Monthly Archives: June 2016

Rained most of the night – perfect rain, gentle so it has time to soak in, and pretty consistent – wheel barrows have 150mm (6 inches) of water in them this afternoon.

Karola went off for most of the day with Joan Philips while I stayed inside and snoozed and watched two remaining episodes of a 3-part TV Series Karola didn’t want to watch – Prey Series 2. Karola was right – one did not warm to the central characters so it wasn’t close to being as good as, for example, the new Horowitz-scripted “New Blood”.

When Karola returned the fire was blazing, the cottage was warm, rain easing, and I’d given the ram and #218 and the lamb-wether some sheep nuts to fend off the cold and wet. Outside the temperature was dropping and the wind getting up. I’m hoping for a really strong wind, a gale, to blow the thick coating of fallen leaves off the paddocks as it’s suffocating the grass

Theresa May current Home Secretary, looks like a better choice for the UK for the next few years, better than either that chancer Boris Johnson nor the allegedly principled but out-of-his-depth leader of the Labour party (for now) Jeremy Corbyn.

Oak Avenue Weather:6℃—11℃ 13.3mm rain [77.3]+

SwimGym – but a quick one because Paul the builder is continuing with digging the foundation trench for the new shed and we are taking away the rich black topsoil in trailer-loads. So we need to get back to empty the trailers.

Karola continued carting away the trench diggings and I went into town for food and to take back Karola’s library books, due on Friday. Rain threatened, as forecast, but didn’t set in until mid afternoon; enough time for Paul to finish the trench. He’ll bend the reinforcing steel at home in his shed and so the rain isn’t going to slow him down. First the reinforcing steel has to be placed in position in the trench and then Paul will get a concrete truck to lay about 200mm of concrete in the trench, making sure that it has a level top exactly 400mm below his “profile” builders line. Paul will get someone to lay the breeze blocks on top of that, then the blocks are filled with concrete and we’re ready for the laying of the floor slabs. The grass and leaves will be removed from the floor before the two slabs are poured, and I think there’s a building inspector inspection before then too.

Karola’s GST for April and May is done and dusted.

Emails still flying around about Brexit and the consequences.

Site of the New Shed – Foundation Trench Completed

Oak Avenue Weather:8℃—11℃ 19mm rain [77.4]*

Paul started work here soon after 7:30am which had me scrambling to be dressed and breakfasted before going out to talk to him.

Paul noticed a truck carrying a Bobcat digger sweep up the drive, round by the cottage and out with never a wave. We deduced from the missing carabiner and rope from the cottage verandah that Steve the arborist had collected his equipment.

I paid some bills online – which should have been done on Sunday – answered a few emails, and began Karola’s GST. Karola meanwhile raked up more leaves from around the new shed site and weeded and trimmed the remaining flax bush hedge along the cottage drive from the shed site to the corner.

Paul started digging the foundation wall – to be made of breeze block (concrete building block) within a 300mm trench about 400mm wide. He encountered some tough roots right near the surface at one point and we eventually just agreed to cut them out – they were a tangle of roots about 50mm thick so will not kill a 20-meter high and 700mm thick tree I think. Crossing fingers we do not encounter any larger ones.

Karola took the soil away in one of her small trailers – heavy work – and used it to fill in a large shallow depression near the big palm tree – it used to be a home-made swimming pool.

Internet connection went down after lunch and I called our provider Now (aka AirNet). After about 4 telephone calls we resolved it by having me recycle the AirNet router.

I picked up a couple of small loads of wood from my clearing up of “the triangle” where the rainwater tanks are – a mix of dead rhododendron branches and privet trees. Stacked the small stuff along the cottage drive fence, the other side from the flax, and piled up the bigger stuff nearby to be split or sawn later.

Levels Established and Foundation Trench Begun

Oak Avenue Weather:6℃—19℃ 0.1mm rain [77.4]*

SwimGym for me – too cold and miserable for Karola and anyway she volunteered to make sure one of us was around when Paul the builder arrived.

Paul arrived about 8:30am as it happened and left again by lunchtime as rain had set in. But first he read through the council’s building consent material. We and he had to fill in one form that needed to go back to the council immediately – Paul took it with him on his way home. And there was a reference to getting Heritage NZ’s approval because the site is listed – and we had been ignoring that, sort of hooping it would go away. Paul gently suggested that the trouble this could cause if we were called on it later wasn’t worth the risk so Karola called Alison Dangerfield and we emailed Alison parts of the building plans and our initial specification. Alison emailed back within the hour saying that she had no issue with the proposed shed but would forward our material to the Archaeology department within Heritage NZ to give them the opportunity to respond.

