Monthly Archives: November 2011

SwimGym without Karola who is in Wellington till Friday.

Chats with painter Brett and builder Paul, relaying messages from Karola, but otherwise a quiet, sunny, warm day. Sheep spent the afternoon on the lawn.

Oak Avenue Weather:9℃—19℃ no rain [81.7] 06:18

Karola negotiated the dagging of her lambs and Bruce sent a man with a truck and he began at 10:00 am and was finished by the time I returned from sending off Karola from Napier airport at lunchtime. Karola went down to help Bridget this afternoon and has a flight booked back on Friday.

Responding to e-mail from Larry of Classic Kitchens I took in the dish-washer to his place in Onekawa. He gave me the final design documents, one copy for us and one to remain in the cottage for reference.

I discussed the window and door hardware with Paul and then purchased the rest of what we need from Mitre-10. A few pieces are on order but should be here by the end of the week.

Both vehicles are booked in for services next week.

I picked up the trailer (pictured below) from the Saw Doctors on Omahu Road with the additional two cross-bars as requested by Karola. I also picked up my four light fittings with the one incandescent light fitting in each replaced with a pair of halogen sockets, opposed to have one light pointing up and one down. The lamps are LED. Saw Doctors connected the twinned halogen fittings by creating a small metal bracket for each light.

Mark Hendery accepted an invitation to come here on Monday and help us take 17 of Karola’s ewes to market at Stortford Lodge.

Oak Avenue Weather:4℃—17℃ no rain [82.2] 06:35

SwimGym. Christmas card hunting in Napier with limited success. Reminder after phone conversation with Noel Hendery from the car, I must get a copy of “Spirit Level”.

Called Rob Findlay and confirmed he had received our e-mail accepting his quote to do the wood burner installation. Called Ian Croskery and alerted him to the imminent adding of the base boards on the cottage in case his plumbing team wanted access before it got more difficult.

Sheep have another turn on the lawn which has sprouted luxuriant clover growth. Painters painting, GIB-stopper almost stopped. Paul and Matthew begin putting on the base boards, pictured below.

Meeting with Brett Newton and discussion about priorities for the interior painting and concerns about the degree to which the old ceilings can be made good.

Karola and I went into Napier and spent an hour or more in Mitre-10 looking at window and door fastenings. I think we’re homing in on what we’d like for the cottage.

Bridget called and Karola is flying down to help her for a few days beginning tomorrow.

Oak Avenue Weather:12℃—28℃ 2.0mm rain [82.2] 06:18

Karola went to the Farmer’s Market in Hastings and ordered the Christmas Ham as requested by Anna / Felix.

Karola, having experienced my mowing prowess on gates, fences, trees etc really prefers I do not use the mower near to the cottage. Also it can kick up stones and damage glass. So I mowed round the cottage with Karola’s second-best yellow mulching mower. Meanwhile Karola cleaned inside the cottage – nails, offcuts, and lots and lots of dust.

Matt Saunders came over from The Stables opposite and borrowed my tractor (wanted the use of the bucket) for a couple of hours.

Oak Avenue Weather:12℃—23℃ no rain [82.4] 06:18

Quite exhausted after our respective hectic days yesterday, today was a slower day with frequent rests.

Electrician John came this morning to place some wiring in the cottage kitchen area, in the new stub wall for the dish-washer etc and to move a couple of mis-placed wires. Interior painting is to begin in ernest next week.

Karola treated the fourteen lambs I drafted out yesterday for potential fly-strike – she didn’t find any actually afflicted so we may have been in time.

As requested by Karola, there’s an old cupboard door reinstated as the under-bench cupboard door from the dining room with a Kauri architrave, another reused old cupboard door under the stairs, and the “borrow” from the dining room into the bathroom area is lined with some match lining from the sitting room, the chimney breast, including the stencil motif that went right round the living room wall.

Oak Avenue Weather:6℃—21℃ no rain [81.6] 06:18

SwimGym then a too-hectic day. Karola returned mid evening.

It was alleged that, while Karola was away for six weeks in the UK and France two years ago,
I forgot to feed myself, resulting in much weight loss etc. This, while surely not to everyone’s
taste, is my Friday evening meal, very similar to the meals I had every night while Karola was away.

Gastronomic Vandal or not, it has protein, carbohydrate, carrots and cabbage. Hardly a starvation diet.

Several hours mowing in the Totara paddock produced a most pleasing result though whether it’ll need doing again before Anna and the boys arrive is anyone’s guess

Late afternoon I drafted out the daggy lambs and left them, with water but not much food, in the holding yard. The rest of the flock began enjoying fresh long grass in the half of the One Acre paddock they hadn’t had recently.

