Author Archives: Ian

Second Sunday in month so it’s “Free Thinkers” at Karl Matthys place in Taradale once again. Peter offenberger is incapacitated at present and Fergus & Esther Veitch rang and offered me a lift. A small gathering today. Andrew McClune ferried me and Alton Harris and Peter Edmead home afterwards.

Solar Flare Aurora Australis Lights Up NZ Skies

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Quiet, quite cold day, mostly cloudy. Bridget drove me into town where we got ten more cardboard boxes so that I can decant some of our many books into them and take the three Cudby & Mead rimu book cases over to the cottage.

Walk With Bangle, Bridget, & Tux Along The Clive Wetlands

Forester Keith’s Car “Tagged” Last Night

Keith Took Hours To Clean It All Off

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Dean Sewell came late morning from Hurford-Parker, our insurance broker, and took me through the coming year’s insurance premiums. If we stay as we were then, with only inflation and cyclone Gabrielle uplifts, our combined insurance for property – houses and contents etc – will be about $26,000. Medical insurance is another $4000 on top of that. Seems a great deal to pay out year after year. I am pondering the $26,000.

The tractor wheel now has a new inner tube and the replacement 2nd hand tyre on it and it’s back on the tractor.

I am on my third day I think of having two cups a day of the Lion’s Mane mushroom concoction called “Mushoffee”.With a little bit of honey it isn’t particualrly pleasant nor unpleasant – tastes more like hot chocolate than coffee to me though.

Bridget took me into town to pick up my pirates glasses. These are my expensive transition prescription glasses where the right eyepiece has been made opaque so I can drive using only my good left eye. The first time Shattky’s the optician’s tried to make it opaque with black nail polish it sti;; let enough light through that my bad eye could see movement. This time, with black tape applied to the inside of the right lens, it’s opaque enough.

We then had lunch at Westermans which is only a few doors down from the optometrist.

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Dentist (Hygienist) late morning – I haven’t been for years. Later, with Bangle, picked up MYLK meals for the weekend and took Bangle for a walk over at Tainui Reserve – much of it is still closed due to cyclone Gabrielle. The some bug bombs as requested by Bridget though it’s so much colder now I think cluster flies are no longer an issue.

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Discovered that the sand-blasted tractor wheel, which looked to me as if it had been undercoated, was the grey colour that sand-blasting leaves the prepared surface – something about titanium crystals Keith Told me, Anyway, Mark painted with metal primer before he left this afternoon.

Round Karola’s orchard with Bangle – she likes eating fallen apples.

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Hayden the Floor Mart installer came and measured up the five carpets for the upstairs rooms in the homestead.

As per the conversation with Marcus, we’re not having fitted carpets but carpet rectangles with a hemmed edge that stops 600mm from each wall. There is a carpet in the main bedroom already, same material as the passage carpets from our previous carpeting spree many years ago. Looks like that will fit in the Bee room and so insead of a new carpet there we’ll have a small carpet in the cottage living room. The existing cottage living-room carpet was removed along with most others when Karola broke her hip, to avoid more slipping accidents, and it had some large holes which may even have contributed to her fall.

Shopping in the afternoon while Pavla did the cottage cleaning.

Picked up the sand-blasted wheel and I mistakenly thought it’s grey colour was because they’d undercoated it. So I didn’t paint it with metal primer as I should have.

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Sally came just before noon and cleaned the fridge and freezer in the cottage garage. She persuaded me to throw away five rusting cans of baked beans and chopped tomato – I gave it to the chooks.

Keith took the front left wheel off the old Fergie tractor and I took it ,and a replacement tyre from HB Tractor Dismantlers, to Bay Tyres to get the replacement tyre put on our old wheel. The replacement wheel had to be discarded because it was for a different tractor make and the wheel bolt holes were too small for the Fergie. And we later found out it was rusted through in places as well. Our wheel was OK but very very rusty so I’ve taken it to a sand-blasting business near Progressive Meats. They’ll finish it by tomorrow afternoon then I need to paint it with metal primer. So it’ll Wednesday before I can get Bay Tyres to fit the replacement tyre on the old wheel.

