Monthly Archives: September 2018

Karola wasn’t due in Napier until after 4:00pm so I managed to get quite a bit more done with the trees.

Put a tractor scoop of mulch on each of the lime trees and gave them each another half-bucket of water.

Sheep had another day on the homestead lawn and under the big oak.

Bangle & I went round the orchard. Quiet, it being Sunday, no workers.

Karola rang as she was getting on the plane in Wellington to say that she was just leaving, about 30 minutes late. This gave me just enough time to finish the fruit tree planting and scrub-up for the homecoming.

I got to the airport ten minutes late but at the precise moment Karola stepped out of the airport. Bangle delighted to see karola again after a couple of boring days. On the way home we stopped at Green Meadows New World supermarket and I indulged in an iced coffee with cream, Mmmmm. Watched pre-recorded TV of the All Blacks demolishing Argentina – very scrappy. Thank goodness that after the South African match next weekend we can have a breather.

Sixteen English Lime Trees – Planted, Mulched, and Watered

Under The Macrocarpa – A Favourite Siesta Spot

Oak Avenue Weather:3℃—19℃ no rain [74.9]

Each time I plant trees with bare hands they get engrained with earth and rough so I decided to get some protective gloves, not just the usual gardening gloves but rubber ones. So Bangle & I went to Bunnings for the gloves and New World for a top-up of food. It’s always about the food, says Karola.

Karola is down in Wellington and going to a wedding this afternoon.

I planted the 16 lime trees and gave each a half-bucket of water. I then planted the seven new fruit trees and watered them. The two Persimmons have been here bearing fruit for a couple of years already.

Bangle waited patiently until the planting was done and then we walked round the orchard.

Windmills roaring last night and again tonight.

Oak Avenue Weather:1℃—19℃ no rain [74.7]

Karola rummaged around making sure she had everything for the weekend in Wellington – she’s going to Julia Fletcher’s wedding at Dockside.

Karola’s haircut was at 11:00am so I dropped her off and then got the GF bread from Cornucopia before dashing back to Hawkes Bay Fish Supply where I got fish & chips for a mid-day main meal – saes going out again later to shop and then cook.

After we got back I let the ewes and lambs in under the big oak.

We set off for the airport in plenty of time, admiring the newly completed entrance road to the airport with its artistic additions – described to us by Jacob Scott (son of architect john Scott). We saw plantings and sculptures; some are intended as patterns visible from the air. On the way out of Karamu I closed the main gates just in case the sheep attempted a mass escape.

Coffees and a shared big chunk of delicious cheese cake, then Karola was up, up and away.

I returned via Clive, calling in at Greenleaf Nurseries. I returned the Bramley, as foreshadowed yesterday, swapping it for a Manchurian Crabapple. Also bought a Santa Rosa plum and, at Steely Dan’s recommendation, a Winter Nellis pear – these three all for cross-pollination. Dan’s son helped, Dan has one of his daughters and his son working with him now.

More pondering over the tree plantings. Karola is very keen on having five metal stakes, “standards” supporting each large tree guard. I had earlier relented and bought enough for four per guard, but thought again and went off to GoldPine just as they were closing and bought extra standards, enough for five per tree for the micro-orchard and for the 16 Lime trees.

I was cutting it fine so threw open the gates and charged off, expecting to be back in 20 minutes – what could go wrong. Well, I did get back in 20 minutes, I got to GoldPine with ten minutes to spare, but imagine my horror upon returning when I met a sheep and its lamb on the drive. Further investigation showed that all the ewes and lambs were out and almost all were on the circular lawn in front of the homestead. I was only away 20 minutes and the fence had been fine all night – maybe a lamb got adventurous, got a belt and pulled over the fence in its confusion. But why then, they could have done their escape when we were going to the airport and the main gates were closed, but oh, no, just when you least expect it. Still, no harm done – assuming the lambs I saw nibbling ivy on the Ginkgo in the centre of the circle survive.

Prepared half a tank of Roundup weed killer. I marked out the position of the last fruit tree, I had anticipated five new trees and the paddock Persimmon, and sprayed inside where the guard will go. I also tempted fate and sprayed the weeds around the Persimmon inside its large guard. In theory any tree wth brown bark can shrug off Roundup. I do hope so. Having some spray over I went round the perimeter of the cottage, sprayed the gravel around the septic tank, and finished up with doing most of the approach drive to the farm shed.

Bangle and I had a quiet evening after a gentle stroll round the orchard. Karola has arrived safely.

Oak Avenue Weather:2℃—14℃ no rain [74.5]

Seems like I spent most of the day on this fence. Henare and I had mown along most of the path to be taken by the electric fence – the idea is to stop greenery touching the fence as it then “shorts out” and is much weaker – but there were loose ends.

Mid morning there was quite a dampening shower of rain – in other words I got rather wet – and I thought I’d have to finish up tomorrow but by late afternoon I was able to complete the fence and let the sheep in for a few hours of daylight.

Karola rushed off to Flaxmere to New World. She was cooking venison mince with GF spaghetti and wanted tomato puree to make it more interesting.

Saw the usual pair of doves on the driveway, light grey-brown with a vivid black collar. I call them “ringed doves” but Ben told me they are actually Barbary Doves from South Africa. I like them, they’re elegant and have a nice coo.

Mrs Google had this to say:

And this evening there was a news item about magpies attacking children who wandered into their nesting territory – the children were very lucky not to have serious eye injury. Apparently it’s quite common at this time of year, especially in Auckland and Christchurch. And this reminded me that I’ve been dive-bombed numerous times in the last few days in the Front paddock and on the homestead lawn. All I hear is a loud woosh quite close to me, and then I see the bird swooping back up into a tree.

Weather Cock Repainted Yellow Shows Up Well

Bud Break Has Broken For The Five Swamp Cypress

Electric Fence Re-Erected Round Homestead Lawn And Big Oak

Liridendron (On Right) Lower Branches Protected

Lambs Are First To Explore

We Know The Way

Oak Avenue Weather:6℃—14℃ 1.7mm rain [74.3]

Mid morning I went into Hastings and did the midweek shopping, first taking a detour to Clive to GreenLeaf Nurseries where I picked up two more fruit trees as presents for Karola: Black Doris plum, Pear Williams Bon Chretien pear, aka Bartlett, the “canning pear”.

