Author Archives: Ian

Week Of 1st March – 7th March

Sat 1st:

Sun 2nd:

Mon 3rd:

Dog park for lunch as usual. The strange aquatic tractor was cutting the water weed in the Raupare Drain – or stream as it appears when it gets to the dog park. The RaupareDrain is a big roadside ditch along Raupare road which runs parallel to Ormond Road and to the north so we at 133 Ormond Road have another big drain along Ormond road and one along Karola’s orchard back boundary. We are about half way between Raupare road and the Expressway which also runs parallel to Ormond road.

At the dog park the Raupare stream runs parallel to the much much bigger Ngaruroro river, in the shade of its southern stop bank, and merges with the Karamu stream just beyond, east of, the dog park.

Modified Tractor Chugging Upstream Cutting The Thick CLumps Of Oxygen Weed

Park Maintenance Worker Trying To Clear The Pool The Dogs Like To Swim In (Not Bangle)

Tue 4th:

Rosie’s mum, Chrissie, took me shopping as Rosie had other child-minding commitments today.

There was, for the second time recently, a large wet patch, a puddle, by the cottage back door. Now in the past Bangle does soft barks when she wants to be let out but maybe I just didn’t hear her in time. I hope this doesn’t become a habit. I washed the kitchen floor with hot water and lots of dettol to avoid there being any odour to encourage repeat performances. I cannot think what else the puddles could be, there’s no rain blowing in, the fridge isn’t defrosting, so I reluctantly suppose it’s Bangle.

Wed 5th:

After a careful reading of reviews of the new Apple iPhone 16E – the model replacing the one I have now, an iPhone SE 3rd generation – I noted that it was only a bit bigger than my existing and temperamental iPhone. The iPhone 16E has many but not all of the features of the current iPhone model 16, 16 Pro, 16 Plus etc. As several reviewers noted, if you want the latest innards of the iPhone then the iPhone 16 was a bit more expensive, had all the basic model 16 features (obviously), was almost identical dimensions. Of course I’ll need to buy a new case whether I go for the 16E or the 16. The 16 has one feature which might be useful, it can find airtags – the tags you can put on your keyring or camera strap or purse etc and find from your iPhone. Unlike the 16E the 16 family have a high-precision detection of an airtag’s location which makes finding things nearby very much easier. Usually if I mislay something it somewhere in the house but 16E won’t tell me where. Allegedly the 16 will tell me.

So I’ve splashed out on an iPhone 16 which should arrive next week.

I am well behind on submitting Karola’s GST to the taxman. However it was the same last time and last time included quarterly orchard lease so qhite a lot to pay. To avoid too much penalty last time I just submitted tje lease payment and deferred the outgoings until this time. I doubt that they’ll charge me for being late with a return where they owe us money but even so it took until 1:00am to get ther eturn in – they arise once every two months so we expect to get back a few hundred dollars. Since Marcus took over the farmlet I have very few outgoings that are GST deductable. Why do I continue with Karola as a sole trader registered for GST. Well the tractors and equipment and the orchard are considered part of Karola’s business. Were I to convert them to become personal property I’d have to pay 15% GST on their current worth. OK for machinery etc but Karola’s orchard would mean paying $100,000s so that’s why I persevere.

Thu 6th:

Off to see Karola who was in better humour this week and I took the booklet of photos and text snippets that Bridget created. I talked a lot about Karola’s childhood and our early married life and Karola mostly just smile seraphically with the occasional comment.

Afterwards Rosie drove me over to Patrick and Lis Coonie’s in Hamoana for afternoon tea and a natter. The waves lashing the beach, product of cyclone Hector on its way to Queensland, were gigantic. Rosie and I hadn’t seen anything like it and indeed there were pictures and articles in the local paper it was so remarkable. Lis and Patrick’s NZ house – they live in Perth, Australia most of the time. is across the road from the beach so the waves were not that far away.

Rosie picked up my MYLK meals for the week. Patrick drove me home to save Rosie the trip.

