My violent wife

We went for a little bushwalk today (or was it a tramp?) at Hakarimata Scenic Reserve near Ngauruwahia (details in a later post!). Mel decided to try wearing her boots that she hasn't worn for a long, long time... and within the space of the rather short walk that we did, she managed to rip the sole completely off one boot and half off the other one! These boots are about 7-8 years old now, but still, we weren't particularly impressed that the sole had completely disintegrated - they haven't had all that much use really!

Now she wants to get new ones so we can go on our family tramping trips...

24 hour hedgehog care finished

Took the hedgehog to the vet, they happily took it and I don't have to do anything more. They didn't say whether it was going to live or die, but I'm happy as it is now not my decision.

Hedgehog update...

After a call to the SPCA and some more googling here's what I've found out:

• vets will assess hedgehogs for free as they are classed as 'wildlife'
• the SPCA will not euthanase the hedgehog just because it is a 'pest'
• although hedgehogs are an introduced species and have a large impact of New Zealand's ecology there is very little in the way of a management or eradication plan (except for the gulf islands)

So after school/kindy pick up today I'm going to take it to a vet.

Ben telling his class about the hedgehog.

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The Hedgehog roadshow

The Hedgehog that we rescued yesterday is doing the rounds of school and kindy today. It spent the morning at school in Ben's class - the teacher changed the whole program of the day to 'Hedgehog day'. Then this afternoon it is at kindy with Joanna - they have a cool clear perspex observation box to put animals in (it has ventilation), so they can all have a good close up look.

Hedgehog details

When we got home from school/kindy pick up this afternoon I noticed that the bird netting over our berry garden. I went over to investigate and discovered a hedgehog with bird netting twisted around it's neck. Before I tried to free it, I got my leather garden gloves on to protect my hands from the spikes. And because of all those spikes tangled up it the netting, there was now way I was going to be able to untwist it...I needed to cut it out. So I cut the bird netting around it and then took it over to our steps where I could sit down and start the careful task of snipping through the strands of the netting that were wrapped around its' neck (that is what the white stuff is in the photos). The problem was it kept on curling itself up into a ball whenever I touched it so although it was easy to cut through all the strands at the back of the neck, it took a while and a fair bit of manual persuasion to get it out from under its' neck.

It is now sitting in a box in our lounge. We don't want to keep it as a pet and we don't particularly want to reintroduce it to the wild as it is an introduced species which has a devastating affect on the NZ ecosystem as there are no predators to keep their numbers down. So we are going to ring the SPCA tomorrow (NZ version of RSPCA) and see if they will take it and humanely euthenase it (I did google to see if we could euthenase it ourselves - seeing as we have done that with our sick chook - but they are very difficult to humanely euthenase using physical methods and we don't own any anesthetising drugs etc. to do it chemically ).

hedgehog size

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hedgehog trapped in our garden

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Going crackers

After last week's near famine in the morning tea department, I spent an hour this morning making 4 batches of snack crackers. I made a different flavour for each batch:

• poppy seed (made this flavour the first time)
• coriander seed (I think i need to crush the seeds a little first)
• cheese and onion (these turned out great - I used dried onion and a combination of some grated edam and parmesan cheese)
• lime and black pepper (a bit too peppery - I'll use a bit less than 1tbsp of whole peppercorns next time)

So there will be no shortage of crackers to have crackers and cheese or dip for at least the next couple of weeks.

i felt like i was young again...

This morning we went cruising the bushwalking gear shops (since we moved to Hamilton both a macpac and mountain designs have opened). There are 3 located in the one shopping complex (the 2 mentioned before plus a Kathmandu) and as we were moving from store to store looking at cool bushwalking gear, it brought had memories of when we used to do the valley strip of bushwalking shops before we had kids.

Unfortunately the issue we had back then, is the same now...lots of cool stuff but we don't have the money to buy most of it and we don't go walking that often to justify the expense of a lot of the cool stuff.

