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Monthly Archives: October 2021
Humid But No Rain
Quiet day. Picked lemons and grapefruit off our trees. Arranged with Bridget for her to visit in a couple of weeks time to help plan the interiors of the new bathrooms and laundry etc – a first stab at electrics (lights and points) and appliances and so on.
My Special Manuka In Flower
Contented Chooks
Oak Avenue Weather:12.6℃—24.0℃ no rain [77.430] TdT TdO eggs=2
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Henare And His Bees
Quite cold this morning, breath came out as mist when I went to get the paper at the 133 gateway. Out on the stop bank in the afternoon it was a glorious sunny day with a gentle cool breeze. Ideal. Quite a lot of rain yesterday and overnight.
Mid morning Paul and roofing team came as planned, the roofers could only come at the weekend. Discussed not only roofing the new verandah and the new two-storey extension but the balcony and east verandah roofs too. In order to comply with modern building code the flashing has to be done very differently; also the current support for the two old roofs are minimal so we’ll need to have 2 – 3 more rafters per roof and three purlins running lengthwise; Karola is OK with that and as long as the new roofing iron matches the concave design of the originals we anticipate no issue from Heritage NZ.
Karola and I took a look around the new development, the first time Karola has actually been inside the new kitchen and laundry areas.
Late afternoon Henare called in to feed his bees and have a chat. It later transpired that he was looking for new premeses for more hives and so we, perhaps unwisely, said he could put a palette (four hives) in the stump dump, next to the five swamp cypres trees north of the homestead, and in the corner where I grew runner beans.
Oak Avenue Weather:7.2℃—23.8℃ 0.2mm rain [77.279] TdT TdO eggs=4
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Good Dollop Of Rain And A Power Cut
Power cut, as expected, from 9:00am til around 3:30pm. Again we saw how dependent we are on electricity. I was having a lie in then suddenly, with 20 minutes to spare, realised the imminence of cut so at breakneck speed cooked myself three eggs plus two pieces of toast and mug of coffee, filled up a big saucepan with water, flushed the loos – and then the power went off. Luckily Karola was already breakfasted.
We, Bangle included, went in to Hastings for Karola’s hair appointment, ice-creams on the way home. Mild temperatures along with the rain that was quite steady and heavy for much of the night and today. The Zoe has a fault in that when the headlights are on most of the dashboard lights are off. Not indicators and radio but the speedo and all the fancy graphics on the display immediately under the steering wheel were off. Usually they are on all the time when there’s someone in the car, whether or not the headlights are on.
No Mark today, too much rain and power cut and we are occupied all day anyway.
Blue Band came off the nest and seemed to want to get out of her coop at lunchtime. Thinking that maybe she’d thrown in the towel re sitting I let her out but a couple of hours later she went back to the nest, so we’ll have to wait and see. I’ll continue to shut her in overnight otherwise she’d perhaps be easy prey for a cat or possum.
Ruth came as planned at 2:00pm an we had a long chat about the new western verandah.
What we wanted, back in 2018, was a wide verandah along the length of the west wall with weather protection at the north and south ends. Because of Heritage NZ’s requirement that such a verandah had to match exactly the dimensions of the existing verandahs we could not build the wide verandah we wanted. Our compromise was to re-build the old sun porch and use that to argue we could have a wider verandah at least for the extent of the sun porch, reducing from 10’ to 7’ for the southern half.
What I hadn’t picked up on is that in reproducing the hexagonal sun porch that Karola’s dad got made in the 1960s we had specified a space that was enclosed (had doors) with a solid floor and qualified as a room not a verandah. That being so the rebuild had to meet all the regulations for an internal house room which meant there were bracing and structural strength considerations. That meant the exposed weatherboard of the old sun porch needed to be covered with GIB and the walls needed to be lined and insulated. Also some of the exterior walls needed to be solid wood, could not be windows.
Ruth’s challenge is to change the design enough to have it qualify as outside space, a verandah with some weather protection at the northern end and a wider verandah at least for the protected area. The plan is for Ruth to draw up the changes then, after we’ve taken a look, for Ruth to contact Chris Cochran and see whether he thinks it seems reasonable from a heritage point of view. Armed with a memo from him we hope then to contact Heritage NZ and get their agreement after which getting council agreement to a variation of plan should be straightforward. Fingers crossed.
Our photos of family and friends at Karamu over the years have been occasional ones posed on the old front steps but mostly of people sitting round a table in the old sun porch, chatting (or bottle feeding lambs, I do recall). So that extra width and some weather protection has proven very useful over the decades.
Oak Avenue Weather:11.2℃—19.9℃ 21.6mm rain [77.179] TdT eggs=3 Mark=0
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Eye Tests
Karola and I watched the recording of Roger Hughes’ funeral, an mp4 file run on my iPad and mirrored on one of the cottage large TVs. It was a humanist service, interesting to see how that was managed – not at all proselytising and inclusive of other persuasions. It was a quiet, respectful affair; I’m glad we watched it.
Mark came and it was dry enough, after night drizzle, for him to continue spraying in the One Acre.
Later he did more mowing around the cottage.
I had two more eye pressure tests today, following the one late afternoon yesterday. One was at 1:00pm, the other at 4:00pm. All three tests had very similar results and in the consultation following the third test Dr John and I looked for any trend over the many years we’ve been tracking my glaucoma. The eye pressures have dropped a little since medication started a few years ago (good) and for the last couple of years has been remarkably stable. And the eye damage as recorded by photographs of the back of the eye has been declining very gradually over time – so no drastic changes needed yet. Sighs of relief from me and Karola, and Bangle.
After the first drive to Royston today we indulged in ice cream and iced coffee from Rush Munro; after the late afternoon one we bought fish and chips from TakiTimu for the evening meal. I feel I should admit that when Karola has a single cone of Feijoa ice-cream I have become used to what they call an iced coffee: freshly brewed coffee with a scoop of chocolate ice-cream, boysenberry juice liberally applied and topped with a mound of whipped cream. Not particularly sugar-free nor low-cal.
Spoke to Paul a few times during the day including a good conversation with Tony from “Continuous Spouting” about how the gutters should run so that most water is directed into the rainwater tanks and the rest joins the large stormwater concrete pipe which begins as the rainwater tank overflow and ends up in the ha-ha.