Oak Avenue Weather:14℃—26℃ no rain [81.8] 06:18

Strange day. Was raining at 6:30am so after breakfast I went back to bed until 9:30am – standard technique for avoiding burying dead animals. Anyway the weather brightened and although very windy there were long spells of warm sun. I started the tractor, meaning to use the bucket to transport the dead large lamb (as big as the two-tooth ewes, a very large dead ewe lamb), only to find that the left front tyre was flat. So I dragged the corpse with the Landrover, much quicker and easier than Karola’s favourite method using a wheel barrow. To my delight Karola had arranged for Mark Hendery to dig a large pit for dead animals some months ago and it wasn’t full so all I had to do was roll the sheep in and cover it up. All over in half an hour.

Back to the flat tyre. I obviously couldn’t drive the tractor to a garage to get it fixed, nor will it fit on our trailers, so the obvious thing to do was to take off the wheel. Alas, the wheel hasn’t been removed for decades and the wheel nuts were rusted tightly on, my giant Crescent spanner made no impression. I applied liberal spray WD40 (or similar) without effect. Neither Paul nor Craig, both with old 4WD Toyotas, had a socket big enough for the wheel nuts so I popped down to White Traders and, very luckily, found just one old socket wrench of the right size. I bought it and another wheel nut wrench that I could use as the lever to turn the fitting socket, $6.00. While there I also bought some fat, short screws to redo the cottage gutter down-pipe fastenings to the gutters, $4.00. Ten dollars well spent.

Now I had a socket wrench that fitted but try as I might I couldn’t turn the wheel nuts. Then I remembered the rusty 600mm length of steel pipe I use to (over)strain my fences and, using it as an extension handle I removed the nuts and took off the wheel. I called my contact Kerry of HB Tractor Dismantlers and he suggested I take the tyre to HB Tyre Repairs in Wilson Road, just 2km, down our road and straight across the Omahu Road round-about. The young guy there was friendly, efficient and had the tyre repaired in less than 20 minutes for $20.00. I would go back.

Somehow as this was going on I spent half an hour re-trying to get access to the IBM network with the help of the IBM Help Desk. This time the help desk woman was particularly helpful and she even rang me back to say that a new password had been sent to, and received by, Karla Norsworthy, an old colleague of mine. Two previous attempts to get me a new password had failed, this one worked and I spoke to Karla (in Raleigh, North Carolina) which I hadn’t done in ten years. Of course the new password, while an important step in solving my access problem, turned out not to be the full solution.

E-mailed Rob Findlay and got a quote for the wood burner installation by lunchtime. Also spoke to HB Regional Council and got an e-mail back which effectively confirmed that we did not need Resource Consent from them – a question that Rob Findlay had said we should ask of the regional council. After talking to Karola I e-mailed Rob accepting the quote.

With the tractor wheel fixed I mowed a grass causeway across the top of the Totara paddock and put up electric fence so that the sheep could commute from the One Acre paddock to the Island for shelter and water. I took down some fence that Karola had put along where my willow stakes were sprouting but was dismayed to see that several sheep immediately went up on hind legs and started munching fresh willow. I drove the sheep out of the causeway area intending to re-erect the protection for the willows. The willow stakes, you understand, are a foot or so inside the planting area and the sheep were climbing on the fence to get at the leaves.

Meanwhile all the ewes and lambs, fed up with being denied fresh willow, and exasperated with the view of really nice long grass in the Middle paddock, broke through my electric fence and began gorging on the pasture saved up for Christmas. The fence was very tight and very much live – I know from personal experience it was carrying a tremendous wallop. With difficulty I got the sheep back in their current grazing area. I returned to the causeway mowing and re-erected the willow protection.

Meanwhile, a few lambs and ewes jumped through the electric fence again. While trying to get them back with the main flock I was outwitted and all the sheep poured into the Middle paddock. Eventually I got them back where they belonged. I now spent half an hour wiring some of Karola’s tree guards to their supporting metal standards so that the sheep couldn’t make them ride up by rubbing and then eat the tree leaves and bark – as had happened several times in the past. Using lacing wire and fixing the deer netting (key component of each tree guard) to a couple of the standards, wiring to a hole in the standard, usually does protect the tree.

Meanwhile a few lambs and two ewes went through the electric fence again. This time I shepherded the miscreants into, and shut them in, the Island paddock and the mowed and fenced causeway. I added a secondary electric fence inside the one they’d been jumping through and I ensured that the causeway electric fence, the willow protecting fence, and the double fence between the Middle paddock and the Totara paddock were all ‘hot’. We’ll see who is where by tomorrow morning.

Oak Avenue Weather:6℃—21℃ 0.2mm rain [82.3] 06:18

SwimGym as usual.

