Shopping for the week again wihc, as usual, takes up the morning.

Mark stopped the main flock from going into One Acre 4th quarter and opened up access to the 1st quarter. The rotational grazing of the lucerne paddock, One Acre, seems to be working quite well. Mark then mowed the patches of thistles in the 4th quarter, they being easily visible now the sheep have eaten the rest of the foliage down.

Mark mowed our “riding” to the orchard, our little path that gets us from the cottage gate over to the gravel track in the orchard. It stops us getting quite such wet feet after rain or a heavy dew.

I let the small, young ram #027, out with the main flock today just in case any of the ladies really are uncooperative with the main man. We’ll have to take both rams out soon as the bother of very late lambs isn’t worth it. We could be having some lambs as late as the end of October already.

Painters hard at work again today, Johnny Lett but mainly his sister Monique (Mon for short).

New World Persimmon – Not Just Karola’s Trees Ready To Pick Then

Oak Avenue Weather:10.2℃—21.7℃ 0.2mm rain [77.6] TdOx2 eggs=2 Mark=4

Mon (Monique) of Letts Paint came this morning and re-commenced painting inside the homestead – her brother Johnny should join her tomorrow.

Paul discussed verandah windows with me today and suggested making the weatherboards below the windows less that 800mm high to avoid needing toughened safety glass in the windows and hence a lot more expense. It’s going well.

Rained last night and lots this evening. Mark took a rain check. It was pelting down so Bangle missed out on her second perambulation round Karola’s orchard. Still, this morning we got beautiful bird song (below).

Karola, Bangle, and I popped down to pick up dry-cleaning, get coffee and a it more milk – my estimating of quantities for the week errs on the stringent side as the shops are only ten minutes away.

Karola had another negative RAT today.

Birdsong In Karola’s Orchard

We asked “Seatoun Heights” what the birds might be and they said:

There is a silver eye in the foreground. Strong call is song thrush – the short repeated (2-3 times) phrases.

Ben sent another charming bird photo – mainly to show me the difference between the NZ Grebe and Coot I suspect.

As Ben said:

This is the Coot I saw at Pekapeka – note the red eye, not the whitish feathering that looks like an eye. Also has some white feathers elsewhere. This Coot is the same species as in the UK, but a different subspecies (australis) and was rare in NZ until about the 1950s, after which it has spread widely.

Coot In The PekaPeka Wetlands South Of PakiPaki – Shimmering Wake

Another Clear Round For Karola

Swamp Cypress North Of Cottage Sheds Last Of Its Red Needles

Oak Avenue Weather:9.4℃—16.2℃ 27.2mm rain [77.9] TdO eggs=0 Mark=0

Anna kindly waited until 7:00am to TXT me that Felix, who is graduating next month on 16th June, has his results – he has been awarded a FIRST. He’s been at St Andrews in Scotland – where it’s said well bred American girls (no, no, do not say that is an oxymoron, very uncharitable of you) go to snag an even better bred husband. No-one has their claws into Felix yet, leastways not to our knowledge.

Oh we are so happy for him and Anna. And of course Barney is at Durham uni, Natalie is going to Canterbury uni next year, and Lexi – well she’s still talking of going to France for a residential course on the construction of stringed instruments – violins and guitars and the like.

Today was a cold start, the poor heat pump working overtime to try and get the room temperature up. It took a while to get there but the radiators were deliciously warm all the time.

Apart from our walks round the orchard it was an inside day all day; I enjoying a bit of programming R&R.

Reports back from the Friday event, the event we decided not to attend, were good. From the photos I’d say it was a rather grey day over in Bulls.

Clifton Cemetery in Bulls is where several generations of the Wilson clan have laid their bones to rest, from Karola’s grandfather G.H.Wilson on down. Recent deceased have opted for a plaque on the Wilson Wall and it is this wall which has been given a new backdrop of a row of cypress trees. Frank Wilson originated and coordinated the Friday event with eight Wilson relations, all from Karola’s generation, attended and participated in the tree planting.

Clifton Cemetery “Wilson Wall” Tree Planting Squad – Friday 27th May 2022

Council Sourced The Trees And Provided Boxing And Mulch

Job Done

Oak Avenue Weather:0.5℃—14.7℃ no rain [77.4] TdTx2 eggs=2

Karola asked that the yellow fungus on the teardrop lawn be removed and so, with the Grillo, I mowed them into oblivion.

Cold day and weakly sunny so the working heat pump was a blessing.

Much of the day spent programming in a language called TCL; it’s a bit odd but enjoyable.

More Of Ben’s Bird Photos From Earlier This Week

One Of Many Friendly Fantails

Pied Stilt Trio

And A weweai or NZ Dabchick (How’s That Grebe Yah)

Oak Avenue Weather:4.5℃—15.6℃ no rain [?] TdT TdO eggs=0

Heat pump working as hoped this morning, radiators radiating.

For the second day we have the issue of the missing prescription glasses. Late morning we got a call from the shop doing Karola’s trouser alterations – they had the glasses. Whew.

So we popped Bangle in the back and zoomed off in Zoe to pick up the glasses taking with us a brown paper bag of persimmons. The woman in the shop who’d called not only returned Karola’s glasses but, as soon as she knew we were rushing in to get them, stopped what she was doing and did the alterations for Karola. So we didn’t need to make another trip, she explained – that’s New Zealanders for you.

I suggested we get a second pair of the glasses to the same prescription. So we stopped by the optometrists, Shatkey Visique on Russell (street), and waited until Karola had chosen a nice pair of frames.

I noticed a sign above the glasses display case that spoke of lens+frame deals including a substantial reduction if you got two pairs at once. So, come the moment of pain I remarked that I did expect the two pairs to be treated as one purchase – and it saved us over $100.

The day had improved significantly. Mark came and did more chipping using Gill & Ben’s gift of a petrol powered chipper. Later he did some more mowing which at present is mainly picking up autumn leaves. And we had a lamb mini-roast for dinner. Not at all bad.

