Author Archives: Ian

Another week, another shopping Tuesday. That included attempting to post a small package to Harry, my brother-in-law and Karola’s brother. As part of the morning’s frolics I dropped in at the Stortford Lodge pharmacy which contains the local post office. But, they explained, they could not accept my parcel because they’d run out of the sticky labels to use on parcel post that will deliver to post boxes. I can try again in a few days or go to another post office and hope they’re not in the same situation.

As part of this saga I’d called Harry’s daughter Tessa and asked how to post parcels to their place. It’s a farm a few miles north of Bulls; it’s a factory in Bulls on the road to Whanganui, and it has been PO Box 19 for decades. Least complicated and lowest cost is to use the PO Box. Good luck with that (see above). Annyway Tessa and her daughter Ashley are coming to Hawkes bay at the end of the month and will drop in to see us on 29th April.

Jason Curry from HomeBase came this afternoon and we surveyed the places to put up handrails in the homestead and cottage – showers and loos. His worker Sam fitted them while Karola and I were out at Pakowhai Country Park with Bangle.

Mark did a couple of hours moving tree rubbish to the site of the bonfire and then he and I brought some old Kauri planks, demolition rescue wood, from the orchard shed to the back door of the homestead. It’s for Paul to make the linen cupboard shelving with.

Beautiful Tall Gums In Pakowhai Country Park

Oak Avenue Weather:10.7℃—20.3℃ 0.2mm rain [78.1] TdP eggs=1 Mark=4

Karola and I got the Zoe in to Napier for its WOF and service. They lent us a huge Kia monster for the day – petrol – and the controls were pretty baffling. Lots of visual feedback, some in a HUD (heads-up display) at the bottom of the driver-side windscreen.

I went to a meeting with Hannah Blow and others in Hastings for a lecture on caring for people as they got older. Mildly interesting and some of the other attendees were obviously having a very rough time with their aged partners.

Got a MYLK meal for tonight. Also dropped off one of the belts I’ve bought for the Grillo – turned out to be the wrong one, again.

Mark did more branch clearing and then moved heaps (shelves, actually) of books from the linen cupboard/room to the shelves we put up in the room at the top of the stairs. Mark had a ride on the stair chair.

Returned the Kia loaner and picked up the Zoe before taking Bangle for a walk at the Pakowhai Country Park.

Oak Avenue Weather:10.0℃—19.1℃ no rain [78.1] TdP eggs=1 Mark=4

Quiet morning and pleasant walk in Pakowhai Country Park in the early afternoon. Later I spent a couple of hours moving stuff – books and pictures – out of the linen cupboard, upstairs in the homestead, preparing for builder Paul to install wide linen shelving.

Pakowhai Country Park: Native Trees

Linen Cupboard – Clearing Ready For Linen Shelves

Linen Cupboard – Still Lots Of Books To Shift

Oak Avenue Weather:11.6℃—19.6℃ no rain [78.2] TdP eggs=1

Autumnal day, couple of showers. not cold.

Recycling is piling up so we did a run to the recycling station. Then a pleasant walk along the Clive river stop bank which curves right to become the walk along the wetlands. Talked to old sea dog tending his chickens behind the sea wall. He too has trouble finding the eggs.

One Of Several Black Swans

Three Spoonbills

Cyclone Driftwood

Snapper Fishermen

Cape Kidnappers

Oak Avenue Weather:13.0℃—18.9℃ 3.0mm rain [78.5] TdP eggs=2

Mark took a raincheck today so we really do have three days of peace and quiet, nothing to be on time for or think about.

Ben has been up and about Waikanae with his fabulous ornithologist’s camera and sent me a snap of a friendly black swan, after some food we’ll be bound.

So the stand desk installation is going well and I’ve tried out the big one, demonstrating how high and low it can go. I was a little puzzled that I could not get the desk to drop below 720mm from the floor. Today I checked and my desk in the cottage is 740mm above the floor. The reason for buying these desks was to use them a few inches lower than my current desk. I called the distributor and asked if there were any way to lower the desk further, to perhaps get shorter legs. Nothing doing. She pointed out that only the cheapest version was constrained to 720mm; the more expensive ones went down to 620mm.

I rang Bridget and explained. Didn’t we check before we ordered? Yes we did. Bridget has one of these desks and before we bought online we checked that the desk went down far enough. So this is $2000 mis-spent.

Somewhat alarmed at my error I called the distributor back and all id sweetness and light again. She’ll send us two desks the same size but the next model up next week. We can use the packaging to package up our current two desks and then when she gets them back she’ll give me a refund. Whew! A few happy hours putting up the current desks but otherwise not real harm done.

