Monthly Archives: April 2021

Dan and Monique Haliday called and arranged to drop in for morning coffee and to return the blue scarf Karola left on the bus in Geraldine on the recent IDS trip there.

We chatted about the work on the homestead and the delays we’ve faced, and still do face. We also talked about the 2022 IDS AGM and field trips planned for 21st – 24th April. Dan and Monique are taking the lead on this and asked if they could convene a small organising committee here comprising the members of IDS living in Hawkes Bay. Of course we agreed,

Mark finished mowing the homestead lawn and the driveways leaving only the cottage lawn for next week. Mark also put the tractor battery back in the old MF tractor and installed the new cable from the positive terminal. Finally he helped me transplant the main herbs from the raised beds in the paddock to the one he moved outside the paddock and up against the railings north of the cottage garage.

Parsley, Sage, and Thyme Transplanted and Getting A Drink

Mysterious Label Under Seat Of Grillo – Not The ID Plate I was Hoping For

Oak Avenue Weather:7℃—23℃ no rain [76.326] TdT TdO eggs=1 Mark=4

Another enjoyable morning programming.

… and a friend sent me this quietly amusing little drawing:

Mark came and continued mowing the lawns, finishing off the homestead lawn and doing the driveways and behind the homestead garage. The whole lot will take over ten hours even though he’s using the Grillo wonder ride-on mower with picking up.

Karola and I had a useful afternoon:

• Dropped in at Newbold Auto-Electricians: the battery (bought from them several years ago) is fully charged and still over 90% of its original power. I got a new positive battery lead to replace the cracked one. They will send out a mechanic to see what the trouble is with the old tractor sometime next week.
• Delivered recycling paper and plastic bottles to the Hastings Recycling Centre
• Got more fresh fruit and vegetables from the roadside green-grocer, Gagan’s. They say that all Jazz apples have been picked and that anyway Jazz as a variety has had its day – bad news for Karola who particularly liked that variety.
• Posted overalls and some weird adjustable glasses to Harry hoping the overalls will fit someone over there and that he’ll be intrigued by the glasses. The lens optics are apparently very sophisticated although the theory has been known of for decades according to Mark Eagle, my optician. The local branch of the Post Office is inside the local pharmacy so I picked up my repeat eye-drop prescription at the same time, and some more homeopathic sleep drops – herbs – that Karola likes.
• Rush Munro for ice-cream treats – the last stop to minimise melting.

Mark has mown and mown so more petrol is needed – I went to Caltex on Omahu and filled the petrol containers, the empty diesel container, and the Landrover.

Homestead Lawn Now Trimmed And Free Of Mountains Of Leaves

Oak Avenue Weather:0℃—19℃ no rain [76.156] TdT TdO eggs=3 Mark=4

Last night Tracey Craig sent email reporting that of her five young chooks donated from here, Blue Band’s progeny, three are crowing lustily at 4:00am most mornings so probably will not be contributing to the egg count.

I had a pleasant day re-engaging with my programming project.

Mark came and spent the afternoon mowing much of the homestead lawn – huge amounts of leaves and also a lot of stalky grass.

There are gangs of pickers in the orchard, getting stuck into the Fuji apples, the last to be picked here. Much laughter and gaiety.

Oak Avenue Weather:0℃—16℃ 0.1mm rain [76.29] TdT TdO eggs=4 Mark=4

Back to normal after the long weekend, well, almost except that rain stopped play for Mark after only 1½ hours mowing of the homestead lawn. Shopping in the morning – all done before 11:00am.

It was a cold day with outbreaks of sunshine but could have been winter. Over twenty Barbary Doves came for afternoon tea today.

A more productive day than usual:

• Remembered to book in the Subaru for a service and WOF, due next month.
• Finally got in contact with Grayson Allen of Peak Plumbing & Gas – he promises a quote for the new hot water cylinder and heat pump for the cottage later this week and says he’ll ask Vincent (heat pump supplier) to come round and explain it all next week.
• Made appointments for me and Karola to see Richard Jamieson, our GP. Karola needs a medical certificate as part of her mandatory driving test when she turns 75 next month.
• Got in touch with our ophthalmologist’s office and Jade, John Beaumont’s PA, said she’d resent the email replying to my questions last week concerning cateract surgery for Karola, sending it to my current email address rather than an out-fo-date one. The email arrived late afternoon.
• Contacted Cross Hills nursery as they hadn’t replied to a couple of approaches concerning rectangular aluminium tree labels. They assured me the labels were in the post.
• New 500ml bottles of cinnamon and aniseed arrived today; lure for possums in the winter.
• Sheep barred (baah’d) from the lucerne paddock, the One Acre, to give it a while to recover.
• Started watching a Netflix spy thriller set in Australia, Secret City, which is quite engrossing.
• Took the broken Grillo belt to SKF on Omahu road to see if they could supply replacement belts for less than I’m charged by Outdoor Power, about $180. The Grillo drive belt is unusual in being only 9mm thick whereas the available replacement is 11mm so this will only work if the pulley wheels are at least 13mm deep. I will measure and see. If we are lucky and the potential replacement is suitable then they’ll cost $80 each instead of $180. Given the frequency with which we damage them, that’d be very helpful.

