Monday 26th September

After the Pajero blowing the headgaskets, getting my hand damaged, I was hoping the run of bad luck was over, but it seems to continue on. I caught a kick to the chest last week, resulting in 2 fractured ribs, which makes life bloody painful at the moment, but ok, I’ve had fractured/broken ribs before and they do heal. Finding painkillers that work for the few weeks it takes is harder, and I can’t be bothered going to the doctors about it, so I’m taking large amounts of ibuprofen at the moment.

We’ve got most of the recalcitrant cows drafted out of the herd now, and sent to Hickmott Road farm. I doubt they’ll settle down there either, but at least we don’t have to deal with them.

I started mowing my lawns today, after getting David and Judys done last week. About halfway through and I hit a boulder that has started to pop up and promptly snapped the driveshaft off the mower. Bad news is that it isn’t covered under warranty, as it is fairly obvious I’ve hit something a lot harder than grass, sheared the keyway, and made a large ding in the cutter bar. It is either replace the motor, or get a demo model that they special off. Kevin at Hammer Hardware reckons he should be able to get me a good deal on a larger mower, for about 50% marked price from the demo models. I’ll find out later this week. Just what I needed, and I didn’t win Lotto either.

Took Tuffy for a walk down to the Aorere last week, well, we’ve been going there for a few days now, initially I went down to see how the James Road bridge replacement is going, photos in here, and then we went down the track to the river.

The swimming hole is a lot bigger now, the few high water flows have shifted a lot of rocks around, and there is now a really good sized pool out of the main river to swim in. It is still snow melt water, and it is cold!

I’m thinking I should have bought a house bus instead of trying to settle down in one place. The expenses keep coming, last Friday I wondered why I had no hot water at 3am, when I tried to have a shower to wake up, so had that in the back of my mind all morning milking. Got home, took the panels off the hot water cylinder, luckily it is outside and easy to access, and found that the worst case and a blown cylinder or thermostat wasn’t the problem. The outlet pipe, copper 20mm, had 2 pinholes that were spraying water like miniature firehoses. Turned the water off, took the pipe off, found Peter the Plumber home at Rockville, he did the original installation a few years back apparently, and made another length up to fit, back home, installed and back to hot water again. My next power bill is going to be horrendous I know, the heating element would have been on continuosly while it was leaking.

We’re feeding out hay to the cows as well now. The fresh spring growth from the grass is great for milk production, but it plays havoc with the cows digestive system, at the other end. We don’t get cowpats anymore, rather a very liquid high pressure jet of liquid fertiliser spray back about 2 metres from the rotary rails. You have to be alert if you don’t want to be covered in a long jet of hot smelly shit.

The native pigeons are all back in the neighbourhood after the spring blossoms on the trees, as well as the Tuis and Rifleman. I’ve got 2 pairs of Tuis nesting in the camellias, and some very fat looking pigeons feeding off the trees the last week or so.

There is still some snow scattered on the tops, but it is fading quickly, but we can still expect some more before the end of October although the Aorere Valley seems to miss on a lot of the really cold weather. We do get rain though, I think it is the highest average in the area when it arrives. But even that is temperamental on where it falls. I’m in the middle of the valley floor and the rain often tracks along the hills to either side, two or three hundred metres away from the house. I can be in brilliant sunshine and watch the rain band hitting the hills at the end of the road.

Tuesday 13th September

I’ve been living on ibuprofen the last few weeks, my hand hasn’t really healed up, still sore to touch the knuckle, added to which another kick from a sweet looking Jersey heifer last week on the side of my wrist, and I’m not a happy camper at all.

We’re starting earlier and earlier lately, to get ready for Daylight Saving, so it is a 3am wake up and starting milking at 4am now. There are still 400 cows in calf, about 900 in the 2 milking herds, and 30 in the colostrum herd, which varies depending on how many cows calve each day.

I had my first day off on Sunday, after 4 weeks of milking, plus managing to get some of the gardens done in between morning and afternoon milking. I’m only doing Mornings now, apart from weekends, but the weather hasn’t been all that co-operative lately.

Tuffy the Destructo Dog is still growing, his feet are starting to look almost in proportion to his size, but still bloody large. He is getting better, but still races around the house like a mad thing every night before he goes to sleep. I always know when he’s done something he shouldn’t when I get back from milking, and he doesn’t come to the door to greet me. Usually it is one of my work boots or the toilet brush that he has taken to chew or play with, and I find him sitting on his bed with a poor sad dog look on his face.

Tuffy meets a hedgehog.

I found a NASA photo of the snowstorm that hit New Zealand a couple of weeks back, the little patch of green in the centre left is Golden Bay, well, more the Aorere Valley than all of Golden bay. We were the only place with sunshine and clear skies the whole time.

We’ve got snow up on the tops again this week, and a cold wind coming up the valley, with sunshine, drizzle and rain in between the sunshine. Crazy place for weather.

I’ve lost out on the Naked Possum venture, Jocelyn had to sell out in the end, so I’m back to trying to get my own nursery going with native plants and ornamentals. If only it was as easy as it sounds on paper. There’s never enough money when I have the time available to get things done, other than the spade work, and I’m working too sporadically to get ahead at the moment. Still, there’s no great rush as the usual comment is here, if not this year, then next. I’d like to get it going yesterday, but I’ll have to settle for doing it in bits and pieces when I can.

Managed to get some of my pictures from Virginia posted on another website www.joepastry.com, of the Aldi water mill in Virginia. Joe had a few posts about stone ground corn, so I sent the pics along to him, and he posted them up. It’s the best website I’ve found for good bread and baking related recipes and hints.

Being out in the Valley where I am, you realise how much you depend on neighbours, well, ok, some of the people that live out here are almost hermits, but the majority of us like the isolation, with some people contact. David and Judy just down the road from me, retired couple, have been really sick the last month with a flu like virus that has knocked both of them over, so I’ve been calling around every other night when I walk Tuffy past their place to make sure they are ok. They’ve missed the Book Club Meetings for a while, so I’ve been letting everyone know how they are till they get back on their feet and can come along. Judy plays piano/piano accordian, David is learning piano accordian, so we are organising a get together at my place soon to drag my accordian out, plus Davids, and start playing again. Which means my hand had better heal up soon.

The café and the General store at Collingwood are both up for sale, the café needs a revamp, I doubt it has been upgraded for 40 years, it still looks the same inside as it did when I first came down here in 1967. I think it is only the leasehold for sale, while the General store is for freehold sale. The Store has its own bake house attached as well, and what used to be a café/snack area as well. The price keeps dropping, anyone with the money and a desire to live in one of the nicest places in NZ is welcome. Ok, over winter there isn’t a lot of traffic, but October to May is busy.

Tuffy at the beach last Friday