Dodo On Waikanae Beach?

Oak Avenue Weather:14.0℃—17.9℃ 3.8mm rain [78.3] TdO eggs=1 Mark=0

Into town to buy a couple of MYLK meals for tonight. Meanwhile David Robinson, who had driven down from Hamilton yesterday put up the new stair chair. When we got back he demonstrated it and explained its features.

Electrician Ivan turned up and we got a TV cable pulled through the cottage living room wall so I can try the TV on the southern (bedroom) wall. Ivan also determined that my upstairs landline phone was not working because I’d forgotten to plug it in – I must have unplugged it as part of him fixing the dead cottage phone lines problem after the cyclone.

Mark came and spent a couple of hours moving slash to the bon-fire site. We then mucked about trying to see if the front Grillo drive belt was broken – it wasn’t. So the Grillo is booked for an early service on Monday when I hope problems will be resolved. The rest of the afternoon was spent in beginning the assembly of Bridget’s stand desk.

Jen Talbot of Miranda Smith Homecare came for a couple of hours late afternoon. She is the manager of the Hawkes Bay branch. Having read their prospectus I could see there were elements that could be very helpful to me and Karola (and Bangle) now and even more in the future. An excellent discussion and we decided to begin slowly with three days a week and see how it goes. Finding the right person is both crucial and difficult, I anticipate. In addition to some fortnightly house cleaning, replacing the now defunct Meticulous Maids, the companion/carer might come for three hours beginning with a walk with Karola and Bangle, then cook us dinner, and be around to chat afterwards. Early Days but seems hopeful. I think of it as an antidote to virtual “lockdown”.

The New Stair Chair Installed Today

Oak Avenue Weather:10.3℃—23.2℃ 0.8mm rain [77.6] eggs=1 Mark=4

Haircuts for me and Karola this morning; Lachie came whilst we were out and did his shearing tasks. He looked at the limping hired ram but couldn’t see anything wrong. He tidied up the ram’s feet and tonight it had stopped limping.

Karola and I finished assembling the big “stand desk” upstairs in the homestead in the room at the top of the stairs.

Mark did mowing until the Grillo began playing up and trailered some more “slash” to the site of the bon-fire.

Frisky Lambs After being Shorn

Large “Stand Desk” Assembled – Lowest Point

Large “Stand Desk” Assembled – Highest Point

Oak Avenue Weather:11.4℃—24.6℃ 0.4mm rain [78.3] TdO eggs=2 Mark=4

Fish – Groceries – GF Bread – Cash – Laundry – Sandwich & Coffee. In other words the usual Tuesday except that while waiting for the BP Wild Bean Cafe coffee (one large latte, single-origin, one medium flat white – single origin) we popped close by to Farmlands and bought 25kg of kibbled maize and 25kg of whole maize.

Mark came mid morning and began by pulling more branches onto the Front paddock’s bonfire. He then helped me with the assembly of the larger flat-pack standing desk until just 20 minutes before knock-off he and I tried to get the sheep ready for Lachie’s shearing visit tomorrow. Lachie wanted the sheep penned up tonight, intending to come and shear them tomorrow morning. I was hoping to keep the ram in the One Acre but he was having none of it and charged me, on the gate, to stay with his harem. I noticed he had a pronounced limp anyway so I’ve asked Lachie to have a look at that while he’s here tomorrow – so maybe staying with the ewes is better.

Pakowhai Country park – Good For Dogs

Oak Avenue Weather:11.0℃—25.7℃ no rain [78.0] TdP eggs=1 Mark=4

A beautiful day, could have been mistaken for summer. Especially so in Pakowhai Regional Park where we went with Bangle. Almost too hot in the sun but under the trees just right.

I started assembling one of the standing desks Bridget suggested I buy. There’s a desk for me and one for her and they’ll be in the room at the top of the stairs.

Autumn Day – Seatoun Heights (courtesy Gill Brackenbury)

The Tranquility Of Pakowhai Regional Park

Oak Avenue Weather:13.4℃—26.5℃ 2.8mm rain [77.9] TdP eggs=2

We finished creating, re-creating the shelving that used to be in my office – the big bedroom adjacent to the master bedroom. Now i have somewhere to begin putting the books in the linen cupboard as I need the linen cupboard clearted so that Paul can outfit it with lots of shelves wide enough for storing bed linen etc.

