My great-grandfather bought the Ballyhome farm in 1919. He had 4 sons all farming. Two sons had just returned from service in the Great War and he needed more capacity than the Ballyrock farm could provide.
Ballyhome has been home to 4 generations of the family since then.
90 years - a reason to celebrate!
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
Tuesday 28th July - do swallows make a summer?
When I was in New Zealand in December, 2004, I was surprised to see swallows here. My Uncle Robert said that he had first seen them on his farm in the Wairarapa in the 1950's nesting under a bridge.
New Zealand has a mixture of wild birds 'imported' from other parts of the world. Colonists in the 1850's and 1860's wanted to create a New Britain and brought many native British birds to settle. Guthrie-Smith in his book Tutira notes their progress through the late 1800's as they expanded round the coastline from Auckland. We have sparrows, finches, thrushes, blackbirds, yellowhammers among others. All these nest in our trees.
I have been wondering if the swallows are migratory and where do they go in winter? Hawke's Bay on most winter days is as warm as an average British or Irish summer day. Why migrate?
This cool winter I have seen many swallows flying around Poraiti and Napier. There must not be many flies and bugs out there for them to feed on so why are they still here? Are they confused because they are not in Africa? Do most of them go to Australia or further north?
A puzzle...
New Zealand has a mixture of wild birds 'imported' from other parts of the world. Colonists in the 1850's and 1860's wanted to create a New Britain and brought many native British birds to settle. Guthrie-Smith in his book Tutira notes their progress through the late 1800's as they expanded round the coastline from Auckland. We have sparrows, finches, thrushes, blackbirds, yellowhammers among others. All these nest in our trees.
I have been wondering if the swallows are migratory and where do they go in winter? Hawke's Bay on most winter days is as warm as an average British or Irish summer day. Why migrate?
This cool winter I have seen many swallows flying around Poraiti and Napier. There must not be many flies and bugs out there for them to feed on so why are they still here? Are they confused because they are not in Africa? Do most of them go to Australia or further north?
A puzzle...
Tuesday 28th July - snow
The wood delivery man, Andy, last week said he had been out to Poraiti a lot this winter. It was our second delivery of firewood this year. When the first lot came in May I expected it to last until 2010 but we have had a log fire on nearly every day since then.
Andy, a local, says that he has never seen snow on the hills like we have this year. Even the hills close to Napier are white. Further west, Kaweka mountain is 43 km away as the crow flies and it has been looking like a skiing mountain since May. We have now had countless frosts - it was down to minus 2 this morning... the countryside was lovely and white before sunrise.
So what about global warming?
Andy, a local, says that he has never seen snow on the hills like we have this year. Even the hills close to Napier are white. Further west, Kaweka mountain is 43 km away as the crow flies and it has been looking like a skiing mountain since May. We have now had countless frosts - it was down to minus 2 this morning... the countryside was lovely and white before sunrise.
So what about global warming?
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
Monday 20th July - twelfth week in Napier
We had no
- hall burnings
- bonfires
- marches
- riots
- people going out of their way to be offended
Boring... not!
Had some sunny days... 26 degrees max. :-)
Cricket (al Lords), Golf (at Turnberry), Rugby (at Eden Park) on TV
Perfect!
Didn't Tom Watson do well... seems like nothing has changed in 30+ years!
:-)
Saturday, July 11, 2009
Saturday 11th July - most horrible place
My friends have left Northern Ireland after their short tour.
Sounds like they had a great time on the Causeway Coast.
They identified their 'most horrible place' as Newtownards. Funny that!
Friday, July 10, 2009
Friday 10th July - mid year and mid winter
July 2nd was actually mid-year with 182 days left in 2009. It is a lovely mid-winter day today starting with a frost but beautiful blue sky.
It's a bit like a (very) good April day in Northern Ireland...
The wattle trees are coming in to bloom and the daffodills are coming out... early spring!
It feels like time for a new year resolution! Last year my resolution was to lose 10kg in weight... didn't believe I could do that myself but there was a 'Biggest Loser' competition at work which helped the motivation. By Christmas Eve 2008 I was down 15kg to 81.3kg, the lightest I have been in 30 years... I think I was the biggest loser. :-) I have been feeling much better and more active! My picture on my Facebook profile in January seemed to worry some correspondents! Resolution for 2009 was to stop losing any more which I have achieved. Target at the moment is to keep (get) fit... More cycling and walking called for!!!!
It's a bit like a (very) good April day in Northern Ireland...
The wattle trees are coming in to bloom and the daffodills are coming out... early spring!
It feels like time for a new year resolution! Last year my resolution was to lose 10kg in weight... didn't believe I could do that myself but there was a 'Biggest Loser' competition at work which helped the motivation. By Christmas Eve 2008 I was down 15kg to 81.3kg, the lightest I have been in 30 years... I think I was the biggest loser. :-) I have been feeling much better and more active! My picture on my Facebook profile in January seemed to worry some correspondents! Resolution for 2009 was to stop losing any more which I have achieved. Target at the moment is to keep (get) fit... More cycling and walking called for!!!!
Friday, July 03, 2009
Friday 3rd July - school holidays
School holidays today with the start of the 2 week mid-winter break.
J has organised his time around sports.
He is leaving tomorrow to go with friends to Tauranga on the Bay of Plenty for a tennis tournament. J comes home from that next Thursday. ( If he had remained in Northern Ireland he would have been playing in the Ballycastle July tournament! I think he will be warmer and drier here! )
The next week is the New Zealand Schools National Orienteering Championships over in Manuatu. His school have been the NZ boys champions for the last 3 years and will be keenly defending their title!
The cat will miss him!
J has organised his time around sports.
