Monthly Archives: November 2022

Installer John from Freedom Furniture popped in and put up the new light-blocking blind in the cottage bedroom, replacing the faulty one.

Gill & Ben, after their successful frog census work for DOC in the Coromandel, took off for Turangi at the southern end of Lake Taupo on their way home.

Painter Monique was here for a full day working on the homestead.

Mark didn’t come today but alerted me that he’d set a couple of possum traps near the homestead garage. I checked and he had caught a big one but by the time I’d TXTed him he was out and so was wife Caz. Later when we went down to the stop bank I, cowardly / squeamishly, let it out on the cycle path. I hope it’s not a homing possum.

I happened to glance into the broody coop nest box as several hens and the rooster had taken a look inside. There were five eggs presumably laid over the last three days and, as happens every now and then, I found an egg laid on the grass nearby.

Oak Avenue Weather:__℃—__℃ no rain [78.1] TdT eggs=5 Mark=0

Oh yes, shopping again. A dozen eggs to “Nourish for Nil”. Also bought a new desktop lamp but on getting it home and swapping it for the halogen lamp I had been using in the cottage living room we decided it wasn’t the lamp after all but there is a whiff of a metallic smell in the corner where all the electronics is. Still, it took me a while to decide which lamp to buy until I realised the exorbitant prices for the more stylish ones were that they included wireless charging platforms for one’s iThings etc and sometimes clocks and alarms and other unnecessary stuff.

Ewe #817 and lamb still up and running.

Mark came and did more mowing in the One Acre – he’s finished all the major patches of Californian thistles now. He also buried the green waste and dug a new pit for green waste too.

Oak Avenue Weather:__℃—__℃ no rain [78.2] TdO eggs=1 Mark=4

Today I had three separate appointments with Dr John Beaumont to test the pressure of my eyes. When I last had them tested on 25th October the pressures were alarmingly high, I think 23 rather than 18 as usual. So this set of tests was to decide if I had a problem. All three tests on both eyes came out at 16, in fact my good eye on the last test was a bit less. So, crisis over, we go back to the daily drops I have been taking for years and see Dr John next April.

I was surprised to see ewe #817 with a new lamb today; it seems to be drinking OK so maybe, unlike #909’s twins, this one will survive.

One of the broody hens, the young one that was a chick last year, has broken at least one of her clutch of eight eggs and now deserted the nest. This was obviously precipitated by Mark moving the broody coop into position under the big oak and me buying a large bag of starter feed for chicks.

Mark continued mowing Californian thistle patches.

Henare came round late and did some work on his hives.

Oak Avenue Weather:10.9℃—23.7℃ 2.2mm rain [78.1] TdOx2 eggs=1 Mark=4

Short downpours in the late afternoon and evening.

I spent the day updating my iMac computer; I’ve fallen behind so was upgrading from MacOS Mojave (version 10) to MacOS Ventura, (version 13). A lot has changed including losing support for 32-bit applications and modifying the user interface to have much more in common with IOS. I can see it’s going to take several days spread over a few weeks to get back to a stable state.

Jane & John Johnson were up in Waipawa for a friends birthday party so took advantage of their trip to come and spend the afternoon with us. I regaled them with the saga of the homestead building project and we showed them round.

Silage Making Seen From The Ngaruroro Stop Bank

Oak Avenue Weather:8.3℃—23.7℃ 12.2mm rain [?] TdT eggs=2

A very quiet day, no visitors, no big projects, just reading and snoozing.

Oak Avenue Weather:10.3℃—24.9℃ no rain [?] TdT eggs=2

Gosh, yet another trip into town this week, this time to pick up the laundry … and a coffee.

Spoke to Bridget who seems a little better today and confirmed that Natalie and Lexi have only one more exam each to go and neither of them have Covid symptoms, nor has Chris which is quite miraculous they being all in the same household as Bridget.

Last night in Taupo the downpour struck just as Ben was getting his suitcase from the car into their room at the Boulevard Waters Motel.

Gill & Ben left Taupo after their overnight stop and are now bedded down at the Seaspray Motel, the motel they usually use and like. It is almost on the beach and comfortable too, good cooking facilities so they can prepare their own meals.

