Monthly Archives: September 2020

One of the ten ewe hoggets currently sleeping-over in the goose paddock and grazing on the homestead lawn during the day decided she could scramble underneath the half-gate that lets chooks and geese out to wander freely but is supposed to keep sheep in. So the first thing Mark did today was to lower the half-gate by about 100mm (4”). Chooks and geese still have freedom of movement but it’s now in the to-hard basket for hoggets. Cross our fingers they don’t become jumpers – woolly jumpers.

Yesterday morning I got a bit of grit in my eye but managed to wash it out. But the scratch it left was distinctly uncomfortable and when it went on all night and was worse this morning I decided to get it checked. We got ready for our Wednesday shopping as usual but first went to the Hastings Health Centre and I was very fortunate that Aimee Hawker, doing locum duty for Richard Jamieson, my local doctor, could see me within the hour. She confirmed it was a small scratch top and centre of the eye after giving me drops to anaesthetise and different drops to dilate – oh those anaesthetic drops were so good. She gave me some precautionary antibiotics and anti-inflamatory drops and we went on our way, much relieved.

Shopping for the week ahead at New World. GF bread and coffees at OMG and Artisan, cash for my helper from the bank, a 50m roll of insulated aluminium wire for the project to take the electric fence distribution system underground, and some more mustard & cress seed and lawn seed from The Plant Shop on Pakowhai road – and we were done.

After lowering his half-gate Mark continued with the undergrounding of the electric fence distribution wiring.

Late last evening I got an email from Peter Cooke, president of the New Zealand branch of IDS, telling us all that next year’s meeting in Geraldine had been moved from 16th – 18th April back to 8th – 11th April. I immediately booked the flights, using the credit provided by Air New Zealand when they cancelled all flights due to Covid-19. I got a rental car and asked to revise our motel booking.

Sadly – or maybe not – the motel was already fully booked for the Thursday of that week so tonight I searched around for an alternative and alighted on Oldfields, ten minutes walk from where we’d originally booked, so ten minutes walk from the meeting place for the IDS bus trips. We got the last vacancy at Oldfields for the new dates and I noticed that on Trip Advisor Oldfields had the highest rating of any of the local Geraldine motels/hotels, 9.5.

Oak Avenue Weather:2℃—17℃ no rain [76.8] TdT eggs=3 Mark=4

Blustery and cold most of the day, dying down, as it did yesterday, in the late afternoon.

Ewe #209 lambed a little earlier than expected having twins today – #026E and #027R, both up and drinking when I saw them. According to the official length of gestation (146 – 152 days) and the time they spent with the ram, tomorrow should be the last day for any ewe except #209 to give birth. Now that #209 has had her twins I think that the two ewes remaining without lambing are dry, and their physical condition corroborates that. SO, lambing for the 2020 season has ended. At the end of September we have 10 ewe lambs and 15 male lambs bringing the total to 25 lambs from 22 ewes – not our best percentage.

Mark came and began by picking up all the branches he cut from the taupata hege yesterday, the sheep having had overnight to eat what they wanted, which was most of the leaves. The wind had scattered the branches hither and yon.

Mark then continued with the project to re-establish the main distribution lines for the electric fence from the cottage pump shed out to the damson trree and beyond, going north, and to the southern end of the cottage garden. I took down the old, exposed wires and outriggers. Mark has one 50m reel of insulated aluminium wre and needs one more to complete the job.

The geese had a major fight this morning. I’m unsure who started it nor even who were the main protagonists but when i got there one goose (feebly) attempted to attack me and the other two were bashing each other with their wings while holding fast to the neck of the other. I separated them and chased them apart. I think that the widowed goose used to be one of the pair that constantly bullied the other two and now it’s payback time.

In the evening I went with Karola to a talk by Elizabeth Pishief our archaeologist who worked on the cottage renovation and will be working on the homestead one too. Her talk, at the East Pier hotel in Napier, was about the history of houses on and around Brewster street in Napier from the mid 1800s to the mid 1900s.

Brewster Street, Napier – Today

Oak Avenue Weather:3℃—16℃ no rain [76.83] TdT eggs=3 Mark=4

Drove Karola in to her eye-doctor appointment with Dr John Beaumont at Royston Hospital. A year ago Karola had a check-up with him and he diagnosed the beginnings of cataracts but no macular degeneration or glaucoma. This year the cataracts in. both eyes were more obvious but Dr John was not recommending surgery until it was really necessary – maybe in a couple of years time.

Mark came, trimmed the top and sides of the Taupata hedge from the cottage garage north to near Gill’s Damson tree and the Chinese Photinia. He then continued with the re-electrification of the distribution for the electric fence from the cottage pump shed across to the switch on the railings at the beginning off the ha-ha – close to the end of the Taupata hedge mentioned above. Instead of the existing system of outriggers along the top of fence posts

Outriggers Being Replaced By Underground Cable

The Next Line To Be Buried Underground

Special Manuka: A Profusion Of Red Blossoms

Special Manuka: White Flowers Just Emerging

In England, In 1857 – Prolific Ewe – Caught Karola’s Eye

Oak Avenue Weather:9℃—19℃ no rain [76.90] IBOrchard TdT eggs=3 Mark=4

Heavy rain in the night and very gusty winds that died down just in time for the stop-bank adventure around 5:00pm. The sun broke out late afternoon.

Indoors programming all day. Karola reading her book about John Buchan, Beyond The Thirty-Nine Steps: A Life Of John Buchan, after which she has the collected Richard Hannay stories and the collected Edward Leith stories to read.

Oak Avenue Weather:6℃—23℃ 9.8mm rain [76.77] IBOrchard TdT eggs=2

Karola & I sorted more books and papers in the store room. I’m being a bit more ruthless now; no financial recortds from last century and goodbye to lots of books that might be interesting but that I know I’ll never find time to read.

