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Monthly Archives: September 2017
End of September Already
Overslept by an hour – very unusual to miss the FitBit vibrating silent alarm which goes off just before 7:00am and again just after.
Finally got into gear late morning and spent several hours mowing and cutting and pruning stuff around the edges of the homestead lawn – to give a better, clear pathway for the electric fence. The sheep have had about ⅓rd of the lawn for several days but I’ve this afternoon put up a longer fence round the perimeter of the homestead lawn and the big oak. Just one more wire to put up and then the sheep can be let in tomorrow. They were not best pleased by being denied the lawn today.
Couple of good things. Before I started the lawn mower to make the pathway for the electric fence I tried again to replace a small nut that had shaken off from within the set of levers that control the speed and gear etc. This time I managed it despite being hard to access and rather fiddly. The lawn mower worked OK without that nut but the levers were all sloppy, now they’re firm again. Emboldened by this good outcome I tried to fix the TV special remote – the special technology that replaces one of the remote batteries with some electronics that eaves-drops on the remote infra-red signals and sends equivalent RF (radio frequency) signals to a home base located next to the Sky decoder. It stopped working last week and despite changing, recharging batteries I could not get it to work. Well, hey presto, now it does.
I still haven’t planted any of the September tree purchases but Karola has and she got three of her dozen Rangiora planted – safely inside their individual tree guards.
Bangle & I did go round the orchard today. Also, at Karola’s suggestion, I relocated the staple for the gate between the cottage and the farm shed so that it was visible – trying to reduce the number of times that we’ve left it open by mistake. It swings closed but sometimes we forget to latch it.
Oak Avenue Weather:4℃—20℃ 0.1mm rain [73.6]
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Karola Returns Home
SwimGym
Bangle round the orchard
Karola’s flight delayed for half an hour which was good as I made more progress on moving the heap of soil left from connecting the farm shed stormwater drain to the cottage stormwater system. I’m moving it to the octagon which was only two thirds full. Three full loads of soil in the big trailer – loaded using the tractor but unloaded by shovel.
I picked up Karola as planned and we shopped at the New World in Green Meadows, near Taradale. I then dropped karola off at the cottage and went into Hastings – the opposite direction from the airport – for my bread and to pick up the sharpened/repaired chainsaw chains.
No More Heap
Oak Avenue Weather:4℃—19℃ no rain [73.3]
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Karola Attends Alex’ Grandparents Day at Marsden
Weird day – after breakfast at the usual time I relaxed to read and fell asleep until 11:00am. Then I took Bangle round the orchard. I put up some more bird spikes above the sliding door into the cottage sunporch – so far the swallows have not been able to roost there, as intended. I also moved the automatic possum trap, annoyed by seeing a possum scrabble up the fir tree next to the farm shed and not 20 metres from the trap site. I used a new pot of lure and we’ll see if that works.
Two of the chainsaw chains need sharpening and fixing so Bangle & I took them to the Saw Doctors. As we’d got that far into town I decided to get fish & chips for main meal at lunchtime. While I was waiting for the fish to fry – well grill actually – I nipped over to Countdown and got some more milk.
After lunch, as I prepared to get on with moving the heap of earth started yesterday, it started to rain. I went back to reading my current SciFi book and promptly fell asleep again, being woken by Bridget’s phone call at about 3:00pm.
Bridget had news of the possible puppy purchase – a companion for Bangle and a friend for Alex who is rather dog-phobic at present. By this evening we had all agreed, Karola, Bridget, and me, to ask for a trained puppy – expensive and not ready until Christmas – one that is house trained and obeys a few simple commands. Our preference was for an older dog, post breeding, but seems there may not be any available for a long time.
Filled the old small trailer with earth from the heap – as a source of topsoil for those little tasks such as filling in rabbit burrows and other annoying depressions. Emptied half of the big trailer I loaded yesterday so the end is in sight. Once cleared away I’ll be able to plant my special Manuka specimens along the railings.
In the evening I cooked up Bangles next fortnight of meat & rice, and attempted to eat reheated leftovers from last night. It was so horrible that I binned it.
Almost Cleared The Heap
Oak Avenue Weather:2℃—15℃ 0.2mm rain [73.2]
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Karola Goes To Wellington
SwimGym
Then, after breakfast, we all set off for the airport andf Kartola caught her 10:00am flight to Wellington. She’ll get in around 11:00am and then have lunch with Gill in Seatoun before joining up with Bridget and the grand-daughters. Karola is down to attend the grandparents day at Marsden.
