Monthly Archives: July 2023

Start of a new week and Mark came and continued on the chook run as well as erecting electric fence so that I can let the sheep graze in the Goose paddock despite the broken wire fence and continuing chainsawing activity.

Brimar Trimmers were trimming the hedges around Karola’s orchard this morning. Usually I run over and ask them to do ours next but I decided not to this year because the ground is still very soft and every time they do it there;s lots of picking up to do – and the green Casurina needles maybe cause the sheep to lose their lambs. I expect to let the sheep into the Long Acre in the next week or so as they’re getting low on pasture so “discretion is the better part of valour” and I’ll let it slide for another year.

Tii Bangle to Pakowhai before lunch then we went down to the hospital and I had lunch there before going, with Bangle, to see Karola for a couple of hours. Karola was bored and cross but cheered up when she saw Bangle. We went for a walk along the corridor and out into a small outside area of lawn, paths, and sheltered seating. Karola using a walker to keep her steady. Apparently Karola is doing well in her walking about despite the surgery being only six days ago.

Had a call from Nita – Access Community Health (027-565-1136) – commissioned by the Hawkes Bay District Health Board (DHB) to look after Karola once she leaves hospital until she’s fully recovered. Usually the hospital stay is about ten days or so and this after-care lasts for around six weeks. There are significant restrictions on how Karola should bend her leg until the hip is fully bedded in and so dressing and undressing will need assistance until then. The agreement with Nita is for a helper to come every morning at around 10:00am and help Karola dress, and again in the evening to undress. Karola is not going to like that much but if she mistreats her new hip it could cause her to have a loose joint for ever or, worst case, cause it to dislodge so she needs another operation.

Pakowhai Regional Park – A Sunny Winters Morning – Looking West (Upstream)

Pakowhai Regional Park – A Sunny Winters Morning – Looking East (Downstream)

Karola Outside In The Sun

Oak Avenue Weather:-1.4℃—14.5℃ no rain [79.5] TdP eggs=0 Mark=4

Picked up a sandwich and coffee at the shop just opposite the emergency ward (A&E) in Hastings and then went in to the Rehab wards leading Bangle. Bangle got fussed over by most of the nurses flitting around and of course by Karola who was in good spirits and delighted to see Bangle of course. Karola seems to have talked to someone important because she was now convinced that, in order to not make her surgeon very cross, she just had to be patient and try hard to only do the things they wanted her to do and also avoid the things that would damage the good work of her surgeon.

I took Bangle for a walk round the orchard before driving to the hospital but she got very muddy tummy and legs so then I had to wash her and dry her before we went. Bangle seemed quite calm about this.

Henare TXTed late afternoon and asked to come and get more wood, which he apparently did – I didn’t see or hear them.

Bangle After A Chunk Of Apple

Oak Avenue Weather:-0.5℃—14.3℃ 0.2mm rain [79.3] TdO eggs=0

Went in late morning to see Karola who yesterday was moved downstairs into the Rehab wards. As suggested by the nurse yesterday, used the exit 6 car park which is significantly closer to bed 545 than approaching through the hospital from the main car park and reception. I was a bit early so ate my lunch, sandwich and coffee, in the car in the car park.

Karola has been doing short walks already and they seem not to worry her at all.

Oak Avenue Weather:0.4℃—12.9℃ 0.2mm rain [79.7] TdP eggs=0

Filled in the Occupational Therapist’s (Russell) form showing the heights and other relevant dimensions of the cottage: bed, bath, loo, chairs, sofa, shower, and steps.

Late morning got in to see Karola who seemed much calmer than yesterday though still quite cross that she couldn’t go home as she knew we weren’t far away, looking out of her window.

Peter Offfenberger called offering sympathy and help if I needed it. Annemarie called and hoped Karola would soon be on the mend. Jenny came over mid afternoon for the rest of the afternoon and Karola was really pleased to have a different person to talk to. In fact earlier in the day she was telling me how much she wanted visitors, people she knew to come and chat.

Mark continued with the chook run door.

