Monthly Archives: January 2018

Dinner With Lis & Patrick Cooney

SwimGym with Karola.

While Karola put her sheep in the yards ready for the “crushing & dragging” later today, I did a quick food shop. I met Lis Cooney in New World – she and Patrick are over for a month or so from Perth, living in their house in Haumoana. She told me that their telephone line had not been suspended as usual but had been accidentally disconnected so they have no land line. Also, their overseas roaming from Australia doesn’t seem to work meaning tha they have no way of ringing or TXTing their friends here.

Karl called to say they were here, early. Nut apparently Bruce had been vague about the Facial Eczema bolus cartridges (Time Capsules – active for 6 weeks) so Karl didn’t have any, nor, it transpired, did he have applicators. He and Wendy did the crutching and dagged the two ewes I’d marked, then they left.

Karola had a weekly class beginning today – heart operation rehab sort of thing. Karola didn’t seem to mind it as much as I’d feared and says she’ll go to the next session too. After dropping her off I went to Vet Services and bought 23 FE bolus cartridges plus 9 for the ewe lambs and I borrowed an applicator with exchangeable heads for sheep and lambs. Called Karl and he said he’d come back late afternoon and give the sheep their zinc bolus. The lambs were treated with no fuss but the ewes were difficult, primarily according to Karl, because the applicator was a couple of centimetres too short, the insertion tube being only 18cm long.

Meanwhile I mowed the cottage lawn, though it was only stalks and a few weeds.

Thinking of Lis and Patrick’s predicament I dug out Karola’s old iPhone, reset it and found its charger.

Karola called and I went to pick her up. we continued on into Hastings and i bought a cheap pre-pay SIM card for the iPhone with the smallest credit I could get, $5 for the SIM card and $20 credit. On the way home we stopped at Caltex and filled up, also got 24 litres of diesel and 5 litres of standard petrol for the mowers etc.

I continued mowing the bits of lawn outside the cottage garden and then Karl & Wendy arrived. Karola & I helped as they administered the bolus cartridges. The lambs were easy but the applicator was a bit too short for the ewes so they kept managing to cough it up – so it all took quite a while.

After this we picked a few plumbs and set off for the Cooneys in Haumoana, “on spec” that they might be at home. They were and gave us a hearty meal and we chatted away for three hours.

Oak Avenue Weather:19℃—28℃ no rain [73.9]

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Tending The Young Manuka Trees

Karola did some weeding in the cottage garden, stopping when it got too hot – quite soon. She spent much of the rest of the day reading Jane Eyre – A Charlotte Bronte novel – a small, old, leather-bound volume.

I gave the sheep access to the small rectangular area adjoining the farm shed lean-to so that they could eat up the acorns and any grass they found palatable. And unloaded the small trailer of firewood I’d sawn from the first three of the five downed tree branches.

The main activity of the day was to trim back the irrational exuberance of the Manuka hedge where in places it hung over the fence to the point where orchard tractors would have had to battle through it to spray the first row of apples. After that I weeded and watered the 28 young Manuka trees, giving each one two generous half-buckets of water. They all look green and healthy although couch grass had invaded the mulch circle round many of them. This took over three hours and it was a hot day. I had Bangle with me in the orchard for the first 15 saplings but left her at home after lunch – she liked resting under the apple trees and in the shade of the manuka along the fence line.

As arranged in the morning, I drove the tractor down to Power farming at 4:00pm and karola picked me up and drove me home. The 200-hour service should be done tomorrow.

After dinners we walked the dogs round the orchard – it had started to cool down by then.

Manuka Encroaching On Orchard Tractor Lane

Manuka Hedge Trimmed Back A Tad

Sheep Siesta – All Hunkered Down In The Shade

Bangle Under Her Awning Tussles With A Treat-Filled Toy

Oak Avenue Weather:14℃—28℃ no rain [73.9]

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A New Week Begins

SwimGym

Later we, Karola, the dogs, and I, went into town for a mixed bag of things. Food, of course, and a big bag of dog food. I also was looking for some new shorts as I’ve worn out several pairs of the ones I like. As anticipated, I am now so out of fashion that none of the usual stores had any similar shorts. I’d already looked online and seen that the ones I had were part of a now discontinued line. Same story as my excellent R M Williams shirts. I had given up but Karola suggested calling in to Farmlands just to check – last week they only had the remainders of that brand and all in very small or large sizes. To my delight they had a different brand but same style. Not the right size, but close. I’ve been seduced by that before. So after midday dinner (salad and cold meat, not a hot dinner) we left the dogs behind and went to the Napier shop. Bought one pair of the right size. Later I ordered another three pairs from the Hastings store; they’ll need to search their shops around NZ and get them in. That’ll probably do me for mens work shorts for the next decade or so.

Rested, almost a siesta, in the heat of the afternoon. Very light supper and then we fed the dogs and took them round the paddocks and orchard. I turned off the three drip lines and picked a handful of runner beans.

Bangle Siesta Under Her New Awning

Oak Avenue Weather:20℃—26℃ no rain [74.5]

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Sheep Get Moved – Pleased As Punch

Cool morning beginning another hot day.

