Monthly Archives: August 2017

Well, not a lot happened today. I took things rather too gently in the morning and it poured with rain in the afternoon.

Bangle & I got round the orchard and had our last apple from a tree this season – before it rained.

I struggled with my bloated Photos library and wrote long and probably boring answers to several emails.

In the afternoon I spoke to Gill about my bad back, hoping to glean some ideas for tackling it based on Ben’s experiences – but in practice we’d done the same things and it does just take time. Gill convinced me to go to the doctor, if only to confirm it was just a muscle sprain and get some prescription medicine to make recovery faster and less invasive.

In the evening we went to a 6:00pm lecture on “groundwater & trees” by a young American academic. Unfortunately it was a very specialised and detailed talk about a tiny area of study into how trees use groundwater, measured using electrical resistivity and other sensing technologies. what was clear was that the theories being tested, the test data, and the tools were all flakey as can be. It was weaving a fantasy explanation out of too few data points and almost no controlled variables. Sad, and rather boring for Karola, I imagine. Still, it does you good to get out occasionally & Peter Offenberger & Chris Ryan were there.

Oak Avenue Weather:10℃—15℃ 2.4mm rain [74.3]

SwimGym but Karola only this time – back still playing up.

All three of us went into town and did the next two days shopping. Weather has been glorious but a change is coming.

Bangle & I checked the sheep and then went round the orchard.

Late afternoon Henare came round for quick chat and to get drinking water.

Oak Avenue Weather:11℃—16℃ no rain [74.4]

Bit of a slow day, took Bangle round orchard but otherwise seemed to potter around not getting much done. Bad back is slowing me down. Read the new Economist today, the day it arrived – which is good.

eMailed my ophthalmologist, John Beaumont, and asked him whether he saw any harm in us trying a supplement to improve the uptake of “macular pigments”. He replied that there was scant science to suggest it would work but not harmful, just a bit of a con.

Checked with Kerry at Hawkes Bay Tractor Dismantlers and no the tractor isn’t serviced yet but should be ready sometime in next fortnight. Left a message with Greenleaf Nurseries asking whether the quote for our September trees was ready.

For exercise I did add some firewood to the old small trailer so it is now full to the brim with wood for Henare, should he want it.

Finally did Karola’s GST tonight and was fined 60 cents for being a day late.

Oak Avenue Weather:8℃—20℃ no rain [73.9]

SwimGym with Karola – then unwittingly, after breakfast, I slept for the rest of the morning. Back was aching overnight – maybe that contributed.

Meticulous Maids came and cleaned the cottage mid afternoon. While they were doing that Karola took Bangle round the orchard and I nipped into town and bought the next two days food. I also popped into Harvey Norman to try and get a replacement part for my delightful Philips electric shaver.

No joy there except that the assistant did find out that I’d bought it there in February so it was still under warranty, and she did give me the name of an online importer, ElectroWave, who have efficiently processed my order this evening. I cancelled my attempt to get the part from Philips in USA via myUS.com – I have an account with them that gives me a USA valid postal address and USA credit card and will forward stuff on to me when I need it.

Around 5:00pm we all went over to Tamatea and brought back the Landrover – new muffler and WOF.

Karamu, red in tooth and claw … Monitoring the automatic rat trap this morning I found two large dead rats – I found another one I’d missed a little bit later hence the “skillful” superimposing in the photo below of the one on the left. These are about six inches long, excluding the tail – they are not mice. A recent visitor commented they were unnerved by finding one of these upstairs in the homestead walking towards her in the passage. Not away, towards. Unnerved the poor lass. These traps are much more humane than poison – just a deadly blow to the head. I hate the cruelty of slow acting poisons.

Special Manuka Shrubs In Full Flower

Three Dead Rats Found This Morning

Oak Avenue Weather:9℃—18℃ 13.8mm rain [74.0]

In the morning Karola attempted to make marmalade from our own grapefruit. Which is odd because Karola adores New Zealand grapefruit marmalade but eating grapefruit is forbidden for those on statins.

Back still aching overnight – less so once I’m moving about, but sitting still brings it on. (Reported here for our records)

In the afternoon Karola went to Iona – a protestant private school. like Woodford House, Karola’s alma mater, but Presbyterian, not Anglican. To attend the AGM of the Hawkes Bay branch of the Historic Places Trust. The attendees were treated to a thorough explanation and tour of the superb facilities and new buildings.

