Monthly Archives: November 2019

The mother cat has vanished but not before finishing the cat food I left for her.

Exciting day beginning with finding a large rat in the cat trap which I reset and placed in the farm shed lean-to, the place I’d been feeding a shy cat for the last month on pedigree Purina dry cat food. Well I thought it was a shy cat, but probably not. It’s not long since I trapped a similar large rat in an ordinary spring trap in the same place leading me to think the shy cat theory was possibly false. I baited the trap with the Purina and also the cat food used so successfully for the mother cat and seven kittens, you can see the tin in the picture.

At first the rat tried desperately to gnaw its way out of the cage, then it took to making rather loud shrieks, very menacing and much harsher and louder than I expected. After that it took to attacking my hand any time it went near the bars, leaping at the bars, very very aggressively. If it were not encaged it’d have me running away.

I could not decide how to terminate the pest until finally, triggered by something Karola said, something after she remarked caustically, “I see, new pet have we”. So I drowned it in the cage in the goose bath – which I then cleaned and refilled with fresh water.

Sometime in there I took the Subaru over to Emma Speeden to collect the four Barbary doves she’d captured yesterday; her flock is allegedly 70 strong and her parents who live next door are fed up with so many roosting on their roof. Except that I’d left an interior light on when we came back from Wellington so the battery was flat. Three cheers for the jump leads.

Mark the gardener tractor-mowed the goose paddock last week so today I used the Grillo to pick up the worst of the windrows. I emptied three loads and it looks much better.

Used up the small squirter bottle of weed killer on re-applying it to the weeds that had made a comeback on the hard stand at the back of the homestead and in front of the cottage garage.

Rat Caught In Cat Trap – Totally Vicious

Five Barbary Doves – New Arrivals

Oak Avenue Weather:14℃—22℃ no rain [77.64] IKBOrchard

SwimGym with Karola & Bangle – It’s getting a bit too warm to take Bangle, leaving her in the car, so we may have to leave her behind from now on. It was over 30℃ in Hastings mid morning.

After breakfast we did the weekend shopping, sans Bangle, ending up with Artisan coffees and friands. Mark arrived earlier than usual so he didn’t have to decipher my note describing todays tasks, we hadn’t quite left. Mark finished off the Long Acre mulching of tree guards and did a few more in the Middle paddock along the fence it shares with the Long Acre.

Then Karola, Mark, and I went off in the Landrover with big trailer to pick up the two smaller pews we’d bought this morning. I paid for them online – well actually the pews are free but we decided to make a $200 donation to the Ormond Chapel. The pews were in the dean’s garage, 30 Sanders Avenue, Mafrewa, Napier 4110. They just fitted comfortably in the big trailer and they’re now in the homestead hallway, in front of Karola’s three splendid Cudby & Mead bookcases.

Mark spent the rest of the afternoon cutting off the tall seed heads of the Acanthus which grows vigorously outside the 133 gateway – and in many other places wherever the birds take the seeds. One of those places is along the north (front) verandah of the homestead nd Mark dug out those Acanthus plants too.

Bridget called and discussed her two daughters’ Christmas presents which are to be new iPhones – they have to contribute towards such expensive items if they want more than a basic iPhone. And I will be given their cast-off iPhone SE’s – they cannot be upgraded to the latest IOS software any more so they’re basically obsolete. That’s the model I have but Karola has an older rather battered version so one of the hand-me-downs can become Karola’s slightly more modern iPhone.

Acanthus After Cutting Off Their Majestic Heads

Mark Puts The Acanthus Heads On Karola’s “Bund” (Long, Narrow Compost Heap)

Mother Cat – Still Recovering From Spaying

A Bit OTT But One Has To Encourage Our Leader

Oak Avenue Weather:11℃—26℃ no rain [77.55] IKBOrchard Mark=6

Still catching up with last weeks bills and emails. The mother cat is very quiet during the day although there were signs that she tried hard to get out of the crate in the night.

Mark worked in the Long Acre, continuing to weed the willow oak tree guards and preparing to add mulch to each guard. Later he put up electric fence round the big oak, extending the fence round the homestead lawn.

Meanwhile Karola & I went off to the Ormond Chapel to meet elderly Rev. Jon Williams and see the pews that are being disposed of, that is, where possible given to members of the Ormond family. The congregation is now so small and intermittent that the trustees are attempting to rent it out for meetings and functions for the other 29 days of the month, when there isn’t a service. That’s why the pews need to be replaced by chairs which can be arranged in different configurations to suit the renters.

We decided to get two of the smaller pews; there are large pews and small ones, the large ones look a lot heavier and are distinctly religious in form so we chose the smaller ones which are basically just a bench seat in solid wood.

Rev. Jon Williams Test Drives One Of The Smaller Ormond Chapel Pews

Oak Avenue Weather:11℃—27℃ no rain [78.20] IKBOrchard Mark=4½

We’re still a bit shattered from the weekend trip, and probably will be for a few more days.

Having bagged five kittens yesterday I got another one this morning which makes a litter of seven – except that I still haven’t seen a second jet black kitten yet Mark and I saw two jet black ones frolicking on the pile of logs where the mother had her nest.

Karola & I took the six kittens to Vet Services to find out how the initial mother and kitten got on – the cats we dropped off at the SPCA on the way to Wellington on Friday.

Initially Vet Services had no idea what I was talking about – couldn’t recall the conversation where they agreed that i could drop off the cats as soon as I trapped them this week, nor find the cat and kitten the SPCA dropped off.

Eventually they found the Monday booking for cat and kitten in our name – apparently the SPCA had picked them up again so we needed to go back to the SPCA and sort out all our cats.

The SPCA were most helpful. They took all the kittens and said they’d try to get them adopted, handing us back our crates and the spayed mother cat. By now it was over 30℃.

