We’ve had a wonderful, long, hot summer. In a farming community no-one says that. They talk about the drought. The Waikato has been hardest hit. Here, we had 2 dry months before Xmas, 2 days of rain over Xmas and then only one small downpour until this week. We cannot manage to feed stock on only 2 and a half days rain in 6 months and everyone has de-stocked and been feeding out. Feed prices have more than tripled. We just paid $1400 for 100 bales or straw and pea straw. Most feed suppliers have no feed at all. Dairy farmers dried off weeks early but have been cushioned by the high payout for milk solids this year (it’s always baffled me why you sell milk by the litre but get paid by the solids). It all changed this week. ON Monday we had 20mm of wonderful gentle rain. I texted Richard and Robyn to ask if they were dancing in the paddocks? Richard texted back and said ‘Yes, and Rob’s naked’! Robyn? I don’t think so!!! Thank heavens for the gently rain on Monday because on Tuesday it was torrential. We had 105mm in about 12 hours. Our lake appeared in the front paddock (but only for a few hours) and driving along Taotaoroa road the river (that most of the time you don’t see) was overflowing with muddy water. Small land slips were evident everywhere. Everyone was smiling and it was the only topic of conversation. This joy was tinged with sadness that evening when the news told us about 7 people (6 teenagers and a teacher) who were killed in a flash flood whist canyoning at the Sir Edmund Hillary adventure centre at National Park (National Park is a place name, which I found confusing for years until I asked someone what the name was of the national park!). It looks like they conducted activities on the 6.15am weather report and the weather warning came through at 8.25am. These teenagers, from a Christian school, were on a leaders course and obviously the students who were destined for great things. A national tragedy and the country is devastated.
I am sitting in bed. I really should go and run but I might not. It is unusual for me to drop a day, maybe once every 2-3 months, and we are planning to do fencing all weekend so I will be working pretty hard. I might still run! Eric has just taken Berance to Te Poi to catch a bus off to the Bay of Islands. Berance is a 17yr French girl who is on NZ for a year as a Rotary exchange student. She stayed with us last night as her host family are away. She is lovely and the girls both get on well with her. They know her from school and the occasional Rotary things they attend. She is very pretty and speaks English well but with a very heavy accent. On the radio (Country Life) they are talking about a caviar farm. I have just shrieked loudly at the news when we heard that the Chiefs beat, the unbeaten, Crusaders in the Super 14. Hamilton will be humming as that took part almost in the middle of the V8’s circuit. The V8’s are in Hamilton this weekend and this, being a nation with an excess of petrol heads, is causing great excitement.
Gosh I’m flicking all over the place! What has been going on around here? Last weekend the girls and I were at the schools band music camp in Raglan. The weather was gorgeous and it was a great weekend. The dynamics were very different this time. Last year the band members were all very new and it was a real ‘getting to know you’ affair. This year there were lots of people who already knew each other, and a batch of newies. Made for a different weekend.
Harriette has borrowed a flute from our friend Angela and playing it regularly. She’s coming on well. Robyn is going to give her lessons but we haven’t got round to organising them yet. I ended up renting an alto sax for Alice and she was playing it heaps to start with. I then sent her bass clarinet off for repair and she is now enjoying playing that now it plays properly. Alice and Harriette have formed an ensemble with 2 friends and are planning to perform at the music festival in August. And me, I’m still loving my piano lessons and play every day. If for some reason I can’t, I get very itchy and I don’t like going anywhere to stay where there is no piano. They did have one at camp but it was so badly tuned to be unplayable! I am really busy with managing the band. We are applying for funding for festival at the moment and I am on a steep learning curve!
I spoke to Elly recently. She just did the London marathon (as did Mark and Cheryl). Now Elly and I used to be such couch potatoes and if you had told me 20 years ago that she would run a marathon in her 50’s I would have said she’d have a better chance of landing on the moon!!! Well she did it and I am immensely proud of her. I wrote and told her that she must now listen to her knees and stop running. I will NEVER run a marathon, half marathon or any such thing. I hate running and the only thing that keeps me doing the little bit I do is the need to loose weight (which I am doing very little of at the moment) and the desire to live beyond 60 which I think was becoming less likely at the weight I was this time last year. The weight loss, as I said, has plateau-ed. I think I might be able to put it down to avo’s and plan to cut them out and see what happens. I was eating them almost daily in my lunchtime sandwich!!!!! That, combined with getting generally slack all round. I am really trying to get back on track now.
I have extended the veg plot a bit more but need to get to Waharoa to get a trailer load of well rotted horse manure. I am still picking the odd strawberry and sweet peas as well as Kentucky beans. This as the pumpkin patch is drying off and it is beginning to feel very autumnal! I must overhaul the strawberry patch as it is over run with one particular type of weed. In fact I might take the runners and move the patch all together.
Well, time to get up I think. I will run!!
