Today's plans were quickly rearranged when I was reminded I had to drop my car in for a service.
It was a pleasant 30 minute walk home, interrupted by mediocre scrambled eggs on toast and some kind of flavoured water, supposedly green tea.
Most of the walk was along the riverbank — very pleasant.
Best story this week! 🤣 ‘Crime-Fighting’ Llamas Catch Thief by Surrounding Him in a Field Until Cops Arrive:
The crook was fleeing the scene after stealing from a woman in Derbyshire, England, and he decided to squeeze through a fence onto farmland …
But his escape … did not go according to plan …
“Our llamas galloped over to him and surrounded him. They literally made a circle around him, and then started releasing their warning cry, which sounds like an old man laughing.
“He didn’t know what to do next and looked absolutely terrified”
For several years I've used an action on my iPhone so when I start a Cycling or Other workout Siri tells me the date, time and weather conditions. This has usually worked well.
This morning though, 09 February 2026, Siri cheerfully informed me it was the 2nd of September. What!?
Oh, I see, crazy American date system where 09/02/2026 puts the month first.
Why did Siri suddenly go all weirdly American on me? Unknown.
However, setting the voice to UK English, instead of US 'fixed' this new problem.
It took me a few uncertain chapters before this book had me completely gripped. It's an excellent space adventure. Forgotten Suns by Judith Tarr. 📚
Aisha, the daughter of the chief archaeologists, tries to save the expedition by opening a sealed tomb or treasury—and manages instead to destroy it. But one treasure survives, which may be the key to the planet’s mystery.
One of the tracks to the river mouth takes you through a sea of golden rushes.
I visited at low tide, just after dawn, and the area was a vast mudflat where birds were feeding. 🐦
I visited the estuary south of the river today. Midday, blazing sun, no hat, loads of people at the beach, high tide — conditions were far from ideal so no photos.
Then I saw clouds of birds whirling away from some disturbance. Thousands of Godwits and White-fronted Terns. What a sight! 🐦
We watched The Friend, a film about a writer who inherits her friend's Great Dane when the friend dies.
The movie was a bit odd, but the dog acted beautifully. Mainly I felt rather sad about the dog's loss of its owner.
The other day there was a fatal accident at a dangerous nearby intersection I often drive through. Today I signed a petition asking for a roundabout.
Here's some good news — Green Party celebrates decision to decline Taranaki seabed mining | RNZ News:
In a draft decision on Thursday, the fast-track approvals panel declined Trans-Tasman Resources' (TTR) bid to mine 50 million tonnes of seabed a year for 30 years in the South Taranaki Bight.
The panel found there would be a credible risk of harm to Māui dolphins, kororā/little penguin and fairy prion.
Now let's hope they decline the
proposal to use a suction dredge to remove up to 150,000 cubic metres of sand a year [in Bream Bay] for an initial three years and up to 250,000 cubic metres a year for the next 32 years.
Via: Sand-mining company McCallum Bros probed for alleged wildlife breaches at Pākiri | RNZ News.
I'm catching up on books that were part of a sci-fi bundle sometime.
I'd read part and then left it for some reason. On coming back to it I enjoyed the ways the characters approached different dilemmas, and the creative ideas about the aliens. Crossfire (Cosmic Crossfire Book 1) by Nancy Kress. 📚
A human colony settles on a distant planet … But as this diverse group of thousands comes to terms with their new lives on a new world, they make a startling discovery: primitive humanoid aliens.
We really enjoyed episodes 1 and 2 of Riot Women 📺 :
The themes of the series include the power of friendship, music, and the resilience of women who refuse to be silenced by age or expectation.
But episode 3 must count as one of the most outstanding episodes of TV I've ever seen.
No spoilers, but the lead actors are superb in this series.
If you can get to watch it, do. (Kiwis, it's on TV1.)
Billionaires are taking over Low Earth Orbit without any real constraints, control or accountability.
And there are real dangers to human life and culture — both from satellites crashing to earth or burning up in the atmosphere, and from the possibility of a catastrophic collision that could endanger all satellites, including scientific instruments we rely on.
Last night I listened to Prof. Sam Lawler, @sundogplanets@mastodon.social talk about Astronomy and the Billionaire Space Race.
She's speaking all over NZ. I highly recommend you go to learn about this for yourself: Royal Astronomical Society of New Zealand Lecture Trust (BHT).