I called Rob Findlay (06-836-6109 and fin-rjcd@paradise.net.nz) re the wood burner installation and we arranged for him to come here at 10:00am today.  Rob took a close look at the proposed position and the stove, he is quite familiar with Jotul burners. The wood burner has no heat shielding of its own and so, as per the manufacturer’s directions, if there is no additional shielding then the fire needs to be at least 600mm from the wall at the nearest point. When you take the hearth minimum distances into consideration the hearth almost touches the front door. There is a form of wallboard shielding that would reduce the distance from the wall to about 510mm but even that still makes the hearth overlap the door architrave. The other option is to have a metal heat shield proud of the GIB wall rising about 1200mm above the floor; this reduces the minimum wall clearance to around 300mm and everything then fits. However, although the installers all far prefer to go straight up through the ceiling and through the upstairs room and out to the roof, Rob observed that we couldn’t do that without major upheaval because the flue would be going straight through the floor joist above. So, Rob is persuaded that going out through the wall at 45 degrees is the best option, and it’s the one Karola and I prefer. We await a quote back from Rob.

Late morning, in to town for monthly blood test, food, and to buy some tiles for the cottage hearth.

Karola had her eye on some 12″ square terracotta orange tiles similar to the ones she has in Days Bay and there happens to be a tile shop in Hastings which is selling their last such tiles now, down to the last two rows of packets on the last pallet and they don’t expect to get any more. I bought 3 packets each containing a metre square of 300mm (12 inch) square tiles.

Matthew and Craig both saw a dead lamb in the Totara paddock and I verified that this was no acting, it really was dead. As seems to happen every year, one or two of our best, largest, fittest-looking lambs dies for no apparent reason. This year it’s #104E, one of twins born to #616.

Oak Avenue Weather:12℃—27℃ 3.2mm rain [82.1] 06:18

Karola down safely in Wellington for the rest of the week. General election is on Saturday.

I moved Karola’s sheep onto new patch of grass, setting up an extra electric fence across the Middle paddock to do so.

Landrover battery is dead, probably because the key is so hard to insert that we’ve decided to leave it in permanently and maybe I left it partially turned. On battery charger now as no Subaru to jump start it with.

Called Brett Newton and asked him to do the interior cottage painting first as that will allow up to get on with installing the kitchen (in about 4 weeks time) and the lights, power sockets, media cables, Airnet Internet, taps, basins, bath, showers, security and so on. Craig the GIB stopper (aka plasterer) will be only a week more before that’s all finished and painting inside can begin.

Ian Croskery (Copas) rang with a contact who might help with installing the wood burner and flue, Rob Finlay. Paul says he’s known of him for a long time, a well respected plumber in Napier.

Let the Gutter Solutions guy know we accepted his quote for putting gutter guard on the cottage.

Oak Avenue Weather:9℃—24℃ no rain [82.3] 06:18

SwimGym on a warm and blustery day, very warm, cloudy and gale force gusts leaving small branches everywhere.

Mike Croucher came and mowed half the lawn before overheating his mower and leaving for the day.

Silly thing, I took a handful of Economists and another handful of New Scientists down to Wellington for Geoff Rashbrooke and Bridget respectively – and brought them home again. Very annoying so this morning we couriered the Economists to Geoff in Wellington thinking there’s 50-50 that they’ll arrive before he flies out to continue his current contract in Fiji.

I bought an e-book of Gareth Morgan’s “The Great Kahuna” and am engrossed – it’s about taxation and the distribution of wealth in New Zealand, and how he thinks it could be better.

Meeting at 3:00pm went as planned: Larry McKenna (Classic Kitchens), Tony Page (bench maker) and Paul Libby (builder) discussed the cottage kitchen design and the key parts where cabinetry meets the bench-tops meets the stub wall etc. With a fair wind it will be finished, if not painted, before Christmas.

Meanwhile Bridget has rung to say she’s bust her ankle exercising this morning and she wondered if Karola could come down and help. Karola of course is delighted and zoomed off back down to Wellington this evening. I stay to hold the fort, it’s expected to be for four days at least. We could have sent the Economists with Karola, had we known.

Karola and I moved the door lock from the inside door of the homestead “place of four doors” to the outside”back door”, it having a key. Now we have a way to lock the back door again, something we haven’t had since moving the cottage.

Oak Avenue Weather:9℃—28℃ no rain [81.9] 06:18

In the morning I went for a walk up and over the ridge – 25 minutes but first part very steep and I got very puffed. Karola cleaned large quantities of leaves out of the stormwater open drains along the back of the flat.

Picked up Mary before noon (aren’t her roses blooming well) and moseyed over to the Seatoun Heights Corral for serious nibbles and chatter. Big Ben was there in Gandalfian hairiness, Gill as his maid Marrion, and a small number of couples, close friends (eg entire and complete Rashbrooke clan, Peter and Charlotte Offenberger) and people from Gill’s (secondary) school days, and Ben’s NZ relations (Steve/Vicky/children), (Kate, Ross), oh and our Bridget and her entire family. There must have been twenty or thirty small children there – or so it seemed. No, no, they were actually very well behaved, especially my grand-daughters. Occasion was to celebrate Gill’s September 60th, Ben’s almost November 70th, and piggy-in-the-middle’s 65th “on the dot” (Gold cards all round). Gill laid on a nice spread and kindly included plenty of gluten-free including one of the two cakes. A good show. Karola drove me back home and we arrived back at Karamu around 9:30pm.