Paul intends to dig the shed foundations himself the better to avoid damaging any major roots from the adjacent trees. He also, at Karola’s request, took sight-lines to ensure the shed is square-on to the other buildings around the big oak.

We cancelled Meticulous Maids today because the weather was so beastly by late morning that we planned to hunker down in front of the fire and keep warm for the rest of the day. Of course by mid afternoon the sun came out and Karola tended her sheep – letting them into the Front paddock – before raking up the leaves off the new shed site.

I popped out briefly to finish the gathering up of the rings of timber left in the Goose Enclosure by the woodsmen last Friday.  In so doing I found a piece of the arborist’s equipment – which they can come and collect.

Expensive Looking Carabiner

New Shed Building Work Commences

Oak Avenue Weather:1℃—13℃ 4.8mm rain [78.0]*

Sunday, “chores day”, has come round again. Initially cool and cloudy but sunny and relatively warm later on. It rained a bit yesterday but the forecast rain just didn’t materialise. I woke unusually early, before 6:00am – probably all that Brexit and the rugby, too much excitement.

Karola had arranged to go to the Hastings Farmers market with Joan Philips and then to have lunch afterwards.

Henare TXTed and we agreed he could come and put in some more strainer posts and he arrived around 9:30am. After coffee we left him to it, left Bramble inside looking after the house, and set off to meet Joan at the market.

The market was quite busy although, because of the forecast, it was inside in a big shed and under the grandstand. I took a look at the pigeon and poultry show, a fairly seedy affair, $2 to get in, in the same shed as last year. Karola and Joan spent about 25 minutes getting a paper cup of coffee – very slow – and then we walked round the two market spaces. It was wall-to-wall food with lots of sampling – not the best place for someone attempting to stay on a diet. I succumbed to a whitebait fritter – just egg and whitebait – for $8 plus the $2 fee for getting some cash out of the ATM. It was surprisingly unappetising although Karola assures me the whitebait are running so it need not have been frozen. There were several whitebait in the fritter but it needed something to pep it up. We left around noon.

Karola made a delicious organic chicken casserole and Henare joined us and Joan for lunch. They had potato as their starch fix; I had quinoa pilaf out of a box, cooked, but out of a box and with herbs and spices.

I took down the short piece of fence along the cottage driveway to clear the new shed site so that Paul Libby, builder, can start tomorrow morning. Karola moved the last flax bush out of the way, and so everything is now ready for Paul.

Henare left as planned around 4:00pm, off to coach badminton. He put in two large 2.4m strainer posts, each 1.2 metres into the ground.

I expect to get some chooks once we come back from England and Poland in August and so I was interested to see any healthy-looking examples of the breeds I am considering. I hope to get a Light-Sussex cockerel and 3 hens, Black Orpington, or Australorp or Barred Plymouth Rock.

Light Sussex Cockerels At The Farmers Market

Black Orpington – From Wikipedia

Australorp – From Wikipedia

Barred Plymouth Rock – From Wikipedia

Oak Avenue Weather:5℃—19℃ no rain [78.0]-

Cold and grey, turning to drizzle mid afternoon and rain in the evening.

Karola moved more flax plants – all five mountain flax are now transplanted leaving only the moving of a standard Phormium Tenax along into the hole vacated by one of the mountain flaxes, Phormium Cookianum. Then the flax plants will have been cleared from the approach to the new shed.

I put up an electric fence from the cottage down to the Long Acre so that the sheep would be kept well away from the new shed construction.

Also sharpened shovel and spades in case it’s dry enough for Henare to come and help tomorrow and I can convince him to dig a hole for another strainer post or two. And popped down the road to get more diesel for the tractor, more petrol for the lawn mower. Pumped up the big back tyres (“boots”) of the tractor – they were looking a bit flat and responded well to the hand-pump. Got the chainsaw ready only to find the same screw I’d lost last week had vibrated loose again so another screw was needed. By this time it was getting dark and the rain had become harder so I retired for the evening to watch NZ vs Wales, the third test.

