Monthly Archives: February 2019

Start Of Ian’s & Bridget’s Month of Semi-Fasting

Henare and Scott laboured on, clearing the fence line for the reconstruction of the inner boundary fence – switching bedraggled netting for new 7-wire and batten fence.

Karola & I exhausted after the week of visitors. I had an optometrist appointment mid morning and was delighted to hear that my sight is actually very good and hasn’t changed since measured in 2012, and again two years ago. My replacement glasses will be ready next week.

Anna sent us photos of the unseasonal warmth in England and of Felix in Scotland at St Andrews University. “Next year Felix will be in a private rented house and those two glamour pusses will be his house mates”, says his mother Anna, (see the photo below).

I whipped off to GoldPine and got 100 battens, 700m of #8 wire, some more staples for the fence-building project, Henare & Scott. Meanwhile Karola gave them baked beans on toast for lunch.

Ealing In Winter? Very Odd – Crocus Blooms In February

Felix With Flat Mates At The St Andrews University Ball

Oak Avenue Weather:5℃—20℃ no rain [76.6]

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Peace And Quiet – Sortof

Joan left after breakfast but will be back for Horse of the Year Show in March – which will be good.

Henare and Scott came round before lunch and put in seven hours deconstructing the inner netting boundary fence along the western boundary, from Karola’s concrete trough up to the corner by my runner beans. I wasn’t expecting to do this until the winter but Henare has been off work for weeks and craves a little cash so we moved it forward and he should have just enough time to finish it before returning to work next week. He’s had a hip replacement and a damaged knee, and now he’s considering having the other hip done too.

The netting will be replaced by seven-wire and batten fence using the existing posts.

We drove Julia to the airport and had a bite to eat. At her request we left after our lunch together and she settled down to read a book until her flight in a couple of hours time. On the way home we dived into New World at Taradale and got fish & meat & bread, a paper and berry friand for Karola and an iced coffee for me.

My new Withings (“why-things”) Nokia scales came today – they say they’ll send each weighing to my iPhone over WiFi and I hope to automate that to add to a daily chart for me and Bridget and Dave, Anna’s partner.

HOY – Horse Of The Year Show

Oak Avenue Weather:13℃—27℃ no rain [77.0] IBOrchard

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Mostly Chatting

Joan & Julia here for another couple of days.

Joan had friends to see so went off after breakfast. Julia, Karola, and I went to Birdwood Cafe on Middle road for lunch. We didn’t time it terribly well. The best GF item had run out, the ice-cream counter was closed, and there was a 45 minute wait for our meals. But they were quite delicious when they finally arrived. And we decamped for Rush Munro’s in Hastings for our desserts which was very probably a better option anyway.

On the way out of Birdwood we bumped into Joan, in a gap between visits, just having a coffee and look round the antique shop.

Dinner was a rotisserie chicken bought by Joan. Just too much food for me, but I managed to gorge myself, again.

Evening slightly marred by Julia taking enormous umbrage about a remark I made about her deceased brother Rab, relating to the reason he was deported from the UK when a whole lot of us went to Moscow for the weekend, for Frank & Marina Wilson’s wedding back in 1980s.

Karola, Joan, and I watched a television programme about art and the Pacific – this episode about Australia – which contained much information that was new to us.

Karola & I are enjoying the second and third detection novels by Jane Harper. We read her first success, The Dry, some time ago, Anna asked us about the others a few weeks ago so we got them and are reading them now. Very well paced, hard to put down, Force of Nature and The Lost Man.

Oak Avenue Weather:7℃—20℃ no rain [76.6]

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Tax Prep In To Accountants

Kirsty & Jane left for Wellington after breakfast leaving only Joan from the weekend party. I then belatedly did the SwimGym thing. The rain continued from overnight well into the morning, turning into occasional heavy showers all day.

Sally Richie ferried Julia Van der Noot (nee Wilson, also Bruce & Joint) to us.

Karola & I set out in the Zoe to deliver the completed tax preparations to our accountants in Havelock North and pick up a few things for the start of the week.

After lunch a couple of Joan’s friends, the ladies Armstrong who came to look at the pictures in Karamu painted by Juliet Bowen. Juliet, an artist, stayed at Karamu for several months in the 1980s. Juliet was a relation of the Armstrongs. The Armstrongs joined Joan, Julia, and Karola for afternoon tea in the cottage.

I got us all fish & chips for dinner from Hawkes bay Fish Supply. They are usually quite good but this time, although the fish was OK the batter and chips were soggy. Recent court cases, ownership & staff changes may have something to do with it.

