Monthly Archives: November 2020

Noel & Jenny Pedal Over

Spent the morning reading and sending emails etc. Another week begins. Shoulder-tapped Ruth re the building plans – still no response from the council; also Grayson Allen of Peak Plumbing but no response as yet. Called the newspaper people and complained nicely that really elderly folk should not have to scrabble about in bottom of a deep roadside ditch to find their paper every day. Help desk said they’d tell delivery contractor to put the paper in the letter box. I was very pleased. Karola and I both searched for the paper this morning and eventually we found it, hidden among the Acanthus foliage.

Mark came and helped Karola with beheading more of the Acanthus at the 133 entrance. He then transferred some very elderly and rusty bits of ironmongery from under the cottage to a safe home inside an old water tank (on its side) in the Stump Dump before beginning a next project, transplanting the “wilding Ngaio” saplings to a permanent home in the north-east corner of the Front paddock. The Bay trees around the cottage railings and the Ngaios seem to seed themselves almost like thistles., the Ngaios cluster thickly along the eastern homestead verandah – I think it’s where the earth has been disturbed.

Jenny & Noel came over from Napier on their electric bikes. They were out for a bit of fresh air anyway and came to pick up a bowl of theirs left behind on the occasion of my birthday. We were pleased that they stayed for afternoon tea.

Anna is preparing for a pretty locked-down Christmas in Ealing, London. I attach a photo of them struggling home with a tall Christmas tree, sold to them for a ridiculously low price – all quite legal despite the insinuation in the legend below. We notice how trim and fit they both look.

Anna “Nice Leggings” Brackenbury & Partner Dave “Rolling Stone” Moss Relieve Public Park Of Unwanted Christmas Tree

Oak Avenue Weather:13℃—20℃ 4.6mm rain [76.63] TdT eggs=1 Mark=4

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Marcus Ormond – Sheep Farmer

Marcus Ormond dropped in for a chat – he’s son of a racehorse breeder and was himself a breeder for several years but now raises lambs for export. Marcus was excited because he’s decided to have his own brand and logo for his lambs, “Ormond Lamb”. The other ormonds apparently are going along with it. But I found it odd because he has no plans to market it independently overseas whereas the wine, honey, organic apple branding is all about having personal relationships between your vineyard and the retailers overseas – that’s what makes having a brand worthwhile.

It being Sunday I mowed the cottage lawns but thought the effect was not as clean and tidy as usual. I found that the discharge hopper was jammed from when Mark mowed the long grass in part of the One Acre so I wasn’t picking up at all. Luckily nothing overheated or broke – there was no obvious sign of the jam until I went to empty the hopper.

I fear for my chook’s chicks because mother hen (Blue-band) is becoming less covetous, protective and is expecting the chicks to keep up so every now and then one gets left behind for a few minutes. That is just what Pukekos, possums. cats etc will be waiting for. We are already down to eight chicks, she started with nine.

Start Of A Third Attempt At Propagating Wysteria – Not So Green Fingers

And A Third Attempt At Growing Mustard & Cress

Oak Avenue Weather:7℃—24℃ 0.4mm rain [76.06] TdT eggs=2

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Quiet Saturday

Just pottering – chooks and sheep all seem OK.

Yesterday I asked Mark to look at the leak – well the drip – that happens in the south-eastern corner of the roof of the “go-between” between the cottage and its garage. It turns out that there’s not a leak but the gauze covering the gutter is overwhelmed by any decent rain and it skates over the gauze and drips.

I also asked him to clean the gutter along the eastern edge of the cottage and Mark alerted me to the mass of moss underneath the gauze cover almost filling the gutter. We’ll tackle that next week.

Oak Avenue Weather:8℃—20℃ no rain [76.11] TdT eggs=1

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Sheep Get Added Pasture Today

Off this morning for doctors appointments – my quarterly diabetes check (102/60 eg – very lucky and nutrition choices are working)e Health Centre has a record of her blood pressure – nothing alarming there either.

Reward fo good behaviour was a nice Artisan coffe and a snacklet.

Again we could not find the newspaper or the Listener delivered this morning. Karola thinks they’re driving along Ormond road west-east so are throwing it from a moving vehicle from the other side of the road – that’s why it ends up in the shrubbery or ditch. Anyway I had a look before breakfast and couldn’t find it (the Listener and paper come wrapped together on a Friday). Then Karola went out after breakfast and couldn’t find it. I had another look when we came back from the Health Centre and, fossicking around in the bottom of the roadside drain I found it, and other old one also well disguised. The old one was totally sodden but todays were dry enough.

Carried on with my attempt at Natalie’s level 2 NCEA maths exam – I sort of recognised the questions but they were pretty hard.

Mark came and, using the water blaster, washed the cottage concrete and kitchen verandah, helped Karola clean the east-facing windows.

I let the sheep in to a fresh quarter of the One Acre paddock and they stampeded to get in. Note that the “eggs” count in the signature block is a count of the eggs collected; three hens are broody, one has her chicks, and the other two are probably laying but somewhere I can’t find them.

Just Some Of The Waste Paper From My Struggles With Natalie’s NCEA Exam

Karola Examining The Drowned Copy Of An October Listener Found This Morning

Water-Blasted Clean Cottage Kitchen Verandah

My Propagation Table Relocated So The Windows Can Be Cleaned

Lots Of Lemons On Karola’s Old Old Lemon Tree

Sheep Get Access To Fresh Quarter Of One Acre Lucerne Paddock

Oak Avenue Weather:11℃—26℃ no rain [76.08] TdT eggs=0 Mark=4

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NCEA Level Two Maths Stumps Pensioner

Rained on and off today so Mark didn’t come.