Top Of The Stairs – Simple Wall Bookshelves Now Installed

Oak Avenue Weather:12.1℃—20.8℃ 0.4mm rain [78.5] TdO eggs=1

Quiet day, cold and overcast, almost like winter.

Did a bit more on the book shelves and Karola and I listened to the second of two Morse stories as audio books.Both good.

Had a MYLK meal tonight, tuscany beef with new potatoes and peas. Karola said it was really rather good.

Oak Avenue Weather:10.5℃—15.0℃ 0.2mm rain [78.4] TdP eggs=1

Heavy rain for a while in the night.

Got a call mid morning while I was dozing from the FIKO restaurant in Havelock North. Could I confirm booking for five this evening. I couldn’t remeber making any reservation so assumed it must be something I’d arranged for Bridget who, for a while, was coming up here so Chris and I could attend the Rod Stewart concert at the Mission tomorrow night. It was not to be as Bridget is still testing positive and the forecast is for rain which makes standing on the grassy slope at the Mission not so desirable. So I cancelled the booking and called Bridget to check. No it was not for her … and then I remembered, it was for Peter & Charlotte and their guest David Greig. We’ve done this before when David stays with P&C for a couple of nights although last time it was Peter’s favourite Indian restaurant, Namaskar. So I called back FIKO and reinstated the table.

Spent time upstairs in the house assembling the kitset book shelving in the room at the top of the stairs while Karola and Bangle relaxed on the small green sofa Bridget got for that room, a combined office/TV room for the future.

Karola and I set off for FIKO around 6:00pm and met up at the restaurant with P&C and David. Again I found it rather too noisy but the food was good. We adjourned for coffee and orange cake at P&Cs. A pleasant evening and a very welcome night out with friends away from Karamu.

Oak Avenue Weather:10.3℃—16.1℃ 15.4mm rain [78.1] TdP eggs=1

Mark came and spent today dragging branches over to the bonfire pile.

Karola, Bangle, and I popped into town because Karola is due her annual cholesterol blood test and I had to post some items max Rashbrooke had left at Karamu back to him in Wellington care of his parents in York Bay. We dropped in to the Plaza Pharmacy next to K-Mart and both got our Covid booaster and annual flu vaccine. Then we went down St Aubyn’s Street and bought MYLK meals, one extra for the long weekend and picked up last week’s laundry before going home for lunch.

Shortly afterwards we took Bangle to her grooming session with Emma – the session postponed from Tuesday.

So we dropped off Bangle at 1:00pm, returned home then picked her up again at 3:00pm all clean and silky. It won’t last. No walk today because it’s such a shame to immediately get her muddy and dusty.

Oak Avenue Weather:11.1℃—23.5℃ no rain [78.4] eggs=1 Mark=4

Catching up on emails today, still a long way to go.

Mark made up some weedkiller, a small spray bottle of Versatil for Karola and half a knapsack of Roundup. Mark sprayed the drives and round the edges of the buildings; Karola expects to take on some local spots of Californian thistles.

Later Mark and I began reinstalling my technical book shelving in the room at the top of the stairs. It used to be in the big bedroom adjacent to the master bedroom. There are five shelves 3 metres long and another five shelves 1.9 metres long.

Karola is still recovering from the excitement of the weekend and so skipped her visit to Chatham House today.

Having seen that the pakowhai Regional Park was reopened a few days ago we went there for Bangle’s walk this afternoon. It’s still showing the scars of cyclone Gabrielle – mud, dead shrubs, very silty water flows and so on – but the main paths are clear.

I took a look at the work Paul has been doing recently. The french doors all work properly now so I look forward to when Monique paints them. The leak from the balcony may be fixed now. As per the photo below, Paul has covered the rat hole and silicone-filled the board gaps between the last three boards.

Western End Of The Homestead Balcony Floor

Damaged Packaging Just Noticed On The Standing Desk Flat-Packs

Oak Avenue Weather:4.6℃—22.4℃ no rain [78.7] TdP eggs=2 Mark=4

A good quick morning’s shopping. Emma the dog groomer TXTed last night to say she had a stomach bug and so Bangle’s grooming had to be cancelled.

Paul came and knocked up a very strong wooden platform for the generator so it’ll be 500mm above ground level. Now I have to arrange the crane to lift the generator while Paul puts the platform in place. Paul also investigated the leak into the homestead sun porch from the balcony. Turns out that the last two boards of the balcony floor are not, unlike the rest, tongue-and-groove so there’s a gap for water to run down. There’s also a rat hole through the boards which would not help. Anyway Paul ahs plugged the rat hole and put a grey silicon sealant into the gap between the boards. Paul also investigated the downpipe which I’d seen spraying water over the back porch roof. That downpipe is blocked with leaves even though it’s two stories up. There’s no good substitute to regualr, say annual, cleaning of the gutters, even those on the top floor.