Neither I nor Karola had noticed the detailed plans for the enclosed verandah on the north end of the west wall of the homestead. Somehow the plans had specified the enclosed verandah, modelled on Karola’s dad’s extension in 1960s, as a room built to internal room standards. This is not what we want, all we requested was a section of the verandah to be a metre wider than the existing verandahs (10’ rather than 7’) and for it to have glassed in protection from the weather. Currently the specs include insulated walls with GIB board for bracing and too much of the exterior wall cannot be glass because of the bracing requirements. Probably we should not have specified doors on either end too as this made it an enclosed living area which has higher standards to ensure the safe exit for people trapped there in an emergency.
So I don’t know how this is going to turn out; Ruth is coming to see us tomorrow afternoon. It may mean opening up dialogue with Heritage NZ once again.
Happy, Well Fed Bundles Of Fun – Sheltering From Light Drizzle
Oak Avenue Weather:14.8℃—18.4℃ 1.6mm rain [76.717] TdT TdO eggs=2 Mark=4
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First Of Three Eye Appointments, Today & Tomorrow
I emptied the big trailer of stuff I’m throwing away into the skip and then made another load of wood offcuts that I’ve squirrelled away over the years, most of it small lengths of which I have far too many. Moved the Cravaggi mulcher out of the garage so that we can more easily sweep up the dust and leaves.
Showed Paul the sprinkler plan I received by email last night indicating where “sprinkler man” Paul Weerden needs access beneath the upstairs floor to install sprinklers.
Ruth happened to drop in, being in the area, and appraised the progress; she says it’s all shaping up nicely.
Later Karola & I drove into town so I could get more of the red spray dye which helps indicate where you’ve sprayed and where not. We treated ourselves to Rush Munro as it was a hot 28℃ this afternoon.
Mark arrived while we were away and continued spraying the One Acre with the grass-inhibiting spray; it’s a slow process.
Blue Band came off her nest to drink and eat this afternoon but went back to the nest shortly afterwards.
Karola spent the hottest part of the day sweeping up dust in the homestead garage; once the dust is gone I can reinstate the piles of bits and bobs back on the shelving.
Karola and I, but not Bangle, toddled off to my 16:00 appointment with the eye doctor, ophthalmologist Dr John Beaumont. To my surprise, it’s never happened before, he saw us immediately and I was out of there by 16:15. Admittedly it was only a simple eye pressure test but I’ve never been seen so promptly and Dr John seemed in a particularly good mood.
Oak Avenue Weather:12.7℃—28.6℃ 0.6mm rain [77.041] TdT eggs=4 Mark=4
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Shopping Day Again, And Ben Home From Maud Island
Mark had his second vaccination shot today so was delayed by 90 minutes in getting here.
Knowing this we didn’t hurry the shopping, getting back laden with shopping, coffees, and cakes around 12:30pm.
Was pleased to see Blue Band venture off her nest for a drink.
Now that Karl and Wendy have hung up their shearing shoes we need to find a new shearer for karola’s sheep. I called Marcus Ormond and will call him again tomorrow when he expects to have not one, but two names for shearers who concentrate on small flocks like ours and do a good job.
Karola and I continued with the big homestead garage clean-up. This is of course only for the three-bay car garage, not the integral store room nor Karola’s office. The detritus of two decades of a “might as well keep it” policy has meant sorting through a great deal of stuff, now obviously just junk. The serendipitous delay in taking away the skip ordered for the building work, and the oversized skip, have spurred me on.
Meanwhile Mark began the long job of spraying the One Acre to kill the grasses while leaving the other plants alone – lucerne, plantain, red clover but also white clover and a few other species, most notably and sadly we will be encouraging the Californian thistles. Each knapsack sprayer load of ten litres only covers 50 square metres so it’s going to be a long job.
Ben is safely home in Seatoun after his nocturnal few days on Maud Island with his team doing the annual Maud Island frog census.
Ben’s Maud Island Frog Census Team – Ben Second From Left
Ben Processing The Next Frog Which Waits Patiently On The Scales
Homestead Garage – Stuff To Keep
More Stuff To Keep
Second Load Of Discarded Junk
Oak Avenue Weather:13.0℃—24.3℃ no rain [77.611] TdO eggs=2 Mark=4
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Kirsty Comes For Supper
More clearing out of the homestead garage with help from Karola.
Late afternoon Kirsty rang and we arranged to meet here for afternoon tea. Kirsty has been staying in Te Awanga and attending her brother’s 80th birthday. We caught up on the news and found that Bruce has had an accident while chainsawing a heavy branch; not life threatening thank goodness but very shocking and some of the branch hit his face, knocking him to the ground. He’s had to have four front teeth removed.
We persuaded Kirsty to stay for supper and then walk round the orchard with Bangle – or was it the other way round.
Five eggs today which I put under Blue Band so she’s now sitting on ten eggs.
Oak Avenue Weather:12℃—26℃ no rain [77.498] TdT TdO eggs=5 Mark=0
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Don’t Skip The Skip
Off to a good start this morning, stop bank done by 11:00am and then off to New World for a few extra comestibles to tide us over the four-day long weekend. Went into New World to get a lettuce and some tomatoes, came out with a bag groaning with extras – it happens every time.
In the afternoon I began a long-anticipated project, to do some sort of clean up of the homestead garage. The idea being that while there’s a large builders skip just sitting here and it’s barely half full, why not grit my teeth and throw some stuff away, stuff that really isn’t going to be of any use to us over the next ten or twenty years and not to anyone else either.
Lexi sent a couple of very short videos of her Blue Machine, now finished, in motion. The one from which the still frame below was taken has Lexi herself as driver, the other has Bridget at the helm. The team was I think six girls from Lexi’s school, Samuel Marsden Collegiate School.
Gill rang. Ben is still on Maud Island in the South Island for another 24 hours, doing his New Zealand frog census with a team of research students from Victoria, an annual event. Hearing that a man had tested positive for Covid in Blenheim yesterday we wait with some apprehension for his safe return. He and colleagues are driving back together in Ben’s car and getting the Picton Ferry back to Wellington. Cross fingers that the border remains open at least until he gets back.
Gill and I had an animated conversation about power drills which I think helped her with her steps project. After water blasting and the addition of four pieces of angle iron I thought the steps looked more secure and much fresher.
Gill spent the morning maintaining the steps down from Seatoun Heights Road to their house, strengthening the top step and water blasting, achieving that almost “as new” look, below.
Two more eggs today so I popped them under Blue Band who has settled into her coop, doesn’t seem to have moved off her nest, and is now incubating five eggs. She hasn’t touched her food and it doesn’t look as if she’s touched her water either so I’m not sure how that will work over the next 20 days or so, incubation period is, allegedly, 21 days. I’ll pop a few more eggs under her in the next day or two.
