Monthly Archives: January 2015

I spent much of the day sending out last year’s Christmas letters – I am about half way through now.

Karola too mostly did inside things, partly to keep out of the heat. In the morning she did take a whole lot of empties (from the cleanup of the roadside verge, not our own) to recycling. In the afternoon Karola checked her ewes, they too were pretty hot.

For exercise mid afternoon I cut a few thistles in the One Acre and Front paddocks – there are very few left.

I changed the troublesome & leaky connection in the corner of the Front paddock for one in the style of the ones done earlier this week.

Tap & Trough Connection In North West Corner Of The Front Paddock

Oak Avenue Weather:18℃—24℃ 1.2mm rain [82.1]

SwimGym

Karola spent the morning wreaking havoc with the Robinia suckers that have sprung in bulk from a few old tree stumps and are very hard to abolish. Robinia is very prickly but otherwise the sheep like it; Karola is cutting the stems and poisoning with stuff for woody stemmed plants. We shall see.

Mid afternoon Karola went out and did the weekend shopping.

I spent most of the day inside except for an hour doing some finishing off of the water piped system and repairing a railing that got damaged during its construction.

A warm day but very pleasant inside and out.

Oak Avenue Weather:17℃—24℃ no rain [81.8]

Gradually turned into a scorcher of a day.

Up at usual time, breakfast and then took Bramble for a walk.

Henare turned up unexpectedly around 9:30am and so he helped by completing the fixing of the 25mm water pipe to the fence and filling in the trench across the gateway in the north west corner of the One Acre paddock. Sadly he fastened the pipe to every post instead of every second post so he took a lot longer than expected and he ran out of saddles and screws. A rail also snapped when he was climbing over it so not an unalloyed success today.

Karola and I went to the Race Day at the invitation of John Bostock, as we did last year. Karola sort of enjoyed the wagering and some people she found to talk to. The buffet organic lunch was excellent – including lamb and Bostock’s organic chicken.

Very warm by the time we got home around 4:00pm so we just relaxed for the rest of the day.

First Race

Second Race

Third Race

Fourth Race

Oak Avenue Weather:15℃—24℃ 3.8mm rain [82.8]

SwimGym

Karola went into town for the morning; I continued, albeit slowly, with the water piping.

Sheep were given their fourth piece of the One Acre paddock.

In the evening we went to Patrick & Lis Cooney’s place, 116 Beach Road, Haumoana, for dinner. They also invited near neighbours Margo McFail & Camilla Samper (an artist). Patrick cooked a goose which tasted good but was exceedingly tough.

Tap & Trough Connector In One Acre Next To The Totara Paddock

Tap Only On South Side Of Gateway Into Orchard From One Acre Paddock

Tap & Trough Connector On North Side Of Gateway Into Orchard From One Acre Paddock

Tap & Trough Connector On East Side Of Gateway Between One Acre And Front Paddock

Oak Avenue Weather:16℃—24℃ 0.4mm rain [82.3]

A rest day for me after the mowing yesterday. A bit more on the water piping but little else.

Karola and Henare did hours and hours more work cleaning up the road verge and in particular rooting out the blackberry. They have cleared the verge along from the 133 gateway north for 50 yards or more.

Bramble is almost cured of her limp today.

The Road Verge Looking South

Oak Avenue Weather:17℃—21℃ 5.6mm rain [81.8]

SwimGym

Karola waited for Henare to arrive – he is helping her with major weeding at the 133 road entrance today. I replenished the stores, including more prime beef mince and chopped liver for Bramble.

The sheep were given their third tranche of the One Acre.

After lunch I topped the Totara paddock after picking up the Canary island pine cones lying in the grass. There are still areas principally of Barley Grass or close to tree guards and fences that will need to be done with a lawn mower.

Later I used the tractor and mower to double the width of the track alongside Karola’s latest bund. She now calls it her Bridle Path.

Meticulous Maids came and did a big clean of both the homestead and the cottage.

The Totara Paddock – Before

The Totara Paddock – After

Henare & Karola Tidy The Front Entrance

The Bridle Path

Oak Avenue Weather:14℃—22℃ no rain [81.8]

Cool night and hot day – just lovely. Anna was forty-six yesterday – hard to believe that both daughters are in their 40s now.

