Life Down Wattle Lane v2 - Our House Has Arrived!

At 1.30am today our house has arrived! YAY!!!!

Negotiating the drive way entrance.

This power line was a concern as the gap was a little narrow between our deer fence and the neighbors statue, and they couldn't raise the house too high due to the power line. So Mum and I retro fitted the deer fence, which is now a sheep fence.

Parked up for the night in  the paddock. The move to site will happen during daylight.

I realize there are still issues to be sorted with the council and the consent but it is bloody awesome to have the house here... I have that good feeling.

Life Down Wattle Lane v2 - An Early Christmas Present

Finally the day has come and the house can now depart Hornby Christchurch to Loburn Rangiora, some 46kms.

The house is loaded and ready to transport this Sunday night.

As exciting as it is, not is all that it seems. 

We still don't have the building consent, although the council has allowed us to move the house onsite, while we work out the remaining issues.

SIT (Southern Institute of Technology) whom we are buying the house from, demanded the removal no later than the 18th December. I fully understand their situation, the delays we are experiencing are incredible. 

However trying to find a house mover this close to Christmas was a challenge. Also we couldn't afford to move the house twice. Our predicament, was that we could move the house to the property, but we are not allowed to build the foundations etc until we have the consent, thus requiring two moves. 

Smith Cranes, came up with the solution that they will move the house to the correct position and sit it on blocks. Then once we have the consent, Smith Cranes will return to raise the house to 3m, so we can build the foundations under the house, then lower the house down onto the new foundations. So that's the plan for now.

Now... this is our second attempt at moving the house. It was supposed to be here last night. Might possibly be karma on my part. About 2 months ago I lost my marbles and went totally spastic at the SIT lawyers. I mistakenly paid the deposit directly into their bank account, when it should have gone to my lawyers to pay to them. Anti money laundering rules etc blah blah blah. The SIT lawyers got upset and demanded $250 + gst to verify my id. I wrote back to them saying this is daylight robbery and I'm not paying that. So through the lawyers we sent verified copies of passport, driver's license and our latest rates bills. At this point I was being reasonable and playing the game. However then the SIT lawyers wanted a verified copy of my eftpos card... and if I failed to provide they were going to deduct the fee from the deposit.

Now I lost my cool. 

My words were... "do you want to sell the bloody house or not?" "If this shit is going to continue, refund us the deposit and I will go elsewhere" I was advised they couldn't refund the deposit. I then advised them I couldn't work with them any longer, Gary will have to take over, because they are being so ridiculous.

Now just to confirm I wasn't being unreasonable... our lawyers backed me.

Meanwhile Gary was researching JP's so he could take me to have my eftpos card verified. I said to Gary, "you go, but I'm not going". "I'm  just not doing it". They are not having it, also there is no name on my eftpos card. Anyone who knows our family, the Atkinson side, Mum's side of our family, we are very stubborn... especially when we are right. I was not going to provide any further id than what was already supplied.

Now for the Karma part. SIT required full payment before moving the house. I instructed our lawyers to pay Wednesday, and SIT lawyers had to provide some paperwork but would do that Thursday morning and said it will be ok. Everyone knew the deadline and the truck was coming Thursday afternoon. Paperwork done, balance payment made, all was done by lunchtime Thursday, and copies of payment sent to SIT lawyers. Well... SIT wouldn't release the house as the payment wasnt showing. Now this is where I wonder if games were being played. We did as requested and bank transfers are pretty much instant nowadays, but SIT lawyers might have afforded themselves the last laugh... payback.

I wasn't advised there was any issues at the time. Smith Cranes arrived to collect the house and were turned away. They were furious... understandably and as was I, once knew. No one phoned me to advise there was anything wrong. I would have been straight back on the phone to the SIT lawyers if I was made aware.

So Smith Cranes are very kind enough to work Sunday night to deliver the house, otherwise a delivery before Christmas just isn't going to work. I'm very grateful.

So fingers crossed for a smooth delivery tomorrow... I'm very excited to get the house... finally.

Life Down Wattle Lane v2 - Luck

We're  coming to the end of 2020... who could have predicted such a year. My Chinese horoscope should have been a warning.

In the first half of the year 2020, Horse people who were born in 1978 will have less fortune in general.

Well I'd say my poor fortune has run well into 2020. 

Normally I'd reflect on the year that has passed... but I really don't think I want to.

I'm normally positive and just get on with life... but the bad luck is starting to get to me.

> Get glasses for the first time.

> Diagnosed with Parkinson's.

> Lose job & no luck securing another.

> Constant issues with council and the new build. Just one battle after another.

> Insurance claim denied, & not eligible for any welfare assistance.

> Battles with medication.

> Big Mamma & Bootsie died...

The list goes on with things not going to plan this year and well just crap luck.

Up until now, it didn't bother me, but when my spinning wheel spindle broke... I finally succumb to my constant bad luck. I swore... a lot!

It's not something that you can just replace... the spinning wheel is antique, hand crafted.

So my DIY genes kicked in and I thought I will just have to hand craft a replacement part.

So I did, and it works perfectly!

 

If only I can DIY all my problems, but 2021 is nearly here... lets hope for some better fortune.

