We have just acquired another aviary, this one is going to be specifically for the Antips. 
Here is hoping that by the end of July, we will have a bird from Dunedin and one from Te Anau. 

Other things we have been doing, besides battling bugs and viruses…

Geckos
We’ve heard that the Geckos we’re getting have had their bums swabbed and this has been sent away to ensure that they are all healthy.  Once this is confirmed, then we should be a little closer to taking ownership of the four Geckos. 

Will keep you posted

Snow
Early in June (a Saturday afternoon) we had some Snow.  It wasn’t too much, perhaps an inch or so on the ground.  Yet it was cold enough for the snow to still be laying on the ground two days later.  On the Sunday when we went out to check on the birds in the outside aviaries, we discovered that a young Japanese Quail didn’t make it through the night.  Very sad for us.  We decided to bring the second baby inside, for a while.

All the other birds were fine and the dogs loved their first snow experience, running around like mad characters and eating the white stuff on the ground. 

Hedgehog
A week or so before the snow, Fiona was outside and discovered a little hedgehog in the flower beds.  After a little research, we learned that because of his size (about a tennis ball when rolled up) there was a chance that it wasn’t going to make it through the winter.  We also discovered that because it was found in the open during daylight, there was a chance that the little guy was probably sick too. 

It was brought inside and kept in the hospital box, until it was strong enough to start ripping all the paper up and tipping the water all over the place.  Fiona realised that it was probably trying to make a nest for the winter. 

We moved it into an old large cooler box with a little makeshift hut, food and water.  All the strips paper kept disappearing into the house, so it was definitely stronger.  We’ve noticed that it hasn’t gone on a full hibernation thing, because it keeps popping out every now and again for a feed. 

We’re confident that by Summer, we can let it go out into the garden again. 

St John Ambulance
Due to sickness we had to miss our interview session.  The interview session included a written section, numeric section and a fitness section.  We’re all set to go again in August. 

Search & Rescue
Over the last few months I, Erich, have been fully committed to this task.  After training, I am now a member of RT10 (Christchurch Response Team) and a member of RT12 (Waimakariri Response Team).  The reason for the cross-over between the two groups is because I work in Christchurch and live out in the Waimak area.  I figure if the proverbial hits the fan during the night or a weekend, then I will deploy with RT12 otherwise I will probably deploy with RT10.  Naturally it’s my hope that no incident is major enough for me to be required across both units, although I do have a priority of RT10 first. 

Until such time as the proverbial does hit the fan, we spend time training, learning and practicing. It’s great fun, I find that most times I am pushed to the edge of my comfort zones and even sometimes beyond – especially as I (used to) have a fear of heights.  However I think that I am slowly overcoming that phobia. 

Later Days

So Easter 2008, with Lauren at Youth Camp, Fiona and I decided to go camping over the weekend

One final time I double checked the weather forecast for the Arthur’s Pass region.  I was comfortable that the weather forecast was accurate, simply because so many people go tramping in that area and the weather can change rapidly.

The forecast was to clear up for Saturday and Sunday, with Friday being a little wet. By Friday afternoon we were well on our way to the mountains. Our intentions were to stay at one of the DOC camps (the department of conservation camps are classified as the bare essentials. i.e. long drop toilets, water from the nearest river and that’s it!) As we carved our way through the trees, I remember back to years ago when we went camping in the rain. At least our current tent is a little more water tight in the aspect that it hasn’t got any visible holes in it, but it hasn’t really been tested in the wet. We’ve done ten days in the rain, where the tent has successfully kept the rain in.

The further we headed into the mountains and the rain, the more we realised that a basic DOC camp was probably not going to be that enjoyable. Stopping at the information centre in Arthur’s Pass, we grabbed some brochures and found another “serviced” camp site. By serviced, it meant that not only were there showers there but they were serviced with hot water. And hot water was definitely something that we felt we were going to need after being in the wet for a while. With the rain falling harder, we asked if the camp had any lodges or anything like that. They said yes they only had one, and it was available, part of a large shed like thing. We took it and it was good, even with the kitchen window looking into the garage where the owners parked their boat.

Saturday arrived after a night of hard rain and winds. As “they” had forecast, it started to clear in the morning. We were now looking at a good blue skied day of tramping through the forests of Arthur’s Pass.

