Builder Paul returns from enforced Covid isolation today – nasty flu-like but he’s feeling much better today.

As expected the Classic Kitchens team arrived this morning and quickly installed the two stainless steel bench tops. They also put in the kitchen food cupboard with its doors that slide back in when fully open. Ivan the electrician now finds that his guesses as to where power would be needed have been mostly, but only mostly right. Some switches need relocating now the kitchen is fully installed.

It was pointed out that, unlike the cottage stainless steel kitchen bench it was supposed to be modelled on, there is no integral splash-back. It seems likely that we’ll need to put a big piece of glass on the wall behind the hob and continue that motif along the rest of the bench except where the sink looks out of the window. Bridget says this is eminently doable.

Karola and I went to Hastings mid afternoon to pick up her three month supply of meds – in blister packs, one per each four weeks. While in town we dropped by Countdown and got GF wheatbix and Huntley & Palmers original crackers – neither of which are available at New World at present. Also, under instruction from Bridget, got a “bomb” for crawling insects, in particular cockroaches.

Lastly I ushered Karola into Noel Leemings to try out a new iPad with a special keyboard. It’s an iPad Pro, minimal configuration, with a Magic keyboard that does have a proper keyboard and acts as a stand for the iPad and a cover. It was hard to get a solid demonstration and practice because the Apple agents will not allow any of their products to be un-harnessed or moved so the standing or sitting angle is rather unnatural. But all this considered Karola thought it might be a big improvement on her existing old iPad.

I thought I got a very reasonable deal for the iPad Pro and Magic keyboard until I got home and found that we’d been given the wrong keyboard, a significantly cheaper one. ANother chore for tomorrow to sort that out though the sceptic in me says the salesman didn’t have any Magic keyboards in stock so slipped up the cheaper one hoping we wouldn’t notice. The price was right for the cheaper keyboard but I really do want that expensive up-market keyboard.

Mark came and put in the two Black Doris plum trees on the outskirts of the very old Santa Rosa plum. One I’d bought recently, the other is the sad looking Back Doris that was over with the rest of Karola’s micro-orchard. He then mowed the cottage lawn.

The Stainless Steel Bench Tops Arrive

Homestead Kitchen – Looking South-East

Homestead Kitchen – Looking South-West

Homestead Laundry

Karola Negative RAT Again

Oak Avenue Weather:13.8℃—23.1℃ no rain [76.4] TdOx2 eggs=1 Mark=4

Well I knew today was going to need some careful scheduling but hadn’t counted on a sleepless night where I got to bed just before 4:00am. And UK mate Geoff is mostly to blame. He’s nudged me into writing a bit of code in a new (to me) language called Tcl.

So, up before 8:00am then a brisk trot round the orchard with Bangle, doves fed etc. Couple of pieces of toast and tuna-mayonnaise spread and two cups of coffee then I set off in the Zoe with Karola following very gingerly in the Subaru. Her test drive in the Subaru last night was good preparation .

Got to Ebbett Motors for Zoe’s WOF just before 9:00am with Karola’s eye appointment at least ten minutes away at 9:15am. Missed the turn for the service driveway and ended up with both cars stuck in the Ebbett Motors sales yard. Dropped off the key and asked them to rescue the Zoe – they said I had to do paperwork but I said no time. 10-point turn disentangled the Subaru and we zoomed off to Royston Hospital.

Unfamiliar with coming towards Royston hospital from the town side I dd a couple of unnecessary zigs and zags but fortuitously suddenly recognised the building ahead was the hospital. Karola’s appointment was positive – she apparently does not have any of the really nasty bacteria that can lurk within an inflamed eye. Karola’s eye as been damaged by too much ultraviolent light, to much sun. However Dr John is confident that with a course of steroids it’ll heal rapidly and Karola’s left (reading) eye will be back to normal.

Steve from Ebbett called while I was in the surgery with Karola – they would not give the WOF until I had signed some approval papers. After a few more tasks, described below, I returned to Ebbett Motors and signed the document. Much later when we returned to pick Zoe up they would not give me the keys until I’d paid in full with a credit card. Zero trust; they’d rather pay credit card fees than let me pay using Internet banking.Actual WOF went OK after they replaced a windscreen wiper blade with a nick in it.

After the eye specialist appointment we dropped in at the dentist and dosplayed the large temporary filling that fell out yesterday. Receptionist/nurse Billy said if it’s not hurting Karola then just ignore it, she’s to get her new crowns in a couple of weeks.

Off to BP in Stortford Lodge to fill up because the Subaru had been showing empty since we left this morning. While there I deposited Karola’s steroid prescription at Unichem pharmacy across the road and picked up ten RAT tests at the same time. And got us delicious take-away coffees.

Mark TXTed to say he wouldn’t make it today; just as wel because the ground is still sodden.

Several calls from Brett Person of FloorMart. He wanted to come over today just to check out everything would be set for his vinyl installer but in the end he never showed. Karola and I spent several hours cleaning up the two upstairs bathrooms and the laundry downstairs to make it easier for the vinyl installer.

Karola and I spent a couple of hours cleaning up the new floors in case the FloorMart installer is able tog et away and lay the vinyl on Sunday, as Brett Person proposed.

Submerged Nails – Recent Rains Of More Than 4” (100mm)

Oak Avenue Weather:16.2℃—22.6℃ 1.0mm rain [76.7] TdOx2 eggs=1 Mark=0

Oh yes, and because I anticipate we’ll get Covid pretty soon I doubled up on dry goods essentials today leading to the highest grocery bill I can recall – partly due to inflationary prices at the supermarkets.

Karola got very nice emails from Barbara Florent in France and Edwina Robinson in England overnight. How just a few pleasant words can brighten the day.

Got caught out by my own cleverness today. Now we know builder/project manager Paul and plumber Dean are out for a while with Covid the chances of having running water in Karamu by Easter look increasingly unlikely. So I called FloorMart and left a message for Brett Person saying that as, due to Covid and other delays, our attempt to get the homestead ready for Bridget’s birthday at Easter looks unlikely so it was probably not so urgent to get the vinyl laid ASAP. A little later this morning Brett Person rings me and we discuss how he can get the installer here next week. Only for him to ring back five minutes later to say he’d only just received my message and in the light of that he’d be in touch. Bother! I was trying to be upfront and nice so that whoever he bumped for us wouldn’t get bumped for no reason. No-one else would do that I know.