Mark came after lunch and first Grillo-mowed the grass behind the homestead cottage, the grass in front of the homestead and outside the sheep grazing area, and various other small pieces. He then tractor-mowed the Goose paddock before beginning on weeding and mulching the Willow-Oak trees in their guards in the Long Acre paddock.

Meanwhile I went back into town, did my stint at SwimGym, and bought the mid-week groceries.

This evening the mother cat is in the largest crate on the cottage verandah, under the Welcome swallow nest, with food and water. Earlier when trying to clean out her crate I was moving her between crates and must have stretched her stitches or something because she bit my thumb, deeply. It bled profusely so I’m hoping it won’t get infected. The SPCA said that this cat was not very wild, she’d probably been a domestic pet until recently and might be able to be tamed again. Karola is not in favour of that idea.

I called Laura Kellaway today about our visit to see her last Monday because we’re both pretty upset at the apparent lack of progress and arbitrariness of the advice and decision making. Laura assured me that if Graham Linwood, the architect, does the concept drawings she thinks he is now doing then there will be a re-assessment of our plans and possible support for the second-storey extension.

Oak Avenue Weather:10℃—27℃ no rain [78.46] IKBOrchard Mark=4½

SwimGym, making up for missing Monday.

I went on from the gym and did the start-of-week food shopping.

Came home to find I’d caught two more kittens overnight – to add to the mother cat and kitten that the SPCA were looking after while I was away. And I saw two more kittens frolicking round the traps, so there are more kittens than either I or Mark saw last week.

Later I caught another kitten and reset the traps once more.

Caught two more kittens, that makes six in all, surely that’s the lot. I amslightly puzzled because Mark and I separately reported there being two jet black kittens and one grey with white markings yet the only black kitten is the one that the SPCA is holding with the mother cat. The ones caught today are either tabby or grey with white markings.

On Monday while we were away Mark tidied up the box hedge round the lawn in front of the homestead garage – trimming the top and getting rid of the sapling oaks and periwinkle tangled up in the box. It’s looking much better.

I mowed the cottage lawn and curtilage, and the lawn inside the box hedge that Mark had tidied up.

Movewed the old tractor with the mulcher/chipper/shredder attached to a place next to Karola’s “bund” so that Mark can chop up the larger branches on the bund coming from trimming the northern shelterbelt.

Five Kittens In Here

Oak Avenue Weather:8℃—21℃ no rain [?] IKBOrchard

We packed and left Gill & Ben’s in time to pick up architect Graham Linwood off his 11:00am flight from Napier. We drove into town, due to meet Heritage New Zealand representative, Laura Kellaway, at Antrim House at midday. We got into town and parked the car with half an hour to spare so had coffee in a small cafe next to Antrim House.

Unfortunately the architect didn’t have the concept r=drawings we and Laura were expecting – on a telephone call I had later with Laura she said Graham had called her and admitted he hadn’t had time to do the drawings, but he didn’t tell us that. I suppose it was good to meet Laura face to face but I felt that we’d made no progress what so ever by the end of the meeting. We knew a bit more precisely what Laura’s reservations were with our design changes to the old homestead, but no confidence that there was anything we could do to persuade her otherwise.

It was a long drive back up the west coast route to Woodville and on to Hastings; we arrived home just as light was fading.

Oak Avenue Weather:6℃—22℃ no rain [?] Mark=5

The view from Gill & Ben’s kitchen/dining area is superb, across the harbour to Eastbourne and the lighthouses, sunshine bringing warmth and brilliant light to the breakfast.

It was another very pleasant breakfast – boiled eggs for Karola and Ian – then Ben accompanied us back to the Atatürk Memorial and we tramped the loop, steeply up to the memorial then along a gentle set of paths back down to the road and beach. It took about 40 minutes. Ben pointed out the pair of Variable Oystercatchers on the beach with three chicks; he warned some walkers with a dog of the danger to those chicks from dogs off leash and they happily leashed their charge.

Later Gill joined us while Ben buried his nose in writing of yet another research paper or talk and this time we walked along the edge of the shoreline from the Atatürk Memorial Park car park back to Breaker Bay, retracing our steps to the car. Quite windy. We rounded the point into Tarakena Bay we saw a couple of dogs rushing all over the beach and into the water, leaping up to try and catch the (distraught) oystercatchers squawking diversions to protect their chicks. I, with Bangle still on leash, went over to the two middle-aged, rugged guys readying their launch for the water and observed that I had been “told off” this morning for not having my dog on a leash and it was dangerous for the chicks. This didn’t go down well, one of the guys told me that their dogs would not chase birds so there was nothing to worry about. The other was more diplomatic and thanked me for the information. As I walked away I spied one of the dogs crunching something up in the sand dunes.

Had a lovely roast chicken dinner – almost as good as the fish kedgeree Gill magicked up on Friday night. This was followed by us all watching the latest episode of Brokenwood Mysteries (New Zealand “Midsomer Murders”).

Tarakena Bay Slipway & Car Park – There Are Variable Oystercatchers With Three Chicks On The Beach

Up The Steep track Again To Atatürk’s Memorial – Ben Accompanying Us This Time

Bangle Enjoys Steep Uphill More Than Steep Down

Tsunami Safety Sign, Way, Way Above The Shore

At Atatürk’s memorial Again

Wellington Airport Is Built On The Isthmus Just beyond That Hill

Atatürk Memorial Inscription

Oak Avenue Weather:12℃—22℃ no rain [?]

Ian, Karola, and Bangle, after an excellent night’s sleep at Gill & Ben’s (66 Seatoun Heights Road), and a good breakfast – went for a walk at Atatürk Memorial Park, above Tarakena Bay, just west of Breaker Bay, the better known landmark. We went up the steep climb with its many wooden steps and back down again.