Back home I marked battens with a daub of white paint for each of the 28 Manuka plants. All but two are in the same places that I failed to plant Kanuka in last year – well I planted them but they died. Bangle enjoyed a bit of running and snuffling in the orchard at the same time.
At noon I got the ewes and lambs into the holding paddock, first having moved the ram and wether into the ram/goose paddock and opened the road gate into the Long Acre. Mid afternoon Karl & Wendy arrived so I got the sheep out of the holding paddock into the yards then decanted them into the crush in two lots. Karol took about 5 minutes per crush-pen so 10 minutes later, after spraying antibiotic onto limping lamb #710E’s feet (probably scald), he was off. So that’s 23 lambs and hogget ewe #602 all vaccinated with 5-in-1.
Moved the last old apple box into position and stacked the two trailer loads of Ginko firewood, freeing up the trailers.
Continued moving the heap of earth from outside the railings by the cottage bathroom window. Filled the big trailer and emptied it, then filled it again.
Took Bangle for a walk in the orchard.
In the evening had a call from Iain Middleton and a long chat.
Wood From Limbing-Up Ginkgo Tree (Two Trailers)
Old Apple Box Ready For The Ginkgo Firewood
Couple Of Hours Later
Geese Using Their Bath-Pond
Third Trailer Load – Nearly There
Oak Avenue Weather:10℃—20℃ no rain [73.5]
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Manuka Saplings Arrive From Taupo Native Plant Nursery
Rest of cottage lawn mown. Very windy most of the day so not ideal for outside activity. Karola & I walked Bangle round the orchard despite the gales.
Later we all went into town so that Karola could pick up her replacement transitional bifocal glasses.
My 28 small Manuka trees have arrived – to plug gaps in our Manuka hedge along the western boundary, between us and the orchard.
I stacked the contents of our sixth old apple box (see below, on the right). The plan is to put that last apple box next to these others, on the left, and fill it with some of the Ginkgo wood.
Three Of The Six Old Apple Boxes – Our Virtual Woodshed
The North-West Corner – Karola’s Fruit Tree Section
Oak Avenue Weather:9℃—23℃ no rain [73.2]
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Relaxing After The Saturday Ginkgo Work
SwimGym with Karola
I did some bills, left over from yesterday, and had a few frustrating phonecalls about missing accounts and rejected emails.
Monday shopping – glorious day, warm & sunny – feels like summer.
Meticulous Maids came as expected mid afternoon. Bangle & I went over to the Homestead in the cool and out of the way while they cleaned the cottage. I read, Bangle slept. I had to carry her up and back down the stairs – she’s not happy about stairs, that’s for sure, even though the Homestead ones are carpeted.
Karola had suggested some re-arrangement of the old apple boxes to hold firewood. Today she prepared the site for one and we moved it to her preferred position.
I mowed the cottage lawn – well, actually, everything I usually mow except for the actual lawn inside the cottage railings – that’s about half.
At dusk I took Bangle round the orchard. There’d been noisy activity in the orchard most of the day, including quite a lot of strimming (weed-eating), so not a good time to have the walk.
Oak Avenue Weather:16℃—26℃ no rain [73.3]
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Daylight Saving Starts – Election Results Are In
At every change to and from Daylight Saving there are quite a number of clocks to be reset manually. These I did in the evening.
Task: Change Clocks
Automatic daylight saving timers: FitBit, iPhone x 2, iPad x 3, computer x 2.
Karola’s two cameras and my one camera either stay on standard time or automatically flip to DST.
The clockwork carriage clock in the homestead living room does not work.
- Landrover
- Subaru
- Karola’s office
- Homestead stove
- Homestead master bedroom
- Homestead above downstairs bathroom door
- Homestead in the hall
- Homestead kitchen
- Cottage stove
- Cottage microwave
- Cottage bedroom
- Cottage upstairs by bed
- Cottage kitchen above door
- Cottage kitchen window sill
- Cottage living room desk
- Solar Immersun controller
- Honeywell controller
- Karola’s two watches (Karola did these)
Henare came round mid morning and we continued tidying up after the Ginkgo “limbing up” yesterday. Amazing amount of wood from the lower branches. Then, after lunch, Henare began mowing the lawns, the ones outside the area easily grazed with the sheep and not covered by my regular mowing of the cottage lawn etc.