Oak Avenue Weather:2℃—12℃ 5.9mm rain [77.7]+

SwimGym

After breakfast I went into town and picked up weekend food and the repaired long-handled metal fencing spade – Henare broke the handle last weekend – it’s his spade.

Karola moved another flax bush; I dug two more holes ready for the re-sited bushes. They need to be moved before Paul the builder comes on Monday. Then, on Monday, I can cut the wire and batten fence and peal it back wide enough for access to the site of the new shed.

Late afternoon and on and on into the evening we tuned in to the unfolding results of the UK referendum on Brexit. Seems to me that most hard and important national decisions are best not left to the emotions of the entire population. It is relatively easy to pander to the fears and grievances and deeply held prejudices of the nation and get a referendum result that flies in the face of rational arguments and credible consequences.

Anna is upset – her world of contracts and licenses and other company legal agreements will be sent into turmoil as decades of ever increasing integration with EU law now has to be unpicked. And all for what?

And now for something completely different – and charming. Ben has another week of his UK trip and today sent Gill a photo of a young badger that strolled up onto the patio of where he was staying, at the Robertson’s home; Maplefield, Ferrymead in Bath, coming to within a metre or so of the french doors.

Young English Badger – Comes To Say Hello

Oak Avenue Weather:-1℃—19℃ no rain [78.1]*

Karola had a hair appointment in the morning and one with a heart specialist late afternoon – just a checkup.

I had a sedentary day apart from a lope round the orchard with Bramble, putting the cover belatedly over the mulcher to keep out the rain, and picking up the wood in the Goose Enclosure left by the tree men on Friday.

I did send an email to Daryl Andrews of Arrow Electrix & Alarms Taradale asking him to come and check out our security system prior to changing monitoring company from ArmourGuard to, probably, Havelock Hills Security.

Paul Libby called to say he was back after an exciting and enjoyable holiday. His hourly rate has gone up from $40 to $50 – which is very reasonable. He plans to begin work on the new shed on Monday. I need to contact our insurance broker to make sure we have that building works covered.

Oak Avenue Weather:10℃—21℃ no rain [78.2]-

SwimGym

Karola had a long chat on phone with Liz Ormond and then went off for a lunch at Birdwood Cafe in Middle Road with Joan Phillips, Margy Maxwell, Cynthia Chalmers, and Karen from Tauranga (Joan’s friend). She came home late afternoon armed with fish etc for my dinner. She also picked up her new glasses – another pair and this time they are transitional, bifocal, and have an anti-scratch coating. Karola also picked up a repaired uplighter, one of two that we use in the cottage living room.

I emptied the big trailer’s load of mulch under the main Feijoa bush – and that’s all I did outside today. Lots of mucking about, emails and sorting through files, on computer.

Just after 5:00pm I dashed down to JayCar and bought two remote-controlled power switches plus a couple of Infrared LEDs. These are in preparation for Tony Fletcher’s Arduino project in July / August. The switches were $14 each, marked down from $36 – and I got the last two of this clearance line in Hastings.

Oak Avenue Weather:14℃—20℃ 7.3mm rain [78.6]*

A very quiet day. I, still recovering from over-doing it at the weekend I think, slept for much of the day.

Karola gave her sheep a day in the One Acre, just for a change.

Karola moved another mountain flax plant and dug an extra hole to receive tomorrow’s one.

Bramble and Karola went round the orchard. It was a cold, grey day overall.

Oak Avenue Weather:6℃—18℃ 0.1mm rain [79.0]-

SwimGym together. My right wrist aches considerably due, I am sure, to the two days of chainsawing.

Hearty breakfast albeit under 400 Calories.

I went briefly into town for food and to drop off Henare’s spade – he broke one side of the handle and it needs welding – ready on Friday. Uplighter halogen lamp is not fixed yet but will be ready in a few days says Clarence of Lighting Depot in Heretaunga St (ph:06-878 2244)

Karola moved the first mountain flax from in front of the site of the new shed to its home beside the railings next to the Chinese Photinia, near the Liriodendron.

I finished backing up my Macbook Pro, Karola’s Mac Mini, and the 2TB video library disk.

Oak Avenue Weather:3℃—16℃ 0.1mm rain [78.0]*

Joan Phillips and friend dropped in to see Karola late morning.

