Monthly Archives: February 2023

Got an email today from Julian of Small Farm Services. He’s agreed to lend us a Suffolk/Texel cross ram for 50 days beginning at the end of March. It’ll cost $200 and we have to transport it to and from our property.

Mark took a rain cheque today, not surprising because it’s been raining gently all night and most of the day. The paddocks appear green but actually there’s about an inch of water everywhere and the ha-ha is over half full.

It’s Tuesday so our weekly shopping day but being wet we took the Landrover as a precaution. We needn’t have worried, all roads were fine. First we dropped Bangle off at Emma’s for her six weekly grooming. We got fresh fish from Saltwater Seafoods on the corner of Karamu and Grove Road, the continuation of Frederick Street which comes down from Pakowhai Road. New World wasn’t very busy and many shelves were bare, obviously they’re having some supply problems. No “baby Cos lettuce”, in fact no bags of lettuce at all. No round green beans. No kamo-kamo. No low-sugar tinned peaches and no tinned pears at all. Karola’s favourite bread, Vogel spelt & flaxseed, hasn’t been available for weeks. No “drawstring rubbish bags”. No litre bottles of full-cream milk. The list goes on.

As usual, picked up my GF bread, some cash for Mark, and dropped off eggs, two dozen today, at Nourish for Nil.

We took the shopping home, not forgetting to pick up coffees and BLT sandwiches from BP’s Wild Bean Cafè on the way and then switched from the Landrover to the Zoe to go and pick up a clean, shiny, happy, Bangle.

No walk for Bangle today, it seems a pity to undo her grooming straight away and the orchard is wet and muddy and our other usual walks are still closed due to cyclone Gabrielle.

Rangiora (Brachiglottis Repanda) Have All Died Due I Think To Wet Feet

It Looks Green But Conceals Almost An Inch Of Water

Runoff Fills The Ha-Ha Again

Mrs Californian Quail Found Apparently Trapped Inside A Tree Guard

Mrs Californian Quail’s Nest Only Spied After I “Rescued” Her

Oak Avenue Weather:15.1℃—18.2℃ 26.0mm rain [78.1] eggs=2 Mark=0

Started raining gently mid morning and has contimnued all day. By nightfall surface flooding was beginning to appear.

Electrician Aaron came today; he’s been flat out since Valentine’s Day on mending problems far worse than ours with the generator and getting around has been slow due to traffic volumes and damaged roads. He saw that the starter battery was flat and is charging that overnight, expects to come back and find out if the generator is still operable tomorrow.

Aaron and electrician Ivan both urge me to get the generator repositioned much higher up, out of the way of much worse floods to come.

I called our insurance broker, Dean Sewell of Hurford Parker and explained our potential claims due to Cyclone Gabrielle: the backup generator may be irrepairable, there are four big trees across the driveway, two more across the track to the Front paddock and two more across the track that damaged the grass bridge over the main drainage ditch aka ha-ha.

It’d be nice if we could get some financial help with clearing those trees away and meding the property they damaged.

I called Keith Macaulay and let him know we’d be needing paperwork, including GST, as he works on clearing those trees.

Meticulous Maids came mid afternoon and we left them to it, the three of us going into Hastings and picking up a MYLK meal and some vegetables to complement it from New World.

On the way home we dropped in on neighbour Janet and had a long chat about our adventures during and after the Valentine’s cyclone. Janet has not only broken her wrist again but also strained her back so she’s on pain medication and very uncomfortable most of the time. However she explained she had support people coming in daily doing what they can. Janet was very pleased we dropped in.

I asked about the chainsawing of the big elm tree that was uprooted in the cyclone and fell at right-angles to the avenue, right alongside her garden fence. Peter Wiffin, her neighbour on the other side, has chopped it all up and taken it away as firewood but it’s taken a while and so Janet is well fed up with the chainsaws whining away all day.

Gill sent photo of the land above their house, adjoining the roadway, which was a tangle of weeds until they took things into their own hands and, with help from gardening business Living Planet, created order out of chaos.

The Crucial T-Bar Mending The Break In The 133 Gate

Landrover Parked Right Outside Cottage. Again, Just In Case

Gill & Ben’s Seatoun Heights Council Frontage Finally Cleared And Mulched

Oak Avenue Weather:15.3℃—18.8℃ 10.2mm rain [78.9] TdO eggs=5 Mark=4

Bangle woke me at around 3:30am and I let her out. She stayed out for longer than usual but returned of her own accord after about ten minutes. She asked to be let out again at around 8:00am and this time disappeared under the house. I got fed up with waiting so left the back door ajar but she was still outside a few hours later so we went looking for her.

Meanwhile I cleaned up a small amount of vomit Bangle had left on the dining room carpet – I think she’s unwell.

With the gates shut she can only be in the cottage garden or under the cottage. I spied her under the house but at first she wouldn’t come out. I left it for another hour and this time she did reluctantly drag herself out to me. I shut the gates letting her under the house and for the rest of the day she barely moved; she drank a lot of water initialy but then searched for shade and just flopped down breathing heavily. We were quite worried given our experience with Bracket (poisoned) so sat out on the lawn with her most of the afternoon.