Put up three divider electric fences cutting the Middle paddock into four grazing strips. But for now I’ve put the main flock into the Goose paddock – the idea being to eat that out, then mow it, and have a sacrifice paddock without any barley grass and with plenty of shade in case the facial eczema risk skyrockets.

The current rotational grazing scheme comprises 4 strips in the Middle paddock and 3 in the Totara paddock with a corridor along the back (west) side with water.

At Karola’s request I cut just one of the cannon bone segments (three to a bone) longitudinally so that the dogs could have equal shares and access to the bone marrow. I cut it with my new Makita reciprocating saw holding the bone in my metalwork vice. Ugh, bone sawdust. But the dogs loved them, quickly got them clean as a whistle. However, to remove the animal matter from saw, bench, vice, and floor I decided to clean the farm shed bench and floor.

Made two little perches high on the wall of the cottage garage nearby the Welcome swallows’ nest. Just a short length of dowel tapped into a hole drilled in the weatherboard. I hope that next time the swallows come back they’ll perch there and not on the kitchen verandah wall.

One of Karola’s Cyclone trailers has two metal pipes, rectangular in cross-section, sticking out at the back. The tailgate rests on them when down and they also allow one to prop the trailer on its tail in a garage, saving space. At last I put new caps on each pipe, retaining them with a pop rivet – wonderful things pop-rivets.

Bangle likes to sit under the cottage bathroom window for hours even when the afternoon sun beats down on her possie. By accident Bangle found that there was a cool draught under the house and she set up camp there in the hot afternoons. Rather than have her use this permanently, out of reach and amongst the cobwebs and dust, I have made her a little awning over the spot she used to occupy.

Bridget bought a very cheap paddling pool while up here – as a dog paddling pool. She blew it up manually, we wanted to use a pump. Turned out that the excellent hand pump had an adapter for cheap and cheerful toys. But pump as I might I couldn’t get the pool walls to stay inflated – so I suspect a puncture, or maybe a leak at the valve. We shall try again tomorrow.

Henare came after work, wanting to borrow Karola’s green mower. He brought it back mid evening.

We took the dogs round the orchard after our dinners and their dinners. As we started off I saw that one of Karola’s persimmon trees was so laden with fruit that several branches had broken – so I thinned it, taking off about a third of the fruit.

Karola settled down to watch the Australian open tennis final which began at 9:30pm our time.

Dog Paddling Pool, Partially Inflated

Bangle’s Cottage Lawn Awning

Oak Avenue Weather:19℃—27℃ no rain [74.5]

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Clearing The Storm Damage

Picked a few runner beans after breakfast.

Tractor-mowed the paths for three more electric fences in the Middle paddock, dividing it up into more grazing tranches.Tractor-mowed the holding paddock and some patches of Californian thistles in the Totara paddock finishing just as Henare arrived.

Henare came late morning and mostly we did chainsawing and mulching until dinner time. We started by emptying yesterdays small trailer load of mulch then Henare hand mowed the sheep yards. The yards and holding paddock are now mostly free of standing barley grass with its pernicious seed heads/ I adjusted three gates in the Holding paddock, to the Long Acre, the Orchard, and the gate next to the planting area into the Middle paddock. Henare and I picked up large sticks from the Middle and Totara paddocks and added them to the piles to be mulched in the Long Acre.

We moved four heaps of iris from inside the stump dump, putting them on Karola’s “bund”. We finished the last of these after lunch and then set about mulching the downed branch next to the farm shed. However the mulcher, attached to the old Fergie, made horrible grating noises so we wasted an hour opening it up and tightening some bolts, which seemed to cure the problem. Henare mulched that patch, leaving it very tidy. We decamped to the fallen branches under the conifer next to the stump dump and while Henare mulched I chainsawed the larger pieces into firewood.

Afternoon tea and then Henare and I emptied the big trailer of mulch and he went home. He and son Scott plan to go out to play badminton tonight.

I have two remaining substantial branches to saw up and mulch.

Mates Wrestling

Please Lets Play

Catch Me If You Can

Henare – Mulching Finished For The Day

Oak Avenue Weather:15℃—28℃ no rain [74.9]

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Those Dogs!

SwimGym with Karola. Much cooler all morning.

Palpitations this morning, Karola woke to find Bracket had got some sticky seeds lodged firmly in a strip up her muzzle and along one ear. Try as we might, we couldn’t get them off – some, but not all and although Bracket wriggled hugely but didn’t complain, we though we should not persist.

Karola rang a dog groomer, she’d already intended to get both dogs a groomer for occasional spruce up, Emma Speeden, who took us at short notice and did a good job of tidying Bracket up. We think that this should have been done before we received Bracket, she certainly seems more comfortable now she can see properly. Next appointment in 6 weeks. Five dollars for the 10 minutes it took.

Richard Blakeney-Williams (EV Central, Taupo – 021 184 2157, richardjr@evcentral.co.nz, 87 Tuwharetoa Street Taupo) emailed offering us a blue Renault Zoe due to arrive in Nz late April. I said yes.