While I was waiting for Bay Tyres to get the tyres off the old and replacement wheels I took Bangle for lunch and a walk in the Regional Dog park.

Henare came and borrowed my chainsaw to cut up some firewood for his extended family. Little hiccup because Henare was not familiar with modern saws and their chain brakes – so he had the brake on and thought it had jammed. Easily fixed, and he did work it out for himself, eventually.

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Checked the generator gas bottles and seem to have plenty in them.

Talked with Marcus about the phone and Internet at Karamu.

Old tractor has a flat front tyre and seems perished beyond repair. Keith will take the front wheels off then we can take to tyre shop and try to get new tyres.

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Today we had traffic management out stopping the traffic while Keith cut down the four remaining tall eucalypt trees. And we had the 35 tonne digger and skilled driver to nudge the trees in the right direction. Matt was there with his drone to take photos. Late afternoon Henare came round and was able to watch the felling of the last very big eucalypt.

First Of Four Trees Falls Precisely On Target

There She Goes

Last One, The Big One – Keith Going Up To Tie The Rope

Keith Makes The Vital Cuts

Should Have Fallen To The Right, Oh Well

Only Damage Was The Old Lemon Tree

Now The Clean-Up Begins

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Mark and family are still suffering from flu. I had my flu jab for 2024 last Wednesday. Just as well. I’m not eligible for my next Covid jab for another month.

Mid morning Grant came and I, with Marcus, discussed the needs for the wood burner in the homestead living room.

At lunchtime a team from FloorMart came and laid the carpet on the homestead staircase and along the upstairs passages.

At some point Keith invited me over to see him use the drone to pull a rope over s tree fork high-up.

As planned, mid afternoon Jenny & Noel Hendery biked over for afternoon tea on their electric bikes.

Later I went into Hastings and picked up my chainsaw with a new cutter bar. I then pickd up my driving glasses now with the right lens painted opaque black. So all in all a productive end to the week.

Keith’s Drone Carries A Rope Up To The Fork, Drops It Down The Other Side

The 35 Tonne Digger, Ready For Tomorrow

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This afternoon I went to see the dentist, to replace a filling in upper left jaw. Took no time at all. Then picked up this week’s MYLK meals, went home, and took bBangle round the orchard.

The Leilandii cypress I planted several years ago to block out the wind – where Clematis vitalba had killed the Casurina hedge.

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Met with practice nurse and then Dr Richard Jamieson late morning. All level pegging.

Late afternoon I tried to start the Landrover. It started so Bangle and I drove it down to Newport Auto Electricians where it’ll be for a while while they sort out the intermittent fault – possibly in the wiring to the fuel pump which sometimes works and sometimes doesn’t. Bangle and I walked the two kilometres back home.

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As usual on a Tuesday, Bangle and I go shopping, ending up with a walk at the Regional Dog Park.

I’ve booked in the Landrover Discovery to Newport Auto Electrical in Omahu road. The fault being intermittent it may take a while for them to rectify it.

Keith burned the bon-file pile on the old Ginkgo stump today, the last day we’re supposed to burn stuff outdoors until September. It’s a pollution thing, not risk of fire.

Cluster Flies Anyone?

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Well I knew and expected:

• Sally Pearce – to clean the cottage over, dishwasher, fridge
• Mark – my roustabout five half-days a week
• Keith – retired forester working on cutting down the old eucalypts

I did not expect:

• FloorMart carpet installer – came to do more measuring
• Henare – hoping I’d got the replacement Echo chainsaw bar over the weekend

I’d completely forgotten about my 11:00am appointment with the Mitre-10 wood burner installer but he rang to say he couldn’t make it today so we agreed 11:00am on Friday.

Did I say, I’ve been excused permanently from jury duty due to my advanced years.

In the afternoon Bangle and I went to see Karola but she, again, wasn’t pleased to see me so we ducked out and went home. Chatted to Bridget and Jodi (head carer at Summerset Palms) and agreed that probably best if I waited until Karola was more settled before visiting again and Jodi will phone in perioding updates as to how things are. I am still torn as to whether we acted too soon; Karola’s frustration at being in the memory care unit is just what I would have expected if she did not have Altzheimer’s. Bridget reminds me that the “home” Karola refers to is the life at Karamu we had a decade ago, not what she experienced in the last couple of years in the cottage.

