Monthly Archives: July 2015

Of Garage Doors, Septic Tanks, And Green Green Grass

SwimGym – hardest frost this year so far. As we left for the gym we found that the cottage garage door refused to shut. It began to close then stopped and went back up again. Around lunchtime I investigated and found that a bracket holding the rails had been given a knock. I straightened it out and we’re back in business. Whew. Another $100 call-out fee avoided.

Bit of a nuisance scare this morning as one of the loos kept on flushing for much of the night and when I checked the waste management alarm I found it was switched off – probably bumped by accident. When I turned it on the alarm went off, of course, reacting to the excess water. It was not until late afternoon that the alarm was finally silent and we could relax and not think about getting a service agent out.

Peter Whiffing from a few doors down came, as agreed with Karola, and cut us a small trailer load of old apple wood for firewood and filled the back of his ute with larger pieces for his home fire.

Karola and I drafted out the eight ewe lambs and ewe #43 from the mob in the Front paddock and put them with the mob in the Middle paddock. Then Karola let the Middle paddock mob into the area on the south side of the big shed in the orchard for a couple of hours. After a while four of the eight ewe lambs decided they were missing their friends in the Front paddock so Karola let them back in with their mates.

Karola also re-did the tree guard round one of her fine Kauri tees – it’s about two metres tall and the tree guard is about a metre across.

Oak Avenue Weather:-3℃—12℃ 0.1mm rain [83.4]

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There’s Often A Short False Spring in Midwinter, Allegedly

Nothing startling today – Karola went to physio in Havelock North. One mob of sheep spent time on the lawn and under the big oak. I fed the other mob and the ram and consort (#218) pea straw and took Bramble for a ramble round the orchard.

Programming a step back today as for no apparent (to me) reason it has started crashing predictably but mysteriously. Sigh.

Mild day with a biting cold southerly wind.

Karola put up an excellent electric fence round the area in the orchard for her ewes to graze – very neat and square and no loose ends.

Sad about the new photos app in OS X – it doesn’t have the same handy adjustment of the earlier iPhoto program on the Macbook Pro. These photos all seem a bit over-exposed to me.

More Spring Flowers

Mysterious Square Planks In The Orchard

Oak Avenue Weather:-4℃—11℃ no rain [83.5]

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Grazing Rights

SwimGym – but only me today – Karola has a bit of a cold so best not to mingle with the crowd.

Some rain, lots in the night. Mild with a sharp wind.

Peter Fitzpatrick (orchard manager) called round, responding very quickly to an email Karola sent him today. They agreed on an area round the big shed where Karola could graze her sheep and which JB’s people could use as a quarantine area for sheep they brought into the orchard. Apparently sheep not from organic orchards need 48 hours in a quarantine pasture before they are allowed amongst the organic trees.

Flowering Bulbs Are Out Already

Oak Avenue Weather:5℃—13℃ 0.2mm rain [83.7]

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Invite For Book Launch Sent Out

Mild but overcast all day. We made a quick trip into town for my quarterly blood test and then to get mince etc for Bramble’s food. Then I could eat.

Karola has finally produced an email inviting her Wilson family to the dowager Haylock’s latest book launch at Lethenty in Bulls in September and sent it off – great relief all round.

Oak Avenue Weather:4℃—17℃ 1.2mm rain [83.9]

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Overdid It, Rather

SwimGym – but in fact having overdone it yesterday I only got ⅔ of the way through before Karola said it was time to go home for breakfast. I then slept all morning and early evening.

Karola and I did go out and finish the second panel of railings shortly before dark. Later it rained heavily for a while, as we’d been expecting, so getting that done while it was dry underfoot was a good decision.

Then a solid pork chop dinner and evening in front of a roaring fire. Inside the woodturner, but still with plenty of flames, roaring, and crackling.

