Monthly Archives: August 2023

Anna TXTed. this morning to say that she has approval from her firm in London to work from New Zealand for a few months. So, depending on how things go during her booked six-week “holiday” in October she could stay on.

I asked Mark to dispatch the heavily wounded younger cockerel this morning but Mark reported back that the older one had already finished him off by the time Mark got there. Well at least that avoids further conflict. I’m hoping the damage to the older cockerel isn’t severe.

We went to the GP this morning because I’ve become worried about Karola’s hobbling gait and inconsistent application of the rules whereby she should avoid bending, raising knees too high, crossing legs etc. Richard was able to assure me that the hip joint appears to be holding up well and they are in fact pretty hard to upset after the first ten days or so. Karola engaged the poor doctor in some robust dialogue but we ended calm and collected.

Leonie came for her last cleaning afternoon for a while; as i said to her with the new cleaner due to start next week and the Monday/Friday evening supervised shower sessions until 15th September we’ll need to wait for Anna arriving on 24th September, and Bridget soon afterwards, to work out with Karola the next steps.

We three (including Bangle) went from the Health Service to the Vet clinicc where Bangle had her annual health check and passed with flying colours. Bangle weighed about 15kg when she came to us on 16th February 2017; last year she weighed over 19kg but today she was a tad over 16kg. Due mainly I think to the choice of dog food designed especially for “senior” dogs – that is being quite free of nourishment. But it’s excellent Bangle is back at a healthy weight and I tell Karola it’s her restraint on giving Bangle treats all the time.

Mark continued wiring up the chook run netting. He also disposed of the young cockerel’s remains.

Oak Avenue Weather:1.3℃—17.4℃ no rain [?] TdO eggs=3 Mark=4

Mark, with a little help from me, has put up the first 50m of chook netting and begun fastening it to the posts and wires. Not sure what the chooks will make of this. First we finished the #8 support wires, managing to strain them up and crimp them without any posts coming up out of the ground (at time of writing).

Got a call from Bridget to borrow any working Apple laptop that I had because Alex has a project due in on Friday and her laptop’s screen has ceased to work. Attempts to get Apple accredited menders in Wellington to fix it were both very expensive and uncertain as to whether the expensive fixes would actually solve the problem. So I couriered down an old 2009 MacbookPro this afternoon hoping it will get there tomorrow. To my surprise it only cost $14 to courier to Wellington.

The two cockerels, father and son, had a huge fight yesterday, according to Mark, Blood and feathers everywhere. I saw the Light Sussex father today, bloody but unbowed, I guess he won. Mark espied the Light-Sussex – Black Orpington cross son hiding well away from dad – wounded but still alive.

Several times recently we’ve been visited by a pair of Paradise Ducks with their distinctive plumage and honking.

Went for a long walk in the dog park today; Karola is not walking as freely as in the past, leg a bit stiff is how she describes it but she’s basically hobbling and shuffling which alarms me so I’ve booked her an appointment with GP tomorrow.

50 Metres Chook Netting In Place – 20 Metres To Come

Oak Avenue Weather:-2.0℃—16.2℃ no rain [?] TdP eggs=1 Mark=4

Dashed off to drop Bangle at Emma the groomer’s; 15 mins late but not a problem.

Then the usual Tuesday shopping.

Mark came and dispatched ewe #814 and now has a fridge full of fresh mutton for his menagerie. He left at lunchtime to get it into his fridge. Lovely sunny day, really good out on the cottage kitchen verandah.

Mid afternoon took the recycling to the transfer station and on the way back dropped in at Gagan’s the greengrocers. Karola chose couple of bananas and a banana ice-cream made with real fruit.

Oak Avenue Weather:-2.0℃—14.5℃ no rain [?] eggs=4 Mark=2

As planned Mark and I loaded up the seven 2022 wether lambs into the big trailer with stock crate attached. We didn’t get there until 11:00am though I was aiming for 10:30am which was the advertised starting time. In fact the saleyards were almost deserted but my paperwork was accepted and we offloaded the wethers without a hitch. Our yard assistant did notice they were not really prime lambs and should be in the Wednesday store lamb sale. I was worrying that they were so close to being a year old that as store lambs there’d be no time to fatten them but even the biggest of them was still some way off becoming a “two-tooth”.

