Monthly Archives: June 2011

Colds impeded play but Karola did get out and about with her sheep and beginning to clear the old cottage site.

The Cottage Refurbishment

Site very muddy although surface water has pretty much disappeared. Paul cleaned out the little drain Karola had Baywide Dingo dig from the site to the ha-ha and that took the rest. One of Carl’s trucks got stuck; he tried to use the Fergie to pull it out but no go so had to go and get a man with a digger to pull it out. They drained the pile holes with a pump and after lunch the concrete truck arrived and now all the piles under the cottage are concreted in situ. Meanwhile Paul and Matt boxed up the slab floor for the garage.

Weather:4°C—13°C; no rain [83.2] 06:30

We both have nasty colds now so didn’t go to SwimGym.

Karola went out investigating a different garage to mend the Landrove and to look at new mobile phones as she dislikes the one I bought her, it is intended for Australian elderly and she thinks it is naff.

One of Karola’s sheep made temporary excursion into neighbour’s garden but had gone back to the flock by the time I came to sort it out.

The Cottage Refurbishment

Totally drenched site; most pile holes full to brim with water. No work on site today. By nightfall the water levels had dropped significantly.

Weather:5°C—13°C; 2.0 mm rain [84.2] 08:30

Cold start to the day but cottage work went on.

Meticulous Maids, Edith and Sheila, came and cleaned in the afternoon.

The Cottage Refurbishment

Pile holes were dug, the rotten bearer was replaced, and in the afternoon the council inspector came to look at the pile holes. All OK, I’m told – mainly because Carl, who does this house moving for a living, knew that our official plans didn’t have enough piles on it and he dug the extras anyway. Carl inched his big truck off the grass as the promised southerly rain came rushing north; had he not got it off I don’t think even the inching technique would have got his truck free, it is very heavy even without a house on it, 13 tonnes.

Elizabeth the archaeologist came, got thoroughly bored at the lack of any interesting old artifacts and went home and sent an e-mail to NZHPT saying that her monitoring and inspections were now complete, hurrah! (My hurrah, not hers).

Weather:5°C—16°C; 26.3 mm rain [84.3] 06:30

SwimGym, and then the fun really began.

The Cottage Refurbishment

Carl and his helper came about 8:30 am; Paul and Matt were already here. Paul and Matt continued over at the new site plus removing some of the exterior drainpipes and similar that might otherwise fall off during the move.

Carl and helper then jacked up the cottage on nine steel hydraulic jacks. Then they brought one of two large removal trucks and manoeuvred it into position. The articulated Kenwood truck with a large and loud engine had an amazing array of hydraulic pipes giving control over the steering of each of the three back axles independently plus the deck could be raised and lowered by several feet and it could tip from side to side, enabling it to inch a building across a bridge that wasn’t wide enough or round a tight corner. The most impressive thing though, and Harry would really like this I think, was that its articulation link – where it rested on the short tray of the front piece of the truck – which could slide back and forth almost two metres. So the whole rig could move a bit like a snake – the truck engine and cab could push itself forward a couple of meters while the back with the house on it stayed still. Then the truck would stay still as hydraulics pulled the back towards it. This allowed very precise and careful positioning of the house on the truck bed.

As it turned out the ground was too wet for normal loadup-and-drive-away, the whole caboodle just churned up mud and skidded so Carl ended up inching his way a couple of metres at a time from the old site to the new.

After an hour of too-ing and fro-ing Carl has the cottage within a couple of inches of where the cottage was supposed to be and, under the conditions, that’s good enough. Only the most unkind person will remind us in years to come that well, the cottage isn’t quite lined up with the homestead is it. In practice our buildings aren’t so very regular that a couple of inches will be obvious without measuring, and once you take gutters and other irregularities into consideration, even if the cottage had been magically placed precisely on the string line, (now is that the outside of the weatherboard, or the inside, etc., etc.), we would be no more perfectly aligned with the homestead than we are now.

So tomorrow there’s a 2-metre section of one bearer that is too rotten to save and it will be replaced, and then Carl and helper will dig the pile holes whiole Paul and Matt dig the pile holes for the new extension. Then, tomorrow afternoon, Elizabeth the archaeologist will come to peer down these holes and assure herself we’re not hiding any priceless artifacts. And after that the piles can go in and the cottage can be lowered onto them.