This morning we took Bangle over to Emma for her regualr grooming – Bangle is now fluffy as can be with neatly clipped nails etc.

While we were waiting, the grooming tales about two hours, I began tackling Natalie’s NCEA exam, Level Two Mathematics and Statistics 2020, and got pretty despondent. Kept making silly mistakes and the problems were on the edge of what I could do even with all the time in the world and Google to hand.

And I carried on all afternoon – oh I wish I hadn’t accepted the challenge.

Oak Avenue Weather:12℃—25℃ 1.6mm rain [76.48] TdT eggs=1 Mark=0

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A Very Damp Day

Rained all night and until late afternoon, stopping just in time for our toddle along the stop bank. No Mark today, as we expected due to the forecast. Warm with little wind so excellent growing weather.

Mid-week so shopping for the week ahead today. Got seeds at Mitre-10 for more mustard and cress experiments along with seeds of: swan plants, cornflower, and forget-me-not. Picked up the wheel for Karola’s wheel-barrow with new tyre – only cost $50 which surprised me (in a good way). Karola got us Rush Munro chocolate-orange ice-creams as it is warm though wet and heavily overcast.

My second parcel from the USA via “myus.com” arrived today. I. bought the full four series of Farscape (discussed earlier) and the four series of Lexx; both USA science-fiction TV series so, despite being reviewed very well, they may turn out not to my taste. I did like FireFly though, another well recommended USA series, so there’s hope.

Chooks seem cheerful if bedraggled, Mrs Blue-Band’s chicks are somehow quite dry despite being out in the weather with mum.

Oak Avenue Weather:13℃—17℃ 12.1mm rain [76.05] TdT eggs=2 Mark=0

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The Californian Thistle Battle

We passed most of the day indoors, me programming and reading stuff online, Karola reading real papers and books.

Mark came and spent the afternoon firstly by doing another long slog of spraying California Thistle with Versatil, the broadleaf weedicide that., allegedly, leaves grasses alone. He finished that by afternoon tea, all except the One Acre where Versatil would kill lucerne as well as Californian Thistle so cannot be applied.

The rest of the afternoon, and for an hour longer than usual, he spent mowing the two quarters of the One Acre recently grazed by the sheep, cutting back thistles and the tall stalks of seeding grasses. The forecast rain will speed recovery of the lucerne and encourage growth of foliage other than seed heads on the grasses.

Mark’ Zapping Of Californian Thistle

… And Mowing Half The One Acre Just Before The Rain

Bridget’s Morning Walk To Work Through The Wellington Botanic Gardens

Oak Avenue Weather:12℃—18℃ 21.0mm rain [76.68] TdT eggs=1 Mark=5

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Attack On Those Californian Thistles

Off to town on a Monday – so much for once-a-week shopping. Pharmacy, Countdown, Artisan (coffee), then a tyre shop opposite “Tonys Tyre Service”. This latter to get us a new tyre for one of Karola’s wheel barrows – it’ll be ready next week. And finally my quarterly government-sponsored blood test.

Mark mowed outside the 121 gateway, the gateway he cleared last year and sowed in grass so that now, instead of a tangle of blackberry and periwinkle, it is mostly grass.

Mark caught a possum in one of the traps.

He then spent most of the afternoon spraying Californian Thistle with a special spray, Versatil that is supposed not to kill the grass. It does however kill any broadleaf such as clover and lucerne, and probably most of our young trees so we hope he was extra careful and had the wind in the right direction.

Lyn Sturm dropped in for a chat late afternoon.

Outside The 121 Road Entrance

Oak Avenue Weather:7℃—19℃ no rain [76.10] TdT eggs=1 Mark=4

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Cold Blast From The South

Pretty quiet day. Tuis on the flax again. Let sheep into a different quarter of the One Acre. Broody chooks still broody, mother hen still has nine chicks despite a little drama this morning.

I came out to find three of the nine chicks swimming around in the geese bath, unable to get out. I gently lifted them out and they appear no worse for wear. Hope they learned from the experience. They do have water in suitably shallow receptacles but the bath must have been very inviting.

Oak Avenue Weather:7℃—19℃ no rain [76.61] TdT eggs=0

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What A Birthday Present

As must be obvious to any “citizen of the globe”, my birthday on 20th November in England has time-zone consequences. Assuming I was born after mid-day, which, however, is unlikely, then the New Zealand time would have been 13 hours ahead – assuming they had daylight saving that long ago.

However, “blue-band” delivered her birthday present this morning, nine little black bundles of soft feathers darting hither and yon. I have to decide quickly whether to let nature, and by that I mean Pukekos, rats, cats, and possums, take its course or whether to make them a coop. I’m inclining towards the former, imagining that this will happen again, and again, and again.

The chicks have little white fluffy bums and wing-tips, a nod to their proud father I guess.

Last week’s journal had a photo of Karola’s ewes post shearing, making a dickens of a racket. Unfortunately the way I’d programmed the sound worked on the web-site but not in the digest emailed out. I believe I’ve now fixed that.

Caught another Pukeko by the chook house today, leg-ringed, clipped wing, and released it down by the river.

Charlie & Mrs Blue-Band With Auntie White-Band In Attendance – Nine Chicks

Oak Avenue Weather:13℃—23℃ no rain [76.20] TdT eggs=1

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Footrot Flats The Musical

Karola haircut in the morning while I bumbled about feeding the birds and slowly waking up.

I mowed the cottage lawns, usually a Sunday job but thought it’d be nice to get tidy before our guests, Jenny & Noel Hendery, came to dinner.

In the afternoon Mark came and continued weed spraying as the ground had dried out since the rain and there was very little wind. He sprayed along the top of the ha-ha, a band just wide enough that we weren’t tempted to mow too close to the edge. Also the un-mowable ground in close to the Canary Island Palm octagon. Later he went round the paddocks spraing the widely scattered and rapidly maturing Scotch thistles.