Granddaughter Lexi’s School Project – Building A Mean Machine
Team Marsden’s EVOLOCITY Entrant – Early Days With Lexi In Cockpit
The Marsden Team’s “Blue Machine” Won Them Prizes (Lexi On Left)
… Not Least The “Best In Show” – Mostly Lexi’s Work
Gill’s Roadside Steps Maintenance – Seatoun Heights Road
Oak Avenue Weather:13℃—21℃ no rain [77.475] TdT TdO eggs=2
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Broody Now Sitting On Real Eggs
Spent much of the middle of the day trying to reconnect broken wires in the electric cable for the lights and indicators of the big trailer. The cable had broken in two places near the hitch, probably through abrasion with the safety chain. Three wires were broken and the other two seemed OK. I soldered the broken wires together again and wrapped all in lots of insulating tape. Tested the cable using the Subaru and all except the right indicator are now working although the mends certainly lack elegance and I should re-do it and make the right indicator work.
Soldering small wires is at the limit of what I can do – eyesight and steady hands are what’s needed.
Late afternoon I collected three eggs from the chook house and used them to replace the four rubber eggs that Blue Band is currently sitting on in her new broody coop.
Oak Avenue Weather:11℃—17℃ no rain [77.915] TdT TdO eggs=3
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Broody Chook “Blue Band” Relocated
Moved the broody chook coop onto the lawn outside the cottage kitchen window facing south, away from the prevailing westerly and shielded from the hot afternoon sun by a Camellia.
Then decided to see if I could mend the big trailer’s broken electric cable and replace the socket on the Landrover. One fo the two lugs on the plastic socket fitting has broken, as in the photo below, so it’ll be a ten minute job to switch for a new socket I thought.
Except that the middle white wire just won’t fit in the corresponding connector on the new socket, it must be a shade smaller. Eventually after wasting much time attempting to push it into the connector I lopped a bit off each side of the spade terminal and that fixed it. Wired up the socket plug and tried it on one of the small trailers, all the lights that should light up did, and none of the ones that shouldn’t.
So only thing left to do was to re-bolt the socket onto the Landrover undercarriage using the old bolts and their nylon lock nuts. Except that the new socket plug’s tab holes are just a smidgennarrower and the bolts won’t fit so I drilled the tab holes a little larger hoping that I wouldn’t weaken the tabs too much in the process. Then I found that the tabs themselves are a smidgen wider apart so I had to drill out the holes in the metal back plate until the bolts just squeezed in.
What should have been a ten minute job took much of the afternoon.
Evidence Of The Wiring Order
New Trailer Electrical Socket Installed On Landrover
Broody Blue-Band Black Orpington On Her New Nest
Outside The Cottage Kitchen Window
Oak Avenue Weather:8℃—16℃ no rain [77.518] TdT TdO eggs=2 Mark=0
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Broody Chook Coop Finished
The Subaru car keys came back today – the old spare and the newly minted spare. Still no sign of the original although we know it must be round here somewhere.
Mark completed the broody chook coop today, just before the long four-day weekend. My only reservation about the coop is that, as with so much of what I design/build, it is thoroughly over-engineered and weighs a ton(ne).
As we have a surplus of eggs we took two dozen to the food bank this afternoon. As it’s Charlotte’s birthday tomorrow Karola bought her a big bouquet of flowers and we took them round and had afternoon tea with them in Havelock North.
Picked up the underlay blanket that used to be on the settee, protecting it from Bangle. It had been at the dry-cleaners for over a week and they washed and washed it to get it clean. It’s so sparkling white now we can’t possibly use it as a mere dog protection cover.
Broody Chook Coop – Prêt-à-Porter
Oak Avenue Weather:11℃—16℃ no rain [77.660] TdT TdO eggs=3 Mark=4
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Mandatory 75-Years-Old Driving License Renewal
Overslept and luckily Karola woke me just in time to dress and rush off to the Health Centre in Hastings for my medical for my 75-years mandatory driving license renewal. I have Dr Beaumont’s eye report, I filled in the application form last night, so all I need is my GP’s medical report.
Janine (practice nurse) did the cognitive test and some other basic measurements. I am most irritated that I did not get the memory test completely correct. I was read ten simple words then asked to repeat them – and again ten minutes later. Writing a few numbers expressed as numerals in words was trivial; naming 30 items found in a supermarket also not very testing. But the darn word memory test tripped me up. I just didn’t have the motivation or energy to string them together in a narrative as anyone half awake would do. Quite annoying. Then on to GP Richard Jamieson fo a surprisingly thorough test of flexibility and coordination – all good there too.
As Richard suggested we went to the local “Vehicle Testing NZ” to get the license issued, he observed that the AA office queues were slower and longer. Only hiccup was that I want to retain my truck license as well as car – I’ve had it since I was 17 or so and you never know when it might come in handy. But Dr Beaumont, ophthalmologist, had indicated while I didn’t need glasses for the car and motorbike I did for the truck license. GP Richard said that the actual eye test results for both car and truck were adequate for driving without lenses. VTNZ woman called HQ in Wellington and they discussed and apparently the GP’s data trumped the ophthalmologists so they have licensed me for all vehicle classes without glasses.
The weather gradually worsened and by lunchtime it was cold with a sharp wind making it feel even colder. The Landrover refused to start again – it seems to object when it’s cold and humid. I plied it with the ether from a spray can, an easy-start concoction from Repco. It still didn’t start despite several quite long squirts into the air intake and I was just about to give up when it burst into life.
Mid afternoon a truck bearing more scaffolding arrived and the gang assembled an extra storey so that Paul and Matt can work on the new two-storey lean-to roof.
Mark completed mowing the homestead lawn and then continued with the broody chook coop.
Karola and I have been submitting weekly flu data to a government sponsored national tracking site for several years and today they gave us this update:
Your participation has been significant during the COVID-19 pandemic. We hope the following summary provides some interesting insights from our data for 2021:
- You have contributed to over 1.7 million surveys
- Influenza-like illness remains low, but similar to 2020
- 89.8% of participants reported receiving their first dose of a COVID-19 vaccination, and over 75.1% reported receiving their second dose
- 59.9% of participants reported receiving an influenza vaccine
- On average per week, 30.5% of participants with fever and cough reported being tested for COVID-19
- Participants under 5 years of age have the highest rates of influenza-like illness
Gill’s Prolific Red Manuka In Seatoun, Wellington
Our Native Manuka – Also A-Buzz With Bees
Another Storey Of Scaffolding Goes Up
The Broody Chook Coop Takes Shape
Homestead Lawn Mown
Oak Avenue Weather:10℃—14℃ no rain [77.415] TdT TdO eggs=3 Mark=4
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Grillo Front Wheel Puncture
So soon, it’s shopping day again but, in addition, Bangle has a grooming session this morning. We set off after breakfast and dropped Bangle at Emma’s Grooming Salon, about 15 minutes away, and then returned home to get ready for the weekly shopping expedition.