Karamu Micro-Orchard Plan

To explain: We live in one of the finest fruit-tree growing areas in New Zealand – and hence, in the world. But we only have an old old Santa Rosa plum tree, two prolific but unloved Quince and ditto, Crab-Apple, a Damson tree gifted by Gill but of limited appeal and some rather feeble fruit trees up in the north west corner next to my raspberry/runner bean enclosure. Up there we have a couple of apricots and an almond but none of these are showing much enthusiasm for life. Oh and Karola’s two Persimmons, an old but prolific Lemon, an Orange, and a Grapefruit tree – the latter two not doing very well..

This time it’s different, “this changes everything” (Apple joke, well, not really – Jobs for the boys). This time we’re going to have a little cottage orchard near the south wall of the cottage where we can keep an eye on them and irrigate and weed them.

The orchard will consist of seven trees in the Middle paddock protected by tree guards and a further two nearby but inside the cottage railings. There will be Fuyu Persimmons, cooking and eating Apples, Pears, and Plums. The primary variety in each category is:

• Fuyu Persimmon – two trees as recommended for cross pollination
• Cox’s Orange Pippin – my favourite eating apple
• Ballarat – cooking apple that Karola particularly likes
• Black Doris – freestone plum primarily for bottling, enjoyed by Karola
• William’s Bon Chetain pear, requested by Karola

After extensive research and robust discussion the chair-person decided that relying on the orchards for a favourable wind to blow apple blossom or the pollinating bees our way was risky. Likewise the old plum tree, which is probably, but not guaranteed to be, a Santa Rosa, is 100 metres away and expert advice suggests 50 – 100 feet for cross-pollinators.The Bartlett pear is self-fertile but crops much better with cross-pollination.

So, I’ve added to the list:

• Manchurian Crabapple for the apples – with amazing mass of white blooms and autumn bright red fruit contrasting with the green leaves (allegedly)
• Santa Rosa plum
• Winter Nellis pear

One of the Persimmon trees is inside the cottage railings, it will be joined by the Manchurian Crabapple.

The keen-eyed observer will recall that I was “up-sold” by “Steely Dan” of Greenleaf Nurseries to buy a Bramley when I was asking for a Ballarat cooking apple. So, as Karola said, that must go back.

… back to the daily journal …

Grabbed coffees & two friands for Karola from the Artisan coffee shop next to the Health Centre in Queens Street, Hastings.

Marked out the spots for the two extra fruit trees and applied Roundup to the circle that will be inside the tree guards. I’ll not plant the trees for a couple of days to avoid killing them too.

Most of the afternoon spent reconstructing the electric fence to go round the big oak and the homestead lawn. First I took down the fence round the big oak and tractor-mowed the perimeter. The grass is growing so quickly that after a couple of weeks there’s grass tall enough to short out the fence. I also trimmed back a large flax bush just inside the perimeter. It too is growing quickly.

Thought that as I was trimming the one flax bush why not trim all along the driveway from the corner up to the farm shed, so I did that too.

Re-erected the fence round the big oak but this time allowing for the sheep to come across the homestead lawn and under the oak.

Karola continued with her tree guards, finishing another two today.

Henare suddenly TXTed that he’d like to do some mowing as his orchard Hydralada (mobile picking/pruning platform) had broken down and he couldn’t work at the orchard any more today. So Henare did three hours mowing with the self-propelling non-ride-on Honda mower, the one that I’ve just had fixed and serviced.

First he did under the Liriodendron in a big circle. I fence that off from the sheep otherwise they eat the leaves on the low-handing branches and we have bare stems to look at for the rest of the summer.

I deconstructed the electric fences round the Liriodendron and round the lawn. Then Henare mowed along the path of the electric fence round much of the homestead lawn, and then mowed the circle in front of the homestead and the little lawn in front of the homestead garage. So tomorrow I can reconstruct the electric fence and let the sheep in.

Bangle and I trotted quickly round the orchard, eager to get back for our dinner.

Welcome Swallow Looking In

Example Of A Hydralada

FRUIT TREES

Fuyu Persimmon

Cox’s Orange Pippin Eating Apple

Ballarat Cooking Apple

Black Doris Cooking & Eating Plum

Williams Bon Chetain (aka Bartlett) Cooking & Eating Pear

Manchurian Crabapple – Apple Cross-Polinator

Santa Rosa – Plum Cross-Pollinator

Winter Nellis – Pear Cross-Pollinator

Oak Avenue Weather:6℃—17℃ no rain [74.4]

Late start and occasional light showers kept me indoors in the morning.

Karola continued with her tree guards, from the kitchen verandah, and by the end of the day had another four done.

Max rashbrooke’s new book arrived today, “Government for the Public Good: The Surprising Science of Large-Scale Collective Action”, and Karola has started to read it.

Counted the sheep: 13 in the Long Acre showing no signs at all of having lambs, 15 with their lambs in the Front paddock and on the homestead lawn.

Mowed the iris and nettles on the eastern side of the Middle paddock, consistent with or aim to have the place be peaceful and park-like.

Bangle & I went round the orchard mid afternoon, lovely in the afternoon sun.

Rest of the time swallowed up with working on the web hosting transfer. I got a few web pages working on the new host last night, Bridget got some of her web pages working before we finished this evening.

Eastern Reaches Of Middle Paddock – Park-Like

Karola’s Quince & Crab Apple Bursting Out

Our Original Fruit Tree Corner – Right By My Runner Bean Enclosure

Oak Avenue Weather:7℃—15℃ no rain [74.5]

Karola did the start-of-week shopping today but spent most of the day working on her tree-guard rejuvenation project. Each guard takes an hour or so to refurbish including replacing it with a “see through” guard for the tree it was protecting.

I spent all day long quietly and methodically putting together the new web space. By the end of the day I did have some web pages displaying as hoped. Bridget is trying to multi-task doing her sites with her usual work and hectic school activities, no wonder she’s exhausted most of the time.

Karola & I strolled round the orchard with Bangle just as the workers were going home. Up by the McNab road entrance we saw one of the Cope daughters pulling the rubbish bin back home down the 300 metre or so driveway from the public road. We also saw a neighbour riding her ride-on lawn mower with baby strapped to her chest, mowing the drive verge. Bangle wasn’t sure that the boxer dog was completely harmless and kept her distance.