Rest of the day he spent mowing, finishing under the big oak then doing the 121 driveway.

The egg situation is not good. Six hens and only one or sometimes no eggs at all. Pukekas may be stealing them from the nest but I’ve been collecting 2 – 3 times a day without better results. Blue-band is AWOL and, because of several brief appearances recently, I suume she’s sitting on a nest outside the chook house. Green-band and Yellow-band are still sitting all day in the chook house with short excursions outside. Orange-band sometimes seems also to be broody, but she comes and goes. Only the top hen, white-band, and the outcast red-band (Rachael) are always out and about. Today I added clean sawdust and another layer of meadow hay to the nest boxes.

This evening we had dinner, prepared by Karola, and then went to the musical Footrot Flats. It was in the style of amateur dramatics or perhaps village dramatics. Main appeal was the nostalgic recognition of the characters from Murray Ball’s Footrot Flats cartoons. Plenty of in-jokes for the cartoon afficionadoes, me included. Jenny really liked it, I enjoyed it and I think Karola did too, not sure about Noel.

Gorgeous Flax Flowering

Tui Here For The Flax Flowers

Dave Mitchell’s Electric Bike – Ideal For The Hilly Streets In Totnes

Oak Avenue Weather:6℃—21℃ no rain [75.99] TdO TdT eggs=1 Mark=4

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We’re Watching You

The day started out with strong cold winds from the east and every now and then a shower of cold blustery rain. By late afternoon it had brightened considerably and the wind had dropped.

It seems that I spent most of the day on two computer activities: attempting to copy some Blu-Ray disks to computer; making up this journal entry with its videos and photo with a sound track.

The Chinese Blu-Ray external drive does indeed do the job despite the packaging proclaiming loudly that it was only a DVD read/write drive – so loudly that I complained before actually trying the drive. The files it produces are huge – that’s to be expected – but the magnitude of the task ahead is daunting, there are ninety one-hour episodes of FarScape and the disks have an additional 15 hours of directors chats and background material. And, what I didn’t realise when weighing the option of equipping myself with a Blu-Ray drive or just discarding the Blu-Ray disks and getting the same series on ordinary DVDs, is that the software to play Blu-Ray disks is very expensive. By dint of searching around yesterday for far too long I got a promotional deal that, after converting from USA dollars to New Zealand dollars and adding 15% tax, is not so eye-watering.

Putting videos up on a journal entry isn’t so bad, just time consuming.

Todays audio-visual feast, below, is from my use of Bushnell surveillance cameras to find out what is going on at the chook house. Where is all the chook food going; where are the eggs going, and what manner of creature is stealing from the nest boxes.

Karola’s Singing Ewes


Black Orpington Clucking

Sparrows Getting Chook Food

Myna Getting Chook Food

Possum Being Cautious

. . . Very Cautious

There’s More Than One Pukeko Interested in Eggs

A Frustrated Pukeko

A Very Frustrated Pukeko

Oh Dear – Entrapment

Oak Avenue Weather:4℃—17℃ no rain [75.96] TdO TdT eggs=0 Mark=0

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Shopping Then Thunderstorms

A day of little triumphs. Farmlands for more wheat and maize, more weed killer, and some farm socks. NB: Broad size categories: “Large”, “Medium”, “Small”, have been superceded by numbers and “Medium” has become “9-10”.

Farmers, a department store next and discussions about waistband sizes. Apparently Australian 20 was NZ 38” is now NZ 97cm.

On to Storage Box for two more plastic bread containers – makes all the difference keeping the OMG bread from drying out. New World for groceries then Artisan and OMG for coffees and GF bread. And as we trundled home in Zoe it began to rain.

Mark got most of the lawn under the big oak mown before the rain came, the first thunderstorm of the day. He also noted we’d caught our first Pukeko in the possum cage trap, baited with chook egg. We caught another one later in the afternoon.

Surveillance cameras show visitors into the chook house, sparrows and mynas in quantity but also a Pukeko. I suspect the Pukekos of stealing the eggs soon after they’re laid.

Karola thinks that if we take the captured Pukeko far enough away they’ll set up home there and not bother us again so we took the Pukeko with us on the Tour de Twyford and released it – photos below.

Just as I finished my cycling the worst thunderstorm of the day opened up the heavens. Bangle frightened by the huge bangs seemingly directly overhead.

Legions Of Sparrows Snack On Chook Pellets

Myna Comes For Free Food

And Here’s Suspected Egg Thief

Greed Comes Before A Fall

The Fall

Second Pukeko Caught Today

Karola Insists On Releasing It Down By The River

Oak Avenue Weather11℃—23℃ 14.8mm rain [75.92] TdT eggs=1 Mark=1¼

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No Wind & Sunny – Weed Spraying Weather

Some interesting photos from the surveillance camera overnight (see below).

This morning as there was almost no breeze at all and it was a warm sunny day I took the opportunity to do some weed spraying. I did around the cottage, the new cottage hard stand and driveway immediately in front of the cottage garage, and outside the 133 gate up to the letter box.

When Mark came he first fixed up the electric fence that he accidentally mowed into bits yesterday and then spent the rest of the afternoon weed spraying the big hard stand at the back of the homestead, the lim area in front of the homestead garage, and along some of the driveway between the homestead and the cottage. After Mark left I finished up the knapsack by spraying the nasty Spanish lily near the damson tree.

The surveillance camera was busy all day and is going again tonight, more on that tomorrow.

Reference the guest entry from Gill on 15th October, our “new’ relations in New Zealand, Adam and Christina (nee Brackenbury) Patterson have two daughters.