Fri 7th:

Tried to pump up MG tyres at BP and then Caltex garages but I had no confidence it was working, that I’d managed to pump them upto 41psl. Rosie will have to do it for me.

Off to dog park with a pie, a coffee, and Bangle.

Whilst there I rang NZTA, the transport department which now has an unpronouncable Māori name, to see if we could unravel the mystery of a repeat transaction showing on my bank account. While doing Karola’s GST return I noticed that on 24th December I hade two transactions for $107.09 each, one for plate number QHB596 (my MG) and one for QHB595. Even at my level of decrepitness I doubt that I’d actually submit a payment for the wrong plate. Anyway, after 20 mins or so we’d established that there was no vehicle with the plate QHB596 so I next have to submit scanned evidence and they’ll consider it.

With that long help-line call under my belt I tried again with Audible where I seem to have at least two accounts with the same email address. Yesterday I had 131 titles on my active account and, somehow, one title on my expired account. What triggered my action today was that the book I’d been listening to, a collection of P D James stories, had disappeared. When I searched for it Audible just offered that I should buy it afresh. In addition that Audible account now had only 31 titles.

Ater almost an hour of slow slow chatting with Audible USA help desk we were not much further on except to say that I should get in toich with an AU Australian agent and surely they’d be able to sort things out for me. Meanwhile the P D James missing collection reappeared.

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Week Of 22 February

22nd:

23rd:

24th:

25th:

Shopping, driven by Rosie, then in the afternoon I had my last baby tooth extracted.

26th:

Recovering from tooth extraction

27th:

Meeting with the nurses at Millvale with Bridget in Wellington on facetime.

It was a run down of Karola’s condition which was all stuff we already knew but the impression they left me with was that Karola wasn’t an easy resident.

Frances, the Millvale House manager, told us they were all qualified nurses yet is seemed as if they found Karola’s mood swings and frequently uncooperative behaviour challenging.

I was expecting them to have been trained to cope with this, to be trained in techniques to calm.

Rosie took me home and then she did the Bangle Grooming run which ahd moved from Tuesday to Thursday.

28th:

Cooler day. Bangle and I lunched as usual at the dog park and took our customary 1km walk while I listened to P.D. James novels on hearing aids.

No eggs again.

Marcus’ Horse (Chrissie & Rosie’s friend Attica)

Rosie and Horse

Bridget’s Nicely Filled Skip

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Week of 15th February

15th February:

16th February:

Took Bangle to Clive to the wetlands for lunch and a walk. Saw some chooks as usual plus beef but few water birds.

17th February: Had dinner with Chrissie and Marcus.

18th February: Shopping driven by Rosie. Noticed that there were no eggs today; what is happening.

19th February: Spent afternoon with Lis and Patrick Coonie. Lots conversation with Patrick about the parlous state of the world. Gave an update on Karola. One egg today. New Sky modem set top box arrived today.

20th February: Rosie took me to Millvale House and I spent an hour with Karola, most of it out in their courtyard sitting on a park bench in the sun – well mostly shade because it was so hot.

Picked up MYLK meals on the way home. Marcus mowed the lawns with the Grillo. No eggs for the second day.

21st February: Welcome rain and the temperatures dropped to more comfortable mid twenties. Bangle and I had lunch and a good walk at the dog park. No eggs again today even though the chooks were shut in last night.

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Monday workers from Freenergy – the guys I bought our solar panels and battery from – came and cleaned the cottage 18 solar panels. I slept through and so wasn’t in time to stop them cleaning out the birds nests under the panels so it’ll be quite expensive but now the important thing, the lichen growing over the active sides of the panels, is gone. Marcus was so impressed with the cleaning out of the mynah bird’s nests that he offered to get some netting and block up the gaps round the panels.

Tuesday Rosie was sick so Marcus took me shopping sandwiched in between a dental appointment in Hastings and a haircut in Ahuriri.

