Mid-winter Holiday

Well we are coming to the end of our mid-winter holiday and 4 of us go back to school on Monday. It has been both a busy and a quiet fortnight. We have all enjoyed some long lie-ins. We almost made it until midday a few days ago! That is a new record and I can remember listening to parents of older children talk about such indulgences with a disbelief that such an event was possible. Well now I know - as long as the fridge is stocked and there is not a power cut to disrupt the TV/video/ computer whatever, then the kids will probably let you lie in all day!

We have been out and about as well. Chantelle was down in Whangarei for a course in budgetting for families who get into debt. She passed and can now officially advise people and negotiate with power companies etc. That is a big deal over here because the world got to hear about the woman in Auckland who was on an electrically operated oxygen machine who died when the power company cut off her power because of an unpaid bill. I think that it was more complicated than it first seemed and that the woman was on the verge of death anyway, but it was certainly not a compassionate act on the part of the company and they scored a very bad publicity own-goal.

Stuart has just got back from a Salvation Army camp and Paddy was on one the week before. They were down in Auckland keeping occupied every minute of the day for several days and both returned knackered but happy.

Eric and I are the only ones who have stayed around the whole time. We did get to go for a flying lesson which Eric started to report on and has not finished .... I am still pestering him over that.

We both went for a fish this afternoon. Went to Aurere beach and had good sport with little kahawai on spinners. I scored part of a beehive in the driftline which was duly hauled home for Chantelle to use to make lots more tasty honey.

The big local news was the storm on Tuesday. This brought a big dump of rain here but even more on the East coast with heavy winds there as well. We escaped very lightly with just some apprehension as we watched part of the paddocks go under water as the stream overflowed. We got soaked moving the sheep to high ground as they were stranded on a hummock between two sheets of water. Others were much less lucky and the College was turned into an emergency shelter for a few days as people who had been flooded out sought refuge. The local old peoples' home was threatened and evacuated which must have been a major undertaking. The clean-up continues and our friends in the Salvation Army are helping people get straight. Chantelle got herself on Maori TV as she went to one of the worst hit areas at the same time as the film crews descended.

The talk is all of global warming and once in 100 year events happening with increasing frequency. I have not examined the evidence properly to answer the sceptics, but the prediction is that storms will become more intense and frequent and that is what seems to be happening. The sad thing is that the people who bear the brunt of the damage are those whose houses/ islands are low-lying and flood prone. They cannot afford to choose to live on high ground like we have. They also cannot afford to pay for expensive flood insurance when the inevitable happens. They are also not the ones who are burning the most fuel and making a big contribution to global warming.

Onto more neutral matters: the sheep have still not produced any off spring, but demand food as if they are carrying at least 6 lambs each. I have a sneaky suspicion that Survivor (the last ewe out of the 6 we had this time last year) is not even pregnant at all. Chantelle and I are determined to bring to an end our shepherd duties and to concentrate on growing trees on our land. Sheep are nice to have around, but they don't mix well with fruit trees and are demanding of my time. There is always some job that needs doing with them. We will hopefully have destocked by this time next year and will start building up the trees and poultry.

I was in a play last week. It was called "Sex, Footy and Lies" and I played a bachelor, beer swilling, rugby loving character called John, who is hosting a stag night for his mates future son-in-law. It was fun to be on stage. Quite nerve-wracking in front of an audience, but good when they enjoyed hearing the lines. It took a lot of time and effort with twice weekly rehearsals for several months, plus the line-learning in between. I learnt a lot from it though and am glad that it is over.

Pictures will follow - of all the above items and not just the de-stocking.

Captain Eric takes to the skies

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This post is written by Eric on his birthday:

This is me infront of the propeller of the plane i flew for an hour.I was first taught how to use the peddles to turn the plane right and left but only on the ground.

I shall post more tomorrow as i am about to have my birthday cake