Monthly Archives: December 2022

Brunch for us all at Karamu Road Bay Espresso sitting with the dogs in the back garden.

There were a few short sessions of fireworks over the road but nothing like the Christmas displays across the road; Bangle sought me out, shivering, for a while but soon calmed down.

I did not stay up for celebrations and the day actually felt rather flat.

Oak Avenue Weather:13.5℃—20.3℃ no rain [79.7] TdO eggs=4

Moved the “op shop” items onto the empty big trailer and covered it with a tarpaulin. Folded up the table tennis table and at last a large space in which to put excess items from the homestead.

Bridget and I put up curtain rails in the White Room (’tween room’) and the master bedroom; Bridget then put up the curtains. Alex will sleep in the “white room”, Natalie in the “bee room”, and Bridget and Chris and Tux in the master bedroom.

Mark came and spent first half of the afternoon Grillo mowing the homestead lawn and under the big oak. After the break he then helped Bridget and me move furniture and beds in the homestead. Two beds back to the cottage upstairs. A couple of dozen GIB offcuts down from upstairs onto the west verandah as we decide whether they are potentially of use to anyone.

As “Nourish for Nil” is closed over the Christmas vacation period I gave a couple of dozen eggs to Jenny Hendery to find good homes for.

Large chest of drawers from the living room up to the big bedroom opposite the bee room. Kitset white cupboard from that room over to the homestead garage store room. And so on.

Alex and Chris arrived soon after 7:00pm having shared the driving up.

Chris, Natalie, Bridget, and I watched the last episode of Slow Horses series two on Apple+.

Space Now In The Store Room

Long Grass Under The Big Oak

Oak Avenue Weather:12.7℃—28.3℃ no rain [79.7] TdO eggs=5 Mark=4

Bridget suggests we have brunch at Bay Espresso with both dogs in their back garden – which we did. Very pleasant.

Mark came and spent the afternoon just making a start on the luxuriant grass growth over Christmas.

Bridget and Natalie went shopping and came back with more of the curtains we saw yesterday and a long curtain rod so that these can cover the big bedroom’s two side-by-side windows. Then after afternoon snacks on the new homestead west verandah we did a bit more consolidation in the store room. We’ve now finished the consolidation needed to make plenty of room for any furniture we decide isn’t needed as we reorganise the rooms now they’re GIBbed and painted.

Bike ride and walks for Bangle and Tux down on the stop bank.

Skip Of Unwanted Items From The Storeroom

Oak Avenue Weather:11.0℃—23.7℃ no rain [?] TdT eggs=2 Mark=4

Bridget and Tux up early running around on the lawn.

Bridget cleaned the “bee room” bedroom floor and, helped by Natalie, moved the blue Chinese carpet there from the “room at the top of the stairs”. Then Bridget and I measured up the windows in the three of the upstairs bedrooms ready to get some curtains and curtain rails for those rooms.

Later we, Karola, Bangle, Bridget, and me, went into town to get more chook food and some curtains for the homestead upstairs bedrooms. Curtain rails from Bunnings and ready-made curtains of a not displeasing grey/blue material from Spotlight. Last night I spotted that there’s a new Jane Harper novel out called Exiles. Jane Harper of the Australian novel The Dry. so I bought a copy for Bridget at paperPlus. So we have a Jane Harper novel, one by Ian Rankin (Rebus) and one by Robert Galbraith (Strike) so we can read each in turn over the next week or so.

I moved the big trailer with its full load of rubbish over next to the skip and Bridget and Natalie emptied it nearly filling the skip.

Bridget and I put up the new curtains in the “bee room” and, with Natalie’s help. moved the bed from “top of the stairs” to the “bee room” which is where Natalie will sleep from now on. I think it’s the best bedroom in the homestead with its two windows facing east and north and reassuring proportions. It’s the only bedroom with a built-in wardrobe in the old chimney breast.

Karola’s NZ Christmas Tree – Pohutukawa – In Bloom

Oak Avenue Weather:13.9℃23.8℃ no rain [?] TdO eggs=5 Mark=0

Oh yes it’s shopping day again but this time with Bridget who added her needs for the next few days to my weekly list. I know there’s been inflation pushing my weekly bill up from $250 or so to beyond $300 but todays bill took the biscuit, almost $600. We needed two trolleys to wheel the stuff out to the car.

We all had a good walk/ride down at the stop bank and then Bridget and I did a few hours of homestead garage store room consolidation. We over-filled the big trailer with stuff to throw away and have a another Landrover’s worth of stuff for the “op shop”.

After dinner Bridget and I sorted through the bedding and matresses in the bee room; the bee room is now empty of beds and mattresses, sheets, pillow cases, blankets etc etc. Our plan is to do a good clean of that room then make it the pre-eminent guest bedroom with Karola’s chinese blue carpet, the brass bed, and complementary furniture.