I walked Bangle round the orchard.
As well as helping with some of the wood clearing, Karola attended to her tree guards.
Election results were not as much of a National landslide as I expected. The party Karola & I support, TOP, failed to get 5% so they have no members in parliament this time. Also the Maori party failed to get any members into the next parliament. It is theoretically possible for a government to be formed with Labour + the Green party + New Zealand First, but rather more likely is a National + New Zealand First coalition. We shall know for sure early in October.
Anna sent us a clipping from Felix’ school magazine, celebrating his winning the senior category of the 2017 Geography Research Essay competition. Felix, second from left, “wrote a moving piece about his eleven years visiting White Hart Lane” (A soccer ground – home to Tottenham Hotspurs – the stadium was demolished this year)
The Circle In Front Of The Homestead
Mulch & Firewood From “Limbing Up” The Ginkgo
Grandson Felix – Winner of 2017 MTS Geography Research Essay
Oak Avenue Weather:5℃—19℃ no rain [73.3]
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Lambs Tails Docked Today
Went and voted this morning – Twyford School. Fully expect National to get enough seats by themselves to govern without partners. Partly because of the New Zealand culture since 1980s of a selfish, mean spirited individualism. Who wouldn’t vote for paying less tax – all the more for me and the housing market, the education and health systems, the water – not my problem. Aaarrrggghhh. On the other hand, one does note that the Labour party, while it has a young, energetic, very presentable new leader, is still the same Labour party of last year and the year before. Jacinda Ardern could hardly be expected to re-energise the whole party in just a few weeks – she did amazing things but I’m not surprised it hasn’t been enough on the night.
Henare came late morning and helped me prune the Ginkgo tree – give it a “limb-up” as they say. Amazing how much wood there was in those lower branches. Karola insisted I mulch up the smaller branches so I set it up and we did just that. I suspect she was right, it was quicker and less wasteful compared to carting it over to the bonfire site.
We had afternoon coffee around 3:00pm and after that Henare, Karola, and I rounded up the ewes and lambs and I docked them all – just their tails, we’re experimenting with leaving the ram lambs intact this year.
Lower Branches Of Ginkgo Sawn Off – More Light For The Homestead
Oak Avenue Weather:3℃—16℃ 0.1mm rain [73.5]
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The Day Before The Election
SwimGym – I borrowed Jonathan’s red cap and he shot a photo – indicating my enthusiasm for Jacinda Ardern and hence likely voting tomorrow.
Took Bangle round the orchard
Friday shop with Bangle
Meanwhile Karola planted a Weeping Swamp Cypress she bought some weeks ago, on the north bank of the ditch joining the ha-ha to the big road drain.
In the afternoon we went to a film at the Century Cinema called “No Ordinary Sheila” (Sheila is NZ slang for woman). It chronicled the life of an extraordinary woman, born on Stewart island in 1926, a writer, illustrator, historian, naturalist, sailor, cyclist and mountain woman. Friend of Janet Frame. Sheila Natusch nee Traill was married to Gilbert Natusch. We were invited to the film by Anna Natusch, daughter of Roy Natusch, a long time friend of Karola and her family.
In Full Battledress For The Election Tomorrow
First Hives Of The Season Seen In The Orchard – Pollinating Angels
Oak Avenue Weather:9℃—17℃ 10.8mm rain [73.5]
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Another Big Lamb Died – #718
Took Bangle round the orchard and on returning spotted a dead lamb, it was a ram lamb #718R. Karola carted it over to the pit and I buried it. The sooner Bruce Richardson comes round to tail and vaccinate our lambs the better – he said he’d fit it in this week.
Checked the pest traps – no new catches.
Did a bit more mowing with the tractor on parts of the homestead lawn and round the homestead where the sheep will not be grazing. My hope is that Henare will come at the weekend and mow all the homestead lawn, including inside the drip line of the lawn Liriodendron, the circle centred on the Ginko, and along the eastern side of the house. The grass was too long for the ordinary mower and so, although it may take some raking to uncover the lawn, a re-mow with the Honda mower and catcher should smarten it up considerably. I also hope to “limb-up” the Ginko – remove the lower branches so that it doesn’t impede the view from the homestead verandah northwards.