New Zealand Mothers Can Do Anything

Oak Avenue Weather:6℃—18℃ 0.7mm rain [74.6]

Another day with the minutiae of customising the new hosting platform with help from Bridget. Bridget will be sharing part of the new space with me, we’re both fed up with AceWebHosting and its chronic problems.

I took an hour or so out and tractor-mowed under the large trees on the west boundary of the Middle paddock, just in time as the iris and nettles were taking over.

Bangle and I went round the orchard – silent and deserted.

Karola finished another two of her tree guard refurbishments.

Henare came after work, with his new hip it was his first week back at work, and he borrowed Karola’s mower, returning it mid evening. We didn’t mention the marmalade cat even though there’s a possibility it’s still around as the cat food is still disappearing at night.

A Park-Like Vista – Freshly Mown

Bangle Seeking Out New Smells

Oak Avenue Weather:5℃—17℃ 0.1mm rain [74.7]

This is going to take a while, this moving to a new web space provider. Hoping against hope that they’re an improvement on the current provider who has gradually sunk in responsiveness and reliability over the 10 – 15 years we’ve been leasing space from them. It could be a case of frying pans and fires but the effort of moving is so great that we’ll put up with a lot to stay put once we’ve moved. The new provider, HostPapa, is sort-of a New Zealand company, it presents itself as being local in the web site and online help and tech support. HostPapa actually started in Canada and spread into Australia and New Zealand.

Karola took Bangle round the orchard today. She also did another two tree guard reconditionings. Maybe the marmalade cat is still around, the food keeps on disappearing.

I mowed the One Acre again, more quickly this time because the clumps of grass were not so thick. I’m hoping the lucerne and plantain and red clover will perk up now that spring is here, and get well settled in before the likely drought after Christmas.

Anna sent some splendid photos of her weekend up in St Andrews with Felix. It looks like a charming seaside village, but the cold wet winter is ahead of them.

Apparently the scarlet capes are a big tradition at St Andrews University. They’re not for every day, but for formal occasions. These include the young people walking down the pier in their striking red capes etc. Anna thinks that you wear both shoulders on as a baby fresher, then one shoulder off in first year and two in second.

One Acre Re-Mown

The Caped Crusader – Felix As Fresher At St Andrews

Anna’s Photos From St Andrews

Oak Avenue Weather:8℃—14℃ 0.1mm rain [74.6]

Weekend shopping.

Called Greenleaf Nurseries – they were supposed to get us a Ballarat apple tree last week – when I got there they couldn’t find one so I took a Bramley and asked Dan to get me one this week. No contact so I enquired today and he’d forgotten to chase it up. Grrrr.

Called Hawkes Bay Mowers & Chainsaws – was my (little, old and lent to Henare) chainsaw fixed – it’s been over a month. No, the chain brake is not replaceable, and it needs a new, expensive (relatively) carburettor. OK, yes, please just dispose of it. Small grrrr.

On the off-chance I called Gillian Thrum at Green Door and they had a Ballarat apple tree so I did get that – but none of the other things remaining on our 2018 planting list so we’ll have to wait till next autumn and see if we have more success then.

Off to Farmlands for the ear tags I ordered a week ago. I checked them and again, despite being accurate for the last dozen years or so, they’ve mis-spelled BRACKENBURY. The last lot of tags had the lamb button tags with our name spelled correctly but the hogget adult tags were mis-spelled. I didn’t say anything thinking anyone can have a bad day – but now I’ve bought replacements and I checked that the spelling was very clear on the request form, it is frustrating and expensive. Grrrr.

Then to Cornucopia for the GF bread and also some special yoghurt for Karola and I thought I’d get her some Kiwifruit and beetroot too. “That’ll be $60”, I don’t think so. Oh, the previous customer’s bill had been added accidentally to mine. Easy fixed and before I paid thank goodness.

To New World for the main food and then Green Door (almost all the way to Havelock North) for the Ballarat, and back to Caltex on Omahu road for diesel, lawnmower petrol, and 95 octane for the Landrover. Bangle and I took the Landrover on this trip because the apple tree was a tad too big for the car.

Phone call – the lawn mower was ready. So out I go again with a small trailer. But it isn’t ready so I hang around while the apprentice is given a bollocking for not completing the service. He’d emptied the oil but not put any new oil in, and they insist on cleaning the mower as part of the service. Still, took a while but I have a working mower back now.

Oh says Karola – the deer netting you’ve got primarily for the Lime trees is more than a foot taller than the deer netting we’ve had before. We can’t use it for the apple trees because we won’t be able to reach over and pick fruit. OK, new plan reusing some of the metre-high sheep netting we have standing around. Problem, we’ve run out of metal standards. So, off I go again and get some standards from GoldPine up the road – in case I get round to finishing the apple tree guards this weekend.

By this time it’s late afternoon. I cut the netting and crimp up the apple tree guards so it only needs addition of the shade netting to each guard and we can plant the trees.

Between times I tried to get started on setting up my new host web-serving account with HostPapa. So far I’ve read quite a lot about the setting up and managed to lock myself out of the account not once, but twice – well they admitted it was their fault entirely the first time and hinted and problems now fixed re the second.

Karola has been replacing Willow-Oak tree guards, ones with shade netting round them, for “see through” guards without the shade netting. The trees are too big to just pop the guard over the top so she cuts down one side of the old guard, puts up and crimps a new guard and then mends the snipped guard as a reserve for her next batch of plantings.

After dinner, in the gloaming, Karola took Bangle round the orchard.

Friend Dave Mitchell – Totnes in Devon, southern England – sent picture of his latest amazing tool. His abiding passion is flying kites with cameras attached and the photo below shows a harness for the kite-suspended camera made by an inexpensive 3-D printer. The printer only cost about NZ$300 which is utterly amazing, and the end product looks so professional.

Dave’s 3-D Printed Carrying Case For Kite-Borne Camera

Oak Avenue Weather:9℃—21℃ 0.1mm rain [74.3]

Rained overnight and drizzled occasionally until lunchtime. Karola read most of the day.

