Monthly Archives: July 2017

SwimGym with Karola. On the way Karola looked out and saw a delight – twin lambs on their feet. well licked, and drinking. The first of this season. Ewe #209 with lambs #701R and #702R.

Late morning Bangle and I did the Monday shop.

After lunch we then went to Winstones in Omahu road and got half a cubic metre of pea gravel which I then spread over the worst patches of exposed earth on the driveway extension that is the cottage loop.

Picked up pine cones downed from the Canary Island pine in the recent storms.

Ewe #209 – Had Twin Ram Lambs Overnight In The Frost

Pea Gravel Finish To The Cottage loop

My Exotic Manuka – FLowering In Mid-Winter

Oak Avenue Weather:0℃—13℃ 0.1mm rain [75.4]

A gentle re-introduction to reality this morning, nothing seriously amiss and chores and so on quietly progressed.

After lunch we trundled off up the Taihape road to fetch Bangle from Tracey & Graham. Bangle’s been having a good time and will particularly miss the two other dogs. Very grateful indeed that Bangle had such a good place to stay while we were away.

Dropped in on Peter Arthur (next door) – it’s his birthday (74), and he is in throes of editing the next issue of New Zealand branch of IDS journal – that has an article written by Karola in it.

Oak Avenue Weather:-4℃—11℃ 0.1mm rain [75.0]

A long (10 hour) sleep according to my FitBit. Took it slowly today. First priority is to get back into NZ sleep pattern, then to remove 3.5kg of excess weight.

Went with Anthony to Birdwood Cafe on Middle Road for lunch; Anthony continued back to Wellington from there.

I spent hours and hours on phone and computer with Bridget as she tried to rescue some of Alex’s photos after she’d locked up her iPhone 5S by trying the wrong password six consecutive times.

Then had a wander round the estate and began on putting in the six half-round posts to support the new railings under the Macrocarpa in the Front paddock.

My five exotic Manuka plants next to the farm shed are in bloom even though spring is officially six weeks away.

Two of the four geese somehow got out of the Goose Enclosure while we were away and paraded round the garden. I put them back this morning.

Karola checked her sheep and gave the ewes a bit of pea straw. I got the same answers when I counted them – 21 female & 2 male. None particularly near lambing I thought; time will tell. One, #508, is limping badly.

Oak Avenue Weather:-3℃—10℃ no rain [75.8]

Oak Avenue Weather:__℃—__℃ no rain [?]

Bit of a lie-in. Still cloudy and raining. Spent much of the day continuing my fight to amalgamate all my huge libraries of photos, mainly duplicates, on three different computers. The files are so big that it takes an age to copy from one place to another and it’s hard to get enough space to do the merge operations on them, even two-at-a-time.

I drove the three of us in Tony’s car over to ClearView in Haumoana for a proper lunch. Soup followed by a main then dessert. It was delicious. And we had a table right in front of the large wood burner so it was cheerful and warm.

We did sit in front of the fire and watch some TV in the evening.

Oak Avenue Weather:5℃—10℃ 18.8mm rain [73.5]

Another wintry day.

Karola went out for a while; Anthony & I worked on our computers and drank too many cups of coffee.

In the evening, after a pleasant roast chicken dinner prepared by Karola, the three of us watched the rugby final test match of the British & Irish Lions tour.

Oak Avenue Weather:2℃—12℃ 0.3mm rain [74.4]

SwimGym with Karola then breakfast.

I then went back to sleep for a few hours.

Byron called to find out Brian Cope’s phone number – I reiterated that he could have the outstanding $60 as a bonus for his good tree work. Honour preserved and I hope he’ll stay away now.

Henare called round late morning to borrow an axe and a small trailer. He chopped wood for his sister Ira.

Karola went out mid morning shopping. Anthony & I went to Gagan’s greengrocers after she came back and bought fresh vegetables to have with the roast organic chicken we’ll have tomorrow.

The rest of the day, overcast and occasionally drizzling, we spent inside with Anthony & I doing stuff on computers.

Oak Avenue Weather:0℃—11℃ 3.0mm rain [73.3]

So we got ourselves organised and calm. Quiet day packing and checking stuff. And then …

Due to storm in Auckland earlier in the day with lightening strikes causing ground staff
to cease refuelling (allegedly), our flight to Auckland was cancelled along with the two
flights before us and all flights for the rest of the evening.
We were told around 4:30pm via TXT from Air New Zealand. Spent the next hour
trying to get through to Air New Zealand – on hold – to discuss options and reschedule.
Then left for airport to try and find a human to discuss with. Continued on hold in the car.

Got through and were told that as it was Cathay Pacific ticket we’d need contact them.
Called Cathay Pacific but static on line terrible so gave up.