Barbary Doves Fly In For Food

Karola’s New Canary Island Pine, Grown From Accidental Seed

Oak Avenue Weather:8℃—20℃ 2.0mm rain [75.856] TdT TdO eggs=2 Mark=1½

Karola and I had our annual flu jabs last week and, apart from knowing there’s a two-week minimum time to elapse before we could have our Covid 19 vaccinations, we don’t know when we will get them.

Iain Middleton observed that as both we and they have had our annual flu jabs there’s a significant reduction in the risk of catching Covid 19 before we get our full two-jab programme of the official specific Covid 19 inoculation. He kindly forwarded the link below although you may need an active New Scientist subscription to read the whole article – I have a copy.

“Mondayised”, what a ghastly word – but Apple’s iCal uses it as do our announcers on RNZ National radio. And today is just such a one, a public holiday in lieu of ANZAC day which this year fell on the weekend.

Karola and I attended an “Age Concern” Driving Refresher course in Waipukurau last month and today we filled in our follow-up questionaires; we both found the course worth-while and recommend it to anyone nearing the age of 75 when, in NZ, a driving test is mandatory – at 75, 80, and every two years after that.

If you bought an “iThing” from Apple in the last year you’ll have received a free year’s subscription to to the original content on “Apple TV+”. I was surprised and mildly pleased to see that my year’s subscription has been extended until July. The number of shows that I’d really really want to watch on Apple TV+ is very very small though, so there’s no chance I’ll be paying for a subscription for the current catalogue. Mind you, as Bridget remarked rather sardonically, we have a paid SKY subscription and Netflix (a guest free subscription) as well as the free Apple TV+, so we’re not lacking in the modern western opiate of the masses.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

From New Scientist 31 March 2021

o o o

This was the opportunity that Netea and his colleagues had been waiting for. After the first wave of covid-19 in the Netherlands – from March to June 2020 – they obtained health records from more than 10,000 hospital employees. The records showed whether the employees had caught covid-19, and also whether they had been given a flu shot in late 2019 or early 2020. A comparison of the two data sets revealed something significant. “We saw 39 per cent less covid-19 in the influenza-vaccinated people,” says Netea. This suggests that the flu vaccine is somewhat protective against covid-19, possibly via trained immunity. Peer-reviewed studies from Italy and the US have found similar effects.

Indeed, Netea says that, knowing what we know now, it would have been a good idea to do mass flu immunisation at the start of the pandemic. “If in March last year, we vaccinated the population very quickly with an influenza vaccine, we would have bought enough time to develop specific vaccines without shutting down our economies.”

Flu vaccines are no substitute for the highly effective SARS-CoV-2 vaccines, but even if they provide 40 per cent protection, they would have allowed us to go about our daily lives in a “near-normal” way, he says.

o o o

Read more: https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg24933280-200-amplifying-our-ancient-immune-system-could-help-fight-future-pandemics/#ixzz6t87MmMNv

For those really interested Iain sent some additional links:

https://www.dw.com/en/why-are-flu-vaccinated-people-more-resistant-to-covid-19/a-57038866

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7300995/

https://www.ajmc.com/view/flu-vaccine-may-protect-against-covid-19-infection

Oak Avenue Weather:4℃—20℃ no rain [75.727] TdT TdO eggs=2 Mark=0

Today is the last day of tupping to avoid lambing being too strung out. We of course hope that all the breeding ewes are bred but usually have one or two who missed the ramifications. Karola helped me draft out the two rams who were not best pleased, but I say to myself that they’ll get over it.

Beautiful day here, and in Wellington also I’m told. Middletons are coming up for their annual pilgrimage to Iain’s Forestry business AGM up in the hills behind Napier. I’m never sure whether he and Gaylene are poor as church mice or just very careful with their money; Gaylene cleans houses to supplement their income which makes me think the former, but having investment in Forests would argue the latter.