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can't sleep

I'm trying to have an afternoon sleep (it was kindy disco last night, so i'm a bit tired). BUT keep getting woken up/interrupted! Peter asking about ingredients for his curry, phone call about kids church, kids coming in to see what I'm up to... so l've given up.

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Where's winter?

We've been finding winter pretty mild so far this year (well, this morning was a touch brisk at 1C, but overall, mild!). One of the reasons for that is that we now have insulation in the roof, meaning the house is a bit easier to heat. The other reason is that minimum temperatures just haven't got that cold yet. I had a look at NIWAs database to see if it really is warmer than previous years. As a rough guide, I picked the date of the first frost. I've taken this to be an air temperature below zero, even though frost might form on the ground with an air temp just above zero (the ground can be a couple of degrees colder, at least partly depending on moisture levels). So, the dates of the first frosts for the last 10 years, in Hamilton city (not out at the airport - it's colder out there!):

• 2001: 17/5
• 2002: 17/7
• 2003: 14/5
• 2004: 8/4
• 2005: 22/4
• 2006: 17/5
• 2007: 29/5
• 2008: 7/5
• 2009: 10/4
• 2010: 18/3
• 2011: ? Haven't had one yet!

So, 2002 was a very late one, but otherwise, it's typically around the middle of May. And this year is mild. At least so far. We do definitely get frost every year, so it's going to come sometime... even if it is in July!

PS: maximum temperatures have been reasonably typical for winter (around 15 most days, sometimes colder)

Winter has arrived

After only commenting last weekend that it was the middle of June and we had yet to experience classic Hamilton winter weather...this week has definitely been winter weather. Three out of 5 days this week have been cold, bleak, and grey cloud all day. It is currently 9.4C outside and the kids rooms (without any form of heating currently turned on in them) are 14C. We have the living room at 20C thanks to the heatpump (reverse cycle air conditioner) being on all morning (and it looks like it will need to stay on all day today.

Rice pudding

Peter made rice pudding for dessert last night (there's a 'rice pudding' feature in the latest Donna Hay magazine), it was great...sweet, warm, gooey, and creamy. I used to love rice pudding for dessert as a child, but the only time I remember cooking it (I think I was a teenager at the time, still living at home), I remember it taking a long time and I had to stand there the whole time stirring it to make sure it didn't stick to the bottom of the pot - which was a lot of effort and time to commit to making it. Well the Donna Hay recipe is quick and easy...all you have to do is heat the milk (to boiling point), add the rice and then stick a lid o n and leave it for 20 minutes...come back and there is a pot of sweet, warm, gooey, creamy rice pudding. Peter and I just ate it totally plain (although there is about 6 flavour variations in the magazine). We will definitely be eating it again a number of times while the cold weather is around.

Photos

I got the camera out yesterday afternoon and was playing about with it with the kids. Joanna was in a particularly obliging 'pose for the camera' mood.

Here's a picture of each of them.

If you want to see more, they're on flickr...

Ants are gone!

We've had an ant problem in our kitchen for a couple of months. I'd tried to get rid of them with ant bait gel (the stuff that the ants take back to the nest...kills the queen...ant's disappear), but it just didn't work. There'd be a stack of them on the bench, we'd clean them up, and they'd be back again. And then a couple of days ago, they started getting into the bin in which we collect the scraps for the compost/bokashi. So it was time to attack with all guns blazing - 'Professional strength NO MORE BUGS'...and they are Gone! I haven't seen a single ant today. I'm glad the battle is over.