Our first tramp was going to take us up to the Devils Punchbowl waterfall. From the information kiosk the day before, we knew that the Devils waterfall was fed from a spring while the second intended walk, to the Bridal waterfalls, came from either rain or snow melting. Even though it had rained the day before, there still wasn’t enough running water to make it a decent viewing. The walk to the Devils waterfall was amazing. A lot of time had been put into making it a safe walk. It must have taken huge amounts of effort to build the steps and walkways to the waterfall. Even with the steps, it was a challenging experience for two unfit people like ourselves. Although watching some young dude (in jandals) running up and then back down the steps again. We have no idea, perhaps he was on a speed tour group or something. You know, one of those tour groups where you race from one place to another, only stopping to take a photo before racing on again. In years to come you settle down and remember the places you visited – briefly.

Next we were going to do a four hour tramp, but based on our fitness it would’ve probably been closer to five or six hours. Not un-doable, but probably not enough time in the day. Our aim for the weekend was enjoyment, not punishment. So we decided to do a shorter track and discovered the chasm walk. The very same walk where I tried a levitate trick which resulted in me landing flat on my back. (check out another entry for more on that).

By the time we got back to the camp site, I realised that as long as I didn’t sit or lay down, I was fine. So I did a little walking around the forest area around the camp site. It was scary to realise that how thick the bush is and how quickly a person can get lost in the thick forest. From what I saw most of the longer tramps are not marked with flags or poles. So you have to get a topography map, compass and really know what you’re doing.

All too soon it was time to head on home again. I knew that the drive was not going to be overly pleasant, having to sit for so long, however there was nothing that could be done about. One thing I do know is the Arthur’s pass area is an amazing area. I can understand why so many people head out there just so they can walk through the mountains and thick bush.

I know that there are going to be a lot more trips out to the mountains. At least I know where to get good weather reports and need to be careful on wet rocks.

Take care

later days

EsP

Our time in Arthur’s Pass was good. However this is covered in another Blog entry. None the less around lunch time we decided that we wanted a nice place to sit and eat. So far we hadn’t seen any benches around. The tramp that we had discussed doing was probably going to take us a little too long, so we opted for a shorter walk. The board said that it was only 30 minutes, which was not too bad. Lunch at the Chasm, how cool would that be?

The track cut through the damp forest in little up-down-zig-zag lines. I had already noticed something interesting as we walked through the forest. My boots seemed to be battling to grip onto the wet undergrowth. It wasn’t something that was too worrying, at the time, just something that surprised me. I had expected better grip. Perhaps I was confusing them with older boots that I used to have. Making a mental note, I wanted to check the underneath of the boots to see if they had anything on them about slip or grip. In my mind I had a visual of an oval yellow mark that proudly announced that the boots were skid proof.

Suddenly we were through the track, standing on the edge of the churning river as it bouldered over the rocks in its path. Fiona walked down to the edge of the river, probably looking for a place to sit on the rocks. The large rock I was standing on sloped down at about 45 degrees, although I wasn’t paying too much attention to that, I was looking at the water. Suddenly both my feet shot out from under me. The damp and sand between the soles of my boots and the rock proving to be my undoing.

Over the next split second, I probably hung around in the air before gravity kicked in and sucked me back down onto the face of the rock. My lower back hit first, followed by my upper back. I must have tried to roll to my left, because I had slight graze marks on the outside of my left knee. Once I had made contact with the rock, gravity continued to suck as it pulled me down the length of the rock, down to where Fiona was standing. It was also the first time that my hands came into contact with the rock.

The pain was… well… seriously painful. An explosion of thoughts went through me. The first was probably … crap the boots have no grip. Second was, don’t break the new watch (okay it’s not new, but Fiona got it for me a little while ago). This is probably why I twisted to my left. I also realised that if my back was seriously injured then there was going to be a huge problem. I knew that a search and rescue unit would take ages to get a stretcher through the forest. It was going to be painful as hell and there was no-way that I was going to go through that to get out. As someone that I work with always says, it was time to “man up”. (i.e. quit moaning and just get on and do it).