I took Bangle round the orchard for a walk and an apple – sadly they are pretty mushy and tasteless by now – and I spotted a gushing pipe near the sheep yards. At a T-join the leg continuing along the fence line had pulled out of the connector – probably due to frost action and because there wasn’t enough slack in the pipe. Lucky I saw it as it was gushing out and starting to water-log the surrounding land, wasteful and a nuisance. Armed with an old kettle of boiling water and some spanners, a hacksaw, an extra straight-through connector and a short length of pipe, it was soon fixed.

While Karola was away I used the tractor mower to go round the homestead main lawn and the rough grass under the big oak so that we can erect electric fence there without it “shorting out”.Then I mowed the cottage lawn and some other small pieces of lawn, finishing just as dusk fell.

One Acre – Plantain Badly Bugged

Water Trough Pipeline Detached Itself

Fixed With A Short Pipe Extension

Control Valve Buried But Not Too Deep

Oak Avenue Weather:12℃—16℃ no rain [74.0]

It being sunny and with hardly a breeze we decided to do some weed spraying today.The big strong effective knapsack sprayer hasn’t been used for a while and appeared not to be pressurising very well but after a bit of use it started working properly.

Last night I found I had a sore lower back – due I suspect to lifting something too heavy – possibly the towbar of one of the small trailers full of firewood.

I sprayed the grass round my five swamp cypress saplings. Glysophate (ie Roundup) should not hurt them becuase they have dark brown bark and because they’ve not come into bud yet. We shall see, I did try not to spray them accidentally. I also sprayed the Italian Arum Lily (Arum italicum) we got in soil provided by Bay Dingo years ago. It is gradually spreading around the place and is hard to eradicate completely but Roundup certainly slows it down.

I stacked some more firewood, sorting it into stuff suitable for our fire and other wood that might be useful to Henare’s relations.

Checked the ewes and found that ewe #511 had twins overnight, #723E and #724R. Also shed the ewe hogget #602 and the ewe with two dead lambs, #229, from the Front paddock into the Totara paddock. Later, seeing that some lambs were jumping through the electric fence (while unelectrified) from the Middle paddock into the Front paddock we decided to amalgamate the two paddocks. A popular move with the ewes who always think the grass over the fence is more desirable.

Karola & I worked on the railings round the old lemon tree for a couple of hours.

All Blacks Rugby: Bledisloe Cup 2nd game tonight. Last weekend’s match was a rout. It’s the best out of three so tonight might be the clincher.

Oak Avenue Weather:1℃—17℃ no rain [73.5]

SwimGym with Karola

After breakfast we took the Landrover and its trailer to Tamatea Motors – Landrover for its overdue warrant, trailer because part of its tandem axle was seized up. Trailer fixed and we brought it home this afternoon but the Landrover needs a new back muffler and repairs to the front one, so it’s staying at the garage over the weekend in the hope that Heath can get a second hand replacement from Landy Heaven (we’ve dealt with them before – they’re just up the hill from Tamatea).

I buried two lambs, both of #299’s lambs are dead – one I found yesterday, the other this afternoon. But ewe #514 had twins, #719E & #720R, and ewe #510 had twins too, #721E & #722R.

With help from Karola I finished my alterations to the piece of fence near the wooden gate and Lime tree.

The Altered Piece Of Fence

Grandson Barney & His Father Marc – With A Pollock & A Coalfish

Oak Avenue Weather:1℃—16℃ no rain [73.7]

Counted sheep and lambs and all present and correct this morning – with the addition of ewe #531’s ram lamb #718R.

Karola took Bangle round the orchard when I went to Stortford Lodge to post some Economists to friends Geoff & Felicity Rashbrooke in York Bay and to buy another knapsack sprayer as we seem to have mislaid our old one. Bought one very similar to the old one – a diaphragm mechanism which is superior to the alternatives. Also, suggested by Farmlands, bought some dye to put in the spray mix so you can see what you’ve sprayed. And we’ve been using expensive “dazzle” spray cans for years – costly and you have to bend down to mark each weed.

I spent much of the outside time today just tidying up stuff – small branches to the bonfire site, that sort of thing. I added lure to the possum trap area and checked the rat lure sites. One had been nibbled so I set a trap there and moved the other test lure to a different site.

Late afternoon we found that #299’s lamb #717R was stone cold dead. No obvious reason.