Mark also caught yet another possum.

Marcus Ormond and his eldest daughter turned up just before lunch and had a look at the triplets, charming little things, and their sick mother. Marcus suggested he could drop in the following day and give the ewe a penicillin shot – though without much hope of a good result. I asked Marcus about how little pasture we had left but he thought, while not being abundant, there was plenty.

Bangle, Karola, and I went into Hastings to pick up the metal stand for the generator. As we were there we picked up coffees and a sandwich for lunch plus, from Farmlands, 20kg of feed wheat, 10kg of milk powder (in case we ended up feeding the triplets), and three teats. Picked up the stand from SteelWorx then went to the park for our walk.

Marcus TXTed that he’d found someone to raise the triplets and he suggested he take them away and dispatch the sick ewe. Soon afterwards he came round with his two eldest daughters. It’s the younger of these that wants to feed the lambs. I gave them the milk powder and teats and said goodbye to the triplets. I planned Mark would dispatch the ewe tomorrow and take the meat for his dogs and cats.

Oak Avenue Weather:2.3℃—12.1℃ no rain [?] TdP eggs=2 Mark=4

As arranged, Tim and Gwyn called in on their way down south after attending a Havelock North funeral. We haven’t seen them for a long time and they both look remarkably hale and hearty given they’re only a few years younger than us. I bored them with elaborate tales of our Gabrielle experience and “the hip” incident. We showed them over the homestead which they haven’t seen since before the renovations began. They had seen the cottage but not the homestead.

The triplet ewe lambs are still OK, not looking underfed nor very plump but their mum, #814, is distinctly unwell, shuffling along on her front knees or just lying down. I called Marcus Ormond who has offered to help if we have sheep issues and he agreed to pop by the next day and assess the situation.

It was a real wintery day – cold, heavily overcast.

Oak Avenue Weather:0.8℃—17.9℃ 3.4mm rain [?] TdP eggs=3

Coffee girl wasn’t there so we went to the park for our daily walk.

Checked the triplets and was saddened to find only two of them. Went and fetched some more sheep nuts and maize for the ewe, #814, and when I returned, there were three. Silly really but my heart lifted.

Last night’s photo was unclear because it was so late at night, so I took more today in the sunlight.

Yesterday’s Triplets

Oak Avenue Weather:2.9℃—15.6℃ no rain [?] TdP eggs=3

Quiet morning until Mark came. He checked the ewes and reported ewe #814 had triplets who seemed to be up and about and drinking, #301, $302, and #303.

In addition Mark continued scavenging the fallen branches around the place and put the stock crate on the big trailer ready for Monday.

Bangle, Karola, and I drove over to Jenny’s in Napier early afternoon. Then, as before, I took Bangle down to the waterfronyt for a walk while Karola and Jenny had a quiet afternoon in front of one of the few remaining open fires still in Hawkes Bay. The day was overcast and cold though not windy, ideal for the comfort of a fire.

I drove down to Marine Parade and spent ages waiting for a park to become available. Popped int Bach, the café that is part of Ocean Spa, and bought not only a coffee but a delicious cheese-cake slice (GF). Bangle and I sat on a sheltered bench along the waterfront and I had my afternoon tea. Further along I spied a man with a small dog, by himself, under an awning with a can drink and a parcel of white paper. As I watched he slipped a chip from packet to mouth. I went over and asked him where he got them and he gave me instructions which, in the end, proved fruitless so I avoided gorging on fresh fish and chips mid-afternoon.

Unusual things seen on this trip to Napier:

• Several very large, noisy trucks and trailers inching their way along Marine parade from the port – they’re supposed to go west from the port not along the prime tourist promenade. Noel explained that it was likely due to many more truck replacing the rail bridge, destroyed by cyclone Gabrielle and still not replaced.
• For or five discarded purple electric scooters, only one of which was conveniently parked upright, the others just lay haphazard on their sides like discarded rubbish. Gill says it’s the same in Wellington, the scooter company does city-wide pick-ups as once the pre-paid money runs out the scooter just stops.
• On the city side of Marine Parade must have had a serious fire recently; one house was completely destroyed and the houses either side were seriously damaged. That adds to the melancholy of that stretch of the parade, slightly used-looking hotels and motels then a string of restaurants with poky, dim entrances.

