Mt Ruapehu Erupts

Mt Ruapehu is another one of our active volcanoes. It is the main skifield for the North Island and at this time of the year (end of winter and also school holidays) it is crowded with skiers.

This looks as if it has been a minor eruption, a one off with no warning whatsoever. Hopefully it will settle down again. You can see the dark smudges in the snow where ash has fallen around the crater lake.
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The pics and following article are from our morning paper:

'Scores of people fled from Mt Ruapehu last night after an eruption shook the volcano about 8.20pm.

One man was rescued by helicopter from the mountain after the eruption, which was witnessed by airline pilots.

The 22 year old Auckland teacher suffered serious leg injuries and hypothermia and was flown by rescue helicopter to Waikato Hospital where he will be operated on this morning.

The man is believed to have been in a hut with three companions when a huge rock, part of the eruption, came through the roof and crushed his legs.

The volcanic blast wiped out a monitoring hut near the crater lake, sending two muddy torrents down the skifields.

Police last night checked ski lodges crammed with school holiday makers near the Chateau as a precaution.

Roads, including State Highways 47 and 48, were closed following concerns that ash could cause slips onto them. The Main Trunk railway line was closed while the damage was assessed.

Road and rail links were later re-opened.'

Baked Hedgehog

I have just found this recipe on google - I don't think I will be trying it.

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Gypsy Recipes

Baked Hedgehog

1 hedgehog
damp clay

First catch your hedgehog. Beware of fleas. Dispatch cleanly.
Coat all over with at least one inch of clay. Place in embers of the fire. Cook until clay is baked hard, then crack open and peel away the clay. Skin and spikes will stick to the clay. Pick out the delicious soft white meat. Enjoy.

Hedgehogs on menu for ancient Brits???

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/topic/story.cfm?c_id=206&objectid=10463655

I found an interesting article in The New Zealand Herald today about England's 10 oldest recipes. Follow the above link to read the article.

Apparently Baked hedgehog appeared on this list! I must find out more........not that I ever intend to cook one.

More Imports

More plants from the garden - this time from our beach house garden. Both are imports and belong to the Proteaceae family. The top two pics are Leucospermum (pincushion Protea) - the shrub just looks magnificent at the moment. This plant hails from South Africa and thrives in the sandy beach conditions. Like Proteas they can die if you give them any fertilizer!

The last two pics are the sole flower on our little Waratah which is Australian. It should also thrive in the dry conditions.

Native Birds

While on the subject of local birds, these two birds are ones we see often. The pictures are a little stylized - sorry about that. The real colours for the birds are much more vivid. I will take some pictures of my own when I can.

The top picture is a Pukeko or NZ swamp hen. They stand out in the countryside with their indigo blue plumage and white tail which flashes when they are alarmed.

They are curious comical birds living in wetlands, often seen foraging at the side of roads, where they are sometimes hit and killed by cars as they seem to have no fear. When one is dead on the road the friends will often gather around and stare at the unfortunate victim regardless of cars travelling past!

The second pic is a Tui. They have a dark shiny blue black appearance usually darker than is shown here. The male has a distinctive tuft of white feathers at the throat.

We have lots of them at certain times in our trees here, usually feeding on Kowhai flowers (the yellow flowers in the picture) or other flowers around. They love to eat the nectar from flax flowers and will get a little drunk on it, flapping around and warbling loudly. They have a wide range of very loud calls.

Rosella Invasion

This is the sight that greeted us when we rose this morning - three Rosellas feeding on the lawn. Sorry about the poor quality of the pics - they are very shy birds and I couldn't get too close.

We have flocks of Rosellas out on the orchard where they do cause damage to the kiwifruit. But this is the first time I have seen them here in town, and so brazenly feeding in view of humans and cats.

They are native to Australia and in the last ten years or so seem to have decided that NZ has greener pastures and have established themselves in some locations around the country. It remains to be seen how they affect the local bird population. They may occupy a niche that dosn't displace our own birds, especially if they don't live in the bush (forest).

Later:

I have been looking for more information and they have actually been in the country since the early 1900's! There is some worry that they will displace our native parrots - Kakariki - but this hasn't been proved. Kakariki are not often seen, only in isolated bush areas (NZ native forest is known here as 'bush')

I have been tagged

I have been tagged by Shell - here are the 'rules':

1. Players must list one fact, word, or tidbit that is somehow relevant to their life for each letter of their first or middle name.
2. When you are tagged you need to write your own post containing your first or middle name game facts, word, or tidbit.
3. At the end of your post choose one person for each letter of your name to tag.
4. Don’t forget to leave a comment telling them that they have been tagged, and to read your blog.

Here goes:
m - would have to stand for 'Mother, and Grandmother'. I guess those two roles have been and still are the most important in my life. The roles are constantly evolving and my input changes as the years go by.

e - like Shell e is for 'education'. My tertiary training and working life has all revolved around education - mostly in the primary area. I was a classroom teacher for a relatively short time but soon moved into the special needs areas - ESOL, Reading Recovery, and Co-ordinating various special needs services.

r - Hmm, r could be 'reading' but I have already mentioned that. So r could be for 'roaming' - I love to travel. In fact I have been known to say " Happiness is a full tank of gas and heading out of town".
I roamed the world for a few years before I married and have only managed to resume my overseas roaming in the last few years. I can feel a trip to the UK again coming up next year.

i - 'independent' I am very self reliant and can be quite happy with my own company (and computer of course).

nz - these two letters can go together - they mean New Zealand of course - Aotearoa - Land of the Long White Cloud - Down Under - sometimes called Godzone country. Once described in the 1960's as a half gallon, quarter acre, pavlova paradise . We are all immensely proud of our country but, like all countries, we do have a few problems from time to time.

Now I am supposed to tag others. But I will leave it up to anyone else who wants to participate rather than point a finger.

PS. The pic at the top is an old one, around 1962. Just an NZ country scene which, although old, is still typical. My dad on the tractor, sheepdog at the side, moving some sheep down the road to a new paddock. Nowadays the farmer would probably be riding a quad bike rather than a tractor. For those of you who know the area, there is Taupiri mountain way in the background.

Garden Activity

Here are a few up to date garden pics.

The Sugar Snap peas are now flowering and producing, thanks to all that worm fertilizer!

A row of radishes are just poking their heads through the soil.

The bees are enjoying the plum blossom, last year there were few bees around when the plums were in flower so I had to hand pollinate some. This year should be better.

The yellow flower is Australian Frangipani which has a beautiful scent at night time.

Hedgewick

Hedgewick has gone walkabout. All we have are memories and a now empty little home I made for him.

I have decided he must have been a male, as he stayed for a few good feeds, then shot through to goodness knows where.

Perhaps he will be back in the dead of night. But I think that now he has regained his strength he will be busy in my garden during the night, eating all the slugs and snails for me. A much better way of controlling pests than using snail bait. Hopefully he will invite his cousins as well as there is plenty of food for all. Much better food for him than cat food.

The cats seem to be quite pleased to have their domain back to themselves again.

More Knitting

I have just completed these little jerseys for the twins - they are growing so fast I hope they will fit them!