I ended the afternoon by trimming the Osmanthus hedge near the wooden gate – not incidentally next to the fence I am adjusting – and then getting to the point with the fence that I only have a few repositioned battens to staple up and it’s done.

Blossom Coming Out On Old Plum Tree

Osmanthus Hedge Trimmed

Oak Avenue Weather:1℃—15℃ 0.1mm rain [74.1]

SwimGym with Karola

After breakfast we went to the Havelock North “Friendship” group (was Probus – very old biddies with lively minds) in Havelock North at the Havelock North club. Peter Offenberger, Margery & Brian Cobbe, Charles & Maryanne Dougherty, and some others we recognised were there. Today’s subject was organic farming – a chat with Scott Lawson of “True Earth” branded organic vegetable & fruit. (http://trueearth.co.nz/about-lawsons-true-earth-certified-organics/). Mostly about the Lawson’s struggle to produce organic vegetables, fruit, and in particular blueberries, and stay solvent. Most is exported, mostly to Australia. The do their own packaging and marketing – to be a price-maker rather than a price-taker.

Scott used to play at Karamu with Russell Harris when a boy and their family land was on the corner of Ormond & Evenden road, less than half a mile from here, now occupied by the large new Delegates winery.

On the way home we shopped and picked up this years lamb ear tags from Farmlands.

We weighed Bangle today – that is weighed me with and without Bangle – because Karola fears Bangle is too heavy. We she’s right. A corgi should be between 12kg and 14kg and Bangle is currently 16.4kg. So we’ll have to cut down on the portion size and the Tux biscuit after the beef&rice and nutrients biscuits.

Ewe #229 has had twins overnight, #716E and #717R – both large and lively.

Late afternoon I continued with the adjustment of a small section of fence near the wooden gate by the Lime tree. I completed digging the four new running-post holes and put in two posts, leaving another two to do and then the re-alignment of the battens.

Oak Avenue Weather:0℃—14℃ no rain [73.8]

Cooked Bangles next instalment of rice and beef mince – a fortnight’s worth. Have cut back on the rice, one cup instead of two, to go with the kilogram of prime Angus beef mince and 500g of pork casserole chunks.

Bangle – orchard – apple

Finally got the bills paid (should have been done last Sunday), and the insurance claim for the defunct security system on the homestead off to the broker.

I saw three families of pukekos in the orchard, two with very young chicks and one with half-grown youngsters. Also some rabbits. Stoat hasn’t slowed them down yet then.

Cleared a space in one of Karola’s raised beds and planted 20 Bay tree twigs and 24 Karamu twigs in the hope that they might root. Low odds I’d say.

A small section of the wire fence from the wooden gate by the Lime tree towards the road and then along parallel with the road to the culvert has running posts that stand too proud of the wires and battens. I banged two down with a sledgehammer and re-stapled them. Another three are not only too high but there’s one missing – the gap between them is to big – so I shall dig those three out and put four back in their place, at the right height.

I moved the ram and wether from the Front paddock to the Long Acre, swapping with the 11 sheep currently in there. ten ewes and a ewe hogget. I think seven of the ewes will definitely have lambs but I’m unsure about the other three.

Small Section Of Raised Bed For Propagation Attempt

The Piece Of Fence Being Adjusted

Oak Avenue Weather:0℃—12℃ no rain [74.3]

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

SwimGym after which, for reasons unknown, I was so sleepy that I slept until late morning.

Drove tractor to Hawkes Bay Tractor Dismantlers as agreed, to have it serviced and the seal on the left piston of the front-end loader repaired. Karola took the car, got petrol and papers, and was there to pick me up when I arrived 20 minutes later. We went to Bay Expresso for a coffee and soup light lunch, at Karola’s suggestion, before trundling into town for the next two days food and some stuff from Office Max.

I saw a stoat running across the Middle paddock – not seen one of those for ages, Also a large harrier swooped over the lambs hopefully. And, when I went to the homestead garage looking for Karola I noticed a distinct whiff of dead animal. Karola remarked on the same so, most unfortunately, there probably is a possum corpse somewhere in the walls of the garage. Ugh.

Karola took Bangle round the orchard.

Oak Avenue Weather:3℃—13℃ no rain [73.8]

Bit of a wintery day. I spent an hour or so in the morning hand writing an email to Barbara Florent, on holiday with her sons family and our grandsons in Norway. Barbara is over 80 but has been writing us a travelog of their escapades in the fjords – fishing, being invaded by a family of goats and so on.