Mark came and finished the little electric fence across the Long Acre so that, I hope, the lambs will be kept up their end. Mark also mowed behind the homestead garage and along the driveways as far as the fallen trees will allow. Just before he left for the afternoon Mark helped me get the two white arm chairs down from the upstairs TV room back into the living room.

Keith and Peter sawed some more of the fallen trees and also spent much of the afternoon splitting rounds of oak for firewood for Peter.

The Stihl Shop called yesterday and I returned the call this morning. Apparently the spare part to replace the broken chainsaw handle is maybe two months away but apparently I can continue using the loaner chainsaw until I’ve finished with it or my chainsaw is fixed.

Tried to book the dual vaccinations for Covid and flue but apparently the Covid vaccine hasn’t been received by Hastings Health Centre yet.

Electrician Ivan came and put the power point under the stairs ready for the stair chair installation. He also fixed the problem with our land line phones. The cottage underground line had a fault which we circumvented by using the unused twisted pair in the same cable. The homestead and cottage phones then all worked except that they were associated with a strange phone number 06-651-1417 which Ivan says is one of the numbers allocated to Internet connections – 06-651-xxxx. Ivan has attempted to fix a strange recent problem with the proximity detector from the laundry doorway into the kitchen. The kick-board lights used to come on as you stepped across the threshhold but recently it hasn’t triggered until well inside the kitchen.

Peter & Keith Using Keith’s Log Splitter

Oak Avenue Weather:6.5℃—19.7℃ no rain [78.5] TdO eggs=2 Mark=4

Sound of chainsaw as peter Wiffin continues getting firewood, cutting up the branches of the cedar that fell into the Goose paddock from the outside of the corner of the 121 driveway, near the cattlestop.

Strung a little electric fence across the Long Acre just beyond the style and let the lambs in for a bit more tucker. They are not very fence-aware so some may get through but I’m just trying to stop them binging on the leaves of the fallen ginkgo so not too worried.

Builder Paul expects to come tomorrow so I pulled out the railings offcuts i thought he could use for the generator stand – a 400mm high stand to ensure that next time the generator doesn’t get flooded.

Oak Avenue Weather:8.9℃—20.7℃ 0.2mm rain [?] TdO eggs=2 Mark=0

Bayswater call to say they’ve found my iPad. Meanwhile Mark has dropped in and retrieved it. End of missing iPad saga.

Mark arrives at 10:00am and drives us all: me, Karola, Bangle, over to 111 TeMata Mangateretere road – same road that Emma the dog groomer is on. There a man called Paul helped us make the transfer from Justin’s trailer to ours. All went very smoothly and only untoward thing was the ram stamping his foot very hard and repeatedly as he indicated what he thought of us. Mark drove us home and into the Front paddock where we let him out. He trotted straight towards the ewes. Ram and ewes are to stay in the Front paddock and the One Acre, as far away from the ewe lambs as possible, for the next few weeks.

WHile we were out fetching the ram Keith bowled the ginkgo in the circle at the front of the homestead. It’s quite a lot bigger than I expected; it was obscuring both floors of the homestead so Bridget was right to require its removal.

Karola and I took the Subaru in to Tony’s Tyre Service where it was fitted with four new tyres. We sat in the little waiting room for 90 minutes as they did it. Now we’re in good shape for the trip to Bulls tomorrow – WOF, service, and new boots.

Bridget called tto say that today she tested positive for Covid, again. So she won’t be coming up to drive us to Bulls tomorrow and join in the festivities. We hope she has only a very mild infection this time. Meanwhile Mark has agreed to step in and do the driving. He’ll join in most of the activities too such as driving us round the Ngaio boundary and attending the evening barbeque. We’re sleeping at Chloe and Harry’s place, Burleigh, and returning after the Burleigh buffet lunch on Sunday.

Feisty Large Ram Arrives At Karamu

Duty Calls

Ginko Obscuring Verandah View Is Downed

Oh No, Bridget Tests Positive Again

Oak Avenue Weather:__℃—__℃ no rain [788.3] TdO eggs=2 Mark=4

Subaru is in for a service and WOF today, ready for Bridget to drive us to Bulls on Saturday. Karola and I drove into Napier and left the car at 9:30am; a few minutes later we were picked up by Mark on his way to us to start work at 10:00am. That all worked as planned.