Weather:0°C—14°C; no rain [83.9] 06:30

We packed up slowly in the morning and Bridget and Chris and the girls came out and we had brunch at “Chocolate Days”, the cafe down on the beach front below us. Then Karola and I drove off back to Karamu with our new muffler. Karola went via Haywoods Hill, it being less of a climb than the Rimutaka saddle road and arguably no steeper than the Ngauranga Gorge cutting. It was touch and go up Haywoods – we were down to a crawl before we got to the top, but we made it.

About 30 minutes later, in addition to the low power meaning that the Landrover could only do 60 kph as its top speed, a nasty screeching metallic sound started up. It being Sunday there were no open garages and so we just decided to ignore it and plug on, see how far we could get. Somewhere near Levin the screeching lessened but there was a distinct wooshing sound as if something had got a hole in it and gasses were escaping. We limped through the centre of Palmerston North, having come in via Himatangi junction to avoid hills on our usual route through Shannon, and got through the Manawatu Gorge without further incident.

The real challenges lay ahead in some steep slopes in and out of river gorges, mostly between Dannevirke and Norsewood. Things gradually got worse with us creeping up the hills slowing to under 20 kph. Finally we were on the Takapau Plains and trundling along at 60 kph instead of our usual 100kph, but making progress. Then, Bang, the new muffler explodes. we get lots of power back but make an infernal racket.

On through Waipukurau and Waipawau and then, ten minutes later, the instrument lights fail. It’s pitch dark and I have to guess how fast we’re going but otherwise not too much of a problem. We got home safely before 9:00 pm.

The Cottage Refurbishment

Nothing to report today.

Weather:0°C—12°C; no rain [?] 09:30

Went to Lower Hutt and Midas fitted us a new muffler while we had a hearty breakfast across the road. We went in to Bridget’s and Karola went with Bridget and the girls to Natalie’s gymnastics and ballet classes. When they came back we all went to Karori and took Mary with us out for lunch at the restaurant just up the road from the Karori fire station.

After lunch we went back to Bridget’s and Bridget and CHris went out for the evening while we babysat – they returned not long adfter 1:00 am and then Karola and I roared our way back to the Days Bay flat to sleep.

The Cottage Refurbishment

Nothing to report today.

Weather:3°C—15°C; no rain [?] 06:30

SwimGym (Karola’s cold meant she didn’t attend today). Karola packed up the trailer with its new cover and we slung a few essentials in the back and off we went. The Landrover gradually lost more and more power as we went, finding each hill harder to climb than the last. Finally, somewhere close to Levin, we had slowed to about 20 kph and there was a big bang under our feet. The engine stopped. We gingerly restarted it and crawled up to the top of the hill and across the road into a layby – it was dark and raining slightly so good to be out of harms way. Karola then rang the AA and they sent someone from Levin to take a look. It was the muffler, split all along one side. Otherwise no obvious damage. We decided to push on; the AA man trailed us for a few miles just to see that we were likely to make it to Wellington, and then we were on our own, roaring like a boy-racer with the full V8 power unleashed just beneath our feet. We arrived in Days Bay after 8:00 pm, the trip having taken a couple of hours more than usual.

The Cottage Refurbishment

Nothing to report today.

Weather:8°C—16°C; 1.6 mm rain [?] 06:30

Cold and turned to rain in the afternoon. I had usual eye check in the morning; Karola picked up the new remote for Days Bay TV.

The Cottage Refurbishment

Paul and Matt finished marking out the new cottage site and dug some holes. Carl and his dad and a worker came in three vehicles. The worker used air compressor and jack hammer (very noisy and very dusty) to break up the concrete base of the old fireplaces and round the loo – it took him all day. Carl cut and stopped up the water supplies. So now the electrics, water, and (I haven’t looked but assume) “foul water” pipes are all severed and blocked up meaning that there’s no more prep. needed before the move scheduled for Monday.