Wednesday Patrick Coonie dropped in and we had a good chat.

Thursday Rosie was much improved and so she took me for my appointment with the Eye Institute. Rosie did some shopping for me while I was at the specialist then we went over and talked to Karola for an hour at Millvale House.I’ve decided to get cateract surgery as those I’ve spoken to who’ve had the surgery think it’s well worth it. I’ll probably also get a small stent put in my eye at the same time to help with the glaucoma.

Friday I noticed a speed camera trailer outside our 121 entrance. Quite a bulky bit of equipment. I went off to get my lunch and coffee and then take Bangle for a walk.

I’m going to have a session with Shape My Health as recommended by Bridget and Gill. The doctors there do a thorough health assessment then advise on a path forward to help maintain your health long term. I hadn’t found anyone who’d even heard of Shape My Health until this morning I asked Chrissie and she gave them a glowing testimonial.

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Quiet week. Dog walks most days but nothing out of the ordinary. Shopping on Tuesday, Rosie and I went to see Karola on Wednesday, Waitangi public holiday on Thursday.

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Tue 28th: Chrissie has taken up my offer of using the e-bike. Rosie took me shopping as usual for a Tuesday.

Wed 29th: Chrissie has also borrowed the r-bike trailer so it’ll be interesting to see if she can get her dog Cyril who has a bad leg to sit in it and be driven around.

COVID FREE (for now)

Thu 30th: Rosie drank some bad water over the weekend at the beach and so she is laid low for now. No trip to see Karola today.

Fri 31st: Another small branch down off big oak tree

Jenny rang in the morning to say she’d dropped in on Karola on Tuesday. Karola was sitting in the quite large sitting area and seemed comfortable enough. She kept asking Jenny to send me over which is in a way rather nice for me.

So today I drove myself over to see Karola. She didn’t want to go out for coffee but mainly said she was all alone and why couldn’t I spend the night or at least come back tomorrow.

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Marcus took this photo of me in the Hastings hospital ED having the first of three litres of electrolyte pumped in over the next 48 hours.

Gill pointed out that I recorded the first drip being much later than it really was.We whizzed through the triage line in ED and I must have been on the drip in minutes; they were not taking any chances.

Ian Intravenous Drip on 15th January

Today I tested positive for Covid again. I had a RATS test an hour before I was discharged and that test showed a very weak positive and the doctor said it was sign of clearing up. However I took RATS test just as I was about to go over to Millvale House to see Karola, on 23rd January, and that was clearly positive. Previously the Hospital and Health Centre said 5 days to be clear, but make it 8 to be on the safe side. So I called Health Centre yesterday and said I’d tested positive again. Not to worry, just wear a mask was the advice from practice nurse making it sound as if it were not uncommon. I thought I’d just check with Millvale house before I set off but they said absolutely not, I was not to go. So I didn’t.

No sore throat now which was what caused the dehydration, but temperature going up and down throughout the day and night. Feeling more lethargic and lacking energy like when getting over flu but no headaches nor chest pains so, as Gill nags me daily, I’ll just take things slowly and expect to recover over next week to ten days. Plenty of MYLK meals and eating well. Chrissie brought me over a large jar of chicken soup which is going down a treat.

Hoping I’ve not given my re-Covid infection to others, especially Rosie who has serious underlying complications – I don’t want to lose my driver, she did the shopping for me on Tuesday.

Good news today was that I read in an email from Anna she’s going to be here for two months, April and May. She’s booked flights and an airBnB 5 mins away from Millvale House.

I’m seriously considering having cateract surgery later this year esp. if it make the videos on the TV less blurry and makes driving easier.

RATS Test Results

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Saturday:

Felt as if I were coming down with flu including a bit of a sore throat. Lost my appetite so I only ate half of my MYLK Surloin Steak micro meal. Slept very little and badly.

Sunday:

Definitely feeling worse, so much so that by mid afternoon, despite my aversion to taking them, I took a RATS test early afternoon.

