Monthly Archives: April 2012

Moving More Stuff

SwimGym.

Shortly after breakfast the main lot of planks for the rest of the cottage railings arrived.

Karola put her ewe lambs on the lawn again for several hours.

I spent several hours moving many of my clothes to the cottage and, with Karola’s help, moving my large 4/5 chest of drawers (four drawers high, top one split into two drawers making 5 in all – as they say in the trade). Now have clothes in the cottage wardrobe and filling the chest of drawers and quite a pile to discard. I’m missing one good shirt and one pair work trousers but they’ll probably turn up as we continue the move.

Karola went into Napier in the afternoon; Bramble and I did some work on the orchard back fence.

Oak Avenue Weather:3℃—19℃ no rain [80.0]

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Repairing Orchard Back Fence

A very misty start to a beautiful day. Boiled eggs and toast for breakfast, this being Sunday.

Mark Hendery was free to come and help today so he and I spent the day on repairing the back fence of the orchard so that Karola’s lambs, when they go into the orchard in a few weeks time, don’t escape. I took off all the broken posts and battens. Mark took off the broken railings near the gate into Scotts, to the south. He then put in a strainer post and stay for that end of the fence; the other end is still in pretty good nick. Then I strained up the top wire so that we could see which posts were out-of-line and we de-stapled the half dozen posts that had leaned over and were distorting the line of the fence. Mark then put in the first three of about a dozen posts that need replacing.

Karola took Bramble for an orchard walk. She put electric fence round some of the lawn and put her ewe lambs on the lawn for the afternoon. Karola also cleaned out the big rats nest I uncovered under the upstairs floor in the homestead.

The Orchard Back Fence Before Repairs

Oak Avenue Weather:9℃—20℃ no rain [79.7]

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Deconstructed Homestead Hearth

Up in good time and took Bramble round the orchard after breakfast.

My main exertion today – quite exhausting – was to get rid of a 2-inch thick (50mm) solid concrete hearth from the “Bee Room” upstairs in the homestead. Karola wants to have hanging lanterns in the middle of the ceiling in the dining and living rooms. The old hearth was stopping the electrician get a wire to the centre of the ceiling under the floor of the room above, hence the removal.

The house shook as I pounded on the very solid concrete with a large crowbar but eventually it cracked and I was able to get it up, fragment by fragment. There was a false floor under the concrete, above the ceiling below, and the gap contained a very large, very old rats nest containing lots of well gnawed corn cobs.

Karola went to lunch and a meeting of the local Federation of Graduate Women, not returning until late afternoon.

The septic tank alarm went off just as Karola was leaving so I called Ricky McGhie again and he came round later and did some adjustment which made the alarm stop.

I spent an hour online and on the phone booking Karola’s 2012 UK flights in June and July. Then I went in to Mitre-10 and bought a small set of those special drills for cutting out plugs of wood. This enabled the creation of end pieces to hold up two broom handles forming our cottage wardrobe. Two second-hand brooms were cannibalised for their handles; the special drill bits made the holes for them to sit in; Karola and I installed them just before dinner. At last, somewhere in the cottage to hang clothes.

That Rats Nest Upstairs In Homestead

Third photo on right – is NOT a rat :-).

Oak Avenue Weather:7℃—21℃ 0.2mm rain [80.0]

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Wooden Expressions

SwimGym – back on the horse again, Karola and I both went today and got through our routines after a couple of weeks off.

I took half an hour to carefully shovel up the sheep manure deposited on the part of the drive joining cottage and homestead; the sheep did a good job of getting the long grass down but there was this rather smelly after effect.

I spent much of the day chasing round my quotes for the wood for the cottage railings. My preferred supplier, Tumu, is delivering the bulk of the order on Monday but doesn’t have enough of the thin 75x50mm rails, nor was their price good. Carters had the best price on the narrow rails and so I went there to buy 8 x 6-metre and 14 x 4.8-metre 75x50mm (3″ by 2″) rough sawn, H3 treated planks. Unfortunately they’d run out of anything but 6 metre lengths so I bought 8 of those and took them home.

Then a plumbing interlude occurred. Couple of days ago the loo in the cottage private bathroom started playing up – not flushing quickly enough. I rang Ian Croskery, plumbing manager at Copas and he agreed to send someone to take a look. Today it was getting worse so I called again and Ricky McGhie called round just before lunch. Problem was they’d not actually fully commissioned the new septic tank and it was full to almost overflowing. Easily fixed but took a couple of hours to settle down; now all is back to normal.

