Life ain't nothing but a funny funny riddle (John Denver)

I read in Mojo (world's greatest music magazine) recently that a band called the Guillemots are putting out four CDs this year - themed on the seasons.

SWMBO remarked yesterday that I should take some photos of the cherry blossom

This morning the ipod shuffle threw up Vivaldi's Spring.

Woooo - scarey.

Although some will say it's merely some freakish coincidence, clearly I was being sent a message - do a blog post about leaving the NZ spring behind for a Chinese autumn.

Okay!

You had the lamb pictures last time so it's time for a look at some pretty blossoms, daffies, and the effects of spring's low setting sun on the A.R.T. room.

The blossom was alive with spring buzzy bees - sadly the blog does not come with a soundtrack so you'll need to hum a little hummy buzz (Pooh like) while you marvel at these shots taken in the back garden (one of said bees seen doing his thing in the second shot if you look carefully).

This is the last posting from Hawke's Bay for a while as we head to Auckland on Saturday and then, in the near future, I head towards a Chinese autumn. Should make for an interesting contrast.

Love and peace - Wozza

A mind can blow those clouds away (George Harrison)

Just finishing up some odd jobs about the place before we set sail for Auckland and Waiheke Island at the end of the week.

To whit:

I was nudged out of my dozy 2am state a week ago by the dull thud of the huge door to the three bay shed.

Sidebar: The door's about 3x2.5 metres - big! Made of steel and corrugated iron. It opens outwards so that I can drive the tractor out.

It was really a blustery night and I figured the door had somehow shaken itself loose from its moorings a bit. It's anchored by two solid bolts, one vertical, t'other horizontal.

I didn't think too much of it. One I was half asleep, two I didn't think it would be doing too much damage and three if I went out to check on it the dogs (who have their kennels by the three bay) would have barked their heads off. So I went back to my fitful sleep (plenty on my mind of late yunnerstand).

The next day SWMBO had a look at it and reported that the door had somehow blown itself INSIDE the shed. EEK.

SWMBO is well known for her exaggerations but in this case she was spot on. It took a crowbar to force the door back to its original position but the force of the wind had also twisted the steel struts, severed a couple of welds and blown the corrugated iron loose as well. Triple EEK.

The last week has witnessed my intermittent (failed) attempts to repair the door. I tried drilling a hole through the steel to insert a rivet without any success. A couple of trips to Mitre 10 for new steel bits to drill with and I was ready for a fresh assault.

No luck. The steel could twist and break with the wind but my drilling made little impression. Sallie came out for a consult and after more drilling failure we decided to go with my put-a-tail-on-it-call-it-a-weasel cunning plan of wiring the corrugated iron to the steel.

Hey presto - the door has been repaired. As we were admiring things we noticed a new lamb in our paddock by the shed - about 2 months after the very first lamb for this season! Amazing. Brings us to 17 lambs from 8 ewes.

The latest lamb reminded me that I had forgotten to load pictures of the quads (latest: all doing well and mum is starting to recover some body weight - four hungry youngsters has been difficult for her). The little coats were to keep them warm and dry during winter in case you were wondering.

Love and peace - Wozza

Now, Is, Here Now (George Harrison)

The start of our Chinese adventure has been delayed a tad by a significant health issue for SWMBO. After another month of treatment she will be able to join me in China is the plan. My boss (Luis) has been rock solid in his understanding of the situation.  Three days before flying to China we had to radically change plans and Luis took it completely in his stride and has offered us unstinting encouragement throughout the last month.

Close family and whanau (extended family) have been a huge positive support network over the last month or so - sharing the burden and the joys - which is as it should be right?

A special mention needs to go to whanau member Peter Joyce who set the whole China thing in motion many months ago. His casual mention of my name to his colleague produced a ripple effect that has ultimately resulted in a happy outcome for SWMBO and me. You're a life saver PJ!!

All that has obviously occupied our time to a huge extent but we've also been feverishly keeping our minds busy with odd jobs around the property. For me that means fixing misbehaving gates, building fences, water blasting and painting, repairs to electric fences and water systems, putting the tractor to good use and generally humbugging in the A.R.T. room as much as possible.

Today is the anniversary of Graham Nugent Purdy's passing in 2009 and he has been all about the place of late - in our thoughts and in our presence in other ways. He gave us a promise that he would continue to look after us and that certainly appears to be the case. Such strength!

Love and peace - Wozza