Mark came and continued mowing the denser patches of Californian thistles. He also very kindly cleaned up the flakes of chocolate that got smeared ocver the seat and seatbelt of the Zoe when a “Magnum” ice-cream on a stick got out of control. The trick was white vinegar followed by dish detergent in warm water.

The GIB-Stopppers (plasterers) finished the homestead living room today and packed up and left; job done.

Ben As Drowned Rat – Caught In the Short Sharp Downpour When They Hit Taupo Yesterday.

Seaspray Motel On The Coromandel Coast

Oak Avenue Weather:9.7℃—22.4℃ no rain [?] TdOx2 eggs=3 Mark=4

Pretty quiet day; I had a foot appointment in Mahora, the same lady that Karola went to before our trip down to Wellington. First time for me and well worth it – it’s not just the contortions to actually attend your own feet but the less than perfect vision makes it worse. So I plan to continue.

While we were in town I dropped into Briscoes and bought a plastic (“ugh” but cheap) box for putting recyclable paper in to replace the black tub I have been using which has started to crack and split due to ultraviolet brittling, at least that’s what I assume.

Mark came and did some more mowing but fled when the downpour arrived. He got thoroughly soaked.

Oak Avenue Weather:11.5℃—23.5℃ 3.8mm rain [?] TdOx2 eggs=1 Mark=1

Mark took a raincheck today. Builder Paul and electrician Ivan dropped in to add another power point which required ferreting inside the wall of the new upstairs linen cupboard.

Karola’s primary school teacher, Margery Cobbe, is a great organiser and arranger so when she sent an email to Karola saying she knew Karola had been at Brian’s funeral but hadn’t spoken so she hoped Karola and I would be at the Friendship Club’s lunch it was like a royal command. So we went to Greenhill Lodge, about 20 minutes away into the hills behind Flaxmere. We belong but rarely attend the Friendship Club monthly meetings. The same goes for the Hawkes bay branch of the New Zealand Royal Society, the NZ Tree Croppers Association, the Hawkes Bay Coeliac Society, and more.

So we set off soon after 11:00am, had a pleasant time with a buffet lunch in the shade on the verandah of yet another large old Hawkes Bay homestead. This one had been at various times a luxury country hotel, a farm house, and where the Queen Mother stayed for a bit of R&R during her visit to New Zealand aeons ago.

The rest of the day was very quite as we dozed and read.

Oak Avenue Weather:12.6℃—23.8℃ 7.4mm rain [?] TdOx2 eggs=2 Mark=0

We retrieved Bangle from her holiday up at Tracey & Graham’s yesterday afternoon so that I could get Bangle to her grooming appointment this morning at 9:30am. I nearly forgot and suddenly remembered just 30 minutes before we needed to leave.

Quite exciting moment driving over to the grooming as a plastic empty 2-litre milk bottle suddenly blew into our path and jammed itself in the driver’s side wheel arch making a horrid loud scraping sound as it did so. After a bit, when the sound didn’t stop, I pulled over and after a bit of going backwards then forwards I managed to unjam it and we went on our way.

Mark came and continued mowing; the grass is really shooting up with this combination of rain and sunshine with warm temperatures.

Anna is in touch over WhatsApp as is Dave who sent the amusing photo below.

Oak Avenue Weather:9.9℃—28.1℃ 3.0mm rain [?] TdO eggs=1 Mark=4

After a very successful visit to Wellington, staying at Gill & Ben’s in Seatoun, Gill decanted us at the departures gate at the airport in plenty of time for our flight. Up above the clouds but flight was pleasantly uneventful.

Got home and caught our breath by 1:00pm and then Mark drove me up to pick up Bangle. Bangle, who ran over to Tracey and the other dogs with such obvious pleasure when she arrived, was at least very pleased to see me and happy to get on the back seat of the Landrover for the trip home. Seemed content to get back into her familiar routine once home.

Only incident was that Mark fed the chooks just as one of the broody ones was off her nest getting a bite to eat and probably a drink. Thinking she’d deserted her nest he took all her eggs home. I advised him to take care in case some of the eggs which had been sat on for at least ten days might contain a bit of a surprise. Tonight all three hens were back on their nests with one hen brooding eight eggs and the others three eggs each but two of those three are fake eggs in both cases.