Delightful little video sent to me by Gill’s Ben, a spoof on the parlous state of truth and evidence in the USA but it feels like it applies to much of the Western world to some degree. Echoes of the uber-PC forces on USA campuses where facts are trumped by student pressure groups and unpleasant truths displaced by listener-affirming mythology.

Oak Avenue Weather:8℃—21℃ no rain [75.609] TdT TdO eggs=3

Henare came round to repossess his special fencing spade – long iron handle, small, heavy head. We gave him a couple of cups of coffee and listened to his news. Rangitera & Debbie are on holiday but, according to Henera, Debbie really does want to come and discuss a possible job as part-time helper with Karola.

Had a good chat with Gill late afternoon but otherwise it was a very quiet day.

Oak Avenue Weather:5℃—24℃ no rain [75.630] TdT TdO eggs=1

Our iwi contact called and arranged to drop in just before lunch. He expects to make progress at a meeting on 6th May and hopes to cut through the usual Māori bureaucracy fo a full “iwi consultation” as in his opinion this is massive overkill in simple uncontentious cases like ours. We fervently hope he’s right.

Mark came a bit later today which suited us as Karola had a hair appointment with Kim at noon. Mark’s main task this afternoon was to move one of the raised beds from its position in the paddock to a safer (from sheep) position tucked next to the railings north of the cottage garage – where Karola suggested it should go.

One Raised Bed Moved From The Paddock

Oak Avenue Weather:8℃—21℃ 0.6mm rain [75.771] TdT TdO eggs=4 Mark=4

Completed my map of the garden taps and sheep trough outlets at Karamu; walked round and checked Mark’s list of leaking taps, leaking up the shaft of the handle when turned on. There are a dozen of these and they are all taps installed by the Bishops when they did the original underground system of pipes and tap stands. Mark’s list is accurate.

Karola & I went to the Hastings Health Centre just after 2:00pm expecting to wait in line like last year. The Health Centre do these jabs through the car window and the actual jab is very quick. To our surprise the queue was empty so we were back out inside five minutes, celebrating by going to CountDown for some more fresh fruit for Karola and to stock up on Beyond Meat patties. Then home via Rush Munros.

Late afternoon I went to SKF and got a dozen replacement o-rings for the leaking taps. They may be a source for the Grillo drive belts that keep breaking, I’ll take one of ther broken ones in and get a quote. They cost over $200 each from Outdoor Power.

Mark weed sprayed in front of the garages and at the back of the homestead, it being a nice calm day. He also sorted out our possum and rat lures and traps.

Oak Avenue Weather:4℃—21℃ 0.1mm rain [75.862] TdT TdO eggs=2 Mark=4

I ordered new bottles of cinnamon and aniseed fluid possum lure as, although not all used up, the bottles of lure we have are well over their six month expiry date. I also ordered 100 tree labels (aluminium) from Cross Hills nursery, as suggested by Peter Cooke while we were in Geraldine on the IDS trip. I’m thinking ahead to our possible involvement in the 2022 IDS trip to Hawkes bay.

Mark didn’t come round today. The rain had stopped before dawn and Karola spent much of the day tending her garden and sweeping the large piles of leaves that accumulate in the autumn around buildings, hedges and other barriers.

The Grillo was delivered. Trevor passed on a message from Craig that we should not continue cleaning the air filter with the air compressor as the blast of air was so strong that it was enlarging the little holes in the filter allowing more dust through. We should just tap the filter gently and get the accumulated dust out that way.

I rang and booked Karola and myself our annual flu shots – we’re due in the Health Centre car park tomorrow at 14:10.

Oak Avenue Weather:6℃—24℃ 0.4mm rain [75.927] TdT TdO eggs=2 Mark=0

A good shopping run this morning. Hit the shops at 9:30am which meant no crowds in thecar park nor inside New World and I zipped through in good time. On way home we did the usual Artisan Coffee and GF Bread routine and picked up more cash for Mark from the BNZ.

At Artisan I not only bought a couple of small cakes but bought a bag of shelled walnuts. That was a good move; Katie Whitcombe, the owner, said her mother had a couple of large very old walnut trees and organised her family to shell them for sale.

Mark came and continued weeding the cottage bay tree hedge. He also transplanted the fuschia outside the cottage laundry along to the other end, outside the bathroom. This is in anticipation of eventual siting of a heat pump where the fuschia was – although Grayson Allen is very very slow in arranging that.

Oak Avenue Weather:11℃—21℃ 4.9mm rain [76.221] TdT TdO eggs=3 Mark=4

The Grillo was picked up by Outdoor Power in the morning – for a service and to replace the damaged drive belt.

Popped into town to Countdown and picked up a couple of things not stocked at new World.