Karola had a busy and tiring day working hard to get the homestead in shape for Norma Cherrington’s visit in February, with her daughter Claire. And Meticulous Maids are coming to clean homestead and cottage tomorrow after many weeks of neglect over Christmas.

I plodded on quietly with the improvements to the water pipes for troughs and watering trees.

The Sheep Yards Now Have Water

… As Does The Holding Paddock

… And By The Gateway To The Big Shed In The Orchard

Oak Avenue Weather:11℃—23℃ no rain [81.4]

Bramble had a bad night, waking me with little low barks from 3:00am onwards. I checked and the Vet Services in Hastings is open at the weekends 9:00am – 3:00pm so later I rang and they said they were full up but to come in straight away and they’d fit Bramble in. In fact it was the quickest visit, least waiting, I’ve had at that clinic. The vet, Stuart Badger, checked the same way I did and he too could find nothing showing externally but Bramble did flinch when he waggled her joint just above the paw. His diagnosis is that it was probably just a sprain that would clear up of its own accord in a few days; there was no sign of the dreaded Barley Grass seed. So Bramble gets a week’s dose of dog aspirin (whatever that is) and we are all relieved.

The sheep were given their second bite at the One Acre paddock.

Henare came at 8:30am and we got stuck into the water reticulation project. Henare had a couple more trenches to dig and I measured out and coupled up the various pieces of pipe so that by just after 1:00pm we had water from a tap and to a trough at the sheep yards. Ten minutes later I was on the way to the Napier airport to pick up Karola returning from Wellington.

After dinner we walked around outside and Karola was able to comment on: the electric fence dividing up the One Acre paddock, the relocated washing line, the stile, and the water supply at the yards. All seemed to meet with approval.

Gill’s Damson Tree – Fruit Almost Ready For Picking

Oak Avenue Weather:9℃—24℃ no rain [81.8]

SwimGym

I then did the weekend shopping returning just before Henare arrived, as planned, at 11:00am. We then worked on the re-siting of the washing line from the small lawn in front of the homestead garage to a spot next to the summer house.

The plastic sleeve which supports the rotary line is about 18 inches (450mm) deep and is encased in concrete for stability.

While I went off to get a second 25kg bad of concrete and our fish-and-chip dinner, Henare began the next project, improving the water reticulation for stock troughs and watering the trees. I made a salad to go with the fried, or in my case grilled, fish. Most satisfactory.

We first gathered all the lengths of alkathene, some buried in grass and difficult to extract, and lined them up so we could choose appropriate lengths. Then Henare began the digging of trenches across the gateways along the western boundary.

I sorted out the many hose connectors and taps I’d already bough over a year ago in preparation for this project.

I’ve been picking seeds out of Bramble’s coat every day but today Bramble has developed a limp in her front right leg and I cannot find anything wrong with it. She is very grumpy but doesn’t mind the affected leg being handled so I have no clues as to where to look.

Henare Checks That The Relocated Washing Line Is Straight

Job Done – Rotary Washing Line Moved

Oak Avenue Weather:9℃—23℃ no rain [82.4]

Cool start to a hot day.

After breakfast and Bramble’s walk I set about creating five grass cells in the One Acre paddock, letting the sheep into the farthest one mid morning.

I also pruned the Pittisporum shrubs on the corner of the Goose paddock as they were brushing vehicles that came round past the cottage.

I was just settling down to an afternoon indoors – waiting for the cooler evening before doing anything more outside – when Henare TXTed asking if we needed help with anything as his orchard job had stopped until next Wednesday. I said yes and he came over after lunch.

We made the style Karola wanted between the Middle paddock and the Long Acre. The design was from a New Zealand lifestyle website (no pun intended) suggested by Gill’s husband Ben Bell.

I noticed that the dirty lamb, #443, was still looking dirty even though he’d been drenched and was, with four other lambs, on hard rations of mainly dry stalks. So I made up a fresh batch of Maggo (withholding for meat of 14 days) and put plenty on each of: #413E, #415R (no-tag), #422E, #433E, and #443E.

