Good evening folks. At the end of another week, and I've missed so many opportunities for blog posts, but real life continues to take precedence. That's sort of good but also sort of frustrating as I do enjoy the odd rant. No doubt fresh material will continue to arrive on my doorstep next week, so I'm not too worried.
I'm looking at the window right now at the most amazing of sunsets, coming at the end of a perfect day on the Kapiti Coast weather-wise. I've spent the last day of my holiday time building a retaining wall and fence, and the progress has been slow, but steady. It's been a project with my 13 year old son helping, and he's done a great job and shown keen interest in the entire building process. Alas, I have little experience in this domain, so I could only share with him my ignorance, but have at least conveyed that determination and a little bit of thought can be a suitable enough justification to give the project a go, and the end result is hopefully, a serviceable product (the wall and fence) and a heap of experience that will place us in good stead for the next project. And I guess that's where ambition comes in. We have much choice and and many options to keep us busy in the future.
And hopefully, I'll find time to blog about the latest on the ETS (all bad) and Turia and Key instigating a new welfare delivery system especially for Maori (not that they admit that they are trying to construct a welfare system based entirely on race) and at first glance, I'm thinking it's not going to end well. What do you guys think? It's Friday evening, so thinking is optional - you may prefer instead to ponder issues of great cuisine. Drop in and say hello. I'll be checking in later and might even find a suitable joke or pun, as tradition merits.
I'm looking at the window right now at the most amazing of sunsets, coming at the end of a perfect day on the Kapiti Coast weather-wise. I've spent the last day of my holiday time building a retaining wall and fence, and the progress has been slow, but steady. It's been a project with my 13 year old son helping, and he's done a great job and shown keen interest in the entire building process. Alas, I have little experience in this domain, so I could only share with him my ignorance, but have at least conveyed that determination and a little bit of thought can be a suitable enough justification to give the project a go, and the end result is hopefully, a serviceable product (the wall and fence) and a heap of experience that will place us in good stead for the next project. And I guess that's where ambition comes in. We have much choice and and many options to keep us busy in the future.
And hopefully, I'll find time to blog about the latest on the ETS (all bad) and Turia and Key instigating a new welfare delivery system especially for Maori (not that they admit that they are trying to construct a welfare system based entirely on race) and at first glance, I'm thinking it's not going to end well. What do you guys think? It's Friday evening, so thinking is optional - you may prefer instead to ponder issues of great cuisine. Drop in and say hello. I'll be checking in later and might even find a suitable joke or pun, as tradition merits.
Yeah, no blogging for me this week, either. I've been flat out pruning and weeding the front garden. Kind of looks like I've demolished it now that autumn is in and the roses are hardly blooming .. but, oh well, I've been thinking how to fill it out with new plants.
ReplyDeleteOnly one more week of the school holidays to go and I've got the back garden to do next. Pray for good weather!
For me a quicky tonight: crumbed Tarakihi fillets (fresh crumbs of course, with plenty curry powder) with steamed broccoli and a tartare sauce, spruced up with a good dollop of wasabi. 10 minutes work, enjoyed with an ice cold Sauvignon.
ReplyDeleteHello ... wife is out for the night & I have to confess, I strayed ... 2 dozen Bluff oysters & 2 snapper fillets & all washed down ... albeit delicately so, with a Marlborough savvy.
ReplyDeletemmm ... there used to be an advt. ... when you have van Hartog, you need nothing else ... I understand that sentiment now.
& colour can be important Zen, aesthetics of environs & all ... not sure it relates strongly to faring well tho, nor really sure that black or brown cows emit less methane than the more light coloured numbers, nor that Key & Turia really be a match made in heaven ... mmm so much to ponder.
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ReplyDeleteBez, that sounds very yummy! I was going to cook a spicy carrot soup tonight, but I'm resorting to takeaway vegetarian iskander from the local Assyrian kebab shop.
ReplyDeleteI'm just too tired to cook. Well, cook and do the dishes. By hand, as the dishwasher is broken and we can't afford a new one right now.
Lucia, about dishwashers, I almost bet you have one of those "dishdrawers". The bl... things always break down. We had one that had to be fixed so often that F&P sent us a new one for free, but that wasn't any better. Gave the thing away and installed a Bosch, it was dearer but washes better and just keeps going without flashing all these fault codes at you every day.
ReplyDeleteEvening all. Well done on the wall Zen. Nothing like building something yourself. Did a 30m fence with my dad once and it was fun.