In fact after we’d been to the groomer we went into Napier and Karola picked up her A3-sized copy of her odd negative print of a Wilson family tree – it’s the same tree that is on the inside covers of Karola’s mum, Cynthia’s book, The Wilson Story. Then we went to Hastings and I bought two replacement blinds for the cottage living room. One had a broken winding mechanism and they both had faded significantly so it seemed that replacing the pair made more sense, particularly as they were on sale at under half price. Then Cornucopia for the weekly bread, and New World for the rest of the weekend’s shopping. Oh, and three huge cattle cannon bones, each cut into three, for the dogs.

After dinner we walked round the paddocks and orchard and I turned on the drip irrigation for the runner beans, the swamp cypress’s, and the Bay trees and special Manuka. Two of the special Manuka have now died, one each side of the little wooden gate onto the cottage lawn. Fortuitious positioning, I won’t have to replace them.

Bracket’s Clean-Shaven Look

Karola’s Puppy Bracket & Ian’s Dog Bangle

Oak Avenue Weather:20℃—28℃ no rain [74.9]

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Summer Scorcher

We “FaceTime”d Anna on her birthday – she and Felix and Dave were out with friends having a quiet birthday celebration.

EV Central emailed saying that Karola’s blue Renault Zoe would be available in April/May timeframe as someone else had snapped up the blue one in the late February shipment.

Bruce Richardson emailed to say he’d organise the sheep crutching/dagging for next week.

Mid morning I began some chainsawing and mulching down next to the Douglas Fir – filled a small trailer by 1:00pm and called it a day.

Too hot to do much until late afternoon.

After dinner we took the dogs round the orchard.

Oak Avenue Weather:19℃—29℃ no rain [75.7]

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Anna’s Birthday

SwimGym

Then we went to Napier for Karola to arrange to have an A3-sized family tree (Wilsons) copied. It is weird being pretty hard to read with light brown writing on a dark brown background and, worst of all, all the words are reversed as if it were the negative. Back into Hastings to the Hastings District Council offices to get a replacement dog tag for Bracket – I reckon I never received the new one last June – and to register Bracket. Now we’re all ready for obedience training, eight weeks every Wednesday evening starting on 7th Feb. Then food and home.

Iced tea with a squeezed lemon is just the best replacement for my way-too-many coffees every day, as the temperatures edge towards 100°F (38℃) – well, quite a way to go actually but over 90°F. The hottest day in NZ I can remember was one day in 1960s when I was working at the Bendall’s in Eketahuna in the Christmas holidays and it got to 103°F and I pretty much fainted.

Karola played with Bracket in the little paddling pool Bridget bought up here.

I noticed that in my email to Bruce Richardson asking for some sheep work, thanks to Apple’s aggressive auto-correction I’d asked for some “crushing” and “dragging”, which will be a bit tough on the sheep.

Late afternoon when the heat receded I picked runner beans. After dinner we took the dogs round the orchard in the evening cool.

Bracket Being A Labrador

She Takes The Screw Tops Off Plastic Bottles Too

Oak Avenue Weather:15℃—30℃ no rain [75.3]

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Getting Back To Normal

Hot morning, cooler afternoon with thunderstorms and a couple of heavy showers, then brightened up and got hot and muggy and overcast.

I raked up the windrows of grass left by Natalie’s tractor-mowing of the homestead lawn on Saturday. She made it easy by mowing so that the grass was always thrown towards the centre.

In the afternoon I used the tractor to pull down the large branch, hanging upside down in the fir tree in the Long Acre near the stump dump. I had wanted to do this last week but the tractor battery was flat and even after 24 hours charging wouldn’t start the tractor. I found that the battery cells were short of water so filled them up and left it charging all weekend. And now it starts the tractor. Using the heavy snig chainI pulled the bottom of the big branch westward and it snapped at the point where it was caught in the fork of another branch, so most of it is down but a short heavy piece is still lodged high in the branches.

Afterwards I chainsawed the heavy fallen branch of the fir tree right next to the goose bath into firewood and mulchable tree trash.

After dinner we fed the dogs and then took them round the orchard in the cool of the evening. The dogs get a morning feed and another after our dinner every night.

Ben sent his photos from the Sunday party tonight. Earlier in the day we imported Karola’s photos of the same event.

Homestead Lawn Neatly Mown By Natalie On Saturday

Oak Avenue Weather:15℃—29℃ 13.1mm rain [75.1]

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Return To Karamu

No SwimGym today as we fly back from Wellington at lunchtime.

Quiet breakfast with Gill & Ben, we had a lovely time and they were most hospitable. Gill took us down to the airport; the plane took off roughly on time and landed us in Napier five minutes early.

On the way home from the airport we stopped at Ruby Glen in Meeanee and bought some fresh berries.

The dogs were ecstatic to see us both, but it was still very hot so they really didn’t like the heat.

Bridget and the grand-daughters set off for Wellington shortly afterwards – pretty hot in a car with no air conditioning.

Meticulous maids came late afternoon as requested.

I picked runner beans for our dinner and also went to New World for the Monday shopping. We had pork stir fry with lots of vegetables for dinner.

We ended the day unpacked and settling down to the normal routine.

