Plumbing

This is a bit of a panic post!
I have disconnected our rainwater collection system with the aim of improving it. We have purchased a 500L tank to store run off from the roof. Under the old system it was pumped up from 2 small tanks housed above the electric pump. The main water tank is on top of the hill above the house - let's say 5m in vertical height. The house water is gravity fed from the main tank.

My problem is that the pump is not working when I tested it. The electric motor is on, but no water is being pumped. The model is called Riva Flo TF30. It is possible that it needs priming (how?) or thet I have damaged it by running it with no water in the system.

Any suggestions on how to remedy this would be gratefully received.

End of Term

Well that's it for 2 weeks! We have got ourselves to the end of term 3. Been getting my head round NCEA marking of the senior mock exams. As well as getting my head around becoming "Associate Junior Dean", my head is ready for a break from school work.

Other pressing matters are piling up demanding attention. There are the goats feet which need another pruning. The veggy garden needs starting if we are to get much in the way of veg this year. I want to make a salad and herb bed on the back lawn and a larger plot down on the chicken field. That is the bigger job as there needs to be a fence to keep out all the animals that are partial to veggies.

We reckon that one of the bantams went this week. We ate the wyandotte cock last sunday. He was a bit tough, not surprising as he spent most of the last few months chasing hens and mating with them brutally. The hens seem a lot calmer without him around. It would be nice to get some chicks to start growing into future Sunday dinners. Not too sure what happened to the bantam. It went about the time of a big storm last w/e. We had 100km winds, with trees down in town and the roof of the timber mill blown onto Pukepoto Road. Plus a lot of damage at Ahipara. Eric reports seeing a harrier flying off with the bantam in its talons.

On a happier note, the ducks have taken to the pond enthusiastically. They have a stoat proofed house and have been out in the open with no protection for a night already. They are not always keen on going into their lovingly made house every night. So far so good and we still have 5 of them.

Election wise, I am not sure who is going to run the country yet. And I am not the only one. Labour have a slight majority on the main lot of votes, but a load more "special" votes have to be counted. Then all the smaller parties start horsetrading over who they will support in government and what their terms will be for that support. We shall see what the outcome is .... obviously.

Election Eve

The big day tomorrow!
Although we cannot vote, we are still taking a keen interest, as we live here now and it is our country! We have had some interesting tea time conversations with the boys. Eric would vote National if he could "because he looks like a man I could trust", Stuart would vote Clark, but I cannot understand (or explain) his reasoning. Patrick is letting it pass over him, and why not, he is only 6 after all.

Meanwhile the politicians are fighting dirty and the smaller parties are trying to get themselves as much media exposure as possible. Winston Peters comes across as a media tart, he strung them out for a whole week over which side he would support in a coalition, to finally announce it would be neither, unless he changes his mind.
Amusement of the week has been the mudslinging he has tried on with his main constituency opponent, National's Clarkson. Peters has dragged up some incident from years ago when Clarkson allegedly harrassed one of his female employees. It all sounded a bit pathetic until Clarkson himself told a female interviewer this week that he would have to stand up "because my crotch is so sore".

Seriously though, I do fear for our futures here in Northland if National get in. They will increase racial tension between Pakeha and Maori for one thing. Plus they are going to bring back bulk funding to schools which will probably lead to job cuts and strike action.

Enough politics ... at least until tomorrow when the result comes in.

Family news: boys all ok, no sports on this weekend. Stuart played in a soccer day this week. The big event of the week has been the saga of the broken glasses. Namely Stuart's, broken beyond repair and with new ones costing over $200, we needed to know who did it. That has cast a shadow over the week and we have only just resolved the problem. I won't say how because the offender/ chief suspect has been granted name suppression to protect his character.

We are basically hanging in there until the end of term one week today.

