went round to Les and Chris Clapcott’s house, 905 Caroline Street in Hastings to see what he’d done with restoring his own house, a 1911 villa. Karola thoroughly approved of the architectural changes he’d made. Apparently Les has not heard of Sarah Suzanka and her (USA) “Not So Big House” but he had many of the same ideas himself. We plan to have a meeting with Les et al on Monday at 2:00 pm to see if we can’t nail down enough of the cottage refurbishment design to get moving.

Later this evening there was much bleating in the meadows. It turned out that a sheep or lamb had got tangled up briefly in the electric fence and tore most of it down and some lambs were separated from their mothers on opposite sides of the tangled wire. Once I reunited the families it got a lot quieter.

Weather:4°C—22°C; no rain [79.4] 06:20

Mark arrived early and Karola and he went off to do more battens on the fence. Dan from Greenleaf Nurseries called to say he had five Coprosma Lucida for us as requested. Bridget and I and the girls went first to Bay Expresso for breakfast then into Hastings and bought more leaky pipe plastic joiners then off to Greenleaf to pick up the trees. The rest of the morning Bridget and Mark did battens, Karola amused the girls, and I did some more on the fence along the big drain at McNabb Road.

In the afternoon Bridget and I struggled with putting up the two gates across the enlarged boundary crossing. Finally at 5:30 pm we had a solution as good as it was going to get. When closed the gates are level and swing true although one of them does lean quite a lot when wide open. They both latch back properly against the boundary fence when wide open.

And lastly, before going to Napier for an evening meal at the West Shore Fish Cafe, Bridget and I rounded up the sheep and put them in the yards and carefully recorded the numbers of each animal. All were present and mostly correct; that includes the 44 lambs. Drafting 90 sheep and lambs counted as my constitutional for the day.

Weather:4°C—17°C; no rain [79.0] 06:20

After SwimGym and a hearty breakfast with Bridget and the girls, there was a Skype video conference between the granddaughters here and the grandsons in Ealing. Bridget shepherded the sheep to the neighbours and then they all joined in to plant the ten replacement mountain flax bushes. I spent a long time trying to count the sheep and lambs without getting a consistent answer so in next day or two we’ll need to yard them and do a proper tally. I began mending the leaky pipe irrigation for the mountain flax, there are several breaks to mend. Lunch was bought back from Drift-In in Omahu road. Late afternoon Bridget and I began putting up the boundary fence double gates – we hope to finish tomorrow morning. Again Natalie with her big bell shepherded the sheep back home.

Weather:3°C—17°C; no rain [79.4] 06:20

The day whizzed by. We set off for an early lunch at Clifton Cafe, at the end of the road where the gannet tours to Cape Kidnappers begins. After that a trip into Napier where the grandchildren went to the National Aquarium and Bicka and I took our constitutional. And suddenly the day is gone – ending with a large and delicious lamb roast dinner cooked by Karola.

Weather:6°C—18°C; no rain [79.2] 06:20

Most of the day outside was spent in preparing and erecting the electric fence around even more of Craig Vernon’s fallow paddocks, including the ex-horse paddock. The grass was so long that I needed the orchard mower to create a belt of mown area for the fence.

Bridget arrived around 6:00 pm just as Bicka and I finished our constitutional – all three of us shepherded the sheep back to their night quarters.

Second day of shorts for 2010/2011 season; sunny with a cool breeze, ideal for working outside.

Weather:3°C—18°C; no rain [79.4] 06:20

After SwimGym and a hearty protein breakfast Karola helped me begin rearranging the electric fence in the neighbour Craig Vernon’s orchard. For lunch we went to Cornucopia in Hastings – where we also pick up a week’s supply of “Young Buck” gluten-free bread. After lunch Karola insisted we went to the chainsaw repair shop and, to my delight, yes they had my chainsaw and also a rake head that needed welding – we’d forgotten about them for over five months apparently.

Mid afternoon I used the tractor to take some of the earth piled up when Baywide Dingo made the new drive extension round the oak tree and use it to backfill the retaining wall on the big drain at the back of the orchard.

First day of shorts for 2010/2011 season.

Weather:2°C—19°C; no rain [78.9] 06:20