ReplyDeleteLucia - we had our dw broken for about 4 months. Actually rather nice doing them by hand. Best bit about a dw is that it gets the dishes out of the way. Apparently there are stats which say households without a diswasher talk more????
Well, she does do quite a bit of the talking...
ReplyDeleteEvening all. School holidays and not a teacher or student in sight - bliss! More work done in 3 days than in the last 3 weeks... doesn't leave time for blogging or reading blogs but that's what the weekend is for.
ReplyDeleteOff to a French fair tomorrow - should be a bit of a lark.
If any of you guys had the chance to button hole (is that the right saying?) an Minister of the crown and senior National party MP tomorrow what would you like to give him an earful about?
ReplyDeleteThe list of disappointments is long and I cannot work out what is the most pressing thing I want to have a crack at the man about.
Any suggestions?
Evening all. It is heartening to see our visitors enjoying such fine food.
ReplyDeleteWe say grace at every meal, and being thankful for food on the table and the family gathered around is a sentiment I have carried with me for many years, a prayer or not.
Ozy, the congratulations is a little premature. I was loose with the details - the wall is well underway, but not yet complete. Seems to be going ok though, and is quite a rewarding exercise. Hopefully, tomorrow will see another major chunk completed, but I think the retainer, the wall itself and the wooden fence that goes above it will drag on to the next week-end. All good fun though.
Agree Mojo, I would have thought colour blindness a necessary attribute for delivery of care and transformation. Although the new approach is supposed to be the magic trick. From what I gather it works like this:
Turia Government: we normally give you $200 a week, but now you get to tell us what you need.
Under-trodden Family: Can we have a job where we are on $150K pa, and only need to work 3 days a week, and can we have the house sorted and the kids given a private tutor?
Turia Government: Sure, no problem, I have this big bucket of cash which never ends, and it will solve all problems for us.
BB, that is a tough ask, because as you say, it's easy to build a long list.
ReplyDeleteTwo that spring to mind are:
1. We haven't forgotten that you completely ignored the smacking referendum, and do they realise that people that voted for them will now assume that if an 88% result means you still feel like you can thumb your noses at the electorate, that I'm, unlikely to vote National in the next election?
The question would be: All excuses and reasons offered for ignoring this result were pathetic. So what's the real reason? Does the UN have John Key by the short and curlies? Tell him a problem shared is a problem halved.
You might also point out that other questions might have been forthcoming, but the general impression is from this example is that National wont actually listen.
Question 2: What is the real urgency for pushing through the ETS? Before we get into the actual uselessness of the actual legislation (other than the "international perceptions" by not falling into line with a promise to pay a world tax to the world tax collectors) can they articulate why this needs to be instigated before yet another tonne of information comes out about just how wrong some of the global warming propaganda has been (statistically, we are due for another big disclosure that the "evidence" is even more disputable in spite of Al Gore and others insisting the science is settled.)
But you might get further if you ask them what century they plan on sorting these inhumane battery farm cage sizes and so forth - chickens don't vote, but someone might write a computer program to register them as voters, and then they would be screwed, so it's not worth keeping all their eggs in one basket, and they should feather their nest with better legislation or they will lose the goose that lays the golden egg.
Zen
ReplyDeleteGiven that before anything else (save my family) I am an animal lover then your last suggestion is what I will go with.
I note that close up had a piece on pigs in crates tonight, I just cannot bring myself to watch that stuff as it would ruin the rest of my weekend.
Many thanks, I hope I can corner the sod so I can raise more issues with him but I suspect he will try and wriggle out before I can really unload on the guy, however, I will indeed make sure I quiz him about the ETS and animal cruelty.
I want to know how long I have to wait for my promised service medal!
ReplyDeleteZen, send me a design sketch and I can tell you if it will stand up or will stand up or not. Give me the location of the water table and soil type (sand/clay/sandy clay) and I can give you the failure plane. :)
ReplyDeleteor I can just send you the notes and you can work it out :)
That's very kind of you Ciaron, thank you. I've continued on with my project in the meantime, on the basis that because the wall isn't very high, it wont have far to fall if it all goes south, and I'll use it as a footpath by the next wall I build :-)
ReplyDeleteI could take a few photos and do a sketch - but couldn't see your email link on your blogger profile.
I suppose I could post a photo on the blog, but that would be risking exposing my rudimentary building skills to ridicule :-) Maybe a long distant shot when the light looks right?