Zoe is to go in for her WOF tomorrow so Karola took the Subaru for a short drive just to be sure she’d be OK with driving it to the garage with me driving Zoe tomorrow morning. Apart from being agonisingly slow – not a new feture of Karola’s driving – it was OK.

Mark came and continued picking up firewood and putting it on the large pile behind the homestead garage. He also sprayed the section of the Casurina shelter belt in the Orchard where we’d cut down the smothering Clematis vitalba but seven Casurina trees had died. Once we’ve killed the regrowth Mark can plant the eight Leylandii trees in the gaps. Mark left just after 2:00pm due to increasing severity of the rain.

Oak Avenue Weather:14.4℃—21.6℃ 10.2mm rain [76.9] TdOx2 eggs=1 Mark=2

Ivan turned up today to do a bit more of the electrics. He let us know that our plumber, Dean, has caught Covid so our chances of being ready for Bridget by Easter are truely squashed. Bridget may come up anyway if the weather is good.

Karola’s left eye is worse today so I called the ophthalmologist Dr John Beaumont and after his morning surgery he called back and gave us an appointment within the hour. Karola saw the practice nurse, Penny Wilson, and did some standard eye tests; she then saw Dr John and repeated most of them again.

Afterwards we were dispatched to the Hawkes Bay hospital as an emergency eye case. I’d not been to “Villa 3” at the hospital before, there are quite a number of single-storey buildings in addition to the imposing four-storey main hospital building. “Villa 3” seems to be for eyes and teeth. Another nurse did the eye tests again and then, after the usual waiting around, Karola saw a large woman doctor of Indian extraction. She was efficient, calm, and quite pleasant but firm. She took “cornea scrapings” for lab analysis.

I’d put eye-drop prescription in at the Stortford Lodge pharmacy on the way to the hospital so we back-tracked to pick it up. My friendly plump English Labrador-owning pharmacist took issue, (on Karola’s behalf), with the instructions – one drop every 30 minutes for 12 hours then per hour for 48 hours. So she rang Dr John and got him to agree that we didn’t need to do that all through the night. Strange because, in the surgery, he insisted that either we agree to the all day and all of the night routine or he would assign Karola to three days in hospital.

Mark came at noon after his self-isolation due to his son Wolfgang being struck down. He cleared away the four heaps of thistle cuttings I’d left in the One Acre then filled the big trailer with wood from the big oak branch I’d chopped up over a week ago.Mark also picked up the elm firewood I cut up from a fallen branch yesterday.

Wood From The Fallen Oak Branch A Few Weeks Ago

What Wouldn’t Fit On The Trailer

Oak Avenue Weather:13.0℃—18.1℃ 0.8mm rain [76.9] TdOx2 eggs=2 Mark=4

Rain eased today but still very overcast.

Henare and Scott came over after dark to tend their bees. Apparently the recent heavy rain washed out about five of their hives. Henare also said that the roads up at the Mahia were closed with slips and it’d take weeks for them to be reopened.

Elm Branch In Goose Paddock Now Cut For Firewood

Oak Avenue Weather:13.3℃—18.6℃ 0.4mm rain [76.8] TdOx2 eggs=1

Bangle and I walked three kilometres on the stop banks in the morning and we all went round the orchard in the late afternoon so Bangle & I walked about 4km today. It was very windy but there was barely any rain today; soggy underfoot still and more heavy rain forecast for next week.

Karola lost her new reading glasses some time on Wednesday 23rd and there was much rending of garments and gnashing of teeth, we could not find them anywhere. So plan B, the spare pair of the exact same spectacles, came into play but Karola still pretty fussed at mislaying the original pair. Well, last night she found them, I know not where as I had searched all the vehicles and places of likely concealment without success. The temerature has dropped and we’re much more relaxed today.

Māhia Peninsula close to possum free

by Tess Redgrave March 25, 2022

In April sniffer dogs will be released onto 9,000 hectares to hunt down any remaining possums as Whakatipu Māhia, a biodiversity restoration being led by Predator Free Hawke’s Bay (PFHB) nudges close to its goal of making the entire peninsula free of possums.

Hawke’s Bay Regional Council (HBRC) Biodiversity Officer Natalie de Burgh says Whakatipu Māhia is the most advanced and largest possum eradication in New Zealand spanning 14,600 hectares of farmland.

“Using a combination of an intensive bait station network, targeted live capture trapping, and intensive monitoring using motion sensitive cameras, dog surveys and thermal imaging, the team are working hard to achieve completed eradication across the entire peninsula by 30 June 2022.”

The Whakatipu Māhia project started in July 2018 and is part of a regional PFHB initiative to build capability and capacity for iwi and community to lead the project.

The PFHB team have been driving innovative conservation and restoration in proximity to farmland and aim to reduce the costs of farmland predator control by at least 50 percent, enabling redeployment of resources and ultimately a shift in focus from suppression to eradication across rural landscapes. It builds on the success of the Poutiri Ao ō Tāne and Cape to City ecological restoration projects.

At Mahia the focus has been on possum eradication, controlling mustelids – weasels, stoats and ferrets – and feral cats, and research.

One of the tools that has been particularly successful has been sniffer dogs.

HBRC Manager Catchment Services Campbell Leckie explains how first his team got possum numbers very, very low in certain areas with a monitored network of bait stations, motion sensitive cameras and wireless monitored traps.

“We then brought in the ‘scat dogs’ to find any possum poo left in the area and lead us to any remaining possums.”

The dogs had been through more than two years of training in Taranaki to become certified by the Department of Conservation and spent three weeks on Whakatipu Māhia successfully covering over 5,000 hectares.

“They are a really important tool in the predator-free fight, especially at the end of a project where you’re trying to confirm that there are no possums left, ” says Leckie.

He says this latest tool demonstrates how innovation is critical to the success of predator free. “Business as usual will not get us collectively to the predator free goal.”

The dogs will be back in April to cover the remaining 9,000 hectares on the Peninsula and finish off the “hunt down” phase. After this, there will be layers of predator devices such as a maintenance network of podiTRAPs, cameras, and bait stations, put in place to prevent possums getting from Hawke’s Bay past the neck of land onto Māhia Peninsula.