Karola’s Friday shower went without incident, support worker Tracey in attendance just to make sure there were no slips and falls and to be helpful where she was needed.

Ewe #814 With Her Triplets – Too Low Light

Oak Avenue Weather:7.0℃—13.4℃ no rain [79.9] TdM eggs=2 Mark=4

Thursday means the day to pick up the delicious pre-prepared MYLK meals, to uplift laundry put in on Tuesday (up to 10kg for $23.00), and grab a coffee and sandwich from BP’s Wild bean Café. Also got 25kg of maize for the chooks, served by Vince who has been at Farmlands for decades but is still able to heft 25kg without apparent effort. I can do it but with effort 🙂

Mark spent his four hours picking up branches strewn around the place, they seem to be widespread since the recent strong winds.

Leonie came and cleaned the cottage and chatted. Gave her half a dozen eggs again. Afterwards we three (including Bangle) popped over to Pakowhai Regional Park (the park) and had the longest walk for Karola since “the hip” – no walker, just hanging loosely onto me. The coffee lady had already packed up for the night. I am probably poisoning myself with too much caffeine anyway so need to lay off the large lattes.

Oak Avenue Weather:6.7℃—14.1℃ no rain [?] TdP eggs=2 Mark=4

Mark came 12:00 – 4:00pm today. He planted the three new Leylandii to replace the ones savaged by the hedge trimmer up in the orchard. He also trimmed the 3 – 4 low-trailing branches of the big oak which I was constantly walking into in the dark when I ventured over to the homestead or garage. Mark finished putting up the electric fence round the homestead lawn and the ewes were delighted to be allowed in. Mark and I drafted out the seven wether lambs from last year and I rang the agent, Neil Common (027-444-8745) and booked them in the the Monday sale at Stortford Lodge. I think Monday is for prime lambs and Wednesday is for “store” lambs which need a bit of fattening up so not sure if Monday will take them.

Karola enjoyed the warm sunshine around mid-day, out of the wind, but it cooled right down late afternoon.

Oak Avenue Weather:2.7℃—13.6℃ 0.2mm rain [79.8] TdO eggs=4 Mark=4

Second healthy plump rat caught in seven days – this time in the cottage garage where there’s no exposed food but it is warm and dry.

What with me, Karola, and Bangle (twice) waking up during the night I felt worn out by morning so dozed through to lunch time with an hour round 10:00am when Mark arrived and I set him off on today’s challenge to fence the homestead lawn with electric fence so that the poor hungry sheep can have soemthing more to nibble. I also got a couple of sacks (25kg) of sheep nuts today and will give them plenty of those too.

Yes we did the week’s shopping, and took in the laundry, and got coffee and sandwich for lunch, and picked up some meds from the pharmacy. In other words, another winter Tuesday.

Longest walk yet with Karola and Bangle in the park; no walker just some support from her grouchy husband.

Rat Caught Last Night In Cottage Garage

Oak Avenue Weather:6.6℃—11.4℃ 0.2mm rain [?] TdP eggs=1 Mark=4

No Mark today. No lambs either. Were able to drive along Carrick road to the stop bank today so perhaps it’s only at the weekends they close the automatic gate during the day. The wind was very strong so our walk was quite short and at one point, to my horror, even though I was hanging on to her arm, Karola got blown over. A very gentle fall thank goodness and there’s no sign that the hip surgery was disturbed. That same gust made me stagger which no doubt contributed to Karola losing her balance.

Felt guilty when I found a possum in one of the cage traps in the Goose paddock. I checked them on Thursday when Mark didn’t come but it could have been caught on Friday or over the weekend – so I let it out.

Another stand-off with the support worker tonight; I really don’t know how I’m going to solve it. I have cancelled the evening support worker visits except for Monday and Friday nights – the irregular times and different people were making it miserable for Karola. Monday and Friday the same support worker, Tracey, is rostered so we’ll try again on Friday.