After Henare had gone I cleaned off the Welcome Swallow nest and most of the droppings from above the cottage french doors as they were smelling rather nasty. The guano doesn’t come off easily so it’ll need another scrub or something to remove it.

The One Acre Sectioned Into Five Cells For Rotational Grazing

A Simple Style Between The Middle And Long Acre Paddocks

Oak Avenue Weather:9℃—22℃ no rain [82.8]

SwimGym then spent the morning reading yet another Montalbano detective novel.

Around lunchtime it briefly poured with rain coming slightly from the south-east. After only 5 minutes there was water coming in at every window facing south or east so I rushed round shutting them meanwhile thinking it was just what we wanted for the pastures. Light drizzle continued all afternoon, on and off.

I spent the afternoon collating a list of names for the only-just-completed 2014 Christmas letter – matching it with emails and cards we’d received.

Bramble slept all day.

Oak Avenue Weather:12℃—23℃ 3.0mm rain [82.9]

Cooler today except mid morning when it was blazingly hot again.

Made a lane with electric fence for the sheep along the eastern end of the One Acre paddock. Mowed a strip for the fence so that it qouldn’t short out and also mowed and caught a veritable thicket of barley grass near the gate.

Finally found the source of the leak in the water system – an overturned trough that I didn’t inspect closely enough was leaking due to being upturned on top of a stump.

As Karola requested by TXT message, I locked up the homestead. I also closed the windows and, after reading the booklet, set the alarm so it excluded the homestead garage. That way we can leave the homestead alarmed most of the time.

Henare dropped by to make a copy of some paperwork for Scott. As instructed I gave him tangerines and some peaches that were in the fridge.

Otherwise a pretty relaxed day, recovering from Splash Planet yesterday.

Barley Grass Seed From The One Acre Paddock

Cold Collation With New Potatoes – Delicious

Oak Avenue Weather:15℃—25℃ 0.9mm rain [83.2]

SwimGym for me this morning.

Brunch for us all at Bay Expresso.

In the afternoon all but Karola and Bramble went to Splash Planet adventure playground in Hastings. Hundreds of people almost all in swimming togs splashing about. Not my scene.

Chris had brought along a high-tech sun shade which gave me somewhere out of the direct sun to read while they cavorted.

After another icecream at Rush Monroes on the way home, they all set off for Wellington late afternoon.

Back at Karamu the water pump is running continuously and I spent an hour checking all the taps, valves and troughs. I found one trough where the hose had become disconnected but once fixed the pump still switching on every minute or so. Will have to investigate further.

Oak Avenue Weather:13℃—29℃ no rain [82.9]

Another warm sunny day.

In the morning all of us except Bridget went fishing of the Ahuriri boat ramp. Chris helped the girls with baiting and letting out their lines. Natalie was the only one, again, to catch a fish. This time it was a small blue cod – we think. No shoals of herring or perhaps mullet that we saw last time. It was stinking hot. I tried casting for kahwai but, as expected, without result. Later it turned out that this may have been helped by the fact that my lure had no hook.

After an hour or so we packed up and went to Cafe Divine in Napier for lunch.

Siesta till late afternoon then all but Ian went back to Napier to Pandora’s Pond to kayak. Natalie and Alex paddled off with a following wind and the tide behind them – was not so easy trying to come back. Chris and Karola then had a go. Bridget minded the things and took photos.

Meanwhile I drenched lamb #443, (Scanda – withholding for meat of 10 days), who is very messy indeed, and then put plenty of Maggo on #413, #415R (no-tag), #422, #433, and #443. (Maggo – withholding for meat of 14 days).

Oak Avenue Weather:14℃—28℃ no rain [83.3]

A pretty warm day.

In the morning Bridget and the girls helped – did the work of – giving all the sheep a pour-on mixture to repel flies and kill lice – Magnum. Bridget applied the mixture; Alex did the book-keeping, and Natalie helped Grandma move the sheep around the yards. (Magnum withholding for meat – zero days). Five lambs: #413E, #415R (no-tag), #422E, #433E, and #443E were kept back along with naughty ewe #328 who is no respecter of electric fence.