Life Down Wattle Lane v2 - Market Day & Update

Sorry for the lack of posts. It's be crazy over the last couple of weeks. 

Further dramas with council and trying to get a consent for our new house, I've been experiencing bad nausea due to Parkinson's or medication (I might have morning sickness), and I've also been busy preparing our food registration and our first farmers market.

Just quick update on the house, we're really struggling with the council. The never ending request for "Further Information Required" is a nightmare. I was about to throw in the towel at one point, and threatened so, but the thought of living in a portacom for any longer than is required has given me a little more motivation to carry on. I just want my house. There is a bit of blame going back and forwards between the council and designers. I feel some common sense needs to prevail several contractors have advised me the council is being extremely pedantic with our consent.

I won't bore you with the food registration, but just to say, there is a lot of paper work, fees are crazy expensive for such a small operation that we have, but it is done and we can operate.

What that means, is that we can now have our own sheep processed by a MAF approved abbatoir, packaged by a licensed butcher, and we can store it here on the farm to sell. We are also approved to prepare and sell Gary's amazing Satay!

29th November was the big day! My big 42nd birthday, but also our first big market, promoting Down Wattle Lane. The home of:

• Arapawa Wool & Meat Products
• Unicorn Fibre Cleaners
• Gary's MY Satay 

It was a very busy week, but an extremely busy 2 days. Essentially we were starting everything from scratch, and finding our way, but well all the hard work paid off.

Saturday

1. Collect Gary from Airport at 8.30am.
2. Collect carded wool from Green Acres Fibre Processing Rolleston 9.30am.
3. Drive back to Rangiora to collect everything for food preparation.
4. 12pm to 6pm off to Rangiora Baptist Church kitchen preparing Gary's Satay.
5. 7pm test run of Satay Grill, with family.
6. 9pm start packing car/trailer for following day.

Sunday

1. Up 6am to depart 7am to Rangiora Racecourse, North Canterbury Sunday Market.
2. 7.15am half way there turn car & trailer around to collect forgotten pot.
3. 7.30am arrive at market to prepare stand by 9am.
4. 9am all is go, trading to 2pm.
5. 2.30pm car and trailer is packed and we depart for home.
6. Unload and wash down everything!

Monday

1. Return Gary back to Airport to meet 6am flight to start his working week in Auckland... whilst I went back to bed for a little 😌

All in all it was a good day. Feedback was great, Gary's MY Satay was a hit, someone asked him if he has a restaurant, and another guy said it reminded him when he was in KL for 2 weeks, he fell in love with Satay and hasn't had the same experience with it in NZ until Gary's MY Satay.

We also received some great feedback on the presentation of the stand and I had some great conversations with people. The community here, Rangiora & Loburn at home is amazing. So warm, welcoming, friendly. This has really blown me away, I'm truly amazed. Kiwis are a friendly bunch but this is next level!

We have plenty of room for improvement however. We were a table short, and we needed to be cooking more satay sticks as there was lost sales.

We had one indirect complaint about the smoke from the charcoal. Startup is smokey, even with the best charcoal, but once the embers were hot there was hardly any smoke. We did have a plan to avoid any issues, however we were let down by the metal fabricator in Christchurch. We had a Satay house designed with a chimney, designed to direct the smoke up out of the market area, but the guy really let us down. I will keep working on that.

The other letdown was our bank/eftpos setup. The promised 2-3 day setup was rather misguided. We're over a week down the track, and still no payment terminal. Paper work is done, just no device. Very frustrating.

We sold about 70% of the Satay sticks that we prepared, some fresh lamb, and the little hand made knitted teddy bears that I had. No wool sales, but I demonstrated the spinning wheel and had some good chats.

So will we do it again?

YES... we can't withhold Gary's MY Satay from the people.

Life Down Wattle Lane v2 - RIP Bootsie

RIP Bootsie 

You will be dearly missed by all. You've been the coolest little lamb, with the most fun loving attitude, just a chilled out little boy with tonnes of energy. I will miss our daily walks down to the letterbox and most of all I will miss my second shadow following me around. RIP & look out for Big Mamma, she will be waiting for you. xoxo

Today Bootsie passed away due to pneumonia. This morning at breakfast feeding he seemed normal. Come lunchtime he was having breathing problems, so we quickly took him to the vet's where the vet diagnosed pneumonia. Bootsie was given antibiotics and pain relief but unfortunately come 9pm Bootsie passed away in his bed.

Life Down Wattle Lane v2 - Councils... ughhh!

Sometimes a little common sense goes a long way, but not with Waimakariri Council. The lack of common sense is costing us just over $1600. Both the draftsman and surveyor have expressed similar thoughts, so I'm not alone on this rant of mine.

Our land is flat, but the council requested a survey to be completed with the property elevations, just on the build site.  When I was advised I was like WTF... our land is flat!

I wasn't expecting any issues in this regards, as our land is flat, and we are building considerably above minimum requirements.

We have a requirement to build 400mm above the ground. Our plans have the foundations set at a minimum height of 600mm above the ground, and the finished floor height will be about 1000mm above the ground.