Alex Picks Up Bracket – Well Done Alex

Saying Au Revoir To Bracket – See You Soon

Small Yacht Regatta, Wellington Harbour On Sunday

Ben’s Shrubbery On The Path Up To The Road

Oak Avenue Weather:19℃—29℃ 1.2mm rain [?]

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The Hoolie

Very pleasant leisurely breakfast at Gill’s place, leaving for York Bay around midday.

Bridget had bad night up at Karamu because it was so very hot – we’d have had difficulty sleeping in those temperatures too.

The Rashbrooke party was a great success, seeing all sorts of people we hadn’t seen for decades, and recognising many of them too.

Plenty of nibbles, including gluten-free nibbles, and lots of conversations – not so easy for me to hear but still good to see these people from the past.

Later, when we got home to Seatoun, Ben & I went down to a local fish & chip shop and got a little supper for us all.

(Bangle is still 17.4kg)

Oak Avenue Weather:18℃—31℃ no rain [?]

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To Wellington for the Rashbrooke 50th Wedding Hoolie

Bridget settled in with the two grand-daughters and ready to look after the two dogs while we are away.

I picled a couple of buckets of damsons and sorted them so that the best half-bucket went with us down to Wellington for Gill. I also picked the runner beans and we took a big plastic bag of them with us as well.

We packed and fussed and eventually it was time and Bridget took us to the airport. Flight was on time. We arrived without incident and got a taxi up to 66 Seatoun Heights road, dumped our suitcases and were ferried to the “Polo” restaurant nearby. Very pleasant meal in a small, unfussy restaurant – quite expensive and small portions but tasted very nice. Had a relatively early night.

Oak Avenue Weather:16℃—31℃ no rain [75.1]

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Hot, Dry, And Dusty

SwimGym

Bangle & I did the weekend shopping while Karola & grand-daughters had brunch at Bay Espresso in Omahu Road, Bridget did her time “working from home”. I bought a clicker for dog training, as requested by Bridget, and one of those plastic sticks for picking up and throwing a tennis ball, oh and some pigs ears.

Still spending a lot of time recreating my iPad after needing to reset it to factory settings and then exploring options to get software to recreate it from backups. These all went no-where and in fact Natalie showed me a quick way to reload all the apps and I have been reloading the rest either by just recreating the accounts (mail, “things 3”), or starting from scratch (messages, facetime). The large video libraries from The Great Courses and iTunes U will have to wait. Photos are on iCloud, audio stuff has been synched from iTunes on my Macbook Pro.

I tractor-mowed round the edges and the obstacles on the homestead lawn and later Natalie mowed the rest. Alex re-mowed the dog track that Natalie made in the Middle paddock last time she was here.

Oak Avenue Weather:15℃—29℃ no rain [74.4]

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Bridget And Our Grand-Daughters Arrive For The Long Weekend

A little rain overnight but a sunny and pleasant morning that turned to cloud and showers from midday onwards.

Bangle is spending much of the day under the cottage just inside the man-hole, keeping dry and safe while able to watch for comings and goings.

I struggled with my iPad finding I needed to reset and reinitialise it and then begin loading the library of apps and media and other data back onto it. Haven’t got very far with that by tonight – better progress tomorrow I hope.

Selwyn Cook came and attempted to find out why the cottage security system isn’t working – is not sending a heartbeat back to Havelock Hills Security’s control centre as it should. Selwyn confirmed that all the bits on site were working as expected and the fault – something – was wrong inside the AONet router in the homestead garage – the router that connects us to the Internet. Actually it’s a NOW alias AirNet router inherited by AONet when they took on all the NOW line-of-sight wireless customers.

Also this afternoon, Hadyn from Bay Electricians came and replaced the faulty Honeywell controller that sets on the top hot water element and separately manages when the central heating pump turns on. We also discussed installing the 32 amp single-phase extension from the cottage sub-main out to the cottage garage so that the Renault Zoe charging pod can be plugged in. It is straightforward enough.

Karola & Bracket & Bangle & I waled round the orchard in a dry spell although the grass was wet and tummies got a bit muddy.

I was able to track Bridget’s progress up the west coast, over the sSaddle road (the Manawatu gorge road being closed permanently), across the Takapau plains and then turning left up route 50. They got here in good time and Bridget and I sent and got fast food for dinner – fish & chips and burgers.

Oak Avenue Weather:18℃—26℃ 4.9mm rain [74.3]

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Hair, There and Everywhere

SwimGym with Karola

Walk with Bangle to the letter box and round to the runner beans where I picked another big bowl-full. I got back to the cottage just as Janet Scott from next door arrived – with runner beans. She stayed and chatted over morning coffee.

I mowed the cottage lawn and some of its curtilage.

After lunch we drove into Hastings for hair cuts with Kimberley – the person who used to cut Karola’s hair at “Cut Above” but who left for another salon and no-one would tell us where she’d gone. The hair dresser i rang round 26 Hastings and Napier hair salons to see if I could find her because Karola really liked the way Kim cut her hair. While Karola was getting her hair styled I did some food shopping; while she waited for me she read magazines.