“Reaching the milestone of making the peninsula possum free will be a significant achievement and a sign of what we can do when we work together with other agencies and the community to support native species to thrive,” says de Burgh.

Pouri Rakete-Stones installing plastic moulded podiTRAP

New Zealand’s Greenhouse Gas Emissions

Oak Avenue Weather:14.2℃—19.4℃ no rain [76.8] TdT TdO eggs=1

Lots of rain overnight and strong winds blew it into the cottage verandah up to the wall. Also blew cover off Paul’s circular saw so it got soaked and blew the Construction Site warning sign off the wall of the back porch. Dean did more plumbing today, got the little 25 litre HWC plumbed in in the corner of the kitchen. I am thrilled at how our conception of the changes is turning out so well.

Karola feeling under the weather again this morning – she’s still having problems with her newly cateracted eyes, especially the left “reading” eye. Plus two big teeth actions – prep for two crowns and a big filling next month. And the ongoing inherited hearing loss and the fiddlyness of hearing aids. It’s amazing she is so cheerful, wonderful surroundings are only so much compensation. So I gave karola another RAT just to be sure. The first one didn’t work, no lines on the sensor at all – I wonder how often that happens – but the second one was unambiguous, negative.

Sprig Of Elm Dislodged By The Strong Winds

Most Striking View Of Storm Clouds Gathering In Wellington On Tuesday (Courtesy Ben Bell)

Another Negative Test For Karola Today

Oak Avenue Weather:15.2℃—18.1℃ 10.8mm rain [76.7] TdTx2 eggs=2 Mark=0

Woke to a call from Paul to say that, despite testing negative last Wednesday, before returning back to the project here, this morning he tested positive and so will be away for a while.

The wet period continues with heavy rain last night and enough rain forecast to make Classic Kitchens defer the delivery and installation of the stainless steel bench tops until next week. Dean is pleased because his job of the under-bench plumbing will be much easier without the bench in place.

Karola, Bangle, and I went into town in the afternoon on the pretext of picking up some laundry but actually to visit Lighting Direct and look at replacement wall lights for the upstairs passage in the homestead. In the morning I contacted the makers of the five pendant and three wall-mounted light fittings Karola had fitted back in 1993. They asked for photos and details and then replied that the style was past end of life. Hence my quest for replacement wall fittings.

While in town we swung by Bay Audiology and Karola got her rechargeable hearing aids tested. Allegedly they are both OK but need a good re-charge. Hmmm, I wonder if the batteries, rechargeable or not, need replacing.

Existing Pendant Fitting Circa 1993

Existing Wall Fitting Circa 1993

Lighting Direct’s Display Of Wall Lights

Oak Avenue Weather:16.9℃—21.5℃ 52.8mm rain [76.6] TdOx2 eggs=0 Mark=0

Occasional showers and very damp underfoot. Lots of fungi in the Middle paddock looking just like mushrooms from above (see photo). I decided against a fungi fry-up.

Talked to Paul in the morning, back from his isolation where his wife Diane and two of their three mokopuna have Covid. Paul seemed cheerful and happy to be back on deck; he was wearing a mask even though most of his work was either outside or in the large rooms of the homestead by himself.

With pickers in the orchard and the inclement weather we decided to go to Clive for our walk today and on the way I would call in at Greenleaf Nurseries and see if they had another Black Doris tree and some Leyland Cypress (Leylandii). I explained that our little micro-orchard had not born any fruit this year and Dan Sankey confirmed that apples Cox Orange Pippin and Balarats were suitable cross pollinators, that WBC and Winter Nellis pears were also, and Black Doris and Santa Rosa plums should cross pollinate well. Dan suggested we’d had a snap frost at just the wrong time – that was all he could think of which would inhibit all fruit this year.

I bought another Black Doris and eight Leylandii, the latter for in-filling in the Casurina shelter belt in the orchard where Clematis vitalba had engulfed and killed seven trees.

After dinner I finished clearing the Bee Room ready for GIBbing.

A Delicious Mushroom – Or Is It?

Clive Estuary At High Tide – Looking Back Towards The Bridge

Clive Estuary At High Tide – Looking Out To The Mouth

End Of Our Walk Along The Clive Wetlands And Down To The Ocean

Oak Avenue Weather:16.9℃—18.9℃ 56.6mm rain [76.5] TdC eggs=2 Mark=0

Oh it’s Tuesday again so weekly shopping while Karola had a visit to the dentist. Following up on losing a filling at the weekend Karola finds thta she has three cracked teeth – we might call them “historical cases” because none of them are recent but Karola is now signed up for two crowns an a big filling. Today prepared the way for the crowns, that is, two big temporary fillings in the canyons made for the crowns and imprints sent to the Napier lab whee they 3-D make the crowns.

New World was pretty quiet mainly because it was quite early.

Electrician Ivan came and did some more work at the homestead. We had a chat and he convinced me that adding light switches for the lights in the new library should wait until we decide to GIB the living room. At that point, as part of the same project, and the same mess, Ivan can take out some boards to run the wires.

I called FloorMart and prompted them to get moving with laying the vinyl in the laundry and bathrooms so that the bathroom fixtures can be put in place and the rooms painted. Still hoping to get that all done so we have working loos and running water by Easter.

I began clearing the Bee room – the bedroom on the north east corner upstairs – in the hope that Paul can rustle up enough GIB to do that and have it GIB=stopped and painted before Bridget comes up. If Paul’s RAT is negative tomorrow he’ll be back on deck.

Orange Band is still broody, occupying one of the nest boxes in the chook house. As my attempt to purchase fertile eggs fell through – too late in the season – I’ve put a few eggs under her and will see what transpires.

Oak Avenue Weather:17.9℃—24.8℃ 2.2mm rain [76.5] TdOx2 eggs=1 Mark=0

At last the rain has come although we still managed to get our two walks in round the orchard between heavy showers.

Karola woke with a headache and feeling as if she had a bad cold. Having lost a filling over the weekend Karola thought it might be related to that but just in case we gave Karola her first RAT. As per the photo below, she tested negative.

I called and got Karola a dental appointment today at mid day. Upshot of that is Karola has three old amalgam fillings that have caused cracks in the tooth so she needs two crowns and a filling replacement.