Mark came and first he did a bit of fine tuning to the electric fence round the homestead lawn before embarking on reconnecting the electric fence supply from the pump-shed across to the beginning of the re-aligned railings..

Welcome Swallow Palace – Above The Spikes

Oops – Slightly Uneven Cress Strike – Maybe Sparrows

Oak Avenue Weather:_15℃—23℃ 1.1mm rain [76.80] TdT eggs=3 Mark=4

Morning spent on having haircuts with Kim at Ambience Hair Styling Studio. Before we left for Hastings we got a call from Janet Scott saying her orchard workers had told her they saw two brown dogs in Janet’s orchard – we might like to check on our sheep. we checked and no sign of dogs and all calm and peaceful in the paddocks.

Mark came and helped me take the car-load of magazines to the recycling, then a trailer load of rubbish from the store room to the transfer station, and finally a few dozen books to the Lion’s Annual Book Fair drop-off point in Stortford Lodge. Only excitement was that the strong wind gusts blew off a small empty box in three places on the way to the transfer station – the covering tarpaulins were flapping like crazy. We retrieved all three on the return journey.

Mark then began putting a new electric fence round the entire perimeter of the homestead lawn, ready for the ewe hoggets in a couple of days.

One Of The Lamb Gangs, Exploring

Oak Avenue Weather:9℃—23℃ no rain [76.82] TdT eggs=3 Mark=4

Just as I was making a first cup of coffee I noticed out just beyond the Canary Islan Pine a small white shape, very still, very flat, just like a dead lamb. Karola had noticed it too but said that maybe it’s just asleep. So, before my first coffee I stumbled out to take a look. I got within 20 metres of the comatose white shape, by now it was obviously a lamb, and it heard me coming raised its head and stared. Whew.

Checked my new herb garden which benefitted not only from a good soaking last night courtesy of the little spike sprinklers, but also from occasional light showers throughout the day. A spike sprinkler is visible at the far end of one raised bed in the photo below. The herbs are interspersed with marigold plants, said to be good companion plants warding off pests.

Late morning I got a call from Karamu Holden (the new agents for Renault in Hastings). As I’d suggested it appeared to be a software glitch and after resetting the software it had behaved normally, they said. Karola & I went down and collected Zoe and I was surprised to see that the on-screen display of the charging / use of electricity had changed and the indicators made a very different more strident sound when operating. So maybe they did a software upgrade as well as a reset. There was no charge for this visit to Karamu Holden.

Began the big job of clearing up stuff so that we can move what’s in the Apple room and Junk room in the homestead into the store room in the homestead garage. The store room has gradually filled up over the years but now we need the space for which it was originally built. Karola, Lexi, and Natalie have already sorted through prodigious numbers of books and bundles of papers but there is still a lot to do. I started by discarding all the empty cardboard boxes (with polystyrene inserts) that electronics purchases have come in over the years. Then it was out with all the old video tapes, dozens of them, because, realistically, I’m not going to transcribe any to computer. And finally today it was all those hundreds of glossy academic computing magazines I’ve collected over at least twenty years.

Mark didn’t come today but is coming instead on Saturday.

Yesterday Karola discovered that the small fridge in the homestead garage is filled not with dead possums trapped by Mark but with windfall apples collected by me several months ago. They were very cold but almost all totally rotten. I cleaned out the fridge today.

Herbs Liking Drier Conditions: Parsley, Sage, Thyme

Wetter Conditions Preferred By: Basil, Mint, And Marjoram

First Apple Blossom Seen On “Tour De Twyford”

With Sadness I Discard Decades Of Computing Periodicals – All Wildly Dated Of Course

Oak Avenue Weather:7℃—23℃ 4.3mm rain [76.76] IBOrchard TdT eggs=5 Mark=0

Shopping morning went just fine and we were home before lunchtime.

Mark came and mulched up the pile of branches waiting near the farm shed. As Karola requested we also removed most of the mulch along the side of the farm shed, put there months ago to suppress weeds. Karola, having read about Californian fires in The Economist, is concerned about the fire risk. The article said that keeping a five metre minimum border round dwellings, devoid of inflammables, was a good idea. I too read the article which seemed to contradict this somewhat by also asserting scientific evidence was that most dwellings that catch fire do so from wind-blown embers from major fires that can be hundreds of metres away.

Mark ended his day by more Grillo mowing long the eastern side of the homestead and the 133 driveways and outside the 121 cattlestop.

Slightly interesting adventure today during the Tour de Twyford, along the Ngaruroro river stop-bank. A car was parked right next to where we usually park at the entrance to the stop-bank – a sort of “kissing gate” affair that allows pedestrians, bicycles, dogs through but not cars or motorbikes. W ignored it and prepared to set off – me on my bike, Karola with Bangle on leash. As I was about to pedal off someone got out of the car, (beer) can in hand, and spoke – I don’t think it was English but it was certainly muffled. Then this rough-looking man went on, “do you smoke marijuana?”. I said “not since I was a kid” and cycled off. Was he selling or trying to buy I wonder.

After I got round the first bend I started to worry that maybe Karola being by herself wasn’t such a good idea so I stopped and rang her, asked if anyone was following her. No, no-one following and Karola felt safe so I continued.

Shortly afterwards I passed a young woman with a medium sized red-coated dog. a bit like a whippet. I said hello but she deliberately averted her gaze, looking worried.

I continued on and then, returning towards the car, I came across Karola and Bangle strolling back to the car chatting to the girl with the dog. It turned out that she had given the car of ruffians a wide berth, off the stop-bank and along the river bank, on her way upstream but was worried about how to get past them un-noticed on the return. Karola joined forces and stopped her worrying, but the car of ruffians had gone by the time they got back.

Yesterday I watered the three raised beds for several hours. Today I trod the soil to compact it and then, using my new dibber, made holes for each of the herbs and Marigolds in the two outside beds. Planted them out as planned and then planted Nasturtium seeds in the middle bed before watering them all for two hours. By then it was dark.