Oak Avenue Weather:2.5℃—15.3℃ 0.4mm rain [?] TdT eggs=3 Mark=0

Good walk in the park and Casey was there with her coffee cart again. She’s the bubbly woman who we first bumped into in the cafe inside The Plant Shop on Pakowhai road, with Anna and Dave last May. She and her mother do the baking for the cafe and Casey’s coffee cart. A couple of times now Casey has given me free large coffees and either a muffin or sausage roll, I think because I inadvisably took an interest in her operation and made small talk – I blame Karola for that.

I try to count the sheep but am unsure whether there are 46 or 47 – there are supposed to be 47. No lambs yet.

Himalayan Spruce Logs

Lemon Tree, Usually Twice This Crop

Grapefruit Tree – Pity We’re Both On Statins

Oak Avenue Weather:7.7℃—14.6℃ 3.6mm rain [?] TdP eggs=2

We had a long walk in the park today; Karola without her walker but just clinging on to my arm. More eggs today, laid in the chook house, so seems like they’ve restarted laying for spring.

The paddocks are all grazed short and we have opened the gates so that all the fields are available to the sheep. Bit worried that they’re hungry which means their lambs will be quite small I guess.

Oak Avenue Weather:0.0℃—13.7℃ no rain [?] TdP eggs=2

Mark cleared the fallen Lawsoniona branch and we can now get to the 133 gate and letter box again. He also completed his clearing of the slash and trash on the grass bridge; I hadn’t realised that Keith had actually cut big sections of the fallen Himalayan Spruce and dragged them into the paddock so Mark was able to actually clear a track over the grass bridge.

Karola, Bangle, and I went for a walk in the park, going about twice as far as last time. Not many people around, nor dogs. Delightful sunny afternoon. Two weeks since Karola was discharged from hospital after her hip operation.

Oak Avenue Weather:-1.6℃—15.3℃ no rain [?] TdP eggs=2 Mark=4

Mark rain-check though it turned out that while Napier was wet in the morning, we had a dry and mostly sunny day.

In the morning we three went to MYLK and picked up our evening meal. After lunch, as planned, we drove over to Napier where Karola had afternoon tea with her friends Jenny and Noel while I took Bangle for a long walk along the Napier waterfront.

Later I was surprised to find a large branch had fallen off the top of one of the Lawsoniana trees that grow like giant candlesticks on one side of the 133 back driveway.

Top Of A Lawsoniana Crashed Onto 133 Driveway

Oak Avenue Weather:2.3℃—13.7℃ 0.2mm rain [?] TdN eggs=2 Mark=0

We all went off to Napier for haircuts (not Bangle) at lunchtime then back to the park for a walk. After that just a quiet afternoon. Mark continued consolidating branches into potential bonfires. We found gifts from Cynthia Chalmers when we returned; more glutenous cheese muffins and sugary shortbread.

Support worker Tracey came again; she seems to be the one mostly rostered for Karola’s evening slots. And tonight we got a bit of a story about her life, single at 40+, estranged from her brother and family for years. Maybe it’s their way of attempting empathy with their clients. Anyway, doesn’t bother me.

I checked for eggs today; haven’t checked for about a week, and was delighted to find eight eggs in the chook house. I suspect there’s only two chooks or maybe three laying.

Oak Avenue Weather:0.7℃—17.8℃ 1.4mm rain [79.8] TdP eggs=8 Mark=4

OK, another Tuesday but late morning Karola and Bangle and I went to our nails person in Mahora where, every now and then, Paula gets some order back into our toenails and fingernails. A combination of failing flexibility and undistinguished eyesight make dealing with one’s own extremities quite annoying/difficult. Thank goodness we can afford a little help. Fro others I suppose that’s what extended families can help with.

Then the usual fish shop, New world, laundry, etc – all back and relaxing by 1:30pm. Walk on stop bank with Karola and Bangle late afternoon. Raewyn came and helped Karola with PJ’s without disobeying the surgeon’s rules for bending and raising knees.

Mark spent all his time on gathering branches into a pile for potential bonfile.