John Bostock, the biggest organic apple grower in Hawkes Bay who leases Karola’s apple orchard was in the news today:

==> But He’s Got The Message And Stopped Now <==

John Bostock … Good news and bad

by Tom Belford May 20, 2022

Here’s one apple not going to Russia

John Bostock this week made it onto the National Business Review Rich List. He joined fellow Hawke’s Bay Rich List newcomers Mark & Paul Apatu and David & Jonathan Brownrigg … also legends in the HB agribiz community.

Good news for John.

The bad news is Bostock trying to defend continuing exports of apples to Russia as ‘humanitarian’.

Here’s the statement Bostock NZ released to Newsroom last week when asked about these exports:

“Bostock New Zealand is appalled by the abhorrent behaviour of the Putin regime and does not support the war on Ukraine. Bostock New Zealand backs the supply of humanitarian food shipments to Russia and Ukraine and will continue to monitor the situation and the advice of the New Zealand Government.”

Newsroom went on to report that “Bostock’s move has caused enormous frustration among other growers and exporters who have stopped trading with Russia after its invasion of Ukraine.”

To be clear, exporting apples to Russia these days isn’t illegal … just dumb. Yet we’ve all been trained to think that John Bostock was very smart.

On Friday a Bostock NZ spokesperson told BayBuzz a fresh statement was being readied for weekend release and would indicate the company’s future plans. Stay tuned for JB’s re-think!

Bostock is one of two main apple exporters to Russia. The other, Freshco, pulled out in March when sanctions were announced. The total value of apple (and pear) exports to Russia was $19.8 million in 2020. Freshco valued its Russia exports at US$6 million, a bit over NZ$9 million. That would suggest that the value of Bostock’s exports would be in the same range.

Fresco noted they didn’t get paid for the last apples through to Russia; NZ banks, implementing current financial sanctions, sent the money back!

How badly does the new Rich Lister need the $9-10 million? Surely there must be more deserving places to send humanitarian apples. Maybe North Korea.

C’mon John, you can do better.

Oak Avenue Weather:2.0℃—13.7℃ no rain [?] TdOx2 eggs=2 Mark=4

This morning Karola announced that she really didn’t feel like going to Bulls for a couple of hours for the tree planting – six hours driving, even if chauffeured, is quite a drag. So we cancelled that and asked for photographs.

Paul hammered and dripped and sawed away as he gets on with the west verandah.

The heat pump systemn was playing up again this morning so I TXTed Grayson and he gave me the number of Mitsubishi agents (0800-784-382). I rang them and was eventally put through to Tony who absolutely knew his stuff. It’s a delight when you get to talk to an expert. Anyway he let me know a few things about our system that aren’t apparent to the usual client. In New Zealand they find that domestic hot water is usually hot enough at 55℃. It so happens that our sort of heat pump gets much less efficient heating water above 55℃ and so it automatically switches to use electric elements. Our target for hot water is 60℃. Now it may be that the electric element which Grayson said was there but only for emergencies if the heat pump broke down is not wired up to do this “last 5℃ push”. So the heat pump switched to electric and waited for it to reach 60℃. Without the actual element being energised that never happened. Anyway Tony, the expert, took me through the service menus and switched off all reliance on electricity so that the heat pump alone was set to heat water and radiators. I reset our target HWC temperature to 55℃ and put it back on a schedule of daytime 23℃, nighttime 13℃ and it’s been happy ever since. I do think that the room temperature isn’t as warm as before but that maybe is because we’ve had a few cold nights near 0℃ – but the radiators are definitely working again so the story ended well. (Tony: tonyb@bdt.co.nz – they’re in Southland)

Ben has an absurdly good new telephoto lens which, coupled with his long-practised composition skills, amke for some quite amazing photos. The pig statue below is, if I recall correctly, a birthday present from Anna to me way back in 1980s in England, delivered with a card mentioning a fashionable phrase of the day, M.C.P. Charming daughter.

Some Of Ben’s Photos From Around Karamu – This One Has Happy Memories

Some Of Our Healthy Ewe Lamb “Replacements”

One Of The Dozen Or So Resident Barbary Doves – On The Bird Table

Another Shot Of The 133 Gateway Puriri

Oak Avenue Weather:5.2℃—12.4℃ no rain [?] TdOx2 eggs=0 Mark=0

Cold start, possibly a slight frost. Heat pump playing up again but resumed operation after a reset. Gill alerted me to a cat in the possum trap so I went and let it out – a small, persian-coated grey-black young adult. I didn’t want the bother of the de-sexing routine but do like to have a cat around to deter the rats and mice.

Got apples and persimmons for the home-goers but forgot to ply them with eggs. Just as well I suspect because fresh eggs are only about 3 – 4 a week at present.

Mark came and continued chipping away at the pile of small branches. After it jammed yesterday on small resinous pinecones Mark avoided those, putting them straight on Karola’s “bund”.

Most of the day very pleasant, wonderful Hawkes bay autumn weather, sunny and warm in the sun.

Oak Avenue Weather:1.3℃—18.5℃ 0.2mm rain [?] TdOx3 eggs=2 Mark=2½

The day began inauspiciously with no heating and no Internet. It took me most of the morning to get things back to normal.

For the cottage heating, first I noticed that it was using the electric element to heat the hot water cylinder, the heat pump wasn’t doing anything. I tried restarting the heat pump to no avail. I tried reading the booklet and checking the settings – they all looked as I’d set them and had been working well for many weeks.I called Grayson Allen – the installer – only to find that he’d just caught covid and couldn’t come round personally for several days. We tried one last restart in exactly the sequesnce Grayson specified and with longer breaks between the pieces.

Ben came over from the homestead and I explained the problem at which point the heat pump fan began to turn. As reqiuested i took a photo of the conytoller and emailed it to Grayson saying it had sprung into life now.

The Internet was definitely not accessible from the cottage so, using an old Macbook Pro, I traced back from upstairs in the cottage to the cottage living room to the homestead garage. No Internet. I restarted the cottage access point and ethernet switch – still nothing. ent over to the homestead garage office and tried from there. The local WiFi network was alive and accessing the Internet from the garage office. I unplugged and replugged the connections to the long ethernet cable up to the cottage. Having re-cycled the power on all the elements of the network I returned to the cottage and found the network was again up and running – no idea what precisely the issue was but it’s back up working now.