Mid afternoon we set off, leaving Bangle in charge of the cottage, to Greenleaf Nurseries where we picked up the final lot of trees for Spring 2017.
- 12 Rangiora (Brachyglottis repanda)
- 6 Five Finger (Pseudopanax arboreus)
- 3 Red Manuka cultivar (Leptospermum scoparium ‘Wiri Joan’) – unfortunately I didn’t spot that this had double blossoms
For our Autumn 2018 planting, Dan will keep on looking for:
- 40 Red Beech (Fuscospora fusca)
- A Monkey Puzzle tree (Araucaria araucana),
- 5 Western Red Cedar (Thuja plicata), and
- 5 Raupo Reed plants (Typha orientalis or Bullrush).
Then on to Taradale for our six-weekly hair cuts from Heather at Mode. By the time we’d finished it was raining and getting dark.
Oak Avenue Weather:3℃—14℃ 4.2mm rain [73.2]
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Sheep On (Part Of) The Homestead Lawn
SwimGym with Karola,
Quick shop with Bangle
Talked to Greenleaf Nurseries – the lass there thought our Rangiora had arrived (although an email from Pauline at NaturallyNative said otherwise), that another three Red Manuka cultivars could be found, and the eight Five Fingers should be available now. I cancelled the order for 20 ordinary Manuka and postponed the search for 40 Red Beech.
Last night I ordered 28 small Manuka on special at $2.50 each from Taupo Native Plant Nursery – they have high UMF which is mildly interesting but not necessary.
Tagged the four-day-old lambs – #218’s twins. Also tagged the old wether, #537, and put a white button ear tag on the ewe with no tags, #459.
Salad lunch with Karola & Bangle on the kitchen verandah in the sun.
Tractor mowed the homestead circle and along the east side of the homestead, and the 133 front driveway.
Completed an electric fence round the northern half of the homestead lawn, leaving me a free path to the octagon from the heap. Let the sheep in.
Did first small trailer-load of earth from the heap over to the octagon – will unload it tomorrow and do many more loads I hope.
Heap To Be Moved To The Octagon
Oak Avenue Weather:3℃—17℃ 0.5mm rain [73.3]
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Gorse Bush Transplanted
Karola drove me to the physio for my 9:00am appointment with Tony Snell. His grandfather’s brother was Peter Snell’s father. My back is improving a lot.
I took Bangle round the orchard before putting up the swallow-nesting-deterrent just below the vent for the main bathroom – it sneaks along inside the kitchen ceiling and opens onto the kitchen verandah, up high.
Later I went back to the orchard and dug up the gorse bush Karola pointed out to me growing right next to an apple tree. Planted it between the Taupata hedge and the fence near the pump shed.
Started putting up electric fence round the homestead lawn and big oak tree. Hope to get the ewes and lambs in there tomorrow.
Little Shelf Of Bird Spikes To Dissuade Swallows From Building On Grill Above
Gorse Bush Planted In Our Taupata Hedge near Cottage
Oak Avenue Weather:4℃—17℃ 0.5mm rain [73.6]
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Karola’s “Severn Bridge” Project – The Tree Guards
SwimGym
Took Bangle round the orchard
Spoke to Pauline at Naturally Natives about her Rangiora saplings that were expected to be ready and at Hawkes Bay distributors in September. They had a good batch almost ready but then they were frosted and Pauline is waiting for them to re-sprout before they can be sold. They might be recovered enough for us – she will take a look and report back. There’s a consignment for Greenleaf Nurseries next week if that fits.
Karola continued work on her tree guards, finishing the Candelabra tree guard and weeding the nearby Kauri ones.
Checked with Ben and then bought him one of the rather good automatic rat traps made by GoodNature in Wellington – for his birthday in November.
Shopping with Bangle – food plus another pair of kitchen scissors, ours keep disappearing like odd socks. And some glue and a small 1-litre spray can because it’s hard to use the big knapsack sprayer with a bad back.
Lunch was an unexpected treat of bacon & mushrooms on toast.
We all took the Land-rover up to the top of the orchard to scavenge some larger branches of casurina, trimmed when the windbreak trimmer was working here but never cleaned up. As the remnants of the bonfire did not have enough small stuff to burn we thought this would not only tidy up a tangled mess of branches but provide us with strong-burning material for the bonfire. I admired the couple of straggly gorse shrubs in bloom along the fence line – noxious weeds that struggle on year after year. Karola then pointed out a larger bush in amongst the apple trees so I lan to rescue that and plant it somewhere in our garden.