Oak Avenue Weather:13℃—26℃ no rain [?] 09:30

Uneventful drive down to Wellington stopping briefly at Norsewood Cafe. Lunch with Bridget and the girls out at Chocolate Dayz cafe in Days Bay. Bridget’s place in Khandallah for the rest of the afternoon and supper.

Oak Avenue Weather:4℃—19℃ no rain [82.3] 06:18

SwimGym

Later I went into Hastings looking for parts to make the lights for upstairs in the cottage. Stewarts Electrical provided eight halogen light socket fittings, The Saw Doctors are making a small metal bracket to attach them to the light base. Lighting Depot sold me another three of the wall lights having the acid glass almost square shade and seven more LED lights that go into a halogen socket.

In the afternoon we went to Johnny Russell’s funeral – at St Matthews – crowded to overflowing. Karola’s cousin Frank Wilson made a rather good eulogy, one of three. The church was crowded, the meeting room afterwards for tea was even more so. Simon Grigg was there, Chris Ormond was there. Cecilia and Lucian Johnson, Arty and Adrian Kebbell, oodles of Ormonds including Johnny (Act candidate) missing couple of teeth due to a calf kicking him in the face last week. Cynthia Chalmers, Peter and Diane Arther, the list goes on and on, 100s of people Karola is related to or went to school with.

Karola talked briefly with Andy Colehart – he gave her a contact re domestic solar-electrical power – Campbell Simmons 027-455-5529.

Oak Avenue Weather:4℃—20℃ 0.2mm rain [82.2] 06:18

This mornings outing was to visit Work & Income in Hastings and complete my application for a New Zealand state pension. The interview was not dissimilar to the one we had six months ago for Karola’s coming of (pensionable) age. But first Karola moved her sheep into a fresh patch of pasture in the One Acre paddock.

We then had morning tea at Taste and afterwards visited a couple of lighting shops. I will leave that infuriating experience to be related in the Cottage Journal.

Later we chased around (metaphorically) for someone to install our wood burner. Martin XXX says he’ll be here to give a quote at 9:00am tomorrow.

Karola topped the Orchard paddock using the Fergie and our little orchard mower. Very noisy and extremely bumpy. As we were leaving down the Orchard drive I noticed a sign put up recently by Karola:

Karola Topping Orchard Paddock

Oak Avenue Weather:7℃—24℃ no rain [81.6] 06:18

SwimGym.

Karola and I wrote out what we wanted done for the cottage skirting in each room, and the ceiling scotia boards and discussed it with Paul. We also suggested that Paul could make ceiling rose platforms for lights which hung from a sloping part of the ceiling – which means the dining room, laundry, and one I forgot at the time, the bathroom. Paul will wait till Karola brings the actual fitting so that he can be sure of the size needed. We also discussed the placement of supporting dwangs, or is that noggins, for hanging the wall flat-panel TVs. The GIB is all up and inspectors came this afternoon. Inspection is necessary because the GIB is a critical part of the structure, the bracing of the walls. Don’t know the outcome yet. Paul has also found a striker plate for the reused back-door lock and handles the cottage garage is now somewhere lockable we can put stuff.

I got tractor diesel (30L) and a tank )70L) of petrol for the Landrover and was somewhat taken aback to find that cost over $200. When I had recovered, and after a few showers had rushed through, I mowed the long grass under the big oak and environs, up and down each side of the main drive, along the Ngaios of the orchard drive. Then, the thing which prompted this mowing, I tackled the long grass between the last row of Pacific Queen apple trees and the big ditch. As evidenced by the number of damaged fence batons and the grass left long when all the rest has been mown, I infer that the mower is too big to fit down that row, so I, with my much narrower mower, mowed it. Finally I went round the edges of the Orchard Paddock so that Karola can mow the rest without the stress of trying to mow close to the fence or the alternative of leaving a wide band un-mown on the perimeter. I only damaged a small part of one temporary netting fence and nearby post.

Interesting political debate tonight on TV1 – the six leaders of the minor parties. I presume far more interesting than the debate between the big party bosses. I was surprised how well the leader of the Green Party, Russel Norman, aquitted himself. Don Brash, the recent new leader of ACT, seems to have lost the plot. The new Maori Mana Part leader, Hone Harawira, is all charisma and working on emotions, quite a dangerous fellow I think. Winston Peters came the elder statesman – good with words he is still.

Oak Avenue Weather:6℃—21℃ 1.8mm rain [82.0] 06:18

Cool sunny day. Karola took the trailer in to get some more spring-steel hoops put on to better hold up the rugged green cover she had made a few months ago. The cover was pooling water between the existing hoops and the ends of the trailer so we’ll see how a couple more hoops help. I picked up my Reiker shoes, mended, ie restitched, after many many years of constant wear and little care. I also picked up my iPhone holder. The velcro fastener wears out after about 18 months but the cobbler easily attaches a new piece.