Flowers Caught My Eye At Emma The Dog Groomer’s Place

Oak Avenue Weather:6℃—16℃ 7.7mm rain [76.6]

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Much Merriment & Feasting

The gang had breakfast and then dispersed on more reunion business. I took Bangle at 11:00am for her treat at Emma’s Dog Grooming: bath, coat-thinning, toenails, ears, and teeth – emerging a sparkling clean dog. I might make this an annual event, maybe in the spring so she gets the benefit of a reduced coat in the summer heat.

After I dropped off Bangle for her two-hour grooming I, in the Landrover, loitered at the entrance to Black Barn restaurant waiting for Karola & Jane & Joan to arrive. I ferried them up a steep hill to their lunch appointment which was a cheese tasting followed by light lunch. As I still had an hour to fill I treated myself to another superb Black Barn meal – this time it was baked snapper rather than pork. Delicious but not good for the waistline I’m sure.

Back home I finished the preparation of our tax returns input to the accountants – for 2017/2018. Whew, just in time as the deadline is 31st March.

Since then, more food, more conversations – a good time was had by all I think.

My UK mate Geoff Robinson sent a photo, his idea of a quiet afternoon minding the grandchildren. Anna’s ex Mark Florent sent a nice photo of Anna’s Felix with his two younger half-siblings, Charlie & Sophie.

“Dolly Rawlin’s Gang (Lynda LaPlante)

Grandpa Robinson Displaying Irrational Exuberance Somewhere In England

My Grandson Felix With His Half-Twins

Oak Avenue Weather:11℃—20℃ 30.9mm rain [76.0]

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Woodford 125th Reunion

The gang set off after breakfast and were out most of the day attending a variety of reunion events – photo sessions, chapel, film, and so on. In the evening they went to Margie Maxwell’s – just their class – for an evening meal returning home late and perhaps a little tipsy, chatting until after midnight – or so it seemed.

Meanwhile I made progress on our 2017/2018 tax preparations which need to be in to the accountant very soon.

Dave’s Kind Photo Of Meal At Cote’s In Ealing – Can’t Wait For August

Oak Avenue Weather:11℃—22℃ 0.8mm rain [76.1] IBOrchard

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Karola’s Schoolfriends Arrive

After breakfast I did eventually go to SwimGym then, just before lunch, did the weekend shopping of which there was very little because Karola’s organising for the “reunion gals” staying for the weekend had covered most of the bases. Also gave Zoe a car wash to pretty her up for the weekend ahead.

Laura Wier dropped in just after I got back to retrieve her white animal trough. She came over to Hawkes bay to supervise the transport of an complete kitchen she bought on TradeMe for $1000. Laura is renovating her house in Palmerston North in preparation for selling it. She is no stranger to the buying of second-hand kitchens having done the same for the farm cottage she lives in at Burleigh in Bulls.

We had morning tea and I showed Laura round some of the smallholding before helping her load the white trough into her car.

Early afternoon Jane Johnson and Kirsty Faulkner arrived; Wendy Shanahan & Carol-Jean Crawford turned up late afternoon to complete the quorum. Kirsty. Wendy, and Carol-Jean went off almost immediately to a cocktail party at Woodford House. Several hours later we all regrouped in the cottage for ice cream dessert.

Laura Tests The Temperature

Oak Avenue Weather:18℃—28℃ 6.4mm rain [75.6]

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Cruise Ship Visitors

Joan, Karola, and I went off in the Zoe to meet the Americans at 10:00am at the Napier Information Centre on Marine Parade. This couple, Caryn Hasslocher & Tony Koch, live in Houston and Caryn is Susan Hasslocher’s sister. Oh, and Susan is married to one of the Stanniforth family in Texas, the family that Karola’s brother Kaz stayed with for a year back in 1965 while on an American Field Scholarship.

Caryn & Tony came on the Viking Orion, a Viking Cruise around ports in Australia and New Zealand. USA passengers were flown to and from the end points; in New Zealand their cruise took them to Dunedin, Christchurch, Wellington, Napier, Tauranga, and Auckland.

We met and all had coffee on a pavement table in down town Napier. We then left Joan to explore and took the visitors a scenic route to Karamu along the coast road and via Clive. We think they appreciated seeing a little of the unvarnished real Hawkes Bay with its orchards and crops.

We returned Caryn & Tony to their party and picked up Joan then deciding to reconnoitre Karola’s class reunion Sunday lunch being held at 79 Black Barn road, Havelock North. We’d looked at it via Google Maps satellite but thought it bore a closer look.