When i went to get the Land-rover out of the homestead garage I was met with a cloud of bluebottles – big, buzzy flies. These must have hatched from the maggots that must have eaten up the dead possum or rat we smelt in the homestead garage a week or so ago. I got some fly spray and nuked them best I could.
Tried to send an email to the BNZ, to my so-called “personal banker” but the email was rejected with the message that my IP address was of “low reputation”. This is something new, some new scheme to try and reduce spam I suppose. Called the help line (Shamil, egnzservicedesk@vodafone.com) and I have to get the BNZ to ask them to add me to their “white list”. Meanwhile I needed to get an email showing (screen shot) the problem so Bridget kindly forwarded my emails to them in the hope that her IP address was more reputable.
I mowed the cottage lawn, not a long job as it was mown only a few days ago but I want to get it back into the weekly-on-Sundays cycle.
Henare called in for drinking (non-chlorinated) water and to borrow a shovel to bury a cat – don’t ask. He also asked if he could do some lawn mowing for us. His mobile is broken, again, which is why he didn’t know I’d TXTed him on Sunday asking if he could do some mowing. Snap!
Oak Avenue Weather:3℃—18℃ 1.4mm rain [73.4]
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Sunday Chores
Windy, sunny day. Supposed to rain by evening and threatened but didn’t.
Karola & I took Bangle round the orchard. Karola then continued work on her tree guards; she still hasn’t settled on the best guard for her Candilabra tree.
It being Sunday I did the bills and other chores, including mowing the pieces of lawn I usually do with the cottage lawn, but not actually getting to the cottage lawn today. So, under the washing line and between the cottage and the drive, and the little lawn in front of the homestead garage.
I also mowed the main drive and behind the homestead garage, and along the perimeter of the homestead lawn and the big oak – this latter to make it easier to erect electric fence and avoid shorting out.
Oak Avenue Weather:7℃—19℃ 0.8mm rain [73.3]
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Brazilian Araucaria angustifolia Planted
Another rather nice day. Still doing the physio’s exercises for my back. I think it’s improving. Spent the morning answering some of my UK friend Geoff’s emails – keeps my brain working.
Walked with Bangle round the orchard.
Karola planted her large Candelabra tree (Paraná pine – Araucaria angustifolia) over Bramble’s grave out in the Middle paddock nearby a Kauri tree and water tap.
Just outside the railing triangle next to the northern gate between the Front paddock and the One Acre there was a pile of mulch, left over from trimming the planting area several months ago. Today I moved it to add to the mulch round the five Swamp Cypress trees on the northern boundary. Then I re-affixed the tap and water trough connector.
I gathered up the remnants of the bonfire, picked up the metal & netting burned in the fire, and smoothed out the ash. There’s a little pile left to burn when the wind drops.
The 21 ewes, 24 lambs, ram & wether are all safe and sound. Only 9 ewe lambs and 15 ram lambs this year.
Karola cooked a superb lamb roast with pumpkin, peas, cabbage, boiled potatoes, and gravy. Delicious. And followed it with stuffed baked Ballarat apple.
Burgeoning Apple Blossom In Karola’s Orchard
Mulch Pile Moved & Taps Reinstated
Oak Avenue Weather:5℃—21℃ no rain [73.1]
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Ewe #218 Finally, Finally Gives Birth To Twin Ram Lambs
Friday shopping for the weekend. Another warm, sunny day wile most of New Zealand takes cover and shivers. I had another physio appointment after breakfast, the back continues to get a little better day by day.
Karola saw that ewe #218 had a lamb overnight. By the time I went to look she’d had a second. Twin ram lambs #725R & #726R. Checked the rest of the sheep and found that ewe #229 was limping so I got her in the yards and sprayed antibiotic on all four feet.
Karola took Bangle round the orchard.
Too windy for burning the remnants of the bonfire.
Oak Avenue Weather:13℃—24℃ no rain [73.6]
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Gill & Ben Return To Wellington
After a leisurely morning chatting, Gill & Ben drove off for Wellington, leaving 24 degree sunny Hawkes Bay for 14 degree, drizzling & cloudy Wellington.