Oak Avenue Weather:16℃—21℃ no rain [76.82] TdT eggs=4 Mark=4

Karola has persuaded me to stop persecuting the Welcome Swallows so I’ll let them be.

Bit of a mixed bag today. Roused from my computer by Karola shrieking “Ian” from the Front paddock. It was a shaggy golden-coated Husky loping along towards the Front paddock. I few moments earlier there had been a rush of sheep and lambs from the Middle paddock into the Front paddock but, being sheep, they often do that when tey think they’re being left behind.

I called to the dog and it was well behaved; I tied it to an old piece of rope. More shrieking, another Husky sighted. It slipped through the seven-wire post and batten fence along the western boundary. Again, I called and walked towards it, it met me half-way and I tied it to the other end of the rope. Both dogs had collars with Hastings District Council dog tags. Zoe being indisposed I shut them in the cottage garage while I rang the council.

Animal Control officer came about 20 minutes later. Without seeing them, she knew by my description of the dogs, them and their owners. Apparently they’d been “on the lam” before and their owners were on notice; this time they’d get a fine.

What upset Karola was that she noticed two dead lambs as she ran to the Front paddock to see what had startled her flock. She later saw another two dead lambs and put two and two together ….

Well, I don’t think any of the deaths could be put down to the dogs. Three of the dead lambs had no injury signs at all, all were in rigor mortis – were not recent deaths. So, #721 lost one of her twins from yesterday, the ewe lamb #024. Ewe #824 was the last ewe still to lamb, there being two others we thought were dry and then the matriarch #209 who isn’t due for another few weeks. Ewe #824 appears to have had twins and both died before or soon after their birth. The last death we found today was #014R, quite a big lamb that had, I think, been pecked at by birds after death – a harrier or pukeko most likely. So, none down to any direct action by the dogs.

Mark came and we intended to move a couple of quite large plants away from the area that used to have raised beds to new positions along the front of the homestead garage But after clearing the spaces and starting to dig Mark found that, under a surface veneer of weeds, both positions were solid gravel and small boulders. So we decided not to make the move and give Karola time to figure out better spots for them. Mark then Grillo mowed the 121 driveway and associated grassy areas.

I tried to clean out the goose bath but was thwarted by the geese jumping in and stirring up still more mud. A chook laid her egg again on the driveway.

I planned the positions for the herbs in the raised beds. The soil in the beds is full of organic matter and soft so I watered it for a few hours in the hope that this will compact it a bit before I plant.

Hmmmm – Welcome Swallows 1: Ian 0

Oak Avenue Weather:8℃—22℃ no rain [76.99] IKBOrchard TdT eggs=4 Mark=4

Ewe #721 had twins, #024E and #025R. I think that means we have only four ewes who haven’t had lambs: matriarch #209 who went late to the ram and isn’t expected to lamb for another month, #705 and #801, neither of whom look like they’re having lambs this season, and #824 who should lamb soon.

As advised last week, Unison cut the power to us and other local houses from 9:00am this morning until 4:00pm this afternoon, about an hour longer than they’d forecast. This curtailed quite a lot of our normal activities because: computers and Internet access was down, there was no hot water, and because the pump from the bore stopped, no cold water either. We nipped down to Lappuccino’s for a coffee at lunchtime (not recommended) and used the thermos of hot water Karola boiled up just before the power cut began. I tried to use the solar battery “offline mode” but that needs to be set up ahead of time by having the battery always keep a bit of power back. Our battery was completely empty. If the power cut had continued our next step would have been to use the Honda petrol generator.

Getting on top of my Sunday tasks a little late I mowed the cottage lawn and curtilage today – it’s quick and easy with the Grillo.

Mark came and began a new project today. After discussion with Karola she’d like two plants moved from the vicinity of the pump shed and cottage garage to new homes along the front of the homestead garage. So Mark cut back the existing shrubs in front of the homestead garage, Hebes with their profusion of white flowers in summer, and tomorrow we expect he’ll move the two plants, a geranium and a red flowered woody shrub, a Pineapple sage, Salvia elegans, a sort of mint that Jenny Hendery gave to Karola.

In the afternoon our builder, Paul Libby, dropped in to pick up a copy of the Karamu renovation plans – giving us a feeling of actual progress on the project.

After last weeks Landrover seat repair, which entailed taking the seat out, I thought I’d check that the under-seat CD player was still active. As I peered under the seat I saw some silver paper behind the CD player. Chocolates and a Pokemon marble.

Found Behind CD Player Under Landrover Driver Seat – With The Marble (Below)

Deep Blue Round Marble: Vaporean #134 – What On Earth Is It?

I Guessed Right – It’s A Pokemon Thing

Oak Avenue Weather:2℃—17℃ 0.1mm rain [76.87] IBOrchard TdT eggs=4 Mark=4

Slow start but a beautiful sunny day with out any gale winds.

Karola was given a small shiny coffee percolator pot a month or so ago, a very stylish design, a Moka Express pot by Bailetti, and the same as that which Montalbano, our favourite Sicilian (fictional) detective, has bubbling away on his patio table in almost every episode. Of course with our induction hob and it being made of, I think, aluminium, it needs help in heating. Ideally we’d have a little gas burner like Montalbano but instead I sent off for a plate to convert the induction hob plate to a normal hot-plate.

Last week the converter arrived. It looks like a shiny metal 10” gramophone record with a handle – you put it on the induction plate and the “wrong sort of pot” on it.

Now Cecilia neglected to send us any instructions nor an instructional video – perhaps they all got Moka Pot training at Woodford House and Karola’s forgotten. So Karola insisted I google for info. There are videos aplenty and lots of coffee-drinker websites with a Moka Pot section. So we learned of its fame and iconic-ness though when it arrived we knew it looked pretty special. And I learned how to brew a cup with it.

