Pond cleaning

On Wednesday a couple of weeks ago, when David went out to make a cup of tea at about 8am, he saw that Kevin was already starting work, getting set up for the big pond clearing that he and Josh had as their task for the day.

 

And the big pumpout begins - the algae and sludge were so thick that the filter on the end of the hose got inextricably clogged and Josh had to cit it off. Later I used my weeding hook to clear it out - took ages!

There is more water in that pond that we expected. Josh had the hose out across the lawn between our place and Susan's. What a weedy mess that left! Then he moved the hose to the gutter and it half flooded the road!

 

Kevin doing a brush down of the pond bottom while the remainder of the water was pumped out.

 

In that sludge you can see the larger of our two frogs.

Ready and waiting to go back in the pond...

 

And back he goes.

 

The bottom is clear and clean, and now it is being refilled. It took over two hours with the hose running constantly.

 

Now they have started on cleaning Janet's pond. She calls hers Lake Superior because it's larger than ours. We call ours Top Lake because it's higher...

Lake Superior has the pump in it which needed to be relocated to down in the sump so it was clearing more gunk each time it was on.

For some reason, the gardening shed doesn't have a supply of butterfly/fish nets - who'd have thought? So I headed up to a local shop that sells all sorts of cheap and random items at really reasonable prices. I bought 3 nets. I didn't need one because I was official photographer. Janet joined Kevin and Josh in capturing fish before they got sucked up into the pump - would have been messy! Janet and I have kept one net and donated the others to the gardeners.

The frog is happy again. Isn't he a beaut?

Kevin digging out the water-lilies in Lake Superior's sump. Heaps of grunge in the bottom of that!

While the clean up took the whole day, there were still tasks to complete: 

• tidying up the pump and pipe work - done
  
• installing the fountain - done
  
• completing the wiring - done
  
• trimming rocks between the ponds to ensure there was not too much water in one pond and not enough in the other - done
• PROJECT COMPLETE - apart from Kevin bringing some white water lilies from other ponds around Parkwood for both of our ponds...
  

 

Originally the plan was to use that green ceramic globe behind Kevin as part of the fountain. However, the diameter of the hole through it and its base was too narrow for the hose. Kevin fashioned a limiter (or whatever it's called in plumbing terms) to make the hose thinner, however the pressure with a narrower hose was too strong and the water spouted up about a metre. Not what we or he wanted. So instead, he found some large and small rocks and fed the pipe up through them. We love it!

 Janet donated us some fish from her copious supply, and we are going to buy more for our Top Lake. And we are going to buy a pool vacuum head and hose as well as a hand pump to start and maintain the siphon - so we can keep the bottom of the ponds clean without having to ask Kevin to clear the filter every week or so.

I've still got it!

I stepped on the scales this morning before getting in the shower and was horrified to learn I have gained even more weight. So I decided that the container of icecream I had bought on Tuesday night and eaten some of that evening and yesterday just had to go.

So once ready to head over to the pool to take my first session of Aquamove for the day, I got the offending (but essentially innocent) icecream from the freezer and headed over to the Maintenance guys to get them to put it in their freezer so one of them could take it home at the end of the day. 

Just before I got to the workshop I said hello to Gendy and our friend Peter who were getting ready to drive the Parkwood van this morning (taking non-driving residents to and from the shops at Waikanae). Peter called out that he would see me at 12.45pm. 'Yes?" I said questioningly. 'For lunch,' he said. 'But that's next Thursday,' I said. 'No, it's today,' he asserted. 'Are you sure?' I said.

Yes, he was sure that he and our mutual friend Murray were coming to lunch today. I wasn't sure. In fact I was sure it was next Thursday, but not to worry. 

So I turned around and took the icecream home and put it back in the freezer, told David his schedule was being changed, we were having two guests for lunch, pointed to the delicious dal left over from last night  - a recipe that serves 6 (why don't I modify amounts? For just this eventuality, obviously!), informed him I would make individual apple tartlets when I got back from the Aquamove sessions, and headed off having asked David to set the table in my absence.  

