Monthly Archives: August 2024

Overcast so didn’t go to Ocean Beach today but Bridget did the recycling while I ate my BP Wild Bean Café breakfast.

Bridget, Narcus and I did a big lot of sorting out of books which ended up with Marcus driving a land rover with back piled high with cardboard boxes of books into Hastings to the Little Red Book shop where we were met by Adrian Norton the owner who helped unload.

Bad thing, I got a call from Patrick Coonie, I’d quite forgotten that Bridget and I were expected there for afternoon tea at 2:00pm. Chagrined and now we’ll reschedule for another weekend while Bridget is still here.

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

I took MG to have its replacement left wing mirror replaced today; it’s taken months to arrive from Asia or China.

Good session here at noon with dog trainer Augusta Grayson. She gave us good advice re Bangle and Tux.

Late afternoon went to PAC-And-Save where, according to the wholesaler, Mrs Roger’s, there should have been some packets of low sodium salt. There were not. Also new keys for shelf cupboards are ready but we arrived too late, Lockwise shut at 4:00pm on weekdays and not at all att weekends. On that trip into Hastings we also picked up a few vegetables and two more MYLK meals for the weekend.

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

Call mid morning offered me a dentist appointment at 12:00pm instead of on Friday so I took it – quick and painless replacement of an old filling that fell out a couple of days ago.

Bridget took Tux over to a groomer in Napier and he came back looking half the size with his fur clipped and able to see as his shaggy eyebrows were pared back. Bridget also took the three plants she bought the other day to Karola for her small apartment at Summerset Palms. I learned that Jenny had also been to see Karola this morning.

Marcus and I fiddle with the Grillo which couple of days ago stopped mowing. The engine was fine, it moved around OK, but the blades wouldn’t turn. After prodding and poking it for a couple of hours I tried it and it just worked – goodness knows why.

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

Off we went shopping with Bangle in the back.  I’ve now switched to salmon on Tuesdays to get the Omega-3s; Terakihi still on Wednesdays. Nailed three MYLK meals for the rest of the week, along with a pork schnitzel and fillet steak for the other two.

A bit shocked to find out that my morning pick-me-up of a BP Wild Bean Café large latte and an apple turnover was 470 calories.

Got some preliminary info emailed from the dog trainer. The short introductory videos were very complementary to the Great Courses DVD I got on dog training many years ago.

At Bridget’s request I went looking for Potassium salt – as a much healthier alternative to Sodium chloride table salt. Asked at several shops but they didn’t have it but said that I wasn’t the first to be asking. Possibly other people in Hawkes Bay read the New Scientist.

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

Put up another small bookcase in cottage bedroom. We all went to dog park late afternoon having first unsuccessfully attempted to get replacement keys for the two little cupboards built in to the kitchen bookcase from Mitre-10. They can only cut keys from a physical copy and I have neither cupboard key.

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

Lunchtime Bridget took me and dogs to Regional Dog Park where we had a long walk.

Marcus, Bridget, and I discussed the generator and the Grillo FD450 lawn mower where I pointed out the foibles and upkeep requirements.

I floated the 2:1 idea with Marcus so to begin with we’ll split the ongoing expenses like waste collection, electricity, and so on 66% for Marcus family and 33% for me.

Three eggs yesterday and another two today.

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Warm sunny day here in Hawkes Bay. Bridget drove me and the dogs over to Ocean Beach for a walk, stopping at Red Bridge for coffee and snack. And poof the day was gone leaving only the evening for dinner and TV.

MYLK Hastings did ring me mid morning to say they’d got one of my two missing meals if I still wanted it. We picked it up on the way to Ocean Beach.

Bangle With Tux In Background – Ocean Beach

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Bit of work on moving more books to cottage. Walked dogs at dog park.

Homestead electricity problem again so Marcus got his electricians round and they fixed it by re-balancing the load on the three phases. I’m sceptical that it would make a difference as most houses operate off one phase, especially in towns.