Today we brewed our first Moka Express coffees. Filled the bottom half up to the little ridge indicating when full, heated until it started boiling, in parallel prepared the coffee beans and filled the filter basket to the brim. As per the videos, the bottom half of the Moka Pot is now very hot so you use a dish-cloth or similar to avoid burns and carefully screw the top onto the bottom and place it back on the heat. The lid must remain open. The heat can be turned down as low as your patience permits as you watch for coffee to come foaming out into the top container, the result of steam being forced up through the coffee under pressure. Once the flow has begun to subside and it starts spluttering you take it off the heat – your almost-espresso is ready. Designed in 1933 and I suppose these days the closest to it might be the Nestle Nespresso machine.

Got some really nice soil from the defunct raised beds and filled four clear plastic trays. Thought I’d try my hand at growing mustard and cress; Karola says that was a staple of primary school ‘gardening’ when she was young but I had to content myself with frogs, lizards, Monarch butterflies, and big cicadas when I was at primary school. As per the seed packet instructions I’ve planted the cress today and will plant the mustard a week later.

Cottage garden sculpture is limited to just one Grecian Hebe and one “male chauvanist pig” kindly given by Anna to her dad about a hundred years ago, potent with meaning. Photos below. Normally I’m not a fan of garden sculptures other than rusty, obsolete farm equipment, preferably stuff I’ve bought and neglected for a few decades.

One Hen Hasn’t Quite Got The Knack Of It Yet – Shown As Laid

Mustard & Cress – Primary School Stuff Says Karola

Karola’s Hebe In Bondage – We Don’t Want Her To Fall (From Grace)

Anna’s Gift To Her Dad A Long Time Ago – When “MCP” Was A Common Cry

Cecilia’s “Italian Icon” Gift To Karola – A Genuine Moka Express Pot by Bialetti

Oak Avenue Weather:2℃—15℃ no rain [76.74] IBOrchard TdT eggs=2

Mostly programming, a certain amount of going round in circles, as was my wont at IBM before I became too elevated to be allowed to actually do stuff.

Mark came and began by putting the last pair of hinges on the third raised bed. Then, at Karola’s request, he put up electric fence round another chunk of lawn, for the hogget ewes. He ended the afternoon my completing mulching of the bay tree hedge round the cottage railings.

Karola continued to delve into her Wilson family papers around the time of the second World War.

Karola made merengues from a lot of small Orpington eggs for the visit of Gill & Ben but then forgot completely about them. We rediscovered them today.

Our apples (Karola’s orchard leased by Mr Bostock) have done bud break but not flowered yet. Gill’s damson and our Santa Rosa plums are both in flower. In Wellington Gill’ damson, plum, and quince are in bloom.

The new cycle clips were too late for this year but are ready for next winter – seem to be robust and secure and I like the reflector strips,

Modelling The New Trouser Clips – Made In The UK

Karola’s Orpington Egg Merengues – Little Bites Of Sweetness

Gill’s Quince At Seatoun Heights Road

Gill’s Damson & Plum – Blossom Out

Oak Avenue Weather:2℃—17℃ 0.1mm rain [76.93] IBOrchard TdT eggs=4 Mark=4

We three went off in the morning, me in the Landrover, Karola & Bangle in the Subaru. First stop was at The Hub in Stortford Lodge to drop off my bike for a $50 service/ Whoever heard of a bike having a service, but then it’s only once every decade.

Then on to Mahora to Hawkes Bay Trim & Canvas who are to re-sew the gradually unravelling leather panels of the driver’s seat. As we’re in the vicinity we dropped in at Karamu Holden to see what progress, if any, had been made on the Zoe. Well all they’d done so far is look at the dashboard display and they repeated back to me what it said. B.I.C. They, that is Steve again, promised to get a more detailed analysis by this afternoon and indeed I did get a TXT late afternoon saying he was “waiting on the response from a Renault technical specialist”, meaning he’d done nothing apart from sending me this TXT today.

Finally, on the way home, Karola suggested getting a coffee so I got two large “flat white”s from Artisan to tide us through the morning. And remembered just in time to pick up the remaining pair of large galvanised hinges for the three raised beds.

As forecast it started to rain late morning; Mark contacted me to say it was probably too wet for much today so he’s coming tomorrow. Saturday, instead, rain relenting.

Henare Ormond came round – rain had stopped his orchard work and he wanted somewhere warm for a coffee and a chat. It also turned out that he wanted to borrow a power drill so I gave him a spare one I’ve had around for years along with a second battery and charger and a few drills and screwdriver bits. He’s got a bargain for his bee-keeping business with son Scott, their neighbour, an ex-beekeeper, wants to sell about 100 kit-set bee hives. Unassembled there’ll be few takers so Henare thinks he’ll buy them cheaply and assemble them with Scott’s help.

Got a call mid afternoon to say the Landrover seat was done so we three retraced our morning steps – picked up the Landrover and then the bike. It was still threatening showers and with a bitter squally wind so we abandoned the Tour de Twyford today.

Oak Avenue Weather:1℃—18℃ 6.6mm rain [77.34] IBOrchard eggs=4 Mark=0

The good things: my bicycle clips have arrived – they are said to be a luminous yellow which isn’t quite the discrete bankers clips I had in mind but beats snagging ones winter trousers in the gearing.

And Mark came as expected and planted the replacement Manuka and seven Gooseberry trees – I only got five the first time so shot down to The Plant Shop and bought two more plus a tray of tiny Basil herbs. The Basil wasn’t there on my first visit but the name has such excellent associations I couldn’t do without it. It is frost tender though so I shall have to be careful.

The ewe hoggets are enjoying the grass under the big oak by day, restive in the Goose paddock by night.

The not-so-good was the alarming dashboard notice when I got into the Zoe to drive to The Plant Shop this afternoon.