In the afternoon Chris and Natalie kayaked down the Ngaruroro river from the end of our road, Ormond Road, to just beyond the SH2 bridge at Hohepa. Bridget, Alex and I drove down and collected them before returning for dinner, but not until we’d had a small icecream each at Rush Monroe’s.

In the evening Karola cooked us a nice organic roast chicken with roast vegetables – delicious. The family then watched a Roald Dahl film, Esio Trot.

Breakfast With iPads

Bridget Applies The Pour-On While Alex Records The Numbers

Natalie With Chris In The New Kayak At The End Of 6km Trip

Hot, Tiring Paddle Against A Strong Headwind

Oak Avenue Weather:14℃—31℃ no rain [82.8]

SwimGym

Karola did the weekend shopping and I just kept an eye on the sheep allowed onto the lawn for a few hours.

More work on the 2014 Christmas letter – these things do take a lot of time.

More swallow school – including swooping through the kitchen while the double french doors are open.

Mid evening Bridget et al arrived in good condition ready for some kayaking tomorrow.

It’s Getting Dry

Oak Avenue Weather:16℃—26℃ no rain [82.1]

A little light rain in the early morning but Karola spent much of the day mowing the heads of Barley Grass – there’s just so much of it.

I worked inside with word processor and photo program attempting to layout last year’s Christmas letter.

Swallow Fledgelings Still Return To The Nest At Night

Oak Avenue Weather:17℃—24℃ 0.8mm rain [81.9]

SwimGym

Too our surprise and delight when we came back from SwimGym we startled the swallow fledgelings and one burst into flight and zoomed off out over the paddocks.

Then after breakfast I slept until 1:00pm – very unusual but possibly due to the heat yesterday. It rained just a little in the night and was pleasantly cool this morning.

Karola is hell bent on mowing and catching the Barley Grass seed heads in the thicker patches that we seem to have encouraged. She also let the ewes into her lane enclosing the slope of the ha-ha.

This evening two, or maybe all three, fledgelings are back in their nest for the night.

Karola’s Colourful Vegetable Garden

A Welcome Swallow Fledgeling Contemplates Flight

Oak Avenue Weather:18℃—25℃ 2.9mm rain [82.0]

Cloudy cooler day but still no rain.

Karola was up early and cooked Brambles next batch of prime Angus mince and chopped liver and rice.

From the noise in the orchard it was clear some of “JB”s men were strimming round the big shed and mowing between the rows.

I took Bramble for a short walk – which seems to agree with her, a morning stroll. It was round the Middle paddock again to avoid long grass.
Later I mowed a pathway from the cottage garden gate up to the boundary so that Bramble and I can in future get to the little gate through to the orchard safe from tall stalks. I checked and yes there are plenty of walks we can do in the orchard now the grass is mown.

James and Barbie Wilson came for lunch and we had animated discussions about the state of the world and health.

Karola went shopping and came back and began a clean-out of the cottage garage hoping to find various implements and other treasures that had mysteriously mislaid themselves in recent weeks.

Oak Avenue Weather:18℃—21℃ 0.6mm rain [82.7]

SwimGym

Karola went shopping and then cooked up another big batch of apricots for bottling.

In the late afternoon she erected an electric fence along the ha-ha to act as a lane to allow the sheep onto the lawn again.

I tried in vain to start the chainsaw early evening but perhaps it needs direct sunlight and warmth to get in the mood.

The Welcome Swallows are getting quite aggressive in their attempt to drive us away from their nest, swooping on us to within a metre and uttering strident chirps.

Oak Avenue Weather:14℃—28℃ no rain [82.5]

Hot day in Hawkes Bay.

I took Bramble for a walk straight after my breakfast – I’d like to do that every day when I’m not going to SwimGym – we shall see. However after finding three nasty barley grass seeds buried in Brambles fur over the previous two days, one having actually gone through the skin, I cannot take her through long grass which means walking her round the Middle paddock and the drives, not round the orchard until I find a way of getting there without encountering long grass.

Inside chores today while Karola spent a little time outside on more wysteria clean-up she also had three guests: Rowena came at lunchtime; Brian Cope came after that to deliver a mis-delivered letter, and Janet Scott from next door the other way came mid afternoon.

