Monthly Archives: September 2023

Subaru Clean Inside And Out

Dave went round the sheep seeing whether there was any help needed and practical. We popped one dead lamb into Mark’s pit and hope there aren’t too many to follow though the weather is cold and the hogget mothers are inexperienced.

Dave and I went into Hastings and Dave cleaned the inside of the Subaru while I watched, photographed, and made encouraging noises.

Meanwhile Anna and Bridget went to Mahora and Anna went to the hair dressers while Bridget foraged further for vegetables for tonights delicious roast chicken dinner.

Later all but Dave, including Bangle and Tux, went to the stop bank for a walk. The wind was keen and oh so cold that we didn’t spend too long there.

Dave At The Car Valet Place

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

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Bridget Arrives At Karamu, With Tux

We drove over to Napier for the afternoon. The new shower chair having arrived we took back the one loaned for Karola’s hip recovery, to the shop in the hospital. Then on to Napier and a quick stop with Jenny, Mark’s mum, who was sitting near their big picture window surveying Napier below from high up on the bluff.

Next stop was for lunch at Mrs Brown’s in Ahuriri, omelettes and the like. Then for a good walk with Bangle along the Napier foreshore. The main reason for venturing so far north was to pick up my new purchase of the Wisper e-bike from Electrify NZ in Taradale. All was well and I also purchased a very sturdy bike lock as well as a comfortable and safe white helmet. We borrowed a swish bike holder for attaching the bike to the Subaru on the trip to Coromandel.

Another dead lamb today. The hoggets have started lambing as I feared but at least one hogget is managing well with twins. Mark buried the dead before returning to his unenviable task of picking up the larger branches from cyclone Gabrielle strewn all over the paddocks.

Bridget arrived with Tux late evening; both pretty much mended after their encounter with a puppy Alsatian a couple of weeks ago. My Tux has grown.

Lookout Platform On The Waterfront

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Bangle Out In Front Along The Marine Parade

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The New Wisper E-Bike

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Rejected Lamb Gets A Feed

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Oak Avenue Weather:6.7℃—18.4℃ 5.0mm rain [?] TdM eggs=1 Mark=4

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Of Electric Bikes

Mark buried the dead twin lambs from #909 and another still born one behind the hay shed. Also today he set out to dig another big pit in case we get a few more before this season’s lambing ends.

Dave and I went to Taradale to the electric bike shop, Electrify NZ Hawkes Bay. I’d read the Consumer report on e-bikes last night and decided the Wisper would be a good bike for me. I had a short test ride and Dave and I went through the specs with the shop assistant. One issue is that a standard bike holder for the back of the Subaru is not strong enough for an e-bike with its heavy battery, the bike would bounce around dangerously. But the shop will lend us one for our Coromandel trip if we buy the bike. Dave and I will sleep on it and decide tomorrow whether to buy it. Not only would an e-bike be good for some longer rides up the Ngaruroro should I get back into bike riding exercise, but when I am too old and worn to drive a car then maybe an e-bike towing a light trailer would be the way to go into town for groceries and the like. One can ride in cycle lanes almost all the way.

Meanwhile we’d got an appointment with Paula at Top2Toe late morning so Anna took Karola there and Dave and I joined them after picking up our MYLK meals for this evening, 25kg of maize for the chooks, lots more Rush Munro ice-cream, and the laundry.

As expected Patrick and Lis Coonie came for afternoon tea. We had no cakes or scones so Anna and I scurried down to the local shops and garnered some muffins before the Coonies arrived. As Anna said, the Coonies are nice people, very easy to get on with.

Late afternoon we dropped Anna and Dave off at the dog park and they walked from there upstream along the stop-bank to Ormond Road. Karola.Bangle, and I joined them there and we walked another kilometre or so up and back along the stop-bank.

Karola And Bangle In Sun On Homestead Front Verandah

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WISPER Wayfarer M7 Large Battery

CONSUMER NZ RECOMMENDED. DESIGNED IN THE UK.

The Wayfarer M7 is the stablemate of the M9 crossbar version, it’s very stiff step through frame is perfect for the rider who really cares about comfort but wants excellent control. It is a comfortable commuter or day to day workhorse but underneath the city exterior beats the heart of a true thoroughbred. Hidden away the Wayfarer super hi torque motor develops 100Nm.