I remembered to feed the chooks before it was dark today. Turned off the homestead kitchen hot water yesterday and the main hot water cylinder today as Briget won’t make it back here for a couple of weeks. Moved the stack of pictures in the homestead upstairs passage, out of the way of carpet installation. Bangle and I popped round the orchard for our “constitutional” this evening.

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Bangle wouldn’t eat a piece of apple nor half a kiwifruit today. The fruit is quite old but it’s unusual for Bangle not to eat everything offered.

Beautiful day so I took Bangle for lunch at Karamu Road Bat Espresso and then for a walk along the Clive estuary and wetlands. Quite busy with walkers and cyclists.

Later I did the search for the leak as foretold yesterday. Bangle and I walked the bundary and the taps and troughs in-between finally coming across the tap for irrigating the Totara avenue along the Long Acre inner fence. That tap was full on. As I recall there are a couple of breaks in the irrigation alkathene pipe at the far end, accidents of thistle mowing I think.

I turned the tap off and the pump behaved as it should, turning off once the pressure reached its designated level.

The dish washers in the homestead, the single-drawer Fisher & Paykel dish washers, had what seemed to be unwashed dishes in them so I turned both on. There was no dish-washer powder in the homestead so that’s probably why they hadn’t been done. I fetched a spare bottle from the cottage.

Lonely Spoonbill Stands Out Amongst Myrid Black Swans And Ducks – Clive Wetlands

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I needed to get to The Stihl Shop before noon, when they close on a Saturday, so that they could order a replacement bar for my chainsaw. I was there in plenty of time but today they said they couldn’t order the specific bar I needed but suggested I try Huskqvarna – which turned out to be Outdoor Power just down the road, where I got my mower from. So, while ordering my replacement bar I booked the Grillo in for a service next week – it’s about 20 hours over the designated service interval.

Joan Phillips sent me a card for Karola, wishing her well and enclosing a $20 note for me to get Rush Munro icecreams for Karola. So today I got a tub of passionfruit and a tub of chocolate.

Picked up a pack of 50 replacement blades for the little electric Ozito strimmer Anna bought while here.

On way home got a coffee and a sandwich and then took Bangle to Frimley Park where we shared the BLT sandwich and she had a bit of a run-around.

Got refills of diesel and petrol for the farm machinery then (see below) mowed the luxuriant crop of Californian thistles in the One Acre paddock.

Bit worried that the new cottage water pump doesn’t stop running. Turned off the outlet to the paddocks leaving only the feed to the cottage on. Pump stopped as it should. Bangle and I went round all eight water troughs but none were obviously leaking so I have to do a more thorough survey of troughs, taps, and, where above ground, pipes tomorrow.

Mowing Californian Thistles In One Acre Paddock – ⅔ Complete

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I heard on radio this week that “cars are wider than they used to be”. Well if experience counts these days they certainly seem wider. I was looking carefully out of the right side of the car to where the pump fitter was working, hoping not to crash into anything or any body, and CRASH, I hit the left wing mirror on the garage door upright. I hit it once before, only a couple of millimetres too close, and got away with it. This time I was maybe a centimetre too close and the mirror housing cracked and disintegrated. I’ll see tomorrow what duct tape can do.

Today I was expecting Mark, a man from Harris Pumps & Filtration to replace the cottage water pump, and a man from FloorMart to install our replacement homestead stair carpet.

Well, Mark took a rain check, but the others did turn up albeit just before lunch. I got dressed early in case they turned up at 7:30am or some other early time; I’d also left the homestead unlocked in case I wasn’t awake when the stair carpet person arrived. I needn’t have worried.

The Harris man took all afternoon and several trips back to his workshop to replace the cottage water pump but all seems to be working OK now. That pump not only provides the domestic potable water for the cottage but is also the automatic backup supply for the homestead rainwater tanks to ensure there’s water for the sprinklers in a severe drought. It also feeds all the water troughs and 12 outside taps.

The stair carpet man didn’t actually install any carpet today but re-measured the stair carpet and the passage carpets upstairs in the homestead. Next week he’ll get the carpets cut and the edges bound.

