CYCLONE UPDATE

 

We had another bad night from Cyclone Gabrielle with crashes and bangs and the house shaking.

This morning I donned wet weather gear (it's still raining) and checked around the house and the neighbourhood. We lost a few more branches from trees and I had to search for items like the rubbish bin lid and the compost bin lid but fortunately we came away unscathed.

Some places in the neighbourhood weren't so lucky however. I walked down to the end of our road towards the jetty. The road is closed there due to a very major slip that is ongoing and exposing the foundations of the house perched above. It's a dangerous situation as seen in Muriwai this morning and in Remuera a couple of weeks ago. The road to the jetty is totally munted as well.

Walking back down our road towards the main road I saw neighbour's trees down and fences flattened. A house next to the community hall has its windows blown in and what looks like a large shed or someone's roof crumpled up and smashed through their fence. I crossed the main road and saw the house of one of my tennis buddies (not Mike) has its roof ripped off. This was the Sunday midnight call-out of the fire brigade I heard and saw the flashing lights for. Poor Val. I've tried to contact her to offer assistance but she must be sheltering with friends somewhere.

I tried to drive to my sister's holiday house to check in things but the road was closed due to fallen trees and damage to the seal.

I'll try again this afternoon.

A couple of boats have sunk in our bay right out in front of our place.

Around the area there are reports of yachts and launches washed ashore and damaged:

But good new though - last week I sold our transparent kayak. 

I hope that the woman who bought and her son haven't been washed away.

I called my sister in Auckland where they are getting the cyclone. They've been stranded on their own property as a huge macrocarpa fell down and is blocking the driveway. They are trimming it away bit by bit so that they can get out if they need to. The area is flooding and the storm is affecting them just like up here. They are close to Muriwai where a house fell down and injured two firemen (one serious in hospital and the other missing).

Lynn's cousin called from Wellington. They have an apartment there but also own a house on Napier hill. A neighbour called them to say that a gum tree on their property crashed down on to their (the neighbour's) house. Hawkes Bay apparently is being hammered.

Bloody archangels!

Anyway - stay safe wherever you are.

AN IMPORTANT MESSAGE

 It's worrying when young guys like Richard (younger than me anyway) feel that they can just slack off when the feeling takes them.

If he wasn't such a damned (and I use the word advisedly) atheist he'd know that:

HE'S HUFFING AND HE'S PUFFING .....

 Well, the big storm has started. The house has been shaken by strong gusts and rain is driving against the windows. This isn't the worst of it yet with Monday forecast to be the big day.

We've already lost most of a feijoa tree that is at the rear of the property.

The smaller piece blown up next to the house

The gap where the feijoa tree was

The larger piece

I moved the two pieces down to behind the trailer so that the wind doesn't launch them through the windows. They were quite heavy and it's amazing that they were blown so far from the tree.

I kitted myself out in waterproof trousers and rain slicker with hood and had to battle the wind and rain. Some gusts were so strong I had to take shelter behind a large tree in case any wind-borne projectiles tore my head of. I had visions of those lengths of corrugated roofing iron I saw flying around like paper in the 1968 Wahine storm. That was scary.

There's no doubt that this storm will be the worst that we've experienced in the 14 years we've been here. I can hear bangs and crashes outside and will have to constantly check around our house and the neighbours. I told my sister that I'd check on their holiday house a few bays away from ours but the road might be impassable at present.

Hey-ho!

AND OFTEN THEY JUST DON'T NOTICE ....

 ..... women that is.

How many times has a man done something truly amazing like emptied or loaded the dishwasher, vacuumed the carpets, changed the sheets on the bed, brought in and folded the washing - stuff like that and his wife or partner doesn't seem to notice. SHE JUST DOESN'T NOTICE!

The Old Girl arrived home today after a couple of weeks away and yesterday and this morning I did a lot of housework including cleaning the bathrooms. As a giggle I 'dressed' up the toilets:

She's been home for well over a half hour now and still hasn't been for a pee.

I'm busting for one but want to wait until she's seen my handiwork. I might have to nip outside and pee in the garden.

Sheesh!

"GLOOM AND MISERY EVERYWHERE - STORMY WEATHER ..."

 I've been out and about the house yesterday and this morning, preparing for the 'big blast' that might come in the form of Cyclone Gabrielle who I guess is the female version of this joker:

Gabrielle then might be bringing a message from God. I wonder what it is?

No doubt it'll be like those spam messages or the phishing you get on your computer and phone or, one of those phone calls that come after hours from some bogus bank or IT company telling you that you have a problem that needs to be fixed urgently or someone trying to sell you something.