Oak Avenue Weather:1.3℃—17.7℃ 0.2mm rain [?] TdT eggs=0 Mark=4

Mark spent his time on the old Fergie tractor, pushing together the branches left from sawing up the big oaks that fell across the 121 driveway on February 14th. Plenty more to do.

I had a meeting with Jen Talbot in Havelock North this afternoon. Upshot is that she can arrange for Leonie and couple of other “girls” to become our permanent support workers, to come for a couple of hours every day (about $800/week) to help me and Karola in the cottage. We’ll carry on with the ACC-provide support workers from Access unless it just is unhelpful because of the continual staff changes and irregular times they come. So we start the Miranda Smith Homecare service on 15th September (end of the six-week ACC support) or sooner.

Jen did agree to two-hour visits instead of three, and as Gill suggested, we’ll ask for washing and cooking to be part of the support activity. Pavla, the young Czech woman will take over from Leonie in September, cleaning the cottage every Thursday.

Mid afternoon we went for our walk, this time without the walker and along the leafy central path at Pakowhai Regional Park.

Tracey was the support worker this evening and Karola had a refreshing shower under her beady eye. Tracey is ear-marked for several days with Karola this next week. It is good to have the same person creating a routine.

Anna’s Partner Dave, In Ealing, Helping Out With A Smile

Oak Avenue Weather:5.6℃—21.2℃ 1.4mm rain [?] TdP eggs=0 Mark=4

Sort of a routine as we got up very late and after brunch went for a walk along the stop bank. Overcast but not particularly cold.

Rubbish put out, Zoe on charge, just another Sunday.

Support Worker Dianne came tonight; we asked for 6)30pm as earliest, she was rostered to come between 6:00pm and 6:45pm – and arrived at 5:30pm just as I’d put the steak in the pan. So again Karola had her dinner in her pyjamas. Small thing but what we want is consistency of timing and personnel. So far it’s been Raewyn, Sariga, Tracey, Tamara, and Dianne. It begins to settle down with Tracey and Raewyn next week.

Mark explained that a rat in the homestead garage had gnawed through the lid of his peanut butter possum bait jar twice so last night I set traps and scored (see below).

This Is An Ex-Rat, It Is No More

Oak Avenue Weather:1.2℃—17.4℃ no rain [?] TdT eggs=0

Day started off cold but sunny then mid afternoon got cloudy but only gentle breezes all day so felt much warmer than yesterday.

Another walk along the stop bank, like yesterday but twice the distance and downstream rather than upstream.

Support worker Tamara came at 5:30pm instead of after 6:00pm and I’d just finished cooking the dinner so that went on hold for 20 minutes. We chatted with Tamara who said she came from Cambridge in England 18 years ago. She asked about us, which was fine, and then told us about her troubled run of bad luck – with a smile, not as a complaint – but it was a sad story. Tamara has six children, five with the husband she came out with from England. A few years after they came to New Zealand her husband left for a wealthy woman, she said, took the house etc leaving her to bring up the five children by herself. A couple of years later she met a rugby player and they had a sixth child. Then a year or so further on he was killed in a car accident leaving her a single mother with six children. The youngest child has ADHD and is somewhat autistic and had a traumatic incident at the Hastings Intermediate school which means she’s afraid to go to school. Apparently on the first day of her second term at the intermediate school as she was coming out after school, her mother was waiting to pick her up, two Māori girls rushed up to her and one videoed the other bashing her up. The video was put on the Internet. Finally, Tamara is renting accomodation and her landlord, a South African who apparently owns several houses as rentals in the Waipukurau area, put her rent up by $20 a week last year and another $45 a week this year. When Tamara tried to reason with him he said “well if you can’t afford it do leave, there’s plenty of others who can”.

No suggestion of wanting money or anything but it’s such a tale of woe I am a tad sceptical in the absence of some corroboration.

Annemarie Sends Karola A Colourful Bunch Of Flowers – Certainly Brightens Up The Kitchen

Oak Avenue Weather:-2.3℃—15.1℃ no rain [?] TdT eggs=0

Hibernated most of the day except for our afternoon walk and then afternoon tea at Karamu Bay Espresso.

