Monthly Archives: July 2020

Got a call from Graham Linwood, architect, to say that Laura Kellaway from heritage NZ had emailed us to say that Heritage NZ would be sending the Hastings Council a letter early next week saying they agreed in principle with our plans and thereby allowing the council to go ahead with our request for building consent. They will “support in principle and have some recommendations” and I will remain deeply suspicious until I see this letter. Also, Graham is asserting that he will be directing operations from here on in, telling Ruth what to do. We shall see.

Chooks let out at mid-day again and only three eggs today so I don’t think I need to worry about “laying away”.

Karola took herself off for her four-weekly hair appointment – today it was at noon, while I did a quiet Tour de Twyford with very little traffic.

Mark came – he trapped a large possum last night, and also the night before so he’s happy about that – he gets good money for the fur.

Mark continued using the Fergie and the Caravaggi chipper/shredder to clean up the waste from the shelter belt trimming. Unfortunately the Fergie gave up after a couple of hours and there was a substantial oil leak beneath the engine. It had lost all its oil so we poured in about three litres, all that I had on site, and parked it so that I can try to get it serviced next week at Hawkes Bay Tractor Dismantlers. We switched to using the Kioti but it stalled as well. So we looked inside the mulcher and found it was blocked with wodges of flax leaves. Cleared that and it started running smoothly if noisily. Mark got off the seat to begin feeding the mulcher when the tractor stopped again. It took a few minutes but then I remembered, there’s a safety switch in the driver’s seat that cuts the ignition when no-one is sitting there. Went and got my little home-made bypass dongle, by-passed the seat sensor and off we went – that is, off Mark went. As hoped he finished the Holding paddock today but lots more to do next week.

Chooks In Their Element, Scratching In Deep Leaf Litter

Oak Avenue Weather:5℃—15℃ no rain [76.88] IKBOrchard TdT eggs=3 Mark=4

A quiet morning from a frosty start. Good morning’s programming. Having got over my jitters yesterday on the Tour de Twyford I resolved to explore alternatives but until I find one I’ll try and do the tour late morning or early afternoon, as far away as possible from the peak traffic hours. This is not a long term solution because at harvest time the traffic is quite intense all day. So I whipped round soon after 11:30am, returning before Mark arrived at noon.

Mark continued with the clearing and mulching of the southern shelter belt “slash” and Karola & I went of to our appointment with the skin doctor, Lloyd Peterson, at the Hastings Health Centre. We had booked ourselves in for a “whole body mole map”. Karola came away with a clean bill, no issues. I had one minor cancerous spot of a very mildly malignant kind and it was zapped with liquid nitrogen on the spot.

On that same trip I got a replacement garden fork handle from Mitre-10 and, from Farmlands, a couple of 20kg bags of sheep nuts and two 20kg salt lick blocks. Karola prefers the packs of 4 x 5kg blocks but unfortunately our sheep, Texels, are sensitive to copper and so special low-copper blocks are recommended and these don’t come in the mini-lock format.

Ewe #511 has been limping badly for a few days so Mark & I yarded the flock and rolled her on her back and took a look. The foot seemed fine but at the top of the leg, the shoulder, she flinched badly at touch and it was warm. Nothing we can do but hope nature heals her soon.

Let the chooks out very late, just after Mark arrived, in my experiment to see if there were some “away-layers”. Well I got three eggs by mid-day and another one late afternoon so I’m not sure. Mark and I added mulch to the floor of the chook house, I added hay to the nest boxes and tried yet another feeding variation where I put wheat – which I know they like – instead of pullet pellets in the feeding trays at the back of the house.

Lots Of Small Pullet Eggs

Oak Avenue Weather:0℃—_13℃ 0.1mm rain [77.14] IKBOrchard TdT eggs=4 Mark=4

Well the first thing today was to get the Subaru down to the panel beaters, Dents Panel Beaters, for them to fix the Subaru front left mud guard and bumper. Then it was back home to assemble today’s weekly shopping list and off to town to do the Wednesday Shopping.

Getting a bit low on the grains used to feed my various birds and so we dropped by Farmlands. In luck that they have a special on Layers Pellets this week so in addition to the 25kg of wheat, 25kg of whole maize, I got two 25kg bags of layers pellets. And a bottle of Vigilant woody weed killer. We were about to leave and Karola suggested I go back in and see if they had any men’s trouser belts. On my list was a visit to Alexander’s Menswear because my older belt is beginning to disintegrate, but, as Karola suggested, I found a real leather belt and it was almost $100 cheaper than if I’d bought one from Alexanders.

Next was the Health Centre – well the pharmacy therein. Since “lockdown” in March we’ve been restricted to just one month’s supply of medicines instead o three months. Which means much more frequent visits to the pharmacy – I enquired why this was still the case as the lockdown was over and was told it was a government restriction they’d not rescinded. Annoying. But the way to defeat the pharmacy dogma that all prescriptions must take at least 15 minutes to fill, even if it’s actually all there on the shelf in front of them, is to drop off the prescription then do your shopping and pick the medicines up on the way back home – which we did. That way you don’t even need to get a car park and can just loiter near the doorway. All done within a couple of hours. including take-away coffees from Fuse on the way home.