🔔RING RING RING🔔

ME: Hello.

GOD: (in an Indian accent) Hello, dearie me, I'm telling you that you must be repenting and ...

ME: Hey! Who is this?

GOD: It is being me you naughty fellow. God. Your God and all nice people's God. My good friend and admirer of Mary's shape, Robert the apathetic sanctimonious sinner and toilet cleaner has been giving me your telephone number and ....

ME: No thanks, we've got one.

*CLICK*

I went up onto the roof and cleaned the gutters and ran water down the downpipes to ensure that they were clear. I anchored down anything that was movable on the deck (no more chairs to worry about) and moved the wheelbarrow and tools into the woodshed. I firmly bolted the basement doors which, in past storms have been ripped open and put wedges in to hold them.

I noticed neighbours doing similar things.

Maybe it's overkill but 'better to be safe than sorry'. With luck the cyclone will by-pass us but the forecasters are saying this could be the worst that we will have had for some time and on the scale of the Wahine storm in 1968, Cyclone Bola in 1988 and others as reported here:

10 OF THE WORST STORMS TO HIT NZ

The wind is starting to pick up now even though the cyclone is forecast to start hitting tomorrow with the worst for Northland on Monday.

The Old Girl was scheduled to fly back to Whangarei tomorrow evening but changed that to today. She left Wellington at 6AM and is currently waiting in Auckland airport for a 1.30PM flight.

Stay safe and dry (but you can have a glass or two of wine).

NEW POST - THE FOOD CURMUDGEON

 

THE GOURMET

THE GREEN COMET*

 * It sounds like one of those ridiculous Marvel comic characters and one that would feature in the silly films that The Old Girl watches (although I suspect that she's perving at Chris Hemsworth).

RARE GREEN COMET

A comet which last passed Earth around 50,000 years ago, will be visible in New Zealand skies this week.

Comet C/2022 E3 (ZTF), from the distant Oort cloud, can currently be seen from the northern hemisphere but those with binoculars may be able to spot it here this coming weekend.
Amateur astronomer Dr Tom Love told Morning Report the comet was green because it had lots of carbon on it that was being "evaporated off by the sun".
"That means it's a comet from the very distant Oort cloud - the outer edges of the solar system," he said.
"It's a little parcel of history from the early stages of the solar system, and that's what makes it interesting to scientists."

Anyway, I've already seen it using my telescope. It's near Mars which is very visible at present. We've been lucky with clear skies over the last few nights and hopefully that will  last through the weekend. The weather is forecast to be very bad on Monday though with another cyclone bearing down on Northland.

No doubt Robert will claim that this comet has something to do with god, Jesus, Mary or the holy ghost. Given that it was last near earth 50,000 years ago it will be a challenge to his belief system and his bible based chronology of mankind.

Maybe the first time, god hitched a ride on the comet and jumped off on earth though and this time he might get Jesus to do the same thing since he's getting older and Jesus, at 2000 years old is a mere whippersnapper.

NEW POST - THE MUSIC CURMUDGEON

 

OH NO!

BEING GULLED

 

The other day I saw a juvenile Southern black-backed gull (karoro) at the water's edge that seemed to be in trouble. It was with another  juvenile. 

The one that concerned me was flapping its wings and jumping up while in shallow water. It looked like one of its feet was trapped in fishing line or net.

I put on gloves and grabbed a pair of scissors and headed down to the beach. On approaching, the other juvenile flew off and 'my' bird stayed, flapping its wings still. I cautiously approached wondering how I was going to grab it and hold it if I had to cut through the impediment.

I noticed some other juveniles and two adult karoro - probably mum and dad, watching me closely from a raised section of rocks.

"Here we go" I thought. As soon as I grabbed the juvenile I'd be attacked like Tippi Hedren in 'The Birds'.

As it happened though, as I neared the juvenile, it flapped its wings again, jumped up and down a couple of times and flew away.

I looked over to mum and dad and they looked back with smug expressions on their faces (if possible) and called out "ee-ah-ha-ha-ha ee-ah-ha-ha-ha ee-ah-ha-ha-ha" to my back as I left.

I discovered by searching the internet that karoro chicks - juveniles - are taught to fly at about two months old and are often seen practising - under the watchful eyes of their parents - until they master the art and are then on their own.

I've been watching them with more interest now and often see juveniles wheeling about in the sky, apparently aimlessly but really, learning to manage the air currents and the wind.

NEW POST = THE RELIGIOUS CURMUDGEON

 

ROBERT BELIEVES IN MIRACLES