Paul Weerden & Michelle arrived early and got stuck into measuring up and exploring underfloor; Michelle installed lots of the pipework including a pipe for a sprinkler in the back porch which wasn’t on the early plans given to Paul the sprinkler man when he and Michelle did the upstairs a few years ago.
Builder Paul cut a channel in the east wall of the Junk room – soon to be part of the new kitchen and the sprinkler main runs up inside that channel to the height of the first floor. It then goes directly across to the other end of the Junk room and through the wall into the ceiling cavity of the new laundry. Spurs lead off that main pipe for sprinklers in the new library, at the bottom of the stairs, at either end of the living room, and in the hall by the cupboard under the stairs.
The channel will be useful for getting the domestic water supply to the upper floor and electricity to the kitchen; the boards will be replaced later and the entire wall then gibbed over.
Meanwhile builder Paul and Matt erected the walls on the upper floor for the two new bathrooms.
Mid morning Karola and I set off to do the shopping:
- VTNZ for those transparent stickers you use to glue the registration label to trailers and tractors
- Farmlands for advice and weed killer to kill grasses but not clover nor lucerne. There are several choices and I left with enough to blast a whole hectare, the smallest quantity on offer although the One Acres is only … one acre, so its rather more than I need.
- Unichen pharmacy to put in a partial prescription – they ran out of one of the eye drops initially
- PaperPlus, for the post office therein, to post a book to Chris More for his birthday next week
- Cornucopia for my weekly GF bread order
- New World for the weeks food
By then it was time to pick up Bangle so we trundled over to Emma;s salon and picked up our clean, silky furred corgi. Back into Hastings:
- Mitre-10 for Metalex and Turps to replace what I’d used on the broody coop, and for some small galvanised screws, oh and for another six Silver Beet seedlings in a vain attempt to get it growing in one of the raised beds – vain attempt because it’s almost certainly going to be eaten by chooks or pigeons or doves or slugs, or ….
- BNZ for a cash top-up
- Rush Munro on the way home
Mark came mid day, before we got back, but reported via TXT that one of the Grillo’s front tyres was flat – so he continued the mowing with the Kioti tractor – which doesn’t pick the grass up.
Mark and I tried to fix the flat tyre. It can happen that the tyre will go flat just because it has slowly lost air over the weeks until there’s insufficient pressure to keep the seal between tyre and beading on the rim. We assumed that was the case. Fluffed around trying to jack up the Grillo, there not being any obvious jack points. We finally got the flat tyre mostly off the ground and, using the air compressor, pumped it up. So far so good. I left Mark to check and pump up all the Grillo tyres to their recommended pressures while I unloaded the shopping. Mark then came and reported that the reason for the flat tyre was a 50mm large roofing nail driven deep into the tyre.
Stupidly, without moving the Grillo to a more convenient place, and against the warning from Mark, I wiggled the embedded nail and it slid easily out of the tyre which promptly deflated again.
I called Craig at Outdoor Power and asked him what we should do, obviously the tubeless tyre was not self-healing. raig suggested a thread mend of the puncture as it was a simple hole, not a tear. This involves stuffing some sticky string into the opening, plugging the hole. Craig offered to lend us his applicator kit so we’d only need to pay for the piece of special string. So off went Mark to Outdoor Power in Karamu road to pick up the kit and get a lesson in how to apply it.
Karola, meanwhile, was pining for her favourite salad dressing, “Paul Newman’s Ranch Dressing”, all profits to charity. I rang around but Hastings CountDown had run out as had New World in Hastings and Green Meadows. Struck it lucky with New World in Havelock North so asked them to put three bottles aside and off we went again to Havelock North via Stortford Lodge and Hastings. On the way I picked up my prescription from the chemist in Stortford Lodge; on the way back we picked up coffees at BP’s Wild Bean Cafe in Stortford Lodge.
As dusk fell I planted the Silver Beet seedlings, never a dull Tuesday here.
Wall Frames Installed Upstairs
Channel For Utilities Up Eastern Wall Of Junk Room
Oak Avenue Weather:8℃—24℃ no rain [77.843] TdT TdO eggs=3 Mark=4
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Paul Weerden & Michelle – Sprinkler Guys
Builder Paul and his son Matt laid the upstairs underfloor for the two new upstairs bathrooms.
Mark began mowing the homestead lawn; he has a bit more to do tomorrow assuming it’s fine again.
Meticulous Maids came late morning while we were out down at the stop bank. Luckily I left the door unlocked.
Paul Weerden (HomeSafe) and his assistant Michelle called in today without warning because they had another job in the area and got a border pass to come out from Hamilton to Hastings. We discussed how best to get the pipework in under the upstairs floor. Once we decided to put a false ceiling in the new kitchen it all became pretty straightforward. That’ll also make the work for plumber and electrician much easier too. Plan is to have a ceiling mounted at the same height as the laundry and cloakroom, exactly three metres off the floor, and make it of the same grooved plywood that we have in the cottage kitchen and dining room. Paul & Michelle started the work today and will come again tomorrow and Wednesday.
Downstairs From New Bathroom To Laundry With Shower/Loo At This End
Underfloor Laid For Upstairs Pair Of Bathrooms
Cottage & Farm Shed From The Scaffolding
Mark Almost Finished Mowing The Homestead Lawn
Oak Avenue Weather:10℃—26℃ no rain [77.717] TdT TdO eggs=2 Mark=4
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No Show For The Guthrie-Smith Arboretum
We were expecting to go for a day visit with the Tree Croppers people up to lake Tutira where the Guthrie-Smith arboretum is, 90 hectares with over 20,000 trees. Chris Ryan, also a Tree Cropper and IDS member like Karola, is a famous local plantsman and propagator fo trees. He spends his retirement days up at the arboretum and has done an amazing amount of planting up there. Chris was to be our guide for the day but when we got up this morning it was so cold and overcast Karola decided not to go. That the heat pump had again not restarted after switching to its daytime temperature target at 4:30am did not help.
I painted the broody chook coop with Metalex, a wood preservative, using three tins of the stuff.