Couple of guys in a white van turned up as requested to quote for putting a high-quality gutter guard on the cottage gutters.

We took ten baulks of Elm down to Tony Page in Cedarville Joinery. From these we’re hoping he’ll make us the two kitchen wooden benches.

I sent e-mail to Larry of Classic Kitchens with our amendments to his specification for the cottage kitchen. I’ve arranged a three-way meeting on-site for Larry, Tony, and Paul – a sort of “kick-off” meeting for the kitchen.

Blow me down – this is what the journal is all about. I have to report that bird or birds unknown have pecked out the fresh putty on a couple of windows on the cottage kitchen verandah, so much so that they’ll have to be re-puttied. I point the finger at Welcome Swallows who can often be seen pecking away at fresh mud for their nests – may have thought it was the mud equivalent of a bird table. About four windows are affected, and only on the bottom and sides of the windows.

Oak Avenue Weather:11℃—20℃ no rain [82.9] 06:18

SwimGym.

Henere Ormond, wife Denise, son Scott dropped in for a cup of tea. Karola shooed them gently out after an hour or so otherwise they might have stayed all day as it is wet outside and they like to chat.

I went to doctors to get a medical certificate in order to renew my drivers licence. I have a heavy truck license hence the medical certificate was required. It was far from a formality, I had to actually go to the surgery and had many tests done, including eyes, but passed just fine. The subsequent re-licensing was quick and easy. Also dropped off Reikers for restitching (constantly worn for many years so not surprising) – and I need new velcro patch on my iPhone carrying case again.

Meticulous Maids did their thing in the afternoon.

Karola, after much robust discussion about the kitchen, went to see Larry the kitchen planner and progress was made.

We heard from Elizabeth Ormond (Peter’s wife) that Johnny Russell died 8:00am this morning (after a short illness, same as Steve Jobs).

Oak Avenue Weather:5℃—15℃ 4.0mm rain [81.9] 06:18

Karola moved her ewes and lambs onto a part of the Totara paddock and wound up miles of electric fence.

Occasional heavy showers. I spent the morning programming and then got down to the usual Sunday fare, bills and administrivia. The kitchen sink blocked so I unblocked that, making a great mess which Karola barely commented on.

Went out to the cottage during a heavy shower to see what it sounded like. Nice thrumming sound upstairs and in the kitchen but quite muted in the living room and bedroom.

The gutter on the front cottage verandah overflowed. Inspection after the shower passed showed that the down-pipe entrance was blocked by tree catkins and this blockage was because the roofers had fastened the white PVC down-pipe to the metal gutter outlet with a 30mm long wood screw. It, naturally, protruded about 20mm into the down-pipe, causing the blockage. Not clever.

From yesterday, the end of the Colenso conference was a visit to the Botanical Gardens and the Napier Cemetary, including Colenso’s grave.

Oak Avenue Weather:12℃—21℃ 7.3mm rain [82.3] 06:35

After a successful Colenso day yesterday, and an evening including a church service and mini-banquet, Karola was pretty exhausted, but not too exhausted to go today on an afternoon of walks and talks down near the river mouths and up on the Bluff in the Botanical Gardens and Cemetery.

I took a snap of the sloping ceiling of the dining room and and kitchen, of grooved plywood which helps make the room seem less long and narrow.

Oak Avenue Weather:11℃—20℃ 11.2mm rain [?] 05:48

SwimGym then Karola went off for a full day at the Napier Colenso conference.  I picked up some plumbing bits for the shower and bath, moved Karola’s electric fence, as requested, to let them have a fresh area to graze, and continued with my programming with occasional discussions with Bridget.

When discussing cottage stuff with Paul we saw a weasel chasing the small rabbit that’s been living in the Camelia bushes close by for a few weeks. Both rabbit and weasel ran back and forwards across the lawn in front of us and eventually I chased off the weasel, siding this time with the rabbit. The weasel was a very handsome fellow(ess) indeed – pity they’re so very destructive.

Late afternoon I went to Onekawa and picked up the final drawings and quotes for the kitchen and laundry cabinetry and stainless steel benches. I was pleasantly surprised.

I took a quick circuit round the orchard and was delighted with the flowering Manuka in our planting area on the west boundary, south end, between the Homestead block and the peaches.

Oak Avenue Weather:12℃—17℃ no rain [82.4] 06:18

Karola was off all day to her Colenso conference which, by all accounts, is very enjoyable.

Bridget and I spent some time programming – screen-sharing is a real boon on our Apple computers when hunting down difficult programming bugs.

I went to see Larry the kitchen planner today and he’s laid out the kitchen and laundry as discussed when he visited, only very minor changes. We get a price tomorrow, fingers crossed.

Oak Avenue Weather:9℃—16℃ 3.2mm rain [81.7] 07:35

SwimGym. Karola and I mended the sheep trough pipe that I chopped up when last I mowed the Goose Enclosure. We added another trough to the outlet so there’s one for the Goose Enclosure and one for the Middle paddock in that area. Karola cleaned the troughs.