Azura aged 24 is completing her Masters in Environmental Studies at Vic having previously completed a degree in Classics and Nutrition at Otago University. As part of her practical for her Masters Azura has a questionaire on New Zealander’s attitudes to climate change and related issues. She needs to get 600 respondents so Karola & I, and Gill’s bubble, and Bridget are taking the test.

Tallulah aged 22 and potty about horse riding, is completing her Masters in Psychology at Otago University. She may be visiting here in Hawkes Bay for one of the big horse shows.

Azura Patterson (from the Victoria magazine, Victorious)

Tallulah on her pony Bumble winning with the team at pony club SJ championships South Island – Jan 2019

Pathway cleared For Electric fence And Sheep In Fresh Quarter Of The One Acre

Pukeko – Person Of Interest Re Chook Egg Stealing

Another P.O.I – Mrs Possum

Oak Avenue Weather:13℃—23℃ no rain [75.85] TdT eggs=1 Mark=4

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Mrs Blue-Band Pops In For Breakfast

I set up one of the three Bushnell surveillance cameras to photograph anything moving into or out of the chook house. Only one of the three quite expensive Toshiba 64GB SD cards with embedded WiFi work with the cameras. Lexi got one working as an SD card and with the wifi working when they were up here last year but now the cameras don’t even power up while the SD card is inserted. Anyway I attached one camera to the eaves of the chook house and pointed it at the ramp.

We got three rebates from AA Insurance from our three vehicle insurances with them. Due to the pandemic they’re giving all their customers a rebate – at least the ones that couldn’t drive during lockdown. Our refund came to $179 which I immediately squandered on a powerful rechargeable torch to replace the aged halogen rechargeable torch that has stopped working.

Mark finished mowing the homestead lawn and then mowed round the perimeter of the One Acre – so we can walk round without getting covered in grass seeds. He also mowed under the electric fence because with the vigorous grass growth it’s shorting-out all along its length.

Mrs Blue-Band Dropped In For Breakfast Then Vanished Again

Yes, I Am Mrs Blue-Band

Oak Avenue Weather:10℃—23℃ 0.6mm rain [76.19] TdT eggs=3 Mark=4

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John Harris Calls In

A nice surprise today, John Harris dropped in mid morning and stayed chatting until late afternoon. John is the son of Mrs Harris & Howard who for 40+ years lived in the cottage attached to the back of the homestead – the cottage we moved and now live in 50 metres away.

John lost his 2nd wife to lung cancer last January and is on a trip to Wellington from near Whangarei to see an elderly aunt in her nineties.

We first knew John on our holiday visits to New Zealand and Karamu from my job in England in 1970s-1990s. At some point John and his first wife split up and John’s son, Russell, attached himself to Mrs Harris, became her mokopuna. Russell was, and probably still is, a wild one, occasional criminal, and footloose. He is living and working somewhere in Hastings. Mrs Harris and her husband Howard are long since dead.

Anyway, John has had a varied and interesting life including building himself a sailing boat in which he and his wife sailed up and down New Zealand. John is now retired and a bus driver up near Whangarei, well north of Auckland. He has a few acres, runs sheep and a few Angoa goats.

Karola and John reminisced all afternoon; we had soup and toast lunch together.

Meanwhile I mowed the cottage lawn, topped up the Zoe, took out the rubbish – the usual Sunday tasks.

My Withings Smart Scales have not reported to the Internet for two days and upon closer examination it seems the batteries are exhausted so I replaced them and all seems OK now. Luckily I remembered my morning weights for Saturday and Sunday so added them by hand.

Oak Avenue Weather:9℃—24℃ no rain [76.45] TdT eggs=2

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Prodigal Chook – Blue-Band Makes An Appearance

Last night as the deadline for the automatic sending out of the weekly digest approached I realised I’d not got an entry for last Wednesday. In my haste I mis-spoke so, after conversation with Karola, today I corrected the record.

Highlight of my day was seeing blue-band chook hanging around waiting for grain this morning. She’s alive and only stayed for half an hour so is probably sitting on eggs out in the wilderness.

Last nights trial bait of two eggs on the grass near the chook house have disappeared.

My order of a blu-ray external player arrived today from China – it’s taken less than ten days. Unfortunately it is not what I ordered but is instead an ordinary DVD reader/writer. I complained to E-bay Australia where I’d ordered the device.

We’re getting a trial delivery of Hawkes Bay Today and, as with the Friday delivery of The Listener, the delivery van seems to pride itself in chucking the papers into the thick of the Acanthas or the roadside ditch metres away from the driveway. Eventually I found today’s paper.

We’ve never seen a lizard or frog or toad here at Karamu but down by the Ngaruroro river I heard many frogs in a heavily reeded pond on the land-side of the stop bank.

Busy Frog Pond On “Tour de Twyford”

Oak Avenue Weather:6℃—25℃ no rain [76.25] TdT eggs=1

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Friday Thirteenth Again

VOTER FRAUD CRISIS IN NZ – THE GOVT MUST GO

Well it was a quiet morning, cool, sunny etc, a day for pottering. Mid day Mark came to continue mowing the large lawn round two sides of the homestead. It used to take Henare more than six hours to do just the main lawn with a self-drive motor mower (the old Honda) and Mark is doing about twice the area in the same time using the wonderful Grillo FD450 with its large pick-up basket and wide cut.

Mark has been particularly on the ball today. First he noticed a small oil leak from under the red Kioto tractor, traced it to one of the hydraulic lines and we found a loose connection. Problem solved before we’d lost too much oil.