Fast forward to my arriving home and the following things occurred between 12.15 and 1pm:

• I discovered/remembered we had two bunches of asparagus in the fridge so I decided they would be the starter, and prepped them, and preheated a pan of water
  
• I put two mugs of rice in the pyrex bowl and got David to do the 4 mugs of water, the salt and the butter, and put it into the microwave to cook while I prepped the banana, threaded coconut and lime juice side dish
• David spooned 3 chutneys/relishes into little dishes
• I prepped the apple tartlets (a sheet of puff pastry from the freezer, cut it into 4, scored each piece with a sharp knife about a cm from each side, spread each piece with raspberry jam, peeled and sliced the braeburns from the fridge, placed the slices on the jam and sprinkled them with a mix of white sugar, brown sugar and cinnamon that I keep in the jar to use on banana and blueberry muffins) and got them into the oven to cook
• I reheated the dal
• I put some chilli flakes in one wee dish and a mix of chilli flakes, cayenne and salt (received a few weeks ago as part of a Wonky Box as a flavour sachet for avocado which I jarred and kept - near the 2 sugar/cinnamon mix...)

• Peter arrived early and we chatted, Peter poured the drinks and we waited for Murray. Who didn't arrive. So Peter called him. He was still at home because the lunch was scheduled for next week... 😜😛😛
•  So I put the asparagus on to cook.

The three of us sat down to eat at 1.05pm.

See, I've still got it - a 3 course meal in 45 minutes with 3.5 hours' warning 2.75 hours of which was taken up by Aquamove sessions...

And the lovely thing is, Peter and Murray and another friend (Tom) are coming for lunch next Thursday. Peter says they would love the dal, so I will make that again next Wednesday and once more be prepared ... Peter is going to bring the asparagus, and I've found another apple dessert to try!

 

Seeing these women in the pool at Aquamove today made me smile. I really enjoy taking these sessions.

 

Aquamove, and baking for the Fair

Aquamove sessions:

Here at Parkwood we have a lovely swimming pool which isn't used much during the day - a few people come and swim early, but mostly it is empty.

I had thought about how I would like to do some kind of aqua movement classes - nothing too strenuous or noisy, but some exercise to keep my joints moving well and to give me some exercise. So at one of our sector meetings, I asked if anyone was interested in Aquamove classes. Yes, Wendy was. Then I asked again at the new residents' morning tea, and Ann was. As always, it then took me a while to build up the courage to canvas more widely for interest. I am not sure why this happens to me, i.e. being overcome by a feeling of anxiety about whether people will like my idea (therefore like or not like me - doh!)

Anyway, after a couple of weeks or so of inaction, I finally got off my bum and got on to getting it sorted. 

I rang and arranged to meet with one of the Kapiti Coast District Council aqua-fitness leaders, and we discussed what sort of exercises would be useful for us older people. She suggested Aquamove and sent me some exercise sheets - it is gentle, non-bouncy exercises that stretch, assist with strengthening, joint mobility and fitness. We talked about having one of her team come to take the sessions; however at the same time, having listened to the questions I asked, she assured me that I would be able to run them.

My task then was to get an email sent out to all of Parkwood asking for people to register their interest and elect whether Tuesday or Thursday would suit them better.

I thought I'd probably get about 12 replies which meant I'd would be able to form two sessions.

But there were 32 responses! Amazing!

Then came the tasks of:

• organising people into different sessions based on their preference where possible, 
• getting the exercise sheets laminated, 
• making a notice for the swimming pool/gym door publicising that the pool would be occupied from 9.30 to 12.30 Tuesday and Thursday, 
• purchasing polystyrene pool noodles, 
• emailing all participants with information and a list of who was assigned to which group - and 
  
• most importantly, letting them know that if they wanted to swap sessions, it was up to them to find someone to swap with...

So I am now running 4 sessions each week, 2 on Tuesday morning and 2 on Thursday mornings. Not everyone who registered an interest has come along, and that is fine. I did rather spring it on them - from the time I asked for interest to the first sessions it was less than a week, and people here at Parkwood lead busy lives.