I pulled out the cottage earth peg (1.5 metres long) so that we can put it in closer to the side of the cottage, as requested by architect Les – less unsightly. It cannot be completely hidden, them’s regulations you know.

I called Larry McKenna – the kitchen etc plans will be ready tomorrow afternoon (probably) and we have a meeting with Larry in Onekawa at 13:00.

Grayson Allen arrived after lunch and made much progress in getting the pipes for the Rads and HWC into the walls so they can be GIBbed.

Electrician John worked with builder Paul to put extra dwangs (or is that noggins) in the walls at places where extra support is needed for light fittings.

As planned Ian Croskery came and discussed the installation of the wood burner; he’ll contact us again mid week to propose what he could do (re the pathway of the flue) and a quote.

Our plans keep evolving. I now want to install one of the chain actuators for opening and closing the transom windows.

Re the skirting boards, Karola has decided that all the skirting boards throughout should match those of the upstairs – a simple board with a bevelled top edge, except for the living room which is to have the same moulding as was originally in the “mens dining room”, now the bedroom.

Last night I accidentally sent a number of water meter readings in to the HBRC database prematurely. I thought Karola would want to put some readings in and had prepared for it by defining the HBRC server address just before my test server, thinking WRONGLY that the later entry would prevail. Wondering why I was not getting any results on my test server I suddenly saw where I was sending these readings – ooops. My contacts in HBRC are not returning my calls.

Karola went out for the early evening to the opening of the Napier Art Gallery and Museum two days conference on Colenso, a famous New Zealand early settler. Those attending are a collection of clergymen, botanists, and historians so Karola is in her element.

Oak Avenue Weather:12℃—23℃ 0.6mm rain [82.6] 06:18

Spent an hour working on getting myself back behind the IBM firewall, talking to IBM Help Desk in some far away asian country. judging by the name and accent, then talking to Douglas Stewart in IBM in New Zealand. He was particularly nice, apparently remembered me from six years ago.

Having established that electrician John would be coming in the afternoon, Ian Croskery from Copas between 4:00pm and 5:00pm tomorrow it was safe to go out for a while. so, after ordering the sash window fasteners for the ten sash windows in the cottage ($354 including GST and postage vs about $450 elsewhere), I went into Hastings. Oh and I found a web site selling chain extenders (ie the elctric window openers we’re debating putting on our transom windows). They have a lighter weight chain extender than the C20 John has enquired about through the local trade electrical shop, Cory’s. I sent them an e-mail asking for more info, they’re in Poland. In town I dropped by Unique Lighting and asked them to mock up a light I had dreamed up – small squarish plate of frosted glass on four bronze pins with two LED lights each in a halogen lamp holder behind, one pointing up, one down. I also spent a while in JayCar looking at their LED light offerings.

In the afternoon Karola and I went round and reviewed the wiring installed by John. We increased the height of the four wall lights in the upstairs; I may have mis-heard or mis-noted the height from the floor recommended by architect Les. Anyway they’re at around 1.8 meters off the floor now.

We agreed to an extra power point in the upstairs, added a light on the kitchen verandah, the three multi-point places for power in the garage were twin socket and we upped this to four sockets at each place, and one of the garage 4-power-point places had the sockets at bench level when they might have been better just above the skirting.Given that we have around 30 lights and as many power points that’s not bad.

John will install the transom window opener wiring and switches but we may defer installing the actual openers until we find something at a reasonable price.

Grayson Allen popped in late afternoon and discussed the job with builder Paul; Grayson plans to begin the work on the piping for the radiators tomorrow lunchtime and should have done enough to allow Paul and Matthew to complete putting on the GIB by the end of the week.

The glaziers working on the new glass for the sun porch also have to re-glaze the reconditioned sash window in the bathroom because, now they tell us, regulations say that all bathroom glass must be safety glass. They then proceeded to tell Karola that several panes of the windows in the bedroom and living room needed fixing, and the cross pieces of wood were too old and worn and they needed replacing too. We are not having any of the panes in the living room and bedroom changed, we will happily live with the odd cracked pane and worn and tired wood for ever.

Oak Avenue Weather:10℃—26℃ no rain [82.9] 06:18

SwimGym then I went to doctor for quarterly diabetes check, returning post haste to be there for the new satellite dish installation.

As you can see, the cottage now sports a TV dish and it’s not too conspicuous a spot.

Ray the TV aerial installer came about 11:00 am and did a Sky $49 “repo” in about half an hour. He said that he didn’t change our decoder from the frequency it’s on for the Homestead, 11300, to the one needed by the LMB on the cottage dish, 10750, but he says it’s easy to do once we move over.

Murray the wood burner installer came in the afternoon and will report back shortly with a plan and a quote. He says that regulations will require us to have a tall monstrosity of a flue going up 300mm above the top of the roof above the Upstairs. Grrr.