I spent much of the day tidying up after yesterday’s session with Steve Laracy, the audio-visual wiring man. The new TVs and their brackets had a lot of packaging. The recessed wall boxes to hold power points and all the cables have a flaw which I today corrected. The boxes are held in place by clever little flaps which grip the inside of the GIB or match lining but the screws which tighten the flaps against the inside of the wall are quite short. If one were enthusiastic about unscrewing them, when removing the box to fit the power points for example, one could easily lose the flap down inside the wall. So today I bought longer screws and small locking nuts. Now all three recessed wall boxes can be unscrewed with impunity as the locking nut will stop the flap from falling off the screw.

I also got the three new TVs updated and working over the Internet (WiFi built-in) but I failed to find a way to mirror my iPad onto the screens. Sony, and apparently all the other major TV manufacturers, have mirroring built-in but it only works with Google Android phones or tablets, not Apples. [hiss].

Bangle ran round the orchard with me on her heels today.

Oak Avenue Weather:8℃—19℃ no rain [74.3]

Woken by Steve Laracy ringing to say he’d be coming round momentarily to spend the day on the audio-visual wiring in the homestead. He actually came an hour later so I needn’t have panicked.

Karola went off mid morning to do stuff in Havelock North.

I let the ewes and lambs onto the homestead lawn again – they’ve eaten it down well but there’s still plenty of grass left.

Over the course of the day I went twice into Harvey Normans and bought three 55” Sony Bravia TVs. I chose that size because of the viewing distance, over three metres, in the kitchen, dining room, and living room. But Karola will not be pleased they are so big. Steve brought along two wall fittings for the dining and living rooms so that we can angle the TVs as we wish. The kitchen one is just flat back against the wall. The height above the floor has been chosen for people sitting in the living and dining rooms, but standing up in the kitchen.

I brought the Freeview set-top box over from the cottage and connected it up and so the living room TV actually works. The image looks quite respectable when playing from the disk of pre-recorded programmes, and also for some of the programmes streaming off the satellite, but some of the latter look very suspect – one game show tinted everything red, another one everything was a deep blue. Bit worrying that.

Got a very encouraging email from the HostPapa salesman in Australia. I now have a “hosting resellers account” which seems to have everything I asked for and, by taking a five-year contract, it’s costing the same as my current USA hosted space. Bridget is going to share the space with me and as a “reseller” account I should be able to split it into separate accounts for Bridget and me, closely mimicking the current setup.

Today just reinforced our exasperation with AceWebHosting, first Bridget’s mail and access to her account suddenly stopped, coming back a few hours later. Then I had no access for an hour or so this evening.

Two geese that went out on the road yesterday did it again today. I know they can get through the fence of the Goose paddock but have hopes that they can’t walk out of the Long Acre so I popped them in there for now.

Homestead Renovation – Massive Flat-Panel Colour TVs

Living Room

Dining Room

Kitchen-To-Be

Oak Avenue Weather:11℃—16℃ 7.9mm rain [74.8]

Ewes and lambs on the lawn again but the others – and we’re sceptical as to whether any of them will have lambs this year – are now in the Long Acre.

Caught up with last Sunday’s chores and made a list of the facilities I use on my USA hosted web space. This latter is because Bridget and I are so frustrated at the unending problems at AceWebHosting since they arbitrarily and without notice shifted us to new servers and upgraded software that we’re looking for a hosting solution nearer home – New Zealand or possibly Australia.

Karola spent much of the day replacing tree guards on her Willow Oaks. There are 17 of them and today she did the first four. I helped with the crimping briefly but was dissuaded by walking into a sapling branch that hit the corner of my left (good) eye and gave me a nasty fright.

I allowed the marmalade young cat out last night – left the door to the sun porch open a smidgen. No sign of a cat today but we’ll put out food after Bangle has come in for the night, in case it wants to be an outdoor cat but not quite a feral cat. We both agree we should never have let Henare persuade us to take it on.

After a lollop round the orchard with Bangle, it was earlier than usual so there were workers doing orchard stuff with string and loppers, I checked the forecast and rain is predicted for later tonight and the next three days. So I decided to tractor-mow the One Acre before the rain, cutting the forest of clumps of tall grass that have become the defining feature of the One Acre since the autumn. I’m hoping that lucerne and plantain and red clover will respond now the weather is warmer and there’s plenty of moisture.

Mowing was tough on the tractor, the clumps are thick, and so it took a long time, so long in fact that I stopped as darkness fell, had dinner and filled tractor with diesel before going out for a final 30 minutes, mowing by headlights.

I’m intrigued by the Apple watch – Version 4 was announced last week. Ben has a Version 2, Bridget also. They are works of art, but are they useful I wonder. What I discovered today is that the newer versions don’t require you to lug round an iPhone with your watch, the iPhone mother-ship can be left at home, connected to the watch by cellular or WiFi networks. And there’s stuff you can do without even that much connection to an iPhone – assuming you have the astronomically expensive Watch 4 (GPS+Cellular) model, aka Watch 4 LTE.

One Acre – Before Mowing

One Acre – After Mowing

Hosting Space – $300pa in USA, They’re Asking $720pa In NZ

Oak Avenue Weather:10℃—17℃ 0.7mm rain [75.5]

Gill & Ben packed up and were off mid morning, back to a Wellington of wind and torrential rain (according to Bridget).

Ewes & lambs on the lawn most of the day; other ewes under the big oak. Karola put them back late afternoon.

Two of the four geese wandered onto the road this morning. Luckily I saw them when returning from the start-of-week shop and Karola helped shoo them back inside. I flagged down two approaching cars and they were helpful in stopping and encouraging me as I got the geese back inside the gates.

Meticulous maids came and cleaned the cottage after lunch.

Karola did some effective weeding round her raised bed kitchen garden.

I began making the tree guards for the lime trees and the three apple trees. Got three guards crimped up this afternoon and also sprayed a circle round each tree position. I hope the instructions are good, the ones saying you can safely plant a couple of days after spraying with Glysophate (Roundup). What weed killer spray was left I used to spray the Italian lily that is so invasive.

Quick trot around the orchard with Bangle in the semi-dark.

The Tree Guard Factory

Karola’s Weeding Round The Raised beds – Big Improvement

Oak Avenue Weather:14℃—22℃ no rain [75.9]

Ewes with lambs onto the homestead lawn for the morning; other ewes under the big oak also.