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Oak Avenue Weather:3.6℃—21.0℃ no rain [?] TdT eggs=0 Mark=4

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We Meet Angela King

As arranged by Marcus Ormond, Anna, Dave, Karola, and I met with Marcus and Angela King at the Hawthorne coffee shop in Havelock North, at noon, for coffee and a nibble.

Angela was a companion for Nicky Ormond, Marcus’ mother, during her middle stages of Altzeimers and we were here to see if she might fit in the future for Karola at Karamu. Angela is a delightful person, has travelled quite a bit and spent many years in South Africa as well as England, Australia, and New Zealand. She has two children and grandchildren. So the meeting was a success and we’ll get in touch with Angela when we get back from the Coromandel to see how she might contribute to Karola and my lives.

Oak Avenue Weather:8.5℃—15.7℃ no rain [?] TdP eggs=0 Mark=4

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Weekly Shopping And Cleaning Day

Pavla came this morning and cleaned the cottage, spick and span. Meanwhile our troupe sans Bangle crammed into the Subaru and did the weekly shopping including lunch at Birdwood Café.

Late afternoon we all went out and counted ewes and lambs. One little forlorn lamb had lost its mother but we, that is Anna, reunited it with the most likely ewe which was later seen lying peacefully with her twins, one on either side of her. We’ll see tomorrow whether we were in time to save the lamb from starvation in the biting cold wind and drizzle.

No Mark again today as it is still too wet. Anna, Bangle, and I took ourselves for a four kilometre walk along the stop bank, upstream from the Ormond Road access point. On the way back we came upon three police cars and others attending a car that had crashed off the end of the road to the stop-bank. It looked like it had spun out of control and rolled. We guess it was the conclusion of another accident-prone police pursuit.

Seven Chooks Plus Broody Hen – All Present And Correct

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Dave Slips Back Into Life At Karamu

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Bridget’s Tux Happy Again Without The Dreaded “Cone”

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Oak Avenue Weather:8.0℃—15.0℃ 8.6mm rain [?] TdT eggs=0 Mark=0

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Anna & Dave’s First Day At Karamu

Raining for the morning and much of last night so Mark took a rain-cheque. Marcus brought his cobber Robbie to look at the pile of oak slabs he wants to cut up for firewood; he’s offering 25% of what he gets for the firewood to us. It was too wet for Marcus to do any chain-sawing but we’ll see him on Wednesday for coffee with Angela King at the Hawthorne coffee shop in Havelock North.

Ben’s chilli concarné frozen meals formed the basis of our dinner this evening, delicious and filling as usual, and a little less fiery this time.

Anna and Dave spent most of the day in Napier, having massages to ease their stressed muscles and doing some shopping, including some colourful and well fitting tops for Karola.

Oak Avenue Weather:10.5℃—13.0℃ 23.6mm rain [?] eggs=0 Mark=0

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Anna & Dave Arrive From UK

Daylight saving last night; in spring the clocks ’spring’ forward.

I was surprised to find we could TXT with Anna in flight over Australia and again on the Auckland Napier leg. Bit different from 1990s when there was great palaver about switching off phones and not using until inside the terminal building. Most irritating for those who were engineers and knew this was all safety-washing – for appearances.

Went to the airport early and had lunch before joining Anna and Dave at the baggage carousel around 4:30pm. Was startled by the new (to us) ticketless parking where they just read number plates electronically. We’d just become used to the automatic ticketing system.

After dumping luggage and a short rest we all went off to the dog park. Afterwards to Hawkes Bay Roast to get four delicious – well pretty good and certainly generously-sized – roast dinners.

Anna’s TXT From Over Middle Of Australia

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

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Anna/Dave Visit Pre-Check

A laborious check of the lambs today totals 42; 37 alive and gambolling, 2 dead, and orphan triplets gifted to a good home.

Anna and Dave visit imminent so took Subaru to the car wash and also stocked up on Rush Munro ice-cream.

Bangle, Karola, and I had lunch at Karamu Road Bay Espresso then had walk along the Clive wetlands.

In the evening I finished binging on the new, Sewries 2, episodes of The Chelsea Detective – most enjoyable.

Geof & Edwina, our special English friends, are off on their Azores holiday of a lifetime; photos below.