Justin of Small Farm Services called to say he wouldn’t be there when we picked up the ram tomorrow but Mark and I still plan to do it. All we have to do is convince a large, fierce ram to jump from one trailer into ours; what could possibly go wrong.

John Henderson called and rescheduled his appointment from 1:00pm to 12:00 noon which suited us all. He came and measured up for the Acorn stairlift (memories of Barbara Florent’s stairlift in Boulogne). Having paid the 50% deposit this evening I now await confirmation that the stairlift will be installed the week after Easter, in time for Anna & Dave in May.

At the end of Mark’s shift he took us back into Napier to pick up the Subaru. Apparently a few small things needed fixing as they explained on the phone, but they expected it to be ready by 2:15pm. Mark dropped us off and then we waited for almost an hour and a half for the service and WOF to be completed. I was rather impatient from all the waiting and left my precious iPad on the table in Bayswater’s little waiting room. Probably Mark will retrieve it for me tomorrow.

Wind was still gusting mightily today so not a good time to saw down the ginkgo in front of the homestead. Luckily my little chainsaw is too puny to get through the quite massive main trunk of the ginkgo so I deferred cutting it down until Keith can help tomorrow.

Bespoke Lamp Shades Arrived

Ginkgo Obscuring Main Aspect From Homestead

Trunk Too Thick For My Small Chainsaw

Oak Avenue Weather:10.3℃—18.3℃ no rain [78.4] TdO eggs=3 Mark=4

Mid afternoon I was upstairs doing a bit of email and I heard an almighty crash. Winds had been strengthening all afternoon and coming in vicious gusts. I went outside to investigate and found the old Ginko had fallen. It’s been dying for over a decade with fewer and fewer leaves each year so not unexpected.

Lovely smell from the burning cedar stump.

I dropped Karola off at Chatham House for the morning where she meets a small group of “seniors” and they have a chance to chat with a cup of tea and cakes alongside a few gentle group exercises for mind and body. Learning from the pandemic lockdowns it’s important for couples to have a little time apart and mixing with other people. I have my monthly Free Thinkers, a lot of email contact, and Mark coming to do odd jobs five days a week so already have my mixing.

Mark noticed that all except two lambs were shut in the yards. We’ve no idea how tis happened but the most plausible reason is that we left the gate into the orchard open and someone kindly shooed them back and put them in the yards for us.

Mark and I continued clearing dead and fallen debris from along the avenue boundary fence and later Mark began a clean-out of the chook house using sawdust for the floor.

Ben went out to Waikanae last week and returned with some beautiful bird photos (below).

Cedar Stump Mostly Consumed

Big Old Ginkgo End-Of-Life

Royal Spoonbill – Waikanae – courtesy Ben Bell

Shoveller Duck – Waikanae – courtesy Ben Bell

Brown Teal Duck – Waikanae – courtesy Ben Bell

Whitefaced Heron – Waikanae – courtesy Ben Bell

New Zealand Dabchick – Waikanae – courtesy Ben Bell

Pukeko – Waikanae – courtesy Ben Bell

Oak Avenue Weather:7.5℃—15.4℃ 2.0mm rain [78.1] TdO eggs=3 Mark=4

Shopping for the week ahead including giving Seawater Seafoods another chance. This time I stressed i wanted two separate purchases, about 200g each of gurnard and terakihi. And I got two packages each of almost exactly 250g. I noticed that the gurnard and terakihi prices were the same per kilogram so maybe the bundling it all together and labelling it as terakihi wasn’t actually overcharging me.

Bridget wants us to get the cottage washing machine cleaned and she is right, it is a little manky. However I saw an advertisement on TV last week for a washing machine cleaner, Easy Off BAM, so today we got some. It worked on TV; now to see if it works in practice.

Last night Keith started a fire on top of the ragged stump of the fallen Cedar. Apparently when the root base gets stressed it produces oils that are flammable hence it’ll make a good fire and burn up the stump including back along the main roots. Much much less expensive than getting the roots excavated.

Peter Wiffin from just the other side of Janet Scott, our southern neighbour, has been cutting up firewood and at the same time helping clear our many fallen tree branches. As he told me yesterday, he and Keith actually went to the same school.

Hawkes Bay Today – 13 April 2017

Oak Avenue Historic Area in Hastings was blocked by busted branches and trunks for all of its 1.4km after Cyclone Cook hit on Thursday night.

Oak Avenue resident and former Asblundh forestry foreman Keith MacAulay said with 150-year-old oak trees blocking Ormond Rd and reports of similar situations throughout the district he broke out his chainsaw and rang his friend Graeme Eyles.