Bangle and Tux are getting on alright although Tux has grown a lot and alternates between bouts of sleep and excessive exuberance.

Destined For The Skip

… Another View

Consolidation Making Excellent Progress

Oak Avenue Weather:14.4℃—23.0℃ no rain [?] TdT eggs=4 Mark=0

At lunchtime we heard from Bridget that Natalie had tested RAT negative so it was OK for her to come up. Bridget, Natalie, and Tux drove up arriving around 6:00pm.

We had a quiet day again, another sunny pleasant afternoon in Hawkes bay and apparently a very hot sunny day in Wellington. Up here we had a couple of heavy showers in the morning which has made the orchard a sea of mud yet again.

The afternoon we did the stop bank biking routine and then I tried to tidy up the homestead kitchen and laundry by lugging boxes of stuff left-over from the renovations and decorations; at least there’s a bit more sink-top space now for cooking and so on. Bridget also wanted ice blocks for Tux so I completed the removal of packaging from the Miele fridge and freezer and set the freezer going – the fridge has been live for quite a while now.

After dinner we all traipsed around the paddocks, the orchard being too muddy, and Tux and Bangle got re-acquainted.

Oak Avenue Weather:15.0℃—21.1℃ 9.4mm rain [?] TdT eggs=2 Mark=0

Quite quiet with just the two of us and Bangle.

As arranged with Anna she called us for a FaceTime session from Peaslake. Peaslake turns out to be the house where Marc and his family live, in Surrey and very close to where Felicity Bagenal lives, the recently married Felicity.

With Anna were partner Dave Moss, sons Felix and Barnaby Florent, ex-husband Marc Florent and his twins Sophie and Charlie, Anna’s mother-in-law Barbara Florent, and dog Mudge. Most of the conversation was with Anna, Dave, and Felix. It was delightful to see and listen to Anna in such good spirits.

Later Karola and I chatted with Gill and Ben down in Wellington. Their Christmas Eve’s gathering at Kate and Ross’ place just along the road was a great success. Also there were Ben’s other New Zealand relations Steve and Vicky. However Max Rashbrooke has just contracted Covid which has put a dampener on the intended Boxing Day afternoon with the Rashbrooke clan.

Then checked in with Bridget and they were setting up for a Christmas lunch with all Bridget’s family and Chris’s mother, Annemarie, grandmother of Alex and Natalie. Natalie’s next RAT is tomorrow morning so we won’t know till then whether it’s safe for them to come up on Boxing Day.

A measured day where we went round the orchard and, later, did the stop bank bike ride. We hadn’t seen the youngest lamb for several days so I did a bit of a search for him and he turned up safe and sound.

Bridget’s Tux In Seasonal Garb – Photoshopped Into A Reindeer

The Youngest Lamb – #223R – Fit And Well

Bridget’s Photo – A Kindly Christmas Hint Perhaps

Oak Avenue Weather:11.9℃—23.0℃ no rain [?] TdO TdT eggs=3 Mark=0

Not good news from Bridget this morning; Natalie’s Covid RAT is still showing positive so we agreed the More family will not even try to come up tomorrow but see what the test is like on Monday. As made sense, Chris and Annemarie packed up and drove off down to Wellington so that they at least could have Christmas together with Bridget, Natalie, Alex, and Tux.

Karola has been suggesting for some time that I return to my bike riding along the stop bank instead of the walks. I’ve already put the Subaru load of “op shop” items into the Landrover so I put the bike holder onto the Subaru, pumped up the bike tyres, and loaded it up. We all went down to the stop bank and I did the same route I used to take. It’s about seven kilometres and takes around half an hour. It’s certainly better exercise for me than walking with Bangle and Karola who are comparatively slow.

Rocket Apple Country – The Upstream Endpoint Of My Cycle Ride

Karola’s Christmas Present For Me – A New Pair Of Running Shoes

Oak Avenue Weather:14.2℃—25.5℃ 10.0mm rain [?] TdO TdT eggs=4

Got a call from the laundry to say our’s was ready today, a week early. So later Bangle, Karola, and I popped into Hastings and picked it up.

Chris and Annemarie went into town to the Hastings Whitcoulls for some last minute shopping.

Natalie still showing positive on her RAT so we wait for tomorrow to see whether they can come up for Christmas, otherwise Bridget suggests they aim for Boxing Day.

Campbell Watt of OMC Power Equipment, called and said he’d like to deliver the generator soon, before 16th January when he and the gas fitter intend to meet on site to ensure the installation is agreed and understood.