Late afternoon Karola & I tagged all the lambs. It still looks as if ewe #218 is going to have a lamb but we’ve given up on the others without lambs.
Ewe #224 was given 10mm of Cydectin (withholding for meat of 10 days), as she’s been scouring for a week or so. Ewe #522 has a ram lamb, not a ewe lamb as initially recorded. Ewe #439 has neither a button tag nor an adult tag but we worked out who she was by simple elimination. Ewe #443 has been limping badly so I trimmed her front feet and gave all four feet a spray of antibiotic. She was also bleeding from her nostrils as if she’d bumped her nose hard. Her lamb is Cassidy, the lamb Karola took to the vet because it was limping badly, and who was treated for scald. We think the mother has scald as well so the same antibiotic treatment should clear that up too.
Oak Avenue Weather:5℃—23℃ no rain [73.7]
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Gill’s Birthday
Very gentle start to the day. Ben & Gill went off to Napier for shopping and lunch returning mid afternoon.
I built up the bonfire a bit with small branches & some old planks from the cottage refurbishment – hard wood with lots of nails and some wood borer. After afternoon tea Ben. Gill, and I lit the bonfire and watched it burn for half an hour, by which time it was almost all consumed.
Meanwhile Karola went over to Napier and picked up her replacement left hearing aid.
Later we went to the West Shore Fish Cafe and had a fish & chips dinner – filling and delicious.
The Bonfire
Oak Avenue Weather:10℃—19℃ no rain [73.3]
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Pre-Birthday Lunch At Birdwood Cafe
Cold night but pleasant sunny day. I went to ProActive physio at 8:30am and the physio significantly improved my back and the improvement lasted for several hours. He also gave me a couple of exercises which stretch the spine strategically and they too help. Next appointment on Friday.
Quiet morning as the guests were kept awake by the loud windmills going all night – I woke fitfully but mainly slept through the noise, it wasn’t that bad.
Late morning we all (except Bangle) set off for Birdwood Cafe in Middle Road, Havelock North for Gill’s birthday lunch. We were joined by Charlotte and Peter and had a delicious lunch and lots of decent plunger coffee. Gill’s birthday is tomorrow but Charlotte works on Wednesdays.
Charlotte & Peter came back to our place afterwards and we had Karola’s GF orange almond cake as our dessert. P & C stayed chatting till late afternoon. Then a light supper of GF macaroni cheese and tomato and we settled down to another film, a silly, noisy romp called “Kingsman – The Intelligence Service”. Had Colin Firth & Michael Caine in it. A comic book film I’d say.
Oak Avenue Weather:2℃—17℃ no rain [73.1]
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Gill & Ben – A Quiet Day
No SwimGym today – as I realised when I got up, while my back problem was a lower back ache I could still pedal, but with the change last Friday to sciatica of the left leg pedalling wasn’t an option. I have got a physio consultation for 8:30am tomorrow at what was Plus Rehab and is now ProActive. It’s next door to the SwimGym. As the morning drew on it got quite warm from a cold start around 5 degrees. Wind machines went for much of the night.
Kerry called and said the old tractor was ready to be picked up from Hawkes Bay Tractor Dismantlers so before lunch we all went up the road and dropped me off to drive the tractor home while the others went to Gagans for fresh vegetables. When I got home Ben took me to Hawks Bay Fisheries and we got grilled fish for our main meal – popping into the nearby Countdown while they were cooking it. So fish & chips with coleslaw for lunch.
In the afternoon the party walked round the orchard and paddocks – except for me who took the weight off my feet.
After a light supper we all watched a film together, chosen by Ben, “The Girl On The Train”, a complicated, taut thriller.
Oak Avenue Weather:0℃—14℃ 0.1mm rain [73.3]
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Gill & Ben Come For A Visit
Some odd jobs such as putting a batten on the wooden gate under the Lime tree – the gate posts have moved apart slightly and the gate no longer closes against the existing post.
Karola went to the Hastings Farmers Market at the show grounds and got some food treats for Gill’s birthday on Wednesday.
In the afternoon, before Gill & Ben arrived, I mowed the cottage lawn and surrounding bits and pieces. Also swept the floor of the farm shed, leaves and gravel have worked their way in over the last few weeks.
Ewe #218 certainly looks as if she is going to have a lamb but in theory the last day she could have a lamb, given the maximum gestation period for sheep and when the ram was separated from the ewes, is Wednesday.