After that Karola and Bramble and I went into Hastings for lunch at “Taste” and to pick up my weekly bread order – two $8 loaves of gluten-free buckwheat-based sliced brown bread. I meditated on the various prices offered for the thin railings and realised that the Carters price was so good that it’d only cost me an extra dollar a rail to get 14 x 6-metre planks instead of 14 x 4.8-metre ones from Tumu. So Karola and I went back into town with the Landrover and trailer and bought 14 x 6-metre 75x50mm H3 planks from Carters. Of such fascinating minutae is our day made.

Oak Avenue Weather:9℃—23℃ no rain [80.0]

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Price of Wood

Delightful lie-in until 8:00am – the cottage is so warm and airy.

Caught up with a bit of inside work. Sheep returned to the Middle paddock late afternoon having made a good meal of the grass under the big oak etc, and I pulled up and put away the fence just before dinner. Part of the day’s work consisted of bringing our sheep records up to date – getting the numbers squared away with arrivals and departures. Also I did a ring-around for prices for the wood for the rest of the cottage railing fence.

Oak Avenue Weather:10℃—20℃ no rain [?]

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Wall Clock in Cottage Kitchen

No SwimGym today as it’s Anzac Day and the Gym is closed most of the day.

I put up electric fence and herded the ewes and ram into a space under the big oak and on the end of the lawn. We want the sheep to eat down the grass to expose the ruts in the lawn left by the cottage moving truck, and the heaps of topsoil under the big oak left from making the cottage drive, so that Baywide Dingo can smooth things out for us a bit.

We rechecked and extended the plans for the rest of the cottage railings and I have a plan and quantities of planks needed.

Karola got her lambs into the portable yards and we drenched them all with Cydectin (meat withholding of ten days). See the Smallholding journal for pictures.

I mowed the cottage lawn – my how quickly it grows this year.

Karola at work on one of her tree guards while Bramble relaxes in the sun on the cottage kitchen verandah.

Oak Avenue Weather:5℃—20℃ no rain [79.2]

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Escapologist At Work

Back home and rested. Good to be back because there’s such a lot to do as we gradually move into the cottage. Enid and Laurie dropped in on their way to town to make sure we got back safely. Karola went round the sheep and all seemed well.

Karola’s new coffee table and lamp stand for the Homestead arrived today – made in NZ from Beech wood.

Don from down the road brought Karola some smoked chicken in return for some apple logs he wants to use to smoke trout.

Bramble has shown she can (just) jump / scramble out of her home-made pen. The bought one is made of wire panels a metre high and she can’t get over those, but my 600mm high wooden one she can. I added two-inch blocks (50mm) under each end thinking that this might slow her down but, not a chance, she was over the top even faster than before. So, today’s project was to make a roof for her pen – a square wooden frame with old electric fence posts as rods across the square, making it Bramble proof, I hope.

Oak Avenue Weather:2℃—20℃ no rain [79.4]

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Back To Hastings

We spent the morning looking at bedroom furniture, including, after lunch, a very dynamic chat with the owner of Cudby and Meade. We have three of their Rimu bookshelves and Bridget has several too; Karola expects to buy another one for the Days Bay flat. Although Spruce Moose was out, we had some success at a Seaview place. The expense is huge but we did see a style and size of bedroom drawers we liked. We’ll be pondering it over the next few weeks.

Late afternoon we set off for Hastings, arriving shortly after 9:00 pm.

Woodenheart – High Country Range

Oak Avenue Weather:3℃—20℃ 0.1mm rain [?]

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Kirsty & Bruce’s Knees Up

We went to see Mary; took her out to lunch at CouCou – the French restaurant near the Karori fire station at the bottom of Karori road. Then went back to Days Bay and changed and went to Kirsty and Bruce’s party – celebrating their wedding and his 70th birthday. Around 8:00pm we left and went to Bridget’s just to say hello.

Oak Avenue Weather:2℃—19℃ no rain [?]

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Wellington Via Bulls

Off to Wellington via Bulls. Karola went to a remembrance service for Kate Pickering at Lethenty while I visited Harry and family in Burleigh.

Late afternoon we set off from Bulls for Wellington, arriving mid evening just in time to see another Miss Marple on TV.

Oak Avenue Weather:6℃—20℃ no rain [79.9]

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First Use Of Cottage Oven

Karola went to SwimGym today; I slept on having unaccountably woken at 4:00 am and had breakfast then.