Lunch at ClearView – delicious. We tried Clifton Cafe, under new management and called Hygge at Clifton Bay now, but it was too crowded and the waiting time too long.

Rest of the day very relaxed, basking in the sun and gentle breezes of Hawkes Bay.

After supper Gill, Ben, Karola & I, watched the third of the TV programmes, “The Truth About …”, this time about carbohydrates – fascinating. Introduced us to the world of “resistant starch” – alongside its siblings: beige carbs (starch), white carbs (sugar), and green carbs (fibre). Alarming facts about the quantity of carbohydrate of the fattening kind in a baked potato, a bowl of white rice, and a bagel. Emphasis on lifestyle changes with respect to changing carbohydrate levels, not diets – unpleasant and with an end date – but choice of foods you enjoy and can stick with.

Bangle & I scurried round the orchard just before supper.

Oak Avenue Weather:5℃—21℃ no rain [75.9]

Leisurely morning with Gill & Ben and at lunchtime we set off for Bay Espresso in Karamu Road (the local one only opens in business hours) where we had lunch.

Later Gill & Ben went out briefly shopping and we then settled in for a relaxed afternoon tea and chat. Late afternoon Karola planted her second Monkey Puzzle tree and I put up electric fence round the homestead lawn. The ewes with lambs had a couple of hours on the lawn until I shooed them out soon after dark. The other ewes had another couple of hours under the big oak, so everyone has had a good feed today.

I took Bangle round the orchard as dusk fell.

Gill & Ben went off to Charley & Marianne Dougherty’s place for a meal with them and other Victoria alumni. Karola & I watched TV, the Springboks beating the All Blacks at rugby.

Our (that is, Karola’s) young marmalade cat is eating and drinking but retreats under the dresser, into the far corner, whenever we come into the sun porch.

Oak Avenue Weather:6℃—18℃ 0.3mm rain [75.6]

After breakfast I cantered over to the north side of the Front paddock and spent the next hour or so digging the holes ready for planting the 16 English Lime saplings. I also laid out a pile of three metal standards near each hole, ready to be the supports for the tree guards.

Bangle & I went out to the 133 gateway to pick up the mail and found a Mallard duck with her ducklings on the road side of the gate, heading for the tarmac. Heart in mouth as the duck family waddled very slowly out onto the road while a large SUV bore down on them from the north. More by luck than good judgement the SUV passed just clear of the ducks and then the family continued their waddle into the bushes on the other side.

Later I did the weekend shopping – knowing that we’re having a fish pie with Gill & Ben & Peter & Charlotte this evening before attending Theatre Hawkes Bay to see Roger Hall’s 1979 play, Middle Age Spread, and the rest of Gill’s beef bourguignon on Saturday.

En route I dropped in at The Plant Shop on Pakowhai road and bought a couple of pots of fertiliser tablets and three plants labelled as Primrose. I’m not at all sure they are Primrose plants as I recall them from England, but they’re similar. They are a present for Gill.

At New World, in addition to the usual renewal of staples, I bought a large celeriac, a vegetable recommended as a potato substitute with high glycemic index. We shall experiment with it as an alternative to cauliflower rice.

Karola took Bangle round the orchard.

Ben & Gill went off to Napier late morning for a spot of shopping, returning mid afternoon. When they returned Ben drove me in the Zoe to Bunnings in Hastings to get a soil sieve and upon returning with the sieve I sieved organic soli from the old compost heap under the oaks behind the homestead garage onto the red beech root-trainer trees, now planted shallowly in one of Karola’s raised vegetable beds. With another hour or so of sieving I think we’ll have those ex-root trainer stock safely planted out for the summer – as long as i remember to water them.

Peter & Charlotte came, as planned, for dinner at 6:00pm and we all went on the the play in Hastings.

Sixteen Holes Await Their Lime Saplings

Mallard With Brood Dices With Death – They Crossed Safely

Oak Avenue Weather:4℃—21℃ no rain [75.5]

ides ʌɪdz/ noun

(in the ancient Roman calendar) a day falling roughly in the middle of each month (the 15th day of March, May, July, and October, and the 13th of other months) from which other dates were calculated.

Sounds reasonable, and so it is that Gill’s birthday, the 13th September, is indeed the ides of September.

Quite a hectic day.

Took the Honda self-propelling mower in for a service and to fix the broken clutch and the sticking throttle cable and the difficulty starting.

Started with watering the newly planted 13 red beech trees and the 23 root trainers sent in error, instead of the proper red beech saplings we ordered. It took 4 months for them to arrive so, probably a mistake, but I agreed to try yet again with root trainers – it’s never been a success in the last 16 years of buying trees for Karamu. Karola got one of her Monkey Puzzle trees planted today too.

Then off in the all electric Zoe with Gill & Ben for her birthday lunch at the Birdwood Cafe over on Middle road, joined by Gill’s ex, Peter Offenberger. After a particularly delicious lunch the four of us drove over to Hohepa in Clive, where Peter’s wife Charlotte works, and while Gill & Ben bought organic cheese we chatted with Charlotte and I bought a large, non-organic and fairly manky cauliflower – it’s clearly the end of the local cauliflower season.

Back home mid afternoon. Janet Scott from next door came and chatted to Karola for an hour or so. Gill & Ben went to see Stephanie Drew and pick up the printers proof copy of her book. Stephanie is rushed off her feet, not only with her self-publishing service but also as director of the Roger Hall play we’re going to see in Hastings tomorrow.

After supper, we watched Gill’s choice of one of my recorded films called The Loop. Huge amounts of swearing and massive amounts of vulgarity which actually didn’t improve what was otherwise an entertaining political UK-USA film. I guess it was “Yes Minister” made much edgier and profane for the current generation. The UK TV series “The Thick Of It” comprised 24 episodes over 4 series covering much the same set of themes. It was very popular and rated highly on the Internet Movie Database.

Slight sad note of the day was that, just as in 2017, ewe #229’s lambs all died within 48 hours of birth. I buried them, #826E, #827E, and #828R

Peter, Karola, Gill, and Ben (L to R) Outside The Birdwood Cafe

Watering The 23 Red Beech Root Trainers

Oak Avenue Weather:3℃—21℃ no rain [75.5]

Ewe #229 had triplets this morning, #826E, #827E, and #828R.