Marcus and I chatted on the phone about the wood burner. Marcus is happy with the Firenzo Topaz in-built zero-clearance fire box. Because of the complexity and extent of the work needed for a faux chimney we’re going to go for a standard round flue painted “karaka”. If it really looked hideous we could always add the faux chimney surround later though I think that very unlikely. Mitre-10 contractor is scheduled to come and quote for us for the installation on Monday. Stewart Luttrell’s quote is $11,950; we’ll see what the Mitre-10 quote is.

Poor MG

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Despite being a public holiday, Mark came today as did Henare & Jack, and also Keith.

Keith continued with his bonfires. Mark did a lot of weeding, round the Canary Island Palm (the octagon) and the little circle round the Ginko in front of the homestead.

Henare is borrowing my chainsaw but managed to clog and damage the chain bar irretrievably so I’ll need to get a new bar if I can tomorrow. There was a 20” diameter branch pinning down the fence by the cattle stop and Henare was not confident of just sawing it up into manageable bits so Keith, who saw them struggling when he drove past, somehow managed to get the big branch off the fence and onto the bund.

I took Bangle round the orchard and we ate apples. I also picked up some walnuts from the trees next to the concrete trough and they turned out to be quite edible. I’m not completely sure they’re safe for me to eat so I’ve only eaten a few today.

Walnuts From Karola’s Walnut Trees

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The New Zealand AA, which I have been an associate member of for decades and decades – so long that I only pay ¼ of the membership fee – sent me an email recently offering for sale a number of quite interesting items. So a couple f days ago I ordered one of their “grab and go” bags for when the impending tsunami is really quite close, or the river has yet again burst its banks with even more enthusiasm than in 1976 and 2023.

They were also offering a decent looking hand torch, LED bulbs, quite powerful, and long lived. That and a small item for breaking the glass of side windows (not the windscreen) in case you were submerged in your car and it was inconvenient to open the door. I bought a torch and a couple of the Resqme Escape Tools, one for me and one for Bridget.

I was prompted to get the Resqme tool because recently I’d seen an advertisement on television that assured us our little hammer gadgets (combined seat belt cutter and hammer – I have one in each of three vehicles) won’t work on tempered glass, and yet most modern cars do have tempered glass windows and laminated glass windscreens. Trying to escape from a submerged car one cannot apply sufficient force underwater to break tempered glass. Resqme, however, is a small device containing a spring-loaded hammer which you press against a corner of the window and it breaks tempered glass. Be warned, however, that on some makes of car the front windows may be made of laminated glass and it won’t let you escape.

Here’s what the AA say:

The resqme tool is a unique portable safety device that can be attached to your keychain. This 2-in-1 rescue tool is a window breaker and seatbelt cutter that allows you to get out of your car in an emergency.

The resqme is an innovation award winning compact device only 76mm long and weighing 17 grams that you can attach to your keychain with its removable clip. In case of an emergency you can easily pull the resqme from its clip. Once the clip is removed the sharp steel blade can cut any seatbelt. While protecting your eyes and push the black cylindrical part of the resqme against a corner of a side window until the steel spike is released and breaks the window. The steel spike releases 12 pounds of pressure to break any tempered glass.

and here’s a picture, its 76mm long and weighs only 17g

The Essential Bag For Survival When Time Is Running Out

Today was quite hectic beginning with me taking Karola for our six-weekly haircuts with Kim at Colours & Hues in Ahuriri.

Keith continued with his bonfires of the tree rubbish from the eucalypts; Mark did more mowing and cleaning up around the place; Henare and Jack came and started on clearing the cyclone debris from Gabrielle on the fence near the cattlestop.

In the afternoon the FloorMart carpet installer came and measured up – he expects to put up the new stair carpet in the homestead on Friday. Harris Pumps & Filtration team also came and changed the UV zapper and the particle filters in the pump-shed by the homestead; they also checked both homestead and cottage pumps. We’ll be getting a new cottage pump soon because it’s been working reliably since 1983 and is getting old, so old that parts are unobtainable.