Mark TXTed to say that his son Wolfie has tested positive for Covid so Mark will be isolating for at least seven days.

Karola’s RAT Result

Oak Avenue Weather:11.7℃—18.5℃ 17.8mm rain [76.7] TdOx2 eggs=2 Mark=0

Paul came again today and worked by himself in the homestead. He’ll not be able to come until Wednesday, the seventh day of isolation, assuming his RAT on that day tests negative.

Anna’s news today was Covid related too, about son Felix and partner Dave:

Felix still testing positive and me not despite me being together most of the time for a week! Presuming I had it earlier… Dave still positive too. Hopefully Marc’s Mum is shaking hers off. So – keep wearing your masks and staying outside with other peeps

I re-mowed the One Acre with the Kioti tractor mower to get up more of the clippings and most of the remaining thistle stalks before the rain promised for the coming week.

Late afternoon ram #299 (the old and bolshie one) was let into the Middle paddock with his ewes.

RAT Results For Felix (Positive) and Anna (Negative)

Karola’s Chestnut Tree Has Three “Fruit”

Oak Avenue Weather:14.8℃—21.0℃ no rain [76.8] TdOx2 eggs=0

Almost like a day in spring; mild temperatures with gentle but cold wind. After the hubbub of the last two days we had a quiet day, much of it dozing.

Interesting interviews on Kim Hill this morning.

• Rodney Jones: how China’s lockdowns could rock the global economy
• Gabriel Gatehouse: Why ther QAnon conspiracy refuses to die

In the Gabriel one he mentioned parallels between 1500s printing press and 2000s Internet as enabling and signalling tectonic shifts in Western society. From feudalism to democracy, and now from democracy to …. chaos? well to a heightened emphasis on the individual and the breakdown of control over the political narrative by ruling elites.

His confirming evidence for the current significant shift included a reference to that well known New Zealand citizen and Trump supporter, Peter Thiel. He made reference to a book, allegedly one of Peter Thiel’s favourite books, called The Sovereign Individual.

Paul came over, having tested negative on his morning RAT, and worked away by himself at the homestead. We kept well clear.

The experiment to encourage Blue Band and her chick to take up evening rrsidence in the chook house may be working. Karola and I took them to the chook house after dark and for this first night I shut them in until this morning. All chooks still alive and well and tonight I’m hoping they’re all inside the chook house.

There are still 25 lambs walking about in the Front paddock so it seems that the sick lamb, #021, must have recovered.

Oak Avenue Weather:12.1℃—20.2℃ no rain [76.8] TdTx2 eggs=1

With Bangle out to get the newspaper and for the third time this week it was in the ditch or shrubbery. Strangely there’s been a change and The Listener is now delivered on Fridays with the newspaper at some ungodly hour in the night instead with the mail on Mondays. Postie has delivered stuff to our door again today, this time with a couple of the tin openers I like – that leave no sharp edges and are quite compact. Earlier in the week it was a willow pattern plate, ad before that the willow pattern plate that I very much like and now use all the time.

To my surprise, overnight, white lines had been painted on the road.

First stop today was to deliver Bangle to Emma, her groomer, over near Black Barn. Then ack via Bay Espresso on Karamu Road for a coffee on the run home.

Then just a short stop and it’s off to Hastings for Karola’s fortnightly hair appointment. After that only 30 minutes before my appointment with the dentist. So we did a little grocery shopping at New World to fill in the time.

Aesthetic Dental on skeleton staff this week due to Covid infections and close contact absences. Tracey Eales still on her feet and with receptionist Billy acting as nurse they did my crown surgery in short order.

Then back to Emma’s to pick up Bangle who had been waiting patiently, as arranged, for half an hour after her grooming.

Mark had begun todays mowing starting with the cottage lawn and then curtilage and under the big oak. Just before end of his day he gave the 133 letter box a bit of a sand then applied “step one” of the two-step spray paint process to make it reflective in headlights. He had time to put coat one of two of the second step before leaving.

Mid afternoon Karola and I popped in to Rush Munros and had an ice-cream there, for no particular reason except that the morning had been quite energetic and I’d forgotten to drop in at Rush Munro’s on the way back with Bangle.

Before dark Karola and I had a look round the homestead, the progress on kitchen and laundry cabinetry. I then applied the final spray coat on the 133 letter box. Well after dark I took the Zoe out up and down Oak Avenue to see the effect; it does show up quite well.

Overnight There’s White Lines Alomg Oak Avenue

Bangle Waits To Begin Walk – Cottage Lawn Freshly Mown

Chooks Explore Freshly Mown Lawn Under The Big Oak

133 Letterbox Given Reflective Paint Makeover

Oak Avenue Weather:9.3℃—20.7℃ no rain [76.9] TdTx2 eggs=2 Mark=4

As Paul is self-isolating for seven days, his wife Diane has Covid, I opened up the homestead ready for Classic Kitchens to come and install the laundry cabinets and make templates for the stainless steel benchtops with embedded sinks. I chatted to Classic Kitchens to let them know about Paul. They also told me that the metal benders, given the templates today, will have the benches ready for installation next Thursday.

My regular quarterly doctor’s appointment for checkup at 9:15am. Karola and I went into Hastings for this, it took just on an hour despite the usual seemingly interminable waiting to see first the practice nurse then the GP. All good news, everything ticking along as it should. Karola has also had a blood test for cholesterol this week and GP Richard said Karola’s levels were excellent, so the medication is working well.

As usual I had a fresh prescription for Metformin and so we dropped in at BP’s Wild Bean Cafe in Stortford Lodge to pick up coffees. The pharmacy is just across the road so I order then get the prescription and go back to pick up the coffees. In addition to the Metformin I bought a five-pack of RATS kits so that should we feel we have symptoms or that we’ve been in close contact with someone who might possibly have been a spreader we can self test.

Called architect Ruth to see how the “minor amendment” to our homestead additions and alterations plan was getting on. Ruth said she drew up the changes we three – me, Paul, and Ruth, agreed when she visited and has submitted them to the council. She then promptly caught Covid, and her partner Ross caught Covid. Ruth has just emerged from her self-quarantine.

Jane Fuller called and had a long chat to Karola, catching up on the news. Jane has just finished her seven days isolation after catching Covid.