Route survey complete we were just leaving down the Black Barn road when we decided, seeing as we were passing, that we’d give ourselves a treat and have a meal at the Black Barn restaurant. Delicious meal, really delicious and we followed it up by stopping at Rush Munro’s in Hastings on the way home and having ice-creams.

Meanwhile, the ChemWash man, who came promptly at 1:00pm as planned, had to use his initiative and wash the cottage exterior without us. We arrived home just as he was packing up, having completely forgotten about his appointment. Rather like the cinema outing we missed with Peter & Charlotte on Tuesday. Let’s hope it was just the excitement of all the visitors.

Viking Orion Cruise – February 2019

IMG_7984.png

Black Barn – Lunch Amongst The Vines

Oak Avenue Weather:15℃—31℃ no rain [75.7] KBOrchard

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What A Spectacle

SwimGym

Strange day. Last night I realised I’d mislaid my reading glasses. This morning after gym and breakfast I combed the ground under trees that I’d pushed through when mowing last evening. I found them, as usual, in the last place I looked and they must have been plucked off my chest and fallen under the tractor.

A few calls later I understood that the originals cost $1000 and our insurance excess payment is $400 – so worth making a claim. Filled in a claim form and sent it along with the picture below to our broker.

Karola had a doctor’s appointment at 10:30am so I drove her in and did the mid-week shopping while she had her appointment.

Joan said she had a companion in the night, a possum. However I identified the spoor she saw in the downstairs bath as rat droppings, not possum. We know she’s right and there’s a possum living in the walls so that means she has possum and rats for company.

I remembered that Charlotte had sent me a photo of Gill munching on her (Charlotte’s) 2019 runner beans last month – sent it to some weird account I seem to have on WhatsApp but never look at. So today I downloaded the WhatsApp app and lo, there it was (see below). And my runner beans and raspberries are long over.

Joan, Karola, Bangle, and I walked leisurely round the orchard this evening, Joan picking up Galaxy organic apples for the five schoolmates coming here on Friday, staying for the weekend while they all attend the Woodford House reunion.

Gill Tucking Into Charlotte’s Crisp Runner Beans

My $1000 Reading Glasses – Having Seen Better Days

Oak Avenue Weather:13℃—31℃ no rain [75.5] IKBOrchard

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Joan Phillips Arrives

Had another enjoyable morning improving my “weight watching webpage” program – when I should have been getting on with our tax preparation.

Karola’s window cleaning man came at lunchtime and cleaned all the homestead windows that can be accessed without ladders.

Joan Phillips arrived as planned around 2:00pm. Cynthia Chalmers dropped in and the three classmates chatted all afternoon while I hid upstairs.

Got Karola’s GST return done and cleared the backlog of email and online admin including a chat with our insurance broker, Dean Sewell.

Bangle took us all, me, Karola, and Joan round the orchard.

After dinner I did another hour of mowing finishing off the Goose paddock and doing most of the area under the trees near the sheep yards.

Got a call after 8:30pm – we were supposed to meet Peter & Charlotte at the cinema in Havelock North but we forgot all about it. Embarrassing and a pity because it was Karola’s last chance to see “Mary Queen of Scots” for a while.

Oak Avenue Weather:11℃—26℃ no rain [75.7] IKBOrchard

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Jenny & Noel For Dinner

SwimGym while Karola did the Monday shopping.

I called Grayson Allen’s PA and he was scheduled to come this afternoon to restart the cottage central heating, but he didn’t arrive.

Bart Leslie called in, from the Hastings District Council. He’s organising the road frontage along our strip of Oak Avenue to be cut and sprayed. He hopes it will become lawn like the rest of Oak Avenue verges. (bartgl@hdc.govt.nz 06-871-500).

Drove the tractor and attached Caravaggi mulcher down to Hawkes Bay Tractor Dismantlers. Part of the trouble is that I am not starting it correctly. On the old tractor I revved up the tractor and used its PTO clutch to gently take the strain, otherwise without the high revs the tractor just stalled. On the new tractor the same technique applies too much power to the PTO and the emergency clutch on the end of the PTO screeches in protest, I am supposed to start the PTO off while idling. I may have damaged the emergency clutch so it’s staying with HBTD for the time being while they have a look. Kerry, the owner, likes the odd problems I bring him including the mangled gate which he thinks will be fixable with a bend here, a weld there.

Henare came with some relations: sister Aira, brother Poppy (George), Poppy’s wife Pania and their daughter Joyce. They were relaxing after a morning at the Napier Maori Land Court and picked a few plums to while away the time.