Mark continued weeding the bay tree hedge. He also tried to start the old tractor with the re-charged battery but no joy. There are severl loose wires which we think may be the root of the problem but I’ll need to get professional help to fix it.

Using the MyDr website’s ideal weight calculator I estimated weight targets for myself, Bridget & Chris, and Dave. One provides height, gender, age, and wrist diameter and then it calculates an ideal weight using eight different formulae. I averaged these to produce us each an “ideal” weight – all of which were significantly lower than our current weights as reported by our “smart scales”.

Unfortunately these “ideal weights” seem quite impractical and so not at all helpful so I ignored them and am using WHO data. Their upper bounds for a healthy weight provide a slightly more sensible set of targets: Chris=80kg, Ian=72kg, Dave=68kg, Bridget=68kg. Richard my GP independently suggested 72kg was the right weight goal for me.

Oak Avenue Weather:4℃—23℃ no rain [76.383] TdT TdO eggs=1 Mark=4

Cold but sunny day with little wind.

Karola & I went up to the big shed in the orchard and I did a bit more sweeping out while Karola put the sweepings from my and Mark’s work into our big wheelie rubbish bin that will be emptied tomorrow morning early.

In addition to the standard egg laid today there was also a tiny egg, the size of a thrush egg, that I gave to Bangle with her dinner.

Watered the Puriri trees, the rain that fell this week was only about 6mm so I gave them a bucket each. The two at the top of the ha-ha slope have got their permanent tree guards but are still pretty bare from the ewe hogget munching – the munching that made us replace the initial guards as not being tall enough.

Puriri By The 133 Gate

Puriri Just Off The Old 133 Front Driveway

Puriri Deep In The Jungle North-east Of The Homestead

Oak Avenue Weather:0℃—21℃ no rain [76.665] TdT TdO eggs=1

A very quiet day. Last night I binge-watched an Apple TV+ original series recommended by Bridget, Mythic quest, which was quite amusing, enough that I watched all ten episodes but not enough to start watching Series 2. Tonight I watched a George Clooney film, The American which was advertised as “cerebral” and indeed the photography and locations were good, but the plot-line was minimalist to non-existent and Clooney was not particularly convincing as the retiring assassin having a reassessment of his life. And then I did watch an extra episode of Mythic Quest, a sort-of eleventh episode of Series 1.

Some short showers late afternoon and evening, which is good.

Oak Avenue Weather:0℃—17℃ 1.4mm rain [76.930] TdT TdO eggs=4

Karola and Mark cleaned out the floor of the lockable bay up at the big shed in the orchard. I collected some old bits of metal from that shed and put the copper hot water cylinder (HWC) that Karola wants to keep in the lockable part. I hope we’ll take the bits of metal pipe and old rusty galvanised iron HWC from the homestead kitchen along with unwanted metal from the big shed and the stump dump to the local scrap metal merchants next week.

Mark then continued weeding the bay tree hedge around the cottage railings.

Gravel Mountains Along The Ngaruroro River

Oak Avenue Weather:12℃—25℃ no rain [77.091] TdT eggs=3 Mark=4

Karola and I had our eyes checked by Mark Eagle of Shattkey Visique in Russell street in Hastings this morning. I went first and Karola was about an hour later. It begins with a batch of tests using various expensive machines. The optometrist has almost as many machines as my ophthalmologist, John Beaumont.

My results were worse than before in an unexpected way. The usual glaucoma control is eye pressure and this was about the same as usual. However the peripheral visual test, Fields test, was decidedly worse for my good eye this time, so much so that it’ll be touch and go if I am able to drive after my next birthday in November – the mandatory test at 75 years of age.

Karola’s results were much as before and good enough that Mark Eagle wrote out her eye test certificate saying she was fit to drive – needed for her mandatory test next month. But Mark Eagle explained the recommendation Karola got last time she had her eyes tested, the recommendation that she had cataract surgery. I now understand that it would make a big difference to Karola’s vision straight away, especially for reading, and could incorporate the vision change provided at present by her glasses. And if Karola has the surgery soon she’ll have the benefit from then for ever more, so the sooner it happens, the longer she’ll enjoy it.

Neither of us need new glasses, that is our current lens prescriptions are correct.

Gardener Mark Hendery came as usual at noon, topped the bay tree hedge along the cottage railings and weeded underneath. He also took out the heavy battery from the old tractor so I can recharge it in the cottage garage – it’s heavy and the removal is at an awkward angle.

Oak Avenue Weather:6℃—22℃ 0.1mm rain [77.191] TdT eggs=2 Mark=4

Quiet day with a little rain late afternoon.