Oak Avenue Weather:11.6℃—24.4℃ 0.2mm rain [?] eggs=0 Mark=4

Another leisurely start and then we went down to the shoreline and walked along the beach, sunny and a brisk wind, well this is Wellington, and very pleasant.

Ben pointed out some skink lizards along the track; I think we spotted about seven in all. In Nelson as a primary schoolboy I was very engaged by skinks and used to catch them frequently in the water mains stop-cock holes – little excavations in the pavement outside most houses with a metal top that controlled the water supply. I’m sad that we see no lizards nor any frogs at Karamu which I put down to the abundance of cats mostly. When our family came from nelson to Miramar in Wellington I upscaled my hunting expeditions to gekko lizards which were abundant in the clay banks along the roads dug into the hillside along Miramar peninsula.

On the way back from our walk Ben and I dropped into the local Noel Leeming hoping to try on some Apple watches – but they had only one watch out on display. We then went to Palmers where we got coffee and Gill bought some cakes for afternoon tea.

Gill and Ben gave us one of Gill’s lamb stews for dinner and we watched the last of the Wexford programmes on my DVDs – apparently Disney has bought the rights to the rest and they’re not available on DVD nor on rerun TV channels.

Mark TXTed again to say the new lamb twins had died overnight which is not such a bad thing because having lambs so myuch smaller than the rest is a bit of a nuisance.

Oak Avenue Weather:14.0℃—24.3℃ 0.8mm rain [?] Mark=1

Up late but Gill and Ben took us to the lunch appointment in Darlington Road, Miramar in good time where we joined up with Anthony Fletcher and Annette Offenberger. Anthony is an old friend of ours since 1960s. Tony has house sat for us in the past and visited with his tribe to join in the Art Deco celebrations in Napier a couple of times. Annette Offenberger has known us about as long but in addition she is sister to Peter Offenberger, Gill’s “ex”, who lives up here in Hawkes bay and whom we see quite often along with his wife Charlotte.

A good meal and friendly helpful staff. Not too crowded but quite a hubbub although not enough to inhibit conversation. Mid-way through the lunch Tony presented me with a small parcel despite the usual “no presents, just your presence” rule. I was flabbergasted, it was a vibrantly coloured pair of underpants – a brilliant surprise.

Mark TXTed from Karola to say ewe #909 had surprised us with new born twins. That rascally lamb who escaped the chop has much to answer for – well seven lambs to be precise.

Last night we watched Simisola, an Inspector Wexford TV series from long ago in England. Some weeks ago I ordered DVDs containing 17 Ruth Rendell TV programmes, three of them featuring Inspector Wexford and they arrived on the day we flew down to Wellington so I brought them with me. This evening we watched Road Rage leaving Harm Done for tomorrow night.

The Annual Lunch

Ben Took This Photograph

Anthony Fletcher’s Very Unexpected Birthday Present

Oak Avenue Weather:13.9℃—25.4℃ 2.2mm rain [?] Mark=1

Spent the morning just getting ready to go down to Wellington. Got more petrol and diesel for the machines, Paid next Sunday’s bills in advance.

Seems strange without Bangle.

Snacks in the airport then off on our hour flight down to Wellington. As Ben organised, we alighted and got our bag off the conveyer and then TXTed Ben lurking on a nearby street outside the airport. He waited for the TXT and then motored in to pick us up incurring no airport fees and wasting n time.

Quite a feast for dinner; the fish & chips and salad followed by berry friands and cream, tea and chocolates. Then we watched the entire series of an old English TV programme featuring Inspector Wexford based on a Ruth Rendell story, Simisola.

Oak Avenue Weather:15.2℃—21.2℃ 1.4mm rain [?] eggs=0 Mark=4

9:30am and John the blind installer arrives as expected. He quickly assessed that the blind had a manufacturing fault and took it away to be replaced. John also measured up the other window in the cottage bedroom so that work can begin on that second light-excluding Duette honeycomb blind.