Later we toddled off to Bridget’s place in Khandallah, stopping at Dunshea’s Deli in Khandallah to pick up coffees and GF pastries for lunch. Bangle was allowed on the back lawn on a long leash. After lnch Bridget & Karola pulled weeds from the lawn.

The dinner at Taste was delicious – portions not too big and very flavoursome. Later we went back to Gill & Bens for another night.

Atatürk Memorial Park: Breaker Bay, Seatoun, Wellington – Car Parks By The Sea

Steep Ten Minute Climb To The Memorial

The Atatürk memorial

Panoramic View East To South To West Just Below The Memorial

Memorial to Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the first leader of the Republic of Turkey. It is located on a ridge above Tarakena Bay on the south coast of Wellington.

The memorial looks out over Cook Strait and the site was chosen for its remarkable likeness to the landscape of the Gallipoli peninsula. It was the outcome of an agreement between the Turkish, Australian and New Zealand governments. The Atatürk memorial was our response to the Turkish government building a commemorative site at Anzac Cove (which they renamed from Ari Burnu).

The memorial was designed by Ian Bowman and was unveiled on 26 April 1990, by the Turkish Minister of Agriculture. The memorial comprises a marble crescent, a bust of Atatürk, inscriptions and soil from Anzac Cove. In 1999, a paved forecourt and path, also designed by Bowman, and gravel car parking areas were added with funding from the Turkish government.

Ian’s Seventy-Third Birthday Meal – Taste, Khandallah

Clockwise From Top: Karola, Chris, Annemarie, Alex, Ian, Bridget, Gill, [Natalie – taking photo], Anthony Fletcher, Ben

Clockwise From Top: Bridget, Gill, [Natalie – taking photo], Anthony Fletcher, Ben, Karola, Chris, Annemarie, Alex, Ian,

Clockwise From Top: Karola, Chris, Annemarie, Alex, [Ian – taking photo], Bridget, Gill, Natalie, Anthony Fletcher, Ben

Oak Avenue Weather:7℃—28℃ no rain [?] Mark=1

After a late night last night watching an episode of Vera followed by one of Death In Paradise, not sure what came over us, it was a late start this morning. To clear my head I fed the geese and went down to the nest of cats to give them another tin of tuna. To my surprise and horror I found that the mother cat had somehow got herself trapped in one of the cages – that wasn’t supposed to happen until we came back from Wellington next week. Oh well, in for a penny … so I set the other trap to go off and went to SwimGym.

SwimGym then picked up the GF bread before packing for Wellington.

But something had to be done about the cats, we couldn’t just let the mother cat go, she’d never be caught in those traps again. And anyway, the second trap caught one of the kittens, a black one. So I transferred the cats to a large dog crate, the one we’d cleaned and left near the nest to acclimatise them to it.

To avoid them getting away I made the transfer from trap to crate in the cottage garage, moving Zoe out first. The kitten was easy but the mother cat eluded me and for some minutes I was chasing it around inside the garage – along the window sills and shelves, stuff crashing to the floor, along the rafters, pandemonium. Eventually I cornered it and it joined the kitten in the crate.

We packed and put Bangle in her crate in the car and the cat and kitten in their crate in the car. Drove to the SPCA, which happens to be on the road down to Wellington, and, after lengthy discussions, the SPCA agreed to take the cat & kitten in their crate, drop it off at Vet Services on Monday for de-sexing, and call us on Wednesday to tell us when we could have them back. What a relief.

On to Te Aute and the organic coffee shop there for very average coffees and some abysmally sweet gluten-free cakes. Further on the Woodville where Karola had an ice-cream, I had a bag of crisps, and we had cold drinks – not sugary, well not very sugary.

Just south of Greytown we were diverted from State Highway 2 by a serious traffic accident that had brought power lines down across the road. The detour included  5 or more kilometres of gravel road, against a continuous stream of fast moving homeward-bound traffic pushing up thick clouds of dust, into the setting sun. Not pleasant.

Just south of Featherston we stopped for a few minutes at a pleasant small park for Bangle to take a bio-break then on to Wellington without further incident. We arrived at Gill & Ben’s a couple of hours late but made very welcome, including a kedgeree dinner that really hit the spot, excellent.

This Understates the Very Low Visibility And Speed Of The Oncoming Traffic

Oak Avenue Weather:8℃—23℃ no rain [77.53]

Bright and early I took Bangle over for her grooming with Emma Speeden at 7:30am. I noticed several pigeons and Barbary Doves feeding in their back yard and asked Emma about them. Apparently they have about 70 and she needs to get rid of some so, maybe, in a week or so we can have a few more at Karamu. I do like the doves, their lack of fear of humans, their coloration, and their cooing.

I high-tailed it back to Karamu in time for breakfast and to take Karola in to have her hair done; I left her there and went back to Emma’s and retrieved Bangle all nicely groomed, teeth brushed, nails clipped, and coat silky soft.

Back to pick up Karola and then we did the weekend shopping, a day early as we’re off to Wellington tomorrow.

Mark came in the afternoon and polished off the chipping and shredding with the mulcher. He mulched up the blackberry separately from the Camellia branches to which we added some clearing from the planting area next to the five Swamp Cypresses- opened up to give the smalles cypress a lot more light and also to give Karola’s mulberry trees more space.

Karola & I cut down one of the tall willow trees over near the big shed, the particular tree was crowding one of Karola’s Totara trees. From that we got six good stakes for Bridget to plant in her Wellington garden plus a bit of firewood and some more branches for Mark to mulch. The two Totara that Karola released from their guards this week were nearby so I trimmed the lower branches of them, adding to the mulching pile.