So far none of the people we know who have caught Covid have had more than the symptoms of a heavy cold or maybe medium flu.

Main job for Mark and me today was completing the sorting of scrap metal and taking two loads down to the merchant in Henderson road. First load of lead and copper and brass taps netted about $350; the second load of rusty iron artifacts from bygone days plus roofing iron and iron pipes, a full trailer load, netted just $60.

Blue Band and chick still sleep in the broody coop Mark made. Meanwhile, for the last week, Orange band has been sitting on two fake eggs in the chook house.

Kitchen Cabinetry Awaits Bench With Embedded Sink

Laundry Cabinetry Awaits Bench With Embedded Sink

Blue Band And Chick Now With Adult plumage

Too Many Monarch Caterpillars

The Cull – Over 30 Caterpillars Removed

Oak Avenue Weather:12.4℃—17.5℃ 0.2mm rain [76.9] TdOx2 eggs=1 Mark=4

Popped into town with Karola so she could get the cholesterol blood test organised by her GP. While this was going on I made a pit stop at Mitre-10, another at Animates, and a final one at Rush Munros.

Mitre-10 for a spray can of paint because the special reflective paint I bought yesterday was actually one part of a two-can process. The assistants were apologetic that they’d not pointed this out yesterday.

Animates for dog food supplies: chicken strips for treats and a couple of bags of small dog biscuits, one bag of Nutrients full nutrition for medium dogs, the other a special senior dog concoction which is low on energy and has a few extra vitamins so that Bangle has volume but not so many calories. I also chatted about getting three little goldfish for the bath/pond behind the cottage water pump shed. This turned out to be complicated as, although the goldfish in question are cold water species they seem very sensitive to nitrogen levels and other chemical levels in their water. There was talk of water softening and water purification, also regular replacement of a third of the water with fresh, and so on. I came away with a few accessories but no goldfish, that being delayed until I get the water tested and rectified as needs be. That day may never come.

Meanwhile Classic Kitchens team installed the cabinetry for the new kitchen, above and under the sink. Tomorrow they do the laundry and make templates for the stainless steel bench tops and sinks; the tops are integrated full length items with the sins welded in.

Mark caught a medium sized possum over night.

In the afternoon Karola, Mark, and I drafted out the lambs from the ewes, putting the lambs in the Front paddock and the ewes in the Middle and toatara paddocks. Current plan is for the old ram to join the ewes on Saturday. One lamb, wether #012, seems unwell so we dosed him with a strong drench and plenty of Ketol pick-me-up. He recovered a bit by the evening. (Cooper’s Alliance drench, withholding for meat of 14 days)

Mark sorted out two gates to replace the ones stolen from the 121 entrance. They are pipe and netting gates so nothing like as elegant as the stolen ones but they are the right size and – to my delight and astonishment – they fitted the existing gudgeons exactly.

Paul called late afternoon with the unwelcome news that his wife, Diane, tested positive for Covid today. Paul tested negative but as a close contact has to self-isolate for a few days.

New Homestead Kitchen Cabinetry Installation – Day 1

Oak Avenue Weather:13.1℃—18.7℃ 2.8mm rain [77.0] TdO eggs=2 Mark=4

Gosh, it’s weekly shopping day again. I’m eating so little these days while still struggling not to put on weight that I only eat half my GF loaf of bread so I’ve reduced the order to fortnightly.

Groceries and, in addition, two rubber eco-mats for the cottage because Karola’s old mats with a wiry finish to assist shoe scraping seem to be shedding a lot of their stiff whiskers. Also, for the third time this week the newspaper was delivered into the roadside ditch or deep into the shrubbery. I’m trying to figure out why they continually miss the driveway which is about six metres wide.

I know that it’s dark when the papers are thrown from a moving vehicle and I had this theory they were hurled from the passenger side over the car into the driveway when going at speed from the river end towards Omahu Road. However a reflective number on the letter box means that the position of the driveway is quite visible a hundred yards away. But perhaps the vehicle is instead coming from Omahu road in the wee small hours. Then perhaps the driveway is more difficult to locate until you’re basically on top of it – that would fit with the mis-fires. So today i bought a spray can of reflective paint and sprayed that side of the letter box. Later, after dark, I went out in the Zoe to see if it helped. I’d say not much but my plan now is to paint that side of the letter box white and then respray with the reflective transparent paint, tiny glass spheres in a transparent glue.

I had a little hissy fit today beginning in the car park of the organics shop, Cornucopia, where I get my bread. It started when I saw a spry elderly couple approach a woman in the car park holding a very young baby. He was not wearing a mask and came up to the mother and baby, complimenting the mother on her beautiful child. He then proceeded to put his face right close to the child and make the usual baby noises. Oh yes, I thought, totally appropriate behaviour in a pandemic.

I went into the shop, bought my bread, and was leaving when the elderly couple came in. He was not wearing a mask, neither of them were, so I just looked at him and pointed to my mask, He just said, “I don’t wear them, they’re useless”. I carried on walking out of the shop and as a parting shot he unwisely said “I’m a health professional you know, I know they’re useless”. All I could muster in reply was a very loud, cross and ironic “Yeah, Right!” delivered at maximum venom.

Whether or not he’s right, the current NZ law is that you must wear a mask (unless medically exempt) at various venues including: “inside a retail business, for example supermarkets, shopping malls, pharmacies, petrol stations, and takeaway food stores”.

It cheered me up when, later in New World, I was relating this story to the checkout woman and she remarked she’d come across similar no-mask behaviour, though not in New World because they have security checking at the door. She said that usually, should you care to enquire the so-called “health professional” turns out to be a chiropractor or dentist, not someone with any relevant expertise. I think they just love to cock a snook at authority, makes them feel big. Pah!

Homestead project skip replaced today which is just as well because the previous one was full to overflowing.

Cottage cleaners meticulous Maids didn’t come yesterday, they usually come every fortnight on a Monday, becuase too many of them are off isolating or with Covid or other ailments. However one of their clients baled today so one Meticulous Maid came this afternoon and cleaned the cottage.