Included are some pics of animals. Miss Clucky was insisting on laying an egg each afternoon under the stairs; only in this household could this sort of situation happen. I am alternately amused and not amused - though my amusement or lack of counts for little. Meanwhile, the ducks spend most of their day sat on the concrete right outside the back door, liberally spraying it and the window with their faeces. Luvverley! They are going to be taken down to the pond tomorrow, the basic idea being that they will eventually waddle up and down by themselves. Chucks are Ok. Wyandotte cock earned himself an extra week of life by refusing to go in the pen on Saturday night and then staying out on Sunday morning, even when the food arrived. Just how did he know I was after him? Was it my chicken killing gloves or could he tell by my body language? The hatchet was way out of sight. Other livestock are fine. Rams are back to head butting each other intermittently.

Award winner!!!!

Well, hasn't he done well !!!
In his first season of playing "soccer" - Football is rugby?!?!?, Paddy has been awarded player of the season for Pirates . He was awarded on stage infront of about 300 people. He was cheered by many.Well done son !! We are proud.

September Happenings

A few pictures from the last week. Ducklings get bigger and are now in with mrs clucky outside the back door. No sign of the wild ducklings; I fear that the stoat got itself another supper. No success with the trap.
No more rats. The bio students enjoyed dissecting them.
We had a quiet w/e with 2 lie ins. Father's Day on Sunday was nice for me, breakfast in bed and someone else fed the chucks. We went down later on and saw to the goats feet; they are better than last week. My attempts to find them a retirement home have not been successful, so we shall have to keep them here.

The election draws nearer and the polls show that it maight be a close run thing. National are in the lead by 8 points at the moment. If they get in things might warm up here as they are into bulk funding for schools, stopping race-based funding etc.

new life in the pond

The first day of Spring a new lives were discovered by the pond.From the two ducks that have made a home of the pond , 8 duckling appeared. by Eric.

Down on the farm

End of another week and we are watching the All Blacks take on the Springboks in the tri-nations series. Eric is impressed by the new haka.
Today Paddy played in the Kaitaia AFC tournament at Taipa. He was back on form, scoring all the goals for his team winning 2/3 games. Lost the first 1 -0, second was a 5-0 drubbing of Eastern 2 and the third a tight game of 1-0 against Kaigaroa. Paddy was playing more up front in the 2nd 2 games. Plus he was on a cash incentive (mum's idea! 10c per goal for his team - he took the iniative and did all the scoring). Perhaps next time, we will reward him for each goal he sets up for someone else to score.
As if that wasn't exciting enough we got a puncture on the way. First time I have ever changed a wheel and it went OK. Thanks to Steve L for teaching me how to do it !
The unsealed roads are pretty tough on tires and punctures are apparently common.
Back at the ranch, it was good to see Eric and Stuart walking (Yes WALKING) back from town. They had got fed up waiting for our return and went to the warehouse on foot.
We spent the afternoon clearing scrub and having a fire to get rid of the gorse and pampas that we had cut down. Just another 20 fires like that and we will be able to see a difference!
Trapping wise, the stoat trap hasn't caught anything yet but something has been taking the bait. I tried setting it with a pilchard rubber banded onto the plate tonight.
We have had more success with the rats, catching a huge male on Wednesday and a smaller one on Thursday. They have gone in the freezer at school and will be used in a dissection class by the senior biologists.
Talking of school, it was science fair this week. Very impressive once all the exhibits were up in the hall.
Other news: Stuart made his first reconciliation on Friday after school. A very quiet affair followed by a KFC.
Eric is learning lines for his play.
Paddy is obsessed by dinosaurs.
Chantelle seems to have recovered from the shingles. She has been planning our Summer holiday to Wellington this week.
There is an election here mid-September. I feel pretty detached from it as we cannot vote until we have been here for a year. The Greens do well here because of the electoral system. They have about 9 MPs at the moment and may be able to exert more influence as a coalition partner with Labour. The Maori party is new on the scene this year in response to an unpopular piece of legislation that Labour has passed that has got the backs up of both Pakeha and Maori. National is the Conservative party equivalent and they are as bumbling and inept as their British counterparts. The leader Don Brash was head to head against the Labour leader -Helen Clark - on TV this week. The consensus was that he was out-performed; he explained his lack of shine by saying that he is too gentlemanly to lay into a woman MMMM.

