Is it or isn’t it?…

Posted in Plants and Gardens on February 2nd, 2011 by Coffee

Ok, so it looks like one of the butternut plants we bought might actually be a butternut.

Or at least it was a butternut plant, but I’m a bit suspicious that the fruit looks a bit green and stripy so far. In fact, it’s starting to remind me more than just a little bit of the pumpkin that definitely isn’t butternut shaped growing in the same plot… (After seeing something at the veg stall that looks close to what we’ve got we suspect it’s a “Buttercup” pumpkin)

Hmmm.

I suspect some form of cross-pollination has possibly occurred. I guess we’ll find out once it grows and ripens a bit. You never know, we might have struck gold with a never before seen veg.

I suspect not, however.

At least the zucchinis are looking like zucchinis! (Just hope they taste like them too…)

Meet the Most Important Ship in the World!

Posted in Geeky Tech Stuff, Rants And Rambles on February 2nd, 2011 by Coffee

Well, it is to us, anyway! The ADRIAN MAERSK.

Why so important? It’s got all our stuff on it, of course!

Looking at the picture, I really hope our stuff is buried somewhere in the middle, and not in one of the containers dangling on the top edge.

The current vessel track is where I check most, but with over 600 ships around Antwerp it’s a bit slow. I’m guessing it will speed up a bit when it finally starts heading somewhere that’s useful to us, like the Pacific. Enough pootling around the Channel, OK?!

The tracking link the shipping guys sent us was so crap that I had to find an alternative site, and I’m now kinda addicted to that one. Although I am slightly worried that when I did a search before it didn’t come up with Lyttelton as a port. But when I zoomed in on New Zealand I did locate ships heading there, so I guess it does exist. I really hope so!

Finally we get to see some Gib!

Posted in House, New Zealand on February 1st, 2011 by Coffee

We cruised back up from Alexandra, taking the Inland Scenic Route today. And yes, it was a bit more scenic than the boring drive down the semi-coastal route. Lots more trees, and some little bridges and towns etc. All quite nice on a nice day like today. But it’s still a big long drive. Next time we really have to take more in the way of CDs and drinks.

But the main reason for taking that route is that it circles around and takes us more directly to the house where we could check that they had, indeed, started the Gibbing. And we weren’t disappointed. (Though we were disappointed in the photos we took, so you might have to wait a bit longer for some good ones…)

It certainly gives the place a different feel not being able to stare through the wall skeletons. And not being able to see the hidden bits of all the sliding doors so you really see the actual size of the doors and the walls help in seeing the real shape of things.

There’s still a lot of work to be done though. All the corners and finishing, a few holey bits here and there, and a few more wires to locate behind the walls and pull through (including all the lights)… We assume they have a list, but I think we’ll need to make one ourselves, or it’s going to be far too easy to forget one until a lot later once it’s all painted.

And I have to say after 5 hours of travelling the shower space is starting to look pretty good! Pity the hot water’s not on yet!

Oh, and the plants seem to have managed to survive our inattention for a bit, even though they’ve not grown all that much. We’ll see if we can get them back up to speed again.