Tested positive, the first time ever. It being the weekend I called the Hastings Health Centre and advised them I had Covid and wanted some anti-virals to speed recovery. All I got was a machine but they did ring back and after I mentioned I was 78 they said they’d get a doctor to call me back. Early evening a doctor did call back and she agreed to send a script to the pharmacy in the Health Centre, it being open until 8:00pm.

Rosie was out but offered to pick the script up on her way home. However an hour or more after my phone call the pharmacy hadn’t received the script. Later I called the pharmacy and was assured the pills were ready and waiting on the shelf so when Rosie went in again after her dinner they were ready. Throat very sore by now and with great difficuty I was able to drink the medicines but neither eat nor drink anything else.

Watched TV for much of the night as I couldn’t sleep. Used up some Ibuprofin tablets I already had to try and calm the throat – with little success.

Monday:

Another day without eating or drinking except for my evening meds.

I called the Health Centre again to say I was feeling worse but, it being a week day, they just put me through to my regular GP. Reception saod that Dr Jamieson had a full day but could ring me tomorrow. So I rang back the Health Centre Emergency Out-Of-Hours number again and theybegan search for a doctor to ring back this afternoon. Meanwhile the GP’s surgery called me back to say she’d talked to the doctor and he would ring me back later today.

Dr Jamieson did call back late afternoon and he prescribed some throat spray as a stronger alternative to the Strepsils throat tablets I’d been havin as ofter as possible since the weekend. He also prescribed some stronger throat lozenges. Another late evening call for Rosie to pick them up.

Tuesday:

Another terrible night with little sleep and no improvement to ability to swallow so I got in touch with the doctor again. This time he couldn’t offer any strong medicine for my throat – I’d not had any food or water except for forcing down ills once a day since Saturday lunchtime – but prescribed some strong codeine tablets, which Rosie picked up.GP said that if the codeine didn’t work I should go to ED and get them to check my hydration because having not drunk more than a cup of water since Saturday afternoon I was possibly becoming too dehydrated.

Luckily for me Marcus marched over to see for himself how I was and, fortuitiously, Gill rang for the same reason. This was mid afternoon. Hearing what the GP said they were both pf the opinion I needed to go to the Hawkes bay hospital ED straight away. The codeine had had a couple of hours to work but with no obvious effect on my throat. Anyway I agreed to go and get hydrated.

Marcus took me in late afternoon and despite being very busy – but no more so tat usual said the nurse – they took me in and shunted Marcus and me into a small waiting room. Time ticked on bye; nurses came and took my vital signes a couple of times but I think it wasn’t until maybe 2:00am that a doctor was able to see me. Soon after midnight they gave me the first litre of electrolyte, it took several hours to finish. The doctor was excellent, very thorough and confirmed that based on the “bloods” they’d got I was indeed dehydrated and he did not want me to leave the hospital until my kidneys were back to normal so I should expect a few days in hospital.

After the doctor had gone and it was clear nothing more was going to happen until tomorrow daytime Marcus went home, after 3:00am.

Wednesday:

Witdh the pills they gave me and the throat spray my throat was getting better. Beginning this morning I was able to down cool tea with milk and sugar and yoghurt.

Someone came a took readings then around 5:30am I was moved to another part of the ED. smaller than the first room and with less equipment in it. At 7:30am I was moved again to a permanent room up on the third floor, ward B3 for “neurology and Covid”. There are two rooms, single occupancy and self-contained for patients with Covid. I started on the second litre of hydration electrolyte.

Multiple rounds of nurses and other carers who took vital signs then disappeared. Early afternoon the doctor came; corroborated the overnight doctor’s diagnosis and said the bloods showed damage to my kidneys and I’d need to stay at least another day.

Marcus very kindly brought in some pyjamas, charging plugs, shaver, etc. including my anti-viral pills and stayed for a couple of hours. The rounds of nurses and carers continued. The final one left at around 10:30pm – but no, another round of vital signes measured around 11:00pm which woke me from slumber. Then I couldn’t get back to sleep so rang for a cup of tea which did help.