Henare On Attack – Knee-Deep In Debris

Piled Privet Branches Awaiting Mulching

Privet Were Laden With Berries

After The Mulching

Just Half Of Today’s Chippings

Oak Avenue Weather:3℃—19℃ 0.1mm rain [78.6]+

A day devoted to the shrubbery and removing and mulching blackberry and privet.

Henare came around 10:00am as expected and first he put in one large strainer post near the site of the new shed while I did some maintenance on the Caravaggi mulcher – turned the blades over, added oil.

After lunch Henare tackled the last great thicket of brambles – getting about oa third of the way through by dark. And I focussed on privet, weeding a lot of small saplings and cutting down the remaining dozen privet trees. Karola worked on clearing a place to plant trees along the inside of the wooden fence – possible now the Englis Beech and all but one tall dogwood have gone.

The Remaining Bramble Thicket

Oak Avenue Weather:-3℃—16℃ no rain [78.6]+

SwimGym – but Karola stayed behind in case Jonathan Doyle’s team arrived before I got back. Karola TXTed me in the gym to say they’d be arriving in 30 minutes which was shortly after I got home anyway.

First there were the limbs of an oak that were too low overhead for the roof of the new shed.

Then there was a broken, dangling branch midway up the nearby Swamp Cypress.

And a very high up massive broken branch in one of the two large elm trees. The broken branch was barely resting on adjacent young trees across the main track between the Middle paddock and the Long Acre eastern gateway. The resounding crash as the branch hit the ground told us it was very heavy.

And finally, the big privet tree; two trunks each about 400mm thick and with a massive burden of purple berries.

After the team had gone we took Bramble and collected the bread and some fresh fish for dinner before trundling over to Clive so that Karola could buy some cheese and some wax firelighters at Hohepa and all three of us could have a stroll on this lovely sunny, windless day, along the Clive wetlands limestone cycle track. On my new diet I eat so few slices or bread buns (at 99 Calories a slice) that I’ve cancelled the buns and will only get the sliced loaf from now on.

The Oak Tree’s Overhanging Branches Beside New Shed Site

Swamp Cypress Dangling Branch In Middle Paddock

High Up Broken Elm Branch In Goose Enclosure

Large Privet In Shrubbery

Black Swans and Othr Fowl In The Wetlands

Oak Avenue Weather:-1℃—18℃ 0.1mm rain [79.2]+

Went and collected the sharpened chainsaw chains and posted a letter renewing our IDS membership in response to a final demand – we must have missed the previous requests.

Postie came but as the front gate was shut she didn’t leave Karola’s new NZ passport but just left a card. I happened to go out to open the gate, to leave it open for tomorrow, when postie came back along Ormond Road and, seeing me at the gateway, gave me the package. Stroke of luck and so now Karola has her replacement passport.

Tony Fletcher may come here in August and house-sit for us while working on an Arduino project. He’ll be able to use my many bits and pieces so he doesn’t have to buy too much before deciding whether the life of a “maker” is for him now he has retired from IBM.

Before lunch I “mowed” a large area inside the shrubbery where we’d cu down the blackberry. This reduced the blackberry taken off the trees and piled up to small pieces which I hope will trot down quite quickly.

After lunch we went out and tackled some more of the shrubbery. I set up the tractor and mulcher and Karola mulched a goodly sized pile of fejoa bush prunings (very wiry) and privet saplings. I chainsawed up stuff lying about in the shrubbery into firewood sized chunks and also snaffled a few more privets.

We went in for dinner just before dusk, exhausted.

Before Tackling The Blackberry (7th May) – Facing West

Blackberry Mown Into Oblivion In The Shrubbery – Facing North

Before Karola Began Mulching

All Mulched Up

Oak Avenue Weather:0℃—18℃ 0.1mm rain [79.2]+

SwimGym, a little late but before breakfast. Karola came this time too.

Took Landrover for a spin – majority of its time is spent in very short trips around here – and got fish (Gurnard) from Hawkes Bay Seafoods and cauliflower, sprouts, carrots from Gagans.

Karola is still miffed that a tiny beech seedling she found near the site of the old English beech tree was lost in the churn of tractor and trailer clearing stuff. I thought I re-found it unharmed and cleared the ground around it and put in metal standards either side to mark it. Best guess now is that what I found and so carefully protected was in fact just another small-leafed (ie normal) privet – the very type of tree we are trying to get rid of. Ho hum.