Watched episodes 3 – 5 of Slow Horses on Apple+ – I’m amazed anyone who hasn’t read the books can follow it. A cracking good show all the same.

Oak Avenue Weather:14.8℃—24.8℃ 0.2mm rain [?] TdO eggs=3 Mark=0

I remarked to Karola, as I watched the mother hen rootling about in the undergrowth with her family, “I hope this one can count”, referring to previous incidents where hens seemed to lose count and not bother to check everyone was keeping up, resulting in high mortality rates. Sometimes triplet mother ewes have the same problem. Sadly, my fear was warranted; we’re now down to one chick.

As to the goings on here:

Imagine, a five bedroom house where all of the bedrooms, and the living rooms below, have been cleared of furniture and wall hangings for at least a mettre round their perimeters. Dozens of pictures and photos taken away, all furniture either jammed together in the centre of the room or moved into another room. All this so that all the walls in all the rooms in the house can be covered in plasterboard, the cracks all plastered by specialist plasterers called GIB-Stoppers, and painted with an undercoat and two top coats. The painting was complete – walls and ceilings and all the wooden architraves etc round doors and windows.

And suddenly its Christmas, and Bridget offers to bring her family up for a few weeks and make us Christmas lunch. And naturally we invited Bridget’s mother-in-law, Annemarie, up for a few days round Christmas too. So where are they all going to sleep – the beds are covered in stuff almost to the ceiling, there’s splodges of plaster on the floors, there are no curtains or blinds on the windows of course.

At the last moment we’re told Annemarie needs to sleep downstairs. Just after we’re told that eldest grand-daughter Natalie has contracted Covid at the Marsden year 13 end-of-school ball. So Bridget’s family arrival is put off day by day waiting for Natalie to test RAT negative – it’s nine days positive today.

Bridget’s husband Chris came up anyway last Sunday as he is in charge of a large wind farm development up the Taihape road – no turbines until next year but they’re busy building roads at present. Without Bridget on site I cook the meals. And today Annemarie flies in, so four to feed.

Today we have one bedroom in a good state – but I did that weeks ago for visits by: Bridget, sister Gill & Ben, and old uni friends the Rashbrookes. So Chris has that room for now. The master bedroom upstairs is at least recognisable – has bed and a few sticks of furniture – but floor is all dust and bits of plaster and there’s no window coverings. Last night it was a rush to clear the furniture from the old front hall so by the end of the evening it had just six book cases and a worn out sad carpet. By lunchtime today it has a bed – brought from upstairs in the cottage, and curtains over the windows at either end of the hallway. The bed even has bedding and is made ready for Annemarie.

Couple that with an ennui, probably in sympathy with Bridget and Natalie both of whom are feeling quite worn down by Covid, quite lacking in energy, I am sleeping for about nine hours a day, beginning around 1:00am.

Late afternoon Bangle, Karola, Annemarie, and I took a stroll along the stop bank and as we returned to the Landrover it just started to rain gently. Well timed.

Oak Avenue Weather:14.0℃—21.3℃ 2.0mm rain [?] TdT eggs=5 Mark=0

Natalie tested positive (RAT) again today so she’ll try again tomorrow.

Karola and I had haircuts over with Kim in Ahuriri this morning. Chris was out in Napier most of the day, among other things looking for a bike shop and for a present for Natalie for Christmas. Bridget back in Wellington with girls and Tux is finding Tux a bit of a handful. We look forward to seeing them all in a day or so.

There were five eggs under the hen and only two have hatched. I felt the others and they were cold so I used them to bait the two cage possum traps.

In the afternoon I put face plates on the dozen light switches and power points that were missing their skins.

Spent the evening emptying the old front hall of furniture so that tomorrow Chris and I can put up curtains and put in a bed borrowed from upstairs in the cottage.

The Two Black Orpington/Light Sussex Cross Chicks

Rather Good Fuchsia Against The Cottage East Wall

Oak Avenue Weather:13.2℃—21.7℃ 0.6mm rain [?] TdO eggs=4 Mark=0

It rained all day. Bangle was delivered to Emma for her six-weekly grooming, then we did the shopping, and returned to pick up the refreshed bangle around 11:30am as planned. We dropped off another dozen eggs at “Nourish For Nil”.

Too wet and muddy to spoil Bangle’s grooming with a walk today.

Two chicks today, one must have hatched overnight.

Natalie still RAT positive so they’re not driving up today.

That rat I saw scuttling across the back of the cottage garage has met its fate. Ordinary wooden trap; one medium sized very dead rat.

Oak Avenue Weather:14.9℃—19.5℃ 25.4mm rain [?] eggs=4

Brett person from FloorMart called mid morning and asked if we’d like the vinyl laid today. Apparently a job due to be laid this morning suffered a power cut opening up an opportunity for us. We’ve been waiting a while and it’d be good to get it done so I said yes. It was the same chap who did the homestead along with an apprentice. This was to overlay the old cork tiles and their rather shoddy polyurethane finish in the cottage kitchen, laundry and attached loo, and around the back door.