Late afternoon I carried her inside and plopped her on the sofa, sitting beside her until dinner time. At that point she cheered up and got off the sofa, had some dog biscuits, and slowly came back to life. This evening she is behaving as usual, lying in her favourite spots and looking relaxed, so, fingers crossed, she seems to have worked through whatever it was.

I suspect the Bravecto Chew For Dogs which is usually safe but records a variety of side effects on the occasional dog. If Bangle had not recovered her usual joie de vivre by tomorrow morning I was going to get her to the Vets.

Francis Wier rang this morning from Nelson, just for a chat. Turns out he unhitched from Sasha a couple of years ago but visits his daughter Nina weekly. Sasha had a mob of teenage girls when Francis married her but he has only the one daughter with Sasha.

Forecast heavy rain yesterday and today did not eventuate. More forecast for mid week and end of week.

Oak Avenue Weather:11.3℃—26.0℃ 0.2mm rain [78.5] eggs=5

Sometime in the morning the skip truck came (Bin Hire Co 06-870-0844) and took our skip away.

Chris Ormond dropped in late morning to see how we were and whether there was any more chain sawing he could help with. He also mentioned his older brother Tom Ormond was looking for six weeks for his family while some renovation and mould eradication was done on his house. We said Tom should call us; depending on when it was we’d like to help.

Keith Macaulay also dropped in – he’d copied my phone number down wrong he said so had been unable to contact me. As I suspected, he’s been waiting for parts for his big chainsaw. Anyway Keith said he’d just been made redundant by his employer, Bayley Produce in Twyford, who were hit hard by the Ngaruroro flood, so he has plenty of time to tackle our fallen trees.

I tootled down towards the river along Ormond Road and took some photos of the flooding damage the other side of the Evenden Road crossroads.

Ormond Road On Way To River

Karola’s Orchard Unscathed

Oak Avenue Weather:__℃—__℃ no rain [?] TdO eggs=4

End of another week with more warnings of severe weather although this hasn’t turned up yet and the iPhone forecast for Hastings puts it at only 50% chance of rain this weekend anyway. It rained a bit in the night and water level in the big roadside drain is a foot or so deep, 300mm that is, which is reflected in the similar water level in the ha-ha.

Yesterday’s MYLK meals didn’t appeal so instead we had fish&chips yeaterday and MYLK today. Beef lasagne and even Karola admitted it was quite delicious. While out we spoiled ourselves with raspberries for supper from New World. Dropped in on BP Wild Bean Cafe for coffee and a sandwich and then on to Farmlands for some chook wheat. We were lucky, it had finally arrived this morning they said. As it happened Garmlands were giving away barbeque sausages and bacon butties – presumably for a farmers’ mental health effort – and i snagged a buttie each for me and Karola: white bread, fried egg, bacon, and meat pattie. It turned out that Karola had the sandwich and Mark and I ate the luke-warm grease-laden butties.

Mark came at 10:00am and, after unloading the big trailer with all its preserving jars back into the cupboards in the cottage garage, he carried on with the dovecote and the renovaion of a chest of drawers. I have been unable to contact the Catholic Māori girls boarding school who could be interested in having them and we need the big trailer to begin clearing the fallen foliage and mending fences.

My replacement iPhone cover arrived today, the old one was coming apart at the seams.

The radio was still insisting we had a good chance of another weather event so Karola and i popped the sheep into the One Acre as the safest place for them overnight. Wether #202 has been looking poorly for a few days but, surprisingly, is still alive – he even walked/staggered over to the Long Acre paddock with the others. So we gave him a dose of Coopers Alliance drench, (withholding for meat of 14 days) a good lot of (ancient) Keytol “pick me up” and liberal pour-on of Zap to discourage the flies which were bothering him.

Karola decided Bangle might have fleas because she had been scratching a bit recently so we popped down to Farmlands again, got some fresh Keytol. They were out of the flea/tick medicine for medium-sized dogs so we zipped off to the Vets and got some there. Bangle is now protected with Bravecto Chew For Dogs for three months against all sorts of parasites.

There’s news of more flooding up the road in the Esk valley with mandatory evacuations and the stop bank repairs for the Ngaruroro river are at best temporary so we’ve fingers crossed that the rain mostly misses us. The only heavy shower today was a few minutes after I’d begun a trot round the orchard with Bangle; we both got soaked.

This evening got an email that this year’s HOY show has been cancelled – first it was the pandemic, now it’s the weather. Very hard on competitors and visitors who’ve booked/prepared.

Ha-Ha Water level Matching The Roadside Big Ditch

Still Marvelling At the Himalayan Spruce Burl

Oak Avenue Weather:12.3℃—18.7℃ 13.6mm rain [77.9] TdO eggs=1 Mark=4

Very light rain began before daybreak and continued most of the day, getting stronger as darkness fell. We went on a quick walk round the orchard in light rain around lunch time but apart from that we mostly stayed inside and read or watched TV. We did a dash to get fish & chips for dinner late afternoon and finally tonight I got the Landrover filled up and the usual petrol and diesel cans replenished. Parked it outside cottage close to the breezeway again, just in case.