So common sense would suggest, flat ground and building in excess of minimum requirements, there would be no issue.

I even sent the council a photo to show the build site is flat:

That didn't go down well.

Now the council is wasting our money for us! 

So we have employed a surveyor to complete and elevations report and to indicate the boundaries of where we can build. 

On the property title there is a set area that we can build within. I had measured out where I thought the line was, but given the way the council is acting, I have asked the surveyor to mark out that line as well. I wasn't too far off!

$1600!! ughhh!

I much prefer wasting my own money, my own way!

Life Down Wattle Lane v2 - The Great Shear of 2020

Well... I might be overstating that, as we have a very small flock since the big move, 19 Sheep and 6 lambs. A big day all the same and I always find it exciting.

The first task was to get the girls from the front paddock to the stock yards at the back of the barn. Sounds simple enough, but there is no enclosed connecting paddocks that I can walk the sheep through. We had to take them through the big wide open paddock, that we haven't fenced off as we are waiting for the house to arrive first. With beautiful lush green grass, it would be very easy for the sheep to scarper and make my day a lot more stressful. 

Below is my facebook post of the video as the file is too large to be loaded here.  FACEBOOK

I'm sure that is a smile.

They all had a pedicure, some tonic and trim all round. A great day at the saloon.

We will be washing, carding and spinning the wool and will have this for sale. Also I'm very keen to learn how to make felted wool slippers so watch this space.

Life Down Wattle Lane v2 - Getting A Shake On

How do you greet someone with Parkinson's?... What's shakin'?

Me...

I try to stay positive and have a good sense of humour about having Parkinson's, there surely are some funny moments.

I'm really enjoying they Jack Sparrow swagger. Although I feel like I'm being short changed as I'm missing all the fun and game's of getting the swagger. For me it just comes on anytime anywhere.

Today I was at PaknSave and my right foot was starting to drag, scuffing the shoe along the ground as I walked. The first thing that came to mind was "Pull yourself together, I don't want to be here either" then I got the giggles. 

Another time, I was with a specialist, and I was demonstrating with my right shaking hand how I could no longer brush my teeth as I'm unable to maintain a steady hand motion. WELL...LOL it dawned on me how it might bloody look from the otherside!! The specialist didn't need a blowjob demonstration!! He maintained a straight face, but I was so embarrassed! Better work stories right?! By the way I've taught myself to brush my teeth normally with my left hand!

Walked into door at hospital in front of Dr.

Stumbled through door at a reception startling the receptionist.

Losing balance at checkout.

All these funny episodes give me the giggles... how else can I react?

So if you see me having one of my moments, possibly with the giggles, just remember I live my life like 007, Shaken... not stirred. 

Life Down Wattle Lane v2 - The Barn Conversion

Since our arrival, one of the very first jobs was to enclose one of the 3 bays in the barn. To create a secure lockup for all the tools, building materials and to create a secure storage area for the Unicorn Fibre Cleaners that we import from the US. Really a place to put stuff, and to keep stuff out of the house. Our 3 bedroom house, is actually going to have a bed in each room!

So I started with a very simple, and cheap enclosure plan. Put in a couple of doors, and put up 2 corrugated iron walls, and then we would have a secure lockup. Well the more I thought about it, the bigger the project became.

What if I create 2 rooms. The back room for tools, storage etc, and a front room from where I can display the Unicorn Products, and also have it as a craft room of sorts to work from. Then we also want to start processing Arapawa meat to sell, so we will also need space for refrigerators. So with all this in mind, we will need a much better setup. The craft room will need to be a room that you are comfortable in spending time in. 

CHA CHING!!! I was blowing the budget before I even started. I did do what I could to save money, buying off trademe, searching demolition yards etc. 

I'm very happy with the end result.

First Wall Going Up

Front Door In & Wrapped

Inside View Of The Chaos

The Tricky Bit - Using Ply For Lining

FINISHED EXTERIOR!!!

FINISHED INTERIOR!!!

My Work Station Where I Prepare The Online Orders

My Crafting Station

Thank You To All Who Helped & The Lunches Are The Best!

Life Down Wattle Lane v2 - Lost Time

We've just had another beautiful Canterbury weekend. Plenty of sun, very warm, dry & windy.

I didn't have too much planned for the weekend, other than move some dirt, move the sheep and cut up some old deer fence wire ready to be recycled. 

Saturday we had my uncle and cousins visit for the day,  which is always great. I'm really enjoying getting to know family again. There was 3 generations (Poppa, Dad & the 2 Boys) working together on a new lamb pen in the barn for Bootsie. We needed to create a bed so I could get Bootsie out of the caravan. Bootsie was getting a little too comfortable jumping up onto the sofa to sleep, which we all know is Max's spot when he is not sleeping on my bed. Max tolerates Bootsie but that is as far as that relationship will ever go.

With the pen, we all came up with a great idea. Every lamb that we raise by hand, we will add a name plaque to a totem pole, with date of birth... very cool!

Great company, long lunches, a great weekend all in all.

Bootsie is a very unique lamb, and I now have proof he can fly! But is he coming or going....we'll never know!

Lambs are the greatest time waster. But its quality time all the same!