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

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

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

Shopping with driver Rosie around noon. Switched from my regular two white-fish meals to one of white-fish (tarakihi or snapper or gurnard) and one of fresh salmon (for the Omega 3s). I am toying with adopting Dr Michael Mosley’s Fast Keto Diet so beginning a regimen of three days of MYLK meals and four days of calorifically restricted semi-fasting days. Goal is to get weight back down from the dizzy heghts I acquired during January/February of 82 kilograms.

Bridget is being more daring, attempting to fast completely on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays.

Rosie drove me and Bangle to the Vets. I made an appointment this morning because again there was blood on her left front paw. She shows no pain when I examine the paw and this has happened several times recently so I asked for Bangle to be given a health check and just see if the paw thing is a problem. Vet’s diagnosis was that she’s only 14.9kg now, down from 19kg last time we went to the vets. And Bangle is in good health. The red discolouring on her paw is very likely just from her licking that paw a lot; maybe her arthritus
Is troubling her most on that front paw. So, sigh of relief and off we went back home.

Late afternoon Marcus and I walked round the boundary and I explained the mysteries of the watering system, the small number of valued trees like grandson Felix’s Kauri and the Puriri trees and the avenue of 15 Lime trees (English Lime, tilia) Felix’s Kauri is in recognition of his 1st in Economics from St Andrews. The Puriri will eventually become large spreading trees, one between the forks of the 133 road entrance and the other two on the bank above the ha-ha, framing the view from the homestead north.

Bridget took the dogs for a walk at breakfast and we all went to the dog park at dusk.

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

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

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

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

Rosie drove and we went over to Summerset Palms and took Karola out for light meal at Mrs Browns – she and I had a half omelette each and coffee. That went well. On way back I picked up my week’s MYLK meals and dropped in at the Little Red Bookshop, a second-hand bookshop near Cornucopia and Rush Munros. They are going to come on Saturday and sort through the hundreds of books to see which ones they’d like to buy. This is better than just throwing them away now or leaving them for Bridget to dispose of once we’re gone. I am adding my many boxes of 1980s paperback sci-fi to the collection and some Readers Digest books on art that I bought back in 1970s. It will be hard to let many of the books go but I still am retaining several hundred of my favourites. Marcus and Bridget will attend the sorting in case there are any that they’d like to keep.

Marcus helped get my sci-fi paperbacks off the high shelving in the store room.

Bridget arrived at dusk with Tux who is very happy to be back with his owner.

Anothwer small egg from one of the new chooks today.

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Jump started the Subaru – its battery was flat when I tried to move the book-laden car last night. Moved the Subaru next to the cottage back door while I unloaded the books.

Gathered the books from upstairs in the cottage and several piles around the downstairs and shelved them in the living room. Marcus helped bring several of the heaviest containers of boks from the car into the living room. Marcus brought his week-old lamb and farm dog Duke over with him from the homestead. So far the animals are all getting on well together, no fighting or chasing, touch wood.

Took Bangle for a very short walk today comprising picking up a sandwich and coffee for lunch and then haing lunch on a table under a tree in Frimley Gardens.

Frost fans have been going for several days but they don’t keep me awake, it’s an expected background noise in late winter and early spring.

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

Rosie has an appointment tomorrow so we’ll take Karola out on Thursday. In fact I’ll permanently move our visiting day to Thursday otherwise Rosie has to drive me for three days a week. On Thursday we can combine picking up the MYLK meals with visiting Karola and doing any shopping I forgot to do on Tuesday.

Marcus said his household had a good night’s sleep in Karamu last night. They’ve brought their cat and their farm dog Duke here, and they have a tiny male lamb, only seven days old, which they’re feeding.

Rosie drove me and Bangle in for the shopping and a walk in the dog park. Bangle has introduced herself to the new homestead residents and Chrissie brought her back saying she really wanted to stay over there – more attention I suppose and more going on.

I’ve begun filling the bookshelves in the cottage – I have so many books.

To my delight I found two small eggs in the chook house today; my six old chooks lay much bifgger eggs and anyway they have been on strike for weeks.

Two Pullet Eggs Today

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Chrissie Ormond and daughters Rosie and Minty slept in the homestead last night and had a good night’s sleep.

Marcus helped me bring another book case over from the homestead to go upstairs in the cottage – I just have so many books.