I continue to struggle with my two large earthenware pots planted with cornflower seeds. They germinated OK but then a bird, probably my doves, has pulled out most of the seedlings. I’ve covered the pots with netting and that has stopped further predation.

Mark came in the morning and took his parents in Napier a load of surplus firewood in the big trailer pulled by the Landrover.

This afternoon Mark continued moving firewood from near the farm shed to the pile behind the homestead garage. Mark also set two GoodNature rat traps on the trunk of the fir tree under which I spread wheat and maize for the chooks and geese. Mark happened to spy a couple of kittens up near the sheep yards so he set cage traps to see if we can catch them.

Spoke to Marei Apatu about the iwi consultancy we need to conduct in order to complete the request for archaeological authority and he was cheerful and helpful not being at all delighted by the need for iwi consultancies on every case – apparently it consumes enough time to organise to be an irritant. He is also frantically busy but will try to put together a plan in the next few days. I invited him to come and have tea and a look round – he may come for a brief visit as he says he is interested in the historic homes around Hawkes Bay but he doesn’t think there would be time for more than that.

Oak Avenue Weather:3℃—23℃ 4.7mm rain [77.331] TdT TdO eggs=3 Mark=4

Bridget’s birthday today – how time has flown.

Shopping day again, back at lunchtime. Quite warm in town, 27℃ according to the car display.

Mark came and mowed the bits of grass outside the cottage stopping only when the drive belt got damaged – a big chunk taken out of it by a stone lodging in one of the drive wheels. I called Outdoor Power and asked that they service the Grillo and provide a new belt.

He then continued moving wood from the stacks around the farm shed lean-to over to the rather large pile behind the homestead garage.

I called and left voicemail for Marei Apatu – Marei.Apatu@ttoh.iwi.nz (027 430 4282) – who may be able to help with the iwi consultation we need to do before submitting a request for Archaeology Authorisation so the building work can begin.

Oak Avenue Weather:6℃—28℃ no rain [77.596] TdT TdO eggs=3 Mark=4

Pretty exhausted from the trip we took things slowly.

As planned we met up with Graham and Tracey and Bangle at Bay Espresso on Karamu Road for lunch. Sounds like Bangle had a very spoilt and enjoyable time, romping with the other dogs. Seemed quite pleased to see us but it’s going to be pretty boring after that.

My pair of adjustable glasses arrived today. As expected I’m unimpressed but the idea was interesting, that each lens comprises two pieces of glass and a little knob on the side that allows adjustment of the focal point for reading or computer screens, or driving. Not very bulky so maybe I’ll play with them for a bit.

Parked the Subaru in the farm shed lean-to. The homestead garage is being used for the windows and other reusable items from the homestead alterations that started and then so abruptly stopped last week so the Subaru needed a new parking spot.

Homestead Shut Up For A While

Oak Avenue Weather:13℃—24℃ no rain [77.822] TdT TdO eggs=2 Mark=0

After breakfast we set off for Christchurch and our 1:45pm plane back to Hawkes Bay, no stops, quiet roads and Karola drove most of the way getting us smoothly and safely back to the Avis car return at the airport in plenty of time.

We had an hour or so in hand so we indulged in an up-market fast food lunch – rather good. Flight qwas quick and unexceptional and we were back home mid afternoon.

Oak Avenue Weather:11℃—27℃ 0.1mm rain [?] Mark=4

Another excellent cooked breakfast, just thr right amount too, not too much.

Long bus trip out to the Deepdale Arboretum then on to lunch at the Glendonald Arboretum, both in Albury. We had a comfort break at Farlie, the place of excellent pies.

Deepdale was essentially just a large planting of diverse conifer species. The house and garden on a slope at “Glendonalds” rose up steeply to a plateau of pastures and the farm buildings. Lunch was in a large implement shed obviously equipped for events such as ours. A solid buffet lunch satisfied all tastes.

Then on to Rosie Morten’s place, “Orari Estate” which was a large garden and is apparently famous (in New Zealand). The IDS folk marvelled at a very old, large Kowhai tree in front of the mock Tudor homestead.

In the evening the IDS banquet was held at the Barkers Food Store & Eatery in central Geraldine. Food followed by the traditional tree auction where strange and wonderful saplings are auctioned off amongst the members, providing a top-up for the IDS branch funds.

Orari Estate – Rosie Morten’s Place

Orari Estate – Typical Restful Nook

Orari Estate – Very Old, Large Kowhai Tree

Oak Avenue Weather:16℃—24℃ 1.0mm rain [?]