Off they go!

Margaret and Ian left this morning after spending 2 weeks with us. It has been pleasant for me, the house did not feel too crowded and the boys have enjoyed being spoiled. They have all been off on trips and have taken a few days off school each.
The weather has been good which has obviously helped.
Now we are returning to normal. We had a great meal at Orana Motel last night. Fantastic food, friendly service, everyone was happy. We did not take either camera but Patrick's face was a picture when his ice-cream sundae turned up.
Back on the farm, we have been busy trying to trap the suspected stoat that killed the ducklings. We also got a rat trap from Wrightsons to deal with the cheeky rats that are burrowing into the chicken coop.
Stuart and I did some stream management this afternoon, removing some of the weeds that are choking the stream. The bottom field has a high water table and as it is where I want to grow veggies, it needs some sort of drainage solution or they will not grow very well.
Best wishes to my sister Alex who is about to marry Mark in Manchester today. Sorry we couldn't make the wedding, but we are thinking of you both.

It is with great sadness......

It is with great sadness that we have lost 5 ducklings overnight.
It seems that a rat / stoat has managed to burrow into thier home and swipe 4 clean away , whilst leaving 1 dead . There was no sign what so ever, no blood nor feathers ,just 5 ducklings and 1 dead one in the morning. Even though you try and remind yourself that the animals are not pets ,it's hard not to get some sort of an attachment to the balls of fluff ,who cheep enthusiatically when you appear!
So it's off to the northland regional council for trap tomorrow.

Duck palace completed and declared a success!

Our first 2 WWOOFERS (willing workers on organic farms - though they didn't know they were going to be wwoofers so should be more accurately called UWOOFERS - unsuspecting workers on organic farms) have made a new residence for the rapidly growing ducklets. There are some aching muscles this morning, I went up and down the hill about 10 times yesterday.

The end result looks good. It cost about $40 to make so is a more economical design than the chuck coop. It gets the thumbs up from the rams, and the ducklings survived their first night without any casualties.

One week in ...

End of another hectic week. Ian amd Margaret have been keeping the boys busy. They took Stuart to Whangarei on Monday where they had a Pizzahut and saw the museum. Paddy went fishing on Tuesday and did Tarzan impressions in the playground at Cooper's Beach. Eric crossed the Hokianga on the car ferry to Rawene. He also had a wash in a sulphurous pool and came out smelling better than usual.

The boys all went to school on Thursday and then took today off to go to Cape Reinga. More fast food was consumed and Ma and Pa were very unpopular when they vetoed the KFC. Mean parents or what?

Ian's comment: "3 cars in 50 km , the rest must have been in Auckland! 90 mile beach was nicer today with only 2 people."

Margaret and Ian sample the delights of Kaitaia

Well they have made it up here and are having an action packed time. Visiting the beaches, Kaitaia market, the Warehouse, museum, Waipapakoura for 90-Mile beach, church and they have only been here 2 days so far.
Margaret says "I'm here, enjoying every minute. Overawed by the beauty of the place. It is great to se the family. Feels like I have been here for ages". Ian was unavailable for comment as blog went to press, but we will interview him later.
Sad news on the soccer front - the Pirates were knocked out of the tournament by Ahipara. 3-1. Tough match, paddy scored in the first 5 minutes and then played defensively for the rest of the game. As Sharon's mum put it " Ahipara players use their ears!"

Fruity fruity

As well as the many things we have been doing, we broughts some fruit plants. Eric chose a lemon tree, called Lemonade- it's a lemon/grapefruit hybrid ,and is suprosed to be good for making summer drinks. Stu stuck to a grany smiths , and Paddy opted for a "Banananananana" tree. There is also a passion fruit, peach and an olive to plant up next week. These are joining our fejoa's, orange? ( we are not sure yet ,it's in bloom,) and a lemon.

Ducks, Footie and FROST!!!!