I struggled to get all the floor surface cleared and even more when I had to move the fridge into the dining room close enough to a plug to maintain power. Then the clothes dryer and the much heavier washing machine had to be man-handled onto the verandah.

They came, they laid vinyl, and it was ready to use mid afternoon. Meanwhile we rewarded ourselves with a trip to the new site of Rush Munro, in Albert Square on the east side of Hastings on the corner of Karamu Road and Heretaunga Street. Despite being built from three shipping containers they’ve done a good job for the pop-up Rush Munro.

I made a mistake and thought Meticulous Maids weren’t coming today so when they turned up it was a tad embarrassing to turn them away but with the vinyl laying it was all a bit much. Later I offered to pay anyway if Sally Pearce couldn’t fill the cleaning slot at such short notice but she said not to worry.

Chris came back from his meeting on-site at the wind farm development site up the Taihape road and together we put the white goods back in position returning the kitchen and laundry to normal.

Natalie still RAT positive.

Laundry Plumbing And Electrics Ready To Be Unplugged

Our First Visit To The Relocated Rush Munro Now In Albert Square On Karamu Road

Kitchen Vinyled

Laundry Vinyled

… Fridge Still In The Dining Room

Oak Avenue Weather:15.2℃—22.4℃ 4.2mm rain [?] TdO eggs=2 Mark=0

It’s Dave Moss’ birthday today tjough like us I don’t think he makes too much fuss about it any more – been there, done that.

Chris More arrived this afternoon; he’s got a meeting up at his wind farm up the Taihape road tomorrow so even though Bridget and crew are delayed waiting for Natalie to test negative (RAT) he drove up in Bridget’s car today.

I am trying to get the master bedroom in the homestead ready for Chris and Bridget to use once the family come up. At the end of the day it’s a bit bare, needs blinds put up and the floor needs a good brush, and there’s the matter of a few blankets and sheets but otherwise it’s fine.

Master Bedroom – Empty Of Extraneous Furniture But Still A Way to Go

Master Bedroom – Where I Got Today – Needs Some Bedding And Blinds

Oak Avenue Weather:__℃—__℃ no rain [?] TdO eggs=2

Felix birthday and it’s very strange feeling to think he’s now 23 and with a “proper job” working at Mazars. The Kauri tree we’ve planted for him in commemoration of his excellent results at St Andrews, a first in Economics, is growing although it’ll take many decades to become a giant of the forest – it’ll be a sentinel soaring to the clouds a few hundred yards north of the homestead. The backup Kauri is also growing well.

In the cottage garage I’ve tried a conventional rat trap baited with cheese and also a GoodNature detector strip but so far no rat results.

Red Band hen is still sitting tight on her eggs except that today one had hatched. I moved the family into the broody coop which she accepted without question. I hope some of the other four eggs hatch too.

I think I’ll go back to cycling along the stop bank again; seven kilometre bike ride instead of two – four kilometre walk. So I’ve put the “op shop” stuff into the Landrover and put the bike carrier on the towbar of the Subaru, taken the bike down from its rafter hook in the homestead garage and put the bike on the Subaru ready to go.

Felix’ Commemorative Kauri Tree

Henare’s Five Active Hives

Oak Avenue Weather:18.4℃—26.7℃ 6.8mm rain [?] TdO eggs=3

All quiet in the morning. Bridget’s family all much the same so still a possibility the trip to Karamu is on.

Spoke to Jenny Hendery and we’ve agreed to meet at her “op shop” when it reopens on January 8th to see what the shop would accept from our boxes of in-working-order but surplus-to-requirements bits and pieces.

Mark came and, as the breeze was very soft, I asked him to weed-spray the driveways and parking areas before mowing the cottage lawn and curtilage.

Anna sent photos of the “arctic” conditions in Ealing; she is still very busy with work and preparing her house for Christmas.

Anna’s & Dave’s Christmas Tree In Ealing

Ealing Shaping Up To A White Christmas

Oak Avenue Weather:15.9℃—25.5℃ 0.2mm rain [?] TdT eggs=2 Mark=4

Mostly rain all morning and very gentle drizzle well into the afternoon. Too wet for Mark.

I felt like a breath of sea air so dragged Bangle and Karola over to the Clive estuary and wetlands. Strong winds from east, onshore. Very light but persistent rain. Banks of mist and fog to the north.

Sheep let back into the rest of their domain and ecstatic – much galloping around and bleating.