Then one of the back tyres on the Grillo went very flat; the tyre half came off the rim.We had a similar problem with a front tyre on the red Kioti a few months ago and the problem is that if you don’t add air every now and then these vehicles lose a bit of air until eventually the seal between the (tubeless) tyre and rim separates and tyre goes completely flat. A hand pump just can’t cope, more air escapes than is needed to reinflate the tyre. Next bright moment, Mark asks whether my air compressor can pump up tyres. Never thought of it but yes it can and the adapter for that came with the compressor.

So, I thought we’d probably need to take off the wheel and get the tyre reinflated at a garage – no more mowing until next week. However getting the wheel off proved difficult. I called Outdoor Power, the agents, and their workshop manuals seemed as rudimentary as the ones I have.

Anyway Craig and I chatted about it for a while and then, somewhat disconsolate, I went back to the Grillo to try and prise the hub cap off to get at the cir-clip below. Mark to the resue again. While I was chatting on the phone he jacked up the wheel, managed to get the tyre back onto the rim and had reinflated it. Hey presto, Grillo back in action.

Meanwhile, as planned, Karl and Wendy came to shear the older sheep early afternoon. We were scolded for not putting the sheep in the yards last night – we’d put them in the holding paddock this morning but they still had access to lots of grass and water and that’s not good for the animals nor the shearer. What goes in tends to come out while being sheared, and if the sheep is full it finds the twisting and bending of shearing very uncomfortable..

Shearing of all 22 old ewes and the ram went smoothly. Afterwards Mark, at Karola’s request, applied Magnum anti-flystrike pour-on liquid to all the sheep. I drenched the ten ewe hoggets who were suffering a bit from too much lush grass and a lot of parasites. Magnum pour-on, witholding for meat of zero days. Matrix drench for the hoggets, witholding for meat of 14 days. As Mark reminded me tonight, we haven’t done the ram with Magnum so I’ll try get that done over the weekend.

Found a broken egg shell at the foot of the ramp up into the chook house. A pukeko ran away swiftly at my approach. I think pukekos must be raiding the nests inside the chook house; they already are a pest eating the dove’s grain on the bird table, I have to stand close to the table until the doves have had some time to feed. I’ve found broken chicken egg shells on the ground a few times and wonder if egg theft has been going on longer than I suspected. We should be getting two dozen eggs a week but recently we’ve been getting less than half that. Blue-band is still AWOL, either sitting away from home or met with an accident. Green-band and Yellow-band are broody. That still leaves three hens who should be laying every day.

Mark’s Mowing Of The Homestead Lawn

Last One – The Ram Loses His Wool

Nearly There

Whew, That’s Better (30℃ in the sun today)

Poignant!

Oak Avenue Weather:9℃—23℃ no rain [75.91] TdT eggs=0 Mark=4

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A Little Light Flooding

Mark spent the afternoon mowing the homestead lawn. After the days of rain, the Grillo breaking its blade and needing a replacement, the grass had become very long and thick.

Last couple of days have been overshadowed by extensive flooding in our neighbouring city of Napier. We had 83mm of overnight rain and a day later the surface flooding had gone. Napier had 240mm , hence the flooding. Our smallholding helper Mark said he had a frantic time digging ditches to divert the water – I assume from the roadway above them – safely off further down the hill. And with that done they could relax as, unlike the substantial housing developments on the flat land raised barely above sea level by the 1931 earthquake, they were not flooded.

One’s heart goes out to the families in waterlogged houses with ruined gardens, water in their cars and in their (predominantly single-storey) houses. Media say it’s a once in 250 year event but of course these sort of events are much more likely as climate change bites.

The cottage we’re living in was moved in 2013 from its position behind and up close to the old homestead and put on new piles 600mm (2 feet) above ground level, just like the old homestead itself. The cottage was originally barely above ground level at all. Lets hope that is enough. Our main dangers of flooding come from a potential breach of the Ngaruroro river stop banks which last happened in December 1980 when “Ngaruroro River breached the stop bank at Twyford resulting in serious flooding”, and even then the floods only just went above the tops of the fence posts 500m east of here but we were not affected.

Flooding here is not unknown

Excerpt from Floods in New Zealand (1957, pg 62):

Hawke’s Bay has been the scene of many large floods. From 25 May to 4 June 1867, a large flood occurred and, according to the Maoris, there was no flood to compare with it in the previous 40 years. At Napier, 15” (381 mm) of rain fell in four days. Heavy seas checked the egress of the floodwater, which was several feet deep at Clive, Papakura, and Meeanee. Silt to a depth of 12 inches to 18 inches was deposited over the area. After the initial heavy rains fine weather followed, but heavy rain again commenced on 3 June and continued on the following day. Spring tides coincided with heavy flooding and the Waitangi Bridge was carried away, and Clive Square, Napier, was flooded. This flood was higher than the previous one except at Clive and the Waipureka Plain, because the Ngaruroro River overflowed its banks in several places towards Napier, and the Tukituki River overflowed towards Cape Kidnappers. The Ngaruroro River broke its banks in three places. Land that had not been flooded within the memory of the oldest inhabitant was under water, and particularly this was true at Pakowhai, which was nearly all submerged.

…However, the most serious flood to occur up to this time was on 17 April 1897, when 14” (356 mm) of rain fell over a period of four days at Napier. Slips were common on hillsides; 200 yards of railway were carried away at Waitangi, the Omahu Bridge was carried away, the Redcliff Bridge was damaged in two places. The Ngaruroro River broke its banks between Roy’s Hill and Fernhill and menaced Hastings, but fortunately only a few streets in town were flooded… The Ngaruroro River also broke its banks south of Roy’s Hill and flowed along a very old course.