Meticulous Maids came around 1:30pm and did a good clean of the homestead ready for Karola’s guests on Friday. And Joan Phillips rang to say she is arriving tomorrow, not Thursday.

Jenny & Noel came from Napier on their electric bikes, stayed for dinner. I got fish & chips, Jenny brought salad, Karola donated some of her secret store of Rush Munro ice-cream.

After dinner I mowed most of the Goose paddock and around the gateways near he farm shed.

Oak Avenue Weather:12℃—28℃ no rain [75.6] IKBOrchard

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Simple Chart Using JavaScript – Great Fun

Had a most enjoyable morning not doing Karola’s GST, not doing our personal tax now due, not even the Sunday chores, but instead constructing a web page to chart my and Bridget’s weights day by day.

In the afternoon I did one of the little tasks that’s been hanging round for a long. time, putting the cats whisker gutter guard in the eat gutter of the farm shed.

Henare TXTed that he was $16 short on paying his electricity bill so I paid it online for him.

After dinner I did set the possum trap and two rat traps – the GoodNature automatic traps. I hope to get rid of the possums in the homestead before Karola’s schoolmates come next Thursday/Friday and also reduce the rat population a little – but there’s so much rat food around and the rat population is so numerous that one can but make small inroads.

Farm Shed Lean-To – Considerable Tree Litter

Lean-To With Litter Cleared & Cats Whisker Guards In The Gutter

Oak Avenue Weather:11℃—22℃ no rain [75.1] IKBOrchard

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Sheep Protected With Magnum

Two major activities today, attending to the sheep, and mulching up the piles of tree trash left over from my firewood cutting earlier in the week.

It takes quite a while to man-handle the Caravaggi mulcher onto the tractor but I got that done before lunch.

We got the ram and ram lamb into the yards and sprayed them liberally with Magnum to prevent fly strike and kill lice, should they have any. We then got all 33 ewes and lambs into the yards and likewise sprayed them with Magnum. Withholding for meat, zero days – which is why it is much to be preferred over the toxic Zapp liquid wit a 54 day withholding.

Mid afternoon until the evening I took the tractor and mulcher from place to place and chopped up the piles of branches. The mulcher makes a terrible noise when warming up and also jams quite frequently so I plan to take it in to Hawkes Bay Tractor Dismantlers next week.

Oak Avenue Weather:10℃—26℃ no rain [75.2] KBOrchard

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Karola & Janet Lunch At Bostock’s

SwimGym with Karola

Regular quarterly appointment with practice nurse & doctor – my diabetes has been so well under control for so long that Richard thinks I might almost be classified as “cured” of this incurable condition. Blood pressure on the low side at 107/60 – which is good.

Then the weekend food shop and off home with coffees and a GF cheesecake. Meanwhile Karola & neighbour Janet Scott are lunching at Bostock’s Organic Kitchen – John came over and said hello. Janet & Karola returned home and we shared the cheesecake – delicious if not calorie-free.

Later i went to Carters in Omahu road – they do car wheels & tyres – and they’ll investigate what they would charge to make me a wheel and second-hand tyre to fit the Zoe. I’m hoping itll be less than the $550 from the outfit in Christchurch – their quote came through today.

Trevor from OutdoorPower called back and said Karola’s Grillo ride-on mower is inAuckland – has arrived from Italy – and should be delivered to us in the next week or so.

Late afternoon I finished installing the irrigation for the micro-fruit-orchard and fixed three more breaks in the pipe watering the Bay tree hedge.

Oak Avenue Weather:16℃—27℃ 0.2mm rain [74.8] KBOrchard

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Tidying Up With A Chainsaw

Busy day. Mid morning I began chopping up various branches that have been waiting for some time to be cleared away:

  • The heavy oak branch that damaged one of the 121 gateway gates. These are old gates and the style is unobtainable so either we get it fixed or buy two new gates.
  • The second dead Pittosporum on the corner of the Goose/Ram paddock, on the turn towards the cottage. We don’t know why these tall “pitto”s just suddenly die, they’re not even 20 years old.
  • Branch that fell off one of the big Elm trees in the Goose/Ram paddock.
  • Suddenly dead large Cabbage Tree in the planting area west of the One Acre paddock. At the base it was beginning to sprout again so there’s hope of regrowth
  • 3-metre tall Karamu next to the young Liriodendron Karola planted in the north-east corner of the One Acre paddock.
  • Fallen branches along the eastern (Avenue) side of the Front paddock, under the Wellingtonian, amongst the Eucalypts, and under the English Lime tree,

Hanare came round for more plums and for me to settle his account with his electricity company online – he gives me cash, I pay using Internet banking, and he doesn’t need to go to town to pay in person. Karola said that as the firewood was on the big trailer why not take it to Henare’s sister now, avoid double handling, because we have more firewood than we can use by far.