A chook laid in the rhubarb nest despite the rain but three others laid in the chook house.

The NZ Met Services website warns:

Heavy Rain Warning – Orange

Impact: Heavy rain may cause streams and rivers to rise rapidly. Surface flooding and slips are also possible and driving conditions may be hazardous.

Area: Hawke’s Bay

Period: 48hrs from 10am Thu, 23 Feb – 10am Sat, 25 Feb

Forecast: Expect 150 to 200mm of rain about the ranges and also away from the ranges north of Hastings (this includes the Esk Valley area and the Wairoa District), and 75 to 100mm elsewhere. The heaviest falls are likely from 3pm Friday, with peak rates of 20 to 30mm/h possible.

Oak Avenue Weather:__℃—__℃ no rain [?] TdO eggs=4 Mark=0

The truck to remove the skip didn’t come yesterday nor today; I called and it’s scheduled for tomorrow.

A man and a woman, both with clip boards knocked on the door mid morning, checking for cyclone damage.

Keith Macaulay has not reappeared since his morning’s work on Saturday, perhaps he’s waiting for a part for his big chainsaw.

Mark had such trouble on the roads yesterday getting from and to his home in Napier that today he tried coming for 10:00am and leaving at 2:00pm. The switch certainly worked for the trip to us in the morning.

Yesterday Mark noticed a chooks nest amongst the rhubarb in one of the raised beds with three eggs in it. Today another three eggs plus one in the chook house.

Mark Mends The 133 Wooden Gate

Oak Avenue Weather:13.2℃—28.6℃ 1.2mm rain [77.8] TdO eggs=4 Mark=4

Seems that most people have power and communications again. Napier-Hastings highways are still very blocked due to one-way sections. Our weekly shopping went unhindered although some ityems like bread were in short supply – bare shelves. We were late getting going which can’t have helped.

Mark came, delayed by heavy traffic on the Expressway and him diverting to go via Clive. After a spot of mowing Mark and I cleaned the cottage garage so not only have we got rid of most of the clutter but it’s now swept.

Talked to Jenny Hendery about our store of empty preserving jars and the copper cooker for them. She suggests contacting Kura (Te Kura Kaupapa Māori o Te Ara Hou), a community college at 22 Wycliffe St in Napier, off Kennedy Road in Onekawa, (06-843-4600).

I called them over the last three days and today i got an answer. Apparently they are being used as an emergency evacuation centre at present so I’ll probably call next week. And I’ve found out that the place i want is a Catholic Māori Girls Boarding School in Napier (06-844-8461).

Mark found a nest of chook eggs amongst the rhubarb today – I wonder if this is going to be a persisting feature.

Clean And Tidy Cottage Garage

Oak Avenue Weather:13.0℃—26.4℃ no rain [78.0] TdO eggs=3 Mark=4

Ivan the electrician dropped in and we chatted about the local crisis / disaster. Ivan is sure that the fatalities are much higher than on the media, and later I confirmed with Chris via Bridget that indeed the deaths are in the tens if not the low hundreds Ivan was reporting. Ivan gave us green beans; I gave him half a dozen eggs.

Gill’s Ben hurt his back (again) while mountaineering around Zelandia, that is going on his regular three hour tramp. Staff got him out on a buggy and he is recovering at home.

Mark came and did a survey of the fallen trees and branches. He then mowed the cottage lawn before beginning on the other lawns. Grass didn’t stop growing just because of a little surface flooding.

Mark had agreed to take Karola, Bangle, and me over to Bulls for the 1st April Wilson’s gathering – to “beat the bounds” of the original Ngaio block and take in the Wilson-oriented sights of Bulls. But Bridget intends to come too so she suggested she could swing by here on her way and bring us back. She and Tux that is. Be quite a car-full with two dogs and three adults.

Oak Avenue Weather:10.7℃—26.0℃ no rain [?] TdO eggs=4 Mark=4

This afternoon Peter Offenberger picked me up and drove me over to Taradale to Karl Matthy’s place for our monthly meeting of the “free thinkers”. Expressway was open all the way and the only hold-up was on return, and only a few minutes. The session was even more free form than usual and the group of seven of us shared our experiences and tales about last week’s cyclone.

Stories of neighbours and friends pitching in and helping others were very heartening though the stories of looting less so. None of our group were seriously inconvenienced though most of them were without power for days and cell-phone connectivity likewise. Most of us had improvised with camping gear or almost forgotten emergency kits and most had been out assisting others less fortunate after cyclone Gabrielle had blown through.

At Karamu the sun was shining, the temperature moderate, and things very quickly looking as if no cyclone had passed through. Except for the downed trees and fences.

From Ngaruroro Expressway Bridge – Looking Downstream

From Tutaekuri Expressway Bridge – Looking Downstream

Oak Avenue Weather:__℃—__℃ no rain [78.0] TdO eggs=2

Chris Ormond came round as he’d offered and did several hours chain-sawing of the smaller but signigficant branches along the 121 driveway. Chris brought our newspaper in so Hawkes Bay Today is delivering again.