Rat trap set in cottage garage last night but no takers – maybe the rat I saw was just passing through. It’s dry and warm in the cottage garage but there’s no accessible food, even our rats have yet to figure out how to open a fridge.

Down At Waters Edge At Clive – Bangle Not Entirely At Ease With Wave Action

South-East Towards Cape Kidnappers

North-East Towards Napier

Oak Avenue Weather:__℃—__℃ no rain [78.1] TdC eggs=2 Mark=0

As promised Bin Hire Co delivered us a replacement skip although it is very rusty and falling apart so I hope it doesn’t leave a trail of smaller items in its wake through the gaps.

Mark didn’t come today, wisely as it rained most of the afternoon. Mark had set two possum cage traps on the lawn to the north of the homestead in anticipation of Bridget’s visit and hoping to avoid possum fights in the walls and roof space. But today the only catch was a bedraggled myna with its head firmly stuck through the wires of the cage. With some difficulty I squeezed its head back and let it go; it’s lost feathers all along its neck and there is some blood but to my surprise it hopped then flew off with some energy.

Indoors I spent the time trying to remove four loud noise fragments from one of the Wexford videos – only a second or two each but very loud crackle or pop. I noticed them when viewing for the first time on iPad/TV last night but had to re-watch to locate the positions today; even at 1½ speed that took a long time. Having located the imperfections, these are all digitized renditions of private VHS recordings from way back, I then made five videos trimmed to the good bits and merged them back into a single episode. Time consuming.

People can email me again through xtra.co.nz; the problem has gone away for now.

Vivid Hydrangea Display Off South-East Corner Of Homestead

Oak Avenue Weather:14.8℃—19.5℃ 4.8mm rain [?] TdT eggs=3 Mark=0

Poor Natalie, it just ain’t fair. Trying to lead a normal life after exams, Natalie went to the Marsden end-of-year ball and she and three other school friends got Covid. They then went together on a week’s outing on the Kapiti Coast but all became sick almost as soon as they got there.

Bridget offered to ferry out RAT tests to have proof positive that it was Covid, taking Alex with her. The RAT tests were positive. Natalie decided to return home rather than quarantine elsewhere so now it’s very likely that Alex will get it and maybe Chris too. That means the family trip to Karamu may be delayed but more likely is cancelled altogether which is sad.

Weekly shop and delivered a dozen eggs to Nourish for Nil. Mitre-10 for some carpet cleaner spray, four galv. bolts for the dovecote, and a press-down door stopper for the cottage bedroom door. Ever since Karola oiled the hinges over a year ago I have been plagued with the door swinging shut of its own accord and I finally have decided to fix that. Bangle likes to be able to come and see how we’re doing in the night and in particular if there’s lightening and thunder or loud rain.

The so-called urgent option on getting online repeat prescriptions from the Health Centre failed again. I only do it to try and coordinate our trips to town. Anyway this morning there was nothing for me so I called late afternoon and was assured the script had arrived and yes it would be fine. But no, it wasn’t ready when I called in so I put the Zoe through the car wash while we waited.

Didn’t get round to giving Bangle a walk today.

Mark came and continued with renovating the old chest of drawers in the homestead garage while we were out. When we returned and the morning showers had dried off Mark continued mowing the Goose paddock. The little bit of rain we’ve had in last 24 hours will be ideal for grass regrowth.

Mark TXTed while we were out to say that Bin Hire Co had collected the full skip and would deliver an empty one for us tomorrow.

Anthony Fletcher was trying to email me but his mail was rejected. I suspected it was the old “xtra.co.nz” problem whereby my provider, HostPapa, rejects all email sent from xtra.co.nz for a few days having detected bad behaviour (excess spam) from there. I checked with Gill who also uses xtra.co.nz to send mail and she confirmed it. So not a problem with Anthony’s email nor HostPapa servers.

Karola Found This Charming Letter From Anna To Her Granny Way Back in 1977

Oak Avenue Weather:13.7℃—21.7℃ 1.4mm rain [78.2] eggs=2 Mark=4

Electrician Ivan dropped in to say he’d finished all the switches and power points except where the heavy wardrobes stop him from reaching the ceiling rose. I observed that we’d agreed to an extra power point in the bedroom at the top of the stairs so he’ll do that when he comes back to do the ceiling rose. Mark and I moved the two massive wooden wardrobes, taking the white one to the other big bedroom and repositioning the varnished one next to the door. Ivan will now have the necessary ceiling access.

Later this morning widow neighbour Janet Scott from next door called in for a cuppa and to exchange local information (some might call it gossip but where would we be without it).

Mark came and his first task was to empty the big trailer into the skip – all unwanted stuff Karola and I have discarded from the store room.

Called Bin Hire Co and arranged to have the skip taken away and a fresh one left in its place – that’s booked for Wednesday.