Singapore Airport – Dave Posing As “Speak No Evil” – Fat Chance

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Anna TXTs Flight Info From Above Australia

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Giant Burl On Himalayan Spruce Saved For Posterity

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Resin-Filled Stump Begins To Burn

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.. Into The Night

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Keith’s Personal Fire Truck, “Just in Case”

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Damping Down For The Night

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Job Well Done

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Geoff & Edwina Fly In To The Azores – Typical Countryside

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Ponta Delgarda – Iconic Basalt Black & White Plaster Architecture

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Oak Avenue Weather:14.7℃—20.9℃ 0.2mm rain [?] TdC eggs=0

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Little Lambzee Tivey

Good news, I and Mark both searched for any twins that might be joined at the hip so to speak; all 37 lambs I counted were either singletons or ordinary twins. So the adorable twins I saw nestling together must have been doing just that, repeatedly.

Mark and I put the Austrolorp fertile eggs under the broody hen today and this evening she was still sitting tight.

Seven chooks came into the run today in search of grain so maybe I’ll be able to just quietly shut the gate on them when they begin their training for mornings in captivity. I’m going to give the broody hen a few days to really get committed to the Austrolorp eggs before I do that though.

Keith and Peter started the fire on the old fallen Himalayan Spruce stump this afternoon.

Himalayan Spruce Stump Well Alight

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Some Mothers Do Hav’em

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Oak Avenue Weather:10.2℃—25.6℃ no rain [?] TdP eggs=0 Mark=4

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Thursday Is MYLK Day

Had a chat with Keith Macaulay, the retired forester, and told him I had earmarked $6000 for his work once he had figured out how I could pay him. He seems to be in multiple pickles with various authorities but will continue to work on the few big logs left and will burn the fallen Himalayan Spruce stump tomorrow – with a good rain forecast for Sunday it’ll be interesting to see how far he gets with that.

Cecilia, Bangle, Karola, and I went into town late morning, picked up coffees and sandwiches for lunch then the MYLK meals for this evening before going on to the Tainui reserve walk at the top of Joll Road in Havelock North.

Mark did a quick check of the sheep and found a dead ram lamb plus a leak in the trough in the One Acre paddock – which he fixed. Mark then finished off the latch and gate-stop for the chook run and went back to picking up the many sticks left by fallen treews from cyclone Gabrielle.

My six fertile Austrolorp eggs are lying flat for 12 hours as recommended by the vendor so i can put them under the broody hen tomorrow. Broody hen must be driving the others away because there have been no new eggs laid in the chook house for several days.

Oak Avenue Weather:7.5℃—23.7℃ no rain [?] TdH eggs=0 Mark=4

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Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow

Mark took a rain-cheque today though it’s a lovely sunny day.

Just as we were bout to set off for Napier Ivan the electrician came to pick up the eggs I’d promised him. He came in his shiny new black Alpha Romeo saloon, very swish.

Cecilia came with us, including Bangle for our six-weekly haircuts in Napier, well Ahuriri actually. While Karola had her turn the rest of us sat in the sun outside the Milk & Honey café and had coffee and a friand. I swapped with Karola and then we ll went to the Napier waterfront and did a section of my usual waterfront walk – having topped up with an Afghan biscuit and, for me, bacon and egg GF square at The Bach café. Oh and Cecilia wanted a rolling pin and a roasting fork for her cooking and I wanted replacement rubber fasteners for the cottage gate so we dropped in at Mitre-10 before the walk. The current fasteners have perished in the harsh Hawkes Bay sun.

Peter and Keith were hard at it with more chainsawing of the fallen Himalayan Spruce. Keith also took a look at the old tractor which had somehow got it’s hydraulic system in a muddle. Keith thought he’d fixed it, which maybe he did, but I found one of the control levers was in the wrong position and when I changed that we were back to normal.

Cecilia chatted with us during and after the delicious chicken pie she made from left-overs from last night’s roast chicken and gluten-free pastry. An early night had by all.

Keith Macauley and Peter Wiffin Hard At Work

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Oak Avenue Weather:7.3℃—22.6℃ no rain [?] TdM eggs=1 Mark=0

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Cecilia Arrives

Karola’s cousin, daughter of her late uncle Ormond Wilson, arrived mid morning. We all went shopping and Cecilia bought an organic Bostock chicken to roast – a delicious change from our usual fare.

In the afternoon we all went for a walk on the stop-bank. Cecilia is here until late afternoon on Thursday and its good to have a different face around for a few days.