Mark did more in the One Acre, scraping up the mowings and dumping them in the planting area. Mid afternoon he and I took a load of old planks and a couple of window frames, left-overs from the demolition of the lean-to at the back fo the homestead, and began stacking them in the big orchard shed. I’ve been too inclusive in the past, retaining wood so full of nails or fractured during demolition as to be useless so I’m trying to separate out only the planks that might become shelving or similar and throw the rest away. Hence I’m pleased we’ve a fresh skip to fill.

Dave Moss’s Cheer-Me-Up Cartoon For Today

Oak Avenue Weather:13.1℃—19.1℃ 1.4mm rain [77.5] TdTx2 eggs=1 Mark=4

Showers overnight and during the day but no heavy rain.

Mark spent half the afternoon clearing the One Acre of the mounds of thistles I mowed over the weekend. He continued my practice of mowing the ground in a direction which created long windrows of cut vegetation and then used the Kioti bucket to push it into piles which he then carried over to the planting area, off the pasture area.

After tea break we unloaded the big trailer of its load of scrap metal – which needs sorting into valuable lead and copper versus the rest – and used it to cart away wood and a couple of unsalvageable window frames stacked on the gravel near the new back porch. Plumber Dean is to reroute the sewer pipe to the old septic tank to avoid an unsightly ventilation pipe up the side of the house and the old wood etc was in the way.

Karola and I inspected the homestead project and chatted to Paul who is about to put up GIB on the upper passage walls. In fact today much of his time was spent in putting up skirting newly machined by joiner Graeme. We noticed that Graeme had delivered the window for the back porch; he’d already provided the frame and that is installed.

New Kitchen Floor – Sanded And Polyurethaned – South Half

New Kitchen Floor – Sanded And Polyurethaned – North Half

New Cloakroom Floor – Sanded And Polyurethaned

One Acre – Thistles Mowed Into Windrows

Oak Avenue Weather:13.1℃—19.2℃ no rain [77.3] TdOx2 eggs=2 Mark=4

Quiet relaxing day, mostly reading (Karola), and emails (me).

We did make a quick trip down to the roadside green-grocers, Gagans’, to get a couple of potatoes, tomatoes, and other sundry veges. Also got a punnet of not quite ripe strawberries for Karola to have with her Rush Munro ice-cream.

After dinner I did a bit more mowing in the One Acre as, although it rained last night, by then it’d dried off enough to make windrows of the cut thistles. More rain forecast for tonight.

Oak Avenue Weather:14.0℃—18.5℃ 5.2mm rain [?] TdOx2 eggs=1

Joan packed up and drove off mid morning on a clear, cool morning. She TXTed her progress and she was back on home territory mid afternoon. We shall miss her.

Karola and I let the sheep back into the Front paddock so that they have plenty to eat before their appointment with the ram later this month.

We spent the day reading and relaxing; even very pleasant visitors like Joan take their toll.

After dinner, as it was getting dark, I remembered that I intended to re-mow the One Acre before the forecast rain. I got about half re-mown which entails catching the straggly sticks of thistles and blowing into windrows to give as much ground as possible for the rain to cover and the lucerne to regrow. I may be able to do more tomorrow if the scheduled rain is delayed.

Oak Avenue Weather:8.0℃—24.4℃ no rain [?] TdOx2 eggs=1

Karola went off with Joan to visit Cynthia in her Hastings house returning mid afternoon.

I had a large cooked breakfast of omelette with bacon bits and then took Bangle round the orchard for my morning walk.

The chap from HomePlus came and assembled the third shower; I’ll check tomorrow but think that’s all three done. The floor sanders came back and did the second and final coat on the new kitchen and cloakroom floors. Plumber Dean came and continued with plumbing under the house.

Paul received delivery of the GIB for the upstairs hallways. This involved some very precise manoeuvring of the GIB on a large pallet (see below). But first Paul used the same crane-on-a-truck to lower the very heavy iron bath from the old upstairs bathroom down to ground level. Paul called in an old mate to help with the bath and the GIB, aso getting help with the higher GIB panels in the hallways.

My old English Staffordshire China willow pattern palte arrived this morning. Being too big for the letter box postie brought it to the door. It’s an inch or so smaller in diameter than the serving dish I bought from Briscoes recently – that dish proved way too large for my normal dinner plate. The new one, well the quite old one actually, is just the right size (see below).

Late afternoon I mowed the One Acre with its vibrant crop of Californian thistles. The little red tractor overheated every ten minutes or so but, with several water refills, it finished the job.

Large Serving Dish – Willow Pattern – New From Briscoes

Vintage British Anchor Old Willow Staffordshire England Dinner Plate

Man Handling The Heavy Iron Bath Off The Balcony

There She Goes

Now The GIB For The Upstairs Passages

Autumn Crocuses Round The Ginkgo

Mowing The Heavy Crop Of Thistles In The One Acre (Supposed To Be Lucerne)

Oak Avenue Weather:11.9℃—22.3℃ no rain [?] TdOx2 eggs=1 Mark=0

Karola went off with Joan in her car, into Hastings to look round the shops and to visit some of Joan’s old ladies, returning for dinner in the evening.

I caught up on the farm journal entries for the last few days.

The sanding and floor preparation team came, finished sanding and applied the first coat.

Paul managed to get his hands on the GIB needed for the upstairs passages; it will probably be delivered tomorrow.

Seems I’ve bought six plates on TradeMe plus another single plate and an eighth plate by accident for a dollar. The first plate is just exactly what I want as my usual dinner plate, not too big, not too small – the Goldilocks plate, willow pattern blue of course. The six plates will be good insurance should I break some.

I tried mowing the thistles in the One Acre using the Grillo but they are too thick, too tall, and just to stringy for the Grillo. Tomorrow I’ll try using the Kioti tractor mower.

Oak Avenue Weather:11.6℃—23.0℃ no rain [?] TdOx2 eggs=1 Mark=0

After Karola, Bangle, and I had breakfasted and made our morning walk – well the orchard was so busy we instead walked round the paddocks – Karola and Joan took off for a morning of shopping and sight-seeing in Hastings.

The HomePlus man came and installed two of the three showers. The sanding man came and sanded the floors of the new kitchen and the cloakroom. Pul has almost finished putting up the GIB in the lower hall.

Another big dinner, a repeat of last night’s.