These drawers for the garage came as a kitset. Yesterday, on an extremely hot and sticky day, I sweated over the shell. I only had to undo and redo two things. 😆
Today it's much cooler and the drawers were assembled in a flash.
Very pleased with my handiwork.
Occasionally the herons come back to visit. 🐦
Not riveting; trash; rampant heterosexuality; creepy - reasons I abandoned books last year
While checking my Kindle for what fiction to start on next I see a load of books I've read only part of. Luckily these days I add a note when stopping a book. Hence I declare the following 9 books abandoned, with reasons. 📚
- Better Left Behind (Trinity Calhoun Mystery Book 3) by Melinda Di Lorenzo : Not much enjoying this one.
- Her Broken Bones (Opal Fields Book 2) by Fiona Tarr : Not riveting.
- Killer by Candlelight (Suzy Spencer Mysteries Book 6) by Lis Howell : I didn't much like the setting or the people.
- Dead Men Don't Paddle (Carolina Teal Cozy Mysteries Book 2) by CC Trace : Might read more but it's not great.
- The Detective Veronika Pope Cold Case Mysteries Books 1–5 by Anna Willett : I don't know about this. It's not a cold case and it's creepy.
- Detective Jordan Carr Books 1–8 : I don't really care about any of these people.
- Dr Callie Hughes Mysteries Books 1–8 by Candy Denman : Dunno if I can be bothered reading more. Very heterosexual.
- The Jordan Lacey Mysteries by Stella Whitelaw : Not getting on well with this. It's like that incompetent american bounty hunter series but less good. Rampant heterosexuality occupies far too much time.
- Liz Turner's Cozy Mysteries Collector's Edition: 30 Book Box Set by Liz Turner : I've sampled several books now and they're just trash.
There, I think that cleans up all my Kindle purchases for 2025.
Proto: A New History of Our Ancient Past by Laura Spinney is rich in information but easy to read. 📚
Proto is a revelatory portrait of world history in its own words.
Thousands of years ago our ancestors were speaking to one another on the steppes, using the languages that were to eventually meld and merge and evolve into the English (and other descendant languages) we speak today.
It's amazing what researchers have been able to elucidate through bones, bits of pottery and DNA.
Sparked by: Finished reading: Proto by @jeremybaker.nz.
After reading 10 chapters of Book One and a few pages of Book Two I've abandoned The Complete Tarnfield Cozy Mysteries Books 1-6 by Lis Howell. 📚
Tarnfield looks like a postcard-perfect Cumbrian village — rugged fells, stone cottages, winding lanes. But beneath the charm lies a hotbed of secrets and simmering tensions. Life revolves around All Saints Church, where parishioners are as quick to gossip as they are to pray.
I find the writing a bit clumsy and too many of the characters somewhat unpleasant. It's all just more negativity than I want to immerse myself in at the moment.
Hmmm, even more solar panels are being put in not far from us. These are to produce hydrogen to run vehicles — Northern Advocate, Page 3 (PDF):
A massive truckload of solar panels arrived at Ruakākā this week as Hiringa Energy pushes ahead with the construction of its next solar-to-hydrogen site. The 5ha Ruakaka project on Port Marsden Highway (SH15), built on leased land just up the road from Meridian's much larger $227 million, 130MW solar farm, is Hiringa's latest major development supporting the company's $50m growing network of clean-fuel stations across the North Island — the first in Australasia.
While Meridian's 201ha, 250,000-panel development is designed to generate grid-scale electricity — enough to power roughly half the homes in Northland — Hiringa's compact 5MW farm has a very different purpose: dedicated production of green hydrogen to help decarbonise the country's heavy vehicle fleet.
Apple Photos tells me this is probably a South African Praying Mantis.
And that this is:
Dasypodia cymatodes, the northern old lady moth or northern wattle moth, is a moth of the family Noctuidae. The species was first described by Achille Guenée in 1852. It is found in Australia, and is self introduced in New Zealand. The wingspan is about 80 mm. The larvae feed on Acacia species.
Hmmm, seems I abandoned this ages ago. I just didn't like it. It was a free download at the time. Lost And Found: The September Day Series Book 1) by Amy Shojai. 📚
She doesn’t trust people. But can she team up with a service dog to save a missing child and catch a murderer?