Henare & Scott came mid morning and mowed the lawn in front of the homestead. Using the tractor I mowed an 8-metre wide strip along the northern boundary of the Front paddock, ready for laying out the lime trees.

Gill & I measured out the locations of the double row of lime trees across the northern edge of the Front paddock, eight trees per row. Meanwhile Karola was figuring out where to put her two Monkey Puzzle trees in her Araucariaceae group.

Gill, Ben, andI went out for afternoon coffee, too late for Bay Espresso or the Serendipity Cafe, but in plenty of time for the Coffee Club. As we were next door I popped over to SwimGym to see how close they were to “reopening in late August” as the sign says. Not very.

Karola & I took Bangle round the orchard, back to the original route now that the ground has dried up considerably.

Last night we watched a Michael Mosley TV programme on sleep; tonight it was exercise – both had interesting things to say.

Positions Marked For The 16 English Lime Trees

Oak Avenue Weather:3℃—18℃ no rain [75.1]

Having given it several coats over the last week I replaced the weather cock, now a rich, bright yellow, atop the west gable of the homestead garage. It certainly stands out much more now.

Karola planted the 13 Red Beech saplings.

I let the ewes which haven’t lambed in under the big oak for a spell. Meanwhile Karola had fed both flocks with hay and some nuts.

Karola took Bangle round orchard then went round again herself to find the leash she’d dropped.

I swept the farm shed in preparation for making the 16 tree guards for the 16 Lime trees that will form a loose avenue along the northern boundary of the Front paddock, but I didn’t get to making any guards today. I have ordered 1.8 metre tall windbreak netting to wrap round the deer netting from Permathene – black rather than green because it was on sale.

Early afternoon we visited Lyn Sturm in her new slightly smaller “executive house” in Frimley Village. You go left at the roundabout in Omahu road opposite Honda, left at roundabout onto Matariki Avenue, 200m then left into Frimley Village of maybe 60 or 70 new houses, all seem to be quite spacious, very modern, and terribly close together. Lyn was very sociable, pressed us into staying for coffee and a biscuit. Lyn’s house is crammed full of her belongings which obviously overflowed the slightly smaller new house – all in a very designer-magazine style that suits Lyn but is not my favourite. After leaving Lyn’s place,

Villa 41, Frimley Village, 23 Matariki Avenue, we stopped at Bay Espresso and got ordinary takeaway coffees.

Once back home and with some rain threatening I mowed the cottage lawn and environs before tractor mowing the 121 driveway and the lawn behind the homestead garage. Meanwhile Karola bundled up weeds that she and Jenny had piled up from the raised beds by the cottage and I took them to the “bund” (long compost heap) under the oaks beside the road fence, behind the homestead garage.

Gill & Ben, having kept us up to date with progress all afternoon, arrived early evening with dinner.

At dinner Ben remarked that he’d heard something large scurrying up inside the wall of the kitchen – a small possum or large rat maybe. We will have to attend to that.

Late evening there was a frisson of excitement because the kettle in the homestead kitchen malfunctioned, tainting the boiled water and making a nasty smell of burning/melting plastic. To compound the excitement, when Ben tried to boil water in a couple of saucepans on the old stove it fused all the downstairs electrics.

Newly Golden Weathercock On The Homestead Garage

Karola’s 13 Red Beech

Oak Avenue Weather:5℃—12℃ no rain [75.1]

Quite a long expedition this morning, Bangle & Karola and me. Start of the week food of course plus Farmlands for more sheep nuts and to order a replacement set of sheep ear tags for the nine hoggets and a couple of the #400s.

Ostensibly the reason for re-doing the hogget tags was because the name was mis-spelled BLACKENBURY and after I’d attempted to correct with felt pen it was even less legible. The real reason is that for some reason this year I decided to only get the upper side of the tag printed. Usually I get the name and number on the outside of the male and female halves of a complete tag. With the writing only on the upper outside surface one spends way too much time waiting for a ewe to turn her head, staring at the empty side.

Then it was more dog biscuits for Bangle – the low energy ones made for “senior” dogs. This is so I can give Bangle heaped bowls of food every night without it all going to her waistline. Two handfuls of the “senior” biscuits and one of the Nutrients high-energy sort.

After lunch Jenny & Noel Hendery came to return a book Karola had lent Jenny. They had been to a luncheon nearby and this was on their way home to Napier. Noel and I got talking and it was a couple of hours before we were able to continue our plans for the day.

Not sure why it’s taken so long but we now anticipate having three apple trees in the Middle paddock next to the cottage, two cooking apples, a Bramley and a Ballarat, and a delicious eating apple, Cox Orange Pippin. I got the Bramley in our visit to Greenleaf Nurseries to get the Red Beech etc.

I called Greenleaf Nurseries earlier in the day and asked Dan to put aside a Cox Orange and a Ballarat apple tree for me to pick up later on. After the Henderys left I rushed over to pick up the trees. Dan had the Cox Orange Pippin but no Ballarats – he will get one in next week. Then i rushed off to GoldPine for 100m of deer netting and 50 metal standards – for the tree guards for the 16 English Lime trees.

I took Bangle round the orchard.

Oak Avenue Weather:6℃—14℃ no rain [75.5]

Sheep six lambs docked – separated into lambed and to-lamb.

Former back in One Acre & Front paddocks. Latter, where we can better observe them – the Middle/Totara/Long Acre paddocks.

Young marmalade neutered male cat arrives brought by Henare, our second attempt to adopt this potential rodent deterrent.

Henare came earlier with Scott to get un-chlorinated water and went off with a dog crate to transport the unfortunate cat.

Holes for thirteen Red Beech saplings dug. Soil still very damp.

Bangle round the 2/3 of orchard that isn’t just a messy mass of mud

One Acre – Another Early Clutch Of Pukeko Eggs

Thirteen Holes For Thirteen Red Beech Saplings

Root Trainer Red Beech Trees Heeled In For A Twelvemonth

Willows In Leaf – Sure Sign Spring Has Sprung

Oak Avenue Weather:-1℃—14℃ no rain [75.1]

Computer stuff most of the day – slow work, altering too many things at once which gets all our other iThings involved as well. Infuriating hiccups with Apple – temporary failures of its services around their comprehensive fencing-in of our computers using AppleIDs.