Weather:4°C—13°C; 2.1 mm rain [83.4] 06:30

SwimGym. Meeting with Les at 9:30am then picked up TV (sans replacement remote – hasn’t arrived yet) and had monthly blood test then picked up trailer with the fastenings to a) strengthen the points at which the stock crate is bolted on and b) to hold the new dark green canvas cover on. A satisying mornings activity.

The Cottage Refurbishment

We went to see Les at 9:30 am and had a good discussion with him concerning getting some corrections and changes made to the cottage drawings. In particular we are to have the eaves lengthened a little and the windows are being rethought again. Les expects to email us the changes and his suggestions re the windows before we go to Wellington on Friday.

Meanwhile Paul and Matt have marked out the position of the cottage on its new site. And Carl dropped in to see if he could begin getting out the concrete base of the chimney tomorrow and begin the move on Monday. So he’s dropping off a man with a Kango hammer tomorrow morning and teeing up council and insurance etc ready to begin on Monday.

Karola has made great progress on emptying the cottage – and loading the trailer with its new cover with stuff to take down to Days Bay on Friday.

Weather:2°C—14°C; 0.2 mm rain [83.9] 06:30

I finished spreading the lime on the floor of the big shed in preparation for using it for storing the wood from the cottage dismantling.

Karola went for an x-ray – all done very quickly and she was back continuing her cottage clearing in no time.

The Cottage Refurbishment

The dismantling of the cottage extension is complete and for the first time in over 100 years you can see from the junk room opposite the kitchen right down to the Scott’s boundary. Paul and Matt did a very neat job of temporarily covering the missing wall into the kitchen with old roofing iron.

Weather:7°C—15°C; no rain [83.4] 06:30

SwimGym. Paul Libby the builder and his son Matt arrived just as we got back. As soon as I got back from SwimGym I called Elms and arranged for John Pollock to get us some lime and gravel for the big shed floor and entrance. Mid morning he brought 3 cubic metres of lime and dumped it well into the shed. I have spread about half of it. He then brought two cubic metres of base course (gravel) . The gravel was for the muddy area at the entrance, where the gutter had been leaking, and we won’t know whether laying that has been successful until things dry out a little. Late morning Karola had a doctor’s appointment and she was out till early afternoon.

The Cottage Refurbishment

Paul and Matt worked all day beginning dismantling the extension to the cottage kitchen. Elizabet Pishief, the archaeologist arrived arround 11:00 am and stayed for several hours looking for clues. She found a fork, a halfpenny, and a penny. Paul uncovered an enormous old, dead wasps nest that I remember getting pest control to deal with years ago – it was about a metre square, filling the cottage wall cavity.

Weather:4°C—16°C; 0.1 mm rain [83.4] 06:30

Karola has put up a long electric fence across the orchard to keep the lambs out of the big shed. I helped with getting them a water trough and connecting the electric fence to the energiser in the pump shed. I noticed that some old railings at the back of the orchard had broken and lambs could in theory escape – fixed that. Karola helped me fix the gutter along the front of the big shed that, because a couple of plastic brackets had broken, was decanting much of the water right onto the front of the bays, causing mud and slush back into the shed. Another thing that took so little time you say “why didn’t I do that two years ago” – or, perhaps, as it’s Alan Ladbrook’s responsibility to maintain the orchard and the shed, “why didn’t he…”.

I met Karen Saunders from across the road walking her dog while I was putting out the rubbish bin and she said she’d lost two bantams recently. I explained about the big hawk and the pattern fitted – it’s been snacking off their bantams too.

The Cottage Refurbishment

More clearing of the big shed in preparation for using it to store the dismantled timber etc from the cottage.

Weather:3°C—18°C; no rain [83.4] 06:30

Karola got up at 5:00 am and watched some golf and made lists. I got up at my usual time but then we both went back to bed to listen to the 7:00 am rural program followed by an interesting interview of Matt Rodley by Kim Hill. Kim was pretty awful but Matt Ridley was articulate and persuasive. We were finally roused by the postman pounding on the door with my renewed New Zealand passport.

Rainy day but nevertheless Karola moved her sheep and put up a long electric fence round some more spare ground next door, in the rain. Karola went into town in the afternoon.

The Cottage Refurbishment

Nothing to report today.