I was a bit nervous on at the first Tuesday session, but that dissipated quite quickly. And I realised we could fit a lot more exercises in the half hour than the KCDC person had thought possible. And in the second session that day, Janet R who had attended aquarobics for a number of years, made several suggestions of exercises that we could also do. I love other people's suggestions, so when I came home from the first Tuesday, I wrote Janet's ideas on the back of one of my laminated sheets and they are now a part of the routine.

Of course, as the leader I cannot be in the pool with them (in part from an H&S point of view, and in part because I am short - they wouldn't see me if I was instructing from in the water!), so I am doing the exercises poolside. Some of them are easier on dry land, others are not. It's a good thing I can touch a wall to keep my balance at times...

They are smiling!

On Thursday the sessions went smoothly and were a lot of fun - I feel very relaxed about running them now.

The Parkwood Fair

And a big part of the busyness for David and me and for a lot of Parkwood people was getting ready for the Parkwood Fair that was held on Saturday. I baked and baked and baked.

• two chocolate brownie cakes
• two almond and coconut gluten free cakes
• about 38 cheese scones
• a batch of shortbread
• a small batch of cheesy shortbread
• 5 loaves of sourdough bread 

 And I also made a batch of red capsicum and chilli jelly - it's easy and yummy.

The almond and coconut gluten free cakes

 

Cheesy shortbread - a wee bit more golden than I wanted, but they were delicious.

 

The great bake off of 9 Wren St...

 

I was assisting on the Baking and Preserves stall. I think I may have missed my calling - selling ice to Inuits. No one who made eye contact escaped without buying something, and many people made eye contact when I called out to them, and then they purchased...

David was helping on the Fine China stall - he didn't wrap or sell anything, but he took the money and organised any EFTPOS payments. And of course, the women he was assisting just loved him - haven't I done a good job on socialising him over the years? 😀😂😍😇😈

Preliminary results are that we made a goodly amount of money from the sales: china and cakes, preserves, white elephant, electrical, furniture, paintings, games, knitting/crocheting, plants.

By Saturday afternoon, I was really tired so I had a long nap. Sunday I was still quite tired so we had a quiet day apart making dinner early so I wouldn't have to motivate myself later in the day, and we went for a walk. And I did manage to break a string on David's second ukelele - I was tuning it to lend to another ukelele participant and wound the wrong string winder, all the while wondering why the string wasn't coming in tune... 

So on Monday, after I'd prepared the loaves of sourdough in the morning, I drove to Levin - again -  to get the ukelele re-strung - doh!

I've run the Aquamove classes again this morning (Tuesday) - gosh it's fun. But tiring and I've had a snooze in the armchair.

Our Australian citizen:

We had a text from our lovely daughter Kirsty on Saturday telling us she'd voted in her first local body elections in Sydney as an Australian citizen.

The lovely Kirsty. Well, half of her...

Apparently they go hard out with some kind of food stall and sausage sizzle at the polling booths. This is a democracy sausage! Yay!! I think we need to start that here in NZ.

 The lovely David:

This morning David took 3 ukeleles to his class: a soprano one (very small) that is too small for him and he is donating it to the ukelele teacher to be given to a local school, his own one, and the baritone one I had to get restrung yesterday - he is lending it to a classmate who is struggling with a soprano (too small), and his own, plus his music stand and sheet music. He has an A3 stand and has printed his sheet music (words and chords) on A3. You can probably tell by the background that I took this photo while I was still in bed...

 

He thought it was very funny, okay?

 

Definitely!

Out of hospital and into the agapanthus

 Well, I collected the motorhome on the Thursday before last and, although the cost of leak repairs was quite high, we were pleased to pay it - the motorhome has had quite a lot of the original sealant replaced, because UK sealant doesn't last here in NZ's sun.

Since I collected it, we've had it parked next to our place. And we've had Kat staying with us again and she slept in it. She did have a noisy night when we had intense thunderstorms with heaps and heaps of lightning.

We need to have a new place to store the motorhome because Parkwood management has decided that motorhomes and caravans can no longer be stored on site. We have arranged to keep it up behind Richard and Ngaere's place about 10 minutes' walk from here.

I have previously driven it up their long sloping driveway and it was fine - I just put it in T1 (Traction drive in 1st gear) and up we went, with no hassles.