Taking a deep breath I stood up and started to pace back and forth over the rocks. In my mind I needed to find the focal point of the pain and concentrate on it, but the pain was all over the place. Thankfully Fiona was holding the camera when I fell, because the small binoculars that I was carrying, now lay on the rock. (Note to self, remember to check if they are damaged or not?) The pain was unbearable, but because there was nothing that I could do about or nothing that I could take, I had to just walk it off. Kind of reminded me about an article I read a few months ago. A man who was shot in South Africa was told (by his doctor) to stop complaining and simply to walk it off! And that’s what I had to do.

After a little while the next wave came crashing over me. Instead of seeing stars before me, I had small puffs of clouds swirling around me. Then the nausea kicked in. From my limited (or lack) of medical knowledge I know that I probably banged my brain around inside my skull. I hadn’t hit the rock with my head, but I watched a documentary on the discovery channel about someone who had their brain badly bruised from being banged on the inside of the skull. I figured that I hadn’t received so much abuse, but it was still unsettling. Fiona was concerned about me, but when I get into this kind of situation I tend to block out those around me and focus on things that I need to do. It’s second time I have experienced this, the other was when I was choking on a piece of meat – but that’s another story.

Telling Fiona I was okay, I get to the side of river and washed my face with the water. It was clean, fresh spring water. Ice cold, but good.

During the little time between the fall and eating lunch I had worked out a few things. I had received more than just having the wind knocked out of me. The pain was pure white. At the same time I didn’t want Fiona to really know how injured I was – I wasn’t even sure. Because I could walk, it knew my spine was working. There was no searing pain as I walked, which also meant that there were no broken bones, cracks maybe, but nothing broken. Again these are things that I gathered from either watching TV or reading. Dang, who needs a edukashin!!!

By the time we got back to the car, the pain had eased off because I was ignoring it and I was focusing on a time when I wouldn’t have pain. Weird, I know, but something I use to overcome pain. Although climbing into the passenger seat, I rediscovered the pain again. In fact whenever something touched my lower back or tail bone, I remembered the pain.

It wasn’t until later that evening that I showed Fiona just how badly my lower back was swollen. Now Fiona wanted to take me home so that we could go to an emergency surgery. A little hard when you’re in just past Arthur’s Pass. The closest town, aside from Arthur’s Pass was either Hokatika or Christchurch. Either way it was well over an hour’s drive. I managed to convince Fiona that we should wait until the next day.

By the time we got home, after fetching Lauren from the youth camp, Fiona was again trying to convince me that it was time to go to the emergency surgery. Finally I agreed and off we went. It was easier to stand around waiting than sitting. The final diagnosis (after the doctor repeatedly pressing his finger into the base of my spine) was that there was no need to take x-rays because if the tail bone was broken (which I doubted) or cracked (more likely) there was nothing that they could do about it. There is no way you can put your back into a cast. So it was pain killers that they gave me instead.

The biggest problem was sitting for long periods. Which is great considering the work that I do… sitting for long periods… ;o)

Take care
later days
EsP

improvimation (im’ prov’ ee’ ma’ shun) [Noun; Adjective] : Once a design, plan or thought is analysed and understood from all possible angles, it is moved to the “irrelevant” portion of the brain. The person is now able to improvise their own designs or thoughts into what has been so successfully design, planned or thought about.  Not doubt the new improved work will be unsuccessful.

So what does this mean exactly? It’s simple really, as a handyman I have a look at a basic plan. This could be for anyone of the things that I am needing to make: moth trap; fly trap; egg turner or even the winnower.

Just by the way, for those who like me had no idea what the heck a winnower is, it’s a contraption that allows a person to pour used bird seed (or any seed really) into a funnel and then using either a vacuum or blowing contraption, you get to separate the used seed (which is lighter) from the unused seed (which is heavier). When you have a large number of birds to feed, a person can go through a huge amounts of seed and when a bird only eats about 1/2 of the seed, you end up throwing unused seed away.

But, as I was saying, an improvimation handyman will look at the plans of an item that needs to be made. By looking at the plan, it’s really analysing the plan, studying from this point of view and then from that point of view until you have a clear understanding of how to put it together – three dimensionally.

And this is where the improvimation handyman, like myself, steps into a realm of his own!

I put the plans aside for a week while I work out the materials that I will need. It can take a while to get the materials together, because my initial preference is to go out and buy everything new. Unfortunately this isn’t always practical (or affordable).