Mark came at mid-day and spent the afternoon pruning back the lower branches of the southern shelter belt – he’d almost finished by the time he left. Next he’ll mulch these prunings and most of the stuff left scattered by the trimming machine monster, directing the resulting mulch back under the shelter belt.

The ram and matriarch are in the goose paddock at present and he is inquisitive and rough. Twice now he’s knocked away the chook house ramp and knocked over their automatic watering thing. He also bunts me with increasing vigour and tries to nibble my hands. Karola says he’s just hoping for sheep nuts. Worst is when he gets behind you and takes several steps back before launching himself at your back – needs watching.

There were only two eggs today in the chook house and I’m still suspicious that there’s some amount of laying-away going on. So, at Karola’s suggestion, I am going to keep them locked in their house till lunchtime tomorrow and see how many eggs that produces.

Annoying for me is that today on my bike ride round the block three vehicles passed me by at speed and actually scared me. Most people give me a metre or more’s leeway when passing. Some, probably bike riders themselves, go right over onto the other side of the road. But three of todays vehicles passed within a handlebar’s width of me and at 100kph or more that doesn’t feel safe. Two of those close shaves were on Ormond Road so there’s no safe way to get from Karamu to the network of cycle paths in the district. I have to find an alternative daily route and I’ll need to travel to it, taking the bike on the back of the Landrover I guess.

Oak Avenue Weather:0℃—17℃ 0.1mm rain [77.32] IKBOrchard TdT eggs=2 Mark=4

Had a nice call from our draughtsman Ruth Vincent who has been stirring the local heritage communities about how unconscionably long Heritag New Zealand have taken on one of her projects (us of course). She encouraged me to call Alison Dangerfield who was our Heritage NZ contact for the cottage move and renovation in 2013. Alison is a peer of Laura Kellaway, our contact for the homestead renovation.

Karola, Bangle, and I went into Hastings for our late morning ear appointments. We emerged hearing more clearly – which I suppose is an advantage. Frith Gray the ear-tician has her lair next to the OMG shop and Artisan so I got next week’s bread and coffee with a nibble while I waited for my turn.

On the way home we dropped in to Mitre-10 for a replacement handle for my favourite shovel that after many years gave way. I have two identical shovels so it’s not urgent to fix it. Also tried to get a replacement handle for a small garden fork – Mitre-10 are out of stock but expect to get some in next month.

Mark continued on the big cleanup following the trimming machine’s savaging of the top and sides of our wind breaks.

Oak Avenue Weather:2℃—14℃ no rain [77.79] IKBOrchard TdT eggs=3 Mark=4

Mid morning a knock on the door and, no, it’s not Grayson Allen from Peak Plumbing & Gas as planned, it’s the driver of the terrible trimming machine come to do our shelter belts.

By the time Mark came he’d almost finished the trimming so Mark & I set up the old Fergie tractor with the Caravaggi Chipper/Shredder (aka The Mulcher) and Mark mulched up the pile of branches awaiting their fate just inside the railings by the farm shed. As he did that I picked up a heaped trailer load of the bigger branches from cutting the top of the Ngaios along our orchard drive – so that cars could safely drive up over what remained. Mark then swiftly mulched all that up too while I took the Landrover down to Caltex on Omahu road and got more diesel and petrol for the tractors.

Space is very tight at present in the homestead garage so I had to get Karola’s Subaru out before having room to get into the Landrover and reverse it out. Unfortunately, very unfortunately, putting them away again did not work well. I parked the Landrover but when squeezing in the Subaru I got too close and their bumpers engaged. The corner bumper and reflector on the back, driver’s side of the Landrover was torn off (see photo below) and the front passenger side bumper of the Subaru was torn off its clips. More nuisance than tragedy but just a momentary lapse in concentration can waste so much time and money.

On the other hand, three more eggs today and sunny with light breeze so the Tour de Twyford was quite pleasant.

Thick As Mosquitos On A Warm Evening – Sparrowfest

Trimming The South Casurina Shelter Belt

Kanuka Left Sticking Up Their Heads (Good For Bees)

Landrover – Subaru Mishap – This ….

… Used To Look Like This, Its Matching Bumper

Oak Avenue Weather:-1℃—14℃ 0.1mm rain [77.84] IKBOrchard TdT eggs=3 Mark=4

Quiet day – again sunny but pretty cold.

Running around with the weekend tasks such as mowing the cottage lawn. Karola put her sheep on the cottage lawn last week after many weeks of neglect when the Grillo was out of action and today I was very grateful for that because without their hungry grazing it’d have taken much longer and many more emptyings of the Grillo catcher.

Three eggs again, very encouraging. And at least seventeen doves came for tea this evening.

Oak Avenue Weather:-1℃—15℃ 0.2mm rain [77.44] IKBOrchard TdT eggs=3

Beautiful but cold sunny winter’s day. Karola took advantage of that by sitting in sunlight sometimes on the cottage verandah, sometimes inside the cottage by a window.