After emptying the blackberry mulching onto the bund Mark chopped up the Camellai, Karaka, Lemonwood, Willow, and Totara branches and used that mulch to put a thick layer on the Front paddock tree guards he weeded earlier in the week.

Mark Mulching Up Camellia Branches

Two Of Karola’s Totaras “Limbed Up”

Oak Avenue Weather:6℃—23℃ no rain [77.89] IKBOrchard Mark 5.5

SwimGym but quite late as, although I got up at the usual time, I fancied a bit of a lie-in on my 73rd birthday.

Got back in time for Karola to take me out to a splendid meal at The Mission. This was in part funded by a The Mission gift card given to us by Jenny & Noel Hendery many moons ago, and it was the looming expiry date on that card which helped push us into this extravagant but very pleasant tête-à-tête out on the Mission lawn. I had fish and chips, normally proscribed, but made with Tempura batter, mouth watering. Fifty-two years married and still talking to each other, amazing.

Got back to find Mark, as expected, continuing his weeding of trees and tree guards in the Front paddock. Mark found one of the lambs having convulsions and unable to walk so, after consultation, he dispatched it for us, poor young #915E (mother #514). In retrospect I probably should have held off for another 24 hours as one possible cause was “rye-grass staggers” which they can recover from, but I’m baffled as to where she could have found much of that in the Front paddock. Anyway, Mark’s dogs will be grateful. Counted the sheep and I got 32 ewes and, now, 28 lambs so all present and correct.

Hidden Karamu Secret, I’m Guessing They’re Rhodos – Quite Beautiful

Oak Avenue Weather:4℃—19℃ no rain [76.85] IKBOrchard Mark=5

Graham Linwood came at 10:00am as planned. He took lots of photos of the inside and outside of the homestead and we then discussed the meeting next week with Heritage New Zealand in Wellington. Graham showed us his simple sketch of the plan for the west verandah we discussed at the last meeting – it was extremely rudimentary but did reflect what we agreed. Graham seemed a lot less sanguine this time that Laura would accept our proposal and allow us to build the second storey extension.

Graham is flying down on Monday and we’ll pick him up from the airport. That’s another $326 for his flights to add to the $2000 or so his help in negotiating with heritage New Zealand will end up costing.

Afterwards I fixed the electric fence that the lambs mucked up yesterday and I electrified it – no more Mr Nice-Guy, the lambs will stay where they’re put or else. Karola closed the 121 gates just in case a lamb became overly adventurous, or more likely, the lambs destroyed the electric fence and the whole flock took off to see the sights of Hastings. I let the sheep on the lawn and Karola returned them to the Front paddock after a couple of hours.

Karola is experimenting with letting some of her Totara trees run free, without tree guards, to see if the sheep leave them alone now they’re several metres tall. She’s planning to reuse the guards, which she had to cut off and re-crimp as the trees are just too tall to slip it off over their heads. So her day was mostly re-crimping and replacing the worn and torn shade netting that goes round the outside of the wire netting guard.

Mark came and began by taking out the metal standards round the Totara trees that are now without tree guards. He then continued mulching the large pile of mostly blackberry, finishing mid afternoon. After a cup of tea we both continued clearing the undergrowth and trimming the two Camellias, creating quite a different view of the homestead from the cottage, as shown below.

View Of Homestead From Cottage Obscured By Tangled Vegetation (Photo 9th July 2019)

Last Week – Starting To Clear The Blackberry

Today – Just Two Camellias And A Few Roses

New View Back To The Cottage

Oak Avenue Weather:9℃—15℃ no rain [76.78] IKBOrchard Mark=3½

SwimGym with Karola and Bangle.

After breakfast I went shopping including buying a replacement jockey wheel assembly for the big trailer after Scott & Henare demolisghed it yesterday. It was my fault because I must have forgotten to fold the wheel up properly when attaching the trailer to the Landrover. Luckily the wheel assembly I wanted was half price making it only a few dollars more than just the wheel by itself.

Karola put the sheep on the lawn for an hour but the lambs made mince meat of the electric fence which wasn’t electrified as Karola thought the shocks would bee to traumatic for her little woolly bah-lambs.

I set Mark up to begin mulching the large pile of blackberry from my two days of hacking it down in the thickets near the cottage. He worked hard and got most of it done by the time he left, six hours later.

Meticulous Maids came and cleaned the cottage.

With a bit of prompting Dylan Findlay came with his truck and took away the two wood burners and the special fire-resistant concrete slabs, the remains of my failed attempt to get wood burners installed in the living room and dining room at Karamu.

Big Trailer Jockey Wheel, But Without The Wheel

Oak Avenue Weather:3℃—24℃ no rain [76.79] IKBOrchard Mark=6

I’ve had the irrigation running on the Lime trees (and Swamp Cypress) and on the Bay tree hedge, special Manuka, and our little fruit tree orchard for a couple of days. Today, rain being forecast for tomorrow, I turned it off. Everyone agreees, Mark included, that weeding is so much easier after a good watering or dollop of rain.

I mended a break in the “leaky pipe” irrigation in the runner bean enclosure and turned it on.

Henare & Scott came after lunch and I lent them the Landrover and big trailer so that they could take some of our excess firewood away for Henare’s extended family. Now I’m not having wood burners in the homestead we do have far too much and the wood stacked against the fence and railings in the Goose paddock is a potential set of steps for an adventurous sheep to escape. Sadly I must have forgotten to fold up the jockey wheel assembly on the trailer and neither Henare nor Scott noticed and they wrecked the assembly – tore off the jockey wheel. They did take away about haldf what I offered them and plan to come back next weekend to take the rest – well, we’re off to Wellington at the weekend so it better be the weekend after.

I slashed and pulled and pulled out more blackberry, getting more cuts and prickles in the process.