Karola took Bangle round the orchard and Bangle bagged another apple.

Karola and I put up the top rail round the lemon tree after I’d straightened some of the posts and banged them down to the same height all round. It was very muddy and getting cold and blustery so at that point we chucked it in for the day.

I am enjoying writing an Applescript program to try and reduce the cruft in our Photos library. It had 55,000 photos and images in it and I’ve reduced that by 6000 just by getting rid of all the tiny bits of images that have ended up there by mistake. The next program attempts to group all the photos that are thumbnails of the original and I anticipate that will run for 30 hours or so.

Mostly chores today, it is Sunday, but Karola has started a clean-up project in her office – the room on the west end of the homestead garage, the one that has a rat gnawing through the rafters leaving shavings all over the floor.

Which reminds me, seems I got a possum sometime over the last few nights – according to the automatic possum trap counter.

No more lambs, they are taking their time.

Oak Avenue Weather:4℃—14℃ 0.3mm rain [73.7]

More programming but after breakfast I went to Golden Pine in Omahu road and bought wood for the project to put wooden railings round the remaining old lemon tree in the Front paddock.

• 9 x 4.8m 150×50 (6” x 2”)
• 6 x 4.8m 75×50 (3” x 2”)
• 10 x 4.8m 100×25 (4” x 1”)
• 6 x 1.8m #2 quarter-round posts
• 1 x 1.8m #2 half-round post
• assorted hardware for gates

Bangle – orchard – apple

After lunch Henare came round, his orchard pruning work had stopped early for the day, and so serendipitously, I had the wood and he could start by putting up the six posts for the hexagon. First however, we had to decide where these posts should go and we spent maybe two hours trying to get the position of the holes to our satisfaction.

Soon after Henare started digging it started raining. By the time he finished the sixth post it was pelting down. I had retired wet half an hour earlier, dried out, donned a raincoat, and returned to find drowned rat Henare putting in the last post.

Barney And His Big Garfish – Almost As Big As They Ever Get – On Holiday Still, In Norway

Splendid Photo Of Felix With Fjord Backdrop – In Norway Of Course

Oak Avenue Weather:5℃—15℃ 8.7mm rain [74.0]

SwimGym with Karola

Then off for haircuts in Taradale. Karola visited Colin Nagel, recently widowed, while I had mine cut, I had coffe in Bay Expresso a few doors down and read the Economist whle karola had her hair done.

On the way home we dropped in at Greenleaf Nurseries in Clive and put in our order for spring planting of trees. We await a quote and availability.

Brackenbury Tree Order – September 2017

• 40 x Red Beech (Fuscospora fusca)
• 20 x Manuka (Leptosporum scoparium)
• 12 x Rangiora (Brachyglottis repanda)
• 6 Five Finger (Pseudopanex arboreus)
• 3 x Norfolk Island Pine (Araucaria heterophylla)
• 1 x Monkey Puzzle (Araucaria auraucana)
• 8 “Electric Red” or “Red Ensign” or “Rura” Manuka cultivars (red)
• 8 “Cygnus” or “Andromeda” or “Karekare” Manuka cultivars (white)

Picked up the chainsaw late afternoon. Henare also came round for some non-chlorinated drinking water and a chat. He went to the doctor last week who said he now needs both hips replaced – no wonder Henare limps.

As dusk fell I emptied another trailer of firewood. About half of it needed splitting and the wonderful Kindling Cracker came into its own. I have another 20 minutes splitting to do but at least the trailer is empty.

Diet – What Diet

Felix, still on holiday in Norway with his dad and family, got news of his quite exceptional results for the first half of his two-year programme in A-level maths. The Stats result of 96% is in the astounding context that you only needed to get 57% to get an ‘A”.

Felix 1st Year A-Level Maths Triumph

Oak Avenue Weather:3℃—18℃ 0.2mm rain [74.0]

After breakfast I checked the two rat lures – they detect local rat activity – and they’ve not been nibbled. Nor has the possum trap gone off overnight. Will give it a few days before moving to fresh locations.

Karola checked her sheep, fed them more sheep nuts, and checked for more lambs. No more lambs today.

I took Bangle round the orchard, we shared an apple, and I noticed that the quince trees are in bloom.

