Sand scarab 1: “Man, I was so drunk last night I nearly forgot the way home.”
Sand scarab 2: “You were drunk… It took me 3 hours just to get in the front door…”
Sasha 🐶 enjoyed being one of the humans when we went with friends to Tuktuk Waikanae for Thai food lunch. Top down isn’t my preferred angle for dog photos, but it was the only possible option. Sasha was so well behaved too.
Swallows nest above the door to Deb’s zendo. Today we took the nests down (and won’t let them return) and cleaned masses of bird poop off the doors, aluminium door frame and deck. The Internet was right: warm water, dish soap, white vinegar and a soft cloth did the job.
Gotta say: way back in the mists of time I enjoyed watching Will Smith’s Fresh Prince of Bel Air. Which led me to watch the currently screening reimagination of the show. It’s excellent. Not funny, but a realistic drama beautifully realised. Hard issues galore! 📺
Wowee, this was so delicious I didn’t think to take a photo. Quick and easy too: 20-Minute Chickpea Soup. Yum!
In normal life I weedeated around the raspberry canes, as well as other spots. In abnormal life, NZ’s Covid case numbers doubled for the second day in a row, and I’m hoping Russia’s invasion of Ukraine doesn’t mean we’ll be fondly looking back on 2021 as the year things were good.
I think my immediate dislike of the narrator got me off to a bad start. I so much wanted to like this Australian book 📚 but it just kind of annoyed me.
Murder in Murloo (Dusty Kent Mysteries Book 1)
After a rest I planted the other 4 cabbage trees. Now I just hope they actually grow.
The other day I bought 7 cabbage tree plants at $3 each. Mostly they looked a bit sickly which is probably why they were so cheap. Today so far I’ve planted 3, continuing a line the previous owner started, but the day’s getting quite hot. Rest time now.
This 40 minute podcast episode is seriously interesting for anyone who uses written English: Why Does the Letter “A” Look That Way?:
English lettering was borrowed from the Romans, but where did they get it from? And where did the concept originate?
Go listen!
The mistakes we learn from: if a plant will get wide, plant it further from the border. A few years ago I planted flax bushes along the drive. I should have planted them further back so I don’t have to keep trimming them!
Aha, learned something: Overwintering Parks in New Zealand | The Butterfly Musketeers 🦋:
The overwintering stage in New Zealand starts in April or May. This is when swarms of Monarch butterflies form regularly to overwinter at places around the country.
Love this: Scientists Attached Tracking Devices to Magpies 🐦:
Within 10 minutes … we witnessed an adult female … trying to remove the harness off of a younger bird.
… By day 3, even the dominant male of the group had its tracker successfully dismantled.
// @jayeless
Finally refreshed the straw and shavings in the front part of the quail run. 🐦 Put the soiled straw round nearby vege garden. Trimmed back flax plant for easier access to quail run. The quail should love to scratch the straw around. It’s all in a hill at the moment.
This is a very informative article: The Wellington protest is testing police independence and public tolerance – are there lessons from Canada’s crackdown?:
The [NZ Police] act independently of the Crown and serve only the law.
As usual, our load of firewood had a few bits that would be unlikely to fit in our woodburner. In the past I’ve chopped them up with an axe where I could but my new Ozito 356mm 1800W Electric Chainsaw made short work of them! Those not already stacked are now a suitable size.
I very much enjoyed Murder in Montego Bay (Detectives Preddy & Harris Book 1) by Paula Lennon 📚. Set in Jamaica and featuring Jamaican dialect was a bonus.
Local ice-cream magnate Carter Chin Ellis is shot dead. Shortly after leaving Pelican Walk Police Station.
OK, that’s some heavy rain right there.
We live at Waikawa Beach. Travel to the two closest centres, Ōtaki and Levin, means using State Highway 1. There is no alternative.
That stretch of road is notorious: in 2021 the road was closed 5 times, 26 times there were delays, and 8 people died, from a total 37 crashes.
Folks have rights:
- get drunk
- drive vehicles
- smoke
- work in an office
- remain unvaxed
- work in proximity with other humans
and responsibilities to obey laws:
- don’t drive drunk
- don’t smoke in the office
- don’t work in people-focused jobs if unvaxed