Mr Eyles donned his Yummy Fruit Company personal safety equipment and dragged tree trunks from the road using a chain tied to his 4WD.

Several RSE orchard workers living beside Mr MacAulay pitched in to help, clearing debris from the road so cars could pass.

Cedar Stump Burnout – Keith MacAulay In Charge

Cedar Stump Burnout – Schoolmates Peter Wiffin And Keith MacAulay

Oak Avenue Weather:8.7℃—24.5℃ 6.8mm rain [78.0] TdO eggs=2 Mark=4

Tomorrow is proper weekly shopping day but despite that we went into Hastings. I picked up a beef bourguignon meal from MYLK for tonight, Karola bought a bunch of flowers for Sally Pearce who has organised our fortnightly cleaning since 2013-ish. Sally is going out of business at the end of this week so we’ve had our last clean by Meticulous Maids today.

Mark continued his mammoth task of dragging/carting fallen tree debris from the 121 driveway to the bonfire site. After midday break he and I started on clearing some of the debris from the roadside fence line north of the huge fallen Himalayan Spruce which is blocking the ha-ha. There’s more fallen stuff than I’d suspected along that planting area, the four metre wide strip along the boundary.

Peter Wiffin came to establish what more wood he could saw up and take for firewood, apparently he got into conflict with some out-of-towners who’d decided to take ownership of some fallen oaks further down the avenue so wanted to be sure he wasn’t treading on toes of anyone else here.

Electrician came and talked to Karola and took away half a dozen eggs leaving half a dozen apples. In a TXT I pointed out that this was very much a “coals to Newcastle” thing as we had apples coming out of our ears. Surely he knew that.

Builder Paul was here this morning, working on improving the old french doors in the homestead. I went through a list of things we’d like him to do beginning with the elevated platform for the generator. Ald we want Karola’s large linen cupboard upstairs – it used to be a bathroom – to be fitted with shelves, lots of them.

Conkers In The Making – One Of Karola’s Chestnut Trees

Oak Avenue Weather:9.6℃—24.7℃ no rain [77.5] TdO eggs=2 Mark=4

Ruth Vincent called in mid morning to see how we had fared in the cyclone. We chatted for a long time about our experiences. Good to see her.

Builder Paul rang and arranged to come next week to see if he can improve the old french doors, how they close and lock.

Later Henare brought round his strimmer/weed eater which he’s lent us for a while.

After our walk round the orchard with Bangle I took the Landrover out onto the avenue and filled the trailer with branches from the verge on our side of the road. I also observed that there were a lot more branches down in the planting area alongside the boundary fence.

Justin of Small Farm Services made contact and we’ve arranged to pick up the ram on Friday morning.

Oak Avenue Weather:10.3℃—24.6℃ 0.2mm rain [77.8] TdO eggs=2

Cynthia Chalmers called in as expected for morning coffee and had a long chat with Karola. We showed Cynthia round the homestead.

Peter Wiffin wants to take firewood from the big pile behind the homestead garage to which I agreed enthusiastically as I’ve cut it all to firewood lengths and as we have no use for firewood it’s otherwise going to waste.

On way to stop bank via Carrick road we were blocked at the Evenden road crossroads due to a serious crash. The road was still closed when we returned an hour later.

Henare and Jack came and tended their bees, apparently only one hive is still thriving here. Bee keepers in Hawkes Bay have lost many thousands of hives. Some have been washed out to sea or flooded but many others are out of contact due to slips making roads and farm tracks unpassable and for those hives the regular actions against Varoa and other diseases cannot be carried out meaning the hives will perish over winter.

Jack helped me carry Bridget’s two flat-pack desks up to the first floor of the homestead. I noticed three gouges into the packaging that i hadn’t noticed when the packages arrived so I’m hoping they don’t spell damage to the contents.

Oak Avenue Weather:7.4℃—24.5℃ no rain [77.8] TdT eggs=2

Cynthia Chalmers was supposed to call in for morning tea today but shifted it until Saturday, tomorrow.

Mark came mid morning and moved branches to the bonfire pile until break at noon. After that we together put the stock crate onto the big trailer ready for me fetching the loaner ram next week. Then we drafted out the lambs from the rest ready for introducing the ram. There is one lamb that looks like a Wiltshire as it’s shedding wool. There’s been a stress or chemical shock which has created a weakness in the wool which creates a uniform break in the wool all over its body. No surprise really, it’s wether #202 which I medicated heavily when I thought it was dying a few weeks ago.