Last week, because the guys were going to be mowing the lawns here, I needed to move the motorhome from beside the house. So I decided to take it to Richard and Ngaere's. As I was leaving Parkwood, it occurred to me that I could just leave it at the Plateau parking area until the run of really stink wet weather is over. But on I went, with Kat in the passenger seat. She was on adjusting in the wing mirrors so I could get the cab safely through Richard and Ngaere's gateway and then re-adjusting them so I could see the sides of the habitation area as I drove all the way through - I've tried it with the mirrors folded flat and it is bloody scary not being able to see the sides...

So through the gate successfully, and then I engaged the Traction gear and up we went.

Bugger!! Almost at the top, the ground was soft and the motorhome skidded a bit. So I stopped, reversed a wee way and tried again. Nope, not happening.

So there was nothing for it but to reverse down the drive and out the gateway.

Well, that was the plan, but it didn't go according to plan, now did it?

Somehow, I managed to go off piste and ended up over to the left of the driveway and in the agapanthus! And agapanthus leaves are full of notoriously gooey sap when broken open. And when the wheels run over them, they exude the gooey slippery stuff. And wheels don't like it and decide not to go forward or back.

So I declared defeat, went and told Richard and we considered what to do. The options tried:

• putting mats under the front wheels (it's front wheel drive) to see if I could gently drive forward - no. But one mat just got scrunched and pulled back under the wheel...
• Richard and Kat pushing me backwards - no, no movement and the Ducato has the very clever functionality that, in a skid situation, the wheels won't turn - to stop me digging myself in deeper.

At that point, Richard said he would have a go at cutting away the agapanthus leaves when the weather cleared up and I would come back on Friday, after 3 days of fine weather. Hopefully the driveway would have dried out and I'd be able to reverse away from the agapanthus leaves.

But over night, I started thinking about the likelihood of being able to drive out, even with the agapanthus cleared. So I rang Kapiti Coast Towing and asked the advice of Royce, the owner. He suggested that he would come and have a look at it with me the following day. His counsel once on site was that there were two ways to release the motorhome from its bondage: EITHER put a strop around the large tree beside the driveway and around the wheel, and then winch the motorhome off OR get a small tractor up the bank and then tow the motorhome up to the level where it was due to be living.

A day later I told Richard what I was thinking and he said he was just going out to hack away the agapanthus leaves. When I went to look at his progress, it was really clear why the motorhome had come to a halt and wouldn't be pushed back - in cutting away the leaves Richard exposed a 400mm (1'4") high and about 600mm wide (you do the maths this time) agapanthus root system ... AAARRRGGGHHH!!! 

 

There was NO way I was ever going to be able to drive over that!

So I phoned Royce. We agreed on the option of the tractor towing the motorhome up the hill.

Not too long after that, he arrived with his truck, accompanied by his worker Michael in another truck with the tractor on the back.

 

See that little rounded off rectangular section? Behind that is a fitting that an eyelet screws into.

 

That eyelet thing - it lives in a toolbox under the passenger seat - Royce knew where to find it. I would have remembered eventually ...

 

Royce was calling Michael letting him know we were ready.

 

Michael arrives with the tractor on the back of the truck

Did you know that tractors have multiple very, very low gears that are put into play when climbing slippery banks? I didn't, but I do now! If you want, I can show you video of the whole process...

 

Michael driving very close to Richard and Ngaere's motorhome having also missed the lemon tree in the left foreground...

Once Michael got up the bank - using the very very low gears, he reversed down the driveway. They attached the ends of the chain to the eyelet on the motorhome and the chassis of the tractor, then slowly, slowly up the hill.

The towing went very smoothly and they made it look easy. Michael drove the tractor and Royce steered the motorhome. Once the motorhome was in place, and Royce and Michael had loaded the tractor back on the truck, I washed the agapanthus goo and leaf bits off the motorhome, pulled the blinds up and locked it. And headed home in the car - I needed a lie down.

It was well worth the $250 that Royce charged - I thought that was incredibly reasonable: 2 trucks, a tractor and 2 men and well over a couple of hours of Royce's time over two days and an hour of Michael's, not including travelling time. A bargain!