Cleared some old and very rotten stumps and pieces of Elm with the tractor. Also, using the bucket of the tractor as a platform, cut broken and twisted branches of the tall Camellia that was damaged by the first large English Beech branch to fall two years ago. Pruning saw, not chainsaw as it was a couple of metres above ground level.

Then, at Karola’s suggestion after we both agreed that the cottage downstairs landline phone was broken, I nipped into Harvey Norman and brought a new phone with big buttons. It has a tethered handset plus a separate portable handset so I have one handset that can not go walkabout at the bottom of the cottage stairs and Karola has a portable in the kitchen. The system was on sale – but that meant only $20 off $150 – still, a good thing.

Karola started making an tree guard for the tiny English Beech (sorry, privet) seedling. No doubt it will come in handy for some other seedling we find.

Karola’s new glasses – transitional, bi-focal, with a scratch-resistant coating – can be fitted with the frames Karola chose – they had just one pair of those frames left. $309 for the package.

Karola’s NZ passport has been issued and will be here via courier in next day or so.

Late afternoon, until it became too dark, I used the tractor and orchard mower to pulverise the large heap of blackberry Henare and I got out of the shrubbery and trees a week or so ago.

Henare dropped in for a quick coffee early evening.

I also broke my “low-cal” day – Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays due to Peppermint Chocolate on the premeses. Low-cal days are intended to be below 800 Calories whereas other days are to aim at around 1200 – 1500 Calories. According to the Mosley “Blood Sugar Diet” guidelines, two “low-cal” days a week are sufficient so I do have one in hand.

Frost On The Lawn

Remains Of The Large Pile Of Dead Blackberry After Repeated Mowing With Orchard Mower 

Oak Avenue Weather:-1℃—20℃ no rain [79.2]*

Cold morning so kept a low profile until the sun warmed things up a tad. Karola apparently let the sheep out of the goose enclosure last night so they are now enjoying the Middle paddock again.

Karola went off food shopping and I did computer maintenance stuff and a couple of emails arguing about Sapiens and UBI and the like.

Late afternoon Karola and I went out and tackled a bit more of the Privet tree removal programme – but only a little before we scuttled back inside for warmth and food.

Karola has sent her IDS article off to the Murphys at Panikau Station for their comment / blessing.

Oak Avenue Weather:-4℃—15℃ 0.1mm rain [79.2]-

SwimGym, alone again.

A good breakfast – its a “low cal” day today so no lunch. Pottered for the rest of the morning – emails and such. And paid the bills online, which I should have done yesterday, Sunday.

I searched online for the surname of Steve, an arborist who used to be boss of Hawkes Bay Tree Surgeons. A news clipping from 2009 indicated it was Stephen Shaw. I called and left a message and he called back early evening. Unfortunately he now lives at Porangahau which is at least an hour’s drive and he said he didn’t get up to Hastings very often so it wasn’t really practical for him to come and examine the suspect branch of the big oak. Karola will pursue other avenues, but it does need someone to go up and take a look.

Joan Philips came to see Karola for afternoon tea and a walk. Meticulous Maids came late afternoon.

I continued with the clearing around the site of the English Beech tree and the shrubbery nearby. Karola joined me later and did several big trailer loads of debris, taking it to her bund near the 121 entrance gateway.

Oak Avenue Weather:-4℃—13℃ 0.1mm rain [79.3]-

Unseasonably warm today.

Took down the electric fence round the big oak as the sheep have made sufficient inroads into the lucerne. Mowed the cottage lawn with the catcher this time – last week’s mulching mow left too much debris. Karola started digging out iris and other unwanted plants from around the big oak, in preparation for mowing it with a high cut within a few days.

I applied a can of aerosol rust-eater to the bottom of the old bath – the one we intend eventually to make into a small goose pond, I also touched up the gate at the end of the ha-ha with a bit more Karaka Green paint. Did I say that yesterday I found the lost can of Karaka Green metal paint in the undergrowth near the old wooden gate in the Front paddock.

I protected Karola’s special Camellia alongside the old English beech that was. The woodsmen pretty much battered it to death when taking down the beech tree but one little leaf has poked up so I’ve watered and mulched it and driven in a metal standard either side to make it obvious there’s something there.