Mid afternoon, soon after Jenny arrived, Karola was transferred from the third floor surgery recovery ward down to the ground floor rehab ward which seemed much more relaxed than upstairs where the other occupants were still very much under post operative stress.

Oak Avenue Weather:4.4℃—11.7℃ 1.4mm rain [79.3] TdK eggs=0 Mark=4

Couple of stints at the hospital visiting Karola though in the morning Karola was exceedingly miffed that she couldn’t just up sticks and go home, so much so that the hospital rang me after breakfast and asked if I could come in. I was not the calming influence they were hoping for. In the afternoon Karola was quietly snoring, asleep to catch up on a pretty sleepless night I gather. In fact Karola is not in great pain and is being looked after very well so Karola should stay where they can look after her, not damage the surgery, and she is safe. What I want is Karola healed up and able to walk round unaided again without needing a zimmer frame or other such paraphernalia.

I got calls of support and sympathy for Karola from: Chloe, Bridget, Harry, and Gill.

Mark came and continued with the chook run, also checking the sheep and taking Bangle for a walk round the local paddocks (TdK).

Leonie came and cleaned the cottage this afternoon.

Oak Avenue Weather:-1.3℃—14.2℃ 0.4mm rain [79.3] TdK eggs=0 Mark=4

Karola was seen by an orthopaedic surgeon in the morning. He then rang me, expecting I would have power of attorney for Karola and judging she was a little too confused to ask her to consent. I explained that Bridget in Wellington had our powers of attorney so eh called her and all was arranged. It’s not that simple because approval is needed for the surgery and for a general anaesthetic which the surgeon judged was advisable as Karola was totally out of her familiar surroundings and very anxious, understandably. Not sure I’d want to see the surgeon butchering me to insert a new hip anyway.

I went in to see Karola and was there with her until they wheeled her down to the operating theatre, leaving me at the door. Hospital called early afternoon saying it was all done and no complications so I drove in and sat waiting for Karola to be wheeled up from the theatre – which took about 90 minutes. Anyway, they was Karola, surgery complete, and imagining she could go home tonight. The drugs for the surgery were still obviously having effect so Karola drifted off to sleep and I went home.

The hospital parking is very busy; a few times I have had to circle and circle until someone left to get a park but at other times there have been several spaces. Today I accosted a woman walking back to the park from the hospital reception and she not only waited by her car until I could get back to her slot but she gave me her ticket with another few hours to run. Like the shop assistants offering advice as to where one could buy something that they couldn’t supply – can you imagine that in the USA, I can’t – this is another endearing habit of New Zealanders.

Mark came and worked on the chook run. He also checked the sheep and took Bangle for a walk round our paddocks, (TdK).

Oak Avenue Weather:4.6℃—10.7℃ 0.8mm rain [78.3] TdK eggs=0 Mark=4

Tuesday is shopping day so we all went into town and did our usual weekly shop, enough food for two for each day of the week.

Intervoven with the shopping was a trip to Emma’s for Bangle’s six-weekly groom. The timing worked well as we dropped her off in time and picked her up, having done the shopping, a few minutes after Bangle’s grooming was complete.

Karola and I were anticipating going to a Royal Society lecture in Napier concerning the actions taken and plans for the Hawkes Bay Regional Council’s network of stop banks. However a few minutes before Peter Offenberger, who’d kindly agreed to ferry us there and back, Karola had a fall. She was standing in the cottage living room by the old front door, I was in the bedroom (I think), and Karola suddenly decided to walk into the bedroom. She slipped on something – maybe the carpet, maybe the wooden floor, and crashed backwards onto the floor, hitting her hip on the little ledge that edges the clay tiles where the wood burner used to be.

Karola initially insisted it was just a bruise, her hip and knee and wrist were all painful, but that she’d be alright shortly. She could not sit up, nor could she bend her right leg although she could wriggle toes and move her ankle on that leg. Peter, who had arrived shortly after the fall, and I got a sleeping pad and pillow and rolled/pushed her onto it, hoping that in an hour or so Karola would have recovered enough to get herself onto the sofa, or sitting up. So I callously, but with Karola’s encouragement, went off with Peter to the lecture. It was, by the way, one of the more interesting Royal Society lectures I’ve attended.