Weather:6°C—14°C; 4.3 mm rain [83.4] 06:30

SwimGym then breakfast and, later, lunch at Cornucopia in Hastings. Eat, eat, eat – that’s all I seem to do, according to Karola anyway. Bitterly cold and overcast day. White bantam finally died – the cold must have been the last straw.

Karola and I re-installed the 121 mailbox today. Karola’s idea of sticking it in a small plastic tub of cement worked well, it stands up by itself and so was easy to put in a shallow hole on the edge of the road.

The Cottage Refurbishment

At his request I sent Roger Walker of Hurford Parker Insurance Brokers some of the plans for the cottage – before and after – so that the insurance company can see the extent of the change.

Weather:0°C—11°C; 1.3 mm rain [83.3] 06:30

John Burnard, electrician, came in the morning and disconnected the cottage mains. He also added a double power point in the kitchen and put a light in the dark mini-hall that joins the kitchen, junk room, main hall, and outside – we should have done this years ago. He also moved the outside light at the cottage back door to the homestead wall next to the back door.

I went into town to pick up keys Karola had dropped in the loaner car while her car was serviced and WOF’d yesterday. I also did a few other errands around Hastings including some banking, getting a key cut (Mitre-10) and fruitlessly trying to give back some printer ink cartridges that almost, but not quite, fit one of my printers.

Meanwhile Karola is making great strides on the rearranging and clearing of the cottage in preparation for the move.

The white bantam is still alive. Karola’s sheep were herded back into the Orchard paddock for the night. Karola fixed up frost protective netting on the youngest Ngaios as a cold night is forecast.

The Cottage Refurbishment

We got the latest set of design drawings and pored over them making notes where we had queries or didn’t think it was quite what we wanted. We’ll go over these again and consolidate our comments before discussing them with Les next week. Nothing major as far as I can see.

Talked to Carl and he has pencilled our cottage move in for week of 27th or possibly the following week; he is quite busy at present.

Weather:-1°C—13°C; no rain [83.3] 06:30

SwimGym.

I poked my nose outside once or twice – it was a cold but sunny day. Karola went to town several times, including a haircut and another dental appointment for her impending titanium-anchored tooth.

The Cottage Refurbishment

Called Brett and asked for copy of the latest plans in case the copies I have are not totally up to date. Also spoke to Les later and he promised to get them emailed tomorrow first thing. Carl Baker, the moving man, agreed to call me tomorrow to discuss the cottage move timing.

Weather:6°C—17°C; no rain [83.1] 06:30

In the morning Karola went to the dentist for her six-monthly check/clean. In the afternoon she carried on rearranging things ready for the cottage move. Jenny Hendery came round for afternoon tea.

The white bantam is still alive, to my surprise.

The Cottage Refurbishment

Whew, got a letter from the council asking us to pay about $7000 as a one-time charge for our new dwelling. They levy this charge against all new developments to help cover the additional stress on their roads, sports facilities etc – even if you don’t use mains drainage or water.

After simmering down I called the council and explained that it was just moving a cottage and in fact there were two fewer bedrooms than before so the strain on the Hastings District infrastructure is in theory lessened. They said, OK, you don’t have to pay.

Paul came round just before 5:00 pm and we all talked for 90 mins about how to get going with the cottage. He expects to start on 20th – exactly the date proposed by Les. He and his son Matt will dismantle the cottage extension and will mark out where the new cottage piles are to be dug. Meanwhile I need to call Carl re setting a date for the move.

Weather:4°C—16°C; no rain [82.7] 06:30

SwimGym as usual.

Yesterday a large almost black hawk or falcon came in right up to the verandah and attacked the bantams. I only have/had six after its last attack a few weeks ago and now the last white one is fairly seriously injured and I doubt will survive. Our cat chased off the falcon and all I saw of it was the 4 foot wingspan as it dived out from under the oaks and away. The other bantams are understandably traumatised and very reluctant to come out of their house.