So once i have the materials I start putting the item together. Unfortunately, improvimationwise I don’t look at the plans again. I know that perhaps this isn’t a wise decision, but being the improvimation handyman, it’s the way that I understand things and the way that I get things done.

During this weekend I finished off the fly trap and the main parts of the winnower. So far my fly trap has managed to capture the same number of moths as my moth trap. Scary really the similarity of the two items that I have made.  Neither have caught anything! At the moment I am thinking that the bait for the fly trap is my problem, as the flies tend to come to other kind of food lying around in the house.

Take care

EsP

As mentioned a little while ago, we decided to purchase another aviary for the birds.  It’s an intermediate one until we can get the larger one built.  When we went and looked at it, we realised that it would be too large for us to move around but we did believe that it would fit over our gate and in the backyard.  We decided to get a moving company and some burly men to handle the heavy work for us. ‘

Unfortunately we didn’t really take into consideration the weight of the damn aviary.  To be honest it was difficult to gauge the weight of it anyway.  It’s made from wood, however the bottom wooden framing seems to weigh a lot than I would’ve expected.  Naturally when said burly men arrived with the aviary, they took one look at the gate, the backyard and burst out laughing.

So, now we have a large aviary in the front part of the garden that we have to somehow move to the back of the garden.  We’ve got two options, from what I can figure, the first is to dismantle the aviary and take it into the back in pieces and then hopefully reassemble without it wobbling or having pieces left over … or … dismantle the gate and fence and take it through like that. 
Tonight I will take out a tape measure and do some measurements and see what we can do.

Until the next time

Later days

EsP

For the moth trap, I lowered the light and made the gap in the perspex a little narrower and decided to try again. I am not a moth expert, however I decided that the overcast evening and the coolness in the air were keeping the moths at bay. What I did manage to attract were the cats and a hedgehog that seemed to have difficulty in deciding where it wanted to be. First darting to the left and then to the right and then to the left again. The rustling of the leaves had the cats interest perked up. I was also thinking that perhaps I needed to look at the light source, perhaps that was not the right type to use.

What I do know is that I am definitely thankful that there are other food sources for the Geckos, because if they were reliant on me for moths to survive, I think they would lose a little weight…

My fly trap is only 25% complete, it still needs gauze to be cut and a bait section to be added.

Well take care

Later Days

EsP

It’s safe to say that although things are progressing on the Foundation front, it’s still frustrating to see how slowly things are progressing. This is no fault of anyone, other than the fact that our bank manager continues to insist that we have to work to pay off our financial debts. So it means that evenings and weekends are the only times we have to do on our things.

On the bright side, I managed to check off every task that I had intended to achieve this weekend just gone.

Geckos
Although the geckos haven’t arrived, there are still important things that need to be done. I have (attempted) made my first moth catcher. It’s pretty basic, with designs being sourced off the Web. The first attempt was a little frustrating as I watched the moths flutter into the trap, carry out a frenzied inspection and flutter out again.

I quickly made a few smaller changes and I will try again in the near future. Until I get it right, I may just have to sit at the trap and manually catch the juicy ones by hand.

Birds
Fi is pleased as punch as her two permits have now arrived. She’s now permitted to keep red or yellow Kakariki and Antipodes Parrots. We have also been told that the one source’s eggs have just hatched (or just been laid) while the second is going to be putting the nesting boxes into the aviaries in the very near future (this week, if all goes well).

On the weekend we moved the one aviary to make space for the new aviary that is going to be delivered on Wednesday.

Frustrations
Over the last wee little while, I have been watching the ongoing saga of the Nelson Zoo (Nature Land). The short story is that they have run into some financial trouble and it looks like the Nelson Council will close them down. In truth it sounds like the decision has been made, however they are working on an eleventh hour reprieve.

Well that’s about it for now.
I will post some images of the moth trap in the near future.

Take care
Later days

EsP

What it does mean is that I no longer have the joy of keeping my files and blog at the same location, however that is not too much of a problem as WordPress has a neat little widget with a file sharing server at Box.Net.

It’s interesting how a person can read a certain meaning into what is written. It might not even be as aggressive as intended. I am not saying that it’s a bad place to host a blog, it simply turned out that it wasn’t the best place for me.