On 13 June 1917, a flood occurred which was estimated to be bigger than that of 1897, and nearly as bad as the 1867 flood. In Napier, 7.35” (187mm) of rain fell in thirty-six hours, and 10” (254mm) in three days. … The Ngaruroro overflowed its banks at Omahu, flooding Korokipo, Chesterhope, and Papakura. The approach to the Waitangi Bridge was washed away and stock losses were very severe.

The flood in the Ngaruroro in 1867 was large enough to change the course of the Ngaruroro River from the south of Hastings (present day Irongate and Karamu Streams) to its present day course from Fernhill out to the sea at Waitangi. This flood was reported to have deposited 0.3 to 0.5 m of silt over most of the Heretaunga Plains area (Dravid,1997, pg 8). Based on this significance of changing the course, it may be concluded that in the Ngaruroro this event was larger than the 1938 event, since the 1938 records do not describe as much widespread change or damage as in 1867.

In April 1938, the major rainfall was towards the north of Napier, and it appears that there was a lack of rainfall recordings in the Ngaruroro Catchment. However, the recordings over Napier indicate magnitudes with about 10” (254 mm) of rain falling in Napier over 3 days, which are similar to the three historic events.

Once Every 250 Years – Napier – What A Mess

Napier flood - - Marewa suburb

Napier flood - row kayak

No caption

Napier flooding: Elderly woman trapped in home, rescue underway - NZ Herald

State of emergency declared in Napier as floods cause landslips,  evacuations and power cuts | Stuff.co.nz

Napier flood - person bike

Evacuation, roads shut as flash floods hit Hawke's Bay

Hawke's Bay flooding: Residents evacuated by jetboat as 270mm of rain hits  north of Napier | Stuff.co.nz

Oak Avenue Weather:7℃—17℃ 0.2mm rain [76.22] TdT eggs=0 Mark=4

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Shopping Day

Shopping day has come round again. Bang goes the morning.

Still raining quite hard in Napier according to Mark, and quite a mess to clean up although only Wolfgang’s room downstairs got water damage – not very nice for Wolfgang.  We’re drying out here although still soggy underfoot.

Oak Avenue Weather:7℃—17℃ 0.2mm rain [75.87] TdT eggs=3 Mark=0

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Apres Le Déluge

Well the rain eased off and this morning we woke to brilliant sunshine and almost all the surface water gone. Very squidgy underfoot but Karola read on the verandah and I sat in my attic, programming.

Late afternoon we did our stop-bank run and the low lands on the outside of the banks were still under water but, due to how local the rains were, the river was not up much at all. Our troubles really come if there are sustained torrential rains in the mountains and foothills and any of the stop banks are breached. That hasn’t happened for decades.

Craig came on his way home from Outdoor Power and fitted the replacement Grillo blade. I raised the front of the Grillo including the blades deck with the Kioti red tractor so Craig didn’t have to crawl around to get at the blades.

Afyer he left Karola went out to a Landmarks Trust talk about the Corban family history as important Hawkes Bay wine growers and makers. I quickly mowed the cottage lawn, there being almost 24 hours of rain forecast for tonight.

Oak Avenue Weather:12℃—20℃ 26.50mm rain [76.55] TdT eggs=1 Mark=0

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Damp

It rained pretty much all day so we stayed inside – not even a Tour-de-Twyford today.

Postie called in with a big book for Karola from the Wairoa Museum, 100 Years – New Zealand Military Nursing: 1915 – 2015.

Bangle having been cooped up all day I took pity and we went round the orchard in the rain. I got wet in parts, Bangle got soaked. However Karola quickly dried her off but my lower half wasn’t so quick to dry.

Various people sent emails or TXTs asking if we were alright. Late afternoon I got a TXT saying that Napier was under a local state of emergency.

As Karola suggested I let the sheep into the Front paddock from the Toara/Middle paddock so they could shelter under the Macrocarpa and Eucalypts. Most of the sheep decided that was a good idea but one or two ewes with non-matching lambs stayed back. After half an hour of lamb bleating we decided to round up the stragglers and unite the flock. It was almost dark and as Karola trudged out into the gloom the major downpour began. A few minutes later I followed and was instantly soaked – more wet footwear and shorts etc. Karola was a bit more sensible but still got pretty damp. Sheep recombined and happy to be under the Macrocarpa, so ended our adventure for the night.

A Small River Coming In From The Scott’s Orchard

Oh, Says Bangle, Another Swim

Oak Avenue Weather:8℃—15℃ 82.3mm rain [76.17] TdO eggs=3 Mark=0

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Oh What A Relief – So Many Bridges To Mend

It could have been so much worse, as we must remind ourselves while USA rebuilds key bridges with WHO, WTO, Paris Accord, its internal EPA and Education and Healthcare, and on and on and on. What a carnage that wrestling promoting, golf-course & hotel proprietor perpetrated.

With the Senate being Republican controlled one does wonder how without stooping to Trump-like & Bush-like alleged over-reaching of presidential remit, Biden will be able to make positive progress on the many key issues ahead. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has proven repeatedly that he prefers winning over truth and is extremely partisan – his disgusting about-face on appointing new judges to the supreme court right before an election may end up being strategically more important to civil society in the USA than we can imagine.

I may be critical of America’s meddling in NZ affairs, bullying us over the TPP and extraditing Mr DotCom for revenge and for protecting US entrenched business interests, but right now all I feel is immense relief.

So, what do we do about (hope for) the British “Mop Haired Buffoon”? Our info is that Boris was flipped into a nation-wide lockdown because of some graphs that were actually incorrect, overly pessimistic, and that have since been revised, their message weakened.

With Barney the first family member to go through having Covid-19, our thoughts go out to the extended family outside New Zealand.

Karola & I celebrated a little early with a pre-dinner Rush Munro ice-cream each yesterday – knowing it might have been the last glimmer of daylight in another four years of distress.