A little later Keith Macaulay came and began attacking the very large oak from the corner near the cattle stop. The whole root mass was up in the air and he cleverly sawed that off and dropped it back into its hole.

Today I staked up my favourite Puriri which was on a terrible lean after the cyclone. This Puriri is between the 133 driveways and I hope it’ll become a feature tree with canopy shading both the driveways.

I also set the little fan heater going, drying out the backup generator. I won’t leave it running at night but over the weekend will give it plenty of drying time.

In preparation for moving discs of the oak trees blocking the 121 driveway I started up the old Fergie and drove it from the eucalypt grove to just inside the cattle stop.

Oak Avenue Weather:9.7℃—23.1℃ no rain [78.0] TdO eggs=3

My goodness how the land has drained quickly. Ha-ha down to a few inches deep. Most of driveways dry – well no standing water anyway.

Karola had a doctor’s appointment mid morning so we went in together leaving Bangle to mind the cottage. On the way home we got coffee and BLT sandwiches from BP’s Wild bean Cafè in Stortford Lodge. No newspapers but at least they’re serving coffee again. I forgot to get chook food from Farmlands.

After lunch we tootled back to Stortford Lodge Farmlands and I got maize but they were out of wheat. I also purchased new #6 women’s & youth’s Red Band gumboots for Karola – Karola claims her old boots have a leak. Farmlands EFTPOS wasn’t working so they were writing down all purchases and only for current card-holders.

Long chat with Campbell Watt in Christchurch the upshot of which was that I needed to get a cheap fan-heater and air out the generator for several hours. Meanwhile Campbell would contact the electrician Aaron and ask him to come round and test the generator after its flooding. The generator must be raised up to avoid a repeat and builder Paul is probably the best person to organise that.

So back we went into Hastings and got a cheap bathroom fan heater plus some new rugged long-length gardening gloves. We popped down to Karamu Road and saw that Seawater Seafoods was open so got some snapper for dinner – it was very fresh and delicious.

On our way back to Karamu we thought we’d see if the Ngaruroro stop bank walk was walkable and then we saw the destruction of many apple trees and the acres of thick silt mud on the paddocks. The water had receded back down Ormond Road but ended in a half kilometre stretch still under water.

Chainsaw was whining away on Ormond Road near us and whe I investigated it turned out to be Keith Macaulay (021-126-4396) from over the road. He and I surveyed our fallen trees and he’s agreed to chop up the oaks blocking our 121 driveway beginning tomorrow. If that goes well then he’s got the opportunity to chop up the two fallen conifers behind the solid wooden fence and then the Himalayan Spruce and neighbouring Cedar. It’s possible he could then cut down the grove of eucalypts, big, tall trees that threaten always to fall onto the road and be a real nuisance – hence the possibility I’ll take preemptive action.

North End Of Ormond Road – Submerged On Tuesday

Oak Avenue Weather:11.6℃—20.6℃ no rain [78.1] eggs=2 Mark=0

Considerable drop in water levels today; ha-ha gone from brim-full to about 150mm deep. Paddocks still squelchy and little lake round the chook house but we can get to vehicles and get in without getting wet feet – although getting to the letter box still requires gumboots.

Chris Ormond came round after lunch and we surveyed the fallen trees on the 121 driveway. He’s offered a hand to clear with a big chainsaw but even he was daunted by the size of the fallen oaks and the huge weight of trunk and branches making it very dangerous to cut up, the wood is under considerable tension and if you misjudge where the weight is being supported it could be fatal. Chris plans to come back on Saturday and cut off some of the smaller but still substantial branches; he thinks that forestry-level macinery will be needed to move the main trunks and branches.

Chris’ business is in crisis. The CO2 shortage means he can’t brew any beer – his main occupation – and now this cyclone has disrupted his supplies and his chef is stranded in Napier, unable to get back. Apparently while the highway 50 expressway has been closed since the Tutakuri burst its stop banks, another crossing was briefly reopened this morning. A lot of people rushed from their homes to the other city to attend their businesses only to be trapped in the wrong place when the bridge closed again due to safety concerns.

Rang MYLK (pre-prepared Thursday meal) but they said as Napier is cut off from Hastings, highway bridges impassable, they can’t get supplies to their Napier kitchen and Napier can’t get meals to Hastings. And anyway Napier kitchen is still without power. Should I ring again next week? Probably will take longer than that to get back into action. Hastings MYLK does have a few frozen meals left but the shop is to open at 11:00am and when these meals are gone, that’s it. Napier have apparently lost all their meals, including the frozen ones.

Got a call from Cornucopia saying that my Tuesday order of GF bread was available so we picked it up. Apparently my bread order was the only one to get through today – probably because it’s the only one baked locally.

I got an email from Farmlands saying that the Hastings branch had re-opened.

This morning we got cell phone coverage again and this afternoon we got Internet access although the landline phone which shares the Internet connections is still dead.