Called Bret Person from FloorMart and he is trying to get the vinyl laid in the cottage kitchen and laundry next week.

A lamb squeezed under the half-gate into the Goose paddock – at least that’s what we conjecture – and so Mark popped it back and then I let all the sheep out into the Long Acre. They’ve done a good job getting the grass in the Goose paddock eaten out and Mark’s afternoon main job was mowing the Goose paddock so that what’s left from the grazing isn’t given an unfair advantage over the clover and grass. He’s almost finished that today.

Before Mark started on the Goose paddock I tried to fix the Grillo problem whereby I could not pull out the choke to start it. I had to remove the plastic lid above the choke cable and then by flexing that cable as it wound its way into the engine I freed it up. As is becoming a bit more frequent these days, as I was undoing the bolts holding the plastic casing on I dropped the allen key into the engine which wasted ten minutes. Then when I was reassembling the casing I dropped one of the bolts into the belts and pulleys; searching for that I dropped the allen key again into the machinery, finally dropping the located bolt once again into the rods and pulleys and belts. It all turned out OK but sometimes one does wonder whether it isn’t prudent just to stay in bed all day.

Oak Avenue Weather:12.4℃—24.2℃ 0.2mm rain [?] TdT eggs=1 Mark=4

We were expecting to go to the Free Thinkers Christmas lunch/barbeque today but at the last moment decided against it – the forecast was for thunderstorms and we were still pretty zonked from our sorting and selecting yesterday.

I spent much of the day wrestling with some old DVDs we found in the store room, 2010 recordings of the New Zealand series Duggan starring John Bach and set in the Marlborough Sounds. I had in the past searched high and low for DVDs or streamable copies of this series – intended I think to be the New Zealand version of Morse – but without success.

Delighted with my find, five DVDs with what seemed like a dozen episodes, it was very disappointing when the DVDs failed to copy. I searched for remedies and these included wiping with “rubbing alcohol” (isopropyl alcohol) and trying different DVD readers as apparently their sensitivity to errors was know to be quite variable.

I searched in the cottage laundry medicine cupboard and to my surprise almost the first bottle that came to hand was isopropyl alcohol. Armed with that and some cotton buds and a lens cleaning cloth I wiped all the DVDs and cleaned the DVD reader lens. Still no joy. I tried reading the DVDs using one of my old Macbook Pro laptops which have built-in DVD readers. Success. Well at least I can read the video files off each DVD.

Having started my search of the laundry medicine cupboard I was side-tracked for an hour or so into sorting the contents and discarding out-of-date or expired stuff. Much more room in the cupboard now but I was dismayed at how many repeats of medical and bathroom supplies we have. A disadvantage of having plenty of room to put stuff is that you can’t find what you have and you just buy more because “life’s too short” to go searching.

In the cottage garage this afternoon I spied a large rat as it zoomed across the back, along the window sill and across the tops of the fridge and freezer.

To our delight, as I was crossing the concrete pad outside the cottage garage I spied a bit of plastic rubbish near the drain grill. I stooped to pick it up and was delighted to see it was the missing hearing aid – not obviously any worse for wear being out in the rain for a few days. Lucky we didn’t drive over it. I think that was this afternoon – but it was certainly within a day or two of this entry.

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

We were expecting to go to the Free Thinkers Christmas lunch/barbeque today but at the last moment decided against it – the forecast was for thunderstorms and we were still pretty zonked from our sorting and selecting yesterday.

I spent much of the day wrestling with some old DVDs we found in the store room, 2010 recordings of the New Zealand series Duggan starring John Back and set in the Marlborough Sounds. I had in the past searched high and low for DVDs or streamable copies of this series – intended I think to be the New Zealand version of Morse – but without success.

Delighted with my find, five DVDs with what seemed like a dozen episodes, it was very disappointing when the DVDs failed to copy. I searched for remedies and these included wiping with “rubbing alcohol” (isopropyl alcohol) and trying different DVD readers as apparently their sensitivity to errors was know to be quite variable.

I searched in the cottage laundry medicine cupboard and to my surprise almost the first bottle that came to hand was isopropyl alcohol. Armed with that and some cotton buds and a lens cleaning cloth I wiped all the DVDs and cleaned the DVD reader lens. Still no joy. I tried reading the DVDs using one of my old Macbook Pro laptops which have built-in DVD readers. Success. Well at least I can read the video files off each DVD.

Having started my search of the laundry medicine cupboard I was side-tracked for an hour or so into sorting the contents and discarding out-of-date or expired stuff. Much more room in the cupboard now but I was dismayed at how many repeats of medical and bathroom supplies we have. A disadvantage of having plenty of room to put stuff is that you can’t find what you have and you just buy more because “life’s too short” to go searching.