Sue Jensen cooked us a delicious breakfast which set the tone for the day. Karola and I walked across the park and over a footbridge to the main street then turned right iup for a couple of blocks to Mundells where the IDS throng loitered ready to board the two waiting busses. There must have been about 60 IDS members and associates.

Our first stop was at the Peel Forest Estate, home of some splendid Douglas Firs that came from a nursery in Norfolk in 1859, transported by ship in Wardian cases. The owner, Graham Carr, chatted to us and guided us around the garden and nearby stands of magnificent trees, some up to 69 metres tall. We were intrigued by examples of the stumps of douglas fir trees remaining alive through the self-grafting of their roots with neighbouring standing trees. The 7000 acre estate runs over 8000 red deer being the largest deer stud in New Zealand and the largest producer of deer velvet in the world.

On to Orari Gorge. Young adventurers Ackland and Tripp came out from the UK in the 1800’s, initially jointly leasing a huge area of west Canterbury land from the foothills up to the alpine eights. Later they divided the expanse into two large leaseholds, Orari Gorge being on Tripp land.

At Otari Gorge Station the Peacocks gave us lunch after dropping us off at a small group of old wooden farm buildings one containing a thousand-book library and array of old kitchen and farm implements amde of wood and iron. A steep track led down, skirting one of the large patches of original native bush, to a homestead and outbuildings above a small creek, sloping lawns, and several old exotic trees.

Last stop on the day’s field trips was at Capricorn’s a 7-acre informal garden with ponds and statuary complementing many tall old exotic trees. Three large contemporary kinetic sculptures made by Andrew Drummond from Christchurch. The Burdon family began the garden in 1939 and subsequent generations have continued planting since then. Like all the properties we visited, major storms have wreaked a lot of tree damage over the decades.

The evening banquet was at Mes Amis Cafe, Orari, preceded by the IDS New Zealand Branch AGM. The food was good and the evening convivial but I was feeling unwell so it was Karola who enjoyed it most, chatting with our table companions Dennis and Carolyn Schwartz – Dennis is the society treasurer, they live in Wanaka.

Peel Forest Estate

Peacocks’ Orari Gorge Station

Capricorns – Kinetic Sculptures

Oak Avenue Weather:14℃—22℃ 3.8mm rain [?] Mark=4

Late morning we set off for flight down to Christchurch and drive to Geraldine where we’ll spend two days with the annual AGM and field trip of th New Zealand branch of the International Dendrology Society.

Paul and Matt have come to do some final tidying up. A big truck carrying more of the materials needed for the “altertions and additions” of the homestead came and dropped its load.

So, we packed up and I armed rhe cottage alarm, giving Karola the remote to keep safe until we return.

We went via Stortford Lodge to post Gill a book and get Karola another mask, like my black one but a size smaller. I didn’t realise how annoying they were until I wore mine for a couple of hours today; it’s hard to eat or drink or even talk with the mask on and your glasses fog up. Obviously a very sensible idea to wear one but it comes at a price.

On the plane to Christchurch and I get a TXT from Mark, the cottage alarm has gone off. Oops, I forgot, the farm shed is protected by the cottage alarms and Mark needed to get into the shed. But we had the remote with us and I don’t remember the code.

Havelock Hills Security (HHS) couldn’t get me on the phone, nor Karola so they sent a security guard. He was unable to switch it off he said. Once in Christchurch airport I contacted HHS and pointed out that I’d given them remotes to both buildings for just such an emergency. Another guard was dispatched and he turned that he alarm off. End of crisis.

Picked up Avis car – it needed no fewer than six signatures on a small tablet written with my finger and the agent’s slight Asian accent meant I had to guess much of what he was saying but we got there in the end.

Pleasant fast drive down to Geraldine, stopping at the Sun Lion restaurant in Ashburton for lunch/dinner – me roast pork and Karola salmon.

Was driving a bit too fast when I got to Geraldine and the local cop, Dave, stopped us for exceeding the speed limit by 18kph. Mea culpa but he very kindly let me off with a warning, hoping I’d enjoy my stay in Geraldine.

John & Sue Jensen welcoming and pleasant, quiet accommodation. Sue will give us breakfast tomorrow in good time to walk the five minutes to the bus pickup point at 8:30am.

Homestead Project Battened Down For Next Couple Of Months

Oak Avenue Weather:12℃—22℃ 0.1mm rain [76.246] Mark=4

The day began with my “smart scales” not sending its weights to the Internet. I changed the battery and in the past it’s remembered the earlier weighings and sent them off, but not today.