Gill & Ben went off for lunch with Ben’s university colleague and friend Charles Daugherty. Meanwhile Karola and I had a hectic morning doing the weekly shop.

Mark came at lunchtime and, as agreed, continued weeding and repairing the micro-orchard trees in their tree guards. He then went on the chip up some branches with the little petrol powered chipper given to us by Gill & Ben.

Ben had a photo-shoot with me and Karola including one with the tall Puriri sapling near the 133 entrance and one with me and my bolshie Texel ram. If I don’t hang onto him he’s likely to take three steps back and then charge. He’s not exactly shy. I do have to be careful not to get between him and any heavy object; he can throw me several metres with only a short run-up.

The Puriri tree is doing well; it’s intended to hang over both the front and back drives forking west from the 133 entrance.

In the evening Gill & Ben were joined by ex-husband Peter Offenberger, his sister Annette Offenberger, and his wife Charlotte Jackman. It was a small dinner party of seven tonight – all very casual – salad, F&C, ice-cream & raspberries but the biggest gathering in the cottage since before the pandemic.

Heat Pump Controller – Back To Normal

West Verandah – Perlins Laid

Me And My Bolshie Texel Ram

Front Gate Puriri – One Day Will Tower Over All

Oak Avenue Weather:1.1℃—17.4℃ no rain [?] TdOx2 eggs=0 Mark=4

Ben went off to the Peka-Peka wetlands, on the road to Wellington but a few kilometres beyond Paki-Paki, there to look for and photograph selections of the bird wildlife.

Mark came as expected and worked on maintenance of Karola’s micro-orchard. Weeding the trees and repairing the tree guards.

Meticulous Maids came and cleaned the cottage.

Karola, Gill, Ben, and I went to Lappuccino’s for our main meal at lunchtime, Gill and I had their delicious keto chuffles. From there we went over to GreenLeaf Nurseries where I bought a Hawera plum tree and Gill bought a rhubarb plant. Upon our return Mark planted the plum – in the same place where two black doris plums had failed before so probably not a very sensible idea but a tree guard needs a tree as a man with fortune needs a wife, as the saying goes. Gill has had a Hawera plum tree for years and says it’s a heavy cropper with delicious red fleshed plums. Thank you Ben for buying us the plum tree.

Watched another old Poirot tonight, about 18th out of 60 episodes I have saved for quiet evenings.

Asparagus Field – Mowing The Dry Tops To Better Rot Over Winter

Oak Avenue Weather:3.8℃—17.2℃ no rain [?] TdT TdO eggs=1 Mark=4

Long walk on the stop bank this evening, sunny and cool and not many birds about.

In addition to last night’s Chilli Con Carne pre-cooked by Ben before they brought it up, the piece de resistance food-wise this week was the pork chop casserole. Cooked by Gill in the new oven in the homestead – which required swotting up they controls beforehand as only Bridget and Lexi have used it before – with vegetables cooked in the cottage kitchen it all went remarkably smoothly and was delicious.

Oak Avenue Weather:5.3℃—19.7℃ no rain [?] TdT TdO eggs=0

An exceedingly blustery day in parts, especially towards evening. Gill & Ben wended their way up from Wellington bringing with them most of this evenings meal – chilli con carne made by Ben before they came.

Karola and I took Bangle round the orchard while still quite cold mid morning and then, in the afternoon, we took her along the Ngaruroro stop bank. Bangle covered one kilometre in the morning and three kilometres in the afternoon making for a hungry dog who is sure to sleep well tonight.

We nipped into town late afternoon to top up on food for the weekend now we knew what Gill and Ben were bringing.

Field Fungi From The One Acre – Probably Not Mushrooms

Oak Avenue Weather:2.6℃—17.8℃ 0.2mm rain [77.9] TdT TdO eggs=1

EMail conversations about my summary of the meeting last night about Green Hydrogen.

Mark finished the sewing up of the shade netting on the Totara avenue and then mowed the cottage lawn. I intended it to be tidy for when Gill and ben arrive tomorrow but in fact it was very thick, quite long, and hard to mow – so well overdue. COme afternoon tea time the wind started blowing in great gusts, sending anything not heavy or tied down flying about. Mark and I agreed to stop operations for the day an hour early. Mark said a similar wild wind was blowing in Napier when he’d left this morning, sending the recycling bins and their contents flying.

Outdoor Power returned the Grillo to us today, serviced, choke and height indicator fixed, and two new blades. Both blades were very worn and one had developed cracks. Perhaps we try to cut the grass too close to the ground and continual scuffing with soil wears the blades out.

I jumped on the Grillo, I don’t get to drive it much any more, and completed my track from the cottage lawn gate up to the big gate into the orchard and across the grass to the gravel track. This means that Bangle won’t get so wet in the long grass with heavy dew as we start our morning walks around the orchard. Then I mowed the cottage grass curtilage; along the side of the cottage, the teardrop lawn, under the washing line, and around the raised beds and bath-pool behind the pump shed.

West Verandah Rafters In Position

Oak Avenue Weather:7.0℃—20,3℃ 1.6mm rain [77.9] TdOx2 eggs=0 Mark=3

A misty start and then another quite ideal Hawkes Bay autumn day. Pleasant wander round the orchard in the morning, only one worker, up a Hydraladder pruning we think. And a stroll at dusk along the stop bank, just the short walk like going once around the orchard.

Mark spent another afternoon as “seamstress of the tree guards”; he’s almost finished the eleven Totara tree guards at last. Mark also swapped the lambs and ewes flocks over, putting the lambs ion the Front paddock and giving the ewes and bolshie ram a different quarter of the One Acre.

Paul got on well with the west verandah, getting most of the rafters in place today.

Karola & I attended a talk for the New Zealand Royal Society, Hawkes Bay branch, on Green Hydrogen. The talk was given by Professor Sally Brooker, a world expert on the subject with teams working across New Zealand and strong ties to groups in Germany.