Thursday:

Sore throat banished; I’m eating and drinking plenty of liquids.

5:00am and another round of vital signs and then back to sleep until around 7:00am when there was another round of vital signs including an extra blood test. Breakfast at 8:00am which I observed was almost the opposite of the ingredients I’d checked on the list I was asked to fill in yesterday. Every meal they give me slices of glutinous bread and had-to-swallow elements. And only the meal-serving staff seemed a bit surly but perhaps they too, like all the rest of the staff, are run off their feet.

Marcus came around 8:00am and left my anti-virals, returning again at 9:30am with and left to drive his tour bus to the Gannets an hour later. I began my third litre of electrolyte.

Doctor came and said my kidneys were back to normal and I could go home after lunch. Marcus was away driving a tourist coach to the gannets so Chrissie came and picked me up aftwr lunch. I was very pleased to be home again.

Friday:

Slept quite well. Took Bangle for a coffee and apple turnover and a walk along the Tainui reserve. Rosie/Chrissie had picked up my MYLK order yesterday and so I was all set to begin life as usual. Marcus took Bangle with the other dogs for a walk.

Talked with Bridget in Khandallah and signed a form for MillVale so the plan to move Karola from Summerset Palms to Millvale on Monday can go ahear. Rang Jenny and briefed her on events. Bridget is flying up here on Sunday; Marcus has offered to ferry her from the flight. Bridget will return to Wellington late afternoon on Tuesday.

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Good start to the day and Bangle and I went off for out walk around 11:00am. Pie and coffee on a bench in the dog park. In the afternoon got hooked on some YouTube videos about vitamins, the Covid vaccines, and supplements. Happily interposed with several compilations of video clips of David Mitchell and others.

Geoff has a full collection of DCI Banks TV shows and a new show on UK TV called Patience which is plenty to look forward to.

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Rosie kindly took me to get the weekend MYLK meals and one or two other groceries. Marcus and Chrisie both have colds and are bit under weather. Marcus hoped to take the Landrover in to his garage nearby but it’s closed until next week.Tried unsuccessfully to get Bridge an Oura ring like mine online but got stuck as web page says it will not ship to New Zealand although it was happy to do that for me last month.

Eye check with Phil Donaldson at Shatky Visique in Hastings. Yook an hour, lots of tests with different machines. Apparently eyes pretty much as they were a year ago, which is good, although I am encouraged to get cataract operations which will make viewing TV easier in particular. Also might be valuable to help pass driving test in a couple of years.

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Went and picked up Karola at lunchtime. Had arranged with Kim that if Karola wanted her hair done she would have my slot and I’d make another appointment. In the end she didn’t so I had mine cut and then we three had our usual outing at Miss Browns, round the corner from Kim’s hairdressing salon.

Bought online a pair of All Birds women’s lace-up shoes, two sizes up from what Bridget wears. Feet get swollen due to too much sitting aroiund so I thought this might be more comfortable for Karola. They came today and we’ll take them round next week.

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The two chicks under the current broody hen are well feathered now and their mum is very ferocious if anyone else comes near so I think they can join the rest of the free-range flock shortly.

Weekly shopping but fish deferred till Thursday as Chrissie made me two meals of egg pie – two big slices out of a large pie she made for her family.

Very Protective Mother And Her Two Chicks

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Had good lunch and walk with Bangle in dog park midday. Bangle went with Marcus and the pack late afternoon.

Got hooked on lots of YouTube videos of old UK TV show snippets including lots with David Mitchell in them.

So nothing useful done today except that I did take Landrover to VTNZ in Orchard Street just before closing. Quite a lot of things to fix before it’ll get its WOF.

