EXERCISE CLASS

 Parkinson's Northland organises many different exercise classes - as well as the Walking Group there is a singing group as people with Parkinson's need voice exercises, hydrotherapy, physiotherapy, tai chi, ballroom dancing and the one I went to today "Movement for PD" which is an exercise class to music.  It was being discussed on Monday after our walk so I decided to give it a go.

I had thought I may be stiff after stacking the firewood yesterday but I feel good and found the exercise class really relaxing.  It was just for an hour ($2.00) and, as long as I don't have appointments on Thursdays I plan on continuing.

Doug says his feet are a lot better and he is working on a garden seat that had seen better days.

We have just received a lovely card from the Vets which read:

Thinking of you both after the sad loss of Kim

 Especially as it came so soon after Sophie.

It is lovely to get such a personal card. 

GOUT AND FIREWOOD.

 Gout and firewood are not a good combination but Doug has gout again.  He has not been eating, or drinking, rich foods.  Anyway, the firewood man phoned this morning as he had a load for us.  He and his mate arrived at about 11 a.m.

Doug had been ordered to keep his feet up today and, it must have been painful, because he did.  I was told not to stack the wood but with rain in the forecast I took no notice and a little at a time I loaded it into my wheelbarrow, wheeled it to the shed and stacked it.  I did some before lunch, some after lunch then had a break and have just stacked the last of it.

Doug has conceded that it was a job well done.

BEACH ROAD, ONERAHI.

A beautiful day, yesterday, for our Parkinson's walk along Beach Road, Onerahi.

Coming back, I took a photo of the houses that look over the harbour.

ANOTHER FANTAIL

For Doug's birthday last month his youngest daughter gave him a hanging Fantail.  We had decided where it should be installed and yesterday, I suggested it may be time to make a "hangman's frame" for it.  About an hour or so later it was all ready for hanging.  It swings around giving one different views of the Fantail.  We had another small steel fantail so Doug hammered it into the post.

It has been a beautiful day today and we both got jobs done in the garden and enjoyed Moroccan flavoured slow cooked lamb chops for lunch on the deck.

The sad part has been putting away Kim's blankets etc. and having her special door to her little deck permanently closed.  

ANOTHER SAD DAY

I have mentioned recently that Kim the Cat has not been well and we knew it was only a matter of time.  This morning, after breakfast we decided that time had come (I won't go into the details of what caused us to make this decision).  

We phoned the vets and I sat with Kim until we took her in at 11.45.  Unfortunately, Natalie, the vet had not been told why Kim was there and, when she asked it was all I could do to say Euthanasia.  Both Natalie and Andrew are lovely people and great vets and Kim just went to sleep quietly.  She is now buried here in the garden.

Max and I chose Kath (in my header photo) and Kim in May 2005 and they were a few months old at the time so Kim would have been 16.  We had been through a lot together with Max getting dementia, then going into care and finally his death.  Max chose Kath and I chose Kim and Kath was always his cat and Kim mine.  As usual, she slept on the bottom of my bed last night and only came up to give me a purr once she knew I was awake.  

There is a big void - R.I.P my faithful friend.

WEDNESDAY

 Yes, it is Wednesday, I find since Lockdown that I am not always sure which day it is.  Anyway, in spite of black clouds in the distance it was a lovely sunny 24 degree day here and, after breakfast I did some gardening,  digging up a plant that was a bit straggly and spreading (I got it from Garden Club when I belonged and never knew the name).  In its place went one of the "daisies" I had potted up.  I then pruned two of the three N.S.W. Waratahs.   Luckily, the men arrived with the firewood at that stage so I left the third Waratah for another day. I like to get them pruned early otherwise they grow too straggly.  They look a lot better.  There were two small late flowers that I picked and put in a vase.

Once the firewood had been delivered (about 11 a.m.) we went across the road to our neighbours to celebrate his 90th birthday with a cup of tea and some cake and we spent an enjoyable couple of hours chatting.  The family are coming at the weekend for the main celebration.

While I got lunch Doug started moving the firewood to the shed and after lunch we finished it between us (me filling the wheelbarrows and Doug unloading and stacking) and it was done in no time.  Since then I have caught up on some computer work and put my feet up for half an hour reading although I must admit to falling asleep.  I awoke to the lovely sound of rain and, although it is forecast to stop overnight it should then go on for a few days hopefully.

TUESDAY ALREADY

The time has just flown.  Of course, Saturday was a momentous day here as Jacinda was re-elected.  I gather our electorate had the closest result with the incumbent National Party candidate having 179 more votes than the Labour Party candidate so it will be determined by the Special Votes and we will not know the final result for another ten days.

On Sunday we were quite tired after all the rushing around on Saturday getting the trailer sorted but we did get some seeds and seedlings in the ground.

On Monday we went on the Parkinson Walk in the morning.  It was the same walk Doug and I did alongside the river last week although we went as far as the Falls this time and came across this little fellow who appeared to be on his own.

