Visitor

This little bunny was keeping a very close eye on me as I sat at my desk. He'd managed to find a patch of grass under the coral tree which hadn't been mown too closely.



We're slowly getting to know our local rabbits - you'll notice that this one has a distinctive white stripe on his head whilst another bunny has one white front paw.



The rabbits also seem to have their preferred spots - this little rabbit is often found at this front corner of the house whilst some of the adults prefer the slope at the back.

Parrots Perching

Here's a quick snap of two Eastern rosellas in one of our bare trees.

Spring Colours II

Spring Colours I

Anticipation

Any day now our magnolia is going to burst into bloom...

Misty Morning II

We are having a lot of misty mornings at the moment. Some days the mist lies in the valley below but at other times we're right in the thick of it.

Lichen Lover

Spot the insect on this lichen! I found this little beast in one of our magnolia trees. Not sure what he's called.

Cobwebs

Weird and Wonderful Weta

I was a bit alarmed to arrive home this afternoon and find this huge weta waiting for me on the front door.

Fortunately, unlike the white-tailed spider which we found a few days ago, these giant insects, a cross between a grasshopper and a stick insect with a body about 2 inches long, are utterly harmless and very slow moving.

A Healthy Breakfast and some Healthy Competition

Once I had frightened off the parrots from the grapefruit tree, I was left to compete with these three...

...a fantail and two riflemen (I think - open to corrections).

This is the magic tool - a grabber with a long extension handle and a bag to catch the fruit. An expensive piece of German engineering.


Here's my targets:

And here's the bucket - the tree is perfectly shaped as a bucket-containment device!

Guided Tour IV

There are seven bedrooms in this house. Only one of them is occupied and only one of them is furnished. Unfortunately it's not the same bedroom.

Here's our room with windows on three sides.



Hoping our rimu furniture will arrive soon...



And here's the guest room, all ready for Katie's arrival... We might have seven bedrooms, but as you can see, they're not palatial. Plenty of built in wardrobe space though!

Guided Tour III

The bathroom arrangements are rather odd in this house. Here's the shower at the top of the stairs, next to the second living room. The stainless steel shower tray is very practical, if a little chilly on the feet.



And here's the main bathroom. It would probably be overstating it to label it "vintage". I have attempted to cheer it up with a TradeAid rug and draw the eye away from the dreadful crazy paving linoleum.



Just outside the bathroom, on the landing, is this very handy cupboard, complete with a sink. The most convincing explanation so far is that it's a cleaning cupboard. Though why the bathroom sink can't be used for cleaning, I'm not quite sure. It's quite useful for washing lingerie too.

Lagomorph freakdown

I've been hoping to snap the rabbits that visit our property for a couple of weeks now. The problem is complicated by the fact that they are crepuscular (my new favourite word - it means most active at dusk and dawn) and hence the light is never good when they are around. Also they move like greased lightning and are 'surveillance aware'. However, this little fella (or possible doe, who can tell?) was fairly obliging this evening:

But still fairly dynamic:

A little later a friend turned up:

Which prompted some rolling around...

A good deal of swearing

Last Friday, Jo went to work via the park and ride, as usual, and as often happens I opted to work at home and parlay the commuting time into an extra hour in bed. Around about mid-morning, Jo called me to say that on her way out in the car in the morning she had noticed some loose panelling on the drive, and could I go and have a look? I did, and discovered this:

The shed was rather more open to the elements than I prefer. Particularly when half our worldly goods are stored in there in cardboard boxes.

A good deal of swearing ensued, and continued more or less unabated for the three days that it took us to make the problem right. This process involved:

1. Getting a roof-rack for the Ute so that we could transport tools and materials.
2. Getting tools and materials, to whit: A ladder, H3.2 plywood (i.e. treated for outdoor use), a circular saw (portable), nails etc.
3. Cutting replacement panels out of plywood.
4. Going up the ladder and attempting to somehow wrestle them into place, and nail them on, a process that rightly calls for two hands more than the normal individual possesses.
5. Realising that despite the fact that you used the bits that fell off as a guide, and that the bits you sawed up produce a geometrically perfect triangle, there are nevertheless huge and mystifying gaps between the new panels, necessitating that additional panels be cut.
6. Cutting and installing said additional panels.
7. Up and down the ladder all day long, hitting the thumb with the hammer, bending nails, losing temper, drinking lime cordial and watching the sheep for a while, etc.

Fortunately, at least we had nice weather for it. Here is the end result:

Bit shady, but we both felt quite a sense of accomplishment, not to say relief when it was done. Bring on the next challenge!

Flies and spiders...

One of the first things we did when we moved into the house was to remove all of the revolting old lampshades, a selection of which Jo has blogged about already. However, what we also found during this process was fifty years of insect mortality, in a kind of moth's graveyard...

And last night, Jo found a big spider in her paperwork...

This is an Australian Whitetail, an immigrant to New Zealand. Long believed to have a poisonous, ulcerating bite, the Whitetail is now considered only as harmful to humans as a wasp or a bee. Still not pleasant if you get bitten, so to be on the safe side we took it outside and stomped on it. That's life on the farm.

Guided Tour II

Next stop, the kitchen. The original 1960s kitchen. I'm sure it was very smart when it was first done.



Note the two sinks - perfect for washing up in tandem. At least the view's good.



And here's our pantry-cum-brewery. It's grapefruit wine and home-brew lager bubbling away at the end.

Guided Tour I

As the house is all neat and tidy and clean in anticipation of visitors (Uncle Geoff then Katie then Brendon), I thought it would be a good opportunity to offer a bit of a guided tour to those readers who won't be popping over to see us in the immediate future.

Here we are, starting off in the living room - where we spend most of our time, huddled together for warmth watching odd kiwi TV.



In due course, this will be the guest suite for all our overseas visitors...

Armchair Amateurs

After 31 years, I have finally matured sufficiently to own my very first armchair. We purchased these two retro beauties on TradeMe, the kiwi equivalent of eBay, for only slightly more money than the cushions.



And this is the view that we'll be enjoying as we sit comfortably...