“STOP – Electric Engine Failure” it said. Well it wouldn’t start anyway so compliance not an issue. Rang Geoff Rashbrooke, (who nudged us into purchasing said Zoe), and he had not had the excitement of our exact predicament. He said that the guy who sold us our Zoe’s, Richard Blakeney-Williams jr, wasn’t in business any more but that a chap called Steve Greenwood of Drive EV in Taupo was very knowledgeable and looked like he’d taken over the EV Central business. (steve@driveev.co.nz, 027-521-0-429, 07-378-0082).

I had a chat to Steve who suggested I talk to Richard Blakeney-Williams jr who had retreated into his dad’s business, Central Motors Group in Taupo, but who is still alive and kicking (photo below). I rang them and got to speak to Richard’s main mechanic with a South African accent who just said “go to your local Renault agent”. By the way Steve Greenwood looked up our rego and found that Zoe was still under warranty with insurance provided by Provident.

So next I called the AA (Karola has been a full member for decades) to see if it could be something as simple as a flat 12v battery and, failing that, to tow it to the Renault agents in Napier for diagnosis etc. Nice bloke came within the hour and checked the 12V battery and it’s all OK. He took it for a short drive to see if that shook some sense into it and did manage to exchange the large-print alert from STOP … to one that just said “Battery Charging Impossible”. This is so popular with Zoe owners they just abbreviate it to BCI This message says that the charging station you’re plugged into is faulty – right on there as I wasn’t plugged into anything. Additional warning lamps of a spanner and a battery with an exclamation mark drawn across it allegedly mean that there’s something needing servicing and there’s an electro-technical fault. Most enlightening.

So, friendly old AA codger books us in for transport to Bayswater in Napier. I call Bayswater to let them, the Renault agent in Hawkes Bay who serviced it a few months ago, know it was coming. Oh, no – they aren’t the Renault agents any more. They could try to help but Renault took away their diagnostic tools and access to the Renault technical network so it might be difficult. The new agent is Karamu Holden in Hastings. OK, says I, I would have thought it a pretty good idea to tell your Renault clients this had happened. I assume you transferred the service record for my car when the agency transferred. Apparently not, she apologised, Renault were a bit disorganised when it came to the transfer. Well, have you still got the records? Yes, I can email you the two invoices. Which she did.

Rang Karamu Holden and explained the situation. Steve, another Steve, was amiable enough and they will take a look, run the Renault diagnostics and let me know. Then I rang AA again and alerted them to change of destination. Shortly afterwards, without the promised warning TXT, but luckily we’d stayed in, the tow truck arrived. I’d driven the Zoe to the large gravel area behind the homestead so it’d be easy to load up, and it was.

Still early enough to go for our daily Tour de Twyford.

One last good thing: yesterday we got to the stop bank for my bike ride and Karola and Bangle’s 2km walk only to find that Bangle’s lead had gone missing. We improvised with some rope I use for strapping down hay bales on the trailer – centimetre-thick but it did the job. Today we did quite a search for the leash, it is my favourite, but no joy until Karola decided to clear up the rubbish out on the avenue verge, from our 121 entrance right along to our 133 entrance. It was getting pretty disgusting.

And, on the ground by the letter box at 133 Ormond Road, there it was. It must have fallen out when we were trying to check for mail through the Landrover window yesterday – the way postie delivers it.

Richard Blakeney-Williams Jr (From His Website)

Oak Avenue Weather:9℃—22℃ no rain [77.27] TdT eggs=5 Mark=4

Leaving Bangle behind – because we needed all the room in Zoe for the shopping today and because it’s starting to be too hot for a dog stuck in a car for more than a few minutes – we drove into Hastings for the mid-week shop. On our way to the grocery store – aka the supermarket – we went to Farmlands and got 25kg of wheat, 25kg of whole maize, and 20kg of sheep nuts – hence the need for all the space in Zoe this trip. Back home, all done, by 11:00am.

Mark came and put the alternate hinges on the second raised bed – he’ll do the third bed once the pair of hinges arrives, FastTrade will TXT me. Mark then put up electric fence round the big oak and attached the new solar energiser to it.

We did the ram/hogget segue to avoid them meeting up: hoggets from the Long Acre into the Holding paddock, ram from the Goose paddock into the Stump Dump via the Long Acre, hoggets down the Long Acre into the Goose paddock, ram into the Long Acre. The hoggets are going to spend the nights in the Goose paddock and the days under the big oak until they’ve grazed out under the big oak.

Karola’s Ewe Hoggets Enjoying Fresh Grass Under The big Oak

Karola’s Crab-Apple Trees In Bloom

Oak Avenue Weather:7℃—18℃ no rain [77.27] IBOrchard TdT eggs=4 Mark=4

Mark tackled a patch of blackberry down near the cattle-stop today, much to Karola’s satisfaction.

The raised bed lids are unsatisfactory as they do not fold open to the ground so today we tried a larger hinge.

I bought a pair of solid 200mm galvanised hinge from FastTrade to experiment with and Mark eventually hit upon a technique that works, the lid opens back until it touches the ground. I was surprised that these hinges were much cheaper than similar ones from Mitre-10.

Anyway, the problem was almost solved by these new hinges except that they would not quite open to 90 ° so Mark had to chisel a slight slope for the butt end to lie flat.

On our first venture out we went to Gagan’s greengrocers and got some fresh vegetables – the idea being that if we get Gagan’s fresh for some vegetables we can get any Gagan’s don’t have, tomorrow from New World. Then on to The Plant Shop on Pakowhai road:

• 1 x Manuka (leptospermum “Princess Anne”)
• 5 x Gooseberry “Invicta”
• 1 tray of 6 Parsley “afro”
• 2 trays of 6 Marigold “disco mix”
• 2 x Mint
• 2 x Common Sage
• 2 x Thyme “Chicken”
• 2 x Marjoram “Acorn Bank”
• a packet of Nasturtium seeds

The Manuka is to add a spot of white amongst the predominantly red dwarf Manuka along the railings between the cottage and farm shed.

