My apologies for not putting up any blogs recently - have I already used the excuse that I was abducted by aliens for the last 3 weeks?? Not as exciting, but closer to the truth, is that fine weather, a mound of outside work and shortening daylight hours are to blame. With daylight saving ending this weekend, I'll have lots of evening time to blog to my heart's content.
A superquick catch-up:
1. a trip to Invercargill on 20 March - beaut weather, visits to the dentist and hairdresser and nice to get my shopping list completed
2. helping the museum committee with preparation for their Easter historic photo exhibition
3. enjoying Mina and Phil's visit at Easter
4. finishing the shade house
5. and getting 16 rats in one afternoon, most of them at Dancing Star
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| Leaving Invercargill |
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| Bluff |
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| Horseshoe Bay, Stewart Island |
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| Halfmoon Bay, Stewart Island |
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| Home from the air - the new colour blends in so much better with the bush |
My biggest buzz was meeting Phil's fiancée, Mina, for the first time - what a delight. Phil came to the island for 2 nights in May 2010 but it was Mina's first trip. We did lots of walking and enjoyed the fab Indian summer weather.
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| Mina and Phil at Sarah Cove |
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| Paddling on Horseshoe Bay |
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| Checking out the seaweed gardens at Golden Bay |
Inbetween sightseeing, they helped me with finishing the bracing and then covering the dog run frame with micro-climate cloth. There's no instructions for this - we were making it up as we went along and I'm thrilled with the results. We used cable ties to attach the cloth to the frame, stretching it as we went. The cloth lets some water through but cuts out the wind and hopefully all frosts and hail. We assembled the smaller plastic greenhouse that I bought last October; I've also got a larger one but will see how everything fares during the next big blow before I set it up.
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| Putting the micro-climate cloth on the 'dog run' |
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| Final touches |
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| The new shade house hides the water tank nicely |
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| Woohoo! Finished!!! |
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Fitting out the inside - the small greenhouse will be used for starting seeds
off, the fish table makes a great potting bench and just out of picture
to the left are potting bags with seedlings in |
A highlight of their stay was going out on the fishing boat, Rawhiti, with Andrew and Sharon Leask - another first for Mina. The weather was misty when they left at 9am but cleared by the time they came back around 12.30pm with a large bag of fresh blue cod and trumpeter.
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| Setting out on the Rawhiti |
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| Back at the wharf |
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| The smiles say it all - fishing is fun! |
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| Mina's fish and vegetable curry - soooooo yummy |
Mina's culinary skills are fantastic - she made fish soup and a lovely fresh fish meal on Sunday night, and fish curry for their last night here. I have a lot of practice to do for when they visit again!
It's late and time for bed so will finish this and add another blog over the weekend.