It reminds me of two books that I have read, which should be a must for all authors or even wanna be authors. The first book is Eats shoots and leaves, which I once owned but didn’t really think was an impressive book – shows you that even the greatest of us make mistakes. Here is a little on the book. Oh and if you think that you are really smart, try this game on punctuation.

The second is, Elements of style, by William Strunk, Jr. Although this second book is out of print, here is a working link to the contents of the book.

Oh alright, there is a third book too, just as difficult to get. It’s a really strange book written by someone who not a lot of people who consider to be a role model for writing. However , by Stephen King is exactly that, a brilliant book to read. The first half of the book is a biography, while the second is jam packed with information and wisdom on writing. Here is a link to some excerpts that I discovered.

Well that’s me for the time being.

Take care

EsP

(or)

However this all changed on Friday when I opened my email. There was an email from my contact person at the department of conservation. My permit to house geckos had been approved! Yeehhaaaaaa.

Now that that is complete, the next step is to begin negotiations to obtain my geckos. Can’t wait!!!

The images linked is the permit and what the gecko will look like that I am permitted to keep. That photograph is from the Wiki web site and taken at Orana Park. The photograph is copyright to the photographer.

Oh yes and I have also update my web site too.

Take care
Later Days

EsP

With the Quails, things are progressing well. We have five babies which included the one that preferred to laze about on her back the whole time, absorbing the rays from the light. Since then she has decided to get onto her feet, however I have noticed that she seems to be a little different to the rest of the family. Without being a medical specialist (read: no medical knowledge at all) I think that her spine and neck have hardened into a curved position. This means that she hangs her little head to the right a lot more and tends to go in right curves rather than straight lines when she’s walking. We’ll be keeping a close eye on her to see what happens, at the moment that is the only problem that she has and seems to be walking around (emphasis on round) quiet nicely. Even with the curvature of the neck, she seems to be eating and drinking.

The Geckos are still not in the gecko house. We’re still waiting on the paper work to be sorted out and approved before the permits are issued. (The same can be said for the permits for the birds, i.e. being worked on). The good thing is that I have a definite pair of Naultinus grayii : Northland Green Gecko coming my way and Fiona has a (male and female) pair of Red Crowned Kakariki that has also been sourced from two different suppliers. What I am not sure about with the geckos is if they are a breeding pair or both of the same sex. Time will tell. At least the gecko house is ready, although every weekend seems to have me making alterations and improvements. This weekend I added another Pongo log and some guttering for the house. Another two branches also went into the main area. It’s good to see that the two native trees have taken and the watering system seems to operating well.

Our aviary that we purchased a little while ago is still not ready for us. The owners that we purchased the aviary from, still have to sell four birds that they have housed in the aviary. They’re not a breed that we want to get involved with, so we’re won’t be taking them on.
At least we have organised a moving company to come and lift the big thing over the front gate for us. Our backs should be fine as we stand to one side and shout out orders: this way, no that way, no-no it’s better the way it was.

Although perhaps this is not a good thing, I remember while we were still living in South Africa we purchased an extra length king sized bed and had it delivered. The two delivery men arrived with the bed and mattress. They promptly took the mattress upstairs and dumped it in the bedroom, but when it came to moving the base they discovered a little problem. The height from the step to the ceiling was less than the width of the base, by about two or three centimetres. You know one of those “oh so close but not close enough” situations. After battling for about 20-30 minutes they decided that they had delivered the base and mattress and it was time for them to leave. We tried to explain that delivery meant to the bed room, but with a roll of the eyes and words that I couldn’t understand, the two of them left.
It was then left to Fiona, her dad and myself to move the base up the stairs. We eventually got it up the stairs, although I did have to (violently) remove a small section of ceiling from the stairwell.

On the novel side (African Christmas – the diary of Robert Edward Lees), the final version has been edited and is now available for download. Some things to note…
Normal print version – A4 120+ pages
Large Print Version – A4 190+ pages.

In both of the above mentioned files, wrapped as Adobe PDF files, the front cover image has been removed. This was to reduce the file size from 20 Megabytes to a little over one Megabyte.

Links will be visible on the right hand menu for the manuscripts.

Well I suppose that is about it for now.
Take care

Later Days
EsP