Just after midnight I heard the water pump turning on for a few minutes then off, repeating the cycles every five minutes or so. Bangle and I went out to investigate and the irrigation for the runner bean enclosure seemed to be leaking in several places so I turned it off. That stopped the pump re-cycling. Bangle liked running around the paddock in torch-light.

The Tangle Of Blackberry Festooning Camellia Trees and Rose Bushes

Some Of The Blackberry Ready For Mulching/Chipping

Oak Avenue Weather:16℃—26℃ no rain [77.45] IKBOrchard

Apart from a hour or so’s battle with blackberry in the Camellia bushes near the cottage, and Karola doing more with the tall flowering lavender plants among the Bay trees, we kept inside, typing and reading.

Val McKay, one of the Ormond relations, sister to Gill Scott, dropped in unexpectedly this afternoon and we gave her afternoon tea qwhile Karola regaled her with our exploits and vice-versa. Val is 88 this year, one of the oldest living Ormond’s.

Mark Weeded The Lemon Tree On Friday

Another Big Rat Caught By Mother Cat – Bless Her

Oak Avenue Weather:__℃—__℃ no rain [77.41]

SwimGym with Karola. Later I had a regular doctor’s appointment and then did the weekend food shopping. My eating excesses whilst in the UK in August & September have had their deleterious effect, that and the halving of the diabetic medicine three months ago, but all still within acceptable parameters, apparently. Pity, because if I had repeated the results of three months ago I was planning to come off medication altogether.

I went to spy on the cat family and as I approached I saw the three kittens running in, around, and over the cages. Mother cat watched from a couple of metres away and even after the kittens had scampered off into the depths of the log pile she stayed and stared – hence the photo opportunity below. Put Pam’s tinned tuna-chunks-in-gravy cat food into each crate. By evening it was gone.

I called the Vets and their charges for de-sexing four cats would be somewhere between $300 – $400 but they suggested I chat to local SPCA about a voucher. I did that and SPCA will give me vouchers for the Vet to neuter/spay the cats for free. So I shall continue my programme of acclimatisation until Monday, a small tin of tuna-based cat food a day inside the cages, and then see how many of them I can capture.

Note that this adult cat is not the tabby cat seen every week or so strolling round the place and caught on surveillance camera (see yeaterday). Nor is it Cleo, the jet black cat with a white bib, AWOL from a family in Omahu Road. So we have three wild cats in residence, not counting the large white fluffy Persian which comes into the orchard occasionally from a house up McNab Road.

Dylan, the wood burner man, called to say his team would come round this afternoon to pick up the burners and the materials they’d removed from the chimney space – but of course they didn’t come. Next promise is for Monday mid morning.

Cages, Cats For The Catching Of

Mother Cat – Bluish-Grey With White Markings

Oak Avenue Weather:9℃—23℃ no rain [77.36] IKBOrchard

More sightings of the kittens today; Mark says he saw two black kittens and one grey/blue with white markings. I briefly saw a black one and the blue/white one.

The two cat traps came today and Karola and I assembled them – quite a neat design that packs flat then almost assembles itself. As per my reading on the web, I tied up the door closing mechanisms so that for now the cats get free entry and exit and I placed the traps end-to-end so that the food, some tinned dog food, is furthest from the trap door and the two lots of food are adjacent.

We laid the traps late morning just in front of the log pile where the cats live and when Mark came around 1:00pm the food was still there. Late afternoon it was gone. So I have hope for capturing some of the family. Plan is to get them all neutered, mother included, and then release them back so that we don’t leave a vacuum for other feral cats to occupy.

Mark finished the avenue of Lime trees then helped me put up electric fence round the homestead lawn, then back to the Front paddock where he recommenced his weeding and mulching routine, today including the lemon tree in its railings octagon and the damson tree in its railings triangle.

Yesterday I looked through the photos taken by our surveillance cameras while we were in the UK in August/September. The camera on the homestead front verandah had only a few photos of when Chris brought his boss and his boss’ wife to see the homestead and more partial shots of me mowing the lawn. The camera on the homestead garage looking down the 121 driveway was slightly more interesting although as a monitor of people coming and going it was useless, the proximity sensor’s range is too limited.

The Surveillance Cameras

A) Camera On The Homestead Front Verandah

This camera caught more different people than the other, but the only animal was Bangle the corgi. Identified on camera were: Ian, Henare, Anthony, Chris More and friends, Graham Linwood, and mark Hendery.

B) Camera On Homestead Garage Looking Down The 121 Driveway

The only people glimpsed by this camera were: Ian, Karola, Scott Ormond (Henare’s son), and Anthony Fletcher, the house-minder.

Animals caught on frame, with the largest number caught on one photo in parentheses: tabby cat (1), possum (3), rabbit (2), duck (2), corgi (1), pukeko (5), pukeko chick (1), geese (2), quail (2), rat (1), cock pheasant (1), mynah (2), blackbird (2).

There were lots of photos of rabbits and pukekos, several of possums at night, and a couple of the cat.

Cut The Bigger Bits Into Firewood – Rest is Destined For Karola’s Bund

Surveillance Camera: The Tabby Cat

Surveillance Camera: House-Sitter Anthony & The Guard Geese

Oak Avenue Weather:6℃—25℃ no rain [77.74] IKBOrchard Mark=4

SwimGym but I only managed half my usual routine because of discussions with Chris(tine), daughter of Angie – the Brit who used to work for Jonathan as one of his receptionist/managers. Angie is now the manager of Complex Forme, SwimGym as was. They seem a little disorganised in that their prices make little sense. If Karola and I had continued with a ten-session concession card then the price of Karola’s, for the swimming pool, wold have gone down from $70 to $55 whereas mine would have risen from $70 to $90. Oddly, their weekly membership fee is $13.50 for the gym and the swim.