In the morning I wound up lots of electric fence wire from around the lawn and oak tree, in preparation for getting the lawns mown next week. Karola has invited Bay Dingo to come and help smooth the lawn and under-oak area using topsoil from their earlier construction of the cottage driveway.

We went into Hastings for lunch, to Taste as usual. While there we had a look at some furniture, potential chests of drawers for the cottage bedroom. A functional MDF set of drawers with wood veneer finish costs about $300; the same function in Rimu solid wood costs about ten times as much. While comparing Karola saw a low coffee table and complementary light table in Beech, made in New Zealand, on special for under $1000, so she bought them for the Homestead. Later we went to Danske Mobler and Karola selected the “Stressless” chair she wanted; it’ll be ready to pick up within two weeks.

I did a little more tractor work, moving soil out of the way of the new cottage railings, as dusk fell and darkness descended.

It being Friday I bought some Terakhi and made a “traditional English fish pie” in the cottage kitchen. It’s the first cooking in the cottage oven.

Oak Avenue Weather:4℃—17℃ no rain [?]

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Cottage Passes Final Inspection

Getting back to normal. We’ve been camping in the cottage for a few days now; Karola also had breakfast here with me today. Bramble is still eating back at the Homestead.

Last night we put up a towel rail in the cottage bathroom so this morning’s shower we were able to use it – another little convenience in place.

Took Bramble for her walk round the orchard. Noted that both gates into the neighbour’s have now disappeared and the quince on one of Karola’s quince trees seem to have been harvested.

We brought Bramble’s pen from the Homestead study over to the cottage, upstairs, and she tried it out for a couple of hours.

Just after lunch Greg, the building inspector, arrived and within the hour the cottage had passed its Final Inspection. I had to make a last-minute adjustment to how wide the upstairs windows could open (up to 100mm, not 150mm as the previous inspector had said) and we were through.

Meanwhile Dr Drysdale called to let me know they’d decided my minor affliction this week was food poisoning and that, it being a notifiable disease, someone from the Health Dept would probably call and ask where I’d eaten just before I got the lurgy.

Karola invited a quote for blinds to be made up for the sun room. Salesman came 2:00pm and discussed what Karola had in mind. The fabrics are expensive and the full set of blinds for the sun porch will cost over $1000. Also the salesman will tell us when they get stock of a new roller fly-screen suitable for our kitchen french doors. It rolls across the entire doorway from the side which sounds like a good solution.

Later Karola put her ewes on the area under the big oak in preparation for asking Bay Dingo to do some earthworks, fill in the house-moving ruts and spread a little goodwill in the form of top soil in the hollows and depressions. I attacked the earth heap out by the septic tank, putting it along the line of the electricity mains to the cottage – the trench has sunk a little.

As Karola suggested, I sawed off the tops of the short running posts of the cottage railings; these are sawn on an angle so that, while supporting the top rail to the top, they are angled so that the top isn’t visible from the cottage side. The next lot I’ll saw before putting the posts up.

Oak Avenue Weather:11℃—17℃ 0.1mm rain [?]

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Back On Deck

Nasty little virus seems to have run its course. Late morning I went form my regular eye check but after waiting over an hour I got fed up and rescheduled – waste of my time, Karola’s time, etc.

Karola assembled her portable sheep yards yet again and moved sheep around a bit. Bramble enjoyed the entertainment.

Meanwhile I did some more moving of things to the cottage and also moved a few more loads of soil from the heap left by the septic tank, the heap blocking the next phase of the cottage railing fence.

Oh and at last I swept up after completion of the first 25 metres of that fence and the garage is (relatively) sawdust free. Looks like I will be willing and able to go to Wellington as planned at the weekend.

Oak Avenue Weather:9℃—15℃ no rain [?]

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Flu Virus

Dull day. Karola took me to Doctors in the morning – diagnosis seems to be that I have a bad instance of a virus and that it’ll go away in a few days. Karola then gardened in the afternoon, as well as fitting in some shopping around mowing the cottage lawn and checking her sheep.

Oak Avenue Weather:9℃—21℃ 0.7mm rain [?]

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Pretty Much The Same

Mostly sunny, warm day. The new ram was introduced to his flock. Karola did quite a lot of shepherding and electric fence construction. Council Inspector booked for reinspection on Thursday afternoon.

Oak Avenue Weather:6℃—21℃ no rain [?]

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Replacement Texel Ram

Walk with Bramble round the orchard, a really beautiful day. Otherwise not much activity here.