The Gooseberry plants are for nostalgia and I think we’ll plant them inside the tree guards for each of Karola’s micro-orchard fruit trees.

The rest are intended for the raised beds.

Oak Avenue Weather:9℃—21℃ 0.6mm rain [77.74] TdT eggs=5 Mark=4

Gill & Ben dropped in mid morning to say goodbye and pick up the two sacks (50 cones) of firelighting pine cones kindly dropped by our large Canary Island Pine (pinus canariensis).

Mark came and continued with his maintenance of the watering system for the cottage bay tree hedge, my special manukas, and Kaorla’s micro-orchard (seven trees). The finished that and began adding mulch to these trees which will hold moisture and to some extent suppress weeds over the summer.

Meticulous Maids came and did their fortnightly clean.

Found a dead lamb under trees near yards – strongly suspect it’s dead twin of #805.

Karola did some detailed study of her uncle Ormond Wilson’s war-time letters which were quite revealing of the attitudes and perspectives of those in England in 1939.

NZ Lockdowns Silver Lining – Compare 2020 with 2018/19

Oak Avenue Weather:12℃—19℃ no rain [77.59] IKBOrchard TdT eggs=4 Mark=4

We met Gill & Ben and Peter & Charlotte at Birdwood Cafe around midday and enjoyed a very good meal together.

Mid afternoon we left for our respective houses and I mowed the cottage lawn, just finishing as the others, except for Charlotte who had to work, arrived for afternoon tea.

A relaxed afternoon in good company. Gill had a ride on the Grillo and we all looked around the sheep and lambs.

Before sundown they left. Gill & Ben return to Wellington tomorrow.

No Tour de Twyford nor Orchard walk today.

Gill Brackenbury – Happy Birthday!

Birdwood Cafe – Social Distancing Under The Marquee

Six For Gill’s Birthday Lunch

Oak Avenue Weather:7℃—19℃ no rain [77.66] eggs=4

Janet Scott called in late morning, her main news being that Alan Ladbrook, our first leasee of Karola’s orchard back in 2005, has died.

Mark came for the afternoon, even though it’s Saturday, because of the rain yesterday, and finished making the lids of the raised beds. I think that as the lids open fully wide enough for access but not far enough to rest on the ground we’ll have to think of another way of hinging them so they do, otherwise the hinges are sure to be torn off.

Mark started on maintenance of the watering system for the Bay tree hedge, my fancy Manuka along the railings, and Karola’s micro-orchard. That way we’ll have no worries when it gets dry, no last-minute urgency to get it all working.

Gill, Ben, Peter and Charlotte came round late afternoon and we sat in the sun and had afternoon tea. Later we arranged to meet at Namaskar Indian restaurant in Havelock North for the evening meal. Not too crowded and although the tables were sufficiently far apart there was no real attempt to socially distance.

Oak Avenue Weather:-1℃—14℃ 0.1mm rain [76.68] TdT eggs=4 Mark=4

Karola had an appointment with hairdresser Kim this morning so I drove her in and got coffees and some stuff from Mitre-10 while I waited.

After lunch we met up with Gill & Ben and Peter Offenberger at Karamu Road Bay Espresso for lunch. Afterwards we all came back to the cottage. It was pretty cold and raining on and off so Karola lit the fire while the rest of us took a look at the chooks and chook house.

Mark called in to say it was a bit wet so he’ll come tomorrow, Saturday, instead.

Around 4:00pm, as usual, I fed the doves and today the others watched and Ben took an iPhone video (stills from it below).

Karola, Bangle, and I went off to the stop bank around 4:30pm – brrr it was a cold ride and bitter wind – while the others went back to Peter’s in Havelock North where Gill & Ben are staying for the weekend.

Perhaps because it was cold, perhaps because she was looking forward to her dinner, Bangle trotted briskly for all her walk with Karola, going further than ever before, about two kilometres in total. arriving back just as I arrived back on my bike.

Dove Feeding Time (photo courtesy Ben Bell)

Twentytwo For Supper

Oak Avenue Weather:4℃—12℃ 2.4mm rain [76.76] TdT eggs=4 Mark=0

Gill & Ben are driving up to Hawkes Bay today. All day it was brilliant sunshine, not much wind, and cool.

Karola is still toiling at transcribing old family letters from 1930 and 40s. The letters are typed (with a few ink annotations) on thin airmail paper and quite faded.

I’m plodding on with my programming.

Mark came and making the lids of the raised beds, I helped briefly with stretching the wire netting on the lids. He’d trapped another possum overnight.

My fake eggs came today, chinese but not made of china. Karola suggested I might instil a little discipline in the places the hens lay if I left a fake egg in each nesting spot.

After our daily tour I detoured to Stortford Lodge and found out that my bicycle clips (!) had not arrived and were on many weeks back-order. As I have moved to summer shorts it hardly matters now. Also dropped in at Farmlands and bought a new portable energiser – powered by solar not batteries this time. Our old ones had stopped working and there will be occasions where a temporary electric fence would be useful but the bother of getting power from the farm shed or the cottage pump-shed (where our two mains-connected energisers live) would be too much.

Oak Avenue Weather:7℃—18℃ 3.6mm rain [76.66] TdT eggs=5 Mark=4

Needing to wake up a bit we all trolled off first to Artisan for coffee and the next door OMG for bread. Then on to New World – pretty quiet and no queues even at the checkouts. Back home via the money tree (BNZ) – all done by mid morning. Oh we did stop in at The Plant Shop on Pakowhai road and I took photos of their herbs for sale. Also saw young gooseberry bushes and made a note that I’d like to get some of them – nostalgia.