I got several hours of programming done, very satisfying. Making the web pages for my Weight Tracking web application is endlessly engrossing, one can tinker with colours and sizes to one’s heart’s content.

First time that I got three eggs in one day.

KArola & I watched the Hurricanes (Wellington) narrowly beat the Crusaders (Christchurch) which pleased karola – she’s fed up with the Crusaders winning all the time and the Hurricanes are effectively her home team.

Oak Avenue Weather:-2℃—15℃ 0.1mm rain [77.92] IKBOrchard TdT eggs=3

Up in good time to feed the assorted fowl, colect todays couple of fresh eggs, and then sort out the sheep for Karl O’Neale’s visit to crutch and vaccinate at 10:00am.

Ram and matriarch had to be split up; ram to Goose paddock out of the way, #209 put in the yards. Then the rest of the sheep popped into the holding paddock. Karol was 30 minutes early but no problem. His wife Wendy who usually roustabouts for him is away because of a sick grandchild in New Plymouth. So Karola swept away the crutchings off the shearing board into the fadge.

The ewes and hoggets had made a good job of eating out the cottage lawn ready for me to mow on Sunday so I took down the electric fence protecting the bay tree hedge.

My recent online purchase of an electric clock arrived today. Karola wakes in the night and has difficulty getting back to sleep. She says she wants to know what the time is but that means fumbling for a torch and her glasses to look at her bedside clock; this new clock has big letters that should be visible without a torch from across the room. It looks bright but has a night setting that is much dimmer. We shall see.

Electronics have made it possible to put all sorts of functions in a modern clock, to my mind cluttering the screen with unnecessary stuff usually written in a nasty “electronic’ font that is hard to read and hard on the eyes, all packaged in some tacky looking plastic enclosure. I think this clock is different, the time is displayed in large letters in a typical san-serif font and the information most necessary as we get older and more forgetful is all that’s on the screen. The enclosure is a plain black plastic that doesn’t intrude nor scream ‘high tech’.

… and as Karola points out, I should say that it’s not just a clock but a calendar and, as you can see, says what day of the week it is. In times of lock-down and retirement the days do sometimes run one into another so this is very helpful.

My Dressing Table – With Experimental New Wall Clock

Oak Avenue Weather:-2℃—15℃ no rain [77.56] IKBOrchard TdT eggs=2 Mark=4

Unusual discovery this morning – checking for eggs after I gave the various birds their morning feeds I found an egg in one of the nest boxes and nestled beside it a small feathered thing. I did a double-take – it can’t be a chick. And no, it was a sparrow. Very weird. I picked it up and let it fly away.

Lots of fun programming today with occasional forays into the sunshine. Sheep grazed the cottage lawn and made serious inroads so that there won’t be so much mowing to do.

Mark began the clearing and edging work round Karola’s two new parking spots (see below).

North Side Of The Cottage Garage – Karola’s Two New Parking Spots

Oak Avenue Weather:4℃—16℃ no rain [77.76] IKBOrchard TdT eggs=1 Mark=4

Off at 8:30am to take Bangle over near Black Barn to have a bath and brush etc, Emma’s Dig Grooming. Then on the New World for the weeks shopping followed by visit to the OMG bread shop and, next door, Artisan for coffee. As we had a little time in hand Karola suggested we have an early lunch – their GF ham and vegetable soup, delicious. Then to pick up some cash from the bank and back to retrieve Bangle from the groomers.

Karola was shown how to brush Bangle’s teeth and we booked Bangle in for a grooming every six weeks until the end of the year.

Mark’s first task was to put up electric fence round the bay tree hedge in the cottage garden so we could give the sheep a chance to gorge themselves on the luxurious sward there before I expect to cut it on Sunday. The Grillo having been out of action for weeks and weeks the cottage lawn has grown quite long.

And then it was water blasting of the exposed concrete between the cottage and its garage motivated by Karola’s desie to remove the Welcome swallow guano near the steps.

It started to rain after that so I asked Mark to repair the fourth trestle – of the four I bought last week three were fine but one had a broken top rail. Mark made a duplicate of the broken top rail and screwed it on, problem solved. Mark stayed on to hunt possums and rabbits leaving about 8:30pm having bagged three possums and a couple of rabbits. One rabbit he offered to Karola who accepted it with every evidence of pleasure – but what on earth is she going to do with a fresh dead rabbit.

Brimar Trimmer’s Monstrous machine

Mark Cleans Cottage Concrete With Water Blaster

Oak Avenue Weather:3℃—14℃ 0.4mm rain [77.54] IKBOrchard TdT eggs=1 Mark=4

No eggs when I let the chooks out around 8:00am. But late afternoon I checked again and there were two small eggs.

Trevor from Outdoor Power brought back the Grillo with the replacement belt fitted. A brief test run assured me that they had indeed fixed it this time. It’s been winter and wet so in fact there’s not a lot of harm done by the Grillo being grounded for a couple of months.