The Karamu Pack (photo courtesy of Chrissie Ormond)

Second Lot Of Chicks

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Heavy showers and occasional bits of sunshine. I went with Bangle for our often walk in the park with pie and coffee but this time by the time we got to the park it was bucketing down. After ten minutes of this and people scurrying for vehicles Bangle and I went back home and had my lunch sitting on the cottage verandah.

Late afternoon as the weather had cleared up for an hour or more we did another run, this time with coffee and an apple turnover. It was spitting when we got to the park but we trotted along to the covered picnic table where the dogs swim and had lunch there. Walk there and back was pretty dry and Bangle and I both got in some needed exercise.

Chrissie took Bangle with the rest of the dogs for a walk round the orchard as dusk approached.

I’ve offered Chrissie and Marcus the loan of my Whisper electric bike and its trailer. Chrissie also has the idea that the slower dogs, Bangle and Cyril, might sit in the trailer as they can’t keep up with cycle.

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Spent big chunk of the day reading the novel Jenny lent me, Follett’s NEVER. Very thought provoking and seemed credible to me, the discussions of the way CIA and government troops and terrorists worked and especially the way North Korea’s leader could likely play USA/South Korea against China. A little bit depressing but not too much “in your face” grimness. I do enjoy novels which have credible story lines about how global politics probably would play out.

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Rosie drove me over to take Karola out today; Karola was in good spirits though I am concerned that she does seem to be aging fast with her feet and legs. We shared a good omlette with ham, cheese, tomato as usual and coffee.

Afterwards I dropped in at Millvale House and had a brief chat with Frances Vincent, the operations manager. I am to ask Jodi to send over the documents for Karola, Jodi is out till next week and the clinical manager at Millvale are not back till next week anyway.

Nourish-For-Nil is still closed so gave dozen more eggs to Chrissie; no runner beans in couple of green grocers we tried so season is very short for them.

Bangle joined the other dogs on Chrissie’s evening walk. Marcus mowed the lawns this afternoon.

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Slow day, sultry weather. Mostly TV viewing.

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The time I spent awake was watching YouTube videos including many old British management training videos with John Cleese and French & Saunders and many many more faces I recognised from 1950s onwards.

Henare came over and worked is remaining hives with help from Marcus.

I had lunch – pie and coffee – with Bangle in the regional park,

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Shopping day but very little to buy this week. No laundry or MYLK till next week; not sure if they’re open or not but should be safe to assume they’re back in business next week. Rained hard for hours at a time so no walk for Bangle today.

Watched video of John Campbell’s podcast. He had a medic from Australia on who is sure that Long Covid is a thing and that it can be caused by either Covid the virus or an mRna vaccine. I cannot find confirming information online for this assertion although the speaker seemed very sure.

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Weird day and night, not sure what’s going on. Still late afternoon Bangle and I did our regional park thing and at dusk Bangle kpined the other dogs with Chrissie going round the orchard.

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Between them Keith and Marcus have cut up and removed all the big branches and associated litter from under the big oak. We’ll need to get tree surgeons to do the serious surgery to rebalance the tree.

Loose And Fallen Branches All Tidied Up C/O Keith & Marcus

Seems Like Quite A Lean

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Rosie took me over to Summerset Palms where I had a long briefing with Jodi who really is looking after Karola very well. I told Jodi we’d decided on Millvale House and I would be completing the admin for this straight away in the new year. Jodi was happy with that and said that a few days before the transfer she’d go to Millvale and do a handover of a profile of Karola and her medical/health situation.

Miss Brown was open so we went there for coffee and a bit of omelette – Karola ate a little bit. It was very windy getting to and ftom the car which Karola didn’t like – it made walking from place to place harder and I think she was a bit afraid of falling but we hung on tight so there was no actual danger of that. Karola is usong her walker with good dexterity now and doesn’t object to its use at all.

I was awake all night due to a sudden minot flare-up of gout; it wasn’t severe but just made its presence felt enough to stop me sleeping. The usual meds didn’t seem to make much difference. I did get to sleep shortly after 5:00am. Dozed until lunchtime.