Keith was here workong on the fallen wood. Several of Karola’s Titoki trees, an avenue along the 121 driveway, have been damaged severely and Keith has tidied them up. He suggests using Yates Prune Tec Sealant (Bunnings 30$) to protect the cuts against fungal and insect infection.

Ebbett Hawkes Bay, the Hastings garage that services the Zoe, is closing down because since General Motors ended the Holden car manufacture in Australia they have insufficient business to continue. We’ll still be able to get Zoe serviced but in Napier instead of Hastings.

Remembering that we expect to have Bridget drive us over to Bulls next weekend, 1st April, and knowing that the Subaru’s WOF and service were due soon, I’ve booked it in next week. Hastings Bayswater is all booked up but I managed to get a slot on Thursday at Bayswater Napier.

Marina Wilson, who is compiling a Wilson family tree for the Ngaio family meeting on 1st April, emailed asking for Karola’s dad’s dates of birth and death. I finally remembered where I could find these as Karola’s papers are so voluminous and so chaotic that there’s no chance of finding relevant official documents here. The ormondreunion.com website has the Ormond family tree as at 2005 and it had the dates.

Delightful Sunny Cool Friday

Karola Outside Cottage Picking Up Sticks

Oak Avenue Weather:5.8℃—20.4℃ no rain [77.9] TdO eggs=4 Mark=4

Postie brought me my new iPhone SE 3rd Gen today, a day early. Tonight it replaced my old iPhone SE 2nd Gen and I hope it clears up the idiosyncrasies of the old phone plus has a much better battery life.

Mainfreight brought me five cardboard boxes being the two new flat-pack stand-up desks that Bridget ordered for me when last she was here.

Mark did more moving of fallen branches to the bonfire pile. He also mowed under the big oak as soon as the grass was dry enough.

After dinner I did a spot of chainsawing along the 121 driveway.

Bangle had her “Wormicide Tape tabs 100” tablet tonight, ready for her trip to farms in Bulls on 1st April.

Oak Avenue Weather:7.2℃—20.1℃ no rain [78.3] TdO eggs=0 Mark=4

Max from Harris Pumps & Filtration came and changed the filters and UV tube in the homestead pump. The filters were a new type Max called “carbon” which he said should solve the odour and colour problems for the homestead water. Bridget will test that when she comes up in a couple of weeks.

A male version of Mrs Harris came and knocked on our cottage door asking if he could join in with Keith and cut up wood – he was after firewood. I said he could take as much of the big pile of pre-cut firewood behind the homestead garage as he liked. I asked, and promptly forgot, his name, maybe his first name was Raul?

Keith came and continued his chainsawing and dumping activity having mostly recovered from his bad migraine a couple of days ago.

Mark came and took more branches over to the bonfire site; he also used the tractor to mow along the 121 driveway where he could get access, there’s lots of fallen wood still along the verges.

Marcus Ormond dropped in and dropped off his latest and final farm brochure – photos of his cuts of lamb with recipes. We discussed his potential taking over of the grazing next year. Marcus also had a contact, a “good guy” said Marcus, who is looking for firewood so we agreed he could take and split any of the oak chunks stacked alongside the bund – but he wasn’t to interfere with what Keith was doing, just use any wood once Keith had dumped it.

Oak Avenue Weather:8.2℃—19.6℃ 0.2mm rain [?] TdO eggs=4 Mark=4

We like the fish from Seawater Seafood but this week again I wasn’t given what I asked for. After much selection and re-selection of fillets because he kept giving me way too much, finally he wrapped up both the gurnard and terakihi in the same wrapper and charged me as if it were all terakihi. Gurnard is usually quite a lot cheaper than terakihi. So I’m tempted to give them up.

I took Karola to Chatham house today, for the morning, where small groups of older folk meet weekly to chat and in some cases have quizzes and walks and talks. Hannah Blow recommended it as potentially giving Karola a break from my permanent presence and vice-versa. Since the lock-downs we have been on each other’s toes pretty much 24×7 so it sounded worth trying.

After then doing the weekly shopping including buying Thursday’s fresh meal from the MYLK shop, I no sooner got home and groceries unpacked than it was time to go back and pick Karola up. We treated ourselves to coffees on the way home, of course.

Oak Avenue Weather:11.0℃—25.4℃ 4.0mm rain [?] TdO eggs=2 Mark=4

As if we didn’t drive into town enough, despite tomorrow being the weekly shopping day, we went shopping this morning. I took the chainsaw to the Stihl Shop to be mended and serviced and they lent me a “loaner” in the interim. Also got an Ecomist dispenser and couple of refills plus two pairs of Levi’s for Karola.