Meanwhile, back in New Zealand, we look forward to seeing whether Ms Ardern’s cabinet can make progress on their issues – housing, health, climate change, and so on.

Oak Avenue Weather:10℃—27℃ 14.8mm rain [76.54] TdT eggs=3

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Celebratory Ice-Creams – Hope We’re Right

Still no clear outcome of the USA presidential race which is somewhat clouding things here until it’s decided – though even if Joe Biden wins it’s unclear how effective he can be with every move being blocked by Mitch McConnell and his Republican Senate. Worst case scenario is that the Republicans use their power to block most substantive moves to heal the country, continue to stoke the fires fanned by Donald Trump, and, having blocked a decent response to Covid, to Climate Change, to Black Lives Matter, and to the economy, sail into victory in 2024 with a less uncouth but more dangerous evangelical right-wing populist like Mike Pence.

Trying not to waste time watching CNN and the BBC and Fox News (surprisingly mild and factful during this election), KArola read and I programmed contentedly most of the day.

After our Tour-de-Twyford we went down to Rush Munro’s for a celebratory ice-cream – or maybe we’ll look back on it as our last happy treat before despondency falls for another four years.

Watched the last of three international rugby games between the All Blacks and the Wallabies – very scrappy and the All Blacks lost and, what made it highly missable, the quality of the rugby was pretty erratic.

Five New Welcome Swallows Off The Nest

Very Old Rose Still Blooms Profusely

Oak Avenue Weather:16℃—28℃ 8.8mm rain [76.62] TdT eggs=0

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Grillo Breaks Tip Off One Blade

Haircuts this morning and a Rush Munro ice-cream each on the return.

Mostly me programming and Karola reading in the shade on the kitchen verandah.

Mark continued with his manicuring of the eastern end of the Long Acre paddock. Green machine (Grill) broke the tip of one blade late afternoon so I called Outdoor Power and they’re ordering a replacement but it’ll be mid next week before the spare arrives.

Alkathene pipe join came asunder on corner near chook house but Karola and I mended it in short order.

Five Welcome Swallows Starting To Fly

Oak Avenue Weather:14℃—27℃ 0.1mm rain [76.61] TdT eggs=3 Mark=4

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Sheep Switch Paddocks

Sheep moved into the Middle/Totara paddocks having done a few days with the Front paddock and the second quarter of the One Acre. I counted the sheep through the gate and got 57 which is the right number: 25 lambs, 10 hoggets, 22 ewes. Total including the ram of 58.

Trevor, owner of Outdoor Power, came over in the afternoon and quickly fixed the trouble with the green Grillo FD450 by applying a few sharp blows to a bit of the cowling which was just touching the tip of one of the blades. End of loud metallic noise.

Mark continued with his mowing and clean-up of the eastern half of the Long Acre but there’s still plenty to do.

Contacted Karl O’Neale and he’ll come in the next ten days or so to shear the wooly sheep – the 22 ewes and the ram.

Henare came in the morning and got ready for him and son Scott to use our mitre saw to cut grooves in the sides of about 100 beehive walls. The grooves in the front and back wall will let them divide the bottom half of each hive in two. Then they can seed each half with a queen busy laying eggs, stoped from going into the upper reaches of the hive by a “queen excluder”. By the time the young bees get to mingle above the “queen excluder” they’ll apparently be mates, work together as one hive – that’s the theory. More bees, more honey.

Scott came mid afternoon and the finished the job in time to go off for an evening of badminton.

Measnwhile Mark, aided a little by me, went up into the homstead attic with: a vacuum cleaner, rat poison, hammer, and lantern and he sucked up a very many (dry) rat droppings from on top of the batts insulation and the rafters. He got the worst but there’s still a lot to do. He also laid poison. It seemed to work for several months last time although there’re droppings in the Bee Room and in the hall on the table by the window.

Yesterday Mark dropped off some photos of his livestock, pictured below. Mark has, at last count, a dog, three cats, a chook, three guineapigs, two rabbits. Cats Soloman (ex chez nous), Misty (tabby pictured below), and Phoebe. Guineapigs: boss Johnny, then Dante and Willy.

Solomon – Our Kitten Kindly Re-homed With Caz & Mark – Now Adult

Solomon With Tabby – Caz & Mark Have Three Cats

The Boss Of The Guineapigs

Mark’s Three Guineapig Brothers

Oak Avenue Weather:14℃—25℃ 2.4mm rain [76.52] TdO TdT eggs=1 Mark=4

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A Sad Day For Civil Society

Turned off the watering for the lime trees and both drifts of young red beech. Found that the watering system that includes the micro-orchard had a severed pipe and was gushing onto the ground so turend it off until it could be fixed.

Did the week’s shopping including picking up a fresh loaf of OMG bread and coffees

Well, here, late evening, the USA election is certainly not a landslide and, as far as I can tell, Trump is well on the way to a legitimate victory. Very depressing.

Mark came and we did a few chores, picking up pine cones, collecting broken branches into one pile for later mulching, that sort of thing. Then we grabbed the lamb with a tail, the lamb that somehow eluded us on docking day, and docked him. Mark fixed the severed irrigation pipe feeding the micro orchard.

The rest of the afternoon he spent on improving the pasture at the eastern end of the Long Acre, mowing lots of iris and long grass, and trimming the Holly tree and some low-hanging oak branches so that we can get the mower under the tree without being whipped in the face by those branches.

Just at the end of the day the Grillo started playing up – there’s a loud metallic hammering from the blades as if a blade is belting the cowling. We couldn’t locate the problem so I’ll call Outdoor Power tomorrow morning.