After some discussion I asked for a price for a six-month membership. There was talk of a joining fee of $42 each which I didn’t like so they went off into a huddle and some time later came back with six-monthly memberships for each of us, $300 for Karola and $250 for me. My recollection is that this is about half what we used to pay Jonathan so I quickly paid before they changed their minds. As we come at most three times a week that’s 78 times in six months (as long as we keep up our weekly visits), $4 a visit for Karola and $3.20 for me compared with $5.50 for Karola and $9.00 for me if we’d stayed on the 10-visit concession cards.

Meantime the tall, skinny doctor who is part of the management team at the Hastings Hospital also challenged the Complex Forme team t give him a good deal for a year. The doctor, Peter, comes twice a week (Mondays & Wednesdays) regular as clockwork and we’ve been grunting affably at each other over the weeks for some time. Previously I’d been told about his jobs in Australia at big hospitals in either Sydney or Melbourne. Today however he was unusually expansive. I said I’d thought he was a divorcee – they being known for adopting rigorous exercise to try to forget, but no, he has a wife who’s work is making ceramic wall tiles – the sort that have pleasing patterns when tessellated. What’s more, she draws the patterns and he enters them into AutoCAD which drives a 3D printer to make the tiles. He enjoys the computing work but says that getting the 3D printer to do exactly what you want is very hard. Mind you, his 3D printer was inexpensive and came as a kitset that took him a long time to assemble – very complicated.

Peter was polite about my enthusiasm for Dr Michael Mosley but said that doctors generally considered that Dr Mosley’s TV programmes focussed on the ‘grey science’ of ideas that were not yet mainstream. He mentioned at one point that he was dead against taking statins. Then it transpired he was on a Paleo diet – as is Dave Moss of course. When I asked about his distain for statins, thinking myself of Karola’s ambivalence, Peter said that, as was now beginning to be understood, the focus on fats and cholesterol is to some extent misguided. To better understand the truth about statins he suggested I take a look at the website of Peter Attia

Mark and Karola weeded the octagon surrounding the base of the Canary Island Palm and already it’s a great improvement. Mark then finished mulching the avenue of 16 Lime trees (tilia) before tackling the three thickets of blackberry in the shelter belt next to the Lime avenue. The last of these turned out to be more widespread than I’d expected so it will be finished later.

This Evening I Begin Tidying Up The Camellia Clump By The Cottage

The Sapling Oaks Are Felled

Oak Avenue Weather:11℃—21℃ no rain [77.58] IBOrchard Mark=5

Most of the day spent answering emails and reading web pages.

I visited the log pile and caught fleeting glimpse of the two kittens.

Mark came after lunch and first tidied up my colourful manuka bushes along the railings between cottage and farm shed. He then began adding mulch to the 16 Lime trees he finished weeding yesterday. He’d got half done when the rain set in and work stopped for the day.

Last night Mark, with his new air rifle, shot one rabbit in the Goose paddock – he saw a dozen or more as her wandered round after work. Today Mark came across a large rat on the bund and, quick as a flash, stomped on it. I can hardly believe that a healthy rat would be so slow.

I’ve ordered a pair of cat cage traps today, my aim being to try and catch all three cats and have them neutered then returned to their home in our log pile. Wouldn’t mind keeping the kittens as inside cats but I understand that feral adult cats are essentially untameable.

Spot The Two Kittens In These Enlarged Photos

Actually The Black Kitten Is Under The Blue One Here – Wrestling

Mark Stomped On This Big Rat Behind The Homestead Garage

Oak Avenue Weather:2℃—17℃ 8.6mm rain [77.83] IBOrchard Mark=3

SwimGym with Karola – What used to be called SwimGym became Active Fitness and today has become Complex Forme. Pretty much the same equipment and facilities although I’m told the showers and toilets have been improved. Different staff. I got on well with Jonathan who owned SwimGym as a business. Karola and I got on quite well with the ever cheerful, effervescent Māori woman, Corin, who manned reception in the early mornings at Active Fitness. The new lot don’t even make eye contact as you go past them into the gym or swimming pool, heads down, muttering at screens or holding muted conversations with each other.

Karola got a call from Bayswater in Hastings – they can replace her allegedly lethal air bags this afternoon, the world-wide recall has been going on slowly for years. So after lunch we too Zoe and the Subaru down to Stortford Lodge to drop off the Subaru. Turned out the refit would take 2 – 3 hours. I had my quarterly blood test, also in Stortford Lodge, and Karola 7 I then went off for a bit of Monday shopping. We got a new LED bedside lamp for Karola, some office perquisites from Office Max, and food for the next couple of days from New World. I then dropped Karola off with her book and newspaper to wait for her car to be finished.

I saw the mother cat and her black kitten today, lying on the log pile in the sun. They slunk off as I lumbered into view. I also had success with my rat trap. For at least the third time I’d baited a hefty wooden spring trap with cheese and placed it under an upended washing basket (to avoid catching Bangle or a cat by mistake), and the trap had been sprung overnight, the cheese gone but no evidence of anything having been trapped. Today there was blood on the ground and no sign of the trap. I surmise that this trap, like the one I lost in similar circumstances several months ago, had caught a rat but its mates had dragged off the dead rat in the trap for a banquet somewhere a bit quieter. Karola bought me a couple of new traps at Farmlands on her way home from the Subaru servicing.

Meanwhile, Mark, who arrived just after noon, had been working on the Lime tree guard weeding and trimming of nearby shrubs and trees. He finished the double avenue of Lime trees in their guards today. Overnight rain had made the weeding much easier, he said.

Mark, as our probationary gamekeeper come gardener come farmhand set the two new traps, fastening them with stout twine to a heavy wooden block so they would be difficult to drag away. He also deployed our two Timms possum traps, baiting them with apple.

