September 15, 2016

Heather has just started another blanket for another friend who is expecting a baby.  This is the first 5 inches at the center of the blanket.  She is knitting it "in the round", so it will continue to get bigger and then, I guess, the corners will get squared off.  I'm not sure because I have never knitted this way.

This image has been removed at Heather's request!!




I'm concentrating on knitting booties, and I have completed TWO pair, so far.


Here are some pictures of the animals that keep us entertained!  First is the alpha male turkey showing his blue face, which he does when he is courting a female.  If she responds to him, his whole head and neck, which appear red here, will also turn blue.





Next is Jasmine, the female cat, who has taken over the corner of my bed as her napping and sleeping place.  So far she has not brought me any gifts, that is birds, mice, or baby rabbits.

Living around us in the neighborhood are cows, goats, sheep, alpacas, more chickens, and a pair of hairy pigs but I'm not sure what they are called.  I'll try to get some pictures to post later.

We started working in the garden yesterday.  The artichokes Heather saved, when the old garden was dismantled, have been transplanted from their buckets to their permanent place in the garden.

Mike bought a storage container for the "bits and pieces" he has lying about the place, and it was delivered yesterday.

And here is a picture for Terry.  A good shot of some of the trees we worked so hard on two years ago!!  And the gate leading into the paddock on the southeast corner of the property.




Now that the fencing is done, Heather has purchased some Japanese white birches to line part of the driveway.  Here is the 'before' picture of the driveway.  The trees will go along the fence line on the right hand side.




That's all for now, but we start building the garden beds on Saturday!!

September 10, 2016

Earlier this week, I finished weeding and fertilizing the Himalayan cypress trees that Terry and I planted in 2014 along the northern boundary of the property.  Most are growing well, but many are struggling. They are slow growers and the tallest ones have reached about 24 inches.  They were 8-10 inches when we planted them.  

But the pine trees planted in 2014 along the east and south boundaries are really amazing.  From 8-10 inches when planted, some have grown to 4 or 5 feet.  Here is a picture of Heather standing between two of the taller trees.

And here is Heather with one of the cypresses - still only about 2 feet tall.



 

Today was a good day to be outside, but the rest of the week was just miserable.  We had a HUGE storm coming up from the south, right off Antarctica.  We had winds 30 to 40 km per hour but the east, west, and south coasts were getting winds in excess of 75 km per hour.  Many areas lost power, but not us, thank goodness.  The storm went on for 48 hours, peppered with hail storms every 30 or 40 minutes.  We can see snow on the mountains and we heard reports that there was quite a bit of snow on the north island.

The poor chickens and turkeys ran for cover every time it hailed.  Fortunately, the hail was small and didn't do any damage.  Heather checked the fruit trees which had begun to blossom and found that most of the blossoms were gone.  Don't know if they will be bearing much fruit this year.

Today was spent fertilizing all the fruit trees in the garden and filling some of the holes the chickens have dug around the base of the trees.  They just love to dig for bugs!

Tomorrow we plan on planting some of the small trees (6-8 inches high) that Mike and Heather brought home in tiny containers from one of their trips two years ago.  The trees have survived in those little pots and are ready to be transplanted. 

The yard is now divided into paddocks, the orchard/chicken yard, the garden area, and the 'yard' which includes the house, the Wee Mansion, the pump shed, the wood shed, and the driveway.  We are going to be "landscaping" the yard with foundation plants and flowers.  But I think we have to set up the garden first.  We are looking at building the raised beds using pallets. This could be very interesting!!  I'll take lots of pictures as the new garden develops.

September 4, 2016

I arrived safely in New Zealand yesterday, very tired from the long flight.  But I managed to stay awake until about 10:00 PM and had a good night of sleep.
I  got up around 6:30 this morning and caught this beautiful sunrise.

After breakfast, we had a visit from Bebe  She is one of only a few chickens that can get out of the new enclosure around the chicken area.  

And of course, Heather had to give her a treat!

Seven turkeys have joined the chickens in the enclosure.

I spent two hours this afternoon weeding around the little trees that Terry and I planted two years ago.  They are Himalayan cypresses and are very slow growing.  Surprisingly, all have survived despite being mostly overgrown with wild grasses.  We had a brief rain storm so I didn't get a picture, but will get one tomorrow.

Mike made dinner tonight and ended it with two deserts, an apple/peach crumble, and chocolate lava cakes topped with ice cream . . . YUM!!

Off to bed now.  Will post more soon.

Friday, Sept. 18, 2015

Finally some down time to add to the blog.  I've been out of commission for a couple of days.  Just overdid with weeding and fertilizing the perimeter trees and ended up with quite a sore knee and back.  But all seems better today.

Now some of the promised pictures.

Garden beds are finally weeded and ready for planting. We have planted seeds in little pots and when they are big enough we will transfer to the garden . . . probably in another week or two. 

These are the perimeter trees planted last year.  The plastic protection is coming off, the grass and weeds are being pulled, and a dose of fish emulsion fertilizer is being given.  This is the job that messed up my knee, since all the work is done on the ground on hands and knees!!

This is the infamous Miss Bebe.  She followed Terry all over the place last year and she misses him dreadfully!  She also has many interesting things to say. 

 Here is the male goat who lives in the paddock on the east side of the property.  He has a mate and she has just delivered two little kids.  Pictures to follow.

A picture from the balcony off Mike's office - these are the Port Hills just outside of Christchurch.  We had a very cold rain and sleet storm, but they got snow.