Oak Avenue Weather:11℃—19℃ no rain [77.669] TdT TdO eggs=2
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Gill & Ben Cracked It
Heat pump was OK until it was supposed to change shift, move to a schedule with a target 23℃ for the day, beginning at 4:30am. It did not and just stopped. I checked and re-checked the schedule settings and set it going again by closing it down completely and restarting it. It ran alright for the rest of the day and switched to the night-time temperature target of 17℃ at 8:30pm.
I tidied up the 133 gateway where Mark had cut some of the Acanthus in the hope of providing a wider target area for the newspaper delivery person – they’re forever throwing it into the ditch or amongst the Acanthus. I carted the cut Acanthus off to the bund.
Still puzzled about the small sea-slug looking bodies attached to the sides of the bath/pond. Gill and Ben cracked it – they’re clumps of water snail’s eggs, not some deadly alien invader out to ruin our waterways.
Talked to the English family on WhatsApp and found that Dave has had a keyhole operation on a knee to remove some torn ligaments – how he tore them I did not enquire. When Dave got in touch he was out viewing a potential replacement for his big white audi muscle car, the one he won in a raffle for £9. He liked what he saw and is now the proud possessor an F-type Jaguar sports car. Anna, like her mother, is profoundly indifferent.
Snail Eggs
Dave’s New Jaguar – Replacing The White Audi Muscle Car
Oak Avenue Weather:3℃—20℃ no rain [77.896] TdT TdO eggs=4
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Scaffolding
Scaffolding arrived and was put up today so that the top floor of the extension can be built.
Mark continued with the broody hen coop.
Karola and I had hair appointments, also I got eye drop prescriptions, and we treated ourselves yet again to Rush Munro ice-creams. I also picked up a corrected form from the ophthalmologist so that I can get a new driving license soon.
Looking South Along The West Wall
Looking At The West Wall
Looking North-East Showing The Back Wall and Back Porch
Oak Avenue Weather:2℃—18℃ no rain [77.682] TdT TdO eggs=3 Mark=4
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Seeing Well Enough To Drive
Very windy again this morning and damp but sunny after rain in the night. The excitement of the morning was Karola getting very agitated because the heat pump had gone off and it was pretty cold. I rose earlier than hoped and saw that my work of yesterday evening, in creating a timing schedule for the heat pump, was working. Initially I’ve set it to aim for 24℃ during the day and 18℃ overnight.
Clearly I’d upset it when experimenting with the controls last night as the controller showed heat pump turned off and the backup electrical element was heating the HWC. Called Grayson who had me reset the heat pump by turning off the power to it and the HWC for four minutes then turning it back on again. I did that and still, after 20 minutes, while the backup element was turned off the heat pump hadn’t kicked in. Finally after almost an hour, or so it seemed, the heat pump started up and it’s been keeping us warm all day. We’ll see what happens overnight tonight – it’s already stepped down to the night temperature target of 18℃ but the heat pump won’t come on until the house temperature drops below that.
Paul slept on his problem with the bracing and decided that rather than involving a civil engineer he’d just slice through some of the pre-cut frames and make it exactly as Ruth had specified. The problem was that in order to get approval for the design the lower floor ceiling must be no more than three metres from the floor. Not only that but the walls must have a continuous top plate at ceiling level so that the sheets of GIB, when screwed to this continuous top plate, provide the bracing support needed to pass inspection. So Paul and Matt sawed through the pre-cut walls and inserted the new top plate, in-filling above it so that the upper floor was back at its right height. Whew, sigh of relief, everyone’s happy again. Matt also got most of the back porch roof timbers laid as per the photo below.
Mark continued working on the broody chook run while Karola & I went to my ophthalmologist appointment. To our delight I will still be able to drive at least for the next five years. Like Karola, at or before my 75th birthday I need to get a new driving license which involves the eye certificate, a medical, and a visit to the AA to get the license issued.
I saw the lamb #110 with a broken leg today and he seems to be putting some weight on it as he hobbles around which is good news. However we won’t really know until I take off the splint in three weeks time.
Going round the sheep I went next to the Long Acre fence near the Douglas Fir only to be attacked by multiple pukekos. There were at least six and more likely nine pukekos guarding a communal nesting place. All the pukekos were screaming their heads off and making commotion to try and distract me. And as I got closer to their spot three actually attacked me, flying at ground level, squawking and flapping. A couple brushed me with their wings as they circled abck for another run, one actually grabbed my jersey at the back and hung on their for a few seconds. Very aggressive, very brave.
Back Porch – Roomy, Lots Of Storage Space, And Gets The Evening Sun
Oak Avenue Weather:2℃—15℃ no rain [77.830] TdT TdO eggs=3 Mark=4
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Architect Ruth Makes An Inspection
Ruth came round and inspected the construction work. A few wrinkles and puzzles but all ended amicably although we do have to get a civil engineer to help with some issues over bracing; he’s expected tomorrow so no big hold up. Ruth said the photo I sent her yesterday prompted the visit which has allowed a couple of corrections before they’ve become big problems so that was fortunate.
Mark continued with building the broody coop.
Karola, Bangle, and I went down to the stop bank but it was very gusty and the wind was cold so we just walked down under the expressway bridge and east towards Pakowhai Country Park, keeping below the level of the stop bank and hence out of the wind. It was a short walk. When we returned to the Landrover we spied a lamb that had got out of his paddock and onto the verge.
As we were leaving we saw the shepherd who moves his ewes and lambs around from paddock to paddock, including the big field of lucerne that I envy. We let him know and talked about his lucerne paddock. I thought he’d had four or maybe five cuts off it for silage but he said no, seven, as well as grazing his ewes and lambs on it for a couple of weeks.
Continued on into Hastings to get some bits for the broody coop and to get the items I missed on Tuesday. Amazing that I can write things down on my list and still fail to get them on the day. Mitre-10 for some netting with a small enough hole that the chicks will be kept in and rats out. Also some screws and Metalex wood preservative. At CountDown I got some Beyond Meat patties, gingernuts and cream crackers for Karola, and some white sugar cubes for when Henare or other sugar lovers come for a cuppa.
Heat pump is keeping us warm inside day and night.
Oak Avenue Weather:7℃—16℃ no rain [77.604] TdT TdO eggs=2 Mark=4
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The Last Of James Bond With Daniel Craig
The first and major load of pre-cut timber for the homestead additions & alterations arrived this morning comprising both floors of the extension, the laundry and new bathroom downstairs and the two bathrooms upstairs.