This morning, to my surprise, thinking by the piles of feathers that the hawk ahd taken the bantam snack with her, the white bantam walked a little unsteadily out onto the drive. She’s able to walk and her wings don’t seem damaged but her back is a nasty mess of blood and torn flesh and no feathers. Anyway, I put her into the chook house after putting a bit of anti-fly powder on her back – flies were buzzing round her as she sat on the drive – and I see she’s retired to one of the nest boxes. I suppose if she’s not as badly hurt as it looks then she might recover, I hope so.

Karola got couple of new tyres for the Subaru today and we had coffee in McDonald’s McCafe and I used their free wi-fi and Karola did some shopping while we waited the two hours it took to have the tyres fitted and balanced, wheels aligned etc.

Karola’s rubberised canvas cover for the stock crate is finished so we picked that up and then took it and the trailer to “The Saw Doctors” and asked them to make some hooks to hold the cover onto the trailer, and make a couple of cross-pieces to hold the cover up in the middle.

The Cottage Refurbishment

Paul the builder is coming round tomorrow night ; happenstance the resource consent came through today too so we’re legally able to begin.

I was concerned that as we have to use Batts with extra insulating power – 2.8 instead of 1.7 somethings – that they would be thicker and not fit in our walls but a bit of research today and I’m reassured that the three categories of Batts insulation are all the same thickness, 90mm or a bit under the 4 inches between the walls.

Talked to Insurance Broker about insurance for the cottage during renovations. Talked to the electrician and he’s coming on Thursday to detach the cottage from the mains and give Karola another power socket in the kitchen and a light inside and outside the homestead back door for when the cottage is no longer there.

Weather:0°C—16°C; 0.1 mm rain [83.0] 06:30

Winter’s day; even with the sun out it was pretty bleak outside. Karola continued with fine tuning her fences for the ewes and herding them hither and yon. I stayed in the warm and tried to debug my program.

The Cottage Refurbishment

Karola spent quite a lot of the day moving stuff around and up to the big shed to make room for emptying the cottage prior to its move.

Weather:4°C—15°C; no rain [83.4] 06:30

Cool but sunny in parts. Francis Wierzbicki dropped at lunchtime from Wellington, on his way back home there – he’d bought a van and also was able to pick up the four woodworking clamps he bought on TradeMe and that I picked up for him from a local seller last week.

Francis looked with interest at our plans for the cottage and pointed out that the generous overhanging eaves we’d initially specified had been dropped from the latest design documents and we hadn’t noticed. And Karola then noticed that several of the windows had been reduced in width. I hope these are things we can rectify without too much extra cost or any delay.

Karola and I drenched all the lambs today (Scandia – withholding for meat 10 days) and then let them into the orchard for the winter. We also set up an extra gate on the already busy gateposts where the ewes travel between Craig’s and our place. This makes it easier for Karola to herd them back and forth single-handed. Afterwards she brought the ewes back for the night.

The Cottage Refurbishment

Nothing to report today.

Weather:10°C—19°C; 1.5 mm rain [82.6] 06:30

SwimGym. Lunch and shopping in Hastings. Dropped by Laurie and Enid on the way home. Days Bay’s TV which has broken remote was said to be fixed but wasn’t so the workshop in Hastings is keeping it to try and fix. An overcast day, much drizzle and cold. Real winter weather. The ewes are fairly content in the paddock next door; there’s plenty of grass but it’s a bit long for their optimum taste.

The Cottage Refurbishment

Nothing to report today.

Weather:9°C—14°C; 5.9 mm rain [83.4] 06:30

Karola moved her ewes, after shedding the lambs, into next doors lush pasture by the road, the one she’s fenced off with some help from Mark over the last 2-3 days. Karola and I assembled her solar powered temporary fencing energizer.

Karola kindly took back the huge drum of drench that I imprudently bought yesterday. Farmlands may not have had any reasonably sized drench of the right kind (not Cydectin) but across the road at Wrightson’s they did.

The Cottage Refurbishment

Letter from the council confirming what we knew some weeks ago, that we had the building consent for the cottage. We’re still waiting for the resource consent. Building consent is estimated to cost about $3000. The Resource consent will sost another $2000. It’s all mounting up.

Weather:9°C—15°C; 0.8 mm rain [82.9] 06:30

SwimGym. Later I went into Stortford Lodge and bought a huge drum (well, 20 litres – enough for five years) of sheep drench plus a small solar-powered electric fence energiser at Wrightson’s, Karola spied it on sale – oh and got passport photos as my NZ passport is about to expire.