Bridget got in touch to say that unfortunately they won’t make it up here this evening but will instead come up tomorrow evening.

Bangle has found that its cooler under the cottage and is spending much of the day there. She’s also a bit fed up with the energy and rough play of Bracket.

Our Bose compact, portable, wireless micro-speaker came today – very smart and beautiful sound. Tilly (Natalie) has a blue one, ours is orange. Bridget spoke of ordering one today for delivery before they come up tomorrow.

Oak Avenue Weather:18℃—28℃ 2.2mm rain [74.4]

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The Making Of The Anniversary Card

I began the day with good intentions. Having recently put up electric fence for the sheep round the homestead lawn and round the big oak, but separating the big oak enclosure from the lawn for now, I intended to remove the obstacle to having the sheep graze round the big oak. The problem is that some of Karola’s eight tree guards are not sufficiently hardened and the sheep get inside them – this happened to one tree last time they grazed round the big oak and the tree got seriously nibbled. So I banged in standards more firmly and wired the tree guards to their standards – well I did two of them before getting diverted.

The diversion was to make a greetings card for the Rashbrooke’s 50th wedding anniversary at the weekend. While we fly to Wellington on Saturday, returning on Monday morning, Bridget is coming up tomorrow late to stay for the weekend and look after things – actually to give Alex time with her new puppy of course. We’ll stay with Gill & Ben while down there.

Karola has spent hours going through mountains of old photos looking for ones that include Rashbrookes. I likewise, but for only a few moments, searched pour digital photos for similar items. By mid morning Karola had printed the best of the photos she found. I then selected three and made them into a Golden wedding anniversary card. Gradually how to use my photo manipulating software came back to me – but it took until late afternoon to finish the job.

Spoke briefly to Bridget and they definitely expect to come up tomorrow evening. So, even if I finished fixing Karola’s tree guards tonight the sheep would only get a day’s grazing under the big oak – hardly worth it. So, after dinner and our walk with Bracket & Bangle round the orchard, I took down the electric fence from round the big oak and the homestead lawn and moved the sheep into the corridor along the back (west) of the Middle and Totara paddocks.

Card – Outside Front

Card – Outside Back – The Date Is Probably 1994, We’re Checking

Card – The Inside

Oak Avenue Weather:14℃—24℃ no rain [74.7]

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GST In The Nick Of Time

SwimGym, but oh, the car battery is flat. I was fiddling round with the in-car CD player last night and left the ignition on. So we went to SwimGym in the Landrover and after breakfast we quickly jump-started the Subaru using the Landrover. To charge it up we then went straight off to the supermarche for the Monday food.

Late morning I took Bangle to turn off the drip irrigation on the bay tree hedge, the swamp cypresses,and the runner beans, also picking the ripe beans for this evening’s meal. Of course there were far too many so Karola froze about ⅔ of them for the winter. Meanwhile Karola took Bracket round the Karamu perimeter – leaving the orchard for this evening.

I finally settled down and did Karola’s GST – due in today. Then, Henare dropped in, just as we were finishing dinner, a splendid, if not very consistent with dieting, roast lamb and vegetables – including plenty of runner beans. He refilled his 10-litre container with unchlorinated drinking water, had a cup of coffee and a chat with Karola.

Chatted with Bridget briefly – they plan to come up for the weekend (Wellington Anniversary long weekend) on Wednesday late or on Thursday, returning on Monday.

Oak Avenue Weather:18℃—24℃ no rain [74.7]

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Catchup Day

Just catching up on chores and emails today – and it’s another hot day. Read a lot of items saved in my “pending” email – items I’ve been skipping for a while. But there are lots more.

Karola was searching for photos of the Rashbrookes in the store room with Bracket. She got bored and chewed her retractable leash, irreparably, well it is now anyway after I tried to fix it.

We took Bangle and Bracket round the orchard after dinner, ours and theirs. Bracket is chewing many things, so far not valuable or really inconvenient things.

Henare and son Scott dropped in briefly as we were having dinner. Henare gave us his old drinking water container and Karola gave him some of our runner beans. Denise thought the old container had got mouldy and despite henare;s scrubbing she would not be persuaded so yesterday I bought them a new container in return for us getting the old one. A 10 litre drinking water container is a good thing to have, filled, around in case of emergency.

Bangle is 17.4kg

Oak Avenue Weather:19℃—27℃ no rain [74.1]

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Getting Back To Normal

I went to town primarily to get more Magnum sheep pour-on for deterring fly-strike. The last application was at the end of October so, as Karola suspected, it’s high time they had a refresher. I also got more fuel for the tractors and other implements and a few trinkets from Bunnings Warehouse. I noted, for future reference, that one metre high chicken netting is $80 for 50 metres.

Henare came as planned and spent five hours mowing the homestead lawn, under the Liriodendron tree and in front of the house where the sheep are not grazing, also the little lawn in front of the homestead garage and along the east side of the homestead.

At the same time I finished putting up the electric fence round the grazable part of the homestead lawn, excluding under the Liriodendron to its drip-line and the area round the septic tank. Karola got fed up with the sheep eating the mint and her bulbs planted on and immediately around the septic tank.