But Karola, over in Feilding, helped by Kaz, loaded the replacement ram (pictured below) along with a nondescript ewe of Kaz’ for company, into the trailer and came slowly and safely home

Oak Avenue Weather:5℃—19℃ no rain [79.0]

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Quiet Saturday

Slow morning but a meal and a walk with Bramble at lunchtime.

Oak Avenue Weather:5℃—18℃ no rain [?]

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Pictures of the Cottage Railings So Far

And today is Bridget’s birthday and she’s 42!

Anyway, Karola and I decided to delay going to Palmerston North until this morning to see if I’d be recovered by then. So Karola got up at 4:20am and got me up soon afterwards. We were ready to go at 5:15am when, at the last moment it was clearly a very bad idea for me to go on any long trip, so she left me and Bramble behind. I slept most of the day except for a 20 minutes walk with Bramble round the orchard.

Oak Avenue Weather:7℃—20℃ 0.1mm rain [?]

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Getting Ready For the IDS Weekend

Skipped SwimGym today – I have been under the weather since 7:00 pm last night. I suspect I overworked on the railing fence, trying to get the first half finished before we go. Anyway, Karola and I nailed a couple of the boards in each major post before I took the nail gun back at 9:00 am.

Karola took the trailer to VTNZ to get a WOF but she narrowly failed it and it took her the rest of the morning to get a new plug and cable put on, then she passed OK.

Karola put up netting fence round the south end of the railings, joining up with the nearest major post. She also put some netting round the outside of the railings to stop the sheep prancing over the piles of sticky clay soil near each intermediate post – these haven’t been rammed in yet.

Oak Avenue Weather:8℃—18℃ 1.9mm rain [81.3]

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Major Progress On The Cottage Railings

Up in good time and just as well because John from HomePlus arrived around 7:30am to try again to stop the leaks on the cottage #1 shower.

Then Karola and I began the days work on the cottage railings – cutting rails to length and putting in the last two posts into the pre-dug holes to complete the first half of the railings fence.

Mark arrived soon after 10:00am and he quickly dug the dozen shallow holes for the running posts and did the final ramming for the main posts. By lunchtime he and I had completed the cutting and assembling of railings so that only the following things were left to do:

  1. nail the railings to the running posts, retaining the right rail distances
  2. nail the rails and spacers to the six main posts
  3. create and nail the top spacer for each of the six posts, bevelled so it matches the pattern of the two side planks in each post
  4. bevel the tops of the running posts to improve their look from the paddock side and make them invisible from the cottage side

Karola then initiated a project to move the earth mound (from excavation for the cottage septic tank) onto the area, cleared yesterday, where the old green shed used to be. I, using the Fergie, shovelled buckets of earth onto the trailer; Karola and Mark shovelled it off the trailer. After three loads Karola called a halt as she had enough soil on the old green shed spot.

I went into Hastings and hired the Paslode 30 angle framing nailer overnight and Mark and I then completed 1) above, despite a quite heavy shower of rain, and began 2). With heavy rain forecast overnight, more nailing will depend on the morning weather, but I’m hoping to finish the six main posts in 2) above, leaving 3) and 4) to be done at a more leisurely pace.

Oak Avenue Weather:14℃—22℃ 23.8mm rain [81.9]

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Railings Taking Shape

SwimGym even though it’s Tuesday. Gym was closed Friday and Monday and we’re off to Palmerston North on Thursday for the weekend International Dendrologist Society NZ branch annual meeting.

Mark arrived around 9:30am. He began work breaking up the old disintegrating concrete floor of the green garage that was smashed by a falling oak branch last year. Karola later enlisted Bridget and Chris too and she ended up taking three trailer loads to Greenways in Maraikakaho Road at $55 a load.

Mid morning Mark and I cut the angles needed in a pile of railings, the ones that will join where the fence turns through 45 degrees. I followed that by sawing the small spacer planks to separate the railings at each post.

Meantime Jenny Hendery (Mark’s mum) and Cas Hendery (Mark’s wife) came to see the cottage and pick some fruit: apples, feijoas, quince.

Bridget and family, Karola and I had lunch at the local Bay Expresso. They then set off back home to Wellington after a very successful trial run of living in the cottage.

Karola and I then continued on with the cottage railing fence until dark.

Oak Avenue Weather:9℃—23℃ 0.1mm rain [81.4]

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Beautiful Easter Monday in Hawkes Bay

Easter Monday and a gorgeous sunny day. Amy and her partner Andy called in (see below). Karola and Chris watched the end of the Augusta Masters golf tournament then Bridget and family went off for a day at Splash Planet. Meanwhile Karola and I worked on the cottage railings fence.

