Wind Turbines and Harvard Planes

 The weather has been cloudy and it has been trying to rain, but not with a lot of success. We have had drizzly showers that hardly wet the ground.

On Sunday we went across to Ashurst in Manawatu to visit a friend we know from when we lived in Raglan many years ago. It was a nice trip across with a big climb over the Tararua range just after Woodville. It isn't very wide and quite steep, so we were pleased that the Toyota didn't have any vacuum hose issues. At the top, we could just make out Mt Taranaki in the clouds. There are lots of power windmills up there. They are part of a large wind farm that runs along the top of the ranges.

Above is a photo I took when we came over the hill when we first came to the Wairarapa.

I thought I had taken more, but I can't find them. I didn't take them this time as  I thought I had some. Isn't that always the way. They are pretty impressive when you are close to them. Some are right by the road, so you get a good view of how big they are.

On our way home we took a photo of a replica Harvard Aeroplane that flew in the 2nd World War. It is in a children's playground in Pahiatua and used as a slide.

Pahiatua roughly translates as the place of the gods. 

The slide part is hidden behind the water usage sign. I am sure it is very popular with the children of the town.

A little shopping trip

I went to the osteopath in Carterton on Tuesday and feel a lot better now. I am still getting over my injuries from when I fell off my bike back in December.  Afterwards we went to the Salvation Army shop and bought some things. My mug has a crack in it, so we bought a new one for me and one for Eddie too. His says world's best Dad. Mine is a blue that matches our dinner set. When we got home we found it had a police force logo on it, so that made us laugh.

My grater has a broken top, so a new one of those was found as well as a stainless steel sieve to replace the broken plastic one. We also bought a knife, which sounds sounds a little weird. Our sink doesn’t have a grate over the entrance and it goes straight to the grey tank underneath. I knocked a knife into the sink one day and it completely disappeared to the tank; never to be seen again. Now we are back to 6 again. That also made us laugh, so now I have to be careful about knives near the sink. Once or twice I have nearly lost a pot scrubber down the plug hole. Today a pen nearly went down, so I must be careful at all times otherwise we will have a tank full of rubbish.

Matea has a made a nice little garden in the corner of the bird cage.

Eddie has been weed whacking an area by the gate that hasn't been done since we did it a year or so ago. We did a bit more today. He weed whacked and I tried to find all the stones that would have been in his way. Afterwards, Tony and I raked up the weeds and made little piles to be collected later. It was 33 degrees outside, so we were glad when we were done. There is just a little bit more to do on a cooler day.

A new fridge

 The new fridge arrived last Monday, so it is all up and running now. We are very pleased with it. It's even steel, so we can put all our magnets on this one. The old one was made of something else. Not too sure what, but it wasn't magnetic.

Yesterday Eddie and I went for a bike ride around the grounds. The back gate was open, so we biked down to the road that runs behind the race course and back as well. By the time we got back, we had done 3 kms. 

Someone had locked themselves out of their room at the ranch house yesterday and Eddie  had to climb in the window and open the door for her. I am not sure why she couldn’t have done it, but there you go.

We will be busy for the weekend as there is a race meeting on and  it is Waitangi Day on Thursday. The camp is beginning to fill up with campers already for a good day tomorrow.

Last night we had a bit of a get together at 4pm. What started at drinks at 4 became dinner at 7 with everyone bringing something to the table. We had a nice evening.