P.S. I had a couple of viseos and more photos to add in. But Google Blogger is playing silly bloggers/buggers: it says I need to accept all cookies before I can load photos. And then accepting the cookies does nothing. SO I have just drag and dropped the photos. The ones on the post are the only ones I could load on. And videos - no chance!

The motorhome is in hospital

If you read of our South Island adventures you may remember my writing about leaks in the lockers on the internal walls adjacent to the awning brackets. We thought the problem may have been solved by Luke down in Cromwell, but when I got up on the ladder and looked, it was clear that with the awning on, there was no way to access the brackets and make them water-tight.

We decided we would get Freeway in Plimmerton to sort it out thoroughly - Luke only had an hour and we couldn't leave the motorhome overnight as we had a few time-dependent arrangements on our way back up to our ferry booking.

And since coming back from the South Island, we had a few days away in Kuratau with the Zero Degrees Club, where it rained and the leaks manifested themselves markedly, dammit. 

And while we were getting ready to head up to Kuratau, I noticed that the mechanism that holds the monitor for the rear view camera on to the windscreen had let go, and all that was holding it on was the tape I'd left on from the last glueing - and that was supposedly the strongest glue around. Nope! 

That made three glues that failed: Araldite, Superglue and the windscreen glue. Rather than having David hold it for me all the way to and from Kuratau, he was dispatched to the toolbox to find the electrical tape and I wound the tape around the driver's side sunvisor and the monitor. It worked and was what would be described in NZ as a number 8 wire solution - not elegant but functional.

So there were a few items on the list for Freeway:

• construct a dashboard mounting for the monitor and
• re-route the monitor's wiring so it is as invisible as possible on its way to the new mounting
• remove the awning and its mounting brackets
  
• sort out the leaks and seal all brackets with new sealant
• test for water-tightness and remedy any other leaks found
• and leak test them too
  
• warn me of the possible price so I could have a lie down in private...
• and go AAARRRGGGHHH!!!
   

The leaking was more substantial than we had thought (the sealing strip that goes from the bottom of the portside wall [passenger's side] up and along near the top and then down that wall near the rear was taken off and they found water; they also found water between the skin of the roof and the skin that goes from the side of the roof over to the aforementioned sealing strip; and I asked them to check the same locations on the starboard/driver's side - it's fine; they have replaced the sealant and the fixings for the solar panels). 

Note that it is not surprising that the sealant has broken down after 7 years - NZ's sun is vicious and the UV here plays havoc with northern hemisphere sealants.

So the mh has been in hospital for about 3 weeks now - not always being worked on but it looks like I will be able to collect it on Tuesday or Wednesday next week. I think we can just afford it, but no new toys for David for a while, and I may have to slow down on my kindle book purchases...
 

There is a difference between cayenne and paprika ...

The other night I decided to try a recipe I had seen on facebook. It was spiced roasted potato and cauliflower with chickpeas on a layer of hummus. It sounded yummy as well as being protein rich.

So I set about getting it prepped and had to guess at the spice quantities because the recipe didn't give them - it was a video with commentary but no written instructions. So I was quite generous with the paprika and the cumin, and when it said to add more after the original tossing of the ingredients together to coat them evenly, I did so, also generously.

Into the oven it went and then I put the ingredients away. WTF?! What I thought was paprika was actually the cayenne pepper, dammit! All of my spices are in square jars with red lids, and the cayenne lives on the top of the rack on the far left. It's the one I use most because it's in my cheese scones.

I had automatically reached for it and not even checked its label...

Sure enough, the roast veges and chickpeas were too hot for me - I knew they were going to be because I had to turn the rangehood on to remove the chilli choking phenomenon that occurred when the heat of the oven released the pungency of the cayenne... 

I did give it my best shot at eating them - smothered in plain yoghurt! Even so, I had to give at least a third of what I'd served myself to David.

The next night, he had the leftovers (I still have not mastered cooking veg meals with a quantity suitable for two) and I had roasted a kumara, a small carrot and a small parsnip with a little bit of paprika (yes it was) and thyme from the garden. I made a guacamole to go with my plate of veg with just a small amount of hummus. I didn't need yoghurt ...