Where The Cat’s Nest Is

Mrs Welcome Swallow Brooding – C D B D I

Oak Avenue Weather:10℃—23℃ no rain [77.83] IKBOrchard Mark=5

First thing I Grillo-mowed the cottage lawn and curtilage, just in time as the first shower closed in. The grass is growing so quickly that the lawn really needs mowing more than once a week. So I re-mowed the perimeter of the homestead lawn ready for putting up electric fence soon.

A sunny day with intermittent rain in the afternoon and heavy showers overnight.

I tried to spy on the cat family under the pile of old oak logs near the 121 entrance and I did get a glimpse of the dark grey kitten before falling off the logs, luckily avoiding any sharp branches and ending up in the periwinkle, shaken and stirred.

A Few Of Karola’s Sheep – Shorn Of All Pretentions

The Family Of Cats In The Log Pile Are Doing Some Good

Oak Avenue Weather:14℃—21℃ 10.1mm rain [77.42] IKBOrchard

Quiet day, windy and only heated up mid afternoon.

Anna TXTed from UK to say that she was watching a film she thought well worth watching, Meeting Gorbachov, reflecting on, and an interview with the eponymous ex-President of the Soviet Union. We were lucky and caught it showing in Havelock North probably for the last sitting at 8:45pm this evening, the British Film Festival films run only until Monday.

We went with Peter & Charlotte Offenberger swelling the cinema audience to over a dozen – still, better than when Karola & I were the only ones in the audience for a showing of “Tea With The Dames”.

Anna was right, it really is a rather good documentary and, for me, gave a somewhat different perspective on what caused the break-up of the Soviet Union.

Oak Avenue Weather:15℃—28℃ no rain [77.58]

SwimGym with Karola in good time this morning.

After breakfast we bid Bangle goodbye and set off for Hastings, me to have my six-weekly haircut and Karola to do the weekend food shopping.

Lunchtime and Mark arrived for the afternoon. We started by taking the loose pumice stones from along the Taupata hedge, the hedge that stretches from the cottage garage across to Gill’s Damson tree and the Chinese Photinia, and put them with others in the Stump Dump. Mark also cleared more pumice stones from the triangle to the south of the homestead, where the concrete rainwater tanks are.

Mark then went back to his main task-du-jour, weeding the Lime trees and trimming the windbreak along the orchard drive back to the Front Paddock fence.

Around 3:30pm Mark joined us and we got all the sheep and lambs back into the yards and I applied Magnum to them all – against the threat of fly-strike. (Magnum – withholding for meat – zero days).

I saw the mother cat today and two of her kittens, slinking through the pile of old oak logs under the oaks between the 121 driveway and the road. She is dark grey with fur like a Siamese or Burmese; one of her kittens is the same dark grey, the other is black.

The One Acre Continues To Grow – Phalaris Is Going To Seed

Mark’s Work Weeding The Lines & Trimming The Shelter Belt

Oak Avenue Weather:10℃—29℃ no rain [77.57] IKBOrchard Mark=4

Up early to take the Landrover to Tamatea Automotive to get new tyres fitted. It took about an hour and I was back home with iced coffees and friands for our morning tea by 9:30am. The old tyres, more that twenty years old, were perished and cracking and very very hard. The new tyres give a much smoother ride.

I realised it was Geoff Robinson’s birthday at the weekend and thought he might like the book I’m reading, “The New Silk Roads” by Peter Frankopan, so I Amazoned him a copy.

Karol & Wendy came early so they were just setting up when I got back, they weren’t due until 10:00am. It took them until lunchtime to shear the 32 adult sheep and vaccinate the 29 lambs.

Afterwards Karola did a bit more work on the bay tree hedge, mainly trimming back the luxuriant and fragrant lavender bushes which are filling gaps in the hedge.

I re-joined a cut irrigation pipe in the irrigation running round the bay tree hedge inside the cottage railings, and another one in one of the Lime tree guards at the far side of the Front paddock.

Mark finished Grillo-mowing the 121 driveways and lawns adjacent to the homestead garage before starting on the big job of weeding the Lime tree avenue in the Front paddock. That includes trimming back the windbreak along the north side, adding mulch to each guard, erradicating three patches of blackberry under the windbreak, and more.

Using the bits and pieces I bought yesterday I made up little tool kits for each of the cars.

Wendy O’Neal called in the evening to say I had rather too enthusiastically paid their shearing bill online, to the tune of more than $3000 over. I felt rather foolish.

Oak Avenue Weather:15℃—30℃ no rain [77.85] IKBOrchard Mark=6

SwimGym but very late, almost lunchtime.

Karola returned to her weeding of the cottage Bay tree hedge and snipping off the heads of the luxuriant lavender bushes, they smell wonderful.

I’d turned on the irrigation to the Bay tree hedge yesterday and this morning found a bit of a lake on the lawn where there’s obviously a fracture in the pipe.

I made a list of the tools I thought we should have to hand in each car for emergencies, ours or fellow drivers. I think Karola has put some sort of medical kit in each car, these are other tools for practical repairs or incidents:

• small fire extinguisher
• pocket knife & torch
• emergency window breaker and cutter of seat belts
• poo bags
• adjustable spanner, pliers, two-headed screwdriver (phillips & slot heads)

Also today I decided to move the spare wheel for the Zoe from the car to the garage, assuming that as we only go on short local trips in the Zoe, we could easily get a ride home and get the AA to tow Zoe home where we could change her tyre in relative comfort.

While out doing the mid-week shopping, including topping up the above toolkits at Repco and Mitre-10, I treated us all to Rush Munro ice-creams for afternoon tea.

Meanwhile Mark spent several hours clearing more blackberry and then, after his ice-cream, he mowed most of the lawn behind the homestead garage and along the 121 driveway.

