Raining today! First time in weeks

Has me realising that Winter will hit quickly; we have a true Indian Summer with daily temperatures still in the mid- 20's. I've even planted more beans a few days ago to see if they'll grow with the remaining heat. But the rain is so welcome; so pleased I finished one part of the new garden borders and whilst I'm still up to my neck creating a guest washroom and struggling to have an installer finish putting in  the new wood burner I know I've only a few weeks to prepare and tidy the vegetable garden for Winter in preparation for Spring. I've asparagus raised from seed ready to go out and have potatoes ready to go in. hoping this rain will help the avocado grow larger. Makes me think I've got to get to the duck pond though very soon if I want to re-build it before the continuous rain we get during Winter..otherwise it'll be full of water...

A final farewell to Dolphin...

It's been almost a month since Wayne (Dolphin) left us and 2 weeks ago we gave him a farewell that was appropriate as well as moving. Being a surfer all his life and traveling the World to indulge his love, his wife Adrienne chose a Hawaiian tradition, a Surfer's Farewell to confirm his place amongst the element he loved the most: Water. In this tradition surfers paddle out with leis and form a circle by holding hands and within which memories are shared and the individual is fondly remembered.

 The leis are tossed into the sea together with the ashes. It could not have been a better morning: crystal clear with sun bright upon the water....

Just found this..so many ideas..check for the link at the end

And I have to try and catch up today with so many things. Converting the pantry to a guest washroom, finish renovating the laundry and one of the garden beds. Trying to get a new wood burner installed..such a protracted affair with the local council taking 20 working days to process 1 piece of paper i.e 1 month! So the new burner is sitting in the middle of the living room floor.

Autumn is hiding - we've stunning weather still reaching 25C or thereabouts everyday so when Winter comes it will be a real 'smack' of change. This morning was a typical Autumn start - misty with a hazy sun.

 
Yesterday was cool so took the time to continue with one of the flower borders and I felt good when I'd seen how much was done..the whole garden looks rough to my eyes though mostly due to my impatience. The last garden I made took 3 years so why I should expect to have achieved more I don't know..

 Don't like the bright yellow of the wood mulch but it won't stay this colour for long once the Winter weather has had it's effect. And it works: I've lost a few shrubs due to the drought and most are hanging on. That one weekend of cyclone weather managed to fill all the tanks so I can water without being too concerned about how much water is left. I've a separate tank for the garden which is ideal; I've seen two water truck drive past to my neighbours in the last week as they haven't enough left, given the weather pattern shows a fe weeks of hot weather still to come.

I tend to wake up with thoughts of what I'd like to do to the garden next or with what I need to fix inside the house. My dreams still veer towards and it's potential. It's a mix of different components and I keep thinking about building a wooden pathway through the dell on the other side of the drive. It slopes away to what used to be the old road so could be ideal to have a few wooden terraces would be great. Have to build it myself though.

And I found this wonderful website - now I'm thinking of a Summerhouse. look for the Architecture link and the Wildlife photgraphy

http://www.demilked.com/

A special man left us on the coat-tails of a cyclone..

Friend, Father and Husband, Wayne (Dolphin) caught the coat-tails of a cyclone and now is surfing the thermals as well as the surf and sea which was always the element he loved. He lived his life well. Dolphin is missed.

And the rough weather is over

I think we must have been lucky in this small part of the country. Towns only 20km away had power cuts. ALL the water tanks were refilled in one night (Friday) and I'm happy I worked a little bit on the one shrub border I'm creating and putting the stones out ready for spreading - all lot more to do though but now I'm confident it's worth doing the pathways in these stones. Luckily the quarry is only 20km away.

It got very stormy on Saturday as the cyclone passed across this part of the country - beans got flattened as did all the flowering tubs but a small price to pay for so much rain. I knew the trees could withstand the conditions - they have already for years; nonetheless one still wonders. I kept looking at the small avocado trees and wondering if there would be any left...it was like this all day long until late evening Saturday..uff.

The calm before the storm

Literally. We've been getting warnings from the Met. Office about high winds and heavy rain for some days. It's been a while I'm sure since we've had one of these but I can remember a few - it's part of being in a sub-tropical climate. I've not been in this house before during what could be a wild weekend and I'm certainly pleased I've had the roof fixed!

 Poached these from the local newspaper, showing Auckland city this morning. Remember the school rhyme? 'Red sky at night, shepherd's delight; red sky in morning, shepherd's warning'. Looks like we could be in for it..

Looking out the window this morning I'm aware of what I'd like to get finished before the rains come. First thing I'm aware of is how calm and still it is; here that's unusual as we have a constant air - flow that varies in strength (South westerlies) which is why there are some huge trees along one border. It's quite strange..overcast but with a weak sun somewhere behind the clouds giving a hazy light. All this may not be as bad as some are suggestion so we'll see.

Using this weather pattern as a focus I was out all day yesterday buying stones for pathways and wood chips. The problem I've bought 'way too much wood mulch and not sure what I can do with it in time. i have visions of a whirlwind of sawdust and wood chips flying all over the place! So, once coffee has been consumed I'll be out there. Believe it or not that seemingly small amount of stone weighs just over 600kg! A second load after this is just under..

Didn't have the time to spread these yesterday so dumped them for me to do today. looks very messy; i know in time this will look great just hard to see that right now.

This really needs more work - the West side of the house and it gets the full blast of wind plus rain as the prevailing winds power across a shallow valley. Blasted is a garden term that can be used to describe this path. Maybe in the next few weeks I'll find the time to lay more.

Far too much of the stuff.  I left a small trail of it along the highway from the timber mill to here. Not very far to drive and thankfully no-one was behind me - especially cops! Think I'll drive it to the far end of the garden and try and protect it over the weekend.

This is where it will be going so..time for work.

Struggling uff...

Today I had the best intentions to continue with developing the garden. Hmm..still very hot and we all know we are in a drought - it's worse than last year but they're holding off declaring it officially; we've a warning that we will get the tail end of Cyclone Lusi this weekend with very heavy rain and gales..maybe up to and over 100km.

Went outside this morning to try and avoid the heat but had to come inside at 10am -24-26C and building. Wouldn't have been so bad had the soil been other than concrete so I couldn't hammer the stakes into the ground for the edging. I managed to finish a few important ones, as in those parts where the soil will wash away: part of the garden is on a slope and especially with the soil being so hard, heavy rain will just wash off and take the mulch with it and wash it off. I've come to the decision to let the rest of the garden go for a while. Once we're headed to winter and the rain (I hope) will have softened the soil I'll be removing the huge weeds and removing some other bushes. I noticed the orange trees have some new fruit so I need to prune those pretty soon to make them healthier. don't think they've been touched for a while which explains why one tree had such small fruit. Apart from one patch, the beans are over and I think I'll take all the rest of the tomatoes out. The garden has had more than it's fair share of attention and it's just taking too many hours each day. the irrigation tanks are empty and I used the house water tank last week which is not a good idea. And I prefer to keep on top of other projects I have on the go not the least of which is a new washroom and toilet.

 The current pantry will be made into a guest washroom, a spare area will be made into a smaller pantry; I want to paint and decorate another bedroom if I can before Winter. I'm also organising  a new wood burning fire and that is due to be delivered this week sometime

Once the shelves are removed there will be wall-to-wall cabinets with  a bench top and a basin that will sit on top and to one side; a toilet will be fitted on an opposite wall. Fortunately this end of the house is elevated, so the plumber can get access underneath the house to install new pipe work. Once this is finished the only major work to be done will be to build an en-suite to the main bedroom - that's a big task so I think towards the end of this year might be the best time.