When Doug and I did the walk last week we only went as far as the swing bridge.

After the walk we always go for a coffee and chat and then Doug and I went into town to de-register the trailer.  There was a very long queue of people mainly for driving licenses.  Anyway, we were told that a cheque will be in the mail for the money I had paid for next year's registration which surprised me as cheques seem to be a thing of the past and the payment for the trailer was made directly to our account.

By the time we had sorted it out it was nearly 1 p.m. so we decided to have lunch down at the Town Basin and then had a couple more jobs to do including taking my phone in for repair as it has been shutting down.

We were both shattered by the time we got home.  Today we did more work in the garden and I discovered that some of the lettuce seedlings that I had planted  had been attacked by birds.  This is the worst one.  I had just been talking to a neighbour who had this trouble but as I planted these seedlings in amongst other lettuce plants that were o.k. I didn't think I would have trouble.

In the afternoon we went  to get some grain for the birds and timber before picking up my phone which is now working properly.

We also had a phone call asking if we wanted some more firewood (it was 24 degrees C. today) but we said yes and it will be delivered in the morning.  So tomorrow will be spent at home (hopefully) apart from going across the road for a cuppa with a neighbour who is turning 90.

TRAILER RECALL

 

Yesterday, Doug's car and trailer went for their Warrants of Fitness.  There was no problem with the car but the trailer had been recalled by Bunnings.  Apparently, bolts had been used where it should have been welded to attach the towbar.  Doug bought this trailer in 2007 for just under $1,000.  We contacted Bunnings and were told to take it in to the nearest store so that is what we did this morning after our usual trip to the market and supermarket and then breakfast.  We wondered how much we would get as a refund after all this time and were pleased to receive $1400.00.  

I had just registered it so on Monday we need to go and de-register it and, hopefully, get a refund of the annual registration fee.  We will then need to find a new trailer to buy.

NEW POTTING AREA

Doug had various pieces of old timber stacked away so, yesterday, he made the legs and frame for a potting table for me.

Today, we  moved it next to the new tank and Doug fixed an old door on top and voila, a new potting bench nice and handy to water and tucked away out of sight.

A CAT, A WALK AND TWO PIGS

I have been worried about Kim the Cat for a while now.  She has had bowel issues  and last time I took her to the vet she said it could be a tumour but gave her some antibiotics and other tablets (forget what they were now).  Anyway, she seemed to get a bit better for a while.  At breakfast today we decided it would be an idea to take her back to the vets.  I phoned them and was told there was an appointment in 15 minutes so everything stopped and we got there just in time.  We saw the other vet  and his diagnosis is the same but he told us that it is not painful and she should be alright until she either refuses to eat or loses control.  She eats and drinks a lot and is still losing weight but seems happy.  Since we lost Sophie she has blossomed and roams the whole house whereas before she kept to "her half".  The vet did give her a steriod injection that should last five days and said that if it helps I can get some tablets to give her so we shall see.  The main thing is that she is not in pain.  She is sitting with me now.

We took her home and did a couple of jobs then headed out to check the walk from A.H. Reed Park to the Whangarei Falls for the Parkinson group as we have not done that since the July Floods.  It is a beautiful day and we enjoyed getting out for the walk.

This is the wash station for boots to help stop kauri dieback spreading.

This is some corrugated iron from a shed that had been destroyed in the floods.  There were a lot of trees uprooted.

This is a lovely old chestnut tree.

On the way back we came across this pair of Captain Cooker pigs that must have escaped from a nearby property.  They were very tame.  I phoned the council to let them know.

MUCH NEEDED RAIN

It has been a day of good steady rain, not too heavy but just nice for the garden.  We went to Doug's eldest daughter's for lunch - barely a ten minute walk - but drove because the rain was a bit heavier then.  Apart from that we have not done a lot. A lovely relaxing day with plenty of reading.  Just what was needed.

If you enlarge the photo you can see the rain slanting down.  Not a good day for the rubbish collectors.  Forecast is back to dry tomorrow for the next nine days so should be able to get back into the garden.

WARO LAKE

The forecast was for rain and that is what we woke to this morning and when we set off to Hikurangi there was a light misty rain but luckily it stopped by the time we started our walk and we just had one short burst of rain.  There were nine of us today - the rain forecast had put some off.  WARNING - LOTS OF PHOTOS

Some flax flowers just opening

It is a lovely mown path

After walking around the lake we walked around the rocks

 and had some company - I also saw just one Canada Goose in the distance

some Valerian growing on the rocks

It is a while since we have done this walk and it is always enjoyable.  We than headed to a very pleasant cafe in Hikurangi and were joined by another member of the group and his daughter.  He has been in hospital so it was good to see him and we hope it won't be too long before he can join us for the walks once again.

The walk is not as picturesque as the lovely English walks but was still very pleasant.