The Landrover leather driver’s seat has been unravelling for years, slowly getting worse, so today I called Hawkes Bay Trim & Canvas in Williams Street, down next to where Dynamic Meats used to be, and for about $150 they’ll remove the seat and restitch it together. Expensive for what it is but worth it to stop it getting much worse. Landrover booked in for 18th.

Mark carried on with the raised bed lids.

Our replacement Visa cards came this morning. We “activated” them at an ATM in Stortford Lodge on the way, well, actually rather out of our way, to the stop bank for the daily Tour de Twyford.

With the new card activated i was able to update PayPal and Apple with the details and then I bought an online Apple Books copy of Michael Mosley’s new book, Covid 19. Bridget was recommended it by her friend Penny and she recommended it to me.

The lamb ear tags turned up, sandwiched amongst discarded newspapers in the recycling bin.

Gooseberry Plants For Sale

Oak Avenue Weather:0℃—20℃ no rain [76.66] TdT eggs=4 Mark=4

The ram, who currently lives in solitary isolation in the Goose paddock along with the geese and chooks (who are allowed to roam further afield), is quite strong and thinks it’s fun to engage in butting contests. I do not appreciate his lunges at my legs so have started retaliating with a stout batten. He understands violence as is a little less forward now.

One hen, (light green ring) is still broody even though I turf her off the nest a couple of times a day.

Karola, Bangle, and I trundled into town after breakfast. I wanted to get wire netting, strap hinges, and catches for the raised bed lids. Whilst doing this at Mitre-10 I took photos of all their herbs on offer – quite a number, and bought packets of mustard and cress seed as I fancy growing them in the now obsolete plastic trays I had intended for the chook house. On the way to Mitre-10 we detoured to Gagan’s so Karola could get fresh vegetables, stopped at Lappuccino’s for coffee takeaways, and did a Countdown pit-stop for what looks like the last two packets of Beyond Meat patties.

Mark TXTed to say he was taking Caz to the doctor – her hip surgery needs antibiotics. He offered to come round if he’d trapped a possum overnight. I checked, and he had.

After lunch I used the Kioti tractor and big trailer to pick up the trash/slash that had blown into the paddock from the orchard drive windbreak trimming weeks ago. I also picked up the results of my assault on Gill’s Damson tree.

Only five more ewes to lamb – and then a long wait for the matriarch #209 to have hers maybe a month later. Ewe #815’s lambs tagged.

Mark came mid afternoon and dealt with his possum before spending a couple of hours mowing the nettles at Karola’s request – she hopes the sheep will eat them once wilted and they are full of nutrients and trace elements.

This evening Karola generously did some cooking to soak up the over-supply of eggs – meringues and a small pavlova. Now we need to find someone to share them with.

Doing Our Bit For “Predator-Free New Zealand”

Birdeye Speedwell, (Veronica persica), Tiny Flowers All Over The One Acre

Another Day In Paradise

Oak Avenue Weather:0℃—15℃ 0.1mm rain [77.93] TdT eggs=4 Mark=2

Bright, almost frosty morning. I caught up on emails etc delayed from yesterday because I got so involved with my programming in the morning and with Mark coming on a Sunday in the afternoon.

Karola is typing up old family letters from WWII.

Mark began making the lids for the three raised beds. The beds are earth-filled only up to the bottom of the top plank and Mark’s netting lids will keep sparrows, pukekos, and sheep from nibbling.

Unwanted news this evening – our Visa card has been compromised. BNZ Fraud department called. As we are locked-down in New Zealand and are using the card quite frequently, the BNZ’s AI fraud detection software noticed that some online shopping done from Australia were probably fraudulent. Well done that AI!

The nuisance is having to remember another card number and update the handful of online places which need a credit card to operate – like Apple for instance.

Gill & Ben coming to Hawkes Bay on Thursday; we hope to see them on Friday and at the weekend.

Oak Avenue Weather:5℃—14℃ no rain [77.75] TdT eggs=4 Mark=4

Flurry of Sunday tasks in the morning.

Joan Philips called for a chat with Karola and recommended a film about WWII Polish airmen, “303 Squadron”, that was being played in the evening on Sky Movies. Joan TXTed later to say it had started. We don’t have that particular Sky package so instead I bought a copy of the movie from Apple TV and Karola watched it all evening. It’s a modern (2018) Polish film brimming with Polish names and Polish dialogue.

Mark continued with his reconstruction of three raised beds, beds that I hope to use for growing herbs. Now they’re out in the paddock they’ll need some protection from depredations of sheep.

Mark Re-creates The Raised Beds

Pollen Time For The Canary Island Pine (Pinus canariiensis)

Oak Avenue Weather:10℃—22℃ 4.6mm rain [77.78] TdT eggs=4 Mark=4

Much bleating in the marshes – oh there must be more lambs, and indeed there were. I did a thorough census and found an additional six ewes had lambed in last 48 hours: #817 (#012E, #020E), #813 (#013R), #811 (#014R), #714 (#015E, #016R), #712 (#017R), #514 (#018R, #019R).

Just as I thought I’d finished tagging the new-comers I noticed a little lamb snuggled against the railings near the cottage and no-where near any ewe. I found that #817 was happy for it to drink though #817 does seem a bit confused about how many lambs she has. So, in hope, I’ve assumed it was #817’s twin to #012E but couldn’t retag the other lambs so the little ewe lamb has number #020.

Mark came today – he swapped the week days for the weekend so he could help Caz’ recovery from her second hip replacement. He seemed in a very good mood as he continued with the recreation of the raised beds.

I, encouraged by Karola and despite the blossom on several trees, pruned the micro-orchard including Karola’s two Persimmon trees today. I’m quite pleased with the result – I did watch a couple of YouTube videos on pruning apple trees first.