Oak Avenue Weather:3.2℃—22.4℃ no rain [?] TdT eggs=0 Mark=4

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Very Strong Wind Gusts

Violent winds all night but I’ve not spotted any major damage, probably because cyclone Gabrielle bowled any big trees with weak grasp on ground.

Up in good time for the first cottage clean by the young Czech woman that Anna found for us in Hastings last May. She saw that we made ourselves scarce to let her get on with it and so suggested moving the morning to Tuesday when we’re out shopping. Good idea.

Mark came and took down all the electric fence now that the paddocks are growing. He also mowed the cottage lawn so it’s tidy for Cecilia’s visit this week.

Now, looking t the photo (yesterday) and seeing them again cuddled together I’m hoping those lambs are not siamese twins, you can’t tell from the photo. And when I match up ewes and lambs, even earlier in the day when the lambs are not so much gambolling round in small gangs, its hard to see the numbers on each ewe tag and hard to be sure that the lambs are matched to the right ewe. Luckily it doesn’t really matter that much.

Because of the wind our walk along the stop bank, upstream at Carrick road, was short.

Oak Avenue Weather:9.1℃—22.3℃ no rain [?] TdT eggs=0 Mark=4

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Warm Sun But Cold Wind Blasts

Henare called in to look after his bees – one hive is still OK and flourishing. Coffee and chat ensued.

Broody chook still sitting and now six Austrolorp fertile eggs on their way to me from the South Island.

Recycling run then ice-cream and some veges from Gagans. Went to dog park but it was just too windy for a pleasant walk so we did a very short one.

Cold Wind, Warm Sunshine

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Oak Avenue Weather:10.6℃—25.4℃ no rain [?] TdP eggs=1

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Tux & Bridget In Bite Fight

Bridget’s day was just so good beginning when an elderly couple’s young Alsatian puppy took agin Tux and bit him hard on one leg. The other dog walker Bridget was talking to rushed in to restrain the Alsatian but it would not let go of Tux’s leg. Bridget then tried to pull Tux away and Tux, frightened by all this, bit Bridget on the hand.

So Bridget spent much time finding an out-of-hours vet and getting Tux’s wounds cleaned and stitched up. Tux is no fan of the “cone” he now has to wear for ten days. Bridget also went to ED (aka A&E) and got combined inoculation against Tetanus and other popular infectious diseases, and some strong antibiotics – four tablets thrice daily for ten days. Add to that she almost crashed out of her Wordle today too.

Bangle, Karola, and I went for a long walk in the dog park late afternoon before gobbling down one of Ben’s delicious chilli con-carne stews.

Chook still sitting so I’ve ordered some fertile Austrolorp eggs to put under her.

According to Mrs Google I will need to feed the eight chooks about a litre of food a day once I imprison them in the new run.

Now This Is Nice

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Oak Avenue Weather:0.6℃—22.7℃ no rain [?] TdP eggs=3

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Subaru Air Conditioning Serviced

Mark monitored the sheep again, one new set twins, ewe #004 with lambs #335 and #336.Rather than mowing the cottage lawn Mark suggested letting the sheep graze it as they are still on moderately short rations whereas the cottage lawn is growing pace. Mark ran electric fence round the cottage lawn perimeter.

Mark was able to ferry me to and from Newport Auto Electricians for todays appointment to service the air conditioning. Appointment was for two hours beginning at 11:00am. Soon after 1:00pm I called and found it was only part-way through a nitrogen gas leak test. At 2:00pm they called and said it’d be ready in half an hour. Mark dropped me off and I waited there until 3:30pm when finally it was re-gassed, no leaks. Tried it out on the way home ad it gave out mighty blasts of cold cold air so Dave, if not Anna, should be pleased.

After dropping the Subaru off in the morning, Mark drove me to pick up the laundry and get coffee and sandwich for my and Karola’s lunch.

Bangle, Karola, and I took coffee and a sandwich to the dog park for lunch but just as we’d finished and were ready to go for our walk it rained.

One of my seven hens has become broody choosing to sit inside the chook house.