Once the lawns had been mown and the electric fence was up Henare and I took a look at cutting down the substantial fir tree branch which fell down but lodged in lower branches of the fir next to the stump dump. I went up on our ladder and pondered how to saw off the branches holding up the broken branch but they are too big and there’s no safe platform from which to do it. So I came down again and maybe tomorrow we’ll try to pull the broken monster branch off the tree fork holding it upside down and vertical, about eight metres end to end.

After Henare had gone Karola & I gave the whole flock, including the ram and wether, a refresher dose of Magnum pour-on (withholding for meat of zero days). We marked (green raddle) two ewes who need a bit of dagging. All nine ewe lambs need crutching.

After dinner Karola & Bracket & Bangle & I walked round the orchard.

Up On Branch At Full Extent Of the Ladder

The Large Broken Branch Hanging Upside Down

Oak Avenue Weather:14℃—25℃ 0.8mm rain [74.1]

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Yvonne Calls In

SwimGym with Karola.

Then, as it was cool and overcast, we took the dogs into town for the weekend shopping.

I shooed the geese, well the three escapees who wriggle through their fence – back into the Goose paddock. I keep blocking up places where I think they’re escaping but they just find a new spot within a few days.

Karola today convinced me that Bangle is over-weight (17kg) and maybe that accounts for her puffing a bit after a run – that and the heat I guess. So we’ll need to give her less to eat and exercise more.

After lunch I started putting up the electric fence round the big oak. This included picking up the considerable tree debris blown down during the gales last weekend, I paused for an hour when Yvonne dropped in for afternoon tea on her way back to Feilding from Gisborne. Yvonne had been doing a few days volunteer work at Eastwoodhill arboretum. She told us that Dan, “curly Dan”, who used to manage Greenleaf Nurseries near Clive and then several months ago became the curator of Eastwoodhill, has parted ways with the arboretum – or more accurately, with the (opinionated and micro-managing) board.

It started to drizzle just before dinner and then Henare dropped in after work for a chat. After dinner I once again paid his electricity bill online – it saves him a trip into Hastings during working hours. Depending on the weather Henare may come round tomorrow and mow the homestead lawn – the part that the sheep don’t graze.

Bracket & Bangle Trotting Round The Orchard

Natalie’s Dog Track In The Middle Paddock Grass

Thirteen Chicks In This Little Flock

Oak Avenue Weather:18℃—22℃ 0.7mm rain [74.9]

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More Family Return To Wellington

Everyone up at a good hour this morning and preparing for a morning’s fishing off the jetty at Ahuriri. I rushed down to Flaxmere and got some white bread, chicken hearts, and lambs fry as additional bait. We also have the shellfish I got from the seashore in Ahuriri last evening, after our meal at the West Shore Fish Cafe.

Bridget stayed in the cottage working, Karola also, minding the dogs and gardening.

Despite the fishing website forecast that it would be a good day and best between 8:30am and 10:30am, the fishing didn’t pick up for us until after 10:30am. And despite Chris seeing several kahwai chasing herring along the shoreline, neither he nor I got any fish, just a few small starfish. The usual spot on the decking pontoons lining the launching slide were sealed off with plastic blocks, apparently the pontoons were considered unsafe and in need of repair. We shared the little bit of jetty still open to the public with a couple of other families.

At midday we called it a day and went to the “Groove Kitchen Espresso” for lunch.

Once we got back to Karamu the More family slowly started packing for the trip home. They left late afternoon.

I took Bangle round the orchard and later picked the first serious crop of runner beans. I also tractor-mowed round the edge of the homestead lawn in preparation for getting electric fence up and the sheep back on as soon as possible.

The First Of Half A Dozen Small Herring Caught By Alex & Natalie

Gill’s Damson Tree – Laden To Breaking Point With Fruit

First Proper Picking Of My Runner Beans

Oak Avenue Weather:18℃—24℃ 0.3mm rain [75.4]

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Much Eating

SwimGym with Karola.

I mowed the cottage and curtilage lawns, a short job because the grass has really slowed down in the dry.

Bridget “worked from home” until mid afternoon.

Chris and Alex went off kayaking down the Ngaruroro river – Bridget ferried them there and back.

Lunch at Bay Expresso in Karamu Road.

Late afternoon Natalie mowed an area of barley grass in the Front paddock. It was then that I found the gate into the corner planting area wide open and sheep had eaten a lot of the foliage off karola’s special trees, the ones not in tree guards. I hope the Mexican Oaks and Titoki trees recover, they’re not totally stripped.

Bangle round the orchard. The grand-daughters took Bracket round the Middle paddock circuits running, which they all enjoyed.

Dinner at West Shore Fish Cafe, pudding back at the cottage. Everyone very full.

Natalie Off In A Cloud Of Dust

Oak Avenue Weather:18℃—30℃ 0.1mm rain [74.5]

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Day Four Of Bridget’s Family Visit

Quiet start to the day.

Natalie drove the tractor and mower and made tracks in the Middle paddock so that the dogs and their walkers could go for short walks withouthaving to walk through thick dry grass, getting grass seed and weed burrs on them. Splendid tracks only really visible from upstairs in the cottage.