From around 3:30 for over an hour Karola and I sat down with builder Paul and Matthew and went over the cottage tasks and priorities. Notes from this can be seen in the Cottage web journal.

Oak Avenue Weather:6℃—21℃ no rain [82.4] 06:18

Programming with a smile – the micro-gout has responded well and I am trotting around again like a young’un.

Karola has been out cleaning the cottage and weeding – a stupendous task with the prolific growth we’re getting now. She is pretty uncertain about the cottage now that the upstairs has been GIBbed, it’s a far cry from a workers mealroom and sleepout, it looks so modern. Same as she felt when the new roof went on, but more so. I think the end effect will be much down to her decoration and what she puts in it, but for now Karola is rather unhappy with it.

Ray the TV Installer rang and expects to come round tomorrow morning. I’ve accepted Grayson Allen’s quote to do just the rads and the piping and the hot water cylinder, leaving the choice of heat pump until later, much later, and sent him off the deposit.

Did not get my Sovereign Medical Insurance forms filled in, I’m hoping that Karola will do ti for me – it’s only to see if my eye man can get them to pay for some new toy he has, a toy which is expensive ($300 a scan) and I doubt will tell him anything more that’s useful – so I had declined to personally foot his next holiday in the Bahamas or whatever, but maybe Sovereign will.

… and we must complete our arrangements for the “Walk of a Lifetime” in the Abel Tasman Park after Christmas, time is slipping by.

Oak Avenue Weather:5℃—20℃ 0.4mm rain [82.3] 06:18

The brief excitement today was that Karola had subject yet another cell phone to a slightly damper than wanted experience. First she soaked it in a bucket for three days, then put it on “heavily soiled” cycle of the washing machine. Strange as it may seem the little phone seems somewhat quiet now. Ah well, plenty more where that came from.

Rowena came round for lunch and we had the last of the most recent pieces of wild venison Rowena gave us (shot by her brothers I think up in Wairoa.

SwimGym and then Rowan Cornes called during breakfast. His dad, Greg Cornes, had asked for some bamboo a few weeks ago but no-one had come to get it as far as we knew. But now an orchard audit threatened so Greg, via Rowan, was eager to get three bamboo poles to put their pheromone moth traps up on. I reminded Rowan his dad had offered a bottle of home made wine for the bamboo as I refused to be paid for it.

Late morning we went, as planned, to the Napier Home and Garden exhibition at McLean Park. The thing worse than traipsing around one of these shows would be actually manning a booth in one of them. We saw Grayson Allen and he says he can put the central heating piping in next week if we give the go-ahead. We saw Murray Rigby, who’d given us the complementary tickets to the show, and he again bent our ear quite convincingly about the better solutions for us in the cottage using a standard air-air heat pump or diesel. Very personable, sounded credible and sensible. If we chose on presentation and content he’d have to get it, but ‘strategy’ wins and so I’m going with the Grayson Allen “Peak Plumbing” installation of just the rads and the big hot water cylinder for now.

Karola talked to a man about in-wall insulation and (why, why, why) to a man about vacuum cleaners. He got the worst of it, long stories about vacuum cleaners Karola had owned and not a glimmer of a sale. I was disappointed that there wasn’t one booth touting solar-electric. We did find a gutter-guard exhibit, the identical product to the one we have on the homestead garage so we assume they must have taken over when the bloke we bought ours from went “out of the business” as they say with cheerful euphemism.

Thence to West Shore and takeaway salad and coffee consumed at the kayak hiring place Anna, Felix, and Barney enjoyed last time they were out. Karola just wanted to make sure they were still there. On to Mitre-10 to try and swap the brass exterior door handle set for a satin chrome one with a 75mm back-step (vs the usual 60mm and 70mm back-steps). No joy, no 75mm back-step sizes at all. But I did get Karola a water sprinkler at half price, identical to the one she’s been struggling with but that is broken, so that was a success. Thankfully then back home, Karola went out again but I was left in peace.

Electrician John showed me information about the electric transom window openers. They’re each nearly a foot long and almost two inches wide and about an inch high. Worst of all they’re about $300 each, including GST. $1200 for four window-openers, I don’t think so. I called architect Les and explained the issue and he’s going to see whether he can source something significantly cheaper or suggest a more manual and cheaper alternative. I think something like a stick with a hook on the end would be better than spending $1200.

Mike Croucher came and mowed the lawns, their first proper cut in months and he made inroads but it doesn’t look pretty. Another couple of cuts before Anna arrives and it’ll be looking like a lawn I hope.