This is Heather's maidenhead fern.  Last year it was a tiny little thing and Heather and Terry celebrated each time it sent up a new sprout.  Look at it now!

Here is the promised picture of the alpaca who lives across the road.  He/she (not sure which) is one of three that live there.

This is a 'frizzle' chicken who lives across the road and down towards the mailboxes.l  Her feathers are always sticking out like that so she looks like she is standing is a strong wind!

Heather is finishing up this 1500 piece puzzle.  I did one corner and part of the sky and she did the rest.  I think I need to get my eyes checked!

A better picture of the puzzle.

 And here is the mama goat and her two kids. Here they are just one day old.  They spend a lot of time just sleeping in the sun.

Mike has purchased and installed a large water tank.  I will get some pictures and post those next time.

Sunday, August 30, 2015

Nothing exciting going on here.  Still gathering brush and filling the pits for maybe one more fire.  Spent several afternoons weeding the garden beds and around some of the perimeter trees that were planted last year (pictures will be posted at a later date).  Weather has been cold and rainy with lots of wind out of the south.

So here are a few pictures, mostly to update Terry, of things he worked on last year.

This is the last fire we had.  The pit was the first one that Terry dug last year, on the north side of the property. 

Willie and Annmarie, neighbors from across the road, came over to have the obligatory Kiwi drink with Mike, and to watch the fire.  I think they were sipping whiskey.

Last year Terry and I spent several days splitting and stacking wood on the north side of the garden area.  We did not get it all split, maybe half, but Mike finished it off and here it is waiting to go into the wood shed.

But, as you can see, the wood shed is full, with more waiting to be stacked.

And here is another pile of logs waiting to be cut and split.  And there is another pile behind the garden that I did not get a picture of.  So needless to say, there is plenty of firewood!

Heather has completed the baby blanket, really a floor covering, she was working on last year.  It is unique!

Each 'bubble' is knitted separately. . . 

and then they are all stitched together by hand.  There are about 275 bubbles.

Heather collects different editions of "Lord of the Rings" as well as many

science fiction and fantasy authors.  Mike built her a bookcase for her collection that covers one entire wall of the living room.  But, she is running out of space!!

The boxes at the bottom and the left have more books in them.

Here are a pair of Paradise Shelducks that visit the property on occasion.  

We have a herd of cattle in the paddock behind the Wee Mansion and across the road are sheep and lambs, goats, and alpacas.  Don't have pictures of those yet, but will get some and post them, along withe the perimeter trees,  when the weather gets drier.

Sunsets have been nice but not spectacular.  In this picture, facing east, what looks like a mountain between the trees is actually a bank of storm clouds.   When the clouds are not there, we do get a peek of snowy mountain tops.

And turning immediately to the west, is the moon rising.

Until next time . . .

August 9, 2015

Yesterday I spent some time pulling weeds in the garden.   Weeds grow like crazy during the fall and winter which take a great toll on the garden.  When I started working it was in pretty bad shape.

But after about three hours, I had made some headway.  

The bed on the far right is the artichoke bed and that is now cleared of weeds.  The next bed over usually has peas and carrots.  I did about half that bed but then had to quit.  My fingers were very VERY cold, and my back had had enough!!  But there is so much more to do, so as long as it's not raining, I'll tough out the cold and get the garden in shape for planting.


This morning, Mike decided that since rain was expected for the afternoon, and the wind was calm, we could go ahead and burn one of the piles of brush.  He chose the one on the north side of the property next to the driveway.  Last year Terry had dug an enormous pit out there and Mike had filled it with brush. The pits are 10-12 feet across and 8-10 feet deep, and Mike piles the brush up to
 8-10 feet above the rim of the pit.  Here is what the piles look like before we start to burn.

Then Mike sets it on fire.

And after two hours it's gone.

It will smolder and smoke for several weeks before it goes out completely.

But before it was completely burned, we had a rain and sleet storm blow in from the south.  I got a picture of it coming.

It rained and sleeted for about 30 minutes and then the clouds cleared and the sun came out.  About 2 hours later another storm blew through, again rain and sleet for 30 minutes.  But it stayed cloudy and more rain is predicted for tonight.

Heather is making pizza for dinner!  Yeah!!  I love her home made pizza.

Friday, August 7, 2015

Arrived in New Zealand yesterday after the 12 hour flight from LA to Auckland and then the short hop to Christchurch.  Heather and Mike met me at the airport and we went immediately to get a cup of my favorite coffee, Vivace Espresso, which is actually based in Seattle.  But for some reason, it just tastes better in New Zealand!

Because of the 19 hour time difference between California and Christchurch, I was up bright and early this morning at 6:45.  The sun was coming up and I got this picture of the sunrise just before it completely faded out.

Hopefully better sunrises will be forthcoming, but I usually find that sunsets are much better.  Here is one from a previous visit.

Terry asked me for pictures of the property so he could see what had changed since he was here last year.  The biggest change is that the dairy company that bought the paddock behind the Wee mansion has just cut down the shelter belt along the west side of the paddock.  The trees below in the background, beyond the ones that are falling over, were the trees that made up that shelter belt.

Here is what it looks like now.

The trees were not on Heather and Mike's property, but they did provide some shelter from the winds out of the west, and now they are gone.

There are still many piles of brush to be burned and we will probably be doing that next week.  I'll take pictures and post them then.