End of Kiwi year Hell ...........

 
Spare a Thought for McD people ...All this below and She's had to go to interviews and Psychometric and personality tests and all that ....as well as ...




You would think Mondays were bad enough ...but we got home that night to find the house had been broken into ....what a mess ....






First thing I saw was the missing sports shoes of mine that were at the front door ...Year old Asics and Nike shoes I use for casual and walking/gym and so on .... The low life stole a mans shoes for crying out loud ....





And then of course as we went in and up the stairs to the living quarters there was cables strewn along the corridor and the back door wide open .... Straight for the bedroom where the old dog sleeps these days it had been shut ... they'd been through the drawers in there..everything on the floor ...but she'd done her duty and must have barked or made herself known as they had left the room quickly ...passports and American money for Jills trip still on the floor from the drawers......




TV Step Daughters room gone - Bedroom window which is ground floor (because of the hill we are on, was jimmied open ......the catch had sheared off under pressure ...




My PC room and all drawers opened and everywhere .....





McD and my Cameras and camera lenses and bags and External Disc Drives all taken.. along with a portable media storage tank and a few other things .... but the main storage drive, with most of our backed up pictures and our Main Desktop PC left in place ..... Playstation gone from the living room along with medicals




All the kitchen cupboards opened ...Funnily enough the kettle was found in the stepdaughters bedroom...




Tuesday morning and we heard that Stepdaughters father was rushed into hospital over night with suspected heart problems ....A trip across town in driving torrential dark clouded rain to take her to him..  




Then back home - clean up day - and waiting for the bedroom catch to be fixed and for the police who arrived Thursday Morning .... yep - thursday ......




Thursday night and the worst storm in years hit Wellington - Southerly gales hitting the house at record speeds ....the house being on a hill facing south took the brunt of it but came out of it unscathed .....




Veggies are flattened and trees stripped of leaves that scatter the pathways and back garden .... Chooks all accounted for and while not happy all ok :O)






We tried when light to get into work ...Just too much of a mess around ...I've never seen so many trees flattened nor roads green with vegetation......... We took the sensible option and turned back home .....





Winds still blowing a gale... The motorway beside the harbour was awash by the waves and covered in stone and rock ...the railway beside the motorway hanging over where there was once solid ground ........






So Pictures for a while are from my archives.... in Celebration that we still have them 




All of that on the week before the shortest day ... but all pets and humans safe sound and housed....

The Rest Is Just Stuff..........

Matariki is our traditional, Maori New Year... So happy new year to you all :O)









Kohai already in flower


Its close to our shortest day which I guess is as good a day as any for the Southern Hemisphere to have a new year.


Little Pied Shag






Wellington From Across the Harbour


Traditionally you plant Garlic on the shortest day and harvest on the longest, but this year we planted about 6 weeks earlier.. To get a head start... Its perfectly acceptable and with our gardens poor sunlight through the winter I'm hoping we can also harvest a little earlier too... Rather than harvesting  late December its been more late Jan/Feb before the Garlics ready ..Which then is bad timing for the next plantings ....Oh to have more space ......


Chinese trainer plane  







Winters Rose






Its also a good time to start planning the vegetable borders for Spring and Summer.. Its also a good time to reflect on the previous seasons harvest ...What grew well, what didn't ..The Crops and the Flops ..Perhaps an entry in itself to look back on

Red Teal







Female Sparrow







Tree Warbler







Silver Eye





This winter the weathers been far too mild ...But its given the opportunity to get into the flower garden and look at that too .. Plants to move, plants to let go, plants to get... I'm keen to start towards a more cottage garden look...But to be honest after the past 2-3 years of neglect any look will be great...

And then of course there's the back garden the chooks now have ....I want to turn that into a green area with low growing shrubs that will provide an area for them to wander around when McD lets them out but will also look good and break up the hard lines of the chicken runs ... . We've a few more trees to cut down too to allow more light on the area....


I've had a couple of maybes that then fell through on the Job hunt... Frustrating but there you go ... Meanwhile despite the threat of redundancy I'm just getting busier...Theres some talk of me taking on yet another role ... One I'm keen to get into ... But there's a lot of humming and aaahing and politics around it all ....

I'd rather be gardening ......


Henny 










Fry







Chip














        
The 3rd Maddest Chicken Woman North Island New Zealand :O)

For which I blame my sister ......:O)

It's been a while .....

Well - been back at work .. .and Totally lacking in any kind of motivation.. It's not that I have nothing to do either ... I've probably over committed myself again in fact with the work I've taken on ..... But there you go - seems to be my lot at the moment. Hopefully the jobs I'm waiting on some movement in them being progressed and my getting an interview will all start next week .... 



Wellington Harbour



Even then i'm out of practice now in dong the interviews and realistically it's going to take an interview or two to get back to speed on what they are looking for now ..... 



Wellington Harbourfront



Plus I'd rather be fishing :O) 





Put on a little bit of weight over the xmas period ... Not happy about that. So time to stop mucking about and procrastinating and get back into it... Need to get myself another Quack too and go and get tested and get the meds as I've run out .... After some many years I've gotten fed up with the doctor I've had ... So have to change to somewhere closer to town perhaps ..... the Blood/sugar count isn't as good as it should be ...Though within the bounds generally ....



We are keeping the walking going ...but need to make it a daily thing again ... This weeks been hard all round .....



Other than that it's been pretty ho-hum ... Thinking holidays....Thinking hobbies,,,, Thinking anything but work really .......















Pictures are from the garden ... Summer flowers abound ... Pitty the summer isn't ...Pretty cool at the moment and now have the remnants of a cyclone heading for NZ next week .... Won't be bad like Austrailia's Queensland or Victoria though - but had better tie up the tomato vines etc .... 



   

Like this :O)   







Yeh - Bring It ON !!  :O) 

    





  

Pumpkin Harvest

Pumpkins by Us :O)   Not as big this year - biggest reached 20kg...... 











 

The Holiday write-up (6) Still at Tekapo

That evening having eaten fish and chips from the local township (very nice  but a very unhealthy food day) We set off for a walk along the lake side. ....It has become a common thing for people to leave 'rock sculptures' beside roads and anywhere really where there are pebbles ... At least they are easily knocked down I guess .... I believe these sort of things originate from places like Nepal etc ..... 



   













































McD leaves me to join the bus load of Japanese tourists ... All very friendly all said hello