Took Bangle round the orchard but it was very muddy so had to wash her when we returned. As evinced by the racket starting at breakfast this morning, the orchardists were out spraying for their lives – after such rain with buds beginning to emerge there’s an increased risk of Black Spot. So, round the orchard the sprayers went, making a hell of a muddy mess. Hence Bangles sodden, mud-encrusted undercarriage.

Sheep checked late afternoon and ewe numbers tally – lambs probably stashed by their mums while foraging.

A few showers but beginning to dry out quite well.

Got some holiday photos from UK friend who set off on two holidays with his wife, daughter, and her family. A canal boat holiday in the Midlands and weeks in balmy Brittany. As Geoff said: “We rented a house in a small, very French village, St Suliac, a few miles outside St Malo”.

Anna too spent time recently in Brittany, photos on WhatsApp but I’m having trouble getting to it. Anyway she ends with an exasperated sigh, “Oh, Why BREXIT!”

My UK Mate Geoff Robinson – Narrowboat Holiday – Tiller In Hand

Overtaking In The Tunnel Not Recommended

Brittany – Dinan Near St Malo

Brittany – They Actually Walked Up To The Mont St Michel Abbey

Obviously Not Geoff’s Brittany House – Dinard Across The River From St Suliac

Oak Avenue Weather:7℃—12℃ no rain [75.6]

Still showers but water is subsiding quite rapidly.

I did the weekend shopping with Bangle – she slept through it. Also dropped by Mitre-10 and bought some better yellow paint for the weathercock, a new glue/sealant applicator and some fresh translucent water sealant. Also, because I thought of it with all the rain, I’ve got a few metres of “gutter whiskers”, like oversized bottle. brush that is allegedly the cat’s whiskers for keeping your gutters free of leaves. I’m not pleased with the mesh gutter protectors we’ve got at present – not only expensive but make it impossible to clean the gutter – all glued down – and they seem to be ideal for growing gutter grass and trees.

More configuring of the new computer – moving over our large photo library and song/video library – these are very large.

Went round the sheep with Karola and all present and correct. Buried little #825R who died the day he was born, on Wednesday. Then we went with Bangle round the orchard.

Oak Avenue Weather:8℃—12℃ 8,9mm rain [75.1]

No walk round the orchard today for Bangle but she happily bounced and sloshed about in the puddles.

Karl & Wendy O’Neale dropped in. We knew that Bruce Richardson had sold his business a week or so ago but didn’t know that Karl & Wendy had been let loose. So now they’re going to be a business in their own right, they’re getting a truck outfitted as a mobile shearing unit and should be ready for work next month. As Karl almost always does our sheep and has done for years, working for Bruce, we’re quite pleased we’ve just shed the middleman. We welcomed Karl and said yes of course he can do our sheep still.

I went with Karola for an eye examination with John Beaumont, my ophthalmologist. A lot of waiting around as usual, the whole thing took us 2½ hours. Nothing much wrong with Karola’s eyes except for the very common condition of “dry eye” and some cataract formation in one eye – nothing to worry about at present. Mind you, John’s bill did make Karola’s eyes water.

Main 121 Driveway

Back Drive From 133 Entrance

Front Drive From 133 Entrance

Malfunctioning Downpipes Make This Corner Bad

Homestead Front Circle Under Water

Homestead Cellar – Karola Is Right – It Does Get Flooded – About 300mm Deep

Oak Avenue Weather:8℃—12℃ 7.0mm rain [75.1]

So far quite enjoyable for us humans – not quite as much fun for the sheep but also appreciated by pukekos and geese. Not sure what the rabbits do. Quail looking a tad bedraggled. It’s not particularly cold but Bridget in Wellington warns of a nasty cold blast coming up from the south. In the afternoon, when the rain lessened briefly we took Bangle round the orchard, making several detours because the water was gumboot deep and little legs were just a bit too short.

Ewe #602, our only surviving sheep from 2016, had her first lambs this year – twins but one died a few hours later. Lamb #824E is pretty tiny and not looking very happy but her brother #825R didn’t make it. What a day to be born; they were on a bit of a rise behind the Canary Island pine, but still not much shelter. Surprised she didn’t go under the Macrocarpa or along one of the fence lines where it’s still dry. Older sheep seem more canny.

Forecast is for another couple of days of this heavy rain, it’s torrenting down right now.

Got some useful work done on setting up the new computer – it’s still going to take ages because, instead of just copying the whole old system onto the new hardware I’m taking the time to recreate the system with only what I now want, leaving behind the digital detritus of years and years.

Vet Services reminded us that Bangle needed a vaccine top-up so we took her there this afternoon and it’s now done for the next two years. Got fish & chips on the way home – avoided going right into town for any shopping. We’re still off coffee – although Karola confessed she’d dropped into Fuse in Stortford Lodge yesterday and had a coffee there. Hmmm.

Bangle The Water Spaniel

Middle Paddock – Swampland

Cottage Lawn Pool

Ha-Ha Backed Up From Roadside Deep Drain

Oak Avenue Weather:8℃—10℃ 45.9mm rain [75.2]

Having watched Michael Mosley’s TV programme, “The Truth About Sleep”, we tried with the blinds un-drawn – to be woken by the morning light. Karola ate kiwifruit, had a hot bath. We’ve foresworn coffee for this week anyway. Never did use electronic devices at bedtime. And we woke a little more refreshed than usual.

The best thing about the programme was that Dr Mosley admitted to insomnia, not on getting to sleep but on waking in the night and being unable to get back to sleep. Just like Karola, she is not alone. The worst was that the evidence keeps pouring in that getting enough good sleep is vital to staying healthy.

Woke to heavy showers and will go to bed with the same I think.

My recessed wiring boxes arrived today, three for three of the TVs that will be in the homestead. The fourth TV will not be wall mounted but will be part of my desk and computer screens setup – as it is now in the cottage. Two thirds the price of the recessed boxes recommended by Steve Laracy, our installer of the audio-visual wiring, and smaller too. But big enough for what I want, twin power points and openings for four cables: ethernet carrying the HDMI signal, ethernet to attach the TV to the Internet, cable to bring IR signal to the TV, and a coaxial cable in the unlikely event I want to get terrestrial TV via an aerial in the roof space. Despite my scepticism, Steve Laracy measured the signal in the roof space – a faraday cage of roofing iron – and said a normal terrestrial aerial would work just fine. The ethernet cable carrying the HDMI TV signal also sends IR signals back on the same cable.