Mark first mowed under the big oak then began on the coop for a broody hen, an A-frame little nesting box and short run.
In the evening I managed to catch White-Band in the hen house and slip on a replacement white leg ring.
As arranged, Karola and I went to the cinema with Peter and Charlotte, to the final James Bond movie. Very subtle, nuanced, with a complex plot – yeah, right! Afterwards we went for an Indian supper, this time at the Great Chilli in Havelock North, instead of our usual choice with Peter and Charlotte, Namaskar in Joll Street.
The Pre-Cut Arrives
… And Is Nailed And Bolted Into Place
Oak Avenue Weather:2℃—18℃ 1.9mm rain [77.491] TdO eggs=3 Mark=4
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Henare And Cousin Visit His Bees
Tried to read the instructions for controlling our new heat pump but the print is so small that, even using Karola’s magnifying plastic sheet, I could not read it. So I scanned in the 15 pages and printed them out after blowing them up from A5 to A4. Now, with glasses, I can read them.
Grayson showed no signs of popping in to remove the electric elements from the old HWC so I attempted to remove them myself. Unfortunately their removal needsd a special tool so I had to wait until Adam came round to finish putting up the heat pump controller next to the bedroom door from the living room – he had the tool.
Trailer wiring has frayed and broken so the lights no longer work. It took me and Mark 30 minutes or so to come to that conclusion. But I drove the Landrover, pulling the trailer with the HWC in it, down to Hawkes Bay Scrap Meta where we got the princely sum of $25 for our efforts. As it is nearby I dropped in at Gagan’s for more asparagus and some cream as we are out of both.l
Mark started his day by mowing the cottage lawn and curtilage; then he helped get the HWC to the scrap yard and finally we searched out some planks for the broody chook coop which I hope to begin building tomorrow.
Henare and a cousin called in as part of checking up on Henare’s four hives. Unsurprisingly Henare enjoyed a coffee and regaled us with his continuing saga to get his other hip replaced.
Stop Bank View – Cropping
Local Scrap Metal Yard
Dave in Ealing – Helping With The Kitchen Redesign
Anna’s Kitchen – Awaiting The New Redesign
Oak Avenue Weather:11℃—22℃ 0.4mm rain [77.282] TdT TdO eggs=3 Mark=4
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Too Much Nitrogen
Heat pump is doing it’s job, heating both water and the radiators. Apparently heat pumps are known to be noisy, pumping out 75 decibels of fan noise. This one which, extolls it’s virtue as a quiet heat pump, makes barely a whisper at 60 decibels. When I say “whisper” I mean it is much quieter than the spray machines in the orchard and the frost windmills, but I’d hardly call it quiet – merely “less noisy”.
In just a couple of sunny days the bath/pond has become choked with filamentous green algae, due to excess nutrients in the water according to Ben. I imported it with the oxygen weed and can only hope it settles down once the nutrient levels have dropped and after a few more harvesting actions (see below).
Algal Group: Chlorophyta
Description:
Filamentous green algae range in color, texture and habitat. They may be yellowish, dark green or bright “grass” green. They can turn white when they dry out while some filaments are thin and slippery, that others are coarse and dense. They start out as individual cells that attach to a rock or other hard surface. As they grow, some form dense clumps on rocks and wood. Other filamentous greens form long, hair-like strands that wave about in the currents or form cottony masses that float on the surface.
Habitat:
While most filamentous greens grow in fresh water, a few can be found in estuarine and marine environments. They can be found in fast moving streams and rivers or in the still waters of lakes and ponds. Filamentous greens can be found throughout the year but are most common in ponds and lakes during summer.
Significance:
Filamentous greens are a natural part of aquatic environments and provide food and shelter for fish and aquatic insects.
They can become a nuisance when large mats cover ponds and shorelines or clog ditches. Nuisance growths are often associated with elevated nutrient conditions such as those commonly found in golf courses and agriculture drainage ditches. Other problems associated with filamentous greens are musty, earthy, fishy or septic odors that are especially noticeable when mats die off and collect along a shoreline.
Switched the mini-forks from the old MF35 tractor to the Kioti and then lifted the old HWC off the lawn and slid it into the big trailer. Let Grayson know that I was planning to take it to the scrap metal merchant on Monday and he promptly replied saying he’d like to salvage the electric elements before I did that.
The New Heat Pump – Installed And In Action
Wrestling The Old HWC Onto The Trailer
Filamentous Green Algae (Spirogyra)
Hives Of Pollinator Bees In Karola’s Orchard
Oak Avenue Weather:2℃—19℃ no rain [77.242] TdT TdO eggs=5
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Bloomin’ Apples
Grayson from Peak Plumbing decided against waiting until Monday for completing the installation of our new heat pump and hot water cylinder and spent much of the day here. When he left the system was all switched on and heating was from the heat pump, not the backup electric element. There’s still the controller and thermostat to put in the wall, above the light switch leading to the bedroom, but all the necessary wiring under the house is done. And Grayson needs to come back later this week to check all the pipework etc is fine and to lag many of the pipes.
Lots of dogs, and their owners, down on the stop bank cycle track today – the glorious weather has brought them out in packs.
Karola’s Orchard – Galaxy Apples In Bloom
South From The Stop Bank – Looking Left
… And Right
Oak Avenue Weather:7℃—21℃ no rain [77.726] TdT TdO eggs=5
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Hot, Humid, With Showers
Paul came for a while, it rained and he left, the sun came out and he returned. He’s still working on the sub-floor of the new sun porch. A large skip came today, ordered by Paul, to be collected on Monday. Paul tidied up the southern approach to the house, putting rubbish in the skip. In the afternoon Mark did the same for the detritus from demolishing the old sun room, taking out all reusable lengths of rimu and dumping the rest in the skip.
Grayson came along with electrician Adam and apprentice Ben – oh and Blue Heeler puppy Loki. I think it was more complicated to set the system up than Grayson initially expected – his estimate of two days has stretched out to three and there’s still more to do, however we do have hot water again, from the new 220 litre cylinder, heated for now by the 2000 watt fall-back electrical heating element. Grayson expects to return on Monday.
We nipped down to Gagan’s green grocers after our walk/cycle on the stop bank and got some fresh asparagus, another lettuce, tomatoes, and some oranges. I am now on my summer schedules – shorts instead of trousers and salads of lettuce and tomato as the main course vegetable in the evenings.
Gill contributes from 66 Seatoun Heights Road in Wellington . . .