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Shopping day again. Cleaning lady Pavla TXTed to say she couldn’t do it thisweek but that’s not a problem, once a fortnight is probably all I need for the cottage anyway.

I checked and the new stair carpet for the homestead, which is 700mm wide, will still end without exposing any untreated wood. So while I know some of the bedrooms will need additional staining, the stairs and passageways will be just fine.

Marcus is going to go to the Onekawa factory where Firenzo make their wood burners and check out the Topaz model. I wonder if it’ll be allowed within Hastings “air shed 2”.

Shopping went smoothly. Then Bangle and I went for a long walk in the Regional Park on the way home.

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Marcus came round and we chatted about our intent to get a woodburner installed in the homestead living room. Later Marcus and his contact, Stu Luttrell, came round and assessed what it’d take to install a zero-clearance woodburner inside the existing wooden-framed chimney breast. Much of the complexity comes with wanting to have the visible above-roof appearance be as close to the original as possible. We have another installer coming next week and we’ll compare what they recommend.

I called Heritage NZ in Wellington and discussed what we wanted to do re the wood. burner. If we can get the wood burner installed witha chimney chase (faux chimney top mimicking the original)

Bought 4 litres of dark rimu wood stain for the homestead upstairs floors as the new carpets aren’t the same size as the ones they replace. I may need to extend the staining of the stairs too if the narrower carpet doesn’t hide all the unstained wood. I reduced the carpet width when we put the stair lift in, it runs alongside the inner wall of the stairs, fartherest from the stair handrails.

The Grillo needs a service, it’s past its “hours for next service”.

This is the second time a MYLK meal in its plastic tray has buckled when I took it out of the oven, spilling about a third of it onto the door and floor of the oven, dripping through to the drawer and floor below. Bother!

I have been gearing myself up to clean the oven when, unexpectedly, I got an email from our previous cleaner business owner, Sally Pearce, saying she had time between her other jobs to do a few oven cleans. She’s coming next week! Hooray!

From Summerset Photo Board Outside Jodi’s Office – Karola & Tux

Second Time – MYLK Tuscan Beef Spills Into Oven When I Take It Out

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Peter Offenberger, as usual, ferried me to and from Free Thinkers which starts around 12:30pm and goes on till almost 5:00pm. Usually on the second Sunday in the month this time it was deferred a week so that Karol and Lorraine could ensure they were Covid free. Theyd been to a family function at which at least one lperson subsequently tested positive foe Covid.

A good turnout today, 12 of the 15 members I think. As expected concerns were raised about Iran/Israel, also the crisis in Sudan, the changes in TV news in New Zealand, and a variety of other topics. Main topic was about the media, where did we get news we trusted from etc.

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Light drizzle turned to rain late afternoon. I finally got my copy of Funeral In Berlin (bought online) into a form I could use. It’s taken all week as I bought a program to decode it but then found the program would only work on a very back-level version of MacOS. So over the week I cleared then installed an old Macbook Pro with themost recent version of MacOS that the decoding program supported, installed the program, decoded the file, and, tonight, watched it. Meanwhile in frustration I’ve bought an expensive set of DVDs which allegedly have all five of the Michael Caine films featuring Harry Palmer.

Around mid-day the backup generator burst into life. It took me a while to figure out what was making the noise. TThere was no power cut so I assume it was one of the generator’s regular test runs – it switches itself on for an hour or so just to verify everything is in working order.

Keith and a neighbour worked, despite the drizzle, on reducing much of the fallen spruce to firewood. Keith lit a fire, which I suspect he really enjoys.

Wednesday 17th April – The Damaged Spruce Brought Down

Today Keith Saws Up The Spruce And Burns Small Slash

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Main thing today was taking Karola to dentist to have her new crown fitted – that took most of the day going to and fro. Otherwise rather quiet.

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Late moring had a walk round the property looking at trees and cyclone damage and lambs. After lunch hey set off, calling in on Gill & Ben in Paraparaumu on the way.

Mid afternoon Bangle and I went for a walk in the park at the top of Joll road, picking up my MYLK meals for the rest of the week on the way.

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Late morning Keith toppled the conifer next to where the Sitka Spruce used to be. The conifer was badly damaged when it was side-swiped by the fall of the spruce during cyclone Gabrielle.