Several Black Kittens Are In Here – Mum Has Left Food On Doorstep

Bangle Nosed Out Nest Of Three Pukeko Chicks In The Orchard

Oak Avenue Weather:12℃—23℃ no rain [77.45] IKBOrchard Mark=4

Much of the morning spent reading, there’s so much to catch up on.

Mark came around 12:30pm and started by weeding my runner bean enclosure on the far north-western end of the One Acre. There are lots of fresh raspberry canes but no sign of runner beans as yet.

After that Mark helped Karola tackle the blackberry infestation down near the 121 entrance.

I tractor-mowed a track along two sides of the One Acre, the west and north sides, and trimmed overhanging branches from the planting area, so that we, Bangle, and the sheep, had easy access round the paddock. In so doing I managed to run over a very nice and almost new fork – part of a matching spade and fork I’d bought less than a year ago. The tractor mower made short work of the two inside tines – so that’s now useless. Happily we have plenty of forks so it’s not necessary to replace it.

Also tractor-mowed the patches of Californian Thistle in the Totara paddock, the ones I could see. There are still a handful of places where there are a few plants, but I’ve cut back the main areas. I may try to spray the thistles as I have a potent poison recommended by Harry. It doesn’t kill grasses but is merciless on brad leaved vegetation so clover and lucerne and plantain will not appreciate it.

Finally I mowed the perimeter of the area under trees near the sheep yards that I want Mark to mow – to keep the iris and nettles down and give grass a chance.

Mark tractor-mowed that area under the trees before he finished for the day.

Karola & I penned up the sheep and lambs and Karola dosed one lamb she spotted with flies buzzing round and she suspected had fly-strike. We left the flock in the Holding paddock and Long Acre for the night; they’re due for shearing in a couple of days so it’s good to get the grass in the Holding paddock under control.

Runner Bean Enclosure – Cleared of Weeds

Access Track Round The One Acre (The Crop) Paddock

One Of Several Large Patches of Californian Thistle In The Totara Paddock

Mark & Karola’s Onslaught On The Invasive Blackberry

Under The Trees Is Park-Like Once Again After Mowing The Iris

Oak Avenue Weather:8℃—32℃ no rain [77.80] IBOrchard Mark=5

SwimGym with Karola & Bangle. After breakfast I did the food shopping. Then we had a quiet morning reading and doing emails and the like.

Mark came after lunch and spent the afternoon completing the uplifting of the grass grid blocks. I tractor-mowed the Stump Dump, well as much as the crowded interior would allow. Then the whole area at the east end of the Long Acre where the iris was recovering too fast from my recent mowing.

I Grillo-mowed a line for the electric fence round the homestead lawn so that in the next few days we can fence off a portion for the ewe hoggets.

Grass Grid Blocks Uplifted From Here

… And Over 100 Of Them Stored in The Stump Dump

Eastern End Of Long Acre – Iris Encroaching

East End Of Long Acre – Mown

Stump Dump Mown As Well

Oak Avenue Weather:7℃—26℃ no rain [77.68] IKBOrchard Mark=3

We got up late after the excitement of last nights Rugby World Cup, watching England be overrun by South Africa – England being in quite a different mood from when they vanquished the All Blacks a week ago. As some pundit said, England played their ‘final’ game a week early.

Today being Sunday it’s time for the weekly tasks again – like putting the registration sticker on the old tractor, taking out the rubbish, charging Zoe, and so on.

It’s a beautiful day so we spent much of the morning on the cottage verandah catching up on reading. For example Karola read the latest Economist paper edition while I read an even more recent online version on my iPad.

Oak Avenue Weather:8℃—30℃ no rain [77.74] IKBOrchard

Mark Hendery came around 10:30am and we spent most of the day doing maintenance on the fence between the Long Acre and the Middle paddock. Karola asked that we replace the broken battens (3) and tighten the wires (7). In addition we, that is Mark, replaced two broken quarter-round running posts while I adjusted the gate into the Stump Dump and the Goose paddock.

After lunch Mark and I re-hung the gate from the Long Acre onto the 121 driveway and the gate into the Holding paddock. For the latter we made it swing into the Holding paddock instead of the Long Acre.

Late afternoon Mark began another project, lifting up the grass grid concrete blocks from along the west and north sides of the homestead; he finished the area directly under the upstairs passage window today.

One more evening of rugby and we can slump back into our usual routines again at last.

Oak Avenue Weather:6℃—22℃ no rain [77.20] IKBOrchard Mark=8

We all went off to Tamatea Automotive in Tamatea to get the Landrover and its big trailer a WOF, somewhat overdue. Karola in her Zoe, me and Bangle in the Landrover. We picked them up late afternoon. The trailer was fine but the Landrover needs new tyres – they are probably over twenty years old so it’s not surprising.

Then, in the Zoe, we all went to SwimGym. Rather than go home straight away we did all the in-town things, ending up with coffee from Artisan and a loaf of Paleo bread from OMG bakery next door.

Before the coffee we picked up ten fence battens from Farmlands, just squeezing them onto the back seat with Bangle. Off to Cornucopia for my GF bread, some leeks, NZ walnuts, and a couple of ripe avocados.

Soon after we got back for breakfast the Grillo arrived. Apparently another belt had come asunder, a tricky one under the white nylon blower fan that needed two people to get back on according to Craig at Outdoor Power. It shouldn’t really be so prone to ground debris damaging the belts in my opinion.

After lunch Karola & I surveyed the Long Acre fence that Mark and I plan to renovate tomorrow. We also made a mental note of the several rabbit holes in the Long Acre and Goose Paddock, and under the Big Oak – these need filling with soil. Mark also did his first practice run with the Grillo.

Oak Avenue Weather:4℃—17℃ 0.1mm rain [76.63] IBOrchard Mark=2