We went for a short walk along the stop bank at Carrick Road, chosen because the car can stop on the stop bank so it’s a flat walk from the car. The wind was an icy southerly so afterwards we went for afternoon tea in the sheltered back garden of the Karamu Road Bay Espresso Café.

There was too much haze to get photos of snow on the Kawekas or Ruahines but Ben kindly sent me their snow view across the entrance to Wellington harbour, a beautiful sight (see below).

Mark did more on the chook run and then a couple of hours consolidating the piles of small branches in the Goose Paddock into a single burnable pile. There’s more of that to do.

In the evening Tracey from Access, today’s support worker, came and helped Karola with a shower and to get ready for bed. Despite earlier discussions with Karola where I that thought this was going to be difficult, in the event Karola said afterwards that it was all fine and she went to bed feeling clean and fresh. Only downside was that she smelt so nice, some bath and body lotions I think, that she was worried Bangle wouldn’t recognise her. No problem.

Karola On Ngaruroro Stop Bank At Carrick Road – Walk? I Can Dance!

… Afterwards Afternoon Tea

Orongoronga Range, East From Seatoun Heights Road (courtesy Ben Bell)

Oak Avenue Weather:0.4℃—12.1℃ no rain [?] TdT eggs=0 Mark=4

Mark had a day off and so we slept in until noon. Bangle and I then set off to Havelock North stopping on the way for our evening MYLK cottage pie. Once there Bangle and I did the Tainui walk.

Leonie came just after 1:00pm for the afternoon. Kirsty rang for a chat with Karola. Care worker Sariga came around 7:00pm – very new to the job and very Indian, nice lady.

Oak Avenue Weather:1.4℃—14.6℃ 2.4mm rain [?] TdH eggs=0 Mark=0

Val from ACCESS called and then visited in order to get my signature permitting various uses of private data and describing, in the most general terms, what the service was that they would provide. Of note was absence of the times of visits and the names of the care workers as ACCESS are so stretched they’re continuously in a “do the best we can” mode.

Cynthia Chalmers came bearing glutinous cheese muffins and shortbread.

Mark continued with the “1 step forward …” work on the chook run.

Oak Avenue Weather:0.4℃—15.0℃ 0.2mm rain [?] TdP eggs=0 Mark=4

The usual weekly shop. Mark still struggling with the poles of the new chook run.

Karola In Regular Garb, On Verandah With Bangle And Coffee

Stand, Of Course i Can Stand

Woodsmen Keith & Peter Getting To Grips Wit Himalayan Spruce

Oak Avenue Weather:2.2℃—15.8℃ 0.8mm rain [?] TdP eggs=0 Mark=4

We got up in time for the anticipated 9:30am visit by an Access Community Health care worker. After 10:00am we got a call saying they’d been unable to roster anyone in until 11:00am because of staff shortages. I declined the offer as Karola and I had managed already. I asked and was advised that yes we’d get a visit at the end of the day as was part of the plan. Around 3:00pm a car drove up and yes it was the end-of-day care worker. I explained to Louise, a pleasant Pacific Island woman, that we usually went for a walk with the dog around 4:00pm and then had dinner around 5:30pm so 3:00pm was rather too early. Anyway I explained what we were looking for and she quite willingly phoned in the situation and tootled off. She would be paid anyway, she said. I guess the agency bills for the time unless it’s cancelled at least a day earlier so no-one (except the tax payer) loses.

Mark came and worked on repairing the chook run fence that was a little the worse for wear after we over-strained the support wires. He also helped lift the cottage sofa so that I could put the height adjusting block under the central sofa peg leg.

Will an Access care worker come tomorrow morning and if so what time – we wait with bated breath.

Oak Avenue Weather:0.2℃—13.3℃ no rain [?] TdP eggs=0 Mark=4

We were expecting Jenny again to help Karola dress – so she didn’t bend her knee putting it above her new hip. But as Cynthia Chalmers, old school friend of Karola’s, had said she’d drop in at 2:00pm I decided to ask her to help Karola. I called jenny and to my delight she said that instead of coming after church she and Noel would come over for a chat around 4:00pm.