Popped Bangle’s things in the Landrover ready for her trip up the Taihape road this afternoon. Also took her for a walk round the orchard. I weighed Bangle today and she’s 19.2kg – a bit too heavy.

Mark came at lunchtime as usual and:

• checked the sheep and their water troughs: all present and correct
• drove me and Bangle up to 3307 Taihape road, about a 40 minute drive, to drop Bangle off at Graham & Tracey’s place. Bangle appeared to remember them and seemed delighted to be there with them and about five other dogs including two other visitors. We had a cup of tea and chatted for quite a while.

Plumber Jacob returned and quickly completed the servicing of the Hynd Waste Management system for another year. For reasons undisclosed the alarm is now working properly too.

The Input Inspection Pipe Exposed

Oak Avenue Weather:15.9℃—22.9℃ 1.4mm rain [77.8] TdO eggs=2 Mark=4

Jacob came from Hawkes Bay Plumbing to give our Hynds Lifestyle Waste Management system (modern septic tank) its annual checkup. Together we located the plug at the end of the drip lines laid in shallow trenches across the paddock in front of the cottage. Jacob found that the overflow alarm in the cottage coat cupboard lit up when supposed to but did not buzz. He also could not locate a 200m diameter plastic pipe sticking out of the ground with a plastic cap – the intake for the primary management chamber. He and I searched high and low in the hedge and undergrowth near the tank. At my suggestion Jacob began excavating the roof of the primary chamber which itself is entirely buried about 300mm down.

Still no joy. Now Jacob’s predecessor was Leith who left Hawkes Bay Plumbing just before Jacob joined; I thought Leith might remember so called Hawkes Bay Plumbing but they didn’t have his contact details and apparently he’d gone free lance so there was no alternative business to call. Receptionist suggested looking at the file in case there were plans carried across from when Copas, bought out by Hawkes Bay Plumbing years ago, installed the unit. I left her to do that and wondered if the design drawings might be part of our building permission document when we did the cottage. James, a helpful guy at Hastings District Council, dug out the plans from 2011 and emailed me them. Sure enough, pages 90 – 97 were the Hynd specifications with photos.

Mark came and continued mowing, with a break while he excavated the roof of an underground part of the waste management system. Mark filled three wheelbarrows with gravel and clay while searching; he didn’t find the pipe but did find a small inspection manhole. I let Jacob know and he came back. Jacob tried to photograph the upper inside of the primary chamber without success so I suggested using a short stick to sweep round inside the chamber just below the roof, assuming he’d feel an obstruction when he hit the pipe. That worked. Jaob then searched in the bushes directly in line with where he’d sensed the obstruction. Stream of muttered curses; ther it was, in plain sight – how could we both have missed it. So he’ll be back tomorrow to finish the job.

Mid afternoon Shannon came from Classic Kitchens to measure up for the little panel needed to fill the gap above the new drawer dishwasher, and to try and match up the paint with the now faded white of the original 2012 installation. Talking to Bridget in the morning she said that a better plan might be to do the in-fill with a bit of metal mimicking the front panel of the dishwasher itself. Shannon agreed and so that’s now the plan.

My email to Sharlene of Freedom Furniture last night, asking for yet another window blind and moaning about how difficult the last one is being, paid dividends. Sharlene is dispatching John, the installer, to come and fix the blind tomorrow. Sharlene agreed she would expect the blind to hang level right out of the box, and tshe’d been told by the manufacturer that due to various shortages they’d changed some of the components – but she didn’t know about the screws becoming coach screws so was pleased to get that information. And our next blind will be installed for free.

Bridget’s Unwanted Tall Dressing Mirror, In Our Cottage Bedroom

Oak Avenue Weather:15.8℃—24.9℃ 0.6mm rain [77.7] TdOx2 eggs=0 Mark=4

Yes, shopping in the morning as usual on a Tuesday. Mark came and began the mowing marathon, it’s quite amazing how quickly the grass has grown several inches. Today Mark got the cottage and curtilage done and under the big oak.

I took Bangle for a quick trot round the orchard before breakfast and we all went along the stop bank for another two kilometres late afternoon.

Lunchtime it was dental checkups for Karola and me; Karola has one filling replacement and to my surprise I had no problems.