Gill & Ben arrived late afternoon and Gill provided a pork casserole dinner – cooking it in-situ.
Back pain is now only on one side and has travelled down my leg – typical sciatica so I’ll try some sciatica exercises.
Gill’s Damson Tree In Bloom
Oak Avenue Weather:1℃—15℃ no rain [73.0]
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Railings Round Old Lemon Tree Finished
Karola started work on preparing for her new trees. I soldiered on with the railings round the old lemon tree. Tonight it is complete except for the gate which may be some while.
Karola took Bangle round the orchard.
I am still at half speed because of my back – very tiresome.
Oak Avenue Weather:5℃—17℃ 0.6mm rain [73.3]
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Greenleaf Nurseries – Some Trees Ready To Be Picked Up
SwimGym
Bangle & I went round the orchard.
Mid morning we all went into town for the weekend shopping. Later took the Landrover over to Greenleaf Nursery near Clive and picked up some of our order of trees to plant in September. Bangle had to squeeze up a bit to get them in. We’ve got:
- 8 Red Damask dark red flowering manuka
- 5 of 8 KareKare vivid white flowering manuka
- 3 Norfolk Island pines
Lots more to come. Karola also was offered a Paraná pine (Araucaria angustifolia – the candelabra tree)- related to Monkey Puzzle and Kauris, very prickly – and she bought it.
Later I continued with the railings round the old lemon tree and got on much better today, managed to saw rails to the right length.
Oak Avenue Weather:7℃—18℃ no rain [74.6]
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Solar Man Visits
Aaron Duncan came round mid morning to look at the solar panel system. I had emailed him with three questions.
- Why, when Tony Fletcher and I measured the voltage on the bottom element of the hot water cylinder, did we get a reading of 115v – we were expecting 230v
- How do I interpret the graphs and figures reported by the smart solar meter
- What would make the Honeywell controller occasionally go through a series of flashing on and off with a loud click, as of a relay tripping
Well, apparently the way the Immersun smart box works, when blocking electricity from the grid it only feeds electricity from the panels and it varies the voltage depending on how much is being provided by the panels. That’s why it only works with hot water cylinders, if it were driving anything with electronics inside that’d not work.
And the graphs and measurements for consumption measure all three phases – I can only see the combined consumption in 15 minute measurements. Aaron however can see the load on each phase separately so he can see what battery capacity would make sense given our usage on the same phase as the panels.
As for the wildly fluctuating Honeywell controller, the wild behaviour only happening occasionally and only when the right-hand side controlling the central heating pump is active, Aaron had no answer.
Aaron did find that he’d wired up the smart meter incorrectly so that he had the three phases mixed up when measuring power consumed. Now he’s fixed that he’ll take a look in a week or so and let us know what initial battery configuration would make sense.
Bangle and I went round the orchard.
Meticulous Maids came mid afternoon and cleaned the homestead ready for Gill & Ben on Sunday.
I spent a couple of hours working on the railings round the old lemon tree.
Oak Avenue Weather:__℃—__℃ no rain [74.5]
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Progress On The Lemon Tree Railings
SwimGym with Karola but neither of us were really in the mood so we went back home for breakfast after 20 minutes.
Selwyn Cook came as planned and replaced the homestead security alarm system – it took him most of the morning.
Bangle and I walked round the orchard and then we went off to do the Wednesday shopping.
Later I set up our second automatic rat trap just outside Karola’s office. The test lure I’d placed there a few days ago had been nibbled to shreds so it’s obviously where the rats run along the side of the homestead garage.
Mid afternoon I returned to the railings project and made better progress.
Lemon Tree Railings Project
Oak Avenue Weather:6℃—21℃ no rain [74.1]
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Mellow Yellow
Late morning I did a bit of firewood reorganising – decanting an apple box of old mostly oak firewood into one of the on-edge apple boxes that we’re using to keep some firewood dry and accessible.
Karola went off to Napier for an appointment with ay Audiology – to get a new left-side hearing aid to replace the lost one. Unfortunately the factory had sent the wrong aid, it didn’t match the one Karola still has, and so Karola has to make another trip over there on Friday.
Karola reported that the lawsonianas – Chamaecyparis lawsoniana (Lawson cypress) – near the 133 entrance had an unusual bright yellow marking on their trunks. I think its been there for years but this morning happened to catch the sun on it which drew attention to the bright yellow.