Oak Avenue Weather:14.0℃—22.3℃ 1.0mm rain [79.1] TdO eggs=1 Mark=0

Got some groceries at the Four Square in Frimley; New World is still closed, BP Wild bean Cafè still not serving coffee and has no newspapers. Not only is the Evenden Road crossroads open but the Expressway roundabout is open even though the expressway north is itself closed. And the Avenue, Ormond Road, has been reopened, the council having cut up enough of the dozen large. tall, old oak trees that were felled by the cyclone.

Evenden Road Crossroads – Straight Ahead

Evenden Road Crossroads – Look Left

Evenden Road Crossroads – Look Right

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

On Monday night rain had set in and the wind was gusting strongly – though no worse than a strong winter storm. I’d refueled the Landrover and parked it up against the cottage back door. The sheep were penned in the Long Acre which along the fence-line has a slight elevation compared to the rest of the paddocks. Chooks were all in their house and a lake was forming round it. I went to bed upstairs in the cottage, fully clothed, to where I could hear and be woken by any serious increase in the cyclonic activity.

At 3:50am I was woken by a loud crash; the rain was falling heavily and incessantly and the wind was howling in the trees and round the building. However there were no accompanying sounds of breaking glass or rending walls or roofing material so I ignored it and went back to sleep. Soon after 4:00am I retired to my usual bed downstairs where the insulation is so good that you’re not aware of the outside world, only the gentle occasional snoring of a sleeping Karola. At 7:00am I woke with a start because of a loud persistent buzzing. It was the waste management alarm which goes off when the system is flooded. I turned off the alarm and looked outside. Still very dark and I could see water swirling round the cottage verandah steps and across the breezeway to the garage. The lawn appeared to be flooded front and back.

After day break and breakfast I sloshed over to the Landrover, water didn’t quite come over the top of my gumboots, and went out to see what was happening. I drove past the farm shed and up to the corner, looked right, and was astonished to see two enormous oak trees lying across the driveway. Turned left and gingerly drove the Landrover through foot-deep water to the 133 gateway and up onto Ormond Road. Looked left; a large eucalypt lay across the road, coming from Matt Saunder’s property opposite. I looked right and saw massive oak after oak after oak lying in my path.

Late morning both the eucalypt on the left and the first oak on the right were made passable. It being our weekly shopping day Karola, Bangle, and I set forth in the Landrover via Evenden Road crossroads and the Expressway. As we soon found out most shops were shut due to lack of the EFTPOS electronic payment (depends on the fibre network I believe) and in most cases lack of electricity.

BP had no coffee, no newspapers, and was only accepting cash for fuel payment. New World was shut. On the way home we passed Countdown and it was open. The car park was full with a queue; there were hundreds of people jostling to get in. I went in and go thoroughly disoriented as it has a very different layout to New World and I din’t know where anything was – and lots of shelves were bare. The checkout queues were horrendous, every customer checking out a mountain of groceries. With the crush of people and the time spent waiting while they coughed and spluttered their way forward in the queue I, who had forgotten my mask, thought it inevitable I’d catch covid in this fetid environment.

Finally off homewards, retracing our steps. Oops, the Expressway is closed. The Expressway roundabout with Evenden Road is under water. The Ngaruroro has broken its stopbank about 10km upstream at Omahu village.

And, as expected, Ormond Road is closed and we can see oak after oak lying across the road. So, Baldrician plan, we carry on to Raupare Road intending to slip in to our place from the rear – McNab Toad is a spur off Raupare road that ends up at Karola’s orchard. But about a kilometre along Raupare Road we were stopped by a fire engine across the road. Apparently the road had been undermined by flood waters and was caving in.

Retraced our steps to Ormond Raod and dodged the “road closed” bollards to see how close to home we could get. At the first downed tree we ducked right into Golden Oak orchard and followed the roadside fence from inside the orchard. Came to a drainage ditch too deep to ford so turned right again and followed it all the way down to the Expressway fence. The ditch petered out leaving just enough room for us to sidle across and return donw the other side of the ditch, ending up in Matipou Orchard packing shed and from there back out onto Ormond Road. Delighted, we turned towards home.

Oh bother, there’s one more fallen oak in our way. So we turned left into Kelson orchard and spent the next 20 minutes trying to find a way out on the other side of the tree. We were very lucky not to get trapped between rows of apple trees and eventually got back to where we’d gone in.

Left the Landrover parked by the impeding fallen oak and scrambled over the huge trunk – Bangle slipped underneath – and walked the 200-300 metres to our 133 gateway. Water about a foot deep (over 200mm) stretched from the gateway to the cottage. Bangle gave me a baleful stare. I picked up 17kg of wet dog and marched through the water across to the cottage.

Next Baldrician plan was to take the Subaru Outback – like the Landrover, 4-wheel drive and higher off the ground than most cars – back to the blocking tree, carry the groceries over the tree from the Landrover and return home.

