Tick of the months as they go past

Tick of the months as they go past

The last 10 months have been a huge change in our lives, eventful with David having 2 surgical procedures, a helicopter airlift in the middle of the night for David in pain, a number of people we have had conversation with that are passing our gate, the mounting rubbish and the clearing of the dam track tree obstruction.

All this in the months plus the continuing pest control with the different tracks being slowly recorded on the trapnz site on the cell phone with some transferred to the website. It’s hard to keep doing it all on technology after using paper. yes there are rats and stoats being caught and bait eaten. I have finished the 40 weta motels and have started being more proactive killing possums, especially the ones around the house. It will be time to begin on culling ducks as they are mature and a good size for eating before spring comes and all the females start laying….8 extra drakes and 4 extra females. My effort on trademe hasn’t been all that successful.

WInter woes…not that many. I feel the garden is in good heart with the fruit trees and berry fruit pruned, some mulched added to beds, seeds bought in preparation for future planting with ideas for more bags for edibles like parsnips and carrots. As always there’s a number of things to keep doing.
We heard from a hunter that there are some hives across the river about 700 m away so that was interesting as there are some hives about 2 km from home further down the valley.

Walking… on the road or the emergency track is still happening, no quads now but one hunter has scored 3 pigs as he and a friend used motor bikes they had lifted over the gate on different trips into the gorge. One was caught just above our house when he located his dogs with the gps after they went missing. Well I never you would say.. we never knew it was there. There may be more… hunters are ever hopeful and they rely on their dogs to sniff the wind.

The rep from the council came this past week. His visit to discus future developments as they are yet to be planned for after the engineers get back with reports from their measurements and study of the site. We also wait on the rubbish being collected with David needing to drive the quad so it’s good that has waited until he can wisely do that after the recent op.. what a relief that has been, the pain has been relieved.

So as I read this week in trials have endurance that produces character and character produces hope so may these be in us in abundance as we face every challenge. This past week it was clean out the water settling tank as there was silt in them. a 2 wheeled trolley I pulled up the hill with broom, buckets, etc, cleaned everything out but the intake hose got a stone in it blocking flow. It meant I needed another visit next day with a hose carried in a backpack and after 2 attempts the water was flowing again ….the moral of this for me, one needs to take the time necessary to do these maintanence jobs.