The Second Panel, On The Left – Supporting Midway Posts Yet To Be Done

Oak Avenue Weather:8℃—17℃ 2.5mm rain [83.4]

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Railings Project Launched

Henare arrived soon after 9:00am and we got on with the plan. Henare put in 4 strainer posts – all at least a metre into the ground. While he did this I disassembled the bits of fence and gates that are no longer needed once the railings are up. Then we began putting up the new railings; we finished one panel of 5 rails and had 2 rails of the next panel up before evening stopped play. I am exhausted.

Karola was out planting another tree and mending yet another tree guard.

Henare joined us, as usual when working here, for lunch and today we had duck soup – real duck soup.

Todays Progress On The Railings

Oak Avenue Weather:3℃—17℃ no rain [83.1]

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Nina – Francis’ First Child

Yvonne called to say Sasha & Francis had had a baby, Nina. Francis’ first and Sasha’s 5th I believe.

Prepared for Henare coming tomorrow to begin a bit of fencing – railings across the north-west corner of the One Acre paddock – assuming rain holds off. I sharpened two shovels, four spades and my favourite thistle hoe.

Otherwise more of the usual – me inside, Karola outside. Karola planted another two trees and installed their tree guards.

Oak Avenue Weather:0℃—14℃ 0.1mm rain [83.6]

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Went And Got The Weekend Timber

SwimGym

Then Bramble, Karola & I went to Total ITM timber yards in Omahu Road and picked up the railings and boards ordered for the weekend on Wednesday. Howard, the grumpy but knowledgeable man I deal with at Total ITM came out and said hello to Bramble and Karola.

Lunch at New World – bumped into Peter & Diane Arthur doing the same thing – hot meal and then hot shop. Bramble slept in the car throughout. Also took in spectacles to get fixed. One of the little nose supports had broken off. No worries, as I waited, $30 for the pair.

The cottage back door handle has worked loose – fixed in a jiffy.

Spent a while online completing the buying of flights for our Tasmanian trip next February. Now we’re on to hotels and places to visit. We’re having three days in Melbourne first then seven full days in “Tassie”.

Oak Avenue Weather:3℃—15℃ no rain [83.2]

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Sunny Cool Day, Again

Fed sheep. Another quiet day – no breakouts.

Karola put electric fence round the main lawn and let one of her mobs on it for a few hours.

Karola also took her favourite mower (from England) out into the Totara paddock and mowed nettles. The sheep rather like wilted, freshly cut nettles. Karola has done a similar thing in the Front paddock near the lemon tree.

I solved some programming problems today so felt I’d made a it of headway.

Oak Avenue Weather:0℃—12℃ 0.2mm rain [83.6]

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Mid-Week Flies Past

SwimGym

Quick shop at Flaxmere New World and then I ordered some railings for me and Henare on Sunday if it’s fine – to reconfigure the north-west corner of the One Acre paddock, where currently there’s a vehicle gate into the orchard. Some of the railings have to be sawn down the middle to make my fat-thin-fat-thin-fat 5-bar motif.

Rest of the day pretty gentle pottering and programming.

Oak Avenue Weather:1℃—13℃ no rain [83.7]

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Sheep On The Road

Hastings “Animal Control” called in at the cottage after breakfast to say that they’d had some sheep reported on the road and theses had been put into next door’s (Janet Scott’s) orchard – were they ours. Oh no, surely not. They have yellow ear tags like some you have. Ah well, they must be. … and they were. Thinking the worst – I had seen a suspicious car stopped on the Avenue around 1:00am last night – tail lights ablaze – and it stayed there for longer than my patience would stand. You don’t approach cars stopped on the Avenue at night so I just went off to bed.

We, Karola and I and the Animal Control guy, drove round Janet’s orchard but couldn’t find them. Janet came out and pointed them out, quietly resting near a tall hedge out of the wind. The official wanted t o help us get them back along the road and it was very easy as they followed Karola with her rattling box of sheep nuts without a qualm. However, like police at an accident, we had four Animal Control vehicles and more men to ensure we were not bothered by cars as we guided them along the road.