Meanwhile keith came mid morning and tackled the fallen oak branches. He was using the old tractor to push the smaller branches away. The tractor developed an oil leak in the hydraulic system which Keith fixed by replacing three perished O-rings. He’s good at that sort of thing.

By the time Rosie and I returned Keith was pulling the very large branch down off the tree trunk; there are a couple of extra bark scars after that but they’ll heal and at least the fallen branches are no longer dangerous.

Keith showed me that the lawn on the south side of the big oak had risen, was now a distinct rise as the unbalalnced tree leaned to the north, towards the lawn between the cottage and the house. Now he pointed it out I too could see that the mighty oak had taken a serious list to the north. Marcus and I discussed and agreed with Keith that he should cut off three large lower branches from the north side and then see whether that stopped the sagging towards the lawn.

Rosie has been battling with a kidney infection and spent late afternoon in the emergency ward.

After feeding the chooks I moved the two chicks and broody hen with her remaining three eggs into the broody coop and gave them food and water.

Southern Side Of Big Oak Collapses

Marcus Awoke And Shot This Video

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Noticed broody chook had two chicks and maybe the las three will hatch as well.

Big branches crashed down off the southern side of the big oak at 5:50 in the morning with a thunderous raw. luckily no vehicles not people nor animals nor saplings were harmed.

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This time it wa a scramble of Ormonds including Peter Ormond’s widow and lots of children. Myself plus 10 guests. Delicious.

Sophie sat next to me and is an excellent conversationalist, I babbled on about my life maybe to much but I enjoyed it. Sophie’s business is arranging tours for people wanting to visit the gannets up on the end of Cape Kidnappers. Marcus is going to help her by being one of her drivers over the Christmas – New Year break.

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Rosie wasn’t available so Marcus kindly took me for my shopping. Afterwards we then went over to Tamatea and inspected Millvale House, the residential home there which is the other place taking level 4 dementia patients in Hawkes Bay, alternative to Colwyn House in Mahora. As expected there wasn’t a lot to distinguish them; about same distance to drivre to, rooms very similar although MillVale House initially has smalled hoses but by end of February will have rooms at lest as large as Colwyn and it’ll all be new. I wouldn’t choose to be in on of their rooms but then I’m not spending most of the day in the big dining rooms and just sleeping in the personal room.

Chrissie & Marcus invited me over to join their Christmas Eve dinner. Myself and 15 other people including Chrissie’s mum Cynthia (with Karola at Woodford), and may others on that side of the family. Delicious.

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According to my Oura ring I had less than two hours sleep last night; maybe it was the chocolate Gillian (house sitter) bought me but I was awake pretty much all night. Now that I type this I am feeling much better but it took all day. Late afternoon I took pie and coffee to the dog park with Bangle. Picked up laundry in case they are closed on Christmas Eve, turns out they’re open.

Marcus and family came home a day early last night, not for any particular reason.

Marcus and I are going to look at Millvale House tomorrow afternoon after doing the shopping.

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Marcus and family came back this evening because the weather turned bad up at the lake.

The usual with Bangle at lunch time. And a few emails done though most of my mails are still unanswered from last year.

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Just another Saturday, until it wasn’t.

Just after lunch I got very cross with my iMac because it had gone to sleep and wouldn’t wake up. After a while of cussing and pressing power-on button very hard and checking power cord etc the penny dropped. We had lost power.

Now the $3000 control box that was destroyed by ants forming contacts between vital components – shorting out – is still in Christchurch or on its way so the generator didn’t start up as it should when the grid goes down. But I should be able to start it manually. The generator was easy once I’d located the key to unlock the lid. There were three buttons marked STOP, AUTO, and RUN. The STOP button was flashing. So, nothing ventured etc, I pressed RUN and the generator turned over for a while and then roared into life.