Sally says that there are two main avenues for addressing CO2 emissions and Climate Change and therefore for the research into matters arising:

1. Reducing energy use: examples include better insulated homes and food waste reduction
2. Replacing fossil fuels in everything we make and use, everything either to be CO2 neutral or emit zero CO2

Hydrogen is a many splendoured thing: Green, Grey-brown, or Blue, and sadly, some hues in between.

Green: produced by electrolysis using renewable electricity

Grey-Brown: massive amounts produced today mainly using natural gas, emitting much CO2

Blue: Grey-brown with a twist – sequestration, capture and infinite storage

Hydrogen fuel cells use hydrogen as fuel and produce electricity – a likely power source for smaller electric vehicles with limited range needs. Direct combustion of hydrogen, with its byproduct of just pure water, is more likely to see use in larger vehicles with heavy payloads and travelling further.

Green Hydrogen when used specifically as an ENERGY source is expected to be: stored, burnt, or for fuel cells. Storage for filling the gaps in intermittent sustainable electrical generation; Combustion for instant heating of water or buildings; Fuel Cells for creating instant electricity, locally.

Green Hydrogen when used specifically as a CHEMICAL INPUT is expected to be used in the creation of:

• carbon-neutral fuels and chemical foodstocks
• ammonia – the vast majority of the use of hydrogen today, mostly for fertilizer
• with iron ore en route to “green steel”

Anecdote: Australia is pioneering an ore-carrying green train that runs down from the mine to the port fully laden and, maybe, can get enough power from regenerative breaking to get itself back up.

Work at the Callaghan Institute (New Zealand’s Innovation Agency) has prototyped a small hydrogen-burning appliance for domestic heating off-grid such as in remote areas where grid access is very expensive.

Meridian was mentioned a few times as a serious player in developing hydrogen generation capability in the lower south island. Tiwai’s potential role is uncertain but in any case, if Tiwai doesn’t form part of the solution there’s plenty of wind generation potential down there said Sally. “Southern Green Hydrogen” has the story. Someone in the audience commented, from personal involvement it seems, that the consenting process is making the southern green hydrogen project very difficult, a major obstacle. Greenpeace is objecting to the production of hydrogen for fertilizer, on principle. Some of the hydrogen is expected to be used for that. A local iwi has changed their minds and is now citing cultural landscape issues.

New Zealand is at the forefront for the invention and development of hydrogen storage using other materials in chemical bonds with hydrogen to achieve significant energy density. Storing hydrogen at pressure is the least effective method, has the lowest energy density. Liquifying hydrogen produces the best energy density but the boiling point of hydrogen is seriously cold. Roughly speaking a single kilogram of hydrogen occupies:

• 25 litres at room temperature but 700 time the pressure at sea level
• 15 litres at room pressure but -253℃
• 17 litres as a solid chemically combined with other materials at ambient temperature and pressure

New Zealand with its sparsely populated country, concentrated and government-invested dominant airline has the opportunity to lead the world in hydrogen powered short-medium distance flights. Probably a combination of electrical (fuel cell) and direct hydrogen combustion. However long haul flights will likely depend on synthetic fuels to get the required energy density.

Team NZ, the sailing guys, have amazed world experts in the field by designing and building a hydrogen-powered chase boat for the next America’s Cup in just nine months. It has already achieved speeds of about 90kph. (see below)

Sally finished by reiterating: the debate about the reality of climate change is surely over; there is an array of options and hydrogen is clearly one of them; all options need to be advanced in parallel if we plan to avoid cooking our planet.

Toyota-Powered Hydrogen Boat Exceeds the Highest Expectations With an Insane Range

by Otilia Drăgan

Chase Zero is not only turning heads but leaving everyone in awe with its incredible speed and range. The first hydrogen foiling chase boat that will take part in America’s Cup has blown everybody away with its performance during sea trials.

7 photos

Only a month ago, Chase Zero was hitting the water for the first time. Developed by the Emirates Team New Zealand (ETNZ) as part of its larger Hydrogen Project, it was designed to become the first chase boat powered by hydrogen fuel cells to participate in America’s Cup.

Sea trials were kicked off around the Waitemata harbor in Auckland, and Chase Zero had no trouble reaching the estimated top speed of over 50 knots (58 mph/93 kph) on its ninth day of testing. But what really blew everyone away was its range.

The team filled its four storage tanks up to 96% and set out cruising around the Hauraki Gulf. After six hours and 151 nautical miles (173 miles/280 km), Chase Zero still had 10% gas in its tanks. The foiling boat had cruised at around 28 knots (32 mph/52 kph), covering much more than what was expected.

According to the team, the same journey completed at 28 knots on a conventional chase boat powered by twin 250 hp outboards would have required a total of 825 liters (218 gallons) of fuel, which is more than what its 800-liter tank can hold. So, a regular chase boat could not complete the journey at the same speed as its hydrogen-powered counterpart without running out of fuel.

Based on these demonstrations, the engineers at ETNZ are estimating that Chase Zero can promise a range of 178.19 nautical miles (205 miles/330 km) at around 28 knots on four full tanks of hydrogen.

ETNZ also acknowledged Toyota for developing the powerful fuel system that allowed Chase Zero to hit these impressive milestones. The 32.8-foot-long (10 meters) foiling boat is equipped with 80 kW Toyota hydrogen fuel cells, one in each hull.

Ready to make waves in racing, Chase Zero is also meant to pave the way for future commercial boats powered by hydrogen.

West Verandah Gets Its Roof Rafters

Oak Avenue Weather:__℃—__℃ no rain [77.7] TdOx2 eggs=1 Mark=4

Mark busy today so he didn’t come. Paul came at the usual time and worked away all day on the west verandah. Man from Outdoor Power came around 9:00am and took the Grillo away on his little truck to be serviced and have the choke and the cutting-height lever fixed.

Got a call from Shatkey on Russell – Karola’s optometrists, to say her new glasses were ready so we popped down and got them fitted.

A delightful Hawkes Bay day, sunny but cool and gentle breeze.

Six Verandah Posts Now Erected

Fungi Mark Spot Of Felled Liquid Amber On Cottage Teardrop Lawn

Oak Avenue Weather:10.8℃—21.7℃ no rain [?] TdOx2 eggs=0 Mark=0

Scramble to rush Bangle round the orchard and get dressed for town.