Mark continued tidying up after me – I sawed a few more larger branches today and Karola has been gathering smaller branches in the paddocks so we don’t accidentally trip when chasing sheep – and Mark put the firewood on his two large piles behind the homestead garage and the rest on the pile to-be-mulched next to the farm shed.

I think it must be a bird-scarer, that loud bang we hear every day. It consist of two very loud, deep bangs 20 seconds apart, repeated from around dawn till late evening, I think at 22 minutes past the hour on randomly chosen hours.

Mark excavated the concrete laundry tub and its associated plumbing from under the Camellia where the old green shed used to be. He also finished clearing that area of river stones and pieces of concrete.

The Orchard Drives Get A Spot Of Maintenance

Oak Avenue Weather:5℃—15℃ no rain [77.49] IKBOrchard TdT eggs=2 Mark=4

Kept the chooks in their house until 9:00am and when I let them out one stayed behind, presumably delivering her egg. Anyway a little later I checked and there was indeed an egg. At my insistence Karola had it for breakfast (see below).

I nipped into town to get some more Nutrio dog food,a replacement back light for my bike, lots of printer paper, and some bits of food. I got coffees and the whole trip was done within an hour.

Mixed weather day but not unpleasant. Mark came and first he planted the six red beech trees then began clearing the ground where the six raised beds used to be, making way for two generous parking spaces along the north side of the cottage garage. We laid out where three of the raised beds will rise again which also determines where the parking hard stand will end. Mark picked up many river stones from the area, Karola had piled them up from stones found mostly in the orchard.

Later Mark picked up the jumble of bits of concrete from beneath the Camellia tree between the big oak and the homestead hard stand. As Karola requested, he used some of the smaller bits to plug the rabbit holes in the sheep yards. so far, no matter hw often we fill them in, the rabbit holes reappear so this experiment will be one to watch.

Meticulous Maids came this afternoon so, as is her wont, Karola spent most of the morning preparing for them.

A Very Fresh Chook Egg Breakfast

Oak Avenue Weather:11℃—14℃ 0.1mm rain [77.64] IBOrchard TdT eggs=2 Mark=4

Chock full of little tasks today – the usual Sunday scramble. Actually didn’t get going till late morning but it turned out, against forecast, to be a sunny day and not too cold nor windy.

Karola sat on a chair in shaft of sunshine reading and very relaxed.

Late afternoon, after whisking Bangle round the orchard, we tootled off in Zoe to the Sports Centre to see if they knew anything about these very occasional loud, deep bangs that roll out across the land. No-one there had heard the bang so maybe they’re off in a different direction, to the north-east rather than the south-east.

Karola’s Sheep – Can You See 31 Here?

Oak Avenue Weather:10℃—15℃ 7.0mm rain [77.75] IKBOrchard TdT eggs=0

Puddles everywhere and showers most of the day. I took the opportunity in a lull to go on my bike ride – and of course it rained most of the way round, gentle, soaking rain.

Karola and I drove to Flaxmere in the Subaru pulling one of Karola’s small trailers and picked up the four trestles. Stopped at Gagan’s on the way back and got couple of bags of walnuts and some more tomatoes.

An Egg, A Pullet’s Egg – Nice Brown Egg

It’s Alright For Some

Oak Avenue Weather:9℃—13℃ 20.3 rain [77.68] TdT eggs=1

… and I didn’t even know I needed them. Tracy from up the Taihape road and surrogate mother for Bangle when we go away pointed out this auction on TradeMe (Like eBay but local to NZ). I wonder if the photo has disguised their less desirable properties but from the evidence to hand they look quite sturdy and they seem to fold for ease of storage when not in use. I had not the faintest notion that I needed them when Tracey’s email arrived. But on reflection, my current eight trestles – used for putting things on to saw or paint – are rickety, uneven, and don’t fold away so these might be a good replacement. I won the auction tonight for $32 but would have gone up to $60 before giving in. I can pick them up from Flaxmere which is only ten minutes away so no expensive shipping fees.

A good start to the day in that I did my Tour de Twyford before going with Karola and Bangle into Hastings for her 10:00am hair appointment. We got coffees on the way home.

Mark didn’t come today, it was just too damp underfoot and drizzling much of the time. I had most of the day to continue programming.

Tracey Alerted Me To These Useful Trestles On Trademe

See How The Final Bidding Went – My Autobid Top Price Was $60

Oak Avenue Weather:10℃—11℃ 12.1mm rain [77.67] IBOrchard TdT eggs=0 Mark=0

Overcast drizzle most of the day – but not too cold. We stayed inside most of the time, having a delightful warm fire in the evening.

Mark came and moved a mound of earth with the Kioti tractor; also gathered up several piles of firewood I’d cut up recently. went off to set the two cage possum traps before going home to Napier.

Oak Avenue Weather:7℃—11℃ 7.2mm rain [77.39] IKBOrchard TdT eggs=0 Mark=4

Good start to the day as Karola and I did the weekly shopping and were back home shortly after 10:00am.

It rained on and off all morning so Mark didn’t come and we spent much of the day inside; I got some more time for programming.