Ground frost on the flat bits at the bottom this morning, no wonder we were so cold last night. The woodburner took the chill off in the morning.
The ducklings are a week old now and are getting bolder.
Patrick scored 3 in the Pirates defeat of Kaingaroa, his team mate Chanaye scored 2. Final score 5-0.

The Grandparents have arrived!!!!

Well after their long haul, Margaret and Ian have arrived. They plan a weeks journey around the north island ,taking in Rotorua ( known as Rotovegas to us Kiwis), Napier, Whakatane, Kaiaua and then up to Kaitaia.

Colin, again has come up trumps with some lovely photos.

And then there were ducks!

The latest addition to the menagerie - 10 ducklings courtesy of Ruth. They were a brood of an Aylesbury that is not a very good mother so they have come to live with us. The chucks have laid 4 eggs so far and we have eaten 1 of the cocks, very tasty it was too!

The chucks have landed

Now 'tis Friday night and I have just got back from checking the chucks. We have 10 altogether thanks again to Peter. They have only been here 36 hours and have laid 2 eggs, which was sooner than expected.
They are a mix of Wyandotte, White Shaver and Barred Rock.
It has been lovely today, a gentle breeze that is drying up the mud rapidly. This afternoon I found out that treatment of dental problems is at least as costly as over in the UK. The dentist is very good though and showed me with the help of a large model, how I should have been brushing my teeth for the past 39 years.
The boys listened to a reading of Harry Potter Book Six at the local library. It is a fantastic place, better than many libraries in much bigger English towns. They have a current range of fiction and non-fiction, jigsaws, even a pedometer, not to mention lots of magazines that you can take home to read. The only thing it lacks is a cd collection, but even then I think that one can order them. The quality of my life has been boosted considerably by all the libraries I have visited over the years. They are such a good money-saving socialist idea that I am surprised they have not been quietly banned by now.

Making poultry accommodation

At the moment we (or at least I) am obsessed with making the chuck shed. We have been at it all this holiday, in various combinations of help. Hopefully it will be completed today and we will go over to Peter's tomorrow and get the birds.
We have sited the coop on the flattest part, and I am hoping it wont be too wet. The posts were difficult to get in solid as the holes almost filled up with water. Let the pictures speak for themselves.

Sheep!

The sheep arrived yesterday - thanks to Peter and Vincent. Peter told me what breed they were: a mixture of Romney, Suffolk and Merino(?). He also told me all their names and ages and sexes. I do remember that one is called Independence (born 4th July) and the small one is 8 months old, also there are some rams and some wethers (castrated rams). The rest I have forgotten. So over to the experts! From the pictures can you tell us the breed, ages and sexes. Bonus points if you also know their names (psychics only for this section).

I have also put up a counter to see how many hits we are getting. Apologies for the pop-up that appears with it.

Life on the farm!

We moved in on Saturday, with a big help from Stephan and Matthew. It took one big van load to shift all our stuff - on top of the 10 car loads we had taken during the week.

Since then we are gradually feeling our way into the job. Feels like a nice place to live. The woodburner keeps it cosy when it is kept fed with dry wood as opposed to wet stuff. The boys are all together in the downstairs room. Chantelle has done a brilliant job on the bath-room and made sure that the utilities were all on in time.

The farm labourers have been going about their tasks with more or less enthusiasm. Pest control is popular. Stuart and Eric are quite happy to stride forth armed with loppers and machete and to lay waste to the pampas or gorse.

We are getting our collective heads around the chicken housing question and hope to have their home built and stock moved in within the next 2 weeks. The goats are interesting to watch as they go about their business.I discovered this morning that they are partial to lettuce, apple cores and particularly carrot. They shelter in the pig shed when the weather is bad. I think I will pen them in up there and get them working down the long grass. Their main use seems to be to keep down invasive weeds, so we shall see how good they are at that.

We have decided to call the horned one Sharon (Shazza for short) on account of her 80's style soft perm, her shy friend Sheryl (her original name).

Great to hear your news Gerard and Vania! Do you have a home email I can talk to you on?