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

Karola suggested taking Bangle round the orchard in the morning, before the forecast thunder storms and rain. That proved very sensible as we had both in the afternoon including a couple of really heavy downpours – they sounded like hail on the roof.

Tomorrow we expect to go to the Free Thinkers Christmas lunch, this year being held at Fergus & Esther Veitch’s place just outside Waipawa. In preparation today Karola and I took RATs and, as expected, both came out negative.

The afternoon spent in more work on clearing/sorting the contents of the homestead garage storeroom; quite a wrench to throw away lots of papers and photos from our time in England and the USA but this is barely of interest to us let alone anyone else.

Brief But Heavy Deluge

RATs – Still Negative After All These Years

Tables Were Piled High – So Real Progress Today

Second Trailer Load To Be Dumped

First Trailer Load Has Taken Half This Skip

Oak Avenue Weather:16.2℃—23.0℃ 16.6mm rain [?] TdO eggs=3

Monique came and did her last day of painting this year; she expects to be back at the end of January.

Cas TXTed to say Mark was ill and wouldn’t be coming in today – probably OK for Monday.

Karola and I spent the afternoon on more sorting and clearing of the homestead garage storeroom – we are making good progress now so there’ll be somewhere to put overflow from the homestead as we start setting the rooms back into livable spaces.

One chook is still sitting in the chook house on four eggs; maybe the others will get back to work and laying eggs again.

Sheep are somewhat annoyed at being cooped up for a third day in the Goose paddock but they are making inroads on the long grass.

Oak Avenue Weather:14.4℃—19.1℃ 0.2mm rain [?] TdT eggs=2 Mark=0

Electrician Ivan was here this morning and he has now almost finished the final power points and attaching the power and light fittings to the walls and ceiling roses to the ceiling. He couldn’t get to the ceiling in the main bedroom so I’ll have to move the wardrobes to give him access next week.

Painter Monique came too and will finish all she can do before the new year by the end of this week. She expects that to be all the walls, ceilings, and skirtings so if Bridget and I move furniture around we’ll not be covering any areas where Monique needs access in January.

Karola had a dental appointment mid afternoon and I had to uplift another three month’s ration of Karola’s medicines in monthly blister packs from the pharmacy at Stortford Lodge. In anticipation of the “Free Thinkers” Christmas lunch at Fergus and Esther Veitch’s place in Waipawa on Sunday I picked up a pack of six organic gluten free hamburgers from New World. Although not expected until Friday, as we were passing I checked to see if the laundry was ready, and it was.

Mark was busy and didn’t come today.

Bridget let us know how her daughters fared at the Marsden prize giving last night. Both girls have done very well and were duly awarded prizes to make their parents and grandparents hearts swell with pride.

Karola’s sore back seems a lot better today but her troublesome toe comes and goes especially when out walking round the orchard in her gumboots – that seems to exacerbate things but her gumboots are the only footwear Karola finds a comfortable fit for walking.

Oak Avenue Weather:12.5℃—19.5℃ 0.4mm rain [?] TdOx2 eggs=3 Mark=0

Rose early and had a good breakfast with several cups of coffee to beat the power cut. Thermos filled, coffee sated.

Dozed till noon mainly to keep warm as yesterday’s taste of summer has turned overcast and cold – and we have no heating, no water, no loos, no lighting; we really are very dependent on a continuous supply of electricity. Our backup generator is still “on its way” from Christchurch having landed in New Zealand last February. Last I heard it was expected here last week.

There being no power we took Bangle across to the Clive wetlands, picking up sandwiches and coffee from BP’s “Wild Bean Cafe” on the way. Sat on the bench about 200m along the cycle path atop the stop bank and shivered our way through lunch. In fact it reminded me pleasantly of British walks when it was so good to get a breath of fresh air now and then.

I remember with great fondness some of the late spring and early autumn days in England when the sun shone, gentle zephyrs blew, birds sang, it was all very green and peaceful.

Meanwhile Mark continued on the dovecote construction until mid afternoon then he and I yarded up the sheep and put big tags in the ears of the ten replacement ewes and docked the tail of the very latest arrival, ewe #817’s ram lamb #223R. The ten replacement ewes were very strong and almost bowled Mark over several times; I was glad he didn’t break anything battling to keep them still for their ear tags. All the sheep then began a few days in the Goose paddock in an attempt to get the long grass and weeds down a bit.

Ewe #817’s Very Late And Unexpected Ram Lamb #223R

Oak Avenue Weather:13.1℃—16.7℃ no rain [78.1] TdC eggs=3 Mark=4½

Tuesday shopping again; in addition to groceries from New World there was laundry to drop off, my GF bread from Cornucopia, a dozen eggs to go to Nourish for Nil, etc, etc.