At the Napier airport we were advised by staff that the aircraft on the tarmac, the one scheduled
to fly before our flight, was fully booked and was waiting for AKL to let them fly. However that was
looking very unlikely tonight. And all flights tomorrow booked out.

Went home and called Cathay Pacific and got through. They said as ticket issued by a travel
agent we had to go through them. Called travel agent – they said leave a message and they’ll
call back during office hours. Searched around and found an emergency number for the agency,
called the 0800 number, international flights desk. They said due system error they could not
answer any calls, we should call back later. Tried the +61 Australian international emergency number.
Same reply.

Called the agency out-of-hours emergency 0800 number again but this time selected to buy a ticket.
They answered – what a surprise. After a bit of to-ing and fro-ing we were handed from the sales desk
guy, Dan, to an out-of-hours operator Lewis, and on to another emergency out-of-hours operator, Anne.
Anne and one other operator were the only ones with access to the booking system via a shared single
terminal. All other agency operators in Australasia were apparently taken out by their system crash.

There were no flights out of Napier to Auckland tomorrow, period. Karola said well, why not go to
Auckland via Wellington. It would cost a few hundred dollars but at least get us to Auckland in time for
the flight to Hong Kong. Yes, but as the Cathay Pacific timetable was different on a Friday we would have
to wait for over 12 hours in Hong Kong. And the flights are full anyway.

OK, what about Saturday then? AKL-HKG looks good but, oops, Cathay Pacific flight is full.

And Sunday? HKG-AKL looks OK, but oops, AKL-HKG is full, … and now the HKG-LHR has vanished – it’s full too.

… Monday perhaps? Ah, yes, grabbed two of the few remaining seats HKG-LHR and if we switch your AKL-HKG
ticket from Cathay Pacific to Air New Zealand we can get you on the AKL-HKG leg too.
Whew. Seats booked, confirmed, and we have the same routing and times as for today but on Monday.

So, our new arrival time is 8:30pm on Tuesday 11th July – terminal 3.

Thanks to Anthony for driving us to and from the airport, and for resigning himself to an unexpected weekend with us.

Anna Has The Groceries In For Her GF Dad Already

Oak Avenue Weather:3℃—10℃ 10.9mm rain [73.7]

SwimGym

Took Bangle round the orchard as usual, and she had her apple core, as usual, but this time we locked the vehicle gates as we went round in preparation for ur holiday beginning tomorrow.

Then, after gathering Bangle’s food and belongings together, Bangle and I zoomed up the Taihape road to Graham & Tracey’s where Bangle will be on holiday until the 30th July. Bangle, still a bit timid especially in the presence of sheepdog Belle and the foxie. I quickly slipped away before she got upset.

Bruce popped in and vaccinated 23 ewes with 5-in-1 vaccine – in the nick of time.

Anthony Fletcher arrived soon after I got home and settled in instantly.

I put the trailers behind locked gates and made room in the house garage for karola’s Subaru so that Anthony can use the cottage garage for his car. This involved moving the “map cabinet” with its seven wide, deep, and very skinny drawers to make room.

Then it was back to getting ready for the trip interspersed with pleasant food and drink with Anthony & Karola.

Contents Of The Map Cabinet

Oak Avenue Weather:__℃—__℃ no rain [73.0]

Oh what a lot seemed to happen today.

Firstly we prepared Bangle’s months supply of rice and prime beef and pork – 14 jars with two meals in each.

Fed the geese half a can of maize – they did finish it, eventually.

Bangle – orchard – apple

Byron & Jodie turned up around 10:00am following my TXT ultimatum last night – that it was today or never for working off the last four hours of his debt. Jodie dropped off Byron and returned back at about 11:30am. Byron made a start on the new pit for dead animals, needed “just in case” before we go on holiday. He only got about ⅔ of it done before he decided he had other pressing business and they went off for the day. Byron also asked for some ground cover plants and so we gave him a few Iris foetidissima and a couple of young Acanthus mollis. In fact it was Jodie who dug up the Iris.

Karola & I went out for lunch at Bay Expresso in Karamu road – Eggs Benedict with bacon is a favourite of mine. First however we drove into Napier to Noel Leemings and picked up my Apple Pencil – a stylus for the iPad Pro I bought last week – the pencil was temporarily not in stock at that time. Returning towards Hastings and lunch Karola bought some firelighters from Hohepa. After lunch we picked up a prescription for Karola and another two doses of drench for lung worm – Karola had noticed some coughing sheep and thought she would medicate them before we set off to the UK. She also spotted another limper, not #508 this time but #311.