Much of the angst of the day was about some additional authorisation that we need for the archaeological investigation. I had not remembered this accurately from archaeologist Elizabeth’s previous work on the cottage in 2011 or thereabouts. TIn March last year we’d contacted Elizabeth, one of the two registered, qualified archaeologists in Hawkes bay, and she sent us a proposal and estimate of cost. My recollection is that we agreed to her proposal and it was left to me to let her know when we were ready to start. Her recollection is that she had been waiting for the intervening year for us to ask her to do it. Had we done so she would have started on the lengthy process for getting archaeological authorisation to begin the work much earlier. This authorisation bypsses and is additonal to the Heritage NZ and local council approvals. You just have to know.

Elizabeth contacted Christine Barnett, the archaeologist from HNZPT for this region, only to find she is out on sick leave for some time. No alternative contact was offered in HNZPT.

The initial work on writing a report on the historical and archaeological significance of this “heritage site” will be much quicker this time and Elizabeth says she can get it done in a couple of days. Then she can fill out the request for authorisation but this cannot be submitted until I have agreement from the local iwi. This is new extra bureaucratic legislation since we did the cottage.

Once the form is completed, and assuming I can get iwi agreement that we are not affecting local Māori culturally significant assets, the HNZPT can take up to 20 days to respond. Once they have responded, and if the response is favourable, there is a mandated compulsory 28 day “cooling off period” in case anyone wants to object. So we stop work for at least a couple of months.

Mark came, did some more clearing of wood from the farm shed lean-to and then with a little help from me removed the domestic water supply’s header tank from the homestead attic. This also had its moments. Rats or possums had dislodged the top of the mercury switch sitting on the tank. I brushed my hand over it and got a wallop of 230v. That was unexpected because the electrical wiring to the mercury switch would normally be something innocuous like 12v, not the full force of the mains. So, when I stopped shaking, I turned off the homestead mains, cut and insulated the ends of the relevant cable, and turned them back on.

As planned, Graham Harvey came just after 3:00pm to pick up Bangle. We had tea and biscuits and chatted. Neighbour Janet Scott arrived during this and joined our party. Around 4:00pm we gathered up Bangles stuff – crate, food, collar & lead, and Bangle went off with Graham, somewhat reluctantly I have to say. But so so much better than boarding kennels.

Tonight, just to round out the day, Gill TXTed to say she couldn’t get onto the server, was getting error messages. I tried and found most of our addresses were failing then looked at the site to find a handful of accounts had disappeared. Got hold of HostPapa technical support, hoping against hope that we’d not been hacked. Turned out that, unbeknownst to me, HostPapa had decided to move my accounts to a different server and at the present moment that migration is still underway. They assure me that once it is complete I’ll see my accounts all present and correct.

Finally tonight, touch wood, I sent an email to Geoff, Gill, and Bridget explaining what the problem was and the new server address. Only to get the emails to Geoff & Gill rejected because the new name of the server, which I quoted in the email, obviously, was considered spam!

Where We’ll Leave it For Now

Oak Avenue Weather:9℃—22℃ no rain [76.850] eggs=2 Mark=4

I set off after breakfast and did the week’s shopping, a light one because we’ll not be here for the evening meal for three days. I also popped into Mitre-10 for three hasps to secure the homestead once the back door and downstairs bathroom were opened up. Later I’ll need one for the Apple room door when the wall is removed between the jJunk room and the Apple room. I also got a replacement battery for the homestead garage main remote – a rather unusual battery so I was pleased to find it there. As usual GF bread and coffee and cash on the way home.

Mark continued relocating the wood out of the farm shed lean-to. He also took down the electric fence partitioning the One Acre; I’ll let the sheep have a few hours at a time in the whole paddock of lucerne now. We both searched for a hen’s nest over between the bund and the roadside fence – that’s where the clucking was coming from – but to no avail. It’s in there somewhere I’m sure.

Builder Paul and his son Matt arrived and began dismantling the lean-to, beginning by taking out the doors and lining of the outside wall. Later a big truck arrived with some of the wood needed for the rebuild, the particular sizes that are in short supply for the next few months.

Karola decided she wanted to have the Kauri planks taken off the lean-to walls stored in the big orchard shed in the bay that has a lockable door. She spoke to the orchard manager, Peter Fitzpatrick, and he agreed, came over and with a helper moved the stuff they had in there out. Paul and Matt took the good planks up to the shed late afternoon, so that’s working OK.

Called Dave Dravitski, from civil engineers LDE, to see if he could do the soil assurance for us – the soil round the piles for the two-storey replacement of the lean-to needs to be able to withstand the pressures of movement during earthquakes. As he requested, I sent him plans and the council resource consent and wail=t for him to come back.

