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