Mark’s Latest Rabbit

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Mark’s Big Old Guinea-pig With The Two New Young Ones

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Chook Run Finished And Operational

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Ewe And Lamb On Cottage Lawn

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Oak Avenue Weather:6.8℃—19.2℃ 1.0mm rain [?] eggs=2 Mark=4¼

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Gill & Ben Return To Wellington Leaving The Good Weather Behind

Mark continued with tidying up the bonfires and adjusting the chook run gate. Karola, Bangle, and I first booked the Subaru in tomorrow for the air conditioning to be serviced, as requested by Anna’s Dave. Then we picked up sandwich and coffee from BP and our evening meal from the MYLK shop – from there going to the dog park for lunch on a concrete bench commenmorating the creation of the park by Dr Bostock, John Bostock’s father.

Sad to hear that Jenny’s surgery on her knee was postponed for another day. Even more troubling to hear that Felicity Rashbrooke’s surgery was botched and she has to have more surgery to correct it, an error and not even detected for several days. Really unpleasant for her and we wish her speediest and most complete recovery. Meanwhile Anthony in Wellington is part-way through weeks of cancer treatment which must be tiring and unpleasant too.

Raupare Stream In Dog Park – Clear And Tranquil

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Oak Avenue Weather:1.1℃—21.0℃ no rain [?] TdP eggs=3 Mark=4

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Gill Bell’s Birthday Lunch

Went to Birdwood Café for a pleasant lunch celebrating Gill’s birthday. Siesta then walk round the orchard in the late afternoon sunshine. Lambs in every direction in the paddocks. Mark tended the big bonfire in the Front paddock and this evening most of the pile is gone.

Gill Inside The Chook Run

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Karamu Homestead – Sunny Spring Day – From The North-East

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Late Winter Rhododendron Flowers – Vivid Red

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Old Santa Rosa Plum Tree In Blossom

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Remaining Cockerel Having Vanquished His Son

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Fallen Himalayan Spruce Slowly Becoming Fire Wood

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Lambs In All Directions, Hardly One Being Pure White

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Main Bonfire From Cyclone Waste, Reduced To Ash

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Oak Avenue Weather:3.7℃—19.8℃ no rain [?] TdO eggs=4 Mark=4

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Gill And Ben Delight

Gentle start to the day then Gill and I, Gill driving the Volvo, did the shopping plus a little extra for Gill’s pork casserole dish tonight.

Mark could not come today.

Lunch at Bay Espresso on Karamu Road – had a maladroit youngster trainee manning the till which caused some chaos.

Ben went to the wetlands beyond PakiPaki on route 2 to Wellington and took photographs of some of the current inhabitants.

Ewe #816 had a large still born lamb overnight.

The two bonfires lit by Mark yesterday have burned down well although there’s still quite some amount of branches and twigs around the edges to be burnt.

Plover And Chick In Front Paddock (courtesy Ben Bell)

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Pekapeka Wetland Walk-Way (courtesy Ben Bell)

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Grey Duck – Pekapeka Wetland (courtesy Ben Bell)

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New Zealand Dabchicks – Pekapeka Wetland (courtesy Ben Bell)

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Coot – Pekapeka Wetland (courtesy Ben Bell)

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Oak Avenue Weather:6.6℃—20.7℃ no rain [?] TdO eggs=3 Mark=0

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Afternoon With Jenny

I had my quarterly GP visit this morning; diabetes checks all fine but referral to urologist specialist which is not uncommon as you advance in years. Back in time to link up with Karola, Gill, and Ben for lunch at Lappuccinos. Then Karola, Bangle, and I popped over to Napier where Karola spent the afternoon with old friend Jenny and I walked Bangle on the Napier waterfront. Measuring the walk with my iPhone it measures just over 4km for the return trip. Bangle continues to attract attention from several other walkers whenever we go out in public with her.

Mark came and hung the gate for the chook run then after lunch lit and tended two bonfires of cyclone Gabrielle branches in the Goose and Long Acre paddocks. There’s still a large pile in the Front paddock.

We went into Hastings and bought four roast meals from the Hawkes Bay Roast & Takeaway on Heretaunga Street. Simple, basic, but nutritious.

Chook Run Complete With Gate – Chooks In, Predators Out

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Front Paddock Bonfire

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Goose Paddock Bonfire

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Long Acre Bonfire – Old Ginkgo Tree

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Oak Avenue Weather:10.6℃—19.4℃ no rain [?] TdM eggs=3 Mark=4

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Gill And Ben Arrive

If my counting in the half-dark is correct we’ve had another five lambs over the weekend.

It being the second Sunday in the month I went to the Free Thinkers group taking half a dozen eggs for the hosts and cardboard box of all my surveillance camera stuff for Fergus. Three cameras and power supplies, three mounting stands and one small tripod, and possibly I left in a couple of SD cards.