Karola and Lyn spoke at length on the phone.

Oak Avenue Weather:6℃—11℃ 0.2mm rain [77.85] IKBOrchard TdT eggs=0 Mark=0

One pair of Mallard ducks yesterday, two pairs this morning on the homestead lawn.

Trevor from Outside Power came and took away the Grillo pending the arrival and fitting of its replacement blade drive belt.

A van and two young men came from Langes and took away the thermometer they’d had in the cottage fridge, measuring the temperature.

Mark came and planted the rest of the Yew trees then moved an old rose (that has rather nice flowers) from next to the homestead sunporch steps to a new home under the Camellia next to Karola’s summer house. Lastly today he moved a large Geranium from the remains of one of the raised beds to a new home in the corner of the realigned railings.

Grey and drizzle all day.

Marie Wieck, an IBM executive who has just retired but was part of our Java team back in the day and recently in charge of stuff called BlockChain for IBM, sent me sepia photo from those old days.

IBM – Hursley Lab UK – Late 1990’s – Ian Brackenbury, Simon Phipps, Mike Cowlishaw (the 10x programmer)

These Heavy Breeds – They Can Hardly Get Off The Ground – Yeah Right!

Oak Avenue Weather:7℃—12℃ 2.4mm rain [77.76] IKBOrchard TdT eggs=0 Mark=4

Light rain on and off so Mark didn’t come today.

It’s not Wednesday, our “shopping day” but we wanted to get rid of a broken electric oil heater so took it down to the scrap metal people who, to my surprise, accepted it without hesitation. What with the combination of electronics and oil I expected them to want to charge us for getting rid of it. As it is nearby we also went to the raodside green grocers, Gagan’s, and got most of next weeks fruit and vege. Tempted, we dropped in at Lappuccino’s on the way home and had what they called a “Keto Breakfast” as our main meal of the day. This rarely works as of course I’ve continued eating the rest of the afternoon and evening.

Just to make sure that the hot water cylinder (HWC) isn’t fixed, that it still is leaking, I used a paint stripping flame thrower to dry off most of the water in the tray under the HWC, crossing fingers that I didn’t set light to the wooden floor under the cylinder. Six hours later the area still seems dry. If the leak does continue, maybe it’s a slow leak, then we’ll try to get Grayson Allen of Peak Plumbing & Gas to come and quote for a replacement system using a heat pump to drive the water radiators. The cylinder is said to be under guarantee for ten years and it was installed late 2011 (according to this journal) so we might just get the replacement under guarantee.

Karola also read quite a lot today and I did more programming.

For many months I have been answering a weekly survey for flu symptoms across New Zealand. Feedback includes the fluey condition of each postcode so I’ve included last weeks summary for: Karamu = 4175, Gill = 6022, and Bridget = 6035.

NZ Govt Flu Tracking – Last Weeks Results

Mallard Couple Dropped In

Oak Avenue Weather:8℃—12℃ 3.0mm rain [77.89] IKBOrchard TdT eggs=0 Mark=0

Morning spent in pleasurable programming.

In the afternoon Karola and I spent an hour or so picking up rubbish from along our road boundary – a horrid job that Karola has done many times over the years. It such a pity that people think nothing of dropping their rubbish in the avenue. On the other hand, the council charges for accepting rubbish and some people will find that discouraging.

Later I cleared away the pile of offcuts from the railing realignment project.

Rest of the time was the usual Sunday tasks – charging Zoe, refilling the firewood bins, putting out the household rubbish etc.

Oak Avenue Weather:5℃—16℃ 1.1mm rain [77.38] IKBOrchard TdT eggs=0

Karola wanted more pea straw for her sheep, not because they’re particularly hungry but more as a bit of variety. So we set off this morning for Nimon Baling with their big sheds full of hay and straw of all sorts. But, most of the sheds were empty and what remained was spoken for. So on the way home we dropped in to The Plant Shop at the end of Evenden road, they sell bales of pea straw mainly to gardeners for compost at quite a high price. We bought six bales at about double the Nimon Baling price; these came up from the South Island I was told, so there will be a little straw for the sheep after all.

I enjoyed the morning with a little more programming, enhancing my Weight-Tracking web application. This has been in progress since April last year and could be enhanced indefinitely but I suspect there will soon be other computer things to take my attention.

Late afternoon I spent about an hour chainsawing up logs for firewood, mostly the logs I ran into when clearing the ground for the new extra Red Beech trees.

Confirmed Karola’s sighting yesterday; I saw two sparrows hop out of the chook house late afternoon – so that’s where some of the chook mash is going.

Ground Cleared For More Red Beech

Some Of The New Yew Trees Extending The Roadside Hedge

Marc Florent Photo Of The Florent Four: Barney, Charlie, Felix, and Sophie

Marc reminds Us Of Our Time In Boulogne

Oak Avenue Weather:1℃—16℃ no rain [77.52] IKBOrchard TdT eggs=0

Went out to feed the various birds as usual around 7:30am to find that one goose had died overnight – it was cold and that goose had been lagging behind for a couple of weeks as if it were nearing its “sell by” date.