So, Henare and I set off in the Landrover for Aira’s place in Tamatea, dropped off the wood, took a short side trip to the Napier Mitre-10 where I bought myself some irrigation drippers (inserts for the irrigation pipe that release about 4 litres of water an hour), a paper for Karola and coffees for me and Henare.

After dinner Karola & I lifted up the tree guards on the seven fruit trees in our micro-orchard, weeded round the trees, and laid the irrigation pipe. It was so dark by then that we just lowered the guards – to stop the sheep damaging the fruit trees – and will finish the watering line at the weekend. The trees don’t seem to be under water stress yet even though it hasn’t rained properly for a while and we haven’t watered them for weeks.

Couple Of Hours Chainsawing – More Firewood

Lets See If Kerry At Hawkes Bay Tractor Dismantlers Can Straighten The Gate

Oak Avenue Weather:13℃—28℃ no rain [74.9] IKBOrchard

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Bacon Treat – Tsk, Tsk

SwimGym with Karola

After breakfast – which included a lot of bacon, preservative free, left by Bridget when she visited – we, including Bangle, did the mid-week shopping and then on the way home iced coffee for Karola & latte for me.

Two breaks in the Bay tree irrigation pipe along the cottage fence are fixed and they, along with the Manuka, have been irrigated all day and night.

Water turned off for the runner bean enclosure and Swamp Cypress trees – they’ve had 48 hours.

Mostly more computer work when not dozing or reading. When we went round the orchard Karola picked up a couple of fallen fruit and she split them and found they were ripe so maybe picking will begin soon.

Henare came and got plums and borrowed Karola’s lawn mower, returning it early evening.

Oak Avenue Weather:12℃—29℃ no rain [74.7] IKBOrchard

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Autumn Morning, But It’s Mid Summer

At daybreak the mist hung heavy over the plains and overnight temperatures were down around 10-15 degrees, just what we’d expect in autumn, late March.

Ivan Alach (our electrician – semi-retired) dropped in hoping to wire up the three plugs I’d requested n the homestead but as part of the reinstating of the mantlepieces in the Living & Dining rooms (work on the woodburner installation deferred until March) he’s not able to get into the chimney space to run the wires. So we gave him a coffee and he chatted for about an hour.

I began watering the Manuka bushes along the railings between the farm shed and cottage. All the drippers are working and there are no breaks in the pipe. The pipe continues on to water the bay tree hedge along the cottage garden fence and it had two breaks in the pipe.

Had some success with my computer, finally getting some automation items to work, finally found how to cope with the much strengthened security built into Apple’s latest software, Mojave. It may be more secure but it’s a lot less convenient.

My crabapple next to the septic tank is looking decidedly desiccated so I watered it well for an hour, hope it recovers.

In the afternoon I drove Karola in to see the doctor, just a regular checkup

After dinner I mowed the cottage lawns.

Heavy Mist Shrouds The Trees

Oak Avenue Weather:12℃—28℃ no rain [75.3] IBOrchard

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A Weed Is Just A Plant In The Wrong Place

SwimGym while Karola did the shopping. It rained quite hard for an hour or so but the afternoon was hot, muggy, and rain-free.

In the afternoon attacked the tangle of raspberry canes and runner beans now that both have finished. An experiment to see if either one re-grows and has another harvest.

Neighbour Janet Scott called in for a chat and we gave her some of the plums off our gnarled old Santa Rosa tree near the big oak. She came bearing news, which Karola had already discovered, of a snippet sent in to the local newspaper, Hawkes Bay Today. Janet did say she thought the plane tree might be on her frontage.

Not only are the Keirunga Park trees a mess, HDC [Hastings District Council] should come and look at Ormond Rd or Oak Avenue as it is called. It is just a disgrace, blackberry, old man’s beard, periwinkle, and above all one of the beautiful plane trees has sucking ivy growing metrs up into the tree. There has been nothing done for years.

Well, it’s true our frontage and indeed all under the oaks is a mass of periwinkle and blackberry, the better to discourage trespassers, but the ivy and old man’s beard is on council roadside. “Fame at last Jim, but not as we know it”, with apologies to Mr Spock of Star Trek, although “Life Jim, but not as we know it” is one of several Star Trek quotes that do not appear in the transcript of any actual Star Trek episode.