But, still no power on the buildings. So I left voicemail with Campbell Watt in Christchurch (021 228 3055) and then rang electrician who helped install the generator, Aaron Wakeford (021 878 741) and he told me that there was a switch in the control box that I needed to switch on. As I recalled it is extremely stiff and you need an extender handle to be able to turn the switch but I managed it. Restarted the generator, warned Gillian, who is house-sitting for Marcus et al while away for a break at lake Rotoiti, to let go of any bare wires she might be clutching, and it all sprang into life. Next four hours we were on generator power.

I called neighbour Louise Haywood wife of Brian Cope (our cell towers still working but others in HB down, maybe I should get StarLink) and she agreed to let me know when the grid came back on. She told me the Hawkes Bay wide power cut was a lightening strike on Trans Power link connecting Hawkes bay to the main north island grid and it might be some time before it was fixed. A couple of hours later she let me know that urgent needs such as the hospital and the BP petrol (and electricity) station at Stortford Lodge were back up but that was being rerouted from Wellington. A couple more hours and we were all back up and I switched back to the grid.

Well its good to know that my expensive investment of a backup generator works and Aaron says he’ll be round on Christmas Eve to replace the control unit so then I should have smooth “no hands” transfer to and from the generator when needed.

News spread of this event and was on our evening news with pictures of the electricity pylons melted in the strike. Given Robin heard about it in UK perhaps we made a line in international news. It’s dry as anything here – total fire bans and stringent water restrictions for those on mains water.

Ants are a problem here, not only did they infest the generator and its control box but they also killed the pump in our waste system a few weeks back – again by bridging circuits with their nest building. Catch 22 with the waste management system is that the alarm in the cottage is powered from the waste management controls outside so I had no idea it had stopped working until some other electrical problem made me look in the mains box and see that the septic tank circuit had triggered. Lucky that was noticed before the sewage backed up into the cottage but it was quite a procedure for team of plumbers to unclog the septic system which had been overflowing for a week or so.

And would you know, vermin damage, and explicitly ant damage is excluded in domestic insurance policies in New Zealand, but the generator is on Karola’s farm insurance which has no such exclusion, or so my broker tells me.

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Too warm and muggy for much during the day. Bangle and I had pie and coffee on our usual bench in the dog park then went for a long walk around the park including a walk back along the stop bank and back up the stream. The Dyson fans are very useful in this damp heat.

Family Quietly Kayaking In Regional Dog Park

Breath Testing Police Stop Outside Our Gate – Happens 2 – 4 Times A Year

My Nightly Meds

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I drove myself over to see Karola and take her out for a snack. Karola was in a good mood and eager to go out for the afternoon.

I first had a chat with Jodi with Bridget on the phone. I explained that Marcus, Chrissie, and I had visited Colwyn House which is in Mahora and hence easier to visit than any Napier establishment. I met my expectations; small rooms with barely room for a favourite chair but much as I expected. Jodi will see if she can keep Karola where she is until January – apparently Summerset management need to agree.

Karola and I had snack at The Boardwalk opposite Kim the hairdresser in Ahuriri: a pork salad and a bowl of fries plus coffee. It was raining most of the time and the mist so heavy you couldn’t even see the port. We could hear the waves crashing on the beach outside the restaurant.

I called Millvale House, the only other place offering psycho-geriatric level of care (dementia level 5) in Hawkes Bay. Agreed to ring back on Monday and arrange an appointment to visit. Marcus will take me if it’s on Wednesday.

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Marcus and family are off to Lake Rotoiti todayso I got an Uber to take me to the hospital and back afterwards. The test went as planned this morning and there were no obvious big issues found – a bit of an anti-climax. As they said in the briefing, uncomfortable but not painful at the time but painful for a while afterwards. Now it’s back to the specialist to see if more is warranted.

No walk for Bangle today but after her groom she’s silky smooth and removal of the barley-grass seed must have been appreciated.

Our electrician, Ivan Alach, came by today just to see how we were and bringing some green beans and a couple of nectarines. He looks fitter than when last he came to fix something.

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