First we zoom off with Bangle and drop her off at Emma’s to be groomed. Then back home, picking up coffee from Karamu Bay Espresso on the way. Make up shopping list then back into Hastings for the weeks groceries, also a spare GF bread and some cash. Dash over to Emma’s and pick up Bangle who has been sleeping quietly in a corner since grooming finished 30 minutes ago. Back into Hastings via Havelock North to finish the shopping and get another coffee, this time from BP’s Wild Bean Cafe.

Mark already at work by the time we got back. He spent the day on the Totara avenue, mending the shade netting on their tree guards

To avoid getting Bangle muddy and wet right after her grooming we made our second walk down along the stop bank, only going about as far as one circuit round the orchard..

Oak Avenue Weather:8.3℃—23.8℃ 0.4mm rain [?] TdOx2 eggs=1 Mark=4

Builder Paul is getting a move on wiht the west verandah – has most of the extra tall posts in place.

Too wet for Mark today, not actually raining but the ground is totally sodden.

Bridget worked (remotely) today but took a break for lunch with us at Lappuccinos – a delicious lunch as usual though not quite up to Hygge’s deliciousness which was more of a dinner delight.

After work Bridget walked round the orchard with us, including Bangle. Then we soon set off for the airport. No big holdups on the expressway, no delays to the flight, and Chris was there to meet her in Wellington. Just as uneventful as it should be.

For our supper we finished up the rotisserie chicken Bridget bought for us yesterday

Joan Philips (Karola’s School Friend) Sent This Charming Old Photo Of Prize Texel Ram In UK

Oak Avenue Weather:12.4℃—19.8℃ 0.4mm rain [77.8] TdOx2 eggs=0 Mark=0

We had another pleasant day with Bridget up here for the weekend including the 3km walk along the stop bank with Bangle.

Rain set in late afternoon; lovely to hear it on the roof upstairs in the cottage as I type.

Bridget took advantage of her access to Netflix up here to watch the entire first series of Bridgerton, three episodes last night and five today.

I checked and all the sheep were up and about: 22 in the Front paddock, 20 in the Middle paddock, and one in the Goose paddock.

After the stop bank walk Bridget drove us, still in the Landrover, down to New World – she bought some special muslei that is available here but not in Khandalla New World, and we stocked up on ice-cream at Rush Munros then coffees at BP. Bridget also bought us a rotisserie chicken for dinner and couple of punnets of raspberries for pudding.

Oak Avenue Weather:11.7℃—19.5℃ 8.2mm rain [77.6] TdT eggs=1

Off to airport to pick up Bridget mid morning – Bridget is up here for Karola’s birthday weekend. Then on to Hygge restaurant at Clifton (used to be called Clifton Cafe) for birthday lunch. A really superb lunch, the food was delicious. It being quite overcast for the morning we elected to sit inside and left Bangle at home but it wasn’t crowded nor particularly noisy so a fortuitous choice.

We all had a relaxed afternoon following the quite filling lunch. Supper was a simple snack. Several phonecalls to complement the birthday cards and a big bunch of flowers from Geoff & Edwina Robinson in England, our friends of the special Tasmania trip a few years ago and another to the northern end of the South Island including Abel Tasman walk, Farewell Spit, Molesworth Station, and Nelson Pine (of laminated veneer lumber fame).

Karola In Typical Pose Just A Couple Of Years Ago

… And That Same Year

… And Snapped By Bridget While Here At Easter

Oak Avenue Weather:3.6℃—20.4℃ 0.6mm rain [?] TdOx2 eggs=0

Enjoyable sessions working with English friend Geoff, messing about with his programmable media player, a Humax. At heart it’s a little Unix system so quite similar under the covers to my immensely powerful MacOS operating system on my desktop computer here.

Then a rush to get to Karola’s hair appointment at 10:00am in Napier. Very fast walk for Bangle round Karola’s orchard then scrubbed up for a day in town. After the hair appointment we came home for a coffee and to catch our breath before, less than ten minutes later, off we went again for Karola’s appointment with her optician, Phil Donaldson. After a thorough set of tests he prescribed a new set of glasses to best help Karola with her reading.

More coffee at Stortford Lodge BP Wild Bean Cafe and then we called in at Farmlands for a pair of work trousers for Karola. We’d arranged to receive four pairs of the trousers of different womens’ sizes in Karola’s chosen colour; yesterday I was phoned to let me know they had arrived. However what we found was four pairs of different colours all the same, wrong, size. Still, we found a colour we liked better and the trousers were only a little bit too tight so I ordered a couple of pairs the next size up.

Mark came at midday and continued all afternoon working on the eleven Totara trees, weeding them, adding more mulch, and mending the tree guard shade netting skirts.

Builder Paul came in the morning and began on the homestead west verandah, the plans having received council approval yesterday. He and I went over the modified design which is turning out rather well with a good balance between glassed-in area protected from the wind and open verandah.

More work with Geoff over Facetime audio and video and much iMessage chat.

Oak Avenue Weather:4.7℃—16.5℃ no rain [?] TdOx2 eggs=1 Mark=4

Much activity in the orchard again today as Bostock’s people reinforce the apple tree rows with metal posts driven in at about 12 metre spacing.

Got a TXT from Johnny Lett, painter, to say he’s self-isolating as a close contact of a Covid-positive person. So instead of starting on Friday he’ll probably now not begin until after Gill and Ben have gone on 25th May. Meanwhile Paul wil probably come and start on the verandah tomorrow.

Late morning Sharlene from Freedom Furniture came and discussed the blind I want for the homestead kitchen. I’ve chosen a rather pleasant, light linen-look material.

Mark spent the afternoon on the avenue of Totara trees along the Long Acre fence line, weeding, adding mulch, and mending their skirts of shade netting.

Oak Avenue Weather:5.5℃—14.9℃ 0.2mm rain [?] TdOx2 eggs=0 Mark=4

Phone rang at just after 7:00am – we were up but only just – and it was the garage door service man wanting to come and do our three electric garage roller doors. He found that the farm shed door had developed a bit of a lean which was causing it to jam occasionally. So that’s fixed and all joints lubricated etc. Good for another decade or so.