Mark helped move a chest of drawers upstairs in the cottage ready for Bridget when she returns – should be here late on 15th August which is soon. He also put angle brackets on two of the tall wooden Cudby & Mead book cases to pin them to the wall in case of earthquakes. All three are now similarly secured.

I moved stuff around in the cottage bedroom and re-hung the pictures so I am happy with the clearances around bed etc.

Bangle and I did a long walk at the dog park.

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

Just a relaxed day when I took Bangle upstream on a long walk, same as yesterday but opposite direction.

Chris Ormond, Marcus older brother, dropped in on his bicycle just to say hello and to chat with his brother.

Ormond daughters are allegedly sleeping here tonight because they’ve brought their cat and it’s not wanting to be left alone, they tell me.

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Quiet day; Bangle and I went for a walk downstream of the Carrick Road access point on the Ngaruroro stop bank.

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

Gentle rain for most of the day and night. Around 1:00am I realised I hadn’t checked to see whether my four new chooks and rooster had returned to the chook house after tasting their first slice of freedom, being allowed out of the run to roam free. I let them all out about an hour before dusk last night in the hope that they’d only venture a short way before going back to bed. So I went out and checked. I was worried to see that only the six old chooks and the new rooster were visible through the front wire netting. Later I wondered if the four new chooks might have been cuddled up in one of the two nest boxes jutting out of the front of the house, I’d neglected to check that. Anyway they were nowhere to be seen in the chook run so I went to bed hoping they’d found a warm, dry, safe place to roost in the undergrowth.

I was delighted to find all eleven chooks were up and about in the morning.

Thought I might take Bangle to the dog park for a walk, stopping at BP’s Wild Bean Café on the way for coffee and apple turnover, as usual. But the rain persisted so I just returned home. A couple of hours later the rain did stop so Bangle nd I trudged around the orchard, made more difficult because all the ground between the tree rows had been mole-drained presumably to break up the hard pan that forms from the repeated compacting by tractors .

Mark and Marcus brought the two remaining Cudby & Mead book cases over from the homestead as I slept. This evening Marcus and Chrissie came and moved them from the cottage verandah into their likely resting places in the cottage living room and bed room.

On top of my good news this week about my eyes and Glaucoma, tonight I got the results of my blood test and the August diabetes indicator is well down over the last test in April. So my almost daily treat of an apple turnover with my coffee seems not to be of significant harm despite no doubt having sugar in the pastry and apple filling, and gluten in the pastry.

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

Rosie TXTed to say she was stranded without her car keys so I drove to and from her house so she could drive the rest of the days adventures for me. Frstly I had an eye appointment with Dr Baswati Sahoo at the hastings branch of The Eye Institute. I had been using an extra and new type of eye drops for a month. My eye pressure, the key parameter in reducing the onset of glaucoma damage, was better than it had been in the last decade. I fervently hope that this continues.

Then we set off and collected Karola from Summerset Palms before going to Maina in Havelock North for an afternoon lunch. Again we had the same orders ut this time half portions which were much more manageable. Karola had a salmon salad while I had “creamy mushrooms” which, in addition to a generous and creamy bowl of mushrooms, had hash browns and bacon.

Then back home via Bunnings where I searched fruitlessly for another galvanised rubbish bin – rodent proof so ideal for storing grans and chook pellets. I may be able to get it from Bunnings in other cities.

I forgot to get my blood test, due on 5th August. It tunred out that Rosie left something in the car so was happy to drive me to and from the blood test in Stortford Lodge. I was the only client at the blood testing place but they had no record of my doctor’s request. So I called the Health Centre and after waiting ten minutes or so got through to a receptionist for Dr Jamieson. More mucking about but I was right, they had intended to send the form to the blood testing place; I wasn’t hallucinating their TXT though I couldn’t find it on my phone which was concerning. After that the test itself was a matter of a moment and then Rosie dropped me off at home again.

Bangle walk was just around the orchard today.

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

Rosie unable to drive me to see Karola today, her illness flared up again but she thinks she’ll be OK for tomorrow. I was intending to ring Jodi to alert her that I would not be coming today but she, coincidentally rang me late morning to say nothing major but perhaps don’t visit today but come tomorrow instead.