The Jungle That Is Our North-West Corner

The Runner Bean Enclosure – End Of Season Clear-Out

Large Bark Slab Fallen From Dead Eucalypt

Oak Avenue Weather:12℃—24℃ 2.2mm rain [75.6] IKBOrchard

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Brackenbury Planned Trip To UK In 2019

Sunday but because FlightCentre are having a weekend-long “expose” or something they’re open today. I’ve checked that the price of our tickets isn’t badly out of line with online offers. As recommended by Annie Gibson, our FlightCentre agent, I signed Karola and me up for Emirates

Skywards Rewards (loyalty club) membership and also bought cheap Grab-A-Seat tickets for the leg from Auckland back to Napier. Got the version that allows for shifting the flight earlier or later on the same day – a new-to-me innovation on the Air New Zealand site. For $20 each we’re protected against late arrival of our inbound Emirates flight or being held up in Immigration or Customs.

Not sure who we’ll be able to see while we’re in the UK. It seems quite a long time but already we have plans for visiting Warsaw to see Karola’s relations for a few days and we have a Scottish quest. The quest is to visit each of the places that billeted Karola’s mum, Cynthia, during World War II. And Anna is to take us for a short stay with the other grandmother in Boulogne. Will have to play the rest by ear once we’re there I think.

Finished installing the Lime tree avenue irrigation and it appears to work well. Karola helped replace the tree guards and all that’s left is to re-wire the guards firmly to their supports so that sheep do not dislodge them by rubbing up against them.

Karola’s cousin Henare called and came round as it was getting dark to pick more plums for his wife Denise – apparently Denise really likes our plums.

Brackenbury UK Trip 2019

UK Trip Dates

Leave NZ on Thursday 22nd August at around 10;30am, that’s 11:30pm on Wednesday 21st in London

Arriving home on Thursday 19th September at around 1:30pm, that’s 2:30am on the same day in London

Flights
Outbound
22Aug: 12:10pm (arr. 1:15pm) JetStar JQ0354 NPE-AKL (Auckland)
Long wait, Emirates lounge opens 4:00pm – 8:00pm
22Aug: 8:30pm (arr. 5:35am on 23rd) Emirates EK0449 AKL-DXB (Dubai)
23Aug: 8:00am (arr.12:35pm) Emirates EK0015 DXB-LGW (Gatwick)
Returning
17Sep: 8:15pm (arr. 6:40am on 18th) Emirates EK0024 EDI-DXB (Dubai)
18Sep: 10:05am (arr. 9:50am on 19th) Emirates EK0448 DXB-AKL (Auck.)
19Sep: 11:50am (arr. 12:55pm) Air New Zealand NZ5011 AKL-NPE (Napier)

Record Locators (Booking References)
NPE-AKL JetStar: TMLPVK
AKL-LGW Emirates: tbd
EDI-AKL Emirates: tbd
AKL-NPE Air New Zealand: XBIT6H (Karola), XGF38H (Ian)
Annie Gibson, FlightCentre Hastings tel:0800-864-278

Notes

House Sitting
Anthony Fletcher: 21st August – 20th September inclusive

Emirates Skywards Loyalty Club Memberships
Ian:….. EK 625 315 460
Karola: EK 625 315 493

Key Dates
Ram in on 13th May, first lambs due 7th October
Felix returns to Uni on 19th September

The Lime Avenue – From This …

… To This

Oak Avenue Weather:17℃—24℃ no rain [76.0]

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UK Trip 2019 Tickets Booked

We went to FlightCentre and spoke to our rep, Annie, who was able to find us quite good flights there and back, the main issue being rather a long stopover in Auckland on the way to England – but on the other hand Karola rather likes being in oodles of time.

We go from Napier to Auckland (JetStar), wait for six hours, then on to Dubai and ever on to London (Emirates). As suggested by Anna we leave the UK from Edinburgh and go directly from there to Dubai and on to Auckland (Emirates again), picking up a cheap and convenient Air New Zealand flight from Auckland back to Napier. Leave 22nd August, getting back home on 19th September.

The six hour wait in Auckland isn’t so bad because the airline lounge opens soon after we land in Auckland and Karola insists on having some leeway in case our designated flight is delayed. Although it’s the last JetStar flight to get to Auckland in time there are Air New Zealand flights after that almost every hour which gives Karola the backup she wants.