Later there was an appointment in Moera for Karola’s “facial” in preparation for our visit to Wellington on Friday – and the woman also does feet as well so I’ve an appointment to see her in a couple of weeks time. One does become less dextrous with age and so having someone who can see to cut my toenails is probably wise.

The black-out honeycomb blind turned out not to be quite so simple to install as I’d hoped. I tried for an hour or so this afternoon and have got it hanging quite well and raising and lowering as expected but I cannot see how to make the blind reach the window sill so it is letting a few inches of light in at the bottom.

Oak Avenue Weather:13.7℃—19.6℃ no rain [77.7] TdOx2 eggs=3 Mark=4

In to town for new farm boots, not the steel capped ones but the more comfortable slip-ons – old ones sole peeled off. Also, to Diamond Drycleaners where we took back about 20 black plastic hangers and a change of sheets for wash/dry/fold. Had another trip to Farmlands to try and sort out their overcharging on the lamb tags for this years crop and to order adult tags for the ten replacement ewe hoggets.

Mark came and started by continuing painting of the old chest of drawers until I co-opt him to help wiht the tree felling. He hoisted me up in the bucket of the old Fergie so I could cut the trunks into about two metre lengths which then fell to ground without hurting anything.

Mark’s new puppy came with him and stayed in his car, it’s called Heathcliff.

Mark has agreed to chauffeur me and Bangle to and from her holiday with Tracey and Graham up the Taihape road on Thursday and next Monday.

Frank Wilson, up from Wellington, dropped in for afternoon tea and a chat, filling in time while his wife Marina played in a golf tournament nearby.

One Tall Dead Tree Demolished

Second Dead Tree, Ditto

Oak Avenue Weather:13.1℃—19.7℃ 2.4mm rain [77.8] TdO eggs=1 Mark=4

Most of the day was sunny in patches but mid evening the rain came down.

Annemarie called and said she was sorry but she didn’t think she should be risking Covid in restaurants and we quite understand. More than most of us she is clear of Covid and must stay clear.

So I wondered who I could ask in Annemarie’s place and thought of Annette Offenberger – sister of Peter Offenberger who was Gill’s first husband. Annette has accepted, as has Tony Fletcher so we have a balanced table for next Saturday’s lunch.

I continued on my quest to fell two very tall dead lacebark trees in the triangle with the rainwater tanks. Yesterday I topped one of them and most of the second but today I cut off the remaining high leader of the second. I did all this cutting at the full extent of our extension ladder and with a Silky pruning saw – no chainsaws for me at that height.

Walking along the Ngaruroro stop bank downstream it feels like summer – today we went as far as the entrance to Pakowhai Country Park, about 4km round trip. It was quite warm and Bangle puffed a bit, enjoying some water when we got back to the Landrover.

Later Karola and I popped back down to the stop bank and I chainsawed up some branches that had fallen over the track – pure altruism, I don’t know what came over me.

Lumberjack? No, A Plump Woodsman

Felt Quite Precarious

Ngaruroro Stop Bank Downstream – Early Summer’s Lush Flood Plain

Ngaruroro Stop Bank Approaching Pakowhai Country Park

Willows Fallen Across Cycle Path

Willows Cleared Away

Oak Avenue Weather:12.6℃—25.4℃ 2.2mm rain [77.9] TdT eggs=0

Prudently we’ve decided not to cross the More threshold for a few weeks, until all signs of Covid have left the building. Gill & Ben have offered Karola and me a bed for the weekend and we’ll go to a local restaurant in Miramar for a lunch on the Saturday. It’ll be the four of us and we’ve invited Anthony and Annemarie.

Got an email from Harvey-Norman and I agree to their offer of $130 refund for the dent in the dishwasher drawer. Their alternative was to come and replace the front panel but my experience of such replacements is that somehow they don’t quite sit right – so I’ll take the $130 and be grateful.

Rain at night and early morning turned into a beautiful sunny day.

There are two tall dead Lacebark trees amongst a thicket of smaller dead ones in the triangle where the rain water tanks live. Rather than wait for nature to take its course I am going to cut them down so they don’t fall on a rain water tank nor on my precious Puriri tree. Karola thinks it’s a job for the professionals, and strictly speaking she’s right, but I see that as a challenge.