I give whole maize to the geese, wheat to the chooks, and a mix of kibbled maize and wheat to the doves. But some of the chooks and a couple of the doves are nipping in and getting some geese food. And lots of sparrows and other similar sized birds share the dove feast. The doves get a repeat of their morning mix late afternoon. The chooks are currently also getting a mash made of maize dust and growing pullet pellets mixed up in the evening and put into the house when I shut them up after dark. This is usually half gone when I let the hens out in the morning. Today I noticed it had all gone by late afternoon but, based on Karola’s observation of sparrows hopping up the ladder into the chook house, I’m not sure whether its chooks or sparrows which are pecking the plate clean.

It being a mild sunny day Karola sat out on the cottage kitchen verandah and read until the sun went behind the Canary Island pine.

Using the Kioti tractor I cleared an area south of the red beech plantation – south of the 133 gateway – flattening the old rotted bund Karola made there many years ago. This clearing makes room for a further six red beech tree.

Karola buried the dead goose up in the plantation near the big shed.

Mark came and cleared along the fence-line south of the 133 gateway from the end of the railings to the short hedge of Yew trees planted ten years ago, and cleared a matching length south beyond that short hedge. He then planted 16 of the 20 new Yew trees before going off to hunt for possums and rabbits in the dusk. Mark got one more possum in a cage trap overnight and shot another two with his air rifle. He also bagged another couple of rabbits.

Apparently the little black kitten with white markings made a hit at home with Caz, or so Mark said.After initially running round the house in a wild frenzy it calmed down and, when one of Mark’s two other cats walked in, chatted (meowed) and had a good meal.

After Weeks Of Getting Weaker, One Of The Four 14-Year-Old Geese Dies

Ballarat Apples – In Mid-Winter

Oak Avenue Weather:-2℃—15℃ no rain [77.48] IKBOrchard TdT eggs=0 Mark=4

Quiet morning, cold with brisk wind but not a frost I think.

Robust discussions about the fate of the young male neutered cat – a kitten really – and no obvious path from here to where either of us want to be.

Mark came and began by putting mulch around each of the Totara and wiring down the tree guards. He then dug up the Bay tree bush nearest the cottage garage – impeding our path into the extended parking area north of the garage – and replanted it in a significant gap in the Bay tree hedge. He finished his afternoon by planting the three white dwarf Manuka in gaps in my hedge of multi-coloured Manukas.

Suggested that Mark might like to take the kitten home; he already has two cats but seemed quite interested. I bribed him to take it away for at least a week – including agreeing to pay for the first round of cat vaccinations. This settled the afore-mentioned robust discussions; I shall wait until we go back to live in the homestead before seriously planning a feline addition to the in-house menagerie.

Run out of lemons so went and picked half a bucket of lemons and grapefruit. The grapefruit are not pleasant to eat raw but might be OK squeezed or as marmalade. Karola doesn’t mix grapefruit and Statins but since Bridget introduced me to the low-carb thirst quenching mix of soda water and squeezed lemons I’ve quite taken to it and will try using squeezed grapefruit. Gave a few grapefruit to Mark for Caz to try – take her mind off the kitten.

Man from Langes returned and picked up his thermometers, taking them back to the office to interpret the measurements.

Box Hedge Fronting Homestead Garage – Given By Bridget As 300mm High Plants Years Ago

Apple Orchard – Gaunt Leafless Row Apon Row

Oak Avenue Weather:2℃—10℃ no rain [77.76] IKBOrchard TdT eggs=0 Mark=4

There was supposed to be a power cut from 9:00amm till 5:45pm today but what actually happened was that the power briefly flicked off and back on again at 9:00am and stayed on after that. I reset the clock on the oven and microwave. The computers re-booted.

Shopping today was bracketed by visits to the pharmacy in the Health Centre – picking up prescriptions. During lockdowns the pharmacies decided to only give out a month of pharmaceuticals at a time whereas we’ve been used to quarterly renewals. So we find ourselves visiting the Health Centre pharmacy frequently. As they seem to have a rule that they will not fill a prescription in under 15 minutes we drop them off and return later, after the rest of the shopping.

When in the UK I have, on several occasions, stocked up on a mild sleeping pill called Nytol at Boots. You can’t get Nytol here but there is a “pharmacy only” equivalent known as Unisom. The active ingredient is Diphenhydramine Hydrochloride. As we’ve run out of the stockpiled Nytol and two previous packets of Unisom I got another packet today. I was quizzed by the pharmacist as to how and why I intended to use it and managed to refrain from being flippant.

Got back just as Mark was arriving. He had trapped anther possum overnight. After a cool but bright morning the rain began almost as soon as we arrived home but Mark continued on the Totara avenue for a while. Around 2:00pm we agreed it was just too unpleasant to carry on so he headed off and I got back inside in the warm. No Tour de Twyford today.

Chimney sweep called last night and made an appointment to come today. He came and cleaned the cottage chimney.