Karola said yesterday that she’d seen evidence of mice in the cottage sun porch. Today she had real proof in a nibbled avocado so I stirred my stumps and set a couple of mouse traps in the cottage kitchen.

One pullet is still broody despite not laying any eggs – she’s sitting on an empty nest.

Robinsons Are Deep In The Lancashire Countryside – Canal Holiday In The Midst Of Covid

Dr Robinson At One With His Canal Boat In Deepest Lancashire

Oh But What Has Edwina Seen On Yonder Bank?

Alpaca Crias To Melt Your Heart

Karola’s Micro-Orchard After A Smidgen Of Pruning

Oak Avenue Weather:5℃—21℃ no rain [77.93] TdT eggs=3 Mark=4

Another gorgeous Hawkes Bay winter day – as long as you stay in the sun, otherwise sharply cold.

Chook still broody even without any eggs so I turfed her off the nest, much good it’ll do me. Blasted ram is becoming a problem. When he walks up and butts you it’s annoying but not about to knock me over. But his latest enthusiasm, for backing up a few metres then charging, is a problem, and not just of breaking the eggs I’ve gathered.I need a cattle prod or similar to teach him to keep hi distance – we’ll have to warn Gill & Ben when they come up next week. Oh, and counted 25 doves on the table this afternoon.

Every two years Bangle (well, dogs in general) need a vaccination for: canine distemper, Adenovirus type 2, Parainfluenza, and Parvovirus.

So we went mid-morning to Vet Services Hawkes Bay and Bangle was checked out and given her vaccine – all very prompt today.

As we were in Hastings we decided to go to New World for some odds and ends I’d forgotten on Wednesday – such essentials as rhubarb, special Greek yoghurt, a big celeriac tuber, some lemons now they’re back in stock – that sort of thing, and get a coffee from Artisan. As it turned out I’d forgotten to take Bangles medical records booklet so we plodded back again and did that and went to the BNZ to activate our new Visa cards which came yesterday. Recording our visits to each establishment by using the iPhone app to read the Covid q-code’s displayed near the door.

Mostly the NZ Govt Covid tracking app is very fast and efficient but every now and then it asks for my password again and that takes a long time on my iPhone – it being a long and complicated password – complicated even for a machine.

Trusting person that I am we went back to New world just to make sure the activation of Karola’s Visa card was working – and it was.

On the way home we passed by The Hub – a cycle sales and repair shop in Stortford Lodge – my and Karola’s bikes came from there a decade or so ago. Slightly concerned that I might be flung down the steep side of the stop bank should my grouser leg get caught in the gears I’d like to get a pair of bicycle clips – if such things exist. Apparently they do and apparently late next week I can have a pair, now on order.

Late afternoon, spur of the moment, I decided to cut back the Plane tree next to the new hard stand – the lower branches so we can grass under it and cut that grass. I also chopped away at Gill’s Damson tree: the inner tangled branches, then the low branches that hit you in the face, and finally the branches shooting towards the moon that have unreachable fruit.

Self-Sown Plane Tree Trimmed Up

Plane Tree Trimmings

Gill’s Damson Tree Under Control Again

Damson Tree Trimmings

Oak Avenue Weather:2℃—14℃ 0.1mm rain [77.83] IKBOrchard TdT eggs=3 Mark=0

Miserable day so spent the time warm and cosy upstairs in the cottage, programming. We still went out in the cold and occasional showers for our half an hour on the stop bank – not troubled by crowds today that’s for sure.

Janet Scott called in which was fortuitous – I’d been nagging Karola to take her some eggs. So Janet had a chat and went off with half a dozen fresh eggs. Janet says Alan Ladbrook is very ill, cancer, and his family is flying in.

One of the chearful little Black Orpington’s appears to have gone broody. She is sitting tight on one egg. I took that egg away, I think we have enough chooks for now, and we’ll see what transpires.

Oak Avenue Weather:6℃—11℃ no rain [77.85] IBOrchard TdT eggs=5 Mark=0

Shopping day and it was surprisingly much as before – no masks, lots of people jostling, and I didn’t notice if there were fewer checkouts. The plastic shields remain but social distancing absent. I guess Hawkes Bay feels it’s far away from any contagion – even my GP said that his precautions such as a mask were more ‘walking the talk’ than mandated by Covid risk in Hawkes Bay.

We were a bit later than usual at New World was crammed with the elderly – odd since we thought “pension payday” was Tuesday. Today Bangle got her professional grooming with Emma Speeden – a two hour wash and brush-up including clipped nails. Bangle likes being a clean, fluffy dog until the next opportunity to roll in something disgusting.

Karola is enjoying – has now finished reading – the three John Buchan adventure novels she bought recently. I did a bit of surfing and found there are 28 novels by John Buchan, written around a century ago, and BookDepository.com advertises them all for sale.

I listened to a John Buchan short story on my Tour today – kept my attention and finished just as I reached the Landrover on the end of my tour. Amazing that stories from the turn of the eighteenth century should still be so fresh and enjoyable.

Ewe #531 had twin ram lambs, #008R & #009R – all on feet, drinking, and starting to grow.

Oak Avenue Weather:5℃—15℃ 12mm rain [76.87] TdT eggs=4 Mark=0

No Mark today, nor any new lambs, but six eggs from six laying pullets. Karola is still a bit embarrassed about how small they are but that will change with age (of the hens, not the eggs). A lovely day for the first day of spring, or so the media tell us. Bridget assured us that spring doesn’t really start until 23rd September but for us it’s the blossom that is the true test.

We made a short foraging trip to Gagans for fresh veges and Caltex Omahu for a paper and milk. Otherwise I had a good clear run of programming and Karola continued her voracious devouring of John Buchan novels.

66 Seatoun Heights As Weather Turns Nasty

Oak Avenue Weather:4℃—23℃ 0.6mm rain [76.87] IKBOrchard TdT eggs=6 Mark=0