Karola wants her trailers back – they’re loaded with firewood at present – so I spent the morning creating more firewood shelters out of old apple boxes on edge. I stacked the firewood out of three old apple boxes and then used two of them for the additional firewood storage shelters.

Late afternoon I mowed the little “D” lawn in front of the homestead garage, the grass around the drive along the side of the cottage, and the grass around the washing line.

Then I stacked the firewood out of the big trailer using the “kindling cracker” to split a few of the pieces which were a bit too thick.

Quince Trees – Flowers Coming Out

The Two Additional Firewood Storage Shelters

Lawn Mowing Overdue As It’s Been So Wet

Lawn In Front Of Homestead Garage Now Mown – Long Overdue

Oak Avenue Weather:2℃—17℃ 0.1mm rain [74.1]

SwimGym with Karola – and Jonathan the gym owner was unnecessarily loquacious this morning holding me up, hence holding Karola up too.

Bangle – orchard

I then popped into town, first for a visit to the nurse at Vet Services where Bangle had her nails clipped and the nurse also attended to a big black-head on Bangle’s front tummy. Karola & I saw this last night and although Bangle showed no signs of pain we did wonder what it was – looked like dried blood but was actually just dirt. Various other spots on her tummy turned out just to be spots of soil. We are advised to clean the black-head once a week until it goes away, and to give Bangle either a bath or a detailed brushing to get rid of the black spots of soil.

Also got a couple of replacement diesel containers, the old black ones being illegal now. Dropped in at Farmlands and ordered an optimistic number of sheep tags for the new lambs – just the little button ones, they only graduate to the big ones if they are chosen (survive long enough) to join the breeding stock.

Checked the ewes without lambs and I’m guessing that another four will lamb soon: #229, #514, #511, and #516 – all with well developed udders.

Put up a couple of rat trap lures to test the water – see if the spots I’ve selected are frequented by rats – one near the back of the homestead garage, the other by the rain water tanks.The trap that’s been out there for several months had registered six kills. I re-fuelled the possum trap too. The kill counter for possums registered five – that’s for the last four months.

Mended a corner of the sheep yards where, because of some movement in the post, the railings were coming adrift. Now, 20 landscaping 100mm screws and a couple of fencing battens later, it’s solid as a rock.

Two Yellow Plastic Jerrycans For Diesel, Replacing The Now Illegal Black Ones

Grandsons Felix & Barney In Norway

From Anna & Dave In Jersey On Holiday

Oak Avenue Weather:9℃—19℃ no rain [74.5]

Sunny day and got quite warm. I began outside activities by taking down the electric fence from the Middle and Totara paddocks. Then, using the tractor with the mower quite close to the ground, I trimmed the strips where I wanted to re-erect fence to allow strip grazing of the Middle and Totara paddocks.

Bangle – orchard.

Brian Cope came round and took away the broken handle – the handle used to switch the old tractor hydraulics from the 3-point linkage to the bucket. He came back a few hours later with a new knob that fitted perfectly.

I put up electric fence making a narrow race along the western boundary of the Middle and Totara paddocks. This provides common access to the grazing strips, I just prop the electric wires up to make a tunnel for the sheep into the strip selected for grazing. I put up one of the dividing fences, leaving the whole of the Totara paddock and the first strip of the Middle paddock on one side, four remaining strips of the Middle paddock on the other.

As part of the on-going project to make shelter for our rather large amounts of firewood using old apple boxes on edge, I used the old tractor to move couple of boxes next to the farm shed lean-to, at the same time taking several rolls of reusable sheep netting down to the stump dump.

I also disassembled the six-gate portable yard set up under the Coral tree. I was intending to protect this year’s Coral tree seedlings from sheep and transplant them but the frost killed them all. Took the portable yard hurdles over to the place of three gates.

Meanwhile Karola made her own electric fence enclosing the gate into the Goose paddock, the Coral and Hickory trees, and some grass and a lot of nettles. The 10 ewes that have lambed have the run of the Long Acre, the Goose enclosure, and this piece of the Middle paddock. The 10 ewes left to lamb plus the ewe hogget #602 have the Totara paddock and a strip of new grass – the Totara paddock is pretty well chewed out.

The ram and wether are in the Front paddock which is big enough that we expect it to recover from the continual grazing over the last two months.

Meticulous Maids came to clean the cottage today. karola took Bangle off in the car and bought some fruit and vegetables.