We picked up the neutered male almost-adult cat late afternoon. According to the vet it isn’t a properly feral wild cat – these, especially the toms, hiss and spit and lunge at you biting and scratching. Our little chap is just very very frightened. Vet’s instructions are to keep him in the warm with food and water for a few days. I gave hoim water and a small tin of Whiskers cat food – he ate the lot.

Oak Avenue Weather:1℃—11℃ 5.5mm rain [77.87] IBOrchard eggs=0 Mark=2

Mark came at noon and found that the two cage traps he’d set last night had occupants: a small, dark-furred possum, and a black cat with white markings. No idea what made the cat think possum bait was interesting.

Anyway, I decanted the cat into a dog carrying crate and Karola, Bangle, and I took it down to the SPCA off Maraekakaho road. They gave us a voucher and we then dropped the cat off at Vet One in Stortford Lodge. We can pick it up, de-sexed, tomorrow afternoon for release back here. Same strategy as before, we’re bound to have feral cats because of the food supply and good cover so best to have cats that can’t multiply.

Mark continued planting the avenue of eleven Totara and before he left he had put them all in the ground inside their tree guards. It remains to mulch each tree and wire the guards to their supporting standards so the sheep don’t make them ride up when scratching their backs.

Man from Langes came mid afternoon about the cottage refrigerator being too cold. Didn’t bring a thermometer so went off again and didn’t return until after 6:00pm. He put thermometers in the fridge and chiller drawers and says he’ll be back in a couple of days.

Meanwhile, responding to Karola’s plaintive requests, repeated many times over the last year or so, Mark and I pulled down a solid branch from the Wellingtonia behind the homestead garage – suspended like the Sword of Damocles as if to fall at any moment. Using the old Fergie tractor I stood in the bucket while Mark sent me aloft to where I could lasso the branch. We attached the other end of the rope to the tractor and woosh, down it came.

Eleven Totara Trees Planted

Chooks Enjoying Afternoon Sun

Later – Chooks Getting Ready For Night

Anna’s Bubble Rambles In The New Forest

Oak Avenue Weather:3℃—17℃ no rain [77.64] IKBOrchard TdT eggs=0 Mark=4

Called Outdoor Power and spoke to Craig about the belt. He has run out of ideas and sounded a bit depressed about the whole thing – the real replacement part is still at least two weeks away.

Karola drove me and Bangle with the tractor’s flat front tyre down to Power Farming. They suggested taking it to a tyre business half a mile away, which we did, and they re-inflated it.Apparently these tyres gradually lose air and if you don’t pump them up regularly you get the sort of flat that we experienced. Power Farming said the recommended pressure is 40psi.

When Mark came I asked him to use Karola’s brilliantly efficient hand pump to top up the tyre pressures. He did the remaining front one but found that it would take much time and effort to inflate the big back tyres to 40psi, they being down around 20psi at the time.

So I drove the tractor down to the local Caltex garage and filled the tyres to 40psi there.

Mark meanwhile finished the last couple of intermediate posts on the realigned railings and that means the railings are complete. Plenty more to do in using the extra space around the pump-shed and where the raised beds were, but nothing urgent.

Meticulous Maids came and cleaned the cottage this afternoon.

Mark began the planting of the eleven Totara saplings in a long row down the Middle paddock side of the Long Acre fence.

Lyn Sturm dropped in just as I returned from pumping up the Kioti tyres at Caltex Omahu. She and Karola chatted until it began to get dark when Karola and I needed to take Bangle round the orchard.

Oak Avenue Weather:4℃—18℃ 0.4mm rain [77.93] IKBOrchard TdT eggs=0 Mark=4

There’s been a discrepancy between the list of Karola’s sheep, listed by age, and the actual animal counts. We have one more ewe than that record shows although the main report of births/deaths etc is right. So today we got the 21 ewes into the main yards and ticked off each number, found the missing ewe and corrected one other number. Fresh print of the list is now correct.

Used the Landrover as a cheap steamroller, flattening the gravel Mark put in the deep ruts made by postie’s van next ot our letter box. Seems firm enough now.

Tidied up and swept out the homestead garage and managed to squeeze both the Landrover and Subaru in – only the Subaru has been garaged for the last month or so.

Not a good day for food frugality. Started with bacon and egg hearty breakfast. Karola then suggested going out for lunch as it is so cold – so we had a delicious lunch at Birdwood cafe in Middle Road near Havelock North. We both had their idea of a beef burger – salad with a melt-in-the-mouth pulled-beef pattie. Like pulled pork and nothing like ground beef. When it arrived I thought that it was a rather small serving, just a snack, but it was actually very filling.

It got worse with an organic chocolate-orange ice-cream from Rush Munro’s and supper a fresh tomato soup with toast. Followed by half a bar of special chocolate. As I said, not a good day for food frugality. Meanwhile Bridget is somehow managing fasting days of more than 24 hours without food. All power to her elbow.

Ended the evening by watching episode five of 34 episodes of Inspector Montalbano kindly provided by the BBC – pretty faithful adaptations of the novels by Andrea Camilleri.