Took Bangle and a coffee to dog park. Later took all the books out of the Cudby and Mead bookshelves in the homestead library (used to be the front hallway) so that Mark can help move them to the cottage. Mark was busy today but should be here tomorrow morning.

Books From Homestead Library Destined For Cottage

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Shopping again with driver Rosie. Also still trying to get a replacement car hitch for the big trailer – the one I got yesterday had the bolt holes in almost the right place, but not quite.

Marcus and shearer Lachie were in action this morning; all sheep and lambs now shorn of their heavy wool. I did wonder what Bangle was barking about – it went on a long time – but obvious when I got up as the sheep were being pushed into the yards from the holding yard where they’d been overnight.

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

Awoke late and took Bangle to the dog park. Later I returned to town to buy a replacement hitvh for the big trailer. Found one that was much easier to operate than the old one but when I got home I found the bolt holes were a few millimetres shorter than the old fitting. So I’ll measure more carefully and see if any other hitch has the right bolt spacing. It was getting late and so I missed out on doing my blood test today and also, when I dropped in to get some bolts, washers, and neoprene nuts for the hitvh fitting, found Fast Trade was shut too. Backing out of their driveway I scraped the car on the wall making a very small scratch in the gleeming white paintwork. Unproductive day.

Got home to find Marcus and Chrissie rounding up the lambs so they can be penned up overnight for shearing (Lachie) tomorrow. As I thought, they’re not actually going to sleep here until probably next weekend.

The Broken Trailer Hitch

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

Bright and sunny but cold day. Bangle and i went off for her walk before any signs of Ormond’s moving in. We went over to Clive detouring vai Wild Bean Café. Long walk along the Clive estuary wetlands which stretch along inland of the ocean beach to the mouth of the Tukituki river.

The moving van arrived whilst Bangle and I were away and I bumped into Marcus when feeding the chooks. he said it had all gone well. There are no lights on in the house which either means they are very early to bed or that they’re actually still sleeping in their old rental. If it came funrnished then it’s probably got enough beds there to continue sleeping.

Movers Relocated Karola’s Piano Into The Store-Room

Bangle’s Walk – The Chooks At The End Of The Walk

Bangle’s Walk – Spoonbill Colony Seems To Have Grown

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

Bangle and I went to dog park for a long walk having first picked up coffee etc. from BP’s Wild Bean Café. Yesterday, as I forgot to mention, 15 sheep were out and abut in the garden. At some point the wooden gate into the Front paddock had been left open and when Marcus let sheep into the Front paddock a small number escaped. I shooed them away from my young beech trees – no obvious damage there – down to the cattle stop and into the Long Acre where they’ve been ever since.

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

Mark took rain check today.

Marcus came and did more prep for his move on Sunday. We’re going to have the movers put Bridget’s piano in the homestead garage store-room where temperature is more even and less likely to be damaged. Bridget’s Chapman Taylor furniture is in there too.

Small part of the big trailer hitch broke off a few days ago. Today Marcus and I figured out a temporary fix using #8 wire and he also is going to try fixing the broken piece of steel with some magic “cold weld” stuff.

I picked up the mended occasional table that Karola fell on when she broke her hip. Only $160 and it’s good as new.

Tried to get some 3”x2” timber for mending the railings round the lemon tree. Rang Carters and they confirmed they had 3”x2” rough sawn timber available – bu when I went to buy some, no they haven’t. Rang Tumu’s bit nor do they. So we’ll have to make our own. Got more 6”x2” six metre planks to rip into 3”x2”. While I was in town I got replacement maize, wheat, and chook pellets.

The Occasional Table – Refurbished

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Rained on and off all day. Despite that I took Bangle into town and we got some meds and some groceries (which I’d forgotten on Tuesday) and the MYLK meals for the rest of the week. Afterwards I took Bangle for a long walk in the Tainui rerserve.

Mark didn’t come today because of the wet. Rosie didn’t take me today because she’s got an infection that’ll take several days to overcome.

New chooks are still finding out how they’ll integrate with the older six chooks but they’re dry and have plenty of run space so can use discretion to slip away when challenged.

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