But first I thought I’d take a look at where the Ngaruroro flooding had got to; it was up to Rupert Ryan’s house and the Delegate’s winery entrance much as it did in the 1976 Ngaruroro flood. A group of locals with their 4WD vehicles were there discussing the flood. One of them said, of course you could still get out if you wanted, So he led a caravan of 4WD vehicles back on almost the same pathway I’d taken, with the important addition of a segue between a couple of sheds thak allowed you to go one more orchard further along, past the final obstruction.

I retraced my steps in the Subaru, walked back to the Landrover and drove it home.

Another incident, worthy of much schadenfreude, concerned the brand new, as yet unpaid for, electricity backup generator. The generator was installed and tested out last week after almost two years of waiting, just in time for Cyclone Gabrielle. I had not even been instructed in its use. Campbell Watt, the vendor, based in Christchurch, was able to monitor its behaviour from afar. According to him the generator started up just after midnight on Monday night, 13th. It stopped a few minutes later. That matched the grid power cut of a few minutes. The grid soldiered on until around 7:00am then another power cut began. The generator started up but almost immediately stopped – but the power cut continued for another several hours. Seems the generator was broken. Not surprising when we noticed there was a couple of inches (50mm) of water inside the generator. Some idiots (including me) had built the concrete pad for the generator only 100mm thick. Pad thickness, 100mm. Clearance inside the generator, 50mm. Flood water depth, 200mm. Oh bother.

We were very fortunate that the power came back on and we’ve had continuous electricity since then. However the principle is well established; 40,000 households are without power in Napier and some will not be reconnected for a week or more. So, power is up , cell phone network is down, Internet connection is down. We have water (electric pump), heat & hot water (heat pump), light. It could be a lot worse.

The Cottage Lawn

Cottage Kitchen View

121 Driveway – First Obstacle

121 Driveway – Second Obstacle

133 Entrance – Looking Left

133 Entrance – Looking Right

Generator – Rain Stopped Play

Ngaruroro River Breaks Its Banks

Oak Avenue Weather:15.6℃—17.7℃ 68.6mm rain [79.6] eggs=2 Mark=0

Gentle rain most of the day but started getting a bit wilder by dinner time. Too wet for a walk with Bangle. Did take Landrover to Caltex and fill up, just in case, and parked it outside cottage back door.

Listened to many episodes of something Anna recommended, a radio series called Cabin Pressure. Excellent actors and gently amusing. Reminded me a bit of Annika which Anna also recommended.

Robin Harrild, Geoff Robinson, and Dave all asked how we were faring under cyclone Gabrielle; so far it’s been quite disappointing as even with the heavy rain tonight it’s nothing unusual.

Oak Avenue Weather:15.0℃—17.7℃ 68.6mm rain [?] eggs=1 Mark=0

Max’s attendance at a wedding yesterday saw him returning to Karamu not much before midnight. This morning after quite a late start we chatted with hom again before he set off back to Wellington. Max borrowed a book from Karola, a biography of Katherine Mansfield.

Max returned several Mick Herron books that we’d lent his dad, Geoff Rashbrooke.

Media information overload about cyclone Gabrielle continues; it looks as if the Coromandel and parts further north are feeling the storm but we’ve barely noticed it here as yet. However Karola and I put the sheep into the Long Acre where they can stay for a few days. Should there be serious local flooding we can drive them from the Long Acre into the garden from where they can climb up on Karola’s 150 metres pile of green waste – her Bund, a compost heap that is almost a metre high. We also cleared the cottage kitchen verandah and the breezeway of stuff that might fly around and we took all the recycling to the Henderson road transfer station.

Oak Avenue Weather:14.9℃—20.4℃ 13.0mm rain [?] TdO eggs=1

Max arrived around 7:30pm last night and, warned by a TXT from Max when he got close, I got back with the fish & chips just before Max drove in the gate. We had pleasant evening just chatting until around 10:00pm.

This morning we surfaced mid morning and then all of us went over in Zoe to Bay Espresso for brunch. Karola and I listened to Country Life at 7:00am then several of Kim Hill’s interviews one of which was with Eleanor Catton, author of The Luminaries (2013 Booker prize) and now Durham Wood. As a consequence we went to Bay Espresso via PaperPlus in Hastings and bought a copy of the new book; Max bought one too.

Karola, Bangle, and I went down to the stop bank for our walk as there was a cool breeze and enough clouds to be pleasant. I thought I saw a ragwort (Jacobaea vulgaris) on the side of the stopbank and knowing it’s a poisonous weed that is easily spread i cut it down with my tiny pocket knife. In later conversation with Gill she confirmed it was ragwort.

Our Guest, Max Rashbrooke, Only Son Of Felicity & Geoff

Ragwort – Poisonous Weed On Stop Bank – I Cut It Down

Orchardist’s Row Of Hops – From Stop Bank

Oak Avenue Weather:12.9℃—22.7℃ no rain [?] TdT eggs=1

Max and partner Adèle were due to come up today for two nights but Adèle dropped out. Max arrived around 7:30pm and we had a jolly fish & chip meal with a salad made by Karola. Lively chat as usual. Max is due to stay tonight and Saturday night; he’s attending a wedding tomorrow.