The end result will provide each TV location with: power, HDMI TV video, Internet ethernet, IR (same as used by TV remotes) from the location to the AV control centre, and IR from the AV control centre (under the stairs) to the TV. And a coaxial cable from an aerial in the roof space, in case, just in case.

I am repainting the weathercock yellow so that it stands out. It was dark green which merged with the roof coloured Karaka green. It’s proving hard to paint, I’m ready for the fourth coat and the green is still showing through, but I shall persevere, try to get it back up before Gill & Ben arrive next week – it was a gift from them and sits on the top of the homestead garage western gable end.

Spent a while doing legal paperwork for Karola – our local finance man, Chris day of Forsyth-Barr, is nagging us for agreement to our “risk profiles”. And NatWest in the UK are relentless in finding out if we are money launderers.

Chatted to Iain Middleton today, musing over whether I should get more involved with the Basic Income group, BINZ. No decision yet.

Late afternoon I spent ages hitching up the orchard mower to the Fergie before laying waste to the undergrowth on the right-hand side (looking out) of the 133 entrance – where we expect to plant our Red Beech trees.

Karola took Bangle round the orchard – very slowly, Bangle dawdled.

Oh, and ewe #501 had ram twins, #822R and #823R – both drinking OK when I inspected them at dusk.

The Clearing For The Second Red Beech Grove

Oak Avenue Weather:9℃—13℃ 35.1mm rain [75.0]

Ewe #327’s lamb #819E died overnight – pretty much inevitable – and I buried her with a dead pukeko Karola breought back from the orchard last week.

Rest of the sheep seem in good shape. I let the ewes without lambs from the Middle paddock back in under the big oak for the morning.

Quick shop before lunch. Too hot to take Bangle.

Karola is donating some of her less desirable books to the local Lions – for charitable disposal. I have to check first and rescue books I like, such as all the Susan Susanker books on the “Not So Big House” and the odd thriller and SciFi novel.

I “solved” the immediate problem with water from the east verandah gutter – which actually takes water from the entire north-facing homestead roofs as well – by pop-rivetting a length of alkathene pipe to the gutter outlet, guiding the water away several metres from the house.

Noticed that the two corners in the east verandah gutter are leaking a little so I tried to fix using an old tube of sealant – pretty much a disaster and I wrecked the old gloves I was wearing as well as the sealant dispenser.

Meticulous Maids came today and cleaned the homestead in preparation for Gill & Ben’s visit next week.

Karola got some pork sausages (Freedom Farms) from New World and cooked them slowly – just like I remember the bangers in “bangers and mash” used to be, so, as sausages go, delicious. Gluten free too, of course.

Welcome swallows are nesting on the cottage garage wall, as I’d hoped. Ducks and Paradise Geese drop in now and then, and a grating squark alerted me to a pair of grey herons circling the canary island pine last night.

Phoned Lowell Manning for a chat this evening, he that was defenestrated from presidency of Basic Income New Zealand recently.
(Lowell Manning – 04 298 6890, 022 344 3229 manning@kapiti.co.nz)

Oak Avenue Weather:7℃—19℃ 9.9mm rain [75.4]

Checked the sheep. Lamb #819E, the small weak one, seemed too calm but when I went to pick it up to take it to the death pit it raised its head. It is nice and warm and seems to have been fed so maybe suggestions that it was deceased were a tad exaggerated. We hope so.

After that I took Bangle round the orchard although I bet she’ll pretend to forget and ask to go round again in the afternoon.

Then it was time to get the ewes without lambs into the yards, well only the nine hoggets actually, and insert their adult ear tags – in the left ear. For the very first time this year they mis-spelled our name on these tags so I overwrote the BLa… with BRa… in fine-tipped permanent black marker pen.

We discussed a plan for planting the 60 or so new trees. Karola has decided against an avenue of trees stretching north from the ha-ha to the far fence so instead I’ll put them down the north side of the Front paddock, giving them each plenty of room as the adult English lime trees are quite wide.

The Bramley cooking apple is going near the persimmon in the Middle paddock, between the farm shed and the cottage. The two Monkey Puzzles are intended to increase the group of Araucariaceae in the Middle paddock, over by the tap and sheep trough south of the cottage. Kauri, Candelabra tree, and now Monkey Puzzles.

Karola cleared one of her raised garden beds and planted out the 29 Red Beech trees in root trainers, leaving us only 13 Red Beech to plant on the right-hand side of the 133 gateway, reflecting the 40 Red Beech planted last year on the left.

I attended to the cleaning out of the gutter of the homestead east verandah = made much easier by the removal of very prickly roses along the perimeter.

I sent an email last night to plumber Gareth, copying builder Paul and draughtswoman Ruth. The latter two went without incident but Gareth’s was rejected very firmly by Yahoo who insisted that I was sending from a spamming server, that is, my mailroom at AceWebHosting had a very bad repuatation and was blocked, permanently. Oh well, another trouble ticket now opened at AceWebHosting. Meanwhile I asked Peter Offenberger if he would please send it on to Gareth from his mailbox. No point in asking Bridget as her mail boxes are at AceWebHosting too.

Once A Decade Gutter Cleaning

Oak Avenue Weather:7℃—19℃ no rain [75.0]

Spent quite a while strolling round the paddocks trying to count the ewes and lambs, Bangle by my side. Finally, finally got the right numbers.

Then it was the day for digging the next trench – using the water pipe laid many years ago in anticipation of having the pump in the homestead garage. That pipe will bring water from the garden supply (the pump and well by the cottage) to the rainwater tanks and Gareth will fit a ballcock, to ensure the tanks don’t drop below the level needed by the pump, however long the drought. He’ll also include another garden tap next to the first rainwater tank.

Karola, who had been pursuing her Richardson research most of the day, had a breather and took Bangle round the orchard.

Karola & I spent a little time pondering the current way rainwater from the house roof is supposed to get into the tanks. It looks likely that the pipes are currently blocked with leaves etc.

Lovely Old Claret Ash – First Big Tree Bud-Break Every Year

Trench Intended For Pipe To Automatic Rainwater Tank Backup Supply

Oak Avenue Weather:6℃—20℃ no rain [75.4]