When we got back Karola was still lying exactly where we’d left her so I suspected it wasn’t just bruising. After discussion with Bridget I called 112 (the international mobile emergency number), was transferred immediately to 111 (the New Zealand emergency number) and gave details to the ambulance service.

After half an hour or so – well it didn’t seem life-threatening so we weren’t top priority – the ambulance turned up with two burly young paramedics. It’d taken extra time because the family on the corner of our road and the main road, Omahu Road, has a pretty sign engraved with “Oak Avenue”. Ignoring the official road signs, and apparently not trained in the meaning of “rapid response” property numbering, they went back and forth a couple of times wondering if they really were on Ormond Road.

The paramedics carefully popped Karola into a chair and, once on the cottage kitchen verandah, transferred to one of their medical gurneys. Off they trundled, quietly, and I followed a few minutes later in the Zoe. It took me a while to pack a little suitcase of Karola’s personal effects including glasses, iPhone and charger etc. It was dark, almost midnight by now, and I had great difficulty finding the Hastings Hospital A&E (they call it ED in New Zealand). The main road clearly signed to go down a side road but the first couple of hospital entrances turned out to be for various maternity wards. I had to ask and was directed another couple of hundred metres down the road where, again, the signs were hard to read at night in the rain, but when alongside it it was plainly the Emergency Department. I thought that had it been an urgent emergency the long wait for an ambulance could have been life threatening. Or if I’d taken Karola in myself we’d have spent a precious ten minutes or so trying to find the inadequately signposted entrance.

Once inside, I guess it wasn’t a particularly busy Tuesday night, Karola was wheeled off to X-Ray where they established she had a broken hip and wheeled her up to the pre-op ward, A3, on the third floor. They kept offering Karola pain-killers but she said it didn’t hurt and spurned their offers. I went home to some dinner and bed.

Karola Takes A Ride – First by Wheelchair …

… And Then By Fancy Stretcher-On-Wheels

Oak Avenue Weather:2.8℃—17.8℃ no rain [78.8] eggs=0 Mark=4

Start of the working week. Mark came and continued with the chook run. We three tootled into Napier where I dropped off Karola with Jenny for afternoon tea and a natter. I then dropped in at CountDown for another bottle of milk theninto the cafe at Ocean Spa for a take-away coffee. Bangle and I then walked along the see front (concrete all-weather path along all of Napier’s Marine Parade) from Ocean Spa to the Spirit Of Napier statue – four kilometres there and back.

The three hours with Jenny certainly delighted Karola; having someone other than me to talk to is a tonic for her though she begrudges my walk alone with Bangle.

Oak Avenue Weather:6.4℃—14.3℃ no rain [78.9] TdM eggs=0 Mark=4

A rather beautiful winter’s day. I counted over 70 dogs we passed in the Pakowhai Regional Park walk today compared with only three on the cold, miserable, wet afternoon.

Joan Phillips called and spoke to Karola; she’s hoping to visit and stay in early September as she has a number of elderly friends in the area. Joan prefers to sleep upstairs in the cottage so won’t clash with Gill & Ben or Bridget & Tux if their dates overlap.

Oak Avenue Weather:7.8℃—15.8℃ no rain [79.6] TdP eggs=0

Despite having a warm cottage now I’ve turned up the thermostat to 24℃ we slept in all morning today and I don’t think we missed much. It rained again in the night so there’s plenty of mud around. Bangle, Karola, and I went upstream from Carrick Road today; cold wind on our faces until we turned to come back.

I did two little chores that have been outstanding for weeks: couple of screws on the Grillo deck, fixing the plastic housing in place; and fixing the big trailer’s left indicator lamp. I hadn’t realised but either it just came right of its own accord or Mark fixed it last week. Anyway all working as anticipated now.

Another of Gill & Ben’s pre-prepared meals tonight – just the thing on a chilly night.