As part of our morning walk with Bangle round the orchard we noticed a lamb with its head stuck in the netting of a tree guard – one of the eleven Totara trees along the Long Acre fence line. I cut the top wire of the netting square restraining the beast and it cantered off apparently none the worse for wear. Then I crimped the broken wires together and all is back to normal.

We also counted the ewes and ram in the Front paddock – 22 animals as hoped. And 20 lambs in the Middle paddock, again as desired. It looks like the ewes and ram need a new quarter of the One Acre.

The promised 10% refund for our dinged Miele freezer hasn’t arrived so I called and they assured me it’ll be in our bank account tomorrow.

Mark switched the quarter of the One Acre for the ewes and ram and then mowed the patches of Californian thistles again. Mowing when wet does seem to slow them down. He then went on the spot spray Californain thistles round the cottage railings and Karola’s micro-orchard. Next it was the very persistent clumps of Italian lily, especially the big patch near the damson tree and another growing infestation near the chook house.

Having missed us out on Monday due to short staffing a Meticulous Maid came this afternoon and cleaned the cottage. To keep out of her way, and because there seemed to be quite a bit of activity up in Karola’s orchard, we went down to the stop bank and did the equivalent of one circuit of the orchard.

This evening got an email from architect Ruth forwarding the official approval for our homestead west verandah, a variation on our original plan that has taken months to get through council. We still have another plan variation with the council, for insulating some exterior walls while GIBbing the original homestead rooms.

Delightful Swamp Cypress Turns With Autumn’s Cooling

Oak Avenue Weather:8.4℃—13.5℃ no rain [76.6] TdTx2 eggs=0 Mark=4

Much of the morning spent in enjoyable exchanges with Geoff in England working on his latest computer project.

So a late start to the shopping and we hit the supermarket at around 1:00pm. On the way we spoilt ourselves with BP Wild Bean Cafe coffees while I picked up some more drops for Karola’s eyes from the pharmacy. At New World I was lucky to get the last green beans and several other items; we’d just missed the lunch time rush I guess and shelves were much depleted. Cornucopia for my fortnightly GF bread and Karola’s Zany Zeus special yoghurt. Back off home, dropping in at Lighting Direct where I got the very dimmest LED light with a conventional bayonet fitting – for my bedside light to minimise irritation of Karola trying to sleep. This bulb was relatively expensive – about five times more than middle of the road bulk purchase LED lights with conventional fittings. It’s strength is 70 lumens which is certainly dim compared to the powerful 1360 lumen LED lights I use to brighten up the cottage and homestead living areas.

Builder Paul came round to pick up his ladder for another job he’s doing and we chatted. He helped me mark where the kitchen TV mount should be screwed to the wall.

Ivan came round again and moved the media wiring in the middle of the north wall of the homestead kitchen over closer to the west wall so I can mount the TV in the north-west corner, further away from the breakfast table.

After dinner I put up the heavy, robust TV mount and tried out the TV on it.

Mark TXTed to say he’d take a rain check today.

Oak Avenue Weather:8.1℃—16.2℃ 8.0mm rain [76.6] eggs=1 Mark=0

Promised rain vanishes again. Mid morning Karola and I take Zoe to Ebbett Motors in Karamu Road for her annual service. They lent us a car for the day and, to our astonishment, it was a white Zoe. I took the opportunity to pop into Mitre-10 and exchange the six LED bulbs I got yesterday for six of the right shape, size, and bayonet fitting.

There’s a lot of metal-on-metal banging going on in the orchard and it seems to be that metal poles are being used to reinforce the wooden posts holding up the wires along each row of apple trees. Mark says that they are digging a hole with a tractor-mounted auger and then belting the poles in deeper using a rammer from the platform of a Hydralada fruit picking mechanical platform.

Mark and I took a couple of trailer loads of rubbish from the big shed to the skip by the homestead. Mark also tied up the long lengths of cable that he and I untangled last week and hung them on big hooks he’d fastened to the wall inside the lockable bay of the big orchard shed.

Later Mark and I pondered the means of suspending the new homestead kitchen TV from the wall. I’d fetched a spare very robust mounting from previous TV installations but the “visa” standard connections seemed not to work. The screws on the mount were too fat and too short. So, later when we drove down to pick up Zoe I dropped in at Fast Trade and got four longer screws of the right diameter. It was only after dinner when trying to assemble the mount and TV I realised a spare little packet of short tubes were intended to screw into the back of the TV and bridge the gap between it and any “visa” mounting. So the mount is now assembled properly and I have four spare screws.

Ivan Alach came in the afternoon and completed his rationalisation of the mains wiring coming to the homestead. We now have three-phase power to the homestead, just like the cottage. I also discussed repositioning the media cables for the litchen TV so that I can mount it in the corner by the door – giving anyone at the breakfast table a bit more distance from the amazingly bright and clear 43” Sony TV screen.

Carol Harrild, Wife Of Robin – With Two Of Her Three Steers, Plummer Point, Tauranga – 2009

Oak Avenue Weather:5.0℃—17.9℃ no rain [76.6] TdT eggs=1 Mark=4

Too misty and damp outside so did more emails and reading till late morning when we went round the orchard with Bangle. Another walk in the afternoon but this time a pleasant stroll along the Ngaruroro stop bank. No-one else around, sunny and cool. It was about a kilometre round trip so equivalent to once round the orchard.

Gill & Ben went out to Waikanae Beach last week. Ben sent me some splendid bird photos taken with an amazing lens on his camera – see below.

Misty Start To The Day

Flock Of White Fronted Terns – Ben Bell – Waikanae Spit

Caspian Tern – Ben Bell – Waikanae Spit

Banded Dotterel – Ben Bell – Waikanae Spit

Spoonbill – Ben Bell – Waikanae Spit

Pukeko Pair Prancing – Ben Bell – Waikanae Spit

Oak Avenue Weather:7.2℃—20.5℃ 0.2mm rain [76.5] TdOx2 eggs=0

After a relaxing autumn day, mid afternoon we went into Hastings. First to BP’s wild Bean Cafe for a coffee – and while I was waiting I popped over the road to the Unichem Pharmacy to pick up the rest of a prescription owed from my visit last Tuesday. Labrador owning friendly pom Christina served me. I also got some more Clinicians Sleep Science pills and some Sleep Drops, both of which Karola likes and says they really do help her get to sleep. Herbal alternative medicine rather than homeopathic but not prescription and so I tend to be sceptical of any non-placebo effect.