As this was going on I suddenly thought that I must have left the old wooden gate open – this leads into the Front paddock which is where this particular bunch of ewes had come from – as I remembered worrying about doing just that over a week ago. Investigating I found that the gate was closed but not chained up let alone padlocked. And so a stiff breeze in the wrong direction would have opened it – must have happened during the night. Luckily for my guilty conscience, Karola said she’d been through that gate several times since then so maybe it was a forgetful nighttime trespasser, or me, or Karola – we shall never know.

After all that excitement the rest of the day was rather slow. All the escapees present and accounted for, and non the worse for their adventure. No Animal Control personnel were injured in the making of this story. Highlight of their day too it seemed.

Oak Avenue Weather:9℃—13℃ no rain [83.5]

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Kirsty Leaves For Otaki

SwimGym

A leisurely breakfast and then Kirsty left to return home to Otaki.

I looked at air fares to Tasmania in preparation for our trip there with the Robinson’s next February. There’s a 1/3-off sale on with Air New Zealand until Thursday.

Fed sheep and gave Bramble a walk round the orchard. Noticed that Copes have planted a couple of hundred trees, possibly Griselinia, as a hedge along the boundary, as expected.

Meticulous maids came and cleaned the cottage this afternoon.

Oak Avenue Weather:2℃—14℃ 0.5mm rain [83.3]

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Cynthia Chalmers’ 70th Birthday Lunch

Mid morning Karola, Kirsty & I went off to Cynthia Chalmers’ place 45 mins up the Taihape road. Lots of familiar faces. Peter & Diane Arthur, Heather Gregory, Cynthia’s old “gang of three” elderly ladies, Arthur & Nick Ormond, and many more including all of Cynthia’s eight grandchildren and her three daughters and most of their spouses.

Decent lunch. Very few and short speeches. Not too bad really.

We came home, lit the fire, settled in for a relaxed evening. I did take Bramble to feed the sheep.

A cold start but very sunny day.

Karola’s Grapefruit Tree

Karola’s Lemon Tree – Fruiting A Little Later

Oak Avenue Weather:-2℃—10℃ no rain [83.2]

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Kirsty Arrives

Alastair Thompson was on the National Radio Saturday Morning programme and we listened to him, almost as chirpy as usual. He still seems to expect to go overseas as he said to us. No idea whether he’s still interested in buying the Days Bay flat.

Karola went out and got her hair done up for the 70th party tomorrow.

I fed the sheep and took Bramble for a walk.

Kirsty Faulkner arrived in time for a splendid roast duck dinner.

Oak Avenue Weather:5℃—12℃ 11.7mm rain [82.9]

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Threat Of A Wet and Windy Weekend

SwimGym

I whipped down to Stortford Lodge after breakfast to post magazines to Geoff Rashbrooke – so that he’d get them before he flies to Fiji on Sunday.

Later Karola went out to do the weekend shopping.

Janet Scott dropped by in the afternoon for a chat with Karola and a catchup on local news.

Otherwise a pretty routine day.

I don’t know why but we watched on TV the All Blacks beat Argentina, as widely anticipated, in Christchurch this evening.

Oak Avenue Weather:0℃—16℃ no rain [83.0]

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Water Tanks Cleaned – A Day Early

After a late start we enjoyed the sunshine and spent most of the morning outside. Karola, with my help, got the hay bales into two caches, one on the little old trailer under the Macrocarpa in the north-east corner of the Front paddock, and the other in the mini hay shed in the island of trees in the Middle paddock. We then gathered up four gates that were leaning against fences by the sheep yards and took them tidily to the stump dump area by the 121 entrance.

Karola continued on similar activities except for a short outing mid afternoon.

Meanwhile the Kleer truck came with one portly gentleman and one scrawny one. I unkindly asked which of them would be getting inside the tanks to scrub the walls. They took about three hours to clean the tanks – I didn’t see them leave. Now we wait for some rain to refill them.