It is highly imprudent as well as illegal to use a chainsaw whilst perched precariously on a ladder several metres up in the air. So, using our long ladder, the aluminium extension ladder, I climbed up as high as I could and used a pruning saw to cut off the branches up there. I probably need to take off another couple of metres before chain-sawing through the base but that’s for another day.

Bangle And Me On The Ngaruroro Stop Bank

Amazing Double Rainbow Snapped By Geoff Robinson’s Grandson Alex

One Dead Lacebark Sliced Off At The Crown

Oak Avenue Weather:14.0℃—24.4℃ 3.2mm rain [77.8] TdT eggs=1

Sad news today that Bridget has tested positive for Covid – her RATS result posted below. Sounds as if her worst day was yesterday so we ernestly hope she recovers quickly. There is now the waiting to see whether or if others in the family get it too. The family gathering on 20th may be disrupted, we shall see.

The forecast is for rain beginning around 9:00am, not just 40% chance of rain but, by 11:00am, 100% chance of rain forecast until nightfall. Seems it got this day pretty much right.

We went out after lunch, another of Gill’s delicious pre-cooked meals, to pick up the laundry, deliver a small bunch of rhubarb stalks to Peter & Charlotte in Havelock North, and get a few bits and pieces from New World.

Otherwise a quiet day.

How Green It Is

Bridget Succumbs – The First In Our Extended family

Oak Avenue Weather:11.8℃—18.4℃ 2.4mm rain [77.8] TdO eggs=1 Mark=0

Two chooks still broody on their nests. Went down to stop bank but a sharp wind made it not so pleasant and Bangle rebelled after a short distance. Instead we did a circuit of the orchard later.

Mark going to stay home with his dogs, especially the new puppy, until next week.

Oak Avenue Weather:11.8℃—18.4℃ 2.4mm rain [77.9] TdO eggs=1 Mark=0

Morning taken up by the trip over to Ahuriri near the Napier port for our hair appointments. Not particularly cold but drizzle and cloud made it a sombre day.

Blue Band has ceased to be broody so I shoved her five eggs under the remaining two broody hens just in case they survive the neglect.

Caught up with Sunday’s neglected chores and also:

• Called FloorMart and asked for them to begin the laying of vinyl on the cottage kitchen and laundry floor
• TXTed Jimmy Rural (James Russell) and asked how his hunt for a new ram for us was getting on
• TXTed builder Paul and nudged to get the GIB-Stoppers back to do the living room

Ahuriri By The Napier Port – A Quiet Day

Oak Avenue Weather:__℃—__℃ no rain [77.6] TdT eggs=2 Mark=0

Weeks shopping today of course.

I have been using the daily eggs to give each of three broody hens four eggs to sit on so there’s no eggs today for the food bank.

Mark TXTed to say he was getting a new puppy today from the pound and wouldn’t be round here this afternoon.

On our walk round the orchard with Bangle we bumped into a tractor with a half-rotary-hoe tilling the soil along each row on either side. I’ve seen this before, allegedly it’s to destroy the habitat of hatching larvae of some beetle which would otherwise crawl up into the tree and pierce the young apples rendering them unsellable.

After dinner I rejoined the aerating drip into the bath/pond because without some water flow it would stagnate and might kill my precious if illegal oxygen weed. I was planning on moving the bath/pond over to the Camelia with the other bath but it’s going to be a while I think.

Not sure it’s that exciting but Gill reminded me of tonights eclipse of the moon and the so-called “blood moon”. I’ll take one final look tonight in a moment.

Weird Ploughing Along Each Side Of The Apple Tree Row

“Air-gapped” Connection From Natural Head Bore To Bath/Pond Aeration Trickle

… “Air-gap” Sealed, Unwanted Upwards Tee Stoppered Unusually

… But The Aeration Trickle Works

Oak Avenue Weather:11.8℃—21.1℃ no rain [77.9] TdO eggs=0 Mark=0

Karola and I had a long conversation with Anna and Dave in Ealing over Facetime; it was very good to see and talk to them again. They still expect to come out here for a holiday next year. It was Monday morning here but of course Sunday evening in Ealing.