Gill and Ben got here from Wellington soon after 5:00pm and I arrived back from Taradale shortly afterwards. We fetched a fish & chip meal, made lettuce and tomato salads, and ended with Rush Munro passionfruit ice-cream. Then we companionably watched a couple of episodes of the Netflix French TV series, Lupin. Just right for relaxing after dinner.

Oak Avenue Weather:5.7℃—16.1℃ 0.2mm rain [79.9] TdO eggs=1

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Saturday Sloths

Listened to Country Life at 7:00am. Got up at 8:00am, dressed and coffeed, Karola appears to be still sleeping. Let dog out etc as I try to do every morning. Flopped back onto bed and slept fitfully until 1:30pm; Karola still appearing to be asleep. We weren’t fully on deck until 2:30pm. Gill & Ben coming tomorrow for five days. Karola’s Cecillia from Pukera Bay is coming for four days next week, then Anna and Dave arrive on 24th. So this sleeping all day has to be controlled very soon. It isn’t majorly fun to have you hosts sleep until after lunch.

Tried tp go to the dog park for our walk but it was too cold and so we went to the stop bank and had a long walk there, from the Carrick Road entry-point. Karola solved her feeling of cold by staying in the car in the sunshine.

Oak Avenue Weather:8.4℃—16.9℃ no rain [?] TdT eggs=3

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Ewe #714 Lamb #317

Mark came and continued on the chook run netting, he’s nearly finished. After lunch Mark drove us all down to the Saw Doctors where they checked whether the chainsaw blade was causing the burrs on the chain guides. It seems not, they might have been caused by a small stone lodging in the nose of the blade but the blade works fine with the bad chain, now filed to remove the burrs. No charge.

Peter Wiffin and I had a discussion over by the fallen Himalayan Spruce. We agreed he and Keith would manoeuvre the big burl and the piece of spruce trunk it’s attached to to a resting place in the corner. Apart from that and the chunks of oak strewn along the bund from the homestead garage to the cattle-stop Peter and Keith can chop up all the rest for firewood.

Peter and keith may fell and remove three standing trees in the stand of eucalypts, two eucalypts and a douglas fir that’s been dead for decades.

The Cottage Lawn – Grass Is Growing At Last

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Oak Avenue Oaks Leaf-Break In Last 72 Hours

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Southern Section Of Chook Run Fence

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North West Corner Of Chook Run Fence

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Northern Section Of Chook Run Fence

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Oak Avenue Weather:3.8℃—19.5℃ no rain [?] TdT eggs=1 Mark=4

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MYLK Meal Day, Ewe #511 Had Lamb #316

Mark had the day off to get his car ready for its WOF so didn’t come today.

So off we went to the other side of Hastings; MYLK shop is almost at the eastern end of St Aubyn Street and the best address I could find for our new cleaner Pavla Kamenska is nearby. But no-one was home at that address and her phone was dropping to voice-mail so I left a message. Pavla answered by TXT, she’s still in Czech because her mother is very ill but she plans to be back in the next week or so. My fear that she would be staying in Czech appears to be ungrounded.

Gorgious Hawkes Bay day. Cool, sunny, slight breeze.

Oak Avenue Weather:6.5℃—21.7℃ no rain [?] TdO eggs=1 Mark=0

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Ewe #510 Had Twins #314E & #315E

Tried to contact our new cleaner Pavla but she’s not answering on the number I have for her.

I forgot to take the laundry in yesterday and collect the previous week’s so we did that today, got a sandwich and coffees for lunch and had lunch at the dog park followed by a good walk.

Meanwhile Mark continued on the chook run; the netting has a lot of stapling and connecting the netting to the three #8 support wires.

Oak Avenue Weather:10.5℃—23.0℃ no rain [?] TdP eggs=3 Mark=4

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Ewe #003 Has Lamb #313R

Shopping Tuesday again and we asked Mark to drive us as I was feeling a little light-headed. So Mark spent the morning shift on the chook run and drove us after lunch.

Oak Avenue Weather:7.6℃—16.2℃ no rain [?] TdP eggs=2 Mark=4

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Ewe #117 & #107 Have Twins

Ewe #117 had #309E and #310R; ewe #107 had 311E and #312R

We had a pleasant afternoon with Karola having afternoon tea with Jenny and me taking Bangle for a long walk along the Napier Marine Parade waterfront.