Late evening photo – pear and quince in full blossom. The dark patch on main vegetable garden below is a bit of lawn dug up today to increase vegetable area to reasonably sized square. Dwarf green beans to go in this newly dug area. So good working in fresh air etc.
Vivid White Camellia Flower – They Last Only A Few Days
Oak Avenue Weather:7℃—20℃ 8.2mm rain [77.335] TdT TdO Mark=4
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Gentle Rain From Heaven – Manna For Green Things
Grayson Allen, his electrician Adam, and another helper came this morning and man-handled the new cylinder with its fancy electronics into the hot water cupboard. Grayson and Adam spent the rest of the day connecting up pipes and electrical wiring. By nightfall they had water flowing through the new cylinder – the hot taps flowed – but no hot water. The team will be back again tomorrow to finish and test the heat pump and to put up the thermostat in the cottage living room.
Paul came for a while but the constant rain finally drove him away. Mark also called in a rain check.
Later I spoke to Paul on the phone. He had asked whether we really insisted on the original weather boards upstairs that become an inside Gibbed wall in the new bathrooms staying put. Karola and I discussed it and we’re not adamant about either solution so probably the boards will come off, carefully so as not to split them, for storage with other salvageable timbers.
Counted lambs and got the right number, 25. Lamb #110R with the splinted broken leg is still hobbling about but I’m unsure as to whether it’s healing or getting worse under the splint. According to Mrs Google I need to wait for six weeks before I can be sure it’s healed.
Joists Laid For New Sunporch
Tardigrade discovered in 16-million-year-old amber a ‘once in a generation’ find
This lateral view of Paradoryphoribius chronocaribbeus shows how it looks with a stereomicroscope.
A long, long time ago, a miniscule animal met its end in a sticky trap of tree resin. Sixteen million years later, that tiny tardigrade fossil was discovered in Dominican amber. It’s now something of a science celebrity. Talk about a glow-up.
The fossil tardigrade is remarkable for its rarity and for being a new species and a new genus.
Tardigrades are known as “water bears” due to their appearance when seen under a microscope. They’re nearly invincible, able to survive exposure to space and even being shot out of a gas gun.
While the fossil micro-animal looked like a modern tardigrade on the outside, researchers were also able to examine its innards. “Of all the currently known and formally named tardigrade amber fossils (three so far, including this Dominican amber fossil), this is the first fossil wherein we were able to visualize its internal structure (i.e. foregut),” Marc Mapalo, a doctoral candidate at Harvard University, told me.
Mapalo is lead author of a paper on the find published this week in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B.
The tardigrade was so different from known specimens it earned its own genus and the name Paradoryphoribius chronocaribbeus.
This artistic rendering shows what Paradoryphoribius chronocaribbeus might have looked like.
“The discovery of a fossil tardigrade is truly a once-in-a-generation event,” said co-author Phil Barden in a New Jersey Institute of Technology statement on Tuesday. Barden’s lab found the fossil.
Spotting a teensy tardigrade that’s half a millimeter long in ancient amber is no easy feat. “At first I thought it was an artifact in the amber– a crack or fissure that just happened to look a lot like a tardigrade,” Barden said. The tiny claws tipped him off to what it really was.
Humans can buy tardigrade plush toys, tardigrade-emblazoned T-shirts and even tardigrade jewelry. “As microorganisms they live on a scale that is difficult to comprehend, yet they have these funny little legs and conspicuous cute faces that seem somehow familiar, like the bears they’re sometimes named after,” Barden said.
The Dominican amber piece with the tardigrade also contained three ants, a beetle and a flower.
While more tardigrade fossils may yet be found in other amber samples, it’s a challenging mission.”You could spend the rest of your life screening through amber and never find one,” Barden said. He considers the discovery to be “enough tardigrade luck for one career.”
Mapalo hopes the find will encourage researchers to take care when studying amber and to keep their eyes peeled for the critters. The fossilized animals can tell us about how tardigrades have changed over time. There’s a lot left to learn about these mighty water bears, both ancient and modern.
Oak Avenue Weather:14℃—16℃ 7.0mm rain [77.415] TdT eggs=4 Mark=0
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New HWC Installation Begins
Grayson Allen came today with an electrician, Adam – who works for Peter Judd. By Saturday we should have a working new heating and hot water system driven by a heat pump.
Chris More, Bridget’s Chris, called this evening and then popped in for a chat. He’s up here working on his wind turbine project up the Napier-Taupo road.
Mark continued carting demolition salvageable materials to the orchard shed and stump dump. He also managed to find this morning’s Hawkes Bay Today paper, thrown with gay abandon, as usual, in our general direction from a fast-moving car. I couldn’t find it earlier; it was tucked under the lush growth of Acanthus which has suddenly erupted after the rain.
The Old Hot Water Cylinder – Top
The Old Hot Water Cylinder – Bottom
The Old Hot Water Cylinder – Removed
The New Hot Water Cylinder
Beginning Of The New Sun Porch
Oak Avenue Weather:13℃—16℃ 1.1mm rain [77.496] TdT TdO eggs=2 Mark=4
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Cat And Hedgehog In Traps Today
Shopping for the week once more. Also replenishing of the grains and pellets for the chooks.And take-away coffee and cakes from Artisan.
Builder Paul and architect Ruth spoke today and they agreed that with some minor tweeking of the decking on the steps leading up to the new back door the rest of the decking should pass inspection.
Paul and Matt finished the deconstruction of the old sun porch built in 1960s by Karola’s dad. Paul said it was made well and he thought all the structural timber and the flooring was Rimu.
Mark completed mowing the One Acre and then started on his next project which is to cart the salvageable rimu planks and boards up for storage in the orchard shed. Later I hope he will build some shelves inside the orchard shed bay with a folding door – which is where the wood is being stored. The idea is to use salvaged timber to make the shelves and then to use them for bits of working stuff that we are very unlikely to use in the next decade.
Plans for the celebration dinner at Taste in Khandallah are coming together; flights are booked and the table for ten at Taste is booked for 6:00pm on Saturday 20th November.
Young Ginger Cat Entrapped By One Of Mark’s Ham Sandwiches
Old Sun Porch – Gone
Oak Avenue Weather:11℃—19℃ 1.4mm rain [77.212] TdT eggs=5 Mark=4
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Annual Oven Cleaning
Seems like once a year we get Sally Pearce’s Meticulous Maids to not only clean the cottage but pay special attention to the oven. Sally came over in the morning and prepared the oven for cleaning – sprayed noxious chemicals to loosen the grease I guess. Her two ladies came mid afternoon and did the rest.