Another cooking blunder that I made a couple of weeks ago was when I made pastry in the food processor. I was so enraptured with how quickly it whizzes into breadcrumb-like texture that I kept whizzing. Doh! The pastry tasted fine but it was a bit tough. And we had guests that I wanted to impress, dammit.

To be honest, I am not sure if it was over-whizzing or if egg wash and cooking the pasties at 190 deg C were the problem. I'd usually cook pastry a bit hotter and faster than that. Either way, I'll be whizzing for a far shorter time in future!

My sister came to visit!

 From Friday to Sunday we had my sister Dee come to stay, and it was just fabulous to have her here.

We didn't do much to entertain her but she did get to sample life here in Parkwood:

• on Friday afternoon, shortly after she arrived she came with us to a talk by a Bank of NZ man about the latest scams and how to avoid them - it was very well attended and extremely interesting. 
• Apparently the latest scam doing the rounds is being phoned by someone impersonating a police officer who instructs you that your bank is involved in fraudulent activities and that you need to withdraw money from your credit card account immediately. You mustn't tell anyone and you certainly mustn't tell the bank staff why you are doing so. You are to lie and say you need the money for renovations of somesuch, because the bank staff you interact with are very likely in on the fraud. The banks are aware of this scam and are making sure that their staff interview customers to find out why they are withdrawing so much cash. Obviously some customers get tetchy and are anxious that they are being stopped by fraudulent bank staff, but the staff have to persevere because otherwise people will be scammed out of a lot of money.
  
  
• on Friday evening Dee came to drinks and quiz night - a lot of fun. I tried to be well behaved and quiet, but failed spectacularly in that endeavour... It appears that I cannot stop myself yelling Yes!!! when we get an answer right.
  
  
• on Saturday as a committee member, I was on Notices at the weekly morning tea, so while I did that, Dee and David went for an extensive walk around Parkwood, stopped and spoke with several people, and generally enjoyed the sunshine and lovely grounds.
  
  
• I had promised Dee cheese tart for Saturday dinner, so I made a large one - she loves cheese tart and so do we...
  
  
• Dee was keen to catch up with Bruce and Gary so I got us invited for afternoon tea. I got a chocolate brownie cake out of the freezer (actually the half I had abstemiously frozen to save David and I pigging out on it after the other half had been consumed when we had friends around for dinner).
• Gary though had made delicious cheese scones (the MoF recipe that I use) and pikelets and other friends had turned up with plain scones, so we ate heaps.
   
• We agreed when we came home that we didn't need dinner because of the piggy nature of afternoon tea consumption. But an hour or so later we agreed that a small piece of cheese tart would be in order.
• so I cut each of us a small piece and heated it and delivered it it: Dee and I were in the lounge and David was taking advantage of Dee not being in the office/bedroom to do a bit of work. Dee and I were happy with the portions I provided but ACP felt very short-changed. So out he came and asked if he could have more. Trusting that he was too full to want much, I said yes.
• Later I went to cover and refrigerate the cheese tart only to find his SMALL extra piece was the same size as the piece that had fed all three of us originally! Dee and I agreed he would have to have less for brunch the next day...
  
  
•  On Sunday morning we had brunch - not the usual breakfast fare, but cheese tart and coleslaw. We kindly let David have an equal share, by the way. I made a batch of cheese scones for Dee to take back to Kurt and Charlotte.
  
  
• Dee headed away just before noon - it was a short but very lovely stay with us. 

Some non-Parkwood stuff:

• Mel slept on her bed - Dee and Murray were big fans of Mel, so of course Mel needed to be supporting Dee while she was here.
  
  

  

  💙💚💛💜

  
  
  
• David and Dee have a longstanding close sibling-in-law relationship - it's 50 years since Dee came to live with us for a bit. And they are very close. However, she also gives him a very hard time, just as I do. So if he thinks he'll have it easier while she is here - WRONG!!! Although she does offer him more sympathy than I do.
  
• Dee slept on our new armchair sofa beds in the office. David turned off all of the computers/screens/printer and relocated the huge digital clock that can be seen from outer space, so that she wasn't sleeping on the bridge of the Starship Enterprise.

We both had a nana nap after she had gone - the young tire us out ...