In the morning I went off without Bangle or Karola to the Health Centre for my usual quarterly health check. Apparently my wrist pain is more likely to be some bruising of a tendon plus a touch of arthritis rather than Carpel Tunnel. But I’d done the right thing by taking anti-inflammatory plus mild pain killers. Wrist support can give immediate relief but doesn’t help with any longer term cure, said my GP. He sent me downstairs for a wrist x-ray.

On the way home I stopped at Stortford Lodge, the pharmacy for my meds refills and BP for coffee and sandwich. Once home Karola and I sat out on the cottage kitchen verandah and had our lunch of coffee and BLT.

Late afternoon we all went to Pakowhai Regional Park for a walk under the trees; it was quite a warm day. Several other dogs and owners, the most we’ve ever seen while walking there but not enough to spoil our walk.

Prior to Max arriving I put the recycling out of the way in the back of the Landrover. Karola and I also put all her preserving jars on their sides in the big trailer, resting on some old carpet and weighed down by more carpet. I then put the big trailer in the homestead garage out of harm’s way for now.

Oak Avenue Weather:12.8℃—21.8℃ no rain [?] TdP eggs=2 Mark=0

This morning we all tootled off to Tainui Reserve, the Havelock North walk in the bush. Met several owners and their dogs, all very pleasant and quite chatty.

Then, as planned, I bought the pre-cooked meal of the week from MYLK then some more fruit and vege from New World, picked up the laundry from last Tuesday, coffees and sandwiches from BP’s Wild Bean Cafe, then home.

Mark called in with a strained back muscle – which probably means next week at the earliest unless its very quick to come right.

Mid afternoon got the Landrover, hitched up the big trailer with its load of potential Op-Shop goods, and drove over to Jenny Hendery’s (Mark’s mum) as planned. Mark had lashed the load down with tarpaulins yesterday and the lashing was good, no flapping sheets and airborne trinkets as we barrelled down the expressway. A very enjoyable afternoon with Jenny & Noel – afternoon tea then unloading the goods then another tea.

Red Feather Found On Path Under Tall Pines – Tainui Reserve – About 3cm Long

Glass From Cottage Garage Enroute To Recycling

Oak Avenue Weather:10.3℃—25.8℃ no rain [77.8] TdH eggs=2 Mark=0

Mark came this afternoon and removed the broody coop to its storage place in the Goose paddock. I wondered how the hen and chick would take to that but at dusk I shooed them and they went willingly over to the big chook house. Over the enxt 20 minutes as chooks went to bed there was a lot of jockying for position, quick pecks and squarks, but when I left them all were inside the chook house. Chick seemed quite happy going up the ramp, though the first time it got chased out again promptly, so I think the couple of times we moved them after dark from the broody coop to the chook house helped.

Mark also mowed the cottage lawns and surrounds and began work on fixing the 133 gate.

It was quite warm so karola suggested we walk with Bangle under the trees in the Pakowhai Country Park. Not too many people and all pretty friendly. One odd thing was that the Raupare Stream which meanders through the park was discoloured and full of floating weed. Imagine my surprise when I saw it was the same oxygen weed I’d been searching for – which I got by taking some from Rush Munro’s goldfish pond. Today the weed was floating downstream in big bales. Oxygen Weed (Lagarosiphon major) is obviously freely available locally.

Did a little Hastings shopping on the way home, including tubs of Rush Munro ice-cream

What Has Happened To The Usually Clear Waters Of The Rapare Stream

Ah, I See The Source (In The Distance)

Mechanical Aquatic Weedeater

Oak Avenue Weather:11.8℃—29.5℃ no rain [77.4] TdP eggs=1 Mark=4

Well quite a hectic day as it was weekly shopping, fortnightly laundry bag, cash for Mark, eggs to “Nourish for Nil”, fresh fish from “Seawater Seafood” – this all interleaved with our joint six-monthly visit to ear-nurse.

Today I had no problem dropping off the eggs at “Nourish for Nil” and was assured by one of the volunteers that despite their emphasis being the left-overs from big supermarkets, my dozen eggs were appreciated.

Mark took a rain cheque today.

Mid afternoon I got call saying that the metal straps intended to mend the 133 gate were ready so we popped back into town and picked them up, then on to Mitre-10 for ten 120mm M10 bolts and a pair of washers per bolt. As we had Bangle in the car and were halfway there we continued on to the Havelock North walk in the Tainui Reserve. Not many people and pleasant walk mainly under trees. Picked up fish&chip meal on the way home.

We finished vetting the cottage garage stuff destined either for the “op shop” or the dump and the “op shop” stuff is now all on the big trailer ready to take over to Jenny Hendery’s place when we go over for afternoon tea on Thursday.

Tainui Reserve – Stand Of Rimu With Strange Root Nodules

Tainui Reserve – Coming Back Down The Track

Tainui Reserve – With Bangle As Front Scout

Oak Avenue Weather:14.2℃—28.7℃ no rain [77.6] TdH eggs=3 Mark=0

Continued the cottage garage spring-cleaning. Those preserving jars will go to Karola’s “summer house” (assuming no earthquake tonight). Lots of glass jars and bottles to go to recycling. Small trailer laden with more stuff for the skip. Even found an elderly packet of chocolate thins, unopened, several years old.