Oak Avenue Weather:10℃—24℃ no rain [81.8] 06:18

Haircut at 9:00am – replacing the one I double-booked yesterday. Being in Hastings for this I went to Steele’s and picked up the twin-basin “vanity unit” – looks quite good. Paul will be able to go ahead with his faux wall now to extend the back of the “borrow” from the dining room into the bathroom so it’s long enough for the twin-basin unit. Also bought three door-closing devices:

• A roller closer – you just push the door shut and pull it open, no latch, just a robust roller on a spring. The first experiment is to put it on the door into the big dining room cupboard (the bathroom “borrow”). If it works well then I hope to have the same sort of fastener on the laundry loo door and the kitchen-passageway door.
• An exact replacement for the brass exterior door set that was on the old cottage back door – for that door in its new position as the garage side door. I think I’ll have to replace it with a satin chrome equivalent as the brass is a bit too uch of a contrast with the other door hardware.
• A press-button number lock for the back door, a little smaller than the one on the flat in Days Bay. We find using a coded number lock so very convenient for the Days Bay flat that we think it’ll work well on our cottage back door. We still have a conventional old rim-lock keyed latch on the front door out onto the porch so could lend the cottage out without necessarily disclosing the code. Maybe we’ll have a Yale-like fastener on the kitchen double doors as well; haven’t decided yet.

Went to get some sheep drench and more Magnum from Farmlands but found that the Landrover’s battery was dead flat. Jump started it from the Subaru and tootled off thinking that the trip into Stortford Lodge would charge it up. Bought, as instructed, one litre of the new sheep drench Zolvix.

Luckily for us they had a couple of 1-litre packs left at half price because they were near their expiration date of December 2011. Lucky because the drench costs an outrageous $300 a litre – about 4 times ordinary drench if I recall correctly.

Late afternoon Karola and I drenched all the lambs and ewes with the new drench called Zolvix (meat withholding period of ten days) and put on Magnum “pour-on” against fly strike. If we repeat this just before Anna and her boys arrive maybe all the sheep will be clean and happy for their visit. It took us about 2 hours, the ewes are pretty rough on us and even the lambs tend to push and shove rather robustly. The biggest lambs are probably twice the weight of the smallest and it seems not to be related to when they were born.  Oh, and the ewe with the big abscess, #040, has recovered and there’s a bit of a scar but no sign now of swelling – very gratifying.  We counted 35 ewes and 55 lambs which seems about right.

Oak Avenue Weather:10℃—25℃ no rain [81.5] 06:18

SwimGym then I had an eye doctor regular checkup at 9:30am and I spent the rrest of the day mucking about with my program while Karola toiled in the fields, putting up long lanes of electric fence and shooing her beasts into the Island paddock ready for us to apply drench and pour-on anti-fly-strike liquid tomorrow. It was to have been today but by the time we got round to it dusk was falling, so tomorrow it is.

This rather gorgeous door step was made by “PJ” of Steads from a small baulk of Karola’s elm. As Tony Page said, the grain is marvelous and this bodes well for having the kitchen benches made of a lamination of the same wood.

Yesterday we didn’t have a cottage garage roller door. Today we do.

The electrical wiring is proceeding well. Electrician John pointed out that there were only enough wires going underground across to the garage to provide power and lighting inside the garage, and for the water pump at the well head. As there isn’t enough rom in the conduits laid underground we’ll put this extra wire, for the two-way switched exterior lights, up, inconspicuously, along the walkway soffit.

Elm Doorstep For Garage

The 12 Oz Hickory-Handled Hammer Story

Yesterday the hammer arrived in the post and Karola soon spurned it as being too heavy (despite normal hammers being 16 Oz – 20 Oz) and anyway not enough like the smaller, lighter, older, well-used one she lost – thinks I might have spirited off. So I have a nice hammer more suited to my aging wrists than my faithful 16 Oz one I’ve had for decades. Small trouble was that it cost US$30, including postage to my special address in the USA. Due to my addressing mistakes and some sluggish response from myus.com, and DHL’s draconian fee for redirecting, it’s cost me about US$300.

The good-ish news is that after my repeated e-mails of dissatisfaction to myus.com they’ve refunded me US$130 – well given me a credit for that amount, so I have reinstated my credit card and will remain a member.

Oak Avenue Weather:11℃—26℃ no rain [81.0] 06:18

Traipsed around town; lunch at Cornucopia Taste; usual quarterly diabetes blood test; picked up some catalogues of lighting from architect Les.

Grandson of long-time Karamu cottage resident (40 years), the Harrises, Russell Harris dropped in and Karola and he discussed the past all afternoon. Before he came Karola had done an hour or so of weeding. Mike Croucher called yesterday to say he would come to attack the lawns on Wednesday. Russell is working for Steve of Hawkes Bay Tree Surgeons and Steve has bought The Green Machine, the business that mechanically pulled out hundreds of Karola’s apple trees over the last decade.

Builder Paul is lining the front wall of the cottage garage so that the roller door can be fitted. Meanwhile builder Matthew is lining the dining room cupboard with Kauri matched lining boards, including some with the interesting stencil on it and the piece which, allegedly, has Karola’s Dad’s signiature on it in pencil.

Oak Avenue Weather:16℃—21℃ 1.2mm rain [81.5] 06:18