Amy and Andy Call In For Morning Tea

Amy is Kaz and Yvonne’s daughter, Karola’s niece. She and her partner Andy live in Wellington and were on their way back home, via Feilding, from Taupo. They picked apples to take back. Amy’s dog was being hosted at Amy’s parent’s place, Ngaio Glen in Feilding.

Oak Avenue Weather:12℃—22℃ 0.2mm rain [82.0]

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Felicity & Geoff Bid Farewell

Geoff & Felicity left mid morning after an enjoyable and relaxed breakfast. Chris and Karola looked at some of the Augusta golf on the cottage TVs.

Bridget did lots of cleaning and organising of the cottage; the cottage hob and dishwasher were used for the first time

I, using the hired gun, nailed up the last two railing posts needed for the first half of the fence and set all six posts out in their holes reading for levelling and ramming.

We went to BurgerFuel in Napier to pick up lunch and had it on the beach at West Shore. Later we had an evening meal of boiled eggs in the cottage.

Natalie and Alex quickly settled into their temporary bedroom upstairs in the cottage.

Oak Avenue Weather:10℃—18℃ 0.2mm rain [81.9]

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Bridget et al Arrive

Intermittent drizzle all day. Geoff went out early for a 4K run around the block. I took Bramble outside at half past four and then we both slept till late.

Geoff very kindly dug five of the six holes needed for the first half of the cottage railing fence; I dug the other one. They’re each one metre deep.

We went out to Clifton Cafe near Cape Kidnappers for lunch. On the way we again hired a nail gun in case the opportunity to do a bit more on the cottage railings fence arose.

Bridget and family arrived late afternoon and we all had a big meal of sausages, cauliflower cheese, spuds, etc. Bridget and family settled into the cottage for the night; Felicity, Geoff, Karola and I played a couple of games of the Sequence board game Anna brought out for us at Christmas.

Bramble finds it’s fun to spin the front wheel of the lawn mower.

Oak Avenue Weather:11℃—16℃ 2.6mm rain [81.0]

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Rashbrooks Arrive

No SwimGym today. Good Friday.

We moved a bed from our study into the room-at-the-top-of-the-stairs in the homestead. Karola continued her preparations, including cooking, for the weekend’s guests.

In the afternoon, one task was to cut off the end of the old door I’m using for my computer desk upstairs in the cottage. Builder Paul has already cut a bit off one of the two tawa-veneer doors for the desk to the right of the north window. This matched up the second identical door for the left-hand side. Using an unused bit of metal bracing as a guide or “fence” for the hand-held power saw (of 1070s vintage) and cutting through the veneer with a Stanley knife to minimise chipping, it cut most satisfactorily.

Rashbrookes arrived in time for a late afternoon tea; Karola produced a very nice fish pie she’d prepared earlier, and we went to Cinema Gold in Havelock North to a most enjoyable film called “Best Exotic Marigold Hotel”. Cast of well known (to us) British actors not in their first flush of youth.

Oh, and after breakfast Bramble and I went round the orchard and it was a tad muddy, but no-one seemed to mind.

Oak Avenue Weather:10℃—20℃ no rain [81.4]

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It’s A (Wet) Dog’s Life

Leisurely day, lots of rain showers, but warm.

I had a haircut in the morning and bought a few plugs and things from Jaycar while Karola held the fort. Later I went to Tumu about 15 minutes away and bought some more wood, railings for the cottage fence, bringing it back on the trailer pulled by the Landrover. On the way home I realised I’d not accounted for the two planks Henere and I used yesterday, sawing these to the special shape needed for the corners, including the corners for the second half of the fence, so, later, I went to Goldpine up Omahu Road and bought the two H4 150×50 (6″ x 2″) planks treated to withstand being permanently in the ground.

Meanwhile Karola reminded me that, in her opinion, the Landrover battery going flat so often was not merely our carelessness leaving doors open but actually a worn out battery. So, on the way to Goldpine I called in at Newport auto Electrical and they confirmed that the 7 year old battery was well and truly dying and they fitted a new one. So, in one week we get the sticking keys fixed and the dying battery.

The lawn mower man (Mike Croucher, Garden Groom) said it was just too wet to mow – it’d turn the lawn to mud. So, knowing that it’d be too wet for Alex or Natalie to be romping round on the grass, Karola put electric fence round the lawn and let the ewes in for the afternoon.