In the evening I mowed the small lawns – mainly stalks as I kept the blade high to minimise drying out of the remaining sward.

Welcome Swallow Chicks – Almost Baked

Oak Avenue Weather:9℃—26℃ no rain [82.9]

Overdid it rather yesterday – too much sun and too much jolting around on the tractor and possibly too much dust. Anyway, a lethargic day. In the afternoon we did drench #043 with Scanda (withholding for meat 10 days) but otherwise the sheep were left in peace.

After breakfast we all went over to an orchard on the south-eastern side of Karamu road, in Paraire road where Karola bought some apricots.

Karola has been watering small sections of the Front paddock with a sprinkler these last couple of days and she moved the sprinkler to a new patch again today. Karola did some tidying up in the homestead during the heat of the day and then went back to weeding round the wysteria along the front of the homestead.

Oak Avenue Weather:13℃—24℃ no rain [82.0]

SwimGym

Karola actually got up around 5:30am and seeing some sheep making a break for pastures new through the gate onto the drive rushed out and locked them all up again. Later I found that a sheep must have tried to get through the electric fence, got a bit tangled, and broken two of thee three wires, whereupon the rest followed, as they do. I left the gate open overnight and yesterday Karola forgot to actually energise the electric fence after she put it up – a lesser but contributing misdemeanour IMHO.

So I put the sheep in the holding paddock, took down all the electric fence, mowed a wide strip along from the yards to the One Acre including a lot under the trees which was very very dusty and comprised mostly iris. After several hours of this I was rather dusty myself and had dust in my eyes, ears etc as well as breathing in quite a lot I imagine. (see photo below).

Then after a very long shower and a quick lunch, (thank heavens for cup-a-soup), I went off to town for Friday shopping and a blood test. At Karola’s request I also dropped in to a liquor store and bought a six-pack of Mexican beer for our guests tonight.

Then I put up electric fence so that there’s a lane from the yards across to the One Acre and also the Totara paddock is fenced off from the Middle paddock. I’d just finished this and let the sheep out again into the Totara paddock when our guests, Lis and Patrick Cooney, arrived for dinner.

Karola had made a venison casserole and we had an enjoyable evening together, although I must say Lis is quite argumentative – a spot of Mindfulness is probably in order.

Another Hard day On The Farmlet

Patrick & Lis Cooney – Oh & Patrick’s Red Morgan Motorcar

Lis Driving – I Don’t Think So

Oak Avenue Weather:10℃—_22℃ no rain [82.0]

Cloudy day and a bit cooler.

Karola visited elderly friends in Napier and was out for most of the day.

Late afternoon I began some more topping, this time in the Totara paddock. Sadly the chance of any rain at all is receding. Could be weeks, maybe months before the next real pour.

Oak Avenue Weather:10℃—22℃ no rain [82.0]

Karola put up more electric fence and gave her sheep another tranche of the Totara paddock.

Karola did more mowing under the big oak and then got back into weeding and pruning the wysteria and other vegetation along the front of the homestead.

I went to see Lloyd Patterson, a doctor in the same practice as my usual GP but who also specialises in skin anomolies such as melanomas. At Hilary Haylock’s 90th party Jenny Hare’s new husband, Brian Wills, (who incidentally is a partner in MoleMedic in Tauranga) suggested a mole I have on my cheek should be checked for malignance – it wasn’t definitely benign, unlike Karola’s similar mole on her forehead. This led to today’s appointment and the check which gave me the all-clear.

I also got a large punnet of fresh boysenberries from a market stall in the pedestrian precinct outside the BNZ in Hastings. Karola admits they were delicious. Also got one of John Bostock’s son’s organic chicken from Cornucopia, the organics shop where I get my gluten-free bread on Fridays. We’re to have it roast tonight.< Bridget rang from Kati Kati and sent a photo of their brand new folding kayak. Karola has helped them pay for it because it’s likely to give the grand daughters a lot of pleasure as well as some good life skills. It doesn’t fold up in the water but does fold up for stowing in the car. Things strapped to the roof tend to go missing so this will be a lot less likely to be stolen. Bridget’s Photo Of Chris, Natalie, Alex Launching The New Kayak