You can never have enough...

[kiwimade64]

Rhubarb picked and cooking with apples for dinner tonight

lol OHH, we're an eclectic lot if nothing else.  I think I would adore your friends!

Lilith, I love stealthy Christmas gifts

The curve in the garden has been smoothed out a bit and two massive pieces of concrete fill smashed up with the sledge hammer  and binned. They were so heavy I had to use the spade to flip them over.  There is something very therapeutic swinging that hammer about!

[popeye333]

Been an interesting day.

The printers wouldnt work at the med lab...

Half the groceries were items for MrP and Missy..

And After she held me hostage for 2 hours she finally got off my lap and spent the next 2 hours kitting up for the painting lol

Texting with a friend who is in hospital and bored lol

[Oh_hunnihunni]

Well, I am pleased Missy has a creative side. Even if she does insist on a long rest beforehand...

I got brave and chopped off the drooping hyacinths - the room is just too warm for them, so I have put them into the garden to live out the winter in cooler conditions. Maybe they will survive and reward me next year...

[kiwimade64]

morning ladies A frosty start to the day but that at least means we will have sunshine.

lol OHH, gosh, Missy is clever! Fingers crossed for your hyacinths, mine are planted under the maple tree and pop up every spring. The flowers aren't as good as they were originally though.

Around 4.00am this morning we were woken by the constant noise of an engine running. Turned out it was a stealth mission (as MrK called it lol) to load the logs from the chopped down poplars onto the logging truck and take them away. The littlies on the road will be disappointed they missed seeing it.

The Furry One was outside until the wee hours this morning too. Heaven knows what he has found out there.

I read Jacinda's Harvard speech before I logged on here and thought it was very good. She made good points and backed them up with evidence of what we or other countries have done. But then, she always has been very strong with debates and speeches, well, I think so.

Yesterday I almost finished the body of the butterfly. I'll double check it today for any spaces I may have missed and fill them with a dark turquoise to add depth. Then I can start on the wings. But it's housework first which won't take long to do and a quick trip into town.

Happy crafting

[Mica]

Morning all
Overcast and nippy outside today

Errands and medical appts yesterday.

Today new lounge furniture arrives hope we still like it ordered it 5 months ago. DSIL dad is taking the old one gir his beach house. I will no longer have to sit with spring in my nether regions

Hope to sew this afternoon.

KM cant wait to see your butterfly,

Have a good day

[popeye333]

Morning everyone

Cold here. But no sign of a frost. but this house is fairly sheltered. Nothing to see on the hill out the back tho.

Hahaha that should have read I spent two hours kitting up the picture lol

After a quick call to MrP we settled in to watch tv for a change. Its odd cos she doesn't sit on my knee when I'm on the phone.

Was awake ate 4-10am again but then went back into a deep sleep and thankfully I'd set the alarm for the morning. I think there is either someone who leaves for work at that hour or a plane coming in. We used to always hear the midnight flight in from Thailand.

I've decided if I see any more monarch caterpillars I'm going to break off the branch and bring them inside. And just keep supplying food. None have managed to get past the big fat stage before something kills them.

Can't wait to see your caterpillar Kiwimade.

Im loving the new Maccas add with the grandmother teaching her grandson to tie his shoes and drive etc. I like an advert that you can sing along to.. Missy doesn't like me singing. And no I'm not that bad lol. If I can win singing competitions I cant be that bad lol.

Off to see MrP this morning and then Im ducking up to the Junktion recycle centre. Its a good place to buy light bulbs cheap, including long life ones.. Then Ill ask my neighbour to come and change them for me.

Ohh and our single opp shop has been given a title of being one of the Top Five opp shops in the country.. Our St Johns is shut cos they cant get staff. but St Andrews is a mix of shop and Boxes to rummage through. The rummaging through is the best part.

Ill be painting later

Have a fab day everyone

[Roma]

Good morning. 

It's cold outside but sunshine already looking promising. 