Felicity, Geoff, Bangle and I went over to see Karola in the afternoon but Karola was not in a happy frame of mind so our visit was quite short.

Later we, without Bangle, joined up with Peter and Charlotte for dinner at the Joll Road pizza place, Alessandro’s.

The Conifer As It Fell This Morning – Fell exactly Where Keith Planned (video by Matt Sanders)

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Pavla TXTed to say she’d start at 1:00pm not noon today. I TXTed back saying fine and would she please do homestead first as Bridget had to leave in a bit of a rush on Sunday so the rooms still have mess from puppy Tuxedo’s tearing up of cardboard etc. Pavla in fact finished the tidying and cleaning in the homestead and then did the cottage as well- awful lot of Bangle hair after missing last week’s cleaning.

Went shopping and was back before 2:00pm. Geoff & Felicity arrived soon afterwards.Cups of tea all round then we all went to the Front paddock and moved out the sheep then took down the electric fence ready for the big digger and rope attempt to pull down the remaining eucalypts and damaged conifer.

Geoff and I took Bangle for a good long walk at the Regional Dog Park and then we cooked and ate a good snapper fish meal with some fresh green beans donated by Felicity.

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With Bangle, popped over to see Karola after my 3-monthly blood test in Stortford Lodge. Also notified Michael White of BedPost that I wished to proceed with buying the bed and mattress.

Bridget, when visiting Karola yesterday, took photos of Karola where she appeared in the weekly pin-board of residents. Karola was in about a quarter of the photos on the board this week.

At Summerset Palms, Karola is Joining In To My Surprise

I “Think” This Is Karola’s New Friend, Eileen Eames

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Late morning a black saloon car came up the drive, turned towards the cottage, stopped, backed up and glided away back down the drive. I hope it was just Marcus who maybe got a phonecall he was wanted elsewhere. Less desirable is if it were some undesirables just casing the joint, scared off by the obvious presence of occupants. I have started locking the doors now, I’m feeling more vulnerable with Karola not here.

Felicity & Geoff Rashbrooke are coming up for a visit on Tuesday, returning to Wellington on Thursday.

Bridget, Bangle, Tux and I went over to see Karola this afternoon. We took sandwiches and coffee from Green Meadows New World.

Karola’s Sheep – A Watercolour. Artist: Edwina Robinson

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After lunch Bridget, Bangle, Tux, and I went into Hastings to Harvey Normal and looked at beds. I am looking for a brand new double bed and mattress to replce the larger Queen sized bed in the cottage. It’ll take less room and I’m going to orient it north-east rather than south-east although that’s not terribly feng-shui. Bridget then suggested / commanded that we go to at least one specialist bedding shop so we went to BedPost in Napier – and found a similar bed and mattress for over $1000 less. Between these two we popped into Hastings Mitre-10 and looked at wood burners. Mitre-10 will send out an installation expert to advise us because knowing what will fit in the living room with its existing wood chimney breast can be tricky. Crossing fingers that the existing wiring and sprinkler pipes are not in the way of the flu and surrounding foam-concrete insulation.

We popped in to see Karola and Bridget and the dogs stayed for an hour or so. On the way home Bridget stopped at the Regional Dog Park and Bridget took them for quite a long walk.

To celebrate Bridget’s birthday we went to Alessandro’s in Havelock North – delicious meal.

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Bridget came safely up from Wellington last night. This morning, before breakfast, she took Tux and Bangle for a walk.

I went over to Summerset palms after lunch and Paula from Top-2-Toes came at 2:30pm and did Karola’s toes, not without some resistance but karola liked the foot massage for each foot after the trimming. Afterwards Bangle, Karola, and I went to Anderson Park in Napier. It’s quite a long way from Summerset Palms but, as Anna pointed out when she was here, it is a good place for walking with Bangle. Lots and lots of ducks and geese too.

Later we walked both dogs upstream from Carrick Road to soak up their energy; Tux had not come on Bangle’s earlier walk in Anderson Park.

Keith TXTed to say the big logging truck and the 35-tonne digger are not coming next week as the forecast predicts too much rain.

Evening Dog Walk Upstream From Carrick Road

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