Karola invited Chris Ormond round to pick plums. He and his two daughters came and picked and, as he TXTed, “barely made a dent” in the fruit laden old Santa Rosa plum tree.

Late afternoon I did a bit more of the Lime tree irrigation scheme, the hard part of weeding all the circles round each tree is done.

13mm Black Irrigation Pipe Snakes Its Way From Tree To Tree

Oak Avenue Weather:11℃—23℃ no rain [76.0] IKBOrchard

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Pleasant Summer’s Day

SwimGym

Weekend shopping

More weeding of the 16 lime trees before I lay the irrigation pipe and replace the tree guards.

Barbary Dove (Ringed Turtle Dove) At Dusk

Oak Avenue Weather:11℃—22℃ no rain [75.9] IKBOrchard

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Patrick & Lis Cooney Come For Their Boxes

SwimGym – making up for not going yesterday

Quiet morning, dozing & reading, then in the afternoon Patrick & Lis Cooney came over for cuppa, chat, and to uplift a couple of boxes of old family books that Lis had parked here some years ago when they were moving house in Hamoana. As with Karola’s old books, the chances of anyone reading them are slim. In Lis’ case the boxes are going to St Lukes for re-distribution.

Karola & I continued the installation of a water pipe and drippers for the 16 Lime trees (Tilia) – although as Karola suggested, we’d best take the tree guards right off and use the opportunity to weed inside the tree guard circles.

Weeding The Avenue Of Limes

Oak Avenue Weather:13℃—21℃ no rain [76.0] IBOrchard

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Bridget, Natalie, and Alex Return To Wellington

Another late start, and as it is Waitangi Day and a public holiday I didn’t go to the gym today. Over-weight and under-exercised, time I did something about it.

We all, except Bangle, went into town and had lunch at the cafe at New World where I did the mid-week shopping and Bridget’s girls stocked up for the ride home. We heard they’d arrived safely late afternoon.

Gentle rain started just before breakfast and continued, more on than off, all day.

Big news for us today is that Gill & Ben have settled on where they’re going to live next, the Kapiti Coast – they’ll brave the congestion and find a small pleasant house with views of the countryside, but perhaps not of sea and Kapiti Island because they want to be on the flat out of the erosion, extreme weather event and tsunami zone (areas also prone to very high insurance). And Gill & Ben have had superb views from Seatoun Heights for the last 30 years anyway. They’ve started house hunting.

The temperature so different from the last couple of weeks that Karola lit a fire – it’s less than half what it was yesterday.

Oak Avenue Weather:13℃—20℃ 3.6mm rain [76.2] IKBOrchard

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Attending To The Lime Trees

Karola finished clearing a path along the west side of the homestead garage, allowing Bridget & the girls to complete their water-blasting & brush-scrubbing of the homestead garage walls.

Bridget & the girls went off for brunch again at Lappuccinos.

Preparing for Bridget & I to lay the irrigation pipe to the Lime trees I tractor mowed round each tree guard and round the perimeter of the rectangle holding the Limes. It was hot and both I and the tractor had to cool down every now and then. In the case of the tractor each time the radiator got a coating of grass seeds it began to boil quickly regaining its equilibrium though once thew seeds were cleared.

Later the visitors went off to Napier for their third and final escape room hame at the old Napier prison. This time they nearly escaped, but not quite. Alex then bought an acoustic guitar she’s been saving for for a while. She knew exactly which guitar she wanted and the prices in Napier were keener than Wellington.

Big family dinner.

Afterwards, as Bridget & the girls watched yet another Sherlock in the homestead on one of my new TVs, a possum made a lot of noise in the wall between the hall and downstairs bathroom, chewing and pushing something solid about. I banged on the wall which shut him up for a while.

As dusk fell I snipped the three wires holding each Lime tree guard in place so that I can thread the irrigation pipe through each guard and position the dripper right next to the sapling. I had hoped to just slide the pipe under but it was not to be.

Karola Cleared Path For The Water-Blasting Team

Hasn’t Been That Clean For A Dozen Years

Natalie & Alex Carve Their Names In The Concrete Grime With The New Waterblaster

Pathways Tractor-Mowed On Three Sides Of One Acre Paddock

Grand Grand-Daughter Mowing Round The 16 Lime Trees

Oak Avenue Weather:12℃—31℃ no rain [76.2] IBOrchard

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Waterblasting Works

SwimGym but not until after breakfast – meanwhile the others went to Lappuccino (was Omahu Road Bay Espresso) for brunch.

Bridget & the girls assembled the new water blaster and worked away at the homestead garage – with Bridget actually brushing the boards first to loosen the dirt it made a big transformation, but after all the garage outside hasn’t been cleaned for a decade.