I have a pot with hyacinths just popping through. They didn't come to anything last year ... have changed their position this year, so we'll see ...... Lots of vege garden clearing out yesterday, plus pull up a couple of hydrangeas that had rooted through their pots! One spare one now.

I expect we will notice the missing trees KM, on our way through next week (that's if they were on the HW), you get to notice changes on a well travelled road!

Have been keeping fingers busy in the evenings knitting baby beanies, I'll give to a birthing unit. A useful way to use up the left over baby wool I have 

A few errands to do today,  plus think of something for "about to be 40" son 

Better get moving.  Have a great day.

---

Popeye, I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw a paper wasp killing a big fat monarch caterpillar. It was gruesome. One by one the caterpillars had been disappearing. After that I fashioned a netting structure over the (growing) plants ... there were chrysalises all over the netting and some had crawled out underneath. I haven't had any plants since!

[Oh_hunnihunni]

I found the trick was to put swanplants in among other plants and add a lavender or salvia to the mix, I am convinced the scents put the paper wasps off the hunt. But nothing puts the mantises off, those big South African buggers think the monarch caterpillars are ice cream, those things get the stamp treatment whenever I spot them. Their egg cases too. Someone has to fight back...

Putting one in a pot is quite a good idea too when you set seed. Keep it well covered with a bit of curtain netting so no eggs get laid, and it makes a good home indoors for late season fatties that might otherwise not survive the wild.

Must say I love the idea of chrysalises on the netting though, and then opening it up to release a cloud of flutterbyes to the world. What fun that would be...

[Roma]

Yes OHH, I tacked the netting to a wooden wall on my deck and it was satisfying to see them hatch out one by one   That sounds a better plan to have the plants amongst others in the garden.  I've only learned recently that the praying mantis is also an enemy.

[kiwimade64]

uggg praying mantis! They will even eat each other.

Washing is all dry except for a towel that was hidden from the sun by the bed sheets. All the 'smalls' were pegged outside under our living room window on the airer and they were dry in no time. No wonder our living room can get to 32 degrees over winter!

I bought some polar sheets from the red shed this morning. A friend recommended them so we shall see. They seem pretty stretchy to me and I'm wondering how they wash up. But at least there was no battle in fitting the damed fitted sheet!

[Lilith7]

Very cold & frosty this morning here. Even the dog wasn't so keen on chasing the ball for so long out there.

A couple of foolhardy daffodils which had burst into flower under the plum tree are probably wishing they hadn't. Have done as much as I can inside & may have to venture out later - not all that keen so may see if there's some excuse I can come up with not to.

[Oh_hunnihunni]

Oh it is a gorgeous day here. The tuis are yelling out their delight, and it is still and warm. I might just get out the brolly and the cushions...

[kiwimade64]

morning ladies What a stunning day we had yesterday and another is on the cards for today. There's a good frost this morning too.

The polar fleece sheets were a hit, so snuggly and warm. Even the Furry One barely moved all night. He sleeps between our pillows when he gets cold or under the blankets.

Today I'm going to start digging out the small garden that will be lawn eventually. It has really come to nothing and is a PITA to mow around and weed.

I'm jealous of anyone who has tui in their garden. We're rural with no native bush around so we don't see any. I did notice we had the swallows back though. We call them our little spitfires, they are sooo quick and agile.

Embroidery later on in the day is the plan but no doubt there will be something else to do before I get to sit and do that.

Happy crafting

[Mica]

Morning all
Frost this morning now clouding over

Furniture arrived , small hiccup as  muck up at warehouse and one sofa was wrong colour all sorted by lunch time.
DH reserved about wether he likes it. Do I have your permission to throttle him we laboured over the choice, several visits to shops over a months and now he doesn't know!!!!!! Got to the point I don't care he was extensively consulted and I like it
Winge over  a case old blokes not liking change.

Stitched my vest in afternoon went to try o n and I had twisted one of the fronts so now there will be some frog stitching  hate unpicking overlock though there is a trick to it

I am going to baby expo this morning I am the transport for DD & DDIL so they got me a ticket too.