Karola put ewes on lawn again and then spent much of the day working on her fencing of an area of Craig’s next door, ready for her ewes to go to later this week.

Gay Wilson (widow of Murray Wilson) turned up for a while in the afternoon. Today heard from Roger Hughes about his minor stroke a few weeks ago – he’s pretty much fully recovered but gave him a very nasty fright – I can imagine. And he has OK cholesterol levels and OK blood pressure so neither he nor his doctor are really sure what provoked it. He has to cease doing his equivalent of SwimGym and walk more instead.

The Cottage Refurbishment

Nothing to report today.

Weather:6°C—17°C; no rain [82.6] 06:30

Mark Hendery came round, as Karola had requested, and enlarged a hole for the dead ewe #406. I chainsawed some roots within the hole and then we went and retrieved the corpse on the tractor and Mark buried it.

Meanwhile, as Mark did his digging I went to West Road out of Havelock North and picked up four wood clamps that nephew Francis had bought on TradeMe. I also dropped off the TV in Hastings; we’d brought it back from from Days Bay because it has a fault with the remote.

Sheep have another day on the lawn. Mark and Karola spend another couple of hours putting up a netting fence over at Craig’s so Karola can run the ewes on their long lush pasture next to the house.

The Cottage Refurbishment

Nothing to report today.

Weather:5°C—18°C; no rain [82.0] 06:30

SwimGym. Drizzled most of the day. Karola got wet continuing with outdoor things such as staking up some trees, setting a possum trap, putting her ewes on the lawn. I programmed quietly and contentedly inside in the dry and warm.

The Cottage Refurbishment

Nothing to report today.

Weather:9°C—15°C; 0.2 mm rain [83.6] 06:30

We left Wellington late morning after a leisurely packing up. Coffee (ugh) and petrol from the petrol station on the Petone foreshore; out to Porirua on the motorway, and up state highway I. A hearty lunch at the Red Cafe, although it was very busy. Then on to Palmerston North and to the Hospital where Karola visited Tessa, Peter and their new baby girl, as yet unnamed. A smooth ride back to Karamu arriving just after 6:00 pm.

Laurie rang around 7:00 pm to say that one of the ewes had died a few days before. It turned out to be #406. Not obvious why she died.

The Cottage Refurbishment

Nothing to report today.

Weather:8°C—22°C; 0.2 mm rain [?] 06:30

Went in to Khandallah around noon and just arrived as the first of the guests arrived. Sumptuous birthday party forAlex although she’d got a bit of a cold and took a while for the party spirit to take over. Excellent woman entertainer; lots of children laughing, yelling and generally enjoying themselves. Penny and Brian were there with Bella.

The Cottage Refurbishment

Nothing to report today.

Weather:9°C—16°C; no rain [?] 06:30

More of the same. I stayed out at Days Bay. Charles got quite a lot more done on the steps and then went off mid afternoon to do some associated carpentry back in his workshop.

I think #406 died today although we didn’t find out till Sunday 5th.

The Cottage Refurbishment

Nothing to report today.

Weather:8°C—14°C; no rain [83.3] 06:30

Tessa, Karola’s niece, had a baby girl by caesarean today – both well.

Karola continued her helping of Bridget. I visited Mary and caught up.

Dinner at Days Bay was Fish and Chips with Felicity, Geoff, Gwen & Bolke & wee Miriam – my F&C being specially made with rice flour batter from the Korean F&C shop in Eastbourne.

The Cottage Refurbishment

Nothing to report today.

Weather:7°C—15°C; no rain [?] 06:30

SwimGym, breakfast, and the off by 9:45am to Wellington. As requested we arrived at Bridget’s place at 2:00 pm and Karola helped with running one grandchild in one direction while Bridget ran the other in another – all very frenetic – especially for 5- and 6-year olds, and especially for the mothers.

To our delight Charles and Anton have begun the new steps and they are going to look splendid.

The Cottage Refurbishment

Nothing to report today.

Weather:5°C—16°C; no rain [?] 06:30