Karola had a phone call with Joan Phillips up in Hamilton. As per Karola’s conversation with Joan’s ister Ruth yesterday, they plan to come to Hastings for the Horse of the Year show next March and they’ll be welcome to stay here.

I used the new cottage dishwasher for the first time today having read the user guide. Turns out if you don’t want anythign fancy it is pretty simple to operate. I have not investigated the WiFi capability – I didn’t even know I had it until the manual pointed it out.

Mark came and I asked him to do a survey of the paddocks, their fences and gates, and the sheep troughs. Some battens need fixing on the Scott’s boundary – tractor damage Mark thinks. Mark also interrupted his survey/audit to mow the cottage lawn.

Oak Avenue Weather:__℃—__℃ no rain [77.8] TdOx2 eggs=3 Mark=4

For a change went over to Clive and walked along the wetlands. Ideal day for it, sunny, light breeze, and cool.

On returning home we met that white Muscovy duck sitting in front of the cattle stop. It flew clumsily away into the Long Acre as we bumped over the cattle stop.

After The Dull Browns Of Winter – Bright Green Reedbeds

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

Quick walk with Bangle then off we went to Fergus and Esther Veitch’s lifestyle block just outside Waipawa. They are hidden away up Racecourse Road.

My first attempt at locating them with Apple Maps was not perfect, there are a gazillion New Zealand towns with a Racecourse Road, these days usually leading to a disused or re-purposed racecourse. and initially I got directions to 108 Racecourse Road on the southern outskirts of Waipukurau but it was an hours drive so I looked again and found 108 Racecourse Road, Waipawa a more likely 34 minutes away. Their several acres are a couple of kilometres up Racecourse Road, just beyond the railway line, up hill along a thickly overgrown narrow driveway invoking feelings of privacy, mystery, and nature.

We were introduced to the Veitch three alpaca’s, wethers with names beginning with M. They were friendly enough but disdained human touch although wolfing down morsels of willow leaves, apparently a strong favourite of theirs. And to their chooks which I suspect are retired Shavers, being brown and otherwise like a small Leghorn.

For now the Veitch’s have felicitous views from their house, from its rather delightful northern facing deck, and their sleep-out. A view of tree thickets, large old, gnarled sentinels, and thick shrubby under-storey topped by glimpses of rolling pasture beyond. Sadly the town is encroaching but with luck the railway embankment, their still growing trees, and the hillside behind will shield them for a decade or so.

Fergus is a man of many sheds and a large vegetable garden, eschewing British garden fanaticism for simple growing of useful produce. Esther is a long time teacher of ballet and seller of ballet perquisites; she is Swiss and charming. Fergus looks Scottish but is irrevocably Kiwi and has a bent for electronics. Both are so far Covid free.

All in all a very enjoyable visit and we hope to invite them back here before too long.

Oak Avenue Weather:10.0℃—22.3℃ no rain [77.6] TdT eggs=3

Off to the regular quarterly visit to the GP, Dr Richard Jamieson in the morning. Karola comes for company and to have another pair of eyes while I’m driving. As hoped, but by no means predicted, my health indicators are stable as they have been for many months: heart rate, blood sugar, cholesterol level, weight.

Mark came at noon and continued on his list of tasks from yesterday including tidying up various depressions in the ground, trenches that were filled and have since subsided a little.

Karola and I got ourselves presentable and went off very early for the 3:00pm funeral over at St Lukes in Havelock North. It was a good service as funerals go; Brian and Margaret Cobbe, their five children, sixteen grandchildren, and eleven great-grandchildren, were/are a model of extended family warmth, support, and happiness, and underpinning that was Brian, the father. There was one other person I knew who joined our pew, Peter Offenberger.

Karola & Ian – Off To Brian Cobbe’s Funeral

Oak Avenue Weather:11.2℃—25.9℃ no rain [77.3] TdT eggs=4 Mark=4

Highlight of the day was our annual skin tests searching for melanomas caused by New Zealand’s virulent ultra-violet rays. No issues, no changes.Dr Patterson again remarked on my “alabaster skin”; I think thats the masculine equivalent of having the complexion of an English Rose – very pale.