I pruned the Karamu hedge inside the 133 entrance railings (Coprosma robusta) – making it level with the top of the railings and hoping it will bush-out a bit more as it was tending towards the tall and straggly. Also pruned the Bay hedge inside the cottage railings – lovely smell. Thiis is something I have to do before the sap rises in spring.

Then I mowed the cottage lawn, interrupted by a flying visit by Jenny Price. Karola was off feeding her sheep on nuts and pea straw so it was a very short visit.

Oak Avenue Weather:2℃—16℃ no rain [75.4]

SwimGym

Selwyn Cook came as expected around 9:30am to service and repair our security alarm system. He spent about half a day here and in the end, having consulted with the manufacturer, concluded that a power strike had fatally damaged the homestead system – we’ll need a complete replacement.

Three sheep had lambs today. First there was ewe #522, her first lamb, a ram lamb which, if it can get her to let it feed, will become #711R. Then there was #227 with lambs #712E & #713R, followed by ewe #439 with twins #714E & #715R.

Karola popped down to Stortford Lodge with Bangle to avoid the loud noise of the alarms being tested. She bought more sheep nuts and a couple of salt lick blocks for the sheep. It turned out that she’d bought 20kg blocks instead of boxes of eight smaller ones so late afternoon I went down again and swapped one for a box of the mini-blocks. Also got some chainsaw bar oil and dropped off the chainsaw at Hawkes bay Chainsaws & Mowers to see if they can fix it. Got a bit more food too, to avoid having to go back in tomorrow.

Our grandsons are still on holiday in Norway with their father and their other Grandma, Barbara Florent. Barbara writes us a short log of their adventures most days.

“The Explorers” – From Norway – Grandmas Florent And Four Of Her Mokopuna, Marc’s Children

Oak Avenue Weather:3℃—18℃ 1.3mm rain [75.3]

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

Another lamb today, and another assisted lambing. Ewe #410 started last night and was still not quite popping it out this morning so I gave her a helping hand and she seemed mighty relieved. In fact I thought that the lamb, having been partway delivered all night, might have given up but no, after landing thud on the ground it flopped around a bit and began breathing. Later today it is feeding and running around just fine.

Henare came over as planned and using first my chainsaw and then, after my one ceased working, his chainsaw – the one I gave him and he got fixed – chopped up lots of small branches I’ve been piling under the conifer in the Goose paddock near the farm shed. He finished the last small branch around 4:30pm. As happens quite regularly, I paid his electricity bill online to save him a trip downtown.

As part of this chopping into firewood I followed Karola’s advice and set up some apple boxes on edge and stacked the firewood inside them. By stacking the wood you get a lot more in than by just throwing stuff in randomly. Also it’s easier to get out. We’ll have a tarpaulin per box to keep the wood dry.

Henare Created Three Of These Today

Beginnings Of The Firewood Store From Old Apple Boxes

Henare Chainsawing Smallish Branches (Under The Tree)

All Done – All Smaller Branches Cut Into Firewood

Firewood Stacked Tightly In Apple Boxes

Oak Avenue Weather:4℃—20℃ 0.2mm rain [75.0]

Karola went out to get some Jazz apples which were available at Countdown though not at New World. She also fossicked round the second hand book shops for any Alexander Dumas novels she could find – coming home with aa copy of The Three Muskateers.

Bangle – Orchard – Apple

Ewe #311 was taking a long time to have her lamb so Karola insisted I help with the delivery – haven’t done that for years – and she had a large ram lamb #709R.

As forecast, there were a couple of showers late afternoon but I got a strip of the lawn outside the cottage kitchen done before it became too wet.

Henare dropped in in the afternoon for a coffee and to offer us a second hand Labrador – we said thanks but Bridget is working on a companion dog for us, one that will stay here in the term time and go down to Wellington in the school holidays. Nothing settled yet but it sounds hopeful.

Much of the day spent still wrestling with my shambolic Photos libraries, and long emails to Geoff Robinson.

Oak Avenue Weather:11℃—20℃ 0.7mm rain [74.9]

SwimGym with Karola, breakfast and then off for routine quarterly doctor’s appointment resulting in the happily regular flying colours.

After lunch we strolled round the sheep and orchard. Bangle chased the scent of a rabbit although the rabbit was well ahead all the time.

Sometime in the morning ewe #443 had ewe lamb #708E.