Winter at Karamu

Oak Avenue Weather:4℃—20℃ 1.2nn rain [79.1]*

Warm and sunny day, well for winter anyway.

Karola let her sheep have one last go at the grass under the big oak and then put up electric fence corralling them in the old Goose Enclosure.

We continued with the chainsawing and clearing of stuff around the old beech tree. All the young dogwoods have now been cut up for mulch or firewood and a number of privet saplings cut and poisoned.

Photo Via Gill Of Ben & Paul Twitching In England
King’s Lynn, England

Oak Avenue Weather:-1℃—23℃ 0.1mm rain [78.9]*

SwimGym but Karola is still struggling with the remnants of her cold. Much warmr today – unseasonably so.

Sheep had another stint under the big oak and seem to have chewed through the most succulent stuff, getting bored after an hour or so.

Karola finished her first draft of the article about Panikau Station and I thought it had a good narrative flow and seemed to be about the right length for an IDS journal article. Karola just has to choose a handful of photos to go with it and send the package off.

Late morning we whipped into town for the bread and a bit more food for the weekend. I am being particularly tiresome about my calorie counting for the diet.

Philip Bagenal died after a long battle with cancer last Sunday and we got the news from his wife Felicity today. Good that he’s now at peace.

Karola’s going down to Wellington in July so we booked flights for her, leaving on Sunday 10th and returning on Saturday 16th.

Oak Avenue Weather:12℃—25℃ 0.9mm rain [79.2]-

Gary Grant, proprietor of Havelock Hills Security came as arranged at 9:00am to discuss what he could offer for the security monitoring of Karamu. His monthly charges are a bit lower than ArmourGuard and he is a local firm so I think more likely to be in tune with the local ways of doing things.I particular he can offer a call-out service so that if we are not in the area and an alarm goes off he can dispatch a guard to check it out. ArmourGuard does the same but we were so unimpressed with the service we dropped it. In addition, and the need for this sparked our whole reappraisal of the security here, we want the premises secured should there be a break-in attempt while we’re not around. Havelock Hills Security think that’s quite normal and can provide it.

I asked for a reference client and then spoke to Dr Lavery who said he’d found Havelock Hills Security just fine, including for the couple of call-outs they’ve had in the last couple of years. Dr & Mrs Lavery, 504 Frimley Rd, Hastings (06-876-6144). Turned out that they are friends of the Velvins who sold the orchard to Karola and now live in Taupo.

Later I managed my domain names, most of which need renewing in a month or two. It turns out that GoDaddy – a big Internet hosting and name registrar in the USA – is very tricky. The initial annual charge for a domain name is cheap. They encourage you to automatically renew the registration each year, which bait I spurn. So, I find that the renewal for the second and subsequent years is 4 – 5 times more than the first year. My USA hosting company, AceWebHosting,  charges $15 USD pa not $40 and my New Zealand registrar of choice, DiscountDomains, charges about $20 USD pa. So I’ve moved my domain names to DIscountDomains (for the ones ending in co.nz and AceWebHosting for the others.

Late morning we went into town and picked up the two sharpened Silky pruning saws then went to the District Council offices and uplifted the approved building consent documents.

After lunch Karola settled down to writing her IDS article about the visit to Panikau north of Gisborne. I started on chainsawing the smaller privet trees and dogwood saplings, and dealing with seriously damaged Camellia – damaged when the first huge branch of the English Beech crashed down.

Electric Fence Around The Big Oak

Karola’s Persimmons, Slowly Ripening On The Tree

The Oak Branches That Are In The Way Of The New Shed

Oak Avenue Weather:12℃—19℃ 0.9mm rain [79.5]*

SimGym for us both. Very cold, heavy frost but the day was sunny.

I put electric fence up round the big oak and Karola let her sheep have a joyous 2 hours browsing on the lucerne, plantain, and variety of grasses and weeds.

Mid afternoon Karola took Bramble round the orchard and afterwards we went into Hastings. I dropped off a couple of pruning saws for sharpening at The Saw Doctors. We then went to PGG Wrightsons to get a new handle for the new Silky pruning saw blade Karola bought last week. None to be had so I convinced them to remove a handle from an existing saw – they had dozens on the shelves as they are fiendishly expensive but fiendishly good saws. After a lot of hanging about they agreed. A quick shop at New World and then Countdown and we trundled off home as darkness fell.