Oak Avenue Weather:7.8℃—11.7℃ 0.2mm rain [79.4] TdT eggs=0

Quiet Friday, rain overnight and again showers during the day. Mark didn’t come because it’s too wet. I did get a walk with Bangle in despite the chill breeze and underfoot mud. I’d forgotten the chainsaw chains I left to be sharpened Thursday last week so picked them up today. Also picked up more pills from the Stortford Lodge chemist and some coffee to have on our walk. It very kindly stopped raining, well almost, just as we arrived at Pakowhai Regional Park.

Walking Back On The Stop Bank Alongside Pakowhai Regional Park

Oak Avenue Weather:__℃—__℃ no rain [78.9] TdP eggs=0 Mark=0

Mark took a rain check today but asked that I make sure traps not occupied. Oh but they were, see below, but I am such a softie that I just let the kitten and the possum go.

It’s MYLK Thursday today so off we went late morning with Bangle and picked up tonight’s meal before detouring to the Havelock North honey shop, Arataki Honey. I got some back-up tubes of Rata honey hand lotion for karola and she got another jar of UMF Manuka honey.

We lunched in the small park alongside Tainui Reserve which included a short walk for Bangle.

Leonie came for her regular weekly cleaning and conversation session.

At last I’ve put up the extra hand rail above the bath in the cottage.

Arataki Honey – Exhibition Hives In The Wall Behind Karola

A Bewildered But Lucky Possum

Feisty Grey Kitten

Oak Avenue Weather:1.4℃—15.8℃ no rain [79.2] TdH eggs=0 Mark=0

Mark continued on the chook run. Karola, Bangle, and I went for lunch to Karamu road Bay Espresso and then on for a walk along the Clive wetlands. Beautiful winter’s day for it. A few waterfowl mooching around at low tide.

Daffodils In Flower In Goose Paddock

Clive Wetlands WaterFowl

Oak Avenue Weather:1.4℃—19.7℃ no rain [79.9] TdC eggs=0 Mark=4

Yes, of course, it’s Tuesday so a weekly shop. Mid afternoon we did the recycling run before taking Bangle for her park walk.

Mark continued with the chook run. He trapped another possum overnight.

Pakowhai Rgional Park – On The Stop Bank Looking Upstream

.. And Looking East: So Green

Oak Avenue Weather:1.2℃—19.8℃ no rain [79.5] TdP eggs=0 Mark=4

Cold but cloudless day and it must have rained in the night as there are a few new puddles.

Mark continued with laying the planks along the bottom wire of the new chook pen.

Chainsawing along the drive must have been Peter Wiffin; there’s still some large pieces of oak trunk to be cut up.

Hard To See, But Oodles Of Dogs Playing At Pakowhai Regional Park

Oak Avenue Weather:4.2℃—15.7℃ 5.0mm rain [79.4] TdP eggs=0 Mark=4

I overslept badly this morning after listening to the radio, “Hymns on Sunday” at 7:30am, I went back to sleep and was only woken by my alarm at noon. I got up slowly and pondered why I might have set the alarm for 12:00pm. At 12:12pm the arrival of Peter Offenberger alerted me to the reason and after a fluster of re-garbing and one gulped cup of coffee we went off to Free Thinkers in Taradale. We had a pleasant afternoon, almost all the free thinkers were there, about a dozen, and the subject was AI and chatGPS etc. Peter came in for coffee and a chat with Karola while I fed the chooks and took Bangle round the orchard in the dusk.

Scott and Coco stole away before I got up and left the homestead as they found it plus some extra eggs and milk.

As planned we had a good long chat with Anna in England, mostly discussing our holiday in the South Island in late October. We are booked for a week in the Coromandel at the beginning of October and the South Island another week in the Marlborough Sounds at the end of October. Bridget has very kindly offered to come and house sit for both those weeks; Tux and Bangle will both be here and Bridget will keep an eye on the chooks and sheep too.

Oak Avenue Weather:3.7℃—19.1℃ no rain [78.8] TdO eggs=0

Scott & Coco and Henare drop in for morning tea. He rang just as we were waking up and suggested he and Scott & Coco come over from the homestead. It was then we saw their dog, a beautiful chocolate coloured labrador, very friendly. We were warned it was coming so that wasn’t a surprise. As expected Henare took them off for the day and we didn’t know they were back until some lights came on in the homestead late evening – which was as we’d suggested, to just come and go as they please and not disturb us too much.