Another Crisp, Cold Start To The Morning

Birdwood Cafe For Lunch

Late Afternoon In Winter

Oak Avenue Weather:1℃—16℃ 0.4mm rain [77.94] IKBOrchard TdT eggs=0

Very white outside this morning, the biggest frost we’ve had this year. Followed by a lovely sunny day albeit taking till mid afternoon to warm up.

Took down the electric fence round the oak tree leaving fence up round the homestead lawn. Collected up the broken branches and palm fronds that have fallen over the last fortnight on the homestead lawn.

Noticed that the little Kioti tractor had a flat front tyre. Tried to pump it up with the bicycle pump – that didn’t work. Karola drove me down to Caltex on Omahu road and I tried their air pump, no go. So I’ll have to take the wheel in to Power Farming on Monday. Meanwhile the tractor is propped up on some firewood to keep the front axle off the ground.

Karola has been wanting to use her portable yards to make a temporary structure near the Damson tree so that come lambing we have a way to pen up any problematic cases of mother and lamb. So this afternoon we assembled the yards including the portable race in the One Acre paddock, using the gates into the Front paddock and Totara paddock as part of the plan.

The Ram – Excessively Friendly When In Search Of Sheep Nuts

Oak Avenue Weather:-2℃—15℃ no rain [77.81] IKBOrchard TdT eggs=0

Lazy morning as despite being very sunny it was also rather cold outside. Then Karola drove me to haircut at noon and she got another loaf of the delicious OMG GF bread and some coffees and tidbits from next-door Artisan Coffee Shop. I think the haircut is a bit too short and tending to a George Michael or boy band look rather than the one I favour which would be more like Christopher Lloyd in “Back To The Future”.

Back home Mark had already started, continuing the installation of intermediate posts on the railings realignment project. Seeing that the sides of the raised beds, which he’d laid out near the washing line, as we requested, were killing the grass Mark spontaneously stacked them all up. I also noticed today that while we were getting more screws yesterday Mark actually finished taking down the temporary netting fence that stopped sheep escaping as we realigned the railings.

After afternoon coffee and biscuits Mark mended the roadway next to our 133 letter box. In recent days, aided by the heavy rain we’ve had, the mailman’s van has been making deep ruts in mud next to the letter box. Mark removed the gooey mud and put lots of gravel in the ruts – using gravel left over from Paul the builder working on the homestead base board replacements many months ago.

Later Mark spent a couple of hours trying to shoot rabbits and possums. He did in fact get six rabbits which is much better than his usual efforts but I was disappointed to find that, due to a significant aura of veganism in his household, he wasn’t going to take them home for his dog and cat. There’s somewhere between 20 and 50 rabbits here so killing six of an evening isn’t really going to make much difference so I think we’ll just leave them in peace. Karola will still rail against them because of the holes, a danger to limb if not life for her and her sheep, allegedly.

Oak Avenue Weather:-2℃—13℃ 0.1mm rain [77.88] IKBOrchard TdT eggs=0 Mark=4

Very cold all day and a strong blustery wind to boot.

Wired down the ramp up iinto the chook house as the ram seemed to enjoy knocking it over last time he was in the Goose paddock. Then popped matriarch #209 and ram #999 into that paddock and let the rest of the ewes into the Long Acre. As Karola noted, the long Casurina windbreak on the southern boundary does indeed provide good shelter from the current south-westerlies so the ewes can have some respite from the cold.

Mark came despite the cold and his finger – which by the way is recovering. He spent the afternoon putting in more of the intermediate posts, using up all our screws. Mark said that, like yesterday, there was a lot of snow on the mountains and the higher parts of roads out of Napier to Taupo and Taihape.

Karola drove me and Bangle down to Mitre-10 to get more screws after I came back from a very cold and slow Tour de Twyford. I have never had to pedal in such a low gear before – some gusts just seemed to halt forward progress completely. I still got round in under 30 minutes but was pretty frozen at the end.

Off to Mitre-10 for the simple task of picking up another box of 4” (100mm) railing screws. But it seems that I collared the last box last time I visited and although re-ordered the expected delivery date is sometime in October. Noticing that there were exactly four small packets of 25 screws I compared prices. Buying 100 in a box was about half the price as four packets. However we did a deal and I got my 100 screws at the box price. Mitre-10 now have none of these screws in either the big box or the packets.

Oak Avenue Weather:4℃—10℃ 2.6mm rain [77.80] IBOrchard TdT eggs=0 Mark=4

Scramble to make the lists and then off we went. Exciting, not: dry cleaners then the bank, New World followed by OMG (bread shop) and next door Artisan coffee shop, Mitre-10 and finally The Storage Box. Enough said. It still amazes how much and how heavy the groceries are for just two people.

Mark came, his finger having recovered quite a bit overnight he said, finished screwing up the rails and started on putting in the intermediate posts that keep the railings straight.

Oak Avenue Weather:3℃—10℃ 1.0mm rain [77.58] IBOrchard TdT eggs=0 Mark=4