Oak Avenue Weather:1℃—15℃ 0.1mm rain [79.5]*

Cold, gloomy day. Karola decided it was overdue to have an electric blanket on our bed, having been spoiled by the bed at Gill’s place at the weekend. Karola remade the bed and also vacuumed the cottage – a ceaseless war against drowning in Bramble fur.

Janet Scott visited briefly with some local news about “JB” John Bostock culled from the papers.

I mowed the cottage lawn etc, usually done on a Sunday. This time it was a quick mulching mow as the grass isn’t growing much now.

Karola, Bramble, and I took a look round the shrubbery marking noxious Privet trees that need to be felled, and pulling out quite a number of small Privet saplings. Now that we have planning permission for the new shed I can ask the tree people to come and remove a couple of oak branches that are in the way – and while they’re here we’ll see if they can cut down the largest Privets.

We all went into Hastings for a quick food shop. By then it was dark and we are now enjoying the warmth of a woodburner snug inside.

Oak Avenue Weather:-3℃—13℃ 0.1mm rain [80.1]-

SwimGym, alone again – it was cold so as we’d had a long day and a very late night that seemed reasonable.

We then went over and picked up Bramble from the kennels – she was a bit subdued perhaps because it was so very cold overnight – despite the kennel people giving each dog an extra blanket – or perhaps because the kennels were very full over Queens Birthday weekend and she was a bit overwhelmed by the many many dogs and the unholy row they made.

Came home, lit the fire, and stayed inside in the warm the rest of the day.

Oak Avenue Weather:2℃—15℃ 0.1mm rain [79.8]+

Gill and I spent quite a while swapping bits of video while Karola patiently packed and then read the newspaper.

As we left Upper Hutt I saw a large road sign saying CRASH, SH2 Closed, Detour. I didn’t notice if it said where this was but it turned out to be up at Mount Bruce and the road had been closed since lunchtime. Our 20 minute detour just after Masterton took us close to Morrisville, rejoining SH2 just before Eketahuna, As the evening wore on it got very foggy and thick fog continued until just after Woodville. Earlier we stopped for a quick nibble outside Wild Oats cafe in Greytown; we stopped again in Waipukaru for another.

Arrived safely home around 6:00pm and it had been dark since shortly after 5;00pm. We drove into the cottage garage and, forgetting to reset the alarms, set off the cottage alarm, then scrabbling in the car to find the remote and silence it. Meanwhile Bridget rang at precisely the same moment to check that we’d safely avoided all the road accidents.  Brrr, it is very cold.

My suitcase greeted us, all neatly packed and ready to go on the bed. So we’ve both done the “left my bag behind” trick now.

Notice that Karola’s photos below are so much better than mine, using the same iPhone. I guess Karola has the knack, though she demures.

Rashbrookes Joined Us At Gill’s Where She Gave Us Pork Casserole DInner Last Night

Menfolk Well Pleased With The Casserole

Outside Gill’s This Morning – Overlooking Ben’s Shrubbery – Breathtaking Harbour View

Oak Avenue Weather:-3℃—16℃ 0.1mm rain [?]*

A late, leisurely breakfast with Gill and then Karola and I set off for Bridget’s place, via More Wilson in the city. Karola got some extra presents for Alex and some food. Oh, didn’t I say, in the hurley-burley of the trip down I’d packed my bad and left it on the bed back home. So I bought a brand new electric shaver – the most expensive one on show in Harvey Norman (next to More Wilson) even after the reduction, it was a half-price bargain. This will be useful I thought because my existing shaver is getting a bit old.

Then on the Bridget’s arriving soon after 11:00am Annemarie – the other grandmother – was there and after a cup of tea Alex opened her presents. There were many presents.

Bridget served up a wholesome brunch – bacon and egg and sausage with pavlova to follow and everyone tucked in. After lunch Alex showed us a video about “Left Handedness”, Alex is left handed. And then she set us a fiendishly difficult “riddle” – well more of a maths problem actually. I could not solve it and Karola is too sensible to try. Nor could Bridget but she soon succumbed and Alex told her the answer.

As we left late afternoon, Bridget was reading a book out loud – one of the books Annemarie had given Alex – with her two daughters snuggled up either side.