It was a winter’s day, dry but cloudy and quite cold. We spent most of it indoors in the warm apart from our walk with Bangle in Pakowhai Regional Park where Bangle met maybe a dozen or more other dogs.

Oak Avenue Weather:4.0℃—17.6℃ no rain [79.2] TdP eggs=0

Cool day, mostly sunny. Bangle. enjoyed our long walk in Pakowhai Regional park, meeting about a dozen dogs and their owners.

Late evening Scott and his girlfriend Coco arrived after driving down from Hamilton and then after dinner in napier, going to badminton with Henare.

Matariki Eve Dawn At Seatoun Heights Road (courtesy Gill)

Matariki Dawn At Seatoun Heights Road (courtesy Gill)

Oak Avenue Weather:3.1℃—18.4℃ no rain [79.5] TdP eggs=0

Mark is making progress in laying the planks along the chook run periphery, just below the bottom wire. (see below).

The three of us, me, Karola, Bangle) went and picked up tonight’s MYLK meals and then took Bangle to walk in the Tainui Reserve in Havelock North – or rather the pleasant gravel path along the stream on the edge of the reserve. We had lunch on a bench at the eastern end of the flatter part of the walk; Karola is not enthusiastic to carry on up the muddy, steeper section.

Leonie came at 1:00pm fr three hours and did a good clean; we paused mid afternoon for afternoon tea and a chat.

Henare asked if son Scott and girlfriend Coco, expected down from Hamilton today, could stay in the homestead. We said yes but no indication that they came down after all.

Heavy Treated Timbers Protecting The Bottom Of The Chook Run Fence

Oak Avenue Weather:0.6℃—17.5℃ no rain [78.8] TdH eggs=0 Mark=4

We were warned, and so it was. The power went off very briefly at 9:00am today and again at about 3:00pm while Unison, our lines company, reconnected the under-road cable they replaced last week. The grid was offline from 9:00am until 3:00pm.

We made coffee and toast at about 9:20am – no problem. The radiators were pouring out heat, it was a chilly start to the day. In fact, apart from resetting the various bits and pieces that always need attention after a power cut, including re-logging on to my computers, we didn’t notice the power outage. Well there was the loud noise of the generator of course, clearly heard in the cottage 100m away. It worked exactly as expected. We’ve still to raise the generator off the ground some 400mm to prevent the generator from flooding as it did on February 14th, Cyclone Gabrielle.

Mark spent the day on burying the sleepers under the bottom wire around the periphery of the new chook run; it looks like putting up the netting will be next week as it’s a public holiday, Matariki, on Friday.

Karola, Bangle, and I popped into town:

• to drop off the substantial wooden stand for the generator so I can get a quote for the same sized stand made in heat insulating fire-proof steel.
• to buy us a top notch non-stick frying pan for the induction hob – all our pans take a lot of cleaning as they’ve lost any non-stick powers they once had.
• discuss how to fix the broken ball-cock for the old concrete trough Karola saved from the orchard
• drop off four chainsaw chains to Shaun, the Saw Doctors.

Then as the suns rays dipped below the tree line I took Bangle for a walk downstream along the stop bank at Carrick Road.

Generator Purring Away

Oak Avenue Weather:1.5℃—18.1℃ 0.2mm rain [79.0] TdT eggs=0 Mark=4

Yes, shopping and a late start again but it all went smoothly and I was able to get a bit more done on the chook run before dark. Today’s walk was upstream along the stop bank from Carrick Road, at least 2km which is like twice round the orchard. Orchard is not only very muddy but full of machines and workers – I guess they’ll be thinning the apple trees.

Digger Reconstructing Road Inside The Stop Bank

Mummy And Daddy Diggers Going Home

Flood Damaged Apple Trees Uprooted

Oak Avenue Weather:5.1℃—14.7℃ no rain [79.1] TdT eggs=0 Mark=0

Despite earlier forecasts the rain stopped yesterday and things are starting to dry out. That means the puddles are smaller, not that they’ve vanished yet. Mark deferred until Wednesday to give things a chance to be less muddy.