On to Noel Leeming to buy a “small” X80J 43” Sony Bravia TV for the homestead kitchen. Also bought a brace of Uniden FP098 Corded Phones as the homestead’s old phones didn’t work and there are now just two telephone sockets that work, one in the hall outside the kitchen and one in the old front door hall – both convenient places to have our remaing homestead land-line phones.

Then to Mitre-10 for some more LED light bulbs, couple of HDMI cables, and assorted TV coaxial cable connectors. It turned out that in my enthusiasm for finding the right luminance bulbs in the right purple-coloured boxes I took my eye off the ball and incorrectly bought some with the right profile, bayonet but a small bayonet connector, and the others were not the right “candle” profile. Sigh.

Henare TXTed to say he was coming to look at his bees and shortly afterwards he arrived with Tui, his older sister’s middle daughter – a very pleasant live wire who is 48 with, I think she said, five children. She’s learning about bees and helping Henare while Henare’s son Scott is up in Hamilton with his sweetheart of nine years, Coco.

After supper I went over to the homestead and set up the new TV. It’s working with: a digital UHF terrestrial connection; via the matrix box and a Gen 3 AppleTV; and using WiFi streamed from the Internet. The size of this “4K” TV is such that it needs to be repositioned in the corner near the door, further away from the little table and chairs – which means moving the wiring in the wall to behind the new location at some point.

Oak Avenue Weather:6.7℃—18.3℃ 0.2mm rain [76.5] TdOx2 eggs=1

Mark mowed more Cali thistles and mid afternoon he and I ventured into the homestead attic where he laid a dozen rat baits, changed an attic  light bulb, and examined media cables for signs of more rat damage. One video cable has indeed been seriously nibbled which corresponds with the lack of signal in the dining room.

I feel I wasted several hours in the evening trying to establish for sure which of the four TV attachment points were fully functional and which not. I also got no further in finding out why the AppleTV 4K model doesn’t work while the Generation 3 works well. And there is unresolved interference between the coaxial cables carrying the UHF signal and the ethernet cables carrying the digital video from the matrix switch. Altogether not terribly useful but I have left it set up so that the good TV in the living room has working facilities including digital UHF TV and AppleTV.

I think I heard mouse movements in the cottage late at night, between floors and in the walls.

Oak Avenue Weather:7.5℃—18.4℃ no rain [76.3] TdOx2 eggs=0 Mark=4

Mark arrived at noon. He’s agreed to be our driver for our Friday 27th May trip over to Bulls to the cemetery there where a fewe of the Wilson family will be gathering to plant a row of trees behind the family wall of remembrance. The wall holds plaques for several of the family and will no doubt hold more in the future although we, Karola and I, bought ourselves adjoining plots many years ago so we’ll be buried nearby.

Marks afternoon began with watering the Leylandii – there’s no rain forecast for the next ten days. Then watering the five Puriri trees. Three of these are growing very well while the two on the top of the ha-ha have been savaged by sheep and are recovering but well behind the others. Mark observed that the sheep had stripped on of these ha-ha Puriri because while the wire netting is high enough the shade netting only goes two thirds of the way up. And the sheep have stripped the Puriri (again) from about a metre up to abput 200mm from the top. Mark spent the rest of the afternoon adding the top circle of shade netting to protect that Puriri from further predations.

Karola’s clothes are mostly the worse for age and so Bridget has provided a couple of shirts and a jersey, Anna is sending a couple of pairs of trousers from M&S in England, and I am trying to persuade Karola that for working trousers she needs something warm and tough like my moleskins from Farmlands. Karola thought maybe jodhpurs would be more suitable so we went into town stopping first at Forbes & Co in Stortford Lodge next to the fire station. They had pretty limited stock but Karola tried on a few before admitting that the clinging fit would not be comfortable nor particularly warm. I bought a couple of R.M.Williams work shirts at half price, very gratifying. So, on the Farmlands where Karola tried on several mens trousers, Tussock Creek brand, just like mine. Karola found a size that fitted and a colour she didn’t dislike so we put in an order for one pair. Turns out that they do have a womans version of these trousers but none of the right size in stock so they’ll order in several around woman’s size 12 – 14 and Karola can try them on when they arrive. Unknown to me mens trousers are labelled with waist measurement but womens sizes are numbers like 12, 14, 16.

Coffee from BP’s Wild bean Cafe then off to Mitre-10 for some builders chalkline string and a selection of strong LED household bulbs. Mark is using the existing string to lace up the shade netting completing a Puriri tree guard so we’re replacing that. I’ve observed that the lights in the cottage dining room and in the homestead are very dim so am on a mission to have much brighter LED lights wherever possible.

Later Karola and I took the recycling down to the Transfer Station in Henderson road and popped into Gagan’s greengrocers for some raspberries and a couple of ripe kiwifruit – the kiwifruit I got on Tuesday are hard as steel, still.

A Short History of the NZ Kiwifruit Industry

By Robin Harrild – April 2022

Robin Harrild, colleague of mine from IBM in Winchester, is married to a New Zealander, Carol Harrild nee Thorne, and her family are land owners up in Tauranga where some of her family developed and ran kiwifruit orchards back in the day. Carol’s mother’s maiden name was Plummer and the isthmus that was her home is called Plummers Point.

PDF:Link to the Kiwifruit Industry History

PDF:Link to Background on the European Occupation of Plummer’s Point

Oak Avenue Weather:8.1℃—18.8℃ 0.2mm rain [76.6] TdOx2 eggs=1 Mark=4

Despite having arranged with Miele NZ that we’d keep the freezer, dinged though it is, of course the replacement freezer turned up this morning. However the chaps from Lange’s were helpful and quite happy to keep the replacement. As I’d requested, they did check that the seal of the freezer door was in good order, not affected by the dent. Miele will give us a 10% discount so all concerned will be happier – they don’t need to try and sell a reconditioned freezer into a luxury market. I feel better about not insisting on a replacement for what is only a cosmetic flaw which would be a waste.