The other mildly interesting thing today was that I got a bill for the monthly electricity for the Days Bay flat. It was over $400 rather than the usual $40 – $60. I did not panic. It happened before when we left an EcPpanel heater on by mistake – but I’ve dismantled both those elderly wall panel heaters so it wasn’t them. From the Genesis site I found out when the high use had started – 5th June – and whether it was continuing – it was. We determined that there had been a visit on 5th-6th June and so asked Bridget if she would go and take a look. As she works in Petone it wouldn’t be much of a detour. Unfortunately she answered from the ski slopes of Mount Ruapehu so that wasn’t going to work. Last week of school holidays and first decent fall of snow this winter.

So we asked our friends the Rashbrookes who live in York Bay, a couple of bays round from Days Bay. Late afternoon Geoff Rashbrooke reported that: a) he thought the builders work in cleaning up the basement area and replying at Days Bay looked very good. b) He’d turned off the fan heater which had been blazing away (well, not blazing exactly – thank goodness) since 5th June. Mystery solved and electricity use will plummet

The Tank Cleaning Truck

5000 Gallon Rainwater Tank #1

5000 Gallon Rainwater Tank #2

5000 Gallon Rainwater Tank #3

Oak Avenue Weather:1℃—18℃ 0.1mm rain [82.9]

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TailorMade Portable Yard Panels Arrived Today

SwimGym

Pottering around today, much milder. Karola mainly outside and me inside – programming.

Diversion in the afternoon because Karola, having joined some online ancestry researching service, was a bit stuck. I was enticed to intervene and found some intriguing things about Aloysuis Graham Brackenbury, my paternal grandfather. He appears to have taken the Brackenbury name before his divorce and subsequent marriage to Doris Lovell, long before.

Karola’s additional portable yard panels arrived today – 6 panels and 8 of the connecting rods.

I arranged for the rainwater tanks to be cleaned this Friday and in preparation started emptying them. The cleaners need about a foot of water in the bottom – they get right inside with brushes and a vacuum pump.

Oak Avenue Weather:9℃—12℃ 2.3mm rain [83.2]

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More Pea Straw

Really quite brisk this morning – heavy frost that hung around till almost midday.

Karola had an appointment at 9:30 and so was out till lunchtime. She bought clothes for the party next weekend. Cynthia Chalmers 70th next Sunday. Kirsty is coming up for the party and staying 2 nights with us but not Bruce – sensible fellow.

I lit the fire and stayed well wrapped – and programmed.

Karola fed the sheep and took Bramble for a walk. After lunch Karola was outside doing things with tree guards and trees till late afternoon when we all went off to get some more pea straw. The barn is only open between 4:30pm and 5:00pm on weekdays so we got there just as it was beginning to get dark, loaded up our 20 bales and trundled back to Karamu in the gloom.

Warm fire, hot dinner. Very relaxing.

Oak Avenue Weather:-1℃—11℃ 0.1mm rain [82.9]

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Start Of Another Winter Week

SwimGym – pretty cold, below zero degrees this morning.

I went into town, shopping, including picking up my Friday bread which was delayed by the storms last week – storms that barely touched us. Karola went round the sheep etc.

Henare’s Trimming Of The Box Hedge Yesterday

Karola Got Rid Of The Wilding Oaks & Periwinkle Here

Looking Back Towards The 133 Gateway

Oak Avenue Weather:-4℃—11℃ 0.1mm rain [83.3]

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Henare Clips the Box Hedge

Lots of tennis watched as the tournament wends its way towards the finals.

Meanwhile Henare came as planned and he and Karola did several hours of box hedge trimming. Karola concentrated on the hedge round the little lawn in front of the homestead garage; Henare did from there down the drive to the 133 gateway. A much needed trim.

I fed the sheep and took Bramble round the orchard. Sunday chores took up the rest of the morning. Afternoon of programming.