Bridget “worked from home” all morning, until about 2:00pm.

Karola took Alex shopping in the afternoon.

Bridget has some really good ideas for the extensions to the homestead and we marked them out on the gravel so that we could get a better feel for the size and convenience of the layout.

Chris mended his kayak paddle which involved drilling and squeezing with pliers.

Later Chris and the grand-daughters went out to visit a lamp makers shop but he had closed until next week.

Bracket was taken for several walks and in the late evening played boisterous games with Bangle in the cottage – we think it was all friendly.

Natalie Mowing The Dog-Walking Tracks

Bridget’s Proposal For Homestead Extension

Oak Avenue Weather:16℃—27℃ no rain [74.8]

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Day Three Of Bridget’s Family Visit

SwimGym

Then breakfast and later the rest of the family emerged and had theirs. But Karola & I & Bracket went off to the vets to get her next set of shots. No problems. Afterwards did the Monday food shopping and by then it was getting hot. Brought fresh sweet corn back for lunch.

Chris & Alex went kayaking at Pandora ie the Ahuriri estuary, coming back for lunch and then going again later, until dinner time.

Natalie spent the time reading and playing with Bracket. Bridget was “working from home” until early afternoon. Karola & Natalie took Bracket for short walks, sometimes with Bangle.

Late afternoon we were delighted to see Bracket and Bangle chasing each other around, playing together.

After dinner I took Bangle round the orchard. Meanwhile Alex was leading Bracket round and giving her treats, which is good progress indeed.

Bracket & Bangle Snoozing After A Hectic Romp In The Summer Sun

Oak Avenue Weather:12℃—26℃ no rain [74.0]

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Day Two Of Bridget’s Family Holiday

Another morning when I sprung out of bed earlier than usual in response to a small bark from Bracket. Both dogs ran outside when I opened the door and did their business. Ten I had another hours restless sleep, got up and had breakfast, and went back to bed for another couple of hours. Then the others joined us in the cottage, took the dogs for a walk, and late morning we all went off to Napier for brunch and a round of put-put. The dogs stayed at home.

Bridget helped with some ideas for the homestead addition, using the space more effectively than any plan to date. Late afternoon Bridget and I measured the size of the homestead and its existing rooms. I also got out the old engineering drawings drawn up by Guy Natusch’s architectural firm and we compared measurements. I seems to me that Ruth got the verandah width wrong, everything else looks consistent with the measurements we made today, but unfortunately, the existing verandah being almost a metre less than on Ruth’s drawings, then the addition based on matching the verandah width gives the wrong impression of roominess. Bridget’s new layouts help rectify this.

I took Bangle & Bracket round the orchard after their, and our, dinner.

Oak Avenue Weather:11℃—20℃ no rain [74.4]

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First Day Of Bridget’s Family Holiday At Karamu

The new arrival Bracket yowled a little last night but soon settled with a radio on low beside her crate and was quiet all night. As planned, as soon as I gor up I scooped her up and took her outside and she did her business right away.

Gradually the others got up and came over from the homestead. Both dogs were fed half their daily ration, first Bangle then Bracket. So that went smoothly too. Bridget then, accompanied by Alex and Natalie, took both dogs for an on-leash walk around the orchard.

Everyone (except me) had breakfast close to noon, scrambled eggs on toast. Afterwards Bridget and her girls went shopping for more food for the weekend.

The rest of the afternoon was punctuated by short play sessions with the dogs; Natalie & Karola both love Bracket and get on very well. Alex is still finding it a tremendous effort but is becoming more confidant.

Karola & Chris spent the afternoon watching golf on the TV. After that we three and Bangle went to Haumoana, to the mouth of the Ngaruroa river and spun for kahwai – but the river was in flood, very muddy, very strong, and we had not even a nibble.

Karola Fishing For Kahwai

Chris Catches More Seaweed (That’s All Any Of Us Caught Today)

Oak Avenue Weather:12℃—23℃ 0.1mm rain [73.8]

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Bracket Comes To Karamu

SwimGym

Overnight there was rain and also violent wind gusts which brought down a lot of leaves and twigs and small branches as well as a few larger branches. Nothing like the big storm last year but I still have a mess to clear up.

Meanwhile Karola is up with the More family in Tauranga. They visited Barry & Di More, Chris’ uncle and his wife, before picking up Bracket and setting off to Taupo, with a rest break at Tokoroa. They had lunch in Taupo and Karola also visited EV Central, the parallel importers of Renault Zoe electric cars. Richard Williams, the manager, with whom I have been emailing, wasn’t in but Karola did get to see a Zircon blue coloured Zoe. Karola didn’t mind the colour but did feel that it was quite a small car.

Bracket et al arrived around 4:30pm and we followed the procedure recommended by the trainer. I took Bangle round the orchard and Bracket was allowed to run around inside the cottage, getting used to the smells. Then, 20 minutes later, we met on the lawn in front of the homestead with both dogs on leads and let them gently and slowly get to introduce each other. After that it was back to the cottage where Bangle was allowed to roam free but initially Bracket was kept on a lead. All of this seemed to occur without ructions and even dinner time passed without incident. Not sure whether Bangle is just ignoring Bracket – who I must admit is a bundle of nervous energy – or whether that is Bangle’s calm, unflappable acceptance.