Cottage Garage Spring-Clean – Nearly There

Oak Avenue Weather:18.8℃—30.9℃ no rain [?] TdT eggs=3 Mark=0

Pretty warm and so most of the day spent reading inside with Dyson fan wafting cool air and drinking lots of water

Flights For Anna, Dave, and Felix

Willows Screening Of Orchard Shed Are Impressively Tall – View From Orchard Side

Oak Avenue Weather:18.5℃—28.9℃ no rain [?] TdO eggs=3

After listening to the Saturday morning edition of Country Life on national radio and breakfast the rest of the day was aimed at the cottage garage spring clean and we made good progress.

Tonight Karola and I moved the mother hen and chick to the chook house and shut them in with the rest of the flock. I notice that last year’s chick is still perched away from the rest so the originals are not very welcoming; I wonder what’ll be the fate of this year’s chick.

Gosh it was hot today, over 30℃ in the middle of the day.

The gas generator unexpectedly began running around noon but turned off not long afterwards so I guess that’s just the occasional test run it’s supposed to do to make sure all is in good working condition.

Spring-Cleaning The Cottage Garage

Oak Avenue Weather:17.8℃—29.3℃ 0.2mm rain [?] TdO eggs=1

It seems we’ve been going into town almost every day this week; I can but hope next week – which is a short week because of Monday’s Waitangi Day holiday – will be less peripatetic.

We retrieved the “wrong belt” from Outdoor Power, got some fresh gurnard for dinner from Seawater Seafoods, checked on the status of the metal braces to mend the 133 gate (nearly ready), got some fresh vegetables from New World, and some more clothes for Karola. Yesterday Karola observed that buttons are quite difficult for her to manage – which should have been obvious to me much earlier – so we popped into Farmers and got a couple of cotton tea-shirt styled tops. No buttons.

Mark dug the next “Death Pit” and did some more work on the dovecote extension to the cottage pumpshed. And “poof”, there’s another day slipped bye.

Oak Avenue Weather:19.4℃—26.7℃ no rain [?] TdO eggs=3 Mark=4

Generator team came in the morning and by mid afternoon they were finished. Campbell called me and said they were done, it’s all tested and working as expected. He wants to WhatsApp with me next week to go over the maintenance procedures – he’ll be in Christchurch. As part of helping electrician Aaron decide on how to give the generator internet access I discovered I cannot get onto the homestead office WiFi network; my notes say to use the MAC address and I tried both MAC addresses on the ISP router without success. Hmmm.

Meanwhile we had a busy day:

• buy a replacement belt for the Grillo – turns out I bought the wrong one but I think I have a spare of the right one already so no harm done. I dropped it off at Outdoor Power but as fate would have it Craig’d finished the Grillo early and it was sitting at home already. I do have to pick up the wrong belt from Outdoor Power and fit the right belt myself which isn’t a big deal.
• go with Karola for her appointment with ophthalmologist Liz Insull – good news is that Karola’s vision is almost the same as it was back in February but that there’s some fixable after effect of the cataract surgery which does detract from the shiny new lenses. In two minutes Liz lasered the problem away so we’ll see if there’s any discernible change tomorrow
• a little light shopping at New World
• buy our MYLK meals for tonight
• go with Karola to TopToToe for her facial, manicure, and pedicure
• buy some tea-tree oil for Karola for her feet
• Ian’s quarterly blood test

Mark came and did some more thistle spraying, dragged the two fallen branches in the Goose and Long Acre paddocks up to the big fallen branch near the gate into the orchard shed area. He checked that the sheep are all present and lively and also started the old fergie tractor and ensure the chipper/mulcher is working after being out in the elements for a month.

Late afternoon it rained so I postponed Bangle’s walk.

Generator Installed (That White Cable Is Temporary)

Oak Avenue Weather:18.0℃—24.5℃ 0.2mm rain [?] eggs=3 Mark=4

Mark took a rain cheque today.

As expected Campbell Watt called on his journey over from Palmerston North with the new generator – he called from around Norsewood.

In the afternoon popped down to Moera to “TopAndToe” for a bit of podiatry. It’s a bit of a luxury but contorting to DIY your feet is not so easy these days.

Soon after we got back Campbell Watt arrived with the generator and it wasn’t long before the mini-crane guy arrived with his fascinating very narrow crane. It has a reach of eleven metres and can carry over two tonnes. No driver’s seat; it is steered by controls either on the crane console or on a small portable control unit. 

Generator Site With The Twin Gas Bottles

Campbell Watt Unwraps The Generator

Mini-Crane Arrives And Is Unloaded

Crane Feet Extended, Boom Up, Off Comes The Generator

Carefully Negotiating The Foliage – Generator In Place

Oak Avenue Weather:18.2℃—22.4℃ 0.4mm rain [77.5] TdO eggs=3 Mark=0