Oak Avenue Weather:14.3℃—24.0℃ no rain [?] TdT TdO eggs=2 Mark=0

Weekly shopping again. Groceries and also sacks of wheat and chook pellets, lots of Rush Munro ice cream, and my quarterly blood test. By myself because Joan and Karola had invited another school friend, Cynthia Chalmers, to morning tea.

Having missed out on ice-cream yesterday, Rush Munro being closed on Mondays, I was a tad disappointed to find that while on other days Rush Munro’s opened around 10:00am, on Tuesdays they open at 11:30am. So I pottered along and got the chooks comestibles from Farmlands, but it was still too early. So I went for my blood test.

The blood test, they only do “drop in”s, was not without incident. As Gill suggested I’d added thyroid to the tests this time, and a test for vitamin D. This was emailed to the blood laboratory later than my usual diabetic tests so of course initially I was assigned only the add-on tests, but I guessed that would happen and so went back to the desk and made sure I had them all. The woman on reception said “Just take a number and please take a seat”, so I did.

After about twenty minutes with people being summonsed for their tests, even people who had arrived after me, a woman came in and took a number BUT then scanned it into an adjacent reader. It went “ting”. Hmmm, I mused and the penny dropped so I too went and scanned my number and it wasn’t long before I was summonsed.

This time instead of a quietly efficient nurse there were two people in the cubicle, a nurse and a trainee. The trainee asks for my full name and date of birth. He prepares to take blood. The nurse pops out for a moment then returns. “Full name and DOB” she says”. “Again?” I reply. “Yes, because, mumble mumble trainee” she says. Sigh. Trainee then proceeds, stabs me with his needle but then in the excitement pulls it most of the way back out again. So, no blood forthcoming and, upon instruction from the nurse, he plunges it back more deeply. I remarked on how quick and painless the Covid injections were, all three of them. In the end it seemed to be a success.

Last stop on the way home I called in at FloorMart and asked for Mr Person. “Jeff or Brett”? – the young one I said. Turns out his dad had been the one to arrange our stairs carpet in the cottage almost ten years ago.

The homestead project has some activities that need to be done in the right order. The new flooring has to be laid after the showers have been installed and after the wooden floors in the kitchen and cloakroom have been sanded and polyurethaned. And after the kitchen and laundry cabinets and benches have been put it. So earliest for the vinyl flooring is late next week; the cabinetry is planned for next Wednesday, the floors have been sanded and one coat applied so will be finished tomorrow. Two df the three showers are installed, except for the taps. Lead time for laying the vinyl is five weeks but they expect to make it happen earlier.

The interior painting should ideally be done before the cabinetry and vinyl but instead there’ll be a whole lot of masking to do.

Cynthia Chalmers and her aged Labradour bitch came as planned but left before I got back.

Also as planned, the “blinds lady”, a large, friendly woman came mid afternoon and measured up for two more honeycomb blinds, this time for the cottage bedroom. Shoudl get a quote by the end of the week and the blinds installed, after being made up, in about a month.

Oak Avenue Weather:13.8℃—23.6℃ no rain [?]TdOx2 eggs=2 Mark=0

Went over to Havelock North with Karola in Zoe, principally to deliver our tax input to the accountants. As we passed our usual New World supermarket on the way back we topped up on a bit more food, knowing that Joan Phillips, old school friend of Karola’s, will be coming to stay with us today for the week.

We also intended to pick up some ice cream from Rush Munro’s and, in anticipation, had scoffed the remains of our existing supply on Sunday night – Bangle helped. So imagine our chagrin upon re-learning that they are shut on Mondays.

I spoke to our insurance broker, Dean, and extended the insurance of the building works for another couple of months. It runs out at the end of March and we’ll still be doing quite a lot more into April.

Joan arrived without fuss or great ceremony and her usual loads of good cheer. We all four, Joan, Karola, Bangle, and me, went down to the stop bank and I took Bangle on a 3km walk while Joan and Karola walked a good couple of kilometres. Set us up well for our rotisserie chicken dinner with new potatoes, special cauliflower mash, green beans, and roast butternut.

Karola broke out a bottle of white wine, Bostock wine, part of Bostock’s Christmas gift last December.

Lots Of Fungi Around – These Under Macrocarpa Looked Juicy

Riding School Down By The Stop Bank

Oak Avenue Weather:10.5℃—26.4℃ 0.2mm rain [?] TdT TdO eggs=4 Mark=4

Main task today was to clear the lower hall by the stairs in the homestead of the furniture and pictures so that it’s ready for Paul to GIB when he gets time this coming week.

Interesting talk on the radio this morning by Helen Clark, ex-prime-minister of New Zealand, currently working at the UN, on the Ukraine-Russia crisis.

Chris Ormond, Marcus brother, dropped in early afternoon on his bike. Had a look at the homestead project after some tea and chat. His mum, Nic Ormond, is seriously ill with dementia and that is proving stressful for all concerned although they have got a very compatible carer who attends for several hours a day.

Marcus’ wife’s mother, Cynthia Chalmers who was in Karola’s class at school (Woodford House), is still very with it although she’s at least as hard of hearing as Karola if not more. Karola contacted her today to see if she could meet up with Karola and Joan whilst Joan is staying with us this week.

Helen Clark On Russia-Ukraine War

Oak Avenue Weather:8.1℃—23.3℃ no rain [?] TdOx2 eggs=1

Leisurely morning walk with Karola and Bangle round the orchard. Then it was back to the tax accountant input preparation; all done by mid afternoon. No sign of rain and each time it’s forecast it seems to fade away into the future.

Quince And CrabApple In The North-West Corner

Peaceful Sheep

One Acre Lucerne Paddock – Now A Sea Of Californian Thistles

Oak Avenue Weather:9.4℃—23.2℃ no rain [?] TdOx2 eggs=4

We did our (becoming) usual kilometre morning walk round the orchard with Bangle, listening to another couple of Michael Mosley’s “Just One Thing” podcast from BBC Sounds. So far we’ve listened to:

• Early Morning Walk
• Eat Some Bacteria
• Cold Shower
• Learn A New Skill
• Intelligent Exercises
• Green Spaces
• Stand On One Leg
• Take A Breath
• Hot Bath

I’ve taken the early morning walk to heart – switching from the 7km cycle ride down on the stop bank for a 1km walk round Karola’s orchard with Karola and Bangle morning and evening.