Have a good day

[popeye333]

Morning everyone

A stunner here. But its really windy too. Bugging the tv reception. Mind you its only background noise anyway.

The washing is on. I wont hear it beep. The only time I hear it is if Im standing right next to it lol.

I love the Tuis here.. They are one bird loud enough for me to hear. I must look a bit stupid sometimes, Ill be standing ion the driving staring up at the trees trying to find them. I have no sence of direction as to where the sounds are coming from other than I know they are in the trees somewhere lol

A couple of my friends have those arctic sheets Kiwimade. They love them. I dont even have flannelette sheets. We stopped using them when we lived in the bus. But my nighties are made of a polar fleece type fabric and they are lovely and warm.
I told Missy Im digging out the knitted blanket I made several years ago for the bed. My colour scheme will be a mess while I have that on. Its dark blue, light blue and a lemon.. It was meant to be cream but it looks yellow. I knitted strips then wove them together and sewed them together so its double thickness.

I feel the need to tidy the pantry a bit this morning so that will keep me busy and moving so Ill be nice and warm. Had a blanket over my legs last night for the first time..

I might have to get the heater out tho, being on double blood thinners and a 30 kilos fat layer gone Im feeling the cold this year thats for sure.

Need to make up some more of the chicken seasoning today too. I feel like making some chicken nuggets and I like the seasoning as the flour layer in the crumbing process.

Shock Horror My stomach actually Rumbled this morning lol... First time in months. !!

Have fun at the Expo Mica, Don't buy more than one baby at a time tho ok hehehe

Have a fab day everyone

[Roma]

Good morning.

Cool outside but another sunny day expected.

KM do you have Kowhai in your garden? I planted half a dozen when living rural, the first year I had a pair of Tui and each year after more appeared (and the trees had more flowers) ... apparently they travel quite a distance to their favourite food ... amazing really, as they obviously come back year after year!

Nothing concrete planned, son's birthday and will make the most of the lovely weather.

Have a good day.

[Oh_hunnihunni]

I think it is the huge old flaxes on one side of the reserve that encourage our tui families to make the neighbourhood their own. We have several generations here now, like the rosellas, though the parrots have been less frequent visitors since the idiot neighbours took out the macrocarpa hedge where they liked to roost and nest. The huge plane trees also provide food and shelter for other species, including those aerial gymnasts the gorgeous swallows. They too have raised babies this year, having them sit on the washing line while the parents gave aerial displays and lessons in low fly midge hunting. Treasures all...

[kiwimade64]

omg yes, OHH. We have the babies sit on the phone line while mum and dad demonstrate how things are done. We get such joy watching them. We don't have kowhai trees but when we lived in town our street was lined with them. There were no tui though, sadly. When my sister lived in Cambridge township, her street was lined with kowhai and the tui would visit from Maungatautari. That pest control fence has made a huge difference. And the massive miro tree she had also encouraged the tui. They were so noisy lol and scrappy. One day I counted a dozen of them in the miro tree.

The garden has been dismantled and the block edging has been neatly stacked next to another pile of bricks. Am trying to convince MrK we do not need so many bricks and someone would love them (more than me lol) for their garden and it's such a shame that someone won't have the pleasure of using and seeing them in their garden. *insert angelic face here*

Mica, yep, go ahead and throttle him. He's had plenty of chances lol.

[Oh_hunnihunni]

I love bricks. I have been known to bring orphaned ones home just in case. Comes from having a father who spent hours building brick paths and low bookleaf garden walls from broken concrete. He even took up log splitting to provide hand made shingles for his grand daughter's two storied playhouse. When we put that house on the market Barfoots put the playhouse on the ad 'with five bedroom Californian bungalow included'.

That sort of building thing is contagious.

[Lilith7]

Sunny out so got a bit more of the ivy pruned back from the fence & was even able to use the ladder without the dog having conniptions - possibly because I took her for a longer than usual walk earlier.

I have a Kowhai tree but no Tui so far. I did put a hex on the tree when I planted it, but that shouldn't put off any Tui surely. It would probably help if more neighbours also had Kowhai, but most haven't.