Cynthia came bearing promised cheese muffins and her latest dog, a standard sized jet black Labrador bitch called, I think, Lisa. She helped Karola get into day clothes and we had our first afternoon tea. Cynthia left about 3:00pm and Karola, Bangle, and I took the Landrover to the park where Bangle and I walked up the main path and back along the stop bank. It was busy, I counted 50 cars in the car park.

There was some sort of Dachshund convention or outing, I counted twenty walkers and about the same number of sausage dogs.

We got back in time to invite Noel and Jenny in. We had a very pleasant late afternoon eating Cynthia’s muffins and chatting.

Sausage Dogs A Plenty

Oak Avenue Weather:_-1.1℃—13.5℃ no rain [?] TdP eggs=0

Jenny Hendery did come to our rescue this morning; she not only helped Karola with dressing while avoiding movements of her right leg and hip that would endanger her new half-hip. Jenny did much more than that, leaving Karola in good spirits. At her suggestion Jenny and I rolled up the carpet in the cottage living room which inspired me to do the same in the bedroom and bathroom. For now only wooden floors, no tripping opportunities. Jenny also did most of the work of raising up the sofa onto hospital-supplied supports that made the seat higher and hence safe for Karola to sit on.

After Jenny left I popped Karola into the Landrover with Bangle and we all went to the park so that Bangle and I could have a bracing walk.

Karola Up And About, Here Sitting At The Cottage Dining Room Table

Oak Avenue Weather:2.1℃—13.0℃ no rain [?] TdP eggs=0

Yesterday ended with Karola’s likely stay in hospital for another 4 – 5 days because the social worker could not arrange carers in time and occupational therapist maybe couldn’t provide equipment making the cottage safe for Karola, it might take 4 – 5 days.

Today was a seemingly endless round of telephone conversations. My plan was to take Bangle for a walk in the park in the morning then go and see Karola early afternoon. However Nita (Access Community Health – one of two carer provider businesses assigned/authorised by ACC) called and said she’d like to call round mid afternoon – more questions and to see whether any hazzards her carers needed to be aware of. So I rang the hospital and left a message to tell Karola I wouldn’t be in until late. That was when the nurse said they thought Karola would be leaving today. Nita said there were no carers available until Sunday evening and so I left it that Karola would need to stay in hospital until carers were available.

I’d already figured that if Karola were dressed in night attire when she left the hospital we were OK until Saturday morning. I suddenly thought of Jenny so called her and asked whether she was able to come here on Saturday and Sunday morning just to get Karola up and dressed for the day. Jenny without hesitation said she would, Jenny is like that.

Penny, the hospital social worker then called and so I relayed where I thought we were at: Penny had talked to Nita and so at this point did not know of Jenny’s kind offer. I told Penny we’d all like to get Karola home today.

A hospital occupational therapist called; it seemed that the initial discussion with OT Russell and the filling in of his form over a week ago had just been filed but then resurrected and skimmed by the second OT I saw in the hospital a couple of days ago. Today’s OT was somewhat aware of the data they’d collected but we ended up with agreement I would borrow a few standard pieces of equipment: something to make the sofa higher, something to increase the loo seat height, a chair for inside the shower, and a walker – well that’s actually just the one Karola has had all the time in hospital. hey would get these items to the ward so I could pick them up when I fetched Karola.

All went much better than expected. Nurse called to say doctors had signed off, extra meds prescription had been sent to pharmacy, I should come at around 4:30pm, which I did. I took the Landrover because its seats are higher off the ground and closer to the door than the Zoe seats. Karola was in the Landrover with her bits and pieces and the OT equipment before 5:00pm.

On the way home we picked up Karola’s meds – unbelievably another month was all blister-pack wrapped and ready incorporating most of the additional meds prescribed by the hospital. Then on to Captain Salty where we picked up dinner and so on home to Karola’s delight.

Mark came as expected and, in the morning after I’d taken Bangle for a walk in the park, we tried to make permanent the three wires round the chook run – crimping the joins. Unfortunately my efforts to strain up the wires nice and tight just made one of the corner posts pop out of the ground by a foot or so. Mark re-seated that post and, as with the same problem on the diagonally opposite post, used short sections of metal fence post (standards) to make two “swinging foot” anchors to keep it down. Again rather sadly, when Mark then re-tensioned the wires two more posts popped up – a task for next week.