Called Elizabeth Pishief and alerted her to our starting the renovation/reconstruction work on the lean-to at the back of the homestead. Sadly for us I hadn’t understood that more regulations had come into force in 2014 and, in addition, I wasn’t aware that we could get council resource consent but still not have archaeological authority to proceed. Reading back throuhg the material from the cottage move I do now see there were more formalities we went through – but I still thought they funnelled through Heritage NZ and/or Hastings District Council so we wouldn’t be surprised. Elizabeth has alerted the regional Heritage NZ agent in head office to see where we go from here.

Put the three hasps on the three doors at the homestead. Locked up for the night.

The Critical Lumber In Short Supply Arrives

Oak Avenue Weather:9℃—27℃ no rain [76.985] TdT TdO eggs=3 Mark=4

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

Did more tidying up of the areas to be deconstructed, the old kitchen, bathroom, and sun porch.

No sign of the ram lamb in the Ram paddock so I worried that it had either died or been stolen and searched high and low, no sign. Then I counted the ewes and ram in the Middle paddock and sure enough, one more than expected – the little ram has somehow nipped into the Long Acre and from there into the Middle paddock with the others.

There’s been a notice in the paper that thieves are taking trailers so I put ours in the Ram paddock, mostly out of sight and behind an extra gate. Tried to start the old Massey-Ferguson MF35 1962 tractor but not a flicker of life. Tried jump startingwith the Landrover, no joy. Ditto the Kioti tractor, no go. Maybe it’s the jump leads themselves.

Gill’s “Adore” Apple Harvest From Just One Tree

Oak Avenue Weather:10℃—25℃ no rain [76.880] TdT TdO eggs=2 Mark=0

We’re still some way from having all things with clocks in them be auto-correcting using the Internet. A surprising number of items now have clocks in them.

Bright sunny day with strong winds.

Just the usual Sunday tasks and walking/cycling in the sun – the stop bank cycle track was the busiest I’ve ever seen it.

Oak Avenue Weather:5℃—28℃ no rain [76.887] TdT TdO eggs=2

Relaxing morning then in the afternoon Karola and I went round the homestead rooms scheduled for redevelopment, removing the last remaining fittings such as blinds, the odd book and piece of furniture, and so on.

The clocks “fall back” tonight.

Autumn Delight – Afternoon Sun – Horse Arena From Tow Path

These Gravel Mountains Are Growing Along River Bank As Far As Carrick Road

Oak Avenue Weather:2℃—20℃ no rain [76.940] TdT TdO eggs=3

I let the sheep in for a bite of lucerne for a couple of hours.

The temporary tree guards that mark put over the initial small guards seem quite adequate for the two Puriri so we’ll use those rather than making new ones. Karola had begun making new ones but the wire netting isn’t what she’s used to – too tall, the holes are too big – so we stopped that and Mark can make the temporary large tree guards permanent next week.

Mark continued emptying the farm shed lean-to – there really is a lot of dry eucalypt firewood suitable for the cottage wood burner stacked in there at present.

Oak Avenue Weather:8℃—21℃ 2.4mm rain [76.950] TdT TdO eggs=2 Mark=4

Last night Karola invited David Greig over here this morning for a chat and look around. He duely came and after coffee and ginger-nuts I took him around the estate.

Paul the builder came after lunch and we went through the contract and signed it. We have a couple of ’to-do’s from that.

• I need to chase up getting a civil engineer to certify the pile holes are suitable given the terrain
• I should alert Elizabeth Pishief that we will need her services as archaeologist soon
• Ditto the sprinkler man and security man, they need to be told we have started work
• Karola & I need to take everything left in the sun room and kitchen out of the way of demolition works starting soon

Paul has pre-ordered timber arriving on Tuesday – Tuesday is the agreed start date for the building works.

Paul will get electrician to move the homestead mains box to come from under the stairs, not into the old kitchen – that way we can maintain electricity in the homestead all except for the areas directly affected by the building works.

Strong threat of rain today so Mark didn’t come although the rain held off until early evening.

Advice from accountant today about what our tax responsibility is for Mark and, potentially, Debbie.

In regard to the possibility of you paying someone to help with domestic duties, since those services would not be provided in relation to your taxable activity, you would not be considered an employer. People who provide domestic services of that type are known as IR56 taxpayers and responsible for paying their own tax, to the IRD, on the payments they receive. So that would not be your responsibility. Our HR expert believes that a verbal contract would be accepted as common practice for those types of services and so no written contract would be necessary.

Oak Avenue Weather:1℃—18℃ no rain [77.304] TdT TdO eggs=2 Mark=0