Oak Avenue Weather:0℃—11℃ no rain [82.4]

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Last Meeting Of Hawkes Bay Branch Of Federation Of Graduate Women

Karola went to her meeting. I fed the sheep and took Bramble round the orchard then scuttled back inside for the warmth.

Very pleasant afternoon in the sun out of the wind – which I sampled now and then when not watching yet more endless videos from Apple’s World Wide Developers Conference last month.

Gorse Is A Survivor – Endlessly Sprayed and Chopped It Struggles On

Along The Back Fence Of Karola’s Orchard

Sleek Sheep Enjoy Pea Straw

Oak Avenue Weather:6℃—11℃ no rain [82.0]

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Brisk Is Not The Word

SwimGym – but it was really rather brisk and as Karola had spent late hours watching Wimbledon she stayed at home this morning.

Many major NZ highways are blocked and so my bread did not arrive today although Karola was successful in getting the other weekend food.

Karola mended a tree guard on the cottage verandah in the weak sunshine and, again, I had a nice fire going inside and spent the day happily programming.

Oak Avenue Weather:4℃—9℃ 1.0mm rain [82.4]

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More Tennis – Not More Tennis

We woke up late to a wintery morning – the temperature never really got to comfortable levels outside.

I did take Bramble round the orchard in bitterly cold wind and showers – which she enjoyed. Karola did some stuff in town around midday and did some tree guard maintenance on the verandah in the weak sunshine and out of the wind. I stayed inside by a blazing fire and watched umpteen videos – lectures and presentations – about programming. I fell asleep more than once.

Karola spent the evening watching recently taped recordings of the events at Wimbledon.

Lambs Being Fattened in JB’s Orchard Over The Back Fence

Bitter Southerly Wind Whips The Flax Bushes

Keeping An Eye On The Building Next Door

Oak Avenue Weather:3℃—7℃ 5.7mm rain [82.6]

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Bleak Winter’s Day

SwimGym

After a breakfast a trot round the paddocks to feed the sheep.

I lit the fire and stayed inside for the rest of the day – watching programming videos mostly. Karola was so cold she went outside and raked leaves to try and get warm – which worked partially.

I enjoyed the day, Karola less so until she was able to relax after dinner and watch Wimbledon which I’d taped two nights ago.

Oak Avenue Weather:3℃—8℃ 0.1mm rain [82.9]

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Winter Storm is Threatened

Karola whisked into town to post a letter and get more food – always more food.

Karola planted a tree, a chestnut she’d grown from tiny in a pot. This comprised digging and installing a tree guard and it was pretty cold outside so she was glad to come in to a fire and warmth early afternoon. It being the sort of day for inside exploits Karola cleaned the fridge and then cooked a very pleasant casserole for dinner in her brand new pressure cooker pot.

I programmed. I did also get in quite a lot of firewood under cover near the cottage in case the mooted storm does batter us here for 2 – 3 days as forecast. Fed the sheep too before the drizzle became persistent.

Oak Avenue Weather:5℃—14℃ 8.5mm rain [83.0]

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Meticulous Maids

SwimGym. Karola fed Bramble and took her for a walk around the paddocks.

Meticulous Maids cleaned the cottage in the afternoon. Karola had an appointment with the optician and some shopping to do.

I worked on the program and made good progress. Bramble and I fed-out pea straw to the sheep. It’s getting quite dry again, so soon.

Oak Avenue Weather:6℃—17℃ 0.1mm rain [83.0]

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Karola’s Cultural Outings

Sunny day and it dried out a lot by the afternoon. In the morning I took Bramble for the usual walk round the orchard and fed out to the sheep.

At 2:00pm Karola attended a lecture at the Museum Cinema in Napier – a talk by a lecturer at EIT, Kay Morris-Matthews, on New Zealand women in WWI.

Karola went to Napier to an organ recital by the David Briggs at 4:00pm – Karola sat next to him on the plane up from Wellington yesterday, that’s how she found out.

