The raft foundation went in today ready for concrete to be poured this week. 🏡
a polystyrene ‘pod’ with hardfill, laid over an under-slab polythene ground sheet. This type of foundation is quicker and easier to construct, with less excavation and earthworks, while the polystyrene offers superior insulation.
Having completed the earthworks not long ago, the builders dug chunks of it up again to install the ducting required below the concrete slab to be poured soon. 🏡
Photos supplied by the builder make it look like everything's much closer together than I think (hope) it will be in real life.
Today I made Pan-Seared Chicken Tenderloin and it was delicious. Borderline too spicy, so it's a good thing I left out the Cajun seasoning (because we didn't have any).
Easy to make and would make it again.
LOL: "unshackled himself from the chains of entry-level intelligence and basic human decency" :
That wasn’t Tamaki’s first scientific breakthrough. In 2016, he unshackled himself from the chains of entry-level intelligence and basic human decency to use deep thought and geophysics in deducing that the Canterbury earthquake was a consequence of homosexuality.
Brian Tamaki, disruptive force and super-genius | The Spinoff:
I've discovered that after great physical exertion I just don't sleep well. 😒
Yesterday I washed the west and south sides of our house with one of those brushes on a telescoping pole that plugs into a hose so it can spray water and soap (ideally on the house but also all over me).
The photo shows a contractor in 2020 vacuuming the gutter. It reveals how high I was reaching up to brush the south wall. And also, how grubby that wall can get. 💦
The sale page for our house has gone live. Auction scheduled for 13 March 2025. Open Homes next 3 Sundays.
Legal personhood for Taranaki: transformative or tokenistic?
Legal personhood oversimplifies indigenous cosmological relationships. From a Māori perspective, natural entities such as maunga are tuakana – our evolved, senior kin.
It is, therefore, both ironic and audacious to impose upon them a legal framework originally designed for teina – junior kin, in this case, humans. Instead, we should aspire to elevate our own values and actions to align with the guardianship principles of our atua, ensuring that manaakitanga and kaitiakitanga are embedded in all that we do. If this became New Zealand’s norm, the colonisers’ so-called protective laws and regulations would be rendered unnecessary.
Deb made us these delicious, light Drop Scones (Scotch Pancakes).
She didn't add any essence and reduced the sugar from 50 grams to 30. She also used 115 grams plain flour and 1 teaspoon baking powder.
That's a definite must cook again recipe!
House building always seems to progress in fits and starts. After earthworks were completed, the next step was boxing, ready for underslab plumbing and then the concrete pour. 🏡
I suspect the lens and the angle of the photo make the house appear to take up much more of the whole section than it really does. Photo supplied by builder.
A few days ago I took this photo of a Pohowera | Banded dotterel. 🐦
There have been too few bird photos on my blog lately.
The ingenious NZ-designed hijab breaking ground overseas | RNZ News:
A New Zealand-designed hijab, created after the 2019 Christchurch terror attacks, is breaking ground with its slick design deemed suitable for emergency services. …
It's designed to be breathable and antibacterial, with a moisture-wicking sports fabric.
Finished reading The Jeri Howard Anthology: Books 1-5 by Janet Dawson, and enjoyed it in parts. 📚
Somehow I got this free back in January 2021 and read the first book and part of the second. I picked it up again last week. The second story wasn't super interesting. The third and fifth I enjoyed. I skipped #4 because it looked like there would be a subplot around animal cruelty.
On Thursday the full moon was setting in the west around dawn.
Meanwhile, the inversion layer on the paddock next door on the east side left a group of trees standing like an island.
Clear skies and no wind this morning so the sea was super calm below the setting full moon. For the Pacific Wave Appreciation Society. 🌊
After Maique mentioned the 65x24 photo format I downloaded the app and gave it a try.
This was looking east from the beach at dawn as the sun began to rise above the mountains.
Around 4.30 this morning I decided not to wait to get a cup of tea. Strolled into the kitchen to find this surprise, that the lovely Deb had left out for me when she came home late last night. 🥰
I tried something completely new to me today: a visit to The Cave in Palmerston North. I paid for a 1 hour Virtual Reality Session in which I took off with Apollo 11, participated in the flight to the moon and watched as Neil Armstrong took his first step on the lunar surface.
It was … interesting.
Today is house-washing (outside walls) day. So far I've washed the north wall, which is second easiest. Luckily it's a gorgeous sunny and warm day. The hardest, south wall may have to wait for another day as it's very tiring work.
The drone shot below is by a professional photographer we hired. It shows how dry everything is at the moment.
Much as I don't care for the politics of Winston Peters, he can be very quick-witted and funny:
Chlöe Swarbrick, during a question about the government’s new school lunches ending up in landfills “as a result of them being inedible”, produced three of the prepackaged school meals.
As she placed them on her desk, Winston Peters made a point of order:
“Mr Speaker, since when in standing orders is a member allowed to bring their lunch to parliament, let alone having taken it from a schoolchild?”
Via: Echo Chamber: David Seymour is a very naughty boy | The Spinoff:
Every day Warou | Welcome swallows come and sit on the railing outside our lounge and watch what I think of as Swallow TV, starring Miraz and Deb. It's lovely! 🐦
Here was one, this morning.