He is leaving tomorrow to go with friends to Tauranga on the Bay of Plenty for a tennis tournament. J comes home from that next Thursday. ( If he had remained in Northern Ireland he would have been playing in the Ballycastle July tournament! I think he will be warmer and drier here! )
The next week is the New Zealand Schools National Orienteering Championships over in Manuatu. His school have been the NZ boys champions for the last 3 years and will be keenly defending their title!
The cat will miss him!
Friday 3rd July - new source of timber
The native New Zealand woods like rimu and matai are impossible to find or buy as logging of native trees is illegal.
Up until now I have been working with imported American oak and ash. I have been looking for sources of recycled NZ timber and this week I have found a recycling yard in Hastings with a good supply of old beams at least 2 inches thick. There are lots of thinner boards but they are full of nail holes.
The timber yard was suffering this week as their roof was leaking and there was a lake inside the shed!
I bought 2 beams of rimu 9 inches wide and over 2 inches thick. I will make a small table this weekend to test out the wood and see if it is worthwhile working with recycled wood. It costs about the same as American white oak but it is magical working with wood which is probably at least 80 years since it came out of a forest and is original NZ timber!!!!
Up until now I have been working with imported American oak and ash. I have been looking for sources of recycled NZ timber and this week I have found a recycling yard in Hastings with a good supply of old beams at least 2 inches thick. There are lots of thinner boards but they are full of nail holes.
The timber yard was suffering this week as their roof was leaking and there was a lake inside the shed!
I bought 2 beams of rimu 9 inches wide and over 2 inches thick. I will make a small table this weekend to test out the wood and see if it is worthwhile working with recycled wood. It costs about the same as American white oak but it is magical working with wood which is probably at least 80 years since it came out of a forest and is original NZ timber!!!!
Friday 3rd July - cat update
The cat now spends about 4 of 5 nights a week in the house. It knows which nights are too cold or too wet to go outside and has worked out that J is the most friendly of its keepers and sleeps all night on his bed!
Friday 3rd July - visitors to Northern Ireland
I have some friends from New Zealand who are visiting Northern Ireland this weekend. They are planning to go up the Antrim Coast, visit Rathlin Island and walk along the Causeway headlands.
I hope the weather is better than the forecast there for the next few days!
I hope the weather is better than the forecast there for the next few days!
Thursday 2nd July - visit to the cattle-market
One of our neighbours is interested in buying J's three steers. He wants us to come up with a price and maybe he will deal.
I went to the Wednesday market at Stortford Lodge in Hastings yesterday to do some market research. I now have an idea of the approximate weight of the steers and price J should ask for.
Cattle were sold in batches of up to 20 at one go. They are weighed on scales in the auction ring. and the priice per head and kilo displayed on a screen above the auctioneer.
A large number of beef animals sold were from the Chatham Islands. They had been brought over by boat on Tuesday. They looked a lot ligher by age that J's 3 steers. There must be a shortage of good grass over there...
There were also some good young beef steers sold from Wairoa. If I had the land, I would have bought them!
I went to the Wednesday market at Stortford Lodge in Hastings yesterday to do some market research. I now have an idea of the approximate weight of the steers and price J should ask for.
Cattle were sold in batches of up to 20 at one go. They are weighed on scales in the auction ring. and the priice per head and kilo displayed on a screen above the auctioneer.
A large number of beef animals sold were from the Chatham Islands. They had been brought over by boat on Tuesday. They looked a lot ligher by age that J's 3 steers. There must be a shortage of good grass over there...
There were also some good young beef steers sold from Wairoa. If I had the land, I would have bought them!
Thursday 2nd July - 4th July 2001
As I walked of the 'red-eye' flight at Heathrow on the morning of 4th July 2001, 3 plain-clothes policemen were immediately in front of me. One took a call on his mobile phone and told his colleagues that there had been a murder in Antrim town.
I checked the BBC news on the internet when I got to my office that morning. A young man was shot dead as he waited for his pickup for work on the Greystone Road in Antrim.
I thought back and remembered a couple of unusual things I had seen in Parkgate village as I drove to work early that morning. I contacted the police and notified them. It took the police a week to come and interview me and only after prompting by someone else.
8 years on...
No one has ever been found by the police to account for that crime.
I have always thought that the police knew exactly what happened that 4th July morning but they have no proof.
I checked the BBC news on the internet when I got to my office that morning. A young man was shot dead as he waited for his pickup for work on the Greystone Road in Antrim.
I thought back and remembered a couple of unusual things I had seen in Parkgate village as I drove to work early that morning. I contacted the police and notified them. It took the police a week to come and interview me and only after prompting by someone else.
8 years on...
No one has ever been found by the police to account for that crime.
I have always thought that the police knew exactly what happened that 4th July morning but they have no proof.
Thursday 2nd July - rain rain rain rain sun
After 4 days of continuous rain, we have a sunny day. It was at 19 degrees in mid-afternoon. The rain was very welcome but a smaller quantity would have done!!
When it rains, small showers just run off the hard surface so it is good that we get a good soaking at least once a winter. It is wierd to stand in six inches of water and see cracks at least 2 inches wide in the ground!!!! The remnants of the droughts in late 2009 and early 2009!
All we need is some overnight warmth and the grass will grow!
When we have rain in winter, it snows in the mountains about 20 miles inland... On a sunny day like today they are absolutely beautiful covered in white!
When it rains, small showers just run off the hard surface so it is good that we get a good soaking at least once a winter. It is wierd to stand in six inches of water and see cracks at least 2 inches wide in the ground!!!! The remnants of the droughts in late 2009 and early 2009!
All we need is some overnight warmth and the grass will grow!
When we have rain in winter, it snows in the mountains about 20 miles inland... On a sunny day like today they are absolutely beautiful covered in white!
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