This little Chaffinch came and sat on the flax. Photos through a window.
Chaffinches are the commonest and most widespread of New Zealand’s introduced finches, and are found in a wide range of habitats from sea-level to 1400 m.
Every Kiwi over the age of 35 well knows this feelgood #1 track from 1984: Poi E - Patea Maori Club. Watch it for the haircuts, the break dancing, the Māori performers.
the song was a way to encourage young Māori to be proud of being Māori … young Māori loved the song.
Not airforce and not an Orion
We live not very far from an Air Base so seeing military craft flying low is pretty common. The other day I spotted one I hadn’t seen before. Its RNZAF markings, and my poor visual discrimination, led me to misidentify it as an Orion. Thanks to @yorrike though I learned it was in fact a commercial Douglas DC3 and nothing to do with the airforce, in spite of its misleading markings: DC3 New Zealand Air Tour.
It beats me how it can get away with being marked as an airforce plane when in fact it isn’t.
Interesting read: Personal blogs: the elements of structure
And, indeed, the weed-spraying has already started next door. I’m a little surprised they spray even with cows in the same paddock. They’re spraying meturon, organosilicone and congest. One targets gorse, the other lupins.
I’d say this is the helicopter that is going to spray gorse and lupins in the paddock next door to us soon. The pilot gave me a cheery wave as they passed.
Darn it! Last night as friends and I drove to Levin for dinner a truck passed going the other way. Next moment a loud thump left this chip in my car’s windscreen. I’ll need to get it assessed. Luckily our insurance will replace glass free. Inconvenient though.
Recently this plane flew low on its way south. Royal NZ Air Force Z3546.
Update: it’s a DC3. More info to come.
My research leads to: Lockheed P-3K2 Orion.
surveillance & reconnaissance of NZ’s areas of economic interest … (including search & rescue, humanitarian relief & support of natural disasters).
Crikey! I’m often overwhelmed with 1 acre and no cows. Chatted with our neighbour: he looks after 800 acres, 350 milking cows, a bunch of other stock, and it’s just him! Good news is he’ll be doing weed control by us soon. Too much gorse and lupin!
Some mornings, when you live next to a beef and dairy farm, you wake up to find two young steers tromping around in your yard.
The first video episode of Lingthusiasm was really interesting: Why do we gesture when we talk?. I had no idea there was so much to gesturing. If you’re interested in language you should give Lingthusiasm a try. It’s been audio only up till now.
Whew, I’m still completing the move of my Love Waikawa Beach community focused website to Micro.blog from its previous WordPress home, but if you enjoy photos from around our beach take a look. Especially look at: Birds, Beach Creatures, River Creatures, Frogs and Insects.
Scientists Discover Signs of New Neurons Developing Even in Adult Brains
Human beings grow new brain cells throughout their late adult life, a new study shows, even continuing when people are approaching their 90s.
Note: the oldest person studied was 87.
The Gender Spectrum Collection: Stock Photos Beyond the Binary
The Gender Spectrum Collection is a stock photo library featuring images of trans and non-binary models that go beyond the clichés.
Via Anna Rothschild.
Oh, turns out there were only 23 videos in the whole playlist. Unfortunately it didn’t cover including images (I really want to be able to use a header image). Excellent tutorial though and I definitely recommend it. Needs slight familiarity with Terminal, HTML, CSS.
I’ve been watching the Introduction to Hugo videos from Mike Dane and am up to #22. They’re really good. Problems so far:
typos (mine)
working in the wrong folder / directory
files from previous videos ‘interfering’.
I don’t yet understand the hierarchy of folders.
Sometimes the dogs and I are lucky and we have the 10 Km of beach between Ōtaki and Kuku all to ourselves. To be honest: I think I saw a couple of dots 2 km away north of the river mouth, but that could have just been driftwood.
Yesterday with cleaning, dog walking, mowing, mulching, planting, watering I did 300% of my daily move goal. Today I’m only too aware!
Returning from the beach, we saw these excellent textured clouds in the east.
I don’t want to lose my rights, but at the end of the day, this is actually not about a part of society losing its rights. It’s about the whole of society maintaining their freedom.
— Founder of Swazi Outdoor Apparel, who has high profile in hunting, fishing on gun law changes.