A mouse in the house.

 The weather has been cool and showery over the last couple of days. It is only 9 degrees today and the rain has been constant for most of the day.

We spent most of last weekend indoors. Daylight savings started on Saturday night. The weather wasn’t too bad on Monday night, so I went for a quick walk to the gate and back via the bush path. It was nice with just me and the birds singing their good night song. Very serene.

We have a mouse in the caravan. In the 6 years we have been living in it, this is the first mouse we have had. We have no idea how it got in. Eddie spotted it on Sunday afternoon scuttling across the floor. We went to the shops on Monday morning and bought some mouse traps to set.

We have put the awning back out and the canvas wall by the steps, so they don’t get wet. Although it gets windy here, we don’t want to be putting the awning up and down all the time, so we are going to leave it up. It is well tied down.

We found the mouse in the trap on Tuesday morning. It was in the one Eddie put up in the bedroom wardrobe. We have left the traps out for a few more days in case it had any friends or family with it.

Begining of Arbour Day

Eddie got the lawns all done this week. It is looking much better. He did some of it twice as it was quite thick in places. Matt was pleased when he saw them and rang to say so. We thought that was nice.

I went for a walk one day last week and decided to go and find the big Kahikatea tree again. I found it easily enough, but had a bit of trouble finding my way out again. I didn’t retrace my steps, but went in a circle. It was quite funny. Luckily it is only a little bush and hard to really get lost.

We survived the wind over Wairarapa during the week. We took the awning and the tv aerial down, just to be safe.

The wind blew open the door on one of the toilets in the wind. The bottom hinge had come away. It took us about an hour to fix it. I had to hold the door while Eddie worked on it. We put wood blocks under it in the end to help me hold it up. There are big dents on the shower door next door where the door crashed back. The whole toilet block is metal as it is a converted container.

On Saturday morning, Eddie got the side by side and the trailer and we went to the river and got some sand to fill in the hollows under our awning mat. It has been a bit tricky to walk on because we can’t see the hollow under the mat. It is nice and level now. There was a tree lucerne down over one of the tracks down to the river. We told Bastion and he will chop it up for firewood. 

There were a few little trees in the gardens that were leaning over, so we firmed them up in the soil. It is stony, so the soil doesn’t hold them very well. We replanted a couple that hadn’t been planted very deep at all.

Louise rang today to ask Eddie about her tractor as she is going to sell it. She wanted to know what he thought it was worth.  She was relieved when he told her we would be coming up to do the office while she is away in November. She didn’t think we would be able to go when we are working, but we told Matt we had a commitment for then.

It was really windy all day Sunday, so we hardly left the van all day.

Eddie went and had a nap and I caught up on all the Young Sheldon programmes I had recorded. Eddie doesn’t really like it, but he watched the last couple with me and chuckled a few times, which made me laugh at him. 

We went to Greytown to do the grocery shopping on Tuesday. We had a wander around and looked at the shops. There were a lot closed for no apparent reason. Some were supposed to be open too. We found a cycle shop that had a bike cover that we needed to replace, so that was a bonus. We haven’t been able to find one for a while.

We had a nice morning tea scone at a cafe for morning tea. 

I needed new jandals as mine broke. I didn’t think we were going to find any, but found them at Farm Source. They are red bands, which made us chuckle. My gumboots and my jandals all match now.

We went into a shoe shop and after a bit of chat we discovered that she was our neighbour in

the farm next door. The racing club is surrounded by their farm. Their names are Tracey and David Donald. The Donalds have been here for many years. There is a stream crossing the road just out of Featherston called Donalds Creek.

We emptied our grey water tank at the dump station just inside Greytown in a small park. There was a cairn there so I went to look at it. It is to commemorate the 100 years of Arbour Day, which started in Greytown in 1890. Who knew? I am not sure if it happens anymore now. I can remember planting trees at school when I was in primary school. Or do I just remember being told about it??

Stonehenge Aotearoa.

The power went off one afternoon last week. I was making bread, so I had to knead it by hand instead of in the mixer. I went for a walk later in the afternoon and went past 2 men from Powerco working on the lines. I said, so it’s your fault I had to hand knead my bread. One of them said it was his fault, pointing to the man up the ladder and the man up the ladder, said no it was his fault. We had a chuckle together.

Eddie got the ride on out to do some mowing one day, only to discover that the motor was almost falling out. A belt had come off and when he was putting it back on the whole motor moved. A repair man came and picked it up that evening. He was hoping to have it back again the following night. It finally came back on Tuesday afternoon. There had been quite a bit to do to it. The lawns are pretty thick and because of all the rain they haven’t been mowed as often as they might have been. Eddie made a start on them that evening. We have 6 vans coming in today, so he wanted them done before they arrived.

We went to Stonehenge Aotearoa today near Carterton. We saw the sign on our way home and thought let's go.  It was all very spur of the moment. We didn’t even know such a thing existed until we saw the sign.

It isn’t a replica of the one in England, but made to fit with the stars in New Zealand, It was pretty cool. Inside the circle our voices echoed when we talked standing in the centre. The couple who built it, did a course about stars and learnt about the Stonehenge in England. They thought it would be nice to have one here. It is all measured out, so it fits with the stars above us. The spring equinox sunrise and sunset rise and fall directly over 2 heel stones just out of the circle. There is an obelisk near the centre with a hole at the top. If you look through the hole, you are actually looking at the angle straight above the south pole. We didn’t even know it existed, but worth a visit.

The entrance to Stonehenge.

The dead centre of the ring.

Eddie with the western heel stone behind him.

I have got a bit more done in the gardens. I have done the one by us and started on another one in the middle of the grounds. I am trying to do a wheel barrow of weeds a day, so it isn't quite such a daunting task. Eddie has done some spraying around the edges of the gardens, but it has been too windy to do any over the last few days. Wairarapa seems to be windy place.

Large kahikatea tree

 We have had a lovely week of sunshine with frosty starts. It is supposed to be showery tomorrow.

Someone has jammed up the washing machine somehow, so it is out of action until Monday. Eddie hasn’t been able to fix it. He was very frustrated that he couldn’t. He doesn’t like to be beaten by things. 

One of the showers wouldn’t lock. He thought he had fixed it, but I nearly couldn’t get out one night. I had to wriggle the handle until it opened. He has put a bolt on it now, so it can be used. 

On Sunday, there was a hot rod rally at the race course. The Wairarapa Hot Rod Club had a Father's day shine and show. We went over to have a look. Lots of lovely cars. Lots of hard work in getting them ready for the rally. We bought sausage sizzle sausages and chips for our lunch. There was a live band playing with a rock and roll group dancing.

On Monday morning, Bastion, his wife/ partner, Matea and their baby Katu, came and showed us the way to the big kahikatea tree that is growing in the grounds of the racing club, amongst the bush. They do a lot of pest trapping and we followed the trapping path. I hope I can find it again. At least if I get lost in the bush here, it isn’t far from civilization and I should be able to find my way back. It has had a 10 metre tape wrapped around its girth, that didn’t go right around. Matea is the track manager here. She is on maternity leave at the moment. Katu is 3 months old.

We went to have a look at Martinborough. It is a lovely little town with old colonial buildings. There is a park in the centre of the town. It is called Union Square. The roads that go into the square are the same pattern as the white stripes on the Union Jack. Hard to tell from the ground, but probably cool from the air.

Car rally

Eddie and the kahikatea tree

Martinborough Hotel

We had lunch at the Royal Hotel in Featherston, on our way home from Petone today. I had beef cheeks, which were really yummy. The meat just pulled apart. Eddie had fish and chips. The fish was john dory and was cooked to perfection.