Karola made inroads into the thickets of weeds along the west side of the homestead garage, clearing enough so that tomorrow the water blasting can do that end.

Henare came for more plums for Denise. He attached an extension to the already 2.4 metre catcher pole so was getting up very high, higher than a Hydralada would reach.

Bridget, Natalie, Alex, and I went to Napier and all played the escape room game at the Napier Prison. The grand-daughters did all the work, Bridget mostly supervised adroitly, Natalie was the brain box.

Then back home via Woolworths, now renamed Countdown.

Meticulous maids came and cleaned the cottage this afternoon.

Another of my short row of Pittosporums, on the corner leading from the 121 drive to the farm shed and cottage, has died. That makes three and leaves five. Maybe they’re just rather short-lived trees, well big shrubs really.

After dinner (Bridget did GF crumbed fish – very good), Bridget and I started planning how to lay irrigation for the 16 Lime trees which must be getting pretty thirsty by now.

Oak Avenue Weather:12℃—25℃ no rain [75.8] IKBOrchard

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Bridget & Family Enjoy Napier

We all went into Napier for brunch at Ajuna Eatery (was Divines Cafe) and had a substantial breakfast. Afterwards wandered around, looked in a couple of art shops, before scouting out the Old Prison where, in addition to prison tours, they hold escape games.

Bridget booked herself and the girls into a game at 2:00pm. Then off home via Mitre-10 where Bridget bought a water blaster – she and the girls have offered to clean the walls and roof of the homestead garage while they’re here.

I spent several begrudged hours trying to print our monthly calendar on A3 sized paper using my Canon IX5000 printer. What has worked for years has suddenly stopped working and when trying to establish how to fix it I was met by the Canon website comment that with the latest release of Apple’s operating system, Mojave, this printer model is no longer supported.Much later I asked Bridget to take a look and with a modicum of lateral thinking she solved my problem. Instead of attaching the printer tidily to Karola’s Mac mini with a cable and accessing the printer via the Mac Mini I now just plug the IX5000 temporarily into my iMac to print. The cable is stretched across the room but only temporarily and that all works fine.

I set the sprinkler on the young red beech trees – all of the young ones, including the root trainers, have had about three hours watering.

Oak Avenue Weather:11℃—23℃ no rain [75.6] IBOrchard

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Bridget & Grand-Daughters Arrive – Yippee

It rained a very little in the night and a few times during the day.

Karola began the day with more cleaning and re-arranging in the homestead, primarily for her school friends later this month but also for Bridget & her daughters coming for a few days, arriving later today. It’s Waitangi week (Waitangi day on Wednesday) and so school holidays and a good time to take days off work.

I took Bangle round the orchard early and on the same stroll turned off the irrigation to my runnerbean/raspberry patch and the swamp cypresses.

Off to Haumoana to Patrick & Lis Cooney’s place and on to Clifton Cafe, now called Hygge, for a very pleasant lunch. Back to the Cooney’s summer retreat (they live in Perth and flee the heat to Haumoana in summer) for coffee and much chatting.

Bridget & the girls arrived late afternoon and we immediately went down to Rush Munros for ice-cream the back to the cottage for our main courses. Karola & I having had hearty meal at lunchtime just had a snack.

Karola took Bangle round the orchard again while I turned on the TV system in the homestead and loaded up Bridget’s iPhone so they could watch the UK TV series Sherlock.

Oak Avenue Weather:10℃—20℃ 0.3mm rain [75.2] IKBOrchard

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Henare Harvests More Plums

SwimGym quite late so only just made it to my 10:30am haircut appointment in Hastings. Then got us coffees from Taste as I picked up my GF bread from Cornucopia Organics next door. A quick rattle through New World and that’s the food shopping done for the weekend.

Getting quite warm by then so spent time indoors with my Dyson fan on full blast, computing.

Henare came again for plums; apparently his wife Denise really likes them. Henare used the new 8 foot pole I fitted yesterday with Gill’s harvesting basket on the end and left plums on the lower branches for us.

Karola continued watering our micro-orchard of fruit trees, one tree at a time. I left the watering on for my five Swamp Cypress, ten Crows Nest poplars, and the runner beans and raspberry patch for another night.

Late afternoon, hearing that a little rain is forecast for tonight, tractor-mowed the homestead lawn, under the big oak, and along the 121 driveway.

Oak Avenue Weather:16℃—32℃ 0.2mm rain [75.0] IKBOrchard

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