Treesman Keith was away today; he’s not been well; but we expect him tomorrow.

Mark came and finished painting the 133 gate so it now looks very like it did when Natalie painted it a while back. He then spent most of the time dragging branches to the bonfire pile in the Front paddock.

Banded Dotterel Teenager (courtesy Ben Bell)

Black Fronted Tern (courtesy Ben Bell)

Little Tern (courtesy Ben Bell)

Pied Stilt (courtesy Ben Bell)

Wrybill (courtesy Ben Bell)

Oak Avenue Weather:10.8℃—27.3℃ no rain [?] TdO eggs=5 Mark=4

Got a voicemail from a neighbour, Christine Thow, this morning. A result of me, a few days ago, when putting Bangle onto the back seat of the Zoe, first taking some sheets (wrapped in plastic) off the seat and onto the roof. Then forgetting that. Christine & Graham Thow are long-time residents of Ormond Road, their son runs Matipou orchards and pack-house further down the road. Anyway I get this polite voice-mail from Christine suggesting I might like to pick up this parcel which lay on the edge of the road outside their house. Luckily the plastic was transparent and my laundry mark was visible. What was particularly amusing was that Christine failed to turn off her phone for several minutes after leaving her message and so I her her and Graham talking, saying she’d decided to leave the sheets on her verandah as they were going out, and he remarked that the sheets didn’t look very white. And these were sheets bought by Bridget only a few months ago.

Another worrying incident today was that, while making my weekly update to the two-months of calendar stuck to the fridge and transcribing any hand annotations, I came across one for March 30th at 11:00am with the comment “TTT”. I cannot for the life of me remember what obvious event that clue refers to. I guess at the end of March we’ll find out.

In addition I got a TXT from a stranger asking if (that is ‘why’) I’d called them. My iPhone has been doing strange things unbidden a lot recently so I”ve concluded that the physical buttons on the phone are faulty so that as it bumps around in my pocket it plays music or podcasts or, occasionally, rings people. After discussion with Bridget I’ve now ordered the latest iPhone SE after checking that it is the same physical size as my current phone – that way the wallet will fit.

Karola suggested we have brunch at Bay Espresso so off we went, passing the striking field of orange-skinned pumpkins on the way. Several people with dogs in the cafe garden today which was interesting for Bangle. Afterwards we went on to Clive and the wetlands walk. This was cut short possible because I’d eaten some gluten or possibly because I’d had a large glass of fruit juice last night – rhubarb and boysenberry juice. Anyway, after an emergency stop at the hotel in Clive all was well.

Later Bangle and I did pop round the orchard.

Field Of Picturesque Pumpkins

Oak Avenue Weather:11.8℃—22.4℃ no rain [?] TdO eggs=5

Apple picking in Karola’s orchard so lots of activity there.

Listened to a long but good interview by Kim Hill on National Radio, with Sir Sam Neil. Followed by an interview with biologist about the strange creature he called the velvet worm and which I call peripatus. They are supposedly quite rare but I recall when secondary school age living in Elsdon I found a number of them over the years up in the bush where I had my possum trap line.

Did some chainsawing of a newly fallen big branch near the sheep yards. Jammed the cutter bar and ended up dragging the big branch out from its precarious lodging in a fork high up. Tree narrowly missed having its full force land on the chainsaw but the chainsaw did come loose and drop to the ground but now its handle is broken.

Ben sent photos of a recent trip he made up to the Kapiti coast:

The group photo shows white-fronted terns with a darker black-fronted tern (front right, partly obscured) and a locally rare little tern (front left).

The other shots show a juvenile white-fronted tern and a banded Caspian tern (ringed near Nelson as a chick on 23 Dec 2014 – it had also been seen at Waikanae sandspit on 21 Feb 2002).

Oak Avenue Weather:13.8℃—21.6℃ 0.2mm rain [?] TdO eggs=5

Mark took a rain cheque today. On checking his traps i saw we’d captured a hedgehog so released it.

Jason from HomePlus came and we discussed the bathroom handrails I wanted installed.

The three of us went to Henderson road and did the recycling which was piling up a bit, then to greengrocer Gagan’s for just a bit of fruit and vege for the weekend, finally to Caltex on Omahu for more petrol and diesel for the farm implements.

Doves Feeding On Dovecote Landing Strip

Oak Avenue Weather:16.6℃—27.5℃ 1.6mm rain [?] TdO eggs=2 Mark=0