Mark mended the gashed irrigation and water trough pipe damaged by someone in the orchard whose tractor or implement pushed into the boundary fence stretching the alkathene main that runs the length of the boundary between Karola’s orchard and our houses and paddocks. By pulling the alkathene pipe from the north it forced the pipe through one of the galvanised U-clips holding it firmly against each fence post. the edge of the clip acted as a knife, slicing into the pipe.

He then continued with a long list of little things until we got back after the Health Centre appointment. He and I then spent an hour mulching up branches (Mark) and chainsawing into firewood (me).

The Slice Out Of The Alkathene Pipe

Broken Post Where A Tractor Pushed Against The Fence

One Of Several Broken Fence Battens

Oak Avenue Weather:14.7℃—29.0℃ no rain [77.2] TdT eggs=3 Mark=4

Plumber Dean didn’t come till mid afternoon which gave us the opportunity to pop into town and see if Cory’s, a big electrical wholesaler, had the bolts I wanted for light switches and power points etc. Mitre-10 were selling them at $1.40 each; Fast Trade had similar bolts for $2.00 each. Cory’s give them away for free. That compensated for my injudicious purchase of two punnets of raspberries and more delicious asparagus – well we happened to be passing.

Mark came over at noon and spent the afternoon on my plan for completing the dovecote portion of the new cottage pump shed. I was busy with Dean anyway so couldn’t have helped with the mulching and with the Fergie driving the Italian mulcher one feels having someone else in attendance is the prudent thing to do.

Meanwhile Dean installs the new Fisher & Paykel single-drawer dish washer and points out that the door has a noticeable long dent at the edge of the door. Annoying but not worth uninstalling and demanding a replacement. It was Dean who spotted the dent in the Miele fridge too. He has an eye for such things.

Brand New And Dented – Sigh

Oak Avenue Weather:11.4℃—29.7℃ no rain [77.1] TdT eggs=2 Mark=4

OK, yes another shopping expedition. And no, the plumber didn’t come but maybe tomorrow.

Took eggs to new location, Nourish For Nil’s building at 1004 Karamu Road North, so not very different from before Hastings Food Bank amalgamated with Nourish For Nil last week. They are open for deliveries from 7:00am – 2:00pm.

Tried to get some of the screws/bolts that one uses to attach the face plates to recessed electrical wall switches and the like. I tried the electrical department but they only sold these screws individually at $1.40 each. So I went to the nuts and bolts and nails and screws but they, despite their hundreds of different threads and lengths and diameters did not have them – you have to get them from the electrical department. Somewhat disgusted at what seemed a simple trap to make us pay more I walked out and instead visited Fast Trade in Wilson road. After much searching they came up with a bolt with the right length, pitch and so on but the head was a bulky square one like a coach bolt and these were $2 each. I’ve resolved to go to an electrical wholesaler as they surely must have these scfrews in quantity at a reasonable price. The item I’m after is a 6/32 UNC x 1¼ inches.

Mark came and did “pick up sticks” with tractor and trailer for an hour while I had lunch and prepared to dock the last three lambs. Together we docked them without incident, one ram lamb and two ewe lambs. The hogget mothers, these were accidental births because one of my 2021 wethers wasn’t. In addition the ear tags on the these hoggets have lost their numbers or fallen out so it’s hard to know who is who let along who belongs to who. We’ve decided that the three late lambs are: #220R from $107E who has no button tag at all; #221E from #111E who has a button tag which has lost its writing; and #222E from #113E whith button tag showing “13”.

After the break we attached the mulcher to the Fergie tractor and Mark began mulching up branches in piles under the eucalypts while I started chainsawing up the larger logs.

Today I decided to let the eggs laid today under one of the broody hens stay. The plan is to let them accumulate a few eggs and I hope hatch them out. Esther Veitch said that if we had any chickens going spare they’d like some replacements for their four hens which are getting on a bit. I got no replies to my online request for fertile Australorp eggs that I sent to three different farms advertising them over a week ago.

Oak Avenue Weather:11.8℃—22.1℃ no rain [77.4] TdO eggs=3 Mark=4