Welcome Swallows have another gambit – nesting against the grill of an extractor fan which is piped out into the cottage kitchen verandah from the bathroom. I washed away their beginnings of a nest with a garden hose. This is not over yet, I’m sure.
Late afternoon I got back to the lemon tree railings and got one of the six sides finished before it was dark. My goodness the little tractor is so useful, I’m well on the way to the 200 hours when the next service is due.
Bright Yellow Litchen or Moss On Lawsoniana
All The Lawsoniana Stems Have It To Some Degree
Oak Avenue Weather:8℃—18℃ no rain [74.4]
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Lamb With Bad Leg(s) Seems To Be Recovering
SwimGym with Karola.
Karola went out and did the shopping for the next two days. I actually fell asleep after breakfast – slept till lunchtime. Very odd. Back still playing up, maybe that’s why.
Karola took Bangle round the orchard, I think. I took Bangle with me to wind up all the electric fence and stow it away. Want the place looking natural and unobstructed for when Gill & Ben come up next week.
Lamb #708E, #443’s single ewe lamb, is walking around using all four legs today so the vet visit seems to have worked.
Oak Avenue Weather:1℃—15℃ 3.5mm rain [74.4]
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Still Under The Weather
Karola took Bangle round the orchard in the morning, I repeated that at dusk.
Was forecast to rain all day today and for the next few days but it hasn’t happened here yet. I did a bit more work on the railings round the old lemon tree.
Most of Sunday’s tasks left undone. I spent many hours today trying to figure out Iain Middleton’s large, complicated spread sheet for calculating the effects of various taxation choices to make ‘basic income’ work in New Zealand.
Oak Avenue Weather:6℃—12℃ no rain [73.9]
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All Smudged
Threatened to rain most of the day but didn’t except for a few spots.
Henare came round after lunch and, as planned, took a good trailer load of firewood round to some of his local relations. Henare commandeered a family school child called Jack to help him unload.
The lamb that was limping badly upset Karola so we caught it – not much of a challenge there – and, seeing nothing obvious to cause the limping Karola phoned the vet and we took the lamb in straight away. Prognosis was that it had “scald” in its hooves, that was all. So antibiotic was applied, a shot of penicillin given, and we breough the lamb back home. Karol thinks she’s walking more freely already.
Karola & I worked on the new railings round the old lemon tree. We rammed the six posts home – I dug the holes yesterday – and then levelled the tops by bashing the “tall poppies” with a sledge hammer. I’m hoping Henare doesn’t notice that we’ve pulled out and re-ewrected the six posts he did a few weeks ago, in the rain.
In the evening Anna Natusch called round, unexpectedly, to deliver our tickets to a film about the life of Sheila Natusch, an avid and respected naturalist I am told. It will play at the Century Theatre in Napier on 22nd September.
Bridget sent me a photo of a little dog belonging to one of Alex’s friends and the plan now is to contact the breeder and then wait for a post-breeding older bitch. Quite expensive but Bridget says they are very well trained and in good health when they come to you. We will shortly be on the waiting list could take a while.
Once we get this dog, nominally Alex’s dog who just happens to stay at Karamu and play with Bangle, and weekend visits from the More family will be opportunities for Alex to get to know her. Longer term the hope is that Alex demands to have her at home, having conquered her fear of dogs.
The Friend’s Dog “Smudge” – Alex Would Like One Like Her
Oak Avenue Weather:8℃—12℃ 2.8mm rain [74.5]
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Fridays Just Vanish Somehow
8-11 1.3mm
SwimGym with Karola
After breakfast Karola & I & Bangle did the Friday Hastings shopping. Bangle got her walk round the orchard when we got back. Hastings streets are still a mess as they replace water mains on the key thoroughfares.
Karola’s claim for the lost hearing aid has been approved and so Karola will be able to go to Bay Audiology and get a replacement any time now.
Despite my twinging back I did dig the six new holes for the hexagon round the old lemon tree. The posts are about 400mm closer than before but it means all my railings will be quite long enough – the distance between posts is about 2 metres rather than the 2.4 metres of the first set of posts. The railings are each 4.8 metres long which left no room for mis-cuts. I should have realised that making the railings each 2.4 metres long was risky.
Oak Avenue Weather:8℃—11℃ 1.3mm rain [74.1]
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