Henare came round for a chat and a coffee; it turned out he wants to use my mitre saw to make some modifications to 40 hives he’s building from kit-sets – so the plan is for him and son Scott to come over tomorrow morning and make a start.

Activity At The Equestrian Centre – View From The Stop Bank

Oak Avenue Weather:17℃—27℃ no rain [75.91] TdT eggs=1 Mark=4

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Melbourne Cup Day

I annotated the two photos added to last nights journal entry, printed them on photographic paper, and included them in a letter to Geoff & Edwina in England hoping it brings a smile to their lips in contrast to the darkness on the political and pandemic fronts. I also sent online copies to our bubbles of extended family here, in Wellington, and in the UK. Karola snet messages of sympathy for the fresh lockdown in the UK and was reminded of the delightful claymation “The Lion – I Need Space” we saw many many years ago – still evokes chuckles.

Creature Comforts (Aardman-Nick Park 1989)

Gill sent me an article from a New Zealand horse magazine, referencing her book, Eve’s Journey, and including a nice picture and bio.

Karola, Bangle, and I went briefly into Stortford Lodge to post a letter and get coffees from the Wild Bean Cafe (BP petrol station).

Mark caught two possums overnight.

I emptied the water trough next to the stump dump and found another chook egg in the trough. That’s the second one I’ve found in a trough; no idea how they get there.

Mark has already mowed as much of the stump dump as he could with the red tractor but it’s too wide and, being mid-mounted, not as manoeuvrable as the green mower. So this afternoon he used the Green Grillo mower and made a splendid job of tidying up around the trees, an in and out of the piles of fencing materials and old building materials.

Mark then created a new track through the undergrowth and created a “green waste pit” for Karola. He ended the day by mowing the iris and weeds and long grass at the eastern end of the Long Acre.

AT 5:00pm we watched the 2020 Melbourne Cup, not quite the usual big event without spectators but briefly exciting as all that horseflesh hurtled around the track. Irish horses took the show.

Gill Brackenbury’s Bio From Horse-Talk Magazine

Karola’s New Green Waste Pit

Stump Dump – Mown

Oak Avenue Weather:13℃—22℃ 0.7mm rain [76.59] TdT eggs=1 Mark=4

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Family Photos

Emails and web browsing in the morning.

Mark came at noon and we immediately went off to the Nguaroro river stop bank so that Mark could take photos of the three of us, Karola, Bangle, and me at the spot wjere we begin our (almost) daily “Tour de Twyford”.

After the photo-shoot Mark, Bangle and Karola went back to Karamu and Mark mowed the quarter of the One Acre recently vacated by the sheep, the idea being to slow down the Phalaris grass and give the Lucerne (Alfalfa in the USA) a fighting chance.

Afternoon tea, well coffee and biscuits actually, and then Mark and Karola dug/pulled up some of the fast-growing Muehlenbeckia creeper (aka maidenhair vine, wiggy-bush, wire vine, etc, etc) round the cottage and Mark transplanted it to the octagon surrounding the big Canary Island palm.

His last task of the afternoon was to chop off the seed heads and flowering stems of the similarly vigorous and fast spreading Acanthus (Bear’s breeches) that decorates the 133 roadside entrance. Karola likes to do this every year to slow the spread.

Blue-band chook is still AWOL. Chooks with white, red, and orange bands joined this evening by yellow-band though whether she’s given up being broody or just having a food break is anyone’s guess. Green-band is still firmly broody on nest in the chook house.

Mark (Almost As Kind-Hearted As Me) Left This Pukeko Nest Un-Mown In The One acre


Gill & Ben’s Clock Birthday Gift Arrived – It’s Identical To Ours Of Course

Cabbage Tree Flowering Profusion Portends Long Hot Summer

Ian, Karola, And Bangle – Beginning Of Their “Tour-de-Twyford”

… And On The Way Back

Oak Avenue Weather:14℃—22℃ no rain [76.43] TdO TdT eggs=3 Mark=4

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Karola’s Wairoa Bus Trip – Founder’s Society

Karola was off quite early to catch the charter bus. Her friend Lyn Sturm picked Karola up around 8:00am and they joined the Founder’s Society all-day trip to Wairoa. Lyn was the tour guide, describing features of historic interest in Wairoa and en route.

Meanwhile I had an enjoyable morning programming and in the afternoon got on with the usual Sunday tasks including mowing the cottage lawns. I shut the sheep out of the 1st quarter of the One Acre paddock and let them into the 2nd quarter which has bolted up in the days since it was last grazed.

Watched a streamed set of four interviews with the USA presidential candidates and heir running mates. Traditionally the USA TV program “60 Minutes” holds these interviews before each presidents election. The woman interviewing Donald Trump was excellent and the programme voiced-over some observations on the assertions made by Donald Trump, some acknowledging that he was right and others that he was quite mistaken.

The clips of him saying things, recorded on camera by multiple news outlets, which he utterly denied saying was astonishing – well it would be if it were not Donald Trump. On some things they acknowledged that from his perspective he was quite right but these were in the minority. Trump’s attitude to the interviewer was bellicose, belligerent, rude, lacked grace, charm free, overbearing. Nothing new there. He looks ill.

On the other hand the Biden interview, which also asked tough questions, was a breath of fresh air. He looked fit and relaxed and projected civility, honesty, integrity. As he implied, this election is about wanting an inclusive civil society engendering hope versus a brutish, racist, divisive one where fears are stoked and divisions in society embraced and encouraged.

Sadly I see this as so much “preaching to the choir”; The millions of USA voters who most thoroughly embrace and endorse Trump have (mostly legitimate) grievances and are not listening.

Oak Avenue Weather:10℃—25℃ no rain [75.87] TdO TdT eggs=2

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