Karola got the sheep into the yards and I trimmed #311’s hooves and sprayed liberally with anti-footrot stuff. Her limping reduced markedly afterwards, probably because after my “tough love” foot treatment she didn’t know which foot hurt most. Then I dosed two coughers – #227 & $229 (withholding for meat – 91 days) . Last time it was #507 & #224 – whew, so maybe the stuff works.

When it became clear that Byron was not coming back I finished off the pit myself. He’d decided to carve out a pit about half the size I’d specified but in the shape of a sheep on its side.

Henare came round in the evening and was delighted to find the pit dug – he’d feared he was going to have to dig it while we were away.

Our Four Guard Geese Looking Supercilious

The Two New Bulkhead Lights On The House Garage

The New Pit

Oak Avenue Weather:2℃—16℃ no rain [72.2]

SwimGym

Chased up the insurers concerning the house garage oak branch damage and Kim said he’d just sent off the claim resolution to their (AIG’s) claims department for payment. Yeah, right!

Karola fed her sheep some pea straw – just for the change, not because they’re starving (yet). She noticed that #311 was limping and #227 was coughing. Neither of these are the same as the limping and coughing sheep of last month.

Monday food shopping with Bangle, including getting a huge amount of meat to last Bangle until we return at the end of July.

Then we went to Winstone’s in Omahu road and got another cubic metre of AP40 gravel and filled out the new piece of driveway, the cottage loop, where recent tyre marks show that normal use needed a wider track.

Cleaned out the geese sunken bath.

Karola put away the electric fencing hear I dismantled yesterday.

Late afternoon I put up two new bulkhead lights on the house garage, The bulb in the western of the two security lights had gone but when I opened it up to replace the bulb I found the fitting inside had become brittle and shattered. The new bulkhead lights are very similar to the ones I’ve replaced and all seems to be working as designed now.

Karola planted her two new Swamp Cypress trees today, down near the wooden gate and Lime tree. She also planted the two yellow Banksia roses she bought at the same time, they are planted near downpipes on the corners of the cottage.

Meticulous Maids did the cottage clean this afternoon.

Bangle – orchard – apple

Extra Cubic Metre Of AP40 Gravel Laid Today

Oak Avenue Weather:-1℃—15℃ 0.1mm rain [72.7]

Karola went off to the Hastings Farmers Market looking for smoked mushrooms among other comestibles.

I moved from my old iPad Air to the new iPad Pro 10.5”, and then moved Karola from her elderly and obsolete iPad generation one to my old iPad Air.

Henare came over mid morning and finished off the battening of the reconstructed fence along the north side of the One Acre. I had to cut back several flax bushes that were crowding the fence and afterwards Henare gathered these up to take to relations who make stuff from flax.

Janet Scott called in mid afternoon to wish us well for our holiday trip later this week.

Starting after lunch I took down all the electric fence round the house lawn and the big oak, setting up a new fence across the Front paddock, isolating one section for the ewes to have until we go – then they’ll get it all.

In the evening Karola took on the iPad Air and all seemed to be working much as she expected.

Ewes Waiting For Fresh Pasture – More Bored Than Hungry

One Section Of Front Paddock Fenced Off

Yum, Yum – You Can Hear Them Munching

Henare Completes The Battening

Oak Avenue Weather:7℃—14℃ 0.2mm rain [72.9]

We listened, as we do, to Country Life on the radio while having breakfast. Afterwards Karola insisted now was the right time to wind up the dozen or so pieces of #8 fencing wire left over from our recent reconstruction of the inner fences in the Front paddock. These bits of wire range from a few metres to about 50 metres in length. It is much easier than it used to be because we have a spinning jenny to help. We did over half before it was time to leave for our haircuts – pre-trip haircuts – at Mode in Taradale.

Once my cut was complete I went over to Noel Leeming in Napier and bought the new iPad I’d been investigating for a few days. This is the latest and greatest Apple iPad Pro 10.5” with a stylus (they call it the Apple Pencil). Space grey colour, 256GB storage, an Apple leather cover/stand, and 3 years extended warranty. Not liking the combined cover and keyboard recommended for this model I bought another Apple Magic wireless keyboard. To enable uploading of photos from our three Sony point-and-shoot cameras I also got a “lightening to SD Card” adapter. And in case we should be stuck without enough power in our iThings I bought a power bank that stores 4000mAh which is enough for the iPad and several refills of an iPhone. I pick up the Apple Pencil on Tuesday, in time to take with me to England.

I picked up Karola after her hair styling and, after lunch, we carried on and completed the rolling up of the #8 wire.

In the evening we watched the Lions just beat the All Blacks in their second test of the current series. Just as well othewrwise the third and final test would have been a bit boring – not that we will be here in NZ for that last test.

Oak Avenue Weather:9℃—14℃ 2.9mm rain [73.6]