Glorious day and some sitting on the kitchen verandah in the sun was enjoyed by all, even Bangle.

Oak Avenue Weather:7℃—17℃ no rain [74.5]

We both took Bangle round the orchard mid day.

Karola, Bangle, and I walked round the orchard together and as we were traversing the Long Acre Bangle stumbled upon a nest of recently hatched pukeko chicks – three of them being minded by three adult pukekos. As they seem to raise clutches of chicks successfully in the dead of winter (now) and in the height of summer, and all times in between, it’s no wonder we are overrun with them, they’re more common than rabbits.

Pukekos are so very statuesque and strikingly colourful. Elsewhere they are known as the Purple Swamp Hen. But they do eat a lot of grass and some fruit, they are strident day and night, mainly at night, and they are forever fighting each other. They also snack on the fledglings of other birds, so they’re a mixed blessing, much lie the rest of life.

In the evening, after dinner, Karola & I went to a talk at the Hastings Library by Max Harris, “The New Zealand Project”

Some quick notes.

Three things wrong with NZ politics:

– has become overwhelmingly technocratic – as if government were just like running a modern business – reflected in the language of outcomes and targets

– general loss of direction, everything short term, pragmatism dominates. Return to nostalgia, looking back because no direction forward

– self-interest, selfishness.

There has been a strain of indiviualism in NZ since the white settlers arrived but since 1980s Rogernomics government has been chipping away at the institutions which hold society together. What’s “good for me is good for all”, a mean-spirited, selfish, harsh politics, neoliberal politics (which has failed even by its own standards of success).

Max Harris is calling for putting the values back into politics – not just government but in politics as expressed by the power bases in NZ society. Values engage the head and the heart. What is needed is a positive alternative to neoliberalism and that a diversity of voices be heard.

“Care, Community, Creativity, ½ Love” – this is his slogan.

NZ needs to decolonise society, recentering Maori views

Practical Instances of the way forward: prison reform, combatting insecure work, climate change displacement. Prisons – see the Norwegian model. Insecure work – pilot Basic Income (635,000 in insecure work today), Displacement – serious Pacifica issue.

Activism does work, organising is key.

Pukeko Chick – One Of Three In Long Acre Nest

Food For Thought

Oak Avenue Weather:2℃—17℃ no rain [74.1]

SwimGym with Karola. Then, after breakfast a very quick visit to New World with Bangle to get food for the next two days.

Karola checked the sheep – no new lambs today – and later took Bangle round the orchard. Today we weighed Bangle – approximately 15.5kg so quite heavy for a corgi but not massively overweight, thank goodness. Maybe a little less food in future.

The only outside work today was cutting up a couple of largish branches – one from a conifer behind the homestead garage that had been there for months, the other a freshly fallen large plane tree branch that fell amongst our beech trees. Luckily it only touched the fence, didn’t break anything, and broke one of the leaders off Karola’s 3-year old beech but missed all our recently planted red beech saplings. Sawed up with the chainsaw and stacked until the ground dries out enough to stop churning up the ground.

Karola went to a children’s art exhibition at the Hastings Library – well in that building; I stayed behind and started to catch up on my reading. It rained.

Oak Avenue Weather:6℃—16℃ 1.9mm rain [74.3]

Walk with Bangle round the orchard – and yet another apple each.

I continued spending much of the day on computer trying to get our digital photo library into some order. I’ve spent hours and hours before the holiday and subsequently sweeping up photos from wherever they could be found and making one very large Photos library. I also got rid of the obvious duplicates, using a program, an “app”. Now comes the boring part of tracking down and removing the thousands of photos and images we really don’t want and getting the numbers down from about 50,000 images occupying over 100GB to perhaps 20,000 occupying maybe 50GB.

Karola & I “shed” the latest ewes and lambs from the Front paddock into the Long Acre with the others – a slow business.

In the afternoon Karola took the opportunity in the sun to begin weeding the octagon, the wooden surround at the base of the Canary palm. Meanwhile I cleared up the last of the firewood pile in the Front paddock, splitting some of it for our firewood and putting the rest on the bonfire.

The Pile Of Wood For Splitting Has Gone Completely

Oak Avenue Weather:8℃—19℃ 2.8mm rain [74.2]

SwimGym and then breakfast – two eggs and a single piece of toast for me.