We’d hoped to get a haircut booked for Bridget with our lass, Kim, but unfortunately Kim is booked solid until next year.

Mark mowed lawns until afternoon break then he and Karola cleaned the cottage kitchen and dining room windows inside and out.

After dinner Karola accidentally picked up one of my razor-sharp Japanese ceramic kitchen knives, mistaking it for her old, blunt ceramic knife which looks almost the same. She then cut her thumb and we floundered round trying to get bandae to staunch the torrent of blood – actually it turned out not to be so bad but at the time it seemed to be gushing. And as part of that a 300ml bottle of Eucalyptus Oil was emptied onto the cottage laundry floor and trailed into the kitchen. The smell was not unpleasant but very strong so we slept for the night with the back door and many windows open for fear of making Bangle sick.

Oak Avenue Weather:12.8℃—25.7℃ no rain [77.8] TdO eggs=2 Mark=4

Meticulous Maids came in the afternoon and Karola and I worked on more re-arranging and tidying of the homestead garage store-room while they were busy in the cottage.

Still no sign of Karola’s missing hearing aid which she lost sometime yesterday and only noticed at dinner time when she went to put them on the recharger but only one ear had an aid. We cannot decide when she would last have put the hearing aids in as Karola is careful not to wear them outside and on our walks.

Monique came and did another day of painting; Paul also popped in for a short visit and we agreed the little bits and pieces remaining for him to do can wait till the new year – he’s off to his bach by the ocean for his year-end vacation. Today he’s taking an old tractor down to the bach which he’ll use to launch his boat off the beach making launching much easier.

Mark came and mowed lawns all afternoon.

It was a delightful day here weatherwise and not too bad in Wellington either. As Gill remarked:

Not a bad day here – sitting on terrace having coffee. Ben off trudging along the paths at Zealandia. Good apple crop coming on this year and chaffinch singing its heart out

Oak Avenue Weather:9.1℃—23.4℃ no rain [77.9] TdT eggs=2 Mark=4

Bridget and family intend to come up for Christmas on 19th December, slightly later than initially proposed. The family will of course include Tux which means they may need to bring two cars as Tux and Tux accessories need quite a bit of room.

Karola and I did more clearing up in the homestead garage store room but there’s still a lot to do. I hope it wasn’t a result of this that Karola remarked she had a nasty twinge in her lower back, as if she’d lifted something too heavy too quickly. We’ll see how she is in the morning.

Henare and cousin dropped in for some work with his bees and also to get me to print out a form concerning “foul-brood” inspections which he has to get signed and returned to officialdom.

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

I saw a few more moderate sized branches down after the recent gusty squalls – more grist to the mulcher/chipper.

In the afternoon Karola and I made a start in sorting through the heaps of odds and ends in the homestead garage storeroom. We’re making piles for:

• retaining in the storage room
• the skip
• the cottage or homestead
• “op shop” or similar

Had a chat with Bridget and discussed plans for Christmas. Bridget hopes to bring the family up mid December, have a Christmas meal here in the homestead, and leave again around the middle of January. If that goes according to plan it will be splendid for us.

There’s already one bedroom usable (Top of the Stairs), and I expect to get the main bedroom suitable for Bridget and Chris (and Tux) before they arrive. Then we hope to tackle the “Bee room” and the single bedroom in between so that Ntalie and Lexi can have separate rooms and Annemarie can have her own room too.

I spoke to Annemarie and she can come up for the Christmas meal, flying up on Thursday 22nd and back on Monday 26th.

Painter Monique was here for another full day; she begins around 7:00am and leaves around 3:00pm. She was painting in the living room today.

Geese Galloping in For Their Four O’Clock Feed

Kauri With Serious Case Of Droops Now Supported Upright

Ewe #817 With Her Very Late Ram Lamb #223R

Henare’s Bees – Six Active Hives

Mark Has Almost Finished The Dovecote Addition To Pumpshed

Oak Avenue Weather:8.2℃—18.7℃ no rain [?] TdO eggs=3

Quiet day in the orchard and on the avenue; it feels more like the weekend.

Mark got a decent amount of mowing done on the lawns today stopping at the end of the afternoon just as the rain started in earnest.

Tracey sent me a photo harking back to my distant past when I too was an operator wiring up early computers in the Department of Statistics in Wellington. There were a couple of women computer operators but few and far between in those days.

Bangle and I walked down to the Pakowhai Country Park today and I took a couple of photos of the summer activities in the paddocks below.

An Engineer Wiring A Primitive IBM Computer In 1958

Oak Avenue Weather:8.9℃—23.3℃ 5.2mm rain [?] TdT eggs=2 Mark=4