Mark came midday and mowed the patches of Californian thistles in the quarter of the One Acre just vacated by the ewes and ram. Soon after he began the right front tractor tyre went flat, again. After considerable mucking about we got it re-inflated using my air compressor, pumped it up quite a lot harder this time to ensure the tyre stuck snugly to the rim even when bouncing around.

Next Mark cleaned out the chook house, mixed the manure with some mulch and fed my five Puriri trees.

The two oven knob mechanisms I bought online from Bosh NZ arrived and I spent over an hour fitting them, saving the $100 or more Lange’s would have charged for a house call and fitting. To my dismay:

• The heads of the metal screws providing access to the switch mechanisms were of a pattern needing special screwdrivers
• The plastic clips holding the mechanisms in place and connecting them to the electronics were particularly difficult to unfasten, not knowing exactly where to prod to release the plastic catches; there may be special tools for that as well

In the end I got it all back together and it’s working just fine. I’ll have second thoughts in trying to do it myself next time something breaks on a Bosh appliance; they deliberately do not intend unqualified people to service their machines.

A friend in Australia decided to cheer me and several other families up with a series of jokes in an email. Most of them were at best mildly amusing, some just plainly not funny, but one did catch my eye (below). It could be real.

Yeah Right – Could Be The Manawatu Gorge Road

Oak Avenue Weather:9.5℃—18.1℃ no rain [76.7] TdOx2 eggs=0 Mark=4

Quick shop then on way back dropped in at Farmlands for: wheat, maize, and (sadly) some rat poison for the homestead roof space.

Postie (or a courier – postie doesn’t usually deliver on Tuesdays) left a dark green parcel for Karola. It was Bridget’s birthday present comprising two shirts and a jersey from Marks & Spencer NZ. The jersey and one shirt are a plain blue, the other shirt has green and white stripes. All are very similar in design and colour to clothes Karola already owns, albeit without the ragged worn-out look.

Mark switched the breeding flock and the lambs so that the lambs are in the Middle paddock and the others in the Front paddock with access to a fresh quarter of the One Acre.

Noticing a lamb with its head stuck through the netting of one of my lime trees (tilapia) he, with difficulty, freed it – signs were it’d perhaps been there overnight but no longer.

Mark and I spent a happy hour or so unravelling a heap of electric cable; 30 metres or so of four heavy duty cables that used to carry three-phase power from the homestead to the bore by the cottage – of course the cottage wasn’t there when Craig Vernon attached a pump and watered his “Vernon Red Delicious” apples many decades ago.

Seems A Lot Of Shopping For A Week Just For Two

Fresh Vegetables

And Mountains Of Fruit For Karola & Bangle

Oak Avenue Weather:6.7℃—21.6℃ 0.2mm rain [76.7] TdOx2 eggs=1 Mark=4

Finally got last weeks bills paid. Also booked for maintenance of the three garage doors in next week or two and booked Zoe in for annual service.

Left a voicemail with architect Ruth to see what was going on with the council submission.

Mark cleaned the garage doors in anticipation of a visit for their maintenance – last time I got a short lecture about regular cleaning and cherishment of ones garage doors.

Mark then got back on the Grillo and did amazing sweep-up of the considerable leaf fall since he mowed last week.

Ordered replacement oven controller knobs for the cottage BOSH oven. I resent the $100 call-out fee for a maintenance person to come all the way out here to decide he hasn’t got the part with him so he’ll need to order it and visit again. Ordered from the Bosh New Zealand spares site. They didn’t have the exact model number printed on our oven but the exploded parts look right so we’ll wait and see. It’s a tiny bit of plastic with a hook on the end that once again has broken off rendering the control knob very tricky to use.

Ordered two honeycomb blinds for the two upstairs bathrooms in the homestead. Bridget and I are still thinking about what, if anything, to do about the kitchen windows.

Today there was tractor noise coming from the orchard so instead we went down to the Ngaruroro stop bank and I took Bangle for a brisk 3km walk. Karola walked quietly along behind and probably covered a kilometre. On the way I spied a large fat caterpillar crossing the lime path and scooped it up. Quizzed Gill and ben on what it was and they said it looked very like a Fall Army Worm larvae. Last Saturday Karola and I had heard a short article about the Fall Army Worm on Country Life, the Saturday morning radio programme. Seems it’s recently been detected in NZ, it’s a bad pest well established through much of the world. At Ben’s suggestion, just in case, I notified MPI and sent them the image you see below.

Possibly A Fall Army Worm Larvae – Newly Arrived Horticultural Pest

Oak Avenue Weather:4.6℃—19.8℃ no rain [76.8] TdT TdO eggs=0 Mark=4

The afternoon spent in the homestead trying to replace my Gen 3 AppleTV with a much newer one, a model 4K.

My history with AppleTV:

• began with a Gen 1 birthday present from Bridget 31 Oct 2010,
• then upgrade to a Gen 3 for $159 on 11 Jul 2012,
• again to a 4K model for $299 on 18 Oct 2018
• and lately an HD model for $284 on 19 Apr 2022.

The 4K and HD models are particularly desirable because their remotes do not need line-of-sight to the Apple TV unit, they also have “bluetooth”. Up until now I’ve had the 4K model in the cottage and the Gen 3 in the house but as the house unit sits in a box on the wall under the stairs it’s a nuisance to change with the line-of-sight infra-red remote. So the plan is to change the Gen 3 for the cottage 4K one but today I didn’t get it to work. Works just fine connected directly to a TV but not when routed via my 4×4 matrix switch. This switch allows me to select any of four video sources and route it to any or all of four TVs. More investigation is needed.

I thought we’d got rid of the furry animal keeping Bridget awake but today I heard more noise in the house walls so, as suggested by Chris, maybe it’s a large rat. That bodes ill for my media wiring.

Oak Avenue Weather:3.7℃—19.0℃ 0.2mm rain [76.9] TdOx2 eggs=1