Apart from an hour or so on the chook run we’ve kept inside today – oh and a walk in the park with Bangle of course.

Pakowhai Regional Park – Raupare Stream – More Tranquil Today

Oak Avenue Weather:7.7℃—15.5℃ 0.6mm rain [78.9] TdP eggs=0 Mark=0

After a night of gentle rain and more today, all day, the puddles are getting bigger but nothing to worry about. The chooks seem to be handling it well despite still not roosting in their house but instead on railings near the old house location.

Bangle and I repeated yesterday’s walk in Pakowhai Regional Park. Raupare stream is swollen and it has a very wintery feel. Yesterday we met twelve other dogs, today only eight.

Pakowhai Regional Park In Winter

Oak Avenue Weather:__℃—__℃ no rain [79.2] TdP eggs=0

Lucky to catch a dry spell mid afternoon for Bangle’s walk though the wind was north-easterly and cold.

Ideal day for dosing and lounging around; Henare dropped in for an hour just as we were having an omlette brunch. It’s been a good day for food as for dinner we heated up one of Ben’s chilli con-carné meals from the freezer. Bangle enjoyed her 30 minutes walk in the park.

Oak Avenue Weather:8.4℃—13.7℃ 13.4mm rain [78.8] TdP eggs=0

Another week ending so “Captain Salty” F&C tonight with a lettuce/tomato salad on the side.

Mark and I made progress on the chook run, sometime next week we hope to erect the wire netting.

Forecast is for a wet weekend – I don’t remember it being this consistent in the last few years.

Postie drove in and gave us a large squashy parcel from Anna. It’s the insulating jacket and dressing gown for Karola that Anna sent some weeks ago. Now with what is essentially a duplicate of Karola’s current white gown, only indigo, we can wash one while having the other to wear. And the jacket is “slip on” no buttons or ties so super easy to put on.

Mark caught two possums last night, so that’s four in three days.

Anna: Dressing Gown For Karola, Blue Version Of Her Current One

Anna: Under-Jacket For Karola, Super Warm

Oak Avenue Weather:-0.4℃—12.4℃ no rain [79.3] TdP eggs=0 Mark=4

Mark and I made progress on the chook run today; bottom wire in place and Mark has begun embedding the “sleepers” just below the wire to act as our anti-burrowers device.

He caught a possum yesterday and another one today.

Leonie arrived as planned at 1:00pm to clean the cottage and we left her to it until 2:30pm. We went into town and I bought a delicious and large cottage pie (gluten free) from the MLYLK shop on St Aubyn’s Street East. From there we took Bangle for the long walk in Pakowhai Regional Park. Then home for afternoon tea with Leonie who finished her cleaning and left at 4:00pm.

A chook clucked loud and long in the area comprising the new chook run but I couldn’t find an egg. This evening I can hear scrabbling inside the walls of the cottage – drat those rats, they must love the dry warmth here.

Oak Avenue Weather:2.3℃—14.4℃ no rain [79.2] TdP eggs=0 Mark=4

Mark and I, well Mark with me offering advice, fixed the Grillo. As I had guessed, the deck belt had snapped and so Mark fitted the spare and straghtened the skirt of the little front blade and all was well. Mark mowed the cottage lawn and under the big oak. The leaves are all but gone now so with the soil temperature dropping and no leaf cover we may not need to mow again for several weeks.

Karola and I had hair appointments with Kim at Ahuriri just before lunch.

Late afternoon I pushed forward with the new chook run.

Deck Innards Exposed Showing Broken Belt

Oak Avenue Weather:2.7℃—19.1℃ no rain [78.7] TdO eggs=0 Mark=4

Oh yes, more shopping and again in the afternoon as Karola and I had dental appointments at lunchtime. Place seemed very quiet and while there was one patient ahead of us we left to an empty waiting room. As with my eye doctor and GP, when you try to get an appointment it always seems a struggle but, as I have gradually divined, when the patient backlog drops they decide to work shorter weeks, giving the illusion of busy practices. We have regular tooth checks and cleaning by a so-called hygienist and every time they suggest we come back in six months and I demure and say nine months time is fine. All these medical services are very expensive and obviously they are going to try to convince you to return as often as possible. True of the eye surgeon, the dentist, and the ear nurse but not the GP.