Mid afternoon we went back into town to shop for food for the weekend and, for me, to have a spot of lunch at the New World supermarket cafe. On the way we picked up my weekly bread and we called in at Work and Pensions to let them know a letter stating Karola’s UK pension entitlement had arrived.

As evening fell Karola helped me saw up several of the new H4 planks into post-sized pieces, 12 1.5 metre lengths that’ll be the intermediate posts stopping the rails from sagging and bending.

After dinner I tried again to get the cottage phone to work upstairs using one of the LAN cables to get between floors. Using a couple of the connectors I bought this morning it all worked. I suppose I spent about a day trying to make up the cables and connections myself with no luck, even after extensive searching with Google. But a couple of $5 connectors and it’s done.

So, poor Bramble spent much of the day in her den or her pen, but she did spend the evening with us in the cottage, asleep on the living room floor, while we watched more UK TV.

Oak Avenue Weather:11℃—19℃ 8.0mm rain [81.9]

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Bramble Snaps At Droplets

SwimGym

As requested I took a shower in the cottage and noted that the shower does still leak. Nick of HomePlus promises to get fixed.

Henere Ormond came round and together we made the angled cuts in the cottage railing posts needed for the 45 degree angle turns. We did do one plank on the wrong side but when we got it right we decided to do all four of the planks affected by the turns before I forgot how we did it.

Rain and more rain. John Burnard came round briefly to make a small changer to the heating controller wiring.

Quick trip into Hastings for a towel rail, some more nails, and some telephone wire crimps.

Bramble gets quite excited when the shower is turned on and tries to catch the water falling down with much snapping and growling.

Bramble accidentally nipped Karola on the chin today – Don’t tell Bridget.

Oak Avenue Weather:15℃—17℃ 17.8mm rain [81.2]

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Wet wet wet

Intermittent heavy showers finally stopped me mowing the cottage lawn.

Karola went off to hastings for the morning. Did some weeding while showers permitted and then spent most of the afternoon reorganising her downstairs office, the “Apple Room” of old.

John Pursey (shower installer for HomePlus) came after lunch and re-sealed the outside corners of the shower in the cottage private bathroom. Shortly afterwards Grayson Allen came and we discussed the heating controls at length. John Burnard has to come tomorrow to change some wiring for the heating controls that isn’t quite right.

I finally got the homestead small TV back on the wall and the bigger one set to switch easily between playing DVDs and Freeview. I also tried to use one of the cottage Ethernet circuits to carry a phone line but so far without success

Oak Avenue Weather:16℃—20℃ 6.4mm rain [81.3]

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Cottage Privacy

SwimGym and intermittent showers kept us indoors most of the day. I returned the nail gun to HireEquip and got 20% off because of the troubles I had starting it.

We did get out to cut up a branch of a conifer that had dropped onto the fence near the old wooden gate.

We put up two blinds in the cottage bedroom in anticipation of Bridget’s visit next weekend.

Otherwise I did some computing housekeeping and brought a few more things over from the homestead.

Oak Avenue Weather:12℃—19℃ 6.6mm rain [81.1]

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Falling Forward

The clocks that is. Karola went to the Farmers Market quite early to get snacks for her morning visitor. Miranda, Tommy Ormond’s grand-daughter was taking Tommy out for the day and that included bringing her round for morning tea with Karola.

I spent the day preparing the cottage fence posts, well the first six posts, and trying to get the hired nail gun to work. I had just about given up when, late afternoon, it started working. I’d had tuition from a man on Mitre-10 where I bought the nail gun nails and gas cannister, and I read the user guide online to no avail. I suspected the battery but it showed as fully charged. Anyway it finally did start working and, as a replacement for hammering with consequent aching wrists for days, is perfect. The 90mm glue-covered galvanised nails are just the thing too for joining the 6 x 1 (50mm x 150mm) planks. With Karola’s help I constructed four of the six posts needed for the northern half of the railings, from the garage up to the garden gate opposite the front door. The other two posts entail a change of direction at 45 degrees and I plan to cut those carefully later in the week.

Karola, having finished putting up her portable yards with Rowena yesterday, got me to help drench her 24 ewe lambs today (Cydectin, withholding for meat of ten days). She also gave them a splash of Magnum as they’re a bit daggy and a single warm morning will bring out the flies. (Magnum, meat withholding zero days).

Oak Avenue Weather:10℃—21℃ 3.3mm rain [81.2]

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