Bracket Meets Bangle

Orchard Spray Shield Cloth Disconnected From Bottom Wire, Billowing In The Wind.

Douglas Fir Branch In Long Acre

Oak Branch (In Long Acre, Near Douglas FIr)

Branch Of Fir tree Next To Farm Shed

Branch Of Cedar At 133 Gateway

Typical Litter Of Leaves And Small Branches – Liriodendron On The Homestead Lawn

Oak Avenue Weather:16℃—23℃ 2.4mm rain [74.6]

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Off To Tauranga To Fetch Bracket

Karola got herself ready for the trip to Tauranga with Bridget and family.

I did a bit of tractor-mowing, around where the sheep had been and along the 121 drive verges; tidied away the electric fence I’d taken down yesterday, andtook Bangle round the orchard. It didn’t start raining until late afternoon.

Bridget’s family arrived around 2:00pm and dropped off stuff they don’t need for their night in Tauranga, picked up Karola, her bag, and the new crate for Bracket, then set off. It’s about a four hour drive.

They got to Tauranga, met with the trainer and were introduced to Bangle before settling down in their motel suite for the night. The weather up to Tauranga and forecast for the night was very wet and stormy. However the meeting with Bracket and trainer Wendy went well and the plan is to pick up Bracket tomorrow morning and bring her straight back down.

Oak Avenue Weather:17℃—23℃ 14.4mm rain [73.7]

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Preparing For The New Puppy, Bracket

SwinGym with Karola.

Mid-week shopping later, including another 5kg of Nutrients Grain-Free dog biscuits, picking up dry cleaning, and retrieving the newly cut house key – which now works better than the other one.

Took down the electric fence round the big oak and homestead lawn in readiness for the visit by Bridget’s family tomorrow. They plan to come here from Wellington, drop off their stuff needed for the next week, pick up Karola and the new puppy crate, and carry on to Tauranga. All in all about nine hours driving for them tomorrow. Then they stay overnight and pick up the new puppy in the morning, returning here late afternoon.

The puppy trainer, Wendy Isaacs in Tauranga, is a professional companion dog trainer – has been for 15 years – so Bracket should be in good shape – house trained, leading well, and with good manners.

Oak Avenue Weather:17℃—25℃ 0.6mm rain [73.8]

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Trimming, Mowing & Electric Fence

Took Bangle round the orchard.

Cut back the flax along the drive to the cottage that borders the north fence of the Goose paddock. Two loads of a small trailer. Then mowed the cottage lawn having finished the curtilage mowing yesterday. Also made a mowed pathway across from the cottage gate to the big gate into Karola’s orchard immediately opposite, and from there across to the gravel track. The idea is to have a path for Bangle free of barley grass and other nasty seed heads.

Karola spent most of the day clearing along the 121 driveway between her Rangiora along the Goose paddock fence line.

Mid afternoon we rested and listened to the end of Anthony Price’s A Prospect of Vengeance. We have only The Memory Trap to listen to and have then completed all 19 Anthony Price novels.

Just before dinner I tractor-mowed the electric fence strips for the corridor from the One Acre to the sheep yards, and an extension down to the damson tree (place of three gates). After dinner I put up the electric fence.

Runner Beans In Flower

Flax Hedge Trimmed Back

Mum, Chick, Dad – Californian Quail – There Are About A Dozen Chicks, Rest In Undergrowth

Orchard Fruit & Flowers – White Clover

Galaxy Apples

Mallow In Flower

Red Clover

Large Patch Of Clematis vitalba On 4m High Casurina Windbreak Hedge

Oak Avenue Weather:__℃—__℃ no rain [74.0]

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Electricity Ebb And Flow

Continuing from last night I delved into the old bills and online to the Enphase account and entered lots of data about our electricity use and cost, generation, and exporting over the last five years. I have seen some large electricity bills recently and am wondering if we’re spending more or less now that we have the solar panels installed. I need not have worried.

The 18 solar panels, each with its own micro-inverter, should generate a combined total of around 17.5 kWh a day, up to 24.5 kWh / day in summer and 10.1 kWh in winter.

Mid afternoon, when the graph of interest was done, I mowed the cottage areas within the curtilage but outside the cottage railings – that’s about half the cottage mowing.

Took Bangle round the orchard and turned off the drip irrigation for the Runner Beans, Swamp Cypress five, and the Bay tree hedge and special Manuka.

From Meridian Monthly Bills 2013-2017

Electricity Units Bought & Sold, Solar Electricity Generated & Electricity Consumed

Data points are average daily numbers of kWh – kilowatt-hours

  • Blue line: kWh from Meridian for all cottage uses, on all three phases
  • Green line: kWh exported to Meridian from solar
  • Grey line: kWh generated by solar panels
  • Red line: kWh consumed by all equipment on the same phase as the solar panels

Oak Avenue Weather:18℃—26℃ no rain [73.5]

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