Saturday Stuff

Saturday turned out to be a pleasant sunny introduction to the weekend. While the girls busied themselves with processing a batch of Chartwell peaches, Clayton and Tyler tackled the much-dreaded clean-up of pine branches on the verge in Kents Road.

(Above) Peeling, slicing and dicing was step one. The peels and off-cuts served as a juicy refreshment for the G-Men of Goat Hill, with peach juice and saliva running down their chins.

(Above): The stages of peach processing, with the pots steaming up a peach storm

 
(Above): The smaller off-cuts were used in an aromatic spicy Peach jam on the left, while the larger slices were destined to become peach preserve. Canned peaches in jars, if you will. Nice and soft and juicy, fresh from the tree.

 
(Above): Canned and sealed hot in the jars: Four pots of peach preserve, and (front) one jar of peach jam.

While all this cutting and processing was going on in the kitchen, cutting of a very different sort was happening outside on the pavement verge. Readers will recall that the pine trees along the perimeter of the S-bend in Kents Road have been trimmed of the overhanging branches and stray low-level shoots. They remained on the ground as and where they were cut and fell to rest.

It was now a task of cutting the branches into handleable sized pieces for burning once the wood is dry enough. It must also be transported off the public property and inside the Chartwell grounds for temporary storage.

(Above): The ride-on mower with off-road trailer being loaded with branch trimmings, to be transported inside the property for storage. Its a huge job, seemingly never-ending.

(Above): A load entering the driveway, destined for the area just north of the veggie patch.

(Above): Brynn enjoying a ride with Dad.

(Above) The boys also helped the neighbour across the way, who was busy moving their (residential) bus from one paddock to a location closer to their house. Moving six tons of furnished bus with flat tyres is certainly no easy feat. The gang of bulls stand watching with amazement and great interest.

(Above): Tyler accompanies yet another load of cut branches to the storage depot.

Timber!

The property belonging to our neighbours across the way borders on the right bank of the Waikanae River, with a long row of extremely tall pines growing along a vertical erosion cliff. Having been planted many years ago, and now in 2014 the trees are clinging to the top edges of the sheer precipice, presenting a possible danger to people, property and the bridge over Kents Road.

I cannot even imagine the cost of felling and removing these giants, but I understand that the lumberjack will do all the work, the cutting and removal of the timber (for sale as firewood), and you may even get some change or firewood out of the deal.

The guy appointed, Richard, will be busy for three to four months. Here are some pics of his activities:

Richard’s office. A beautiful sylvan setting, but running a heavy chain-saw man-alone all day cannot be that much fun!

The “biscuits” (round wheelie sections of tree trunk) are further sliced and diced into fire-place sized pieces and loaded onto the back of the truck by conveyor. Who handles this department? Yes, you guessed – Richard – the fellow in the red overall.

A lumberjack’s (in this case, lumberdick’s) work is never done

Slicing the trunk into biscuits. What a mouthful…

Al la Biscuits! Ready for slicing and dicing into manageable firewood.

He’s a Lumberjack!

He's a lumberjack, and he's okay,
He sleeps all night and he works all day.

I cut down trees, I eat my lunch,
I go to the lava-try.
On Wednesdays I go shoppin'
And have buttered scones for tea.

I cut down trees, I skip and jump,
I like to press wild flowers.
I put on women's clothing,
And hang around in bars.

A drawback of having a street-facing property bordered by tall pine trees is that the maintenance of the trees and the safety of passing motorists and pedestrians become your responsibility. Thus, yesterday afternoon, Bianca, Clayton and Tyler together with chainsaw, handsaw, secateurs and long-handled lopper, went down to the southern end of the grounds to attend to some of the overhanging branches and unruly overgrowth along the fence. I remained in the safety of the inside of the paddock and grabbled whatever was sawn off property-side.

It was only after the weary troops were returning to base camp to clean the cutting edges and to nurse the overheated chainsaw that I realised that the camera had not been present. It was therefore after the event that I took these photos.

Brynn had been building a castle with the fir branches and had incarcerated Bennie in the Tower of pines. Obedient Bennie seemed quite happy with the doll-house episode and snoozed without protest.

Along the inner fence, where once was a wilderness of overgrowth, I can see clearly now…

No longer will we run the risk of having our eyes poked out by stuff sticking out of the trunks. Thanks to Bianca, Clayton and Tyler. Not necessarily in that order.

The long and winding (Ngatiawa) Road

I try to follow the golden rule of remembering to carry a camera when strolling along in nature the road. When we went on a short stroll along Ngatiawa Road (east) this morning, I took it along, only to find that I’ve already photographed most of the noteworthy scenes.

Then I spotted the remains of the tree with which Richard the Woodcutter had almost blocked off Kents Road traffic: The photo does not do the height from which it fell any justice at all -  the top of that ridge is a good five/six storeys above the road. You don’t want to be standing here when he fells one of these pine giants! The ‘arrows’ sign has nothing to do with the tree-slide – it indicates the one-way narrow bridge over the river up ahead.

 

I looked around for more ordinary scenes, with these results:

Hi from Billy at the Ngatiawa/Kents T-junction

Lots of pretty weeds, seeds and wild flowers to be seen along the verge.

The winding road…

Mr Arachna designed his new home with one nice rectangular window. Then he got bored and made a whole bunch of funky odd-shaped ones.

The sun filtering through the trees at this peaceful scene with a wooden paddock gate.

The canopy above the road ahead creates a complete roof: ideal shelter if you get caught in an unexpected rain-shower.