Karola and I have taken a liking to Brie cheese, a particular variety that is called “pro-biotic” and so several times a week we do “eat some bacteria” though I’m not convinced it’s making a difference. I am not going with the “cold shower”; we periodically do try to learn a new skill or brush up on an old one. I suspect I should take more interest in the “intelligent exercise”.

We have “green space” galore and twice daily walks round the orchard are part of that although just sitting on our cottage kitchen verandah is greenness personified (when not a drought).

I think the balance thing is real, the lessened ability to balance as we get older. UK friend Geoff once told me that many deaths of older men are caused by falling over when putting on their underpants. The “breath” thing is everywhere, Mindfulness, Tai Chi, all sorts of exercise programmes and sleep enhancing routines emphasize it. We don’t seem to have many baths these days although we have a bath and two showers in the cottage and will have a bath and three showers in the homestead. Maybe in the winter it’d be nice.

Late morning Karola and I went into Hastings for my dentist appointment. I have a cracked molar with a big amalgam filling – the filling is the cause of the crack I’m told. Anyway I’m to have a crown on that tooth so today removed the old filling and got the information to machine the crown. It is to be installed in a couple of weeks time.

On the same trip I investigated getting a full year tax certificate for karola’s KiwiBank account and a dividend statement for Farmlands. On the first of these, at KiwiBank they said that the interest payments and tax paid goes straight to the Inland Revenue and, if they need it, my accountants could get it from them. On the second it turns out that Farmlands has moved its head office to Christchurch so there is no accounts department in Hastings any more – I should talk to head office on the speaking telephone.

I called Farmlands in Christchurch only, after waiting on hold for about 20 minutes, to be told that there was no dividend for the tax yeear 2021. I also enquired, for the third time, about the charge for 96 lamb boluses when I only bought and received 25. This time I got confirmation of the correction in a couple of hours.

Graeme Boaler brought over skirting boards for the homestead, machined to match the old skirting. Paul has put up all the architrave round the new windows and doorways.

Mark spent the afternoon first in burying #927 then creating a nearby new pit in preparation for any further casualties.

As One Pit Closes, Another Opens – Thanks Mark

Oak Avenue Weather:7.2℃—22.6℃ no rain [?] TdOx2 eggs=2 Mark=4

Got a call from Nick at HomePlus at 7:30am. His man was here outside the homestead waiting to get in and get started on the three showers. Once I got over there and let him in he looked at the two shower bases that Paul stuck down yesterday and they were not up to his exacting standard, they wobbled a bit. Paul arrived as usual around 8:00am and I left them to it.

Paul told me later that the man peeled off the bases and will glue them again to his satisfaction. No big deal and we know our showers are going to be installed to a high standard. The chap also took strong interest in the windows in the homestead, admiring their reuse of weights. He has an old villa with similar windows and he does his own repairs and maintenance.

A strange thing happened this morning, I got a TXT message consisting of six images from an unrecognised mobile phone number; the TXT was an animated GIF of two piglets – a cartoon sketch of two piglets cuddling. No accompanying message. So I rang the number back and it was Nick of HomePlus. He says it was an accidental send when he bumped into a car door with the iPhone in his back pocket. I think it might have been a secret Brethren code accidentally sent to the wrong number, me. Well it might!

No Mark today but he says he’ll be over in the morning. Just as well because hogget #927 is lying dead over in the One Acre – death by poisoning I think, so something she ate.

Oak Avenue Weather:10.7℃—20.9℃ no rain [76.600] TdOx2 eggs=1 Mark=0

Mid morning Karola and I went to Hastings for haircuts. On the way back we stopped off at Countdown for a few groceries – the parking there is atrocious – and a coffee from BP’s Wild bean Cafe.

I alerted Paul to the target for the homestead to get it ready for Bridget by 15th April. At present this looks possible. Certain things have to be done in order and so I agreed to call Classic Kitchens and let them know the kitchen and laundry cabinetry can be installed now. Stuart said that it’s still at the paint shop so i surmise it could be up to another ten days before the installation starts. I also called HomePlus and asked for the showers to be installed as soon as possible because the vinyl flooring cannot go down until this is done and the cabinetry is in place. Nick said he may be able to get someone out to begin the showers tomorrow.

Graeme Bouler (joiner) came with architraves and the scalloped strips to edge the GIB above the old skirting boards. Paul fetched the GIB for the lower hall today too.

Mark came and spent the first half of the afternoon collecting up old scrap metal items to be sorted and some taken to the scrap metal merchants. He also caught a big possum in a cage trap down near the 121 gateway. It rained around 2:00pm so we had afternoon tea and then Mark went off.

Mid afternoon, at my request, Marcus Ormond called in for a cuppa. He kindly agreed to be the person in our Covid Management Plan that Mark could consult if any sheep got ill and also to be a back-up in case Mark himself became unable to be our back-up. So, that means we’ve got the agreement of Mark, Marcus, and Graham & Tracey (re Bangle); our Covid management plan is live.

Oak Avenue Weather:12.1℃—21.1℃ 0.6mm rain [76.800] TdOx2 eggs=3 Mark=2

Shopping as per usual on a Tuesday. Also got a scrap book for Karola from PaperPlus – for her news clippings. Took in five pairs of Karola’s old spectacles to Visique on Russell that will go to poor and deserving in the Pacific Islands. Renault Zoe has a design flaw whereby the flat matt black plastic shroud extending from the dashboard out to the windscreen reflects terribly onto the glass so Karola persuaded me to get sunglasses to reduce the glare.

Ivan popped in and I gave him another half dozen eggs; he’d come over to help Paul with some wiring in the new library – before Paul GIBbed it all over.

Mark did a couple of hours mowing to finish the cottage lawns and curtilage. Mid afternoon he and I took stuff from the farm shed up to the big shed, stuff that is very unlikely ever to be used by us. First use of Mark’s shelves in the big orchard shed.

Blue Band And Chick

Swan Plant – Aphids Not Eggs, And A Jolly Yellow Monster

Off To Pupate

Back Porch With Window Frame

Paul Puts Up GIB In The New Library Aka Old Front Hall

Oak Avenue Weather:9.7℃—22.3℃ no rain [76.800] TdOx2 eggs=3 Mark=4