Meanwhile, after a morning of programming I got round to the chores – mowed the cottage and other small lawns, got firewood, put out the rubbish bin etc.

Oak Avenue Weather:6℃—16℃ no rain [83.1]

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Karola Returns

Drizzle and overcast but mild day. The rain is welcome but I was fortunate to get the tractor work done before the ground softens up and any tractor use just makes gallons of mud.

Picked up Karola – her plane was delayed an hour but we knew about that beforehand so not put out. Bramble was ecstatic to have her one true friend back home and to be able to get her pack all safely in one place where she can keep an eye on them.

Too wet today to feed out or to take Bramble for much of a walk.

Saw the photos of the completed replying etc at Days Bay – looks substantial and much improved.

3/14 Pitoitoi Road – The Substantial Repiling & Bracing

Door Moved & Broken Slats Replaced

Oak Avenue Weather:4℃—11℃ 4.9mm rain [83.6]

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And The Leaves Lay Thickly Round About

SwimGym – the women’s Black Sticks should have been in the final but they lost on penalty shootout to South Korea. Annoying.

Haircut at 9:30am – just managed to squeeze in the ritual shower and 2nd breakfast and take Bramble for a short walk before toddling off to Hastings. Afterwards picked up a bit of food and “the bread” and some more dog biscuits.

Back at Karamu I took Bramble for a proper walk and fed out to the sheep. And suddenly it was lunchtime – well after 12:00pm.

My outside project for today was to mow the Goose paddock and the Island paddock – both now included in the Middle paddock. The idea was to chop up the heavy leaf cover to let the grass out and to cut back the Iris which found the leaf cover helpful mulch in their struggle against the grass.

I’m not sure if it did any good although it probably was a good idea to mow the large areas of nettles in the old Island paddock – the sheep do not like nettles (until they’re cut).

Goose Paddock – Before

Goose Paddock – After

Island Paddock Before

Island Paddock After

Oak Avenue Weather:11℃—16℃ 0.9mm rain [83.0]

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Up In A Bucket

Man is supposed to come around 9:00am in a truck with a bucket on the end of a long, long boom. He arrives just after 8:00am – luckily I was outside in the frost beginning to get ready for his arrival.

It only took about 90 minutes to go round the homestead two stories up and clean out the leaves and grass, well it was only the east and northern sides that were bad. (See below).

Later I moved Karola’s small pile of topsoil that was between the big oak and the homestead garage and put the soil in the Octagon round the big old palm tree – the pigeon’s “des rez”.

Between times Bramble and I fed the sheep and went round the orchard, picking up the discarded #8 wire I rolled up recently and adding it to our cache near the 121 entrance.

Spoke to Karola a few times.

Weird thing about the cottage garage roller door – it keeps on opening by itself – overnight and 3 times today. Hope it’s settled down again now.

Very pleasant sunny day.

Gutter, Not A Grass Nursery

All Downpipes On This Side Blocked Too

Half Done – About Ten Tractor Buckets

All Done But Only Fills The Octagon 2/3

Flat Earth

Oak Avenue Weather:2℃—16℃ no rain [83.2]

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John Harris (Russell’s Dad) & Partner Dropped In

SwimGym

Walk with Bramble and pea straw for the sheep – all looking well fed not to say plump.

Next door have a contractor scraping up topsoil from along their fence line to backfill where they excavated topsoil contaminated with arsenic on the site of the new house and its garden. Along the fence tested as being less toxic than out in what was a heavily sprayed orchard.

John Harris – one of the Harris boys – the Harris family lived in this cottage for 40 years back last century – he and his partner dropped in on the off chance they could see Karola and look round their old home. I gave them to 40 minute total showing but no afternoon tea – well it was after 4:30pm.

More programming. Bramble is unamused.

Topsoil Less Toxic

Starting From McNabb Road End

Oak Avenue Weather:0℃—17℃ no rain [83.4]

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