Clips

I'm re-entering the world of pretty but practical hair accessories for Naomi. As she was born with a head of hair, I started using hair clips from a very early age to keep the hair out of her eyes. But as she got a bit older she just kept pulling them out and they didn't stay in for more than 2 seconds so it defeated the purpose as her hair was still always in her eyes. So if you looked at the fine detail in photos of her for the past 6 months or so, you would have seen that I swapped to using hair ties to tie it back (there was a transition period of using a hair tie and clip to hold it out the way). Now that she is older I'm giving hair clips a go again, as they do look nicer than a plain hair tie (and there is no chance of the 'hair stick out the side of the head' problem that happens with the hair ties at times). The clips are definitely staying in longer - long enough for them to be an effective way of keeping the hair out of her eyes, and as the novelty wears off I hope the only time they will come out is when it is time to take it out or it falling out due to vigorous activity (which is Joanna's problem). And she is an accessories girl (whenever we enter a pumpkin patch store she goes straight to the accessories display and selects at bag and hat/headband/jewelry to wear around the store), so likes to look at and wear all the pretty clips.

Crisis averted

Peter got time to bake some biscuits last night so there is food for morning tea.

Although we now have 2 different sorts of biscuits as the biscuits I'd baked on Monday and banned from lunchboxes because I was planning to take them to bible study this morning are still sitting in their box as I didn't go to Bible study this morning as I'm still feeling a bit too sick.

Frustrated...

Now that Naomi is out of the 'baby' stage and the other two kids have demonstrated the ability to walk reasonable distances (through their overnight walks with Peter), my motivation/interest in going bush walking as a family has been rekindled strongly.

So I've been sourcing some decent, but cheap 2nd hand hiking boots for the kids off TradeMe (Ben has a pair now and so does Naomi - not that she will be doing much walking on tracks just yet) and also looking out for some decent, cheap 2nd hand waterproof jackets (not as necessary, but helpful for those days where it is just drizzling very lightly or there are short light showers, so still pretty decent walking weather, as long as you can keep dry).

The kids are quite keen on bush walking too, they enjoy exploring new places and especially sleeping in huts. Our calendar we bought for this year happens to be a 'Tramping in New Zealand' themed one (it has cool pictures) and each month they want to know where the picture is (the calendar also includes a little map each month showing where the bush walking track is that the picture was taken on) which is soon followed by the comment 'I want to go there'.

We are planning a trip to the northern end of the South Island early next year and are staying in Deparment of Conservation (they manage the bushwalking stuff/bush camping stuff) campsites and are planning to do a few walks (including one that is currently this months picture on the calendar!).

Now back to the reason I've titled this post 'Frustrated'...

The reason is because although I am excited/motivated to get out bush walking with the family, it isn't possible while I continue to be perpetually sick at the moment. Another frustration is the weather - winter in Waikato involves a lot of rainy days. It's not rainy all day everyday (today is a nice fine sunny day), but the number of Saturdays suitable for bush walking is small. And the final frustration is 'cost'. Just walking along the track doesn't cost anything, but it costs (petrol) to drive to the walk and with the cost of petrol here at the moment (I paid $2.09/L this week), the extra petrol used to go bush walking is significant.

Good day

Even though I'm sick, I have had a good day. Because all us girls are sick, I've been able to sit around all day relaxing. I've been able to spend a few hours lazily make my way through the latest edition of the Donna Hay magazine, sitting in a comfy armchair.

Hidden gems

With me and the girls being sick at the moment (mine being a seemingly perpetual cold for the past 3 weeks or more), we haven't being keeping on top of our normal baking to provide food for the kids (and peter's) morning teas. Which has meant Peter and I have been going on search and rescue expeditions into the freezer to find morning tea treats that have gone into hiding. And we have found some gems...Ben got a homemade chocolate brownie for morning tea today - this is a real treat for him, as he doesn't usually get foods so high in chocolate for morning tea; and I found some homemade scones (I don't usually have morning tea, but I've been treating myself why I sick and stuck at home with sick kids).

Winter...

Went for a run after church today - about 16km. Anyway, we've had a bit of rain the last few days, so I took a few photos of the river so you can see how it rises: there's a set of steps at the end of the jetty that go down into the river usually!

And, isn't the Waikato beautiful in winter? Look at the blue sky, the green grass, the clear air...