I am realising that the kitchen is a dangerous place. How women can spend so much time there, for so many weeks and months and years, without more horrid accidents beats me. I splash myself with hot fat, cut myself with ceramic knife, set off fire alarms with hot oven, etc. Not often but enough to think that long term cooking is fraught. 🙂

Weird thing yesterday. My retired forester guy from over the road who was so helpful in cutting path along the avenue and up our main driveway after Gabrielle, agreed to clean up the other four major fallen timbers for $60 an hour – which is very cheap compared to the big commercial tree people who start at over $100 an hour for their apprentices. He was intending to put invoices through a mate’s business who had GST (vat) set up etc. I was hoping to get some back from insurance so it had all to be properly documented.

Extra context, neighbour a couple of doors down on our side of the avenue really likes cutting up wood and has been helping my “old codger” for free in return for the firewood. Keith (the old codger) and Peter (the firewood collector) were at school together and so it seems they really like getting stuck in to some serious chainsawing and much enjoy each other’s company.

Well, Keith comes up to me yesterday and says that he’s not talking to his mate with a business any more, and he’s just registered for the dole, so all the work he’s done to date is a gift. Was adamant. Perhaps it’s that he’s honest or feels likely to be caught out and so being on the dole he won’t jeapardize it by having income or not declaring income. I’m unsure.

My Baldrician plan, after some puzzling over what to do, is to get him some piece of equipment, like a bigger, better chainsaw, as a gift for Christmas. He’s foregone over $3000 so far so I feel there must be something I can do. He’s just bought an old farm fire engine too so maybe something to complement that.

Which reminds me, I still have to submit insurance claims for the damage – actual trees are not covered but where the downed tree is impeding the repair of some other farm asset they’ll pay a little, or so my broker talls me. So blocked roadway, broken fencing, damaged drains, these are fair game.

Two Conifers Fallen Over Track To Front Paddock – 14th February

Couple Of Days Of Chainsawing And Both Conifers Chopped Up

Oak Avenue Weather:0.5℃—18.2℃ 0.2mm rain [78.7] TdP eggs=0 Mark=4

Overcast and cold, and despite the forecast a few showers during the day too. However we did get out on the stop bank with Bangle for a good walk while the sun shone. Lots of trucks hauling gravel today from the gravel mountains stockpiled by the river.

Mark was busy today, probably he’ll be here tomorrow.

Yesterday for dinner we had MYLK “micro-meals” – a complete pork roast meal each. Karola was only able to eat ⅔ of hers so I ended up eating 1⅓ which didn’t help my diet one bit 🙂

Oak Avenue Weather:-0.8℃—15.3℃ 0.6mm rain [79.7] TdT eggs=0 Mark=0

Cold wind and patchy sunlight so we chose Pakowhai Regional Park for our walk today – the exposed lime cycle tracks atop the stop banks are too cold. I slept and dozed much of the morning, it’s as if I’ve decided to hibernate this winter.

Emptied rainwater tanks overnight so am filling from the bore (about half a metre on all three tanks) and will flush again tomorrow.

Oak Avenue Weather:3.2℃—15.2℃ no rain [78.9] TdP eggs=0

At Karola’s suggestion we went out for lunch. I chose Hygge and we had a delicious beef stew there, gluten free, before taking Bangle for a walk back towards Te Awanga.

I’ve started draining the homestead rainwater tanks in an attempt to get rid of the water discolouration. Four taps turned off and two electric switches turned off so that the domestic and sprinkler systems don’t de-pressurise. I’m expecting it to take more than a day to empty the three 22,000 litre concrete tanks.

Also used the Landrover to flatten out the gravel that Mark filled the major puddles with, on the 121 driveway and next to the letter box so that Postie doesn’t get stuck.

Oak Avenue Weather:3.1℃—15.0℃ 0.2mm rain [78.3] TdK eggs=0