Later, back in Seatoun, Gill finished the preparation of a pork casserole dinner for us and the Rashbrookes. They arrived and we had a very pleasant, talkative, dinner. We discussed the book that some of us had been reading, Sapiens by the Oxford history professor, Dr Yuval Harari. The conversation continued by the sitting room wood fire afterwards while Geoff and I struggled to make sense of Alex’ “riddle”. We figured out an approach but it seemed too laborious to be the right answer; the next day, after a rather sleepless night due to this intractable problem, I called Bridget and it turned out that the problem was not meant for children, nor was it one with a snappy answer once one saw how to approach it. Rather, it needed just the laborious listing of cases that Geoff and I had concluded. That’s a relief.

Oak Avenue Weather:-3℃—15℃ 0.1mm rain [?]*

SwimGym – by myself. Quite cold.

After my “fasting” brunch we took Bramble over to the kennels then returned to pack up ready for our trip to Wellington.

However, things were going to get a bit more chaotic. Previously we’d filled out Karola’s application for renewing her UK passport, sending the detailed questionnaire online and needing only to get a couple of pages signed and witnessed by someone with a UK passport of their own. Liz Ormond had agreed to do it and as planned we met her in Hastings at 10:00am. We sat together in our car while her husband, Peter Ormond, met with his doctor, and we filled in the witness information. Then we picked up the weekly GF bread order and a short while later we were on our way back to Karamu to finish packing and depart.

Just as we turned into the Karamu driveway I noticed that Liz had not signed the back of one of the two passport photographs, as required, although she had inscribed the required text and dated it. Karola called her cellphone – but it was not active; maybe turned off or the battery flat. So we zoomed back into Hastings only to find that the couple had left the surgery only moments before. We went back to Karamu and tried to ring on their home line, again no answer. We had to wait till we got back because we didn’t know the number, of course. So we finished packing and then drove back through Hastings, across to Havelock North and out across the Tukituki river to the Ormond’s place – about a 40 minute drive. We knew the road number but Peter and Liz don’t have that number displayed on the road and there were several undocumented driveways leading off the road so we had a couple of mis-shots but finally found a drive that took us up to their hillside house. Fortunately they were at home by then.

Liz signed the photograph, well she tried with several pens and they didn’t work so she eventually used my pen and did a fresh photograph – luckily we had spares. And somewhere along the line I noticed that Liz hadn’t signed as witness on the main declaration page – so Liz signed that as well. Off we went, back to Havelock North to copy and post the application. As we drove along I noticed that I’d also neglected to ask Karola to sign the main declaration page. Whew, that could have wasted the whole application. So Karola signed her page and, in the post office, we made copies of the pages we were sending and sent the signed forms by courier with tracking to the passport office in Liverpool, England. Now we think of other things and just wait to see what happens.

So, instead of arriving mid afternoon in Wellington we actually set foot at Gill’s place in Seatoun Heights just after 7:00pm. Gill cooked us a salmon meal after which she and I spent an hour or so exchanging bits of video and making copies of various DVDs before tumbling into bed – a very comfortable bed – for a rather restless night. Too much excitement indeed.

Oak Avenue Weather:-4℃—15℃ 0.1mm rain [?]*

Much colder today, and mainly overcast. I had a fire going inside from mid morning.

Just spent most of the day inside, me working on the diet charts and Karola doing emails – and both uf us pottering much of the time.

We did complete and send off Karola’s online passport renewal details for her UK passport, but we still need to get a local witness to sign the couple of pages that must be posted in hardcopy along with the photos.

Oak Avenue Weather:-2℃—13℃ 0.1mm rain [80.0]

SwimGym – but not Karola who is still recovering from her cold, and it has suddenly got a lot colder too.

Karola wanted to change the sheep around so I got them all in the yards; the ewes in one pen, the 9 ewe lambs in another, and the wether lamb in a third. I popped the ram in the Long Acre. Ewe #218 looks pretty under-the-weather and ewe #413 is still suffering from her facial eczema, but the others look quite bonny. The ram is now in the Long Acre and the rest are in the Middle paddock.

I did a little shopping in the morning. Karola completed mulching under the feijoa tree and late afternoon we both cleared away the prunings and piled them in the Front paddock for later mulching up.

More work on the diet pamphlet – listing the foods along with their weights and calories.

Oak Avenue Weather:-1℃—13℃ no rain [80.6]