Bangle pointed out the new large rabbit hole close to the big oak. I put a water hose down the burrow to get them out before Mark filled and rammed the hole shut. Not sure whether just filling the hole without trying to get the rabbits out is more humane or less effective. One imagines that a rabbit trapped underground will just dig its way out anyway.
Mark continued Grillo mowing the One Acre in an attempt to stall the phalaris grass growth and give the lucerne a bit of a chance. Mid afternoon it rained quite heavily for a while making further mowing impractical so Mark spent the rest of the afternoon sanding down the top of the long metre-wide kauri board that used to be a bench in the homestead junk room.
I popped down to Caltex on Omahu Road and filled up the petrol and diesel jerry cans.
Blue-Band is sitting tight and has two eggs under her, both laid today so she’s obviously borrowed from someone else.
Paul, Ruth, and I exchanged views on whether the new homestead decking planks should be face down or face up. Apparently this is a raging debate amongst decking layers. In New Zealand the notion is that by grooving the planks on one side they afford better grip in the wet. In Australia some at least are sure that the grooves are made to allow free movement of air under a deck, open to the elements, where the deckong touches the joists. Both ideas have merit but I prefer, and for the cottage verandahs we have, plain side up. We may be forced to put some or all of them the other way up if the council inspectors object. Ruth thinks it likely that they will, that recent changes in the building code virtually insist that the planks be laid groove-side up. Hey ho.
Chooks Forage In The Paddock Most Days Now – Here Only Broody Blue-Band Is Missing
Deconstruction Of The Old Sun Porch
Oak Avenue Weather:11℃—20℃ 4.6mm rain [77.843] TdT eggs=5 Mark=4
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Jimmy Rural Strikes Again
James Russell (aka Jimmy Rural) came as planned at 2:00pm to pick up the six ewes that have not got lambs: #703, #815 (stillborn lamb), #905, #907, #908, and #911. I’ve asked him to look out for a better young ram to replace #977 who may be responsible for five ewes not having lambs and is also a darn nuisance due to his little “charge and butt” games that are hard enough to be a nuisance. Karola’s pet ram, #027 son of #209, can remain as a friend for the main ram and I plan to introduce him at the end of tupping just in case any ladies prefer his attentions.
Because I forgot James was coming he arrived and called us and I was part-way through my daily cycle ride. So we cut that short, came back and met James, discussed the sheep, and accepted his price. Afterwards I took Bangle back down to the stop bank and we did a full 3km walk in the glorious sunshine with a gentle cool breeze.
Blue-Band is broody, has been sitting in a nest box in the chook house for a couple of days. Not sure what to do about that; at least we know where she is this time. Recently I noticed White-Band has lost her band but luckily I have a white spare. The cockerel doesn’t have a band though I note he has wicked three-inch long spurs which will be helpful in warding off potential predators. The six hens are: Red-Band, Blue-Band, Green-Band, White-Band, Orange-Band, and Yellow_Band.
Ian & Karola’s Grandchildren – Snapshot On 2021-10-03
Name | DOB | Age | Year At Uni | University | Major |
Felix Florent | 17 Dec 1999 | 21 | 4th year | St Andrews | Economics |
Barnaby Florent | 27 Jul 2002 | 19 | 2nd year | Durham | Engineering |
Natalie More | 12 Aug 2004 | 17 | in one year | Canterbury | Mechatronics |
Lexi More | 4 Jun 2006 | 15 | in three years | TBD | TBD |
The Leaves Of Late Spring
Fish Bath/Pond Behind Cottage Pumpshed
Oak Avenue Weather:10℃—19℃ 2.3mm rain [77.234] TdT eggs=4
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Beautiful Day For A Wetlands Walk
All peaceful with the ewes and lambs this morning, rather a nice day so we thought we’d take a stroll along the wetlands at Clive instead of the usual Tour de Twyford along the stop bank. Lots of cyclists at Clive and several dogs with their walkers.
An email from Ben saying that he had visited the wetlands at Pauatahanui inlet yesterday, while Gill was with her sewing group, and his bird sightings included a group of eight spoonbills and stilts. The stilts both show a black chest band indicating ancestral hybridisation with black stilts. Photos below.
Late afternoon I went down to the stream that runs across the road just before the gates into the Ngaruroro domain at the end of Ormond Road. I thought there might be some oxygen weed there, (Hydrocharitaceae – Lagarosiphon major). There was and I got a handful of the weed for the fish pond bath behind the cottage pumpshed and, a welcome bonus, lots of little water snails.
I put up a surveillance camera aimed at the wooden board atop a post behind the cottage garage – the one where I’m putting cat food every night.
Two pallets of bee hives in the orchard today – four hives per pallet – ready for apple blossom break in a few days.
Ben’s Stilts
Ben’s Spoonbill
Starting Point: Looking South-West Back Up Estuary To Clive Township & Bridge
As Far As We Go – Looking East To Chile
Looking North-West To Napier
Looking South-East To Cape Kidnappers
Oxygen Weed (Hydrocharitaceae – Lagarosiphon major)
Oak Avenue Weather:3℃—20℃ no rain [77.321] TdC TdO eggs=2
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Peaceful And Park-Like
Karola, Bangle and I took Karola to her hair appointment mid morning. As we were in town we got a few more groceries and treats from Rush Munro’s.
I got a call from Wendy at Outdoor Power who said that replacing the broken Grillo sensor would cost around $400. So I demurred; we’ll live with the defective sensor which isn’t much of a safety risk anyway.
It’s a glorious day. Mark came and continued mowing: around the big oak, down the 121 driveway, and picking up the grass from yesterday’s homestead lawn mowing with the Kioti (no catcher). He then made a start on mowing the One Acre in the hope of encouraging the lucerne compete with the phalaris grass.
The post brought me two copies of Richard Thaler’s new book “Nudge, The Final Edition”. I have a copy and I sent UK friend Geoff a copy; these copies are for Iain Middleton and Harry Wier. I posted them off this afternoon after our daily trip to the stop bank.
Ruth Vincent called in while we were out and took a look at what Paul and Matt had done. I chatted to Ruth later and sent her email saying that we now intended small tweeks to the plan:
- Four sets of french doors: one into the house by the foot of the stairs; two into the sun porch; one between the front hall and the staircase / hallway.
- Kwila verandah decking to run the length of the west wall, including as the floor of the new sun porch.
New Steps Up To French Doors At Foot Of Stairs (TBD)
Oh Rats
Oak Avenue Weather:3℃—19℃ no rain [77.656] TdT TdO eggs=3 Mark=4
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