I had my quarterly blood test in late morning. Mark spent the afternoon on the chook run.

Dramatic Murals On National Aquarium Walls – Napier Waterfront

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Oak Avenue Weather:6.1℃—15.8℃ no rain [?] TdM eggs=1 Mark=4

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Ideal For Seaside Walk

Another beautiful Hawkes Bay winter’s day. It may be ‘spring’ according to the media but spring is wet and frequently cold with icy gales. According to a jogger we passed on the walk she said it was the sixth such afternoon on the trot. I wonder how that compares with the Kapiti Coast in Wellington.

There’s been a shop that sells take-away roast dinners in Hastings for many years. I investigated many years ago but for some reason – I think that there was no gluten-free option – I didn’t use it. Tracey the support worker remarked that she’d got some good bargain dinners there so tonight I went there – it’s probably changed hands several times since last I visited it – and got myself a pork roast dinner and Karola a fried chicken meal. Both very good, both more than we could eat, usually. The one roast meal I had could easily do us both – for $19 which is about half MYLK. Not a substitute for MYLK but a good meal for a day of the week I haven’t got planned.

Zoe was unwell for the last couple of days and she had the same complaint a few weeks ago.

The spanner serious error light and the warning light for skidding come on when attempting to start. The car will not move into any gear. “Hill start assist check” was the displayed message and “Go to agent” was the handbook advice.

Last time I fiddled around and tried to reset the software by pressing two right-hand stalk buttons at same time. Last time that worked.

This time error the message and inability to start persisted over a couple of days. The only immediate thing that I thought might have contributed was leaving the car door open all night.

Google was a confused mish-mash of reasons from well-wishers, a number to do with the braking system and others to do with battery 12V issues.

Anyway I charged up the main battery overnight but it still wouldn’t go this morning. However, this afternoon it went back to normal behaviour – we just trundled into town to make sure and it was sweet as ever.

My tentative conclusion is that the 12V battery was almost flat and that triggered the error message – and according to Zoe owners on Google, can trigger a variety of other similar spurious messages.

Turning Point On Our Clive Wetlands Walk – The Chooks

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Oak Avenue Weather:3.7℃—16.5℃ no rain [?] TdP eggs=4

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Two Kilometres On Own Two Pins

Took the Landrover down to the river on Ormond Road today. Still too rugged for the Zoe and anyway she’s come back with the error “Check Hill Assist” and refuses to start. I got rid of it last time by pressing a few buttons ut didn’t work this time. It’s one of those “contact your nearest service agent” messages.

Beautiful sunny cool day and Karola walked two kilometres unaided.

Made a not of Marcus & Chrissie Ormond’s children when Cynthia, Chrissie’s mum, dropped in the other day.

  • Matilda – 18
  • Rosey – 16 (the triplets rearer)
  • Minty – 13

No new lambs today.

At the meeting in Napier, when I left Karola flat on her back with a broken hip, I heard why some of the stop bank repairs were to the landward side of the bank. It’s all to do with the scouring out of the landward side once water finds a way through or over the bank. And as per photo below, the land-side excavations have been repaired and re-grassed neatly. The filler underneath will be a more robust gravel mix less prone to the scouring.

Willow Bud Break On River Bed

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Strengthened Stop Bank

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Oak Avenue Weather:0.7℃—19.8℃ no rain [79.2] TdT eggs=2

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Cool Sunny Hawkes Bay, Gentle Breezes

Mark continued with the netting for the chook run. We had a long lie in and then went into Stortford Lodge to pick up the re-packed blister packs (three months) for Karola’s meds including the new ones prescribed yesterday.

Walked on the stop bank downstream from Carrick Road access point.

Being a Friday this is a “shower night” for Karola with Tracey, our support worker who somehow charms Karola into having a shower.

Anna’s clothing gifts for Karola arrived on Wednesday and we unwrapped them tonight – several fleecy-materialled items, the blanket is being used tonight.

South Miramar Coast On A Perfect Wellington Winter’s Day (courtesy Ben Bell)

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Ewe #12, Lamb #304

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Ewe #111, Lambs #305, #306

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Ewe #803, Lambs #307, #308

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Oak Avenue Weather:0.7℃—17.1℃ 0.2mm rain [?] TdT eggs=1 Mark=4

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