I have been slack...very slack

Just cleaned out the fruit and vege drawer in the fridge. It hasn't been done for quite a while (the last time I cleaned out the fridge I ran out of time to do the fruit and vege drawer). It was disgusting - 1/4 full of fruit and veges in advanced states of decomposition (not just a little bit of mould) and 1/8 full of things not fit for human consumption (ie. starting to go mouldy).

Nice and cozy...

Yesterday, we finally finished installing the insulation in our roof. It feels good to have finished what has been a challenging task at times (squeezing into very small, tight spaces). And although we haven't had many really cold nights yet (and no really, really, cold nights yet), we have noticed on those nights, that the heaters in the kids rooms don't need to be turned up anywhere near as warm as we were having to last year to keep their rooms at 18C (we learnt last year that WHO states that inside living temperature for general health [with specific benefits to respiratory health and rest] is 18C and at the lowest 16C for any length of time.)

We've only just finished the stuff in the living/dining room ceiling so have yet to find out what we notice in relation to evening temperatures (when we're sitting around after the kids are in bed) or morning temperatures (when we first get up in the morning) after a cold night.

Queens Birthday

Here in NZ, we had a public holiday today. The kids were very appreciative of the extra day in the weekend and wanted to know why we had the holiday. We told them it was the Queens Birthday holiday (which it is!). Ben then asked if we were having cake, seen as it's a birthday and all... which sounded like a good idea to us...

It's June

And I'm sitting here in shorts and a T-shirt with no shoes on. We haven't had a heater on all day. One of the following must be true:

1. Our new insulation is doing a marvellous job.
2. I'm just really tough.
3. I'm just really crazy.
4. Winter is really yet to arrive.

I think it's the last one.

We have a golfer!

At the park we went to yesterday there's a mini-golf course. On the way home, I tried to explain to Ben how golf worked - he's never really seen it before. Anyway, this afternoon he wanted to go outside and play with a ball, and wanted something different (he wanted netball or soccer actually!), so I suggested how about golf. We don't have any golf clubs in our house, so I had to make one... and we weren't about to make holes in our garden, so we had to improvise:

PS: I think it must be a video weekend or something!

Here we go again...

Yesterday, I did my first session of serious planning/preparing materials for Kids church next term. We are going to be looking at Colossians. So far it seems to be going quicker than the last couple of terms (maybe because I'm getting more practised/getting more of a rhythm to the whole process).

Planning ahead...

While waiting to fall asleep last night (which I found rather difficult - it was the 1st night in a week that I hadn't had the assistance of an antihistamine to induce sleep), I realised that our really busy half of the year is about to start (as it has been for the past 3 years). It starts with Peter's birthday at the end of this month; school holidays in July; then we have both Joanna's birthday and our annual snow holiday in August; followed soon after by 3 weeks back in Brisbane for holiday/work (QCS marking); October is more school holidays and Naomi's birthday; November is Ben's birthday and mine and then as you are all aware December is school holidays and Christmas.

Some videos...

Took the kids to the park yesterday afternoon... and took some video on my phone. Dodgy quality, but that's not really the point is it:

performance

Joanna performed in an impromptu performance during mat time at kindy last week.

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Soup

I'm enjoying soup season at the moment (I might get sick of them as it will be soup weather here until November!). It is great being able to stick a bunch of ingredients in a pot and in a matter of 30min max, have a great tasting soup (I've been using Donna Hays '25 Fast soup' recipes from her winter magazine last year). They are an easy way to have a meal that is packed full of veggies without you really noticing it. Soups are also great for making double quantity and freezing half to use as an easy meal later. I'm also going to use some of the halves to give to a couple of friends who are pregnant and due in the next couple of months.

The soups I've been making include:

• tomato, salami and chickpea soup
• honey-roasted parsnip soup
• asian chicken and corn soup
• sweet potato and chickpea soup
• pea, spinach and ham soup
• tomato soup with meatballs