Soon after dawn ewe #507 had a single female lamb, #705E. Around lunch time ewe #224 had twin ram lambs, #706R & #707R

We slowly got organised and Karola took me, but not Bangle, into town for the Monday shopping and my quarterly government-sponsored diabetic blood test. Shopping included a side trip to Havelock North where Karola bought a pair of gloves for Natalie’s birthday (on 12th) and posted the presents off to her.

Mid afternoon Henare popped in for a coffee and a chat. At the same time I had a long conversation with Bridget – it seems that her BNZ job is similar in many ways to the client-facing services programming projects I encountered, but never had to actually run, in IBM. Poor girl.

Karola and I then shepherded the new morthers from the Front paddock down to the Holding paddock where they joined the other mothers and their lambs.

Later I did a bit of firewood splitting. I’ll get the small pile left by Henare and his relations finished in the next few days.

Ewes #507 & #224 With Their Lambs Born Today

Grandson Felix & Other Grandmother Barbara Florent On Holiday Enroute To Norway

Oak Avenue Weather:2℃—19℃ no rain [74.2]

Chores today and in addition Henare came round to get the firewood we’d offered for his relations. But before that Bangle and I checked the sheep and wandered around the orchard together.

The wood for Henare is in the Front paddock near the lemon tree and consists of old rings from the felling of the English Beech tree last year and more recent stuff from Byron’s work on the Macrocarpa. The idea is that pieces small and straight enough to fit our wood burner, or be split into usable pieces with our “kindling cracker” get left for us – all tht, and that’s most of it – is for Henare. He took off in the Landrover pulling the big trailer laden with wood just before lunch. Henare returned after lunch with two Rangitira Ormond and his friend Sean. It was amusing to see Henare in supervisor mode, munching on a bag of crisps while directing the two youngsters in sorting, loading, and splitting firewood. They split a whole heap of wood for us too before setting off again in the Landrover with a full load, this time Karola went with them to visit “Aunty Ira” – one of Henare’s numerous siblings.

Meanwhile I did what I’d been planning for a while and added stabilising half-round posts to the railing “V” between the gate and the fence, the west-most gate between the One Acre and the Totara paddock.

Half-Round Posts Minimise Rail Warping

Only The Good Firewood Left – Henare & Helpers Have Taken The Rest

Oak Avenue Weather:4℃—15℃ 0.1mm rain [74.8]

Karola popped into Hastings and got a card and book for Natalie’s birthday on 12th August. I went to Mitre-10 later and got a box of 100 more landscaping 100mm screws so that I could complete fastening the intermediate half-round posts to the new railings. When I got back it was a matter of a moment to affix the missing 18 screws and also re-attach the tap and water trough piping to the fence.

Henare came over late morning and spent the afternoon pulling broken branches out of the planting area along the orchard drive – the tops of the Ngaios sliced off when Brimar Trimmers gave them a haircut last month. We piled them up on the bonfire site.

Karola completed weeding round the lemon tree but we do wonder why it’s looking so sad – it’s old but we wish it would produce more fresh foliage – maybe in the spring.

Toppings From The Ngaios

Oak Avenue Weather:-2℃—14℃ 0.2mm rain [74.8]

SwimGym with Karola

After breakfast we then went into town for the weekend shopping, leaving Bangle to mind the store. We had a coffee in the cafe at New World and it was very busy and the coffee atrocious. I miss my Americano at Munsens.

Mid afternoon Karola persuaded me to get out in the sunshine and I finished installing the half-round posts that keep railings from warping out of position. I did two a few days ago and finished the other four today. There are still a few extra screws needed and I have to fasten the tap and water trough pipe to the new railings before I can really declare “job done”.

Supporting Half-Rounds Complete These New Railings

Oak Avenue Weather:5℃—12℃ 4.8mm rain [75.3]

Most of the day I spent on computer, sorting out my new To-Do program, “Things 3”. I bought a stand for Karola’s iPad Air on TradeMe for $40.

I checked the sheep and walked round the orchard with Bangle and we all walked around again after lunch at which point it was sunny but with a cool breeze.

Janet Scott called in for a natter with Karola.

Henare dropped by early evening for a coffee.

Rat Antics In Karola’s Office While We Were Away

Sharp Teeth At Work – Enlarging Rat Exit

See The Exit Way Up In Te Rafters

Oak Avenue Weather:3℃—11℃ 0.8mm rain [75.0]