After Mark’s noon break he fastened a 2” x 1” (50mm x 25mm) half-round board to the cottage wall as a stair rail for getting up the steps onto the cottage verandah. He also fastened a hand-rail next to the cottage bedroom’s bathroom loo, making it safer for Karola to sit on her high-seat extension.

Oak Avenue Weather:2.7℃—15.0℃ no rain [?] TdP eggs=0 Mark=4

Mark continued making the robust door for the chook run.

Bangle and I drove over to the MYLK shop and picked up two micro meals, continuing on to the Havelock North walk alongside the Tainui Reserve. I picked up a sandwich and coffee on the way back.

Joined Karola soon after 1:00pm. after a while we went for a walk along the corridor and out into the ward garden where we sat in the sun. A nurse, assistant to the orthopaedic doctor, came and chatted about next steps. She said that in order for Karola to be discharged from hospital the doctors needed to agree, and an occupational therapist and social worker needed to agree that plans in place were safe for Karola to return home. I said we’d like Friday release if possible and she said she’d set the ball rolling, beginning with the doctors.

At some point in the day I got a call from Penny Hampshire, a DHB social worker assigned to Karola (06-878-8109 x6775, 027-357-0124). I asked that she talk to Nita from Access Community Health. As I now know Access Community Health is a private health provider, like Miranda Smith Homecare, but one of two registered with ACC to provide outpatients care. It was a bit sly to call me before the hospital social worker and explain what they could provide as if we’d already selected our provider preference. Another weird thing was that both social workers asked whether we’d had an arrangement already set up with Access before the hip accident. Anyway the hospital social worker said breezily that the two registered providers of care in home were much the same, so going with Access was unlikely to be a problem. We shall see.

Oak Avenue Weather:3.6℃—10.4℃ no rain [79.7] TdH eggs=0 Mark=4

Mark was busy today so I checked his overnight traps and there were no possums, nor kittens, nor hedgehogs, nor blackbirds.

Day went as planned although it was quite cold and overcast with a nasty bite in the wind. I took Bangle for a short walk in the park before lunch then had lunch in the hospital café (roast beef, potato, etc) before joining Karola in the rehab. wing. It was really too cold to go out in the ward garden today but Karola did some walking up and down the corridors with Bangle in tow.

Keith & Peter Move On To Clearing The Downed Himalayan Spruce

Oak Avenue Weather:5.9℃—14.1℃ 1.6mm rain [?] TdP eggs=0 Mark=4

Mark let sheep into Goose paddock where they enthusiastically munched on the longest grass they’ve seen in months. He also took Bangle for her morning walk in Pakowhai Regional Park while I did the weeks shopping so that she would be calm and patient when we visited Karola in the afternoon. He then continued with the chook run gate.

I did the shopping, came home, picked up Bangle and drove back into town to the hospital. Had a hospital café lunch then went with Bangle to see Karola. To my delight Karola is wearing normal clothes today and we sat out in the garden again in the sun.

While there Karola was visited by one of the doctors and they chatted for quite a while. It’s possible Karola could go home some time next week. The Tuesday doctor’s meeting is where they discuss who is ready for discharge. And apparently I can take Karola out in the car if she can safely get in and out – I’ll follow that up tomorrow. If not the Zoe then surely the Landrover seats are high enough off the ground.

Karola groomed Bangle for a while and we took off her collar and I popped her up on the seat next to Karola so she didn’t have to bend down. Afterwards I put her back on the ground but forgot to put her colla and lead back on. Next thing you know a nurse has brought Bangle back from a little adventure visiting the wards; dogs must be kept on a leash, cats must be in a cat crate. But it’s the only ward in the hospital that allows dogs and cats in I was told – it’s such a good idea.

Karola In Workaday Clothes Talking To Joan in Hamilton

Oak Avenue Weather:2.4℃—19.6℃ 0.2mm rain [?] TdP eggs=0 Mark=4