10/30/2022

Surprise!

 A while back we got a car for me to use because it's too far to take Hubby to work to get the car for the day. It has several 'auto' settings but I don't really care for those settings, especially the one on the windshield (windscreen) wipers.

It's not often that we drive it out in the rain. That's a good thing, because the wipers did an OK job but and the sensors thought they were reading correctly when they chose the speed. Fast, slow, super fast, off, repeat!

 And, of course, every time we would look at each other and one of us would say, 'We need to get new blades.' Yep,

 'We need to get new blades.' Yep, 

'We need to get new blades.' Yep.

And finally, 'We should get new blades before we go on our trip.' 

Yep. 

Nope. 

But in the first hour or so I remembered that 'We need to get new blades.'

So, we pull into a Super Cheap, Hubby goes in and a worker comes out to take the blades off the arms to replace them inside.

Come to find out, the blades on the car were the original factory blades! 10 years! No wonder we needed new blades.

So, now we have new, quiet, great-working blades and the 'auto' setting actually works quite well! 

For several hours of our trip, it rained a bit and we looked at each other and giggled. Maybe the previous owner didn't go out in the rain.

10/23/2022

hospital update

It wasn't crazy enough to have one hospital stay...we had another one on the next Wednesday after the hospital weekend

Hubby was admitted again and there were more antibiotics and the threat of opening up his leg again if it didn't stop completely the second day at the hospital.

As it turns out, it was decided that the weeping wasn't critical and was probably just the last stitch inside his leg that was the problem.

So, with more antibiotics to take at home, we are feeling quite relieve and are on schedule for our getaway later this week!

10/17/2022

hospital weekend

 Last week, we noticed a couple of places on Hubby's knee-replacement leg that were weepy so I insisted he call the doctor, even though they didn't seem connected to the surgery. He finally got a response from his GP on Friday.

His GP wrote a prescription for antibiotics which was CC'd to his surgeon. A few minutes later around 5pm, the surgeon called and told us to get to the A&E (ER) right now so we don't get caught up in the weekend crowd and have to wait forever to be seen.

So, we got up and went (over an hour's drive) without dinner.

There weren't a lot of people there so Hubby was seen without much waiting. He was tested into the wee hours and kept overnight and I left him on a bed in the corridor after a while (at his insistence) thinking I would be back the next day to get him. I blindly followed the GPS to get home since it's amazing how dark our part of the world is, even in the city limits.

As I waited for him to be discharged, he texted the next day, Saturday, to say he needed another round of strong antibiotics so he would be kept another day and would I bring him some clothes and things.

So, for the second day in a row, I drove up there. Of course, I didn't mind because it was Hubby.  I was a bit apprehensive, since he usually does the driving when we are together but I got past that bit of fear and got to the hospital with his stuff. With the construction going on (and a huge lack of signage), I ended up following voices to ask for help (it was Saturday so not a lot of people around) and eventually found his room THAT  YOU ACTUALLY CAN'T GET TO WITHOUT KNOWING HOW TO GET THERE!!  *SIGH*

So, on Sunday, I waited for his text to let me know that he was released and, for the third day in a row, drove to the hospital to pick him up insisting that he meet me at the door, as I am sure I couldn't find his room again without help!

We got home and relaxed and poor Hubby was looking forward to a good night's sleep.

He did sleep pretty well, but I  didn't (as happens with Thyroid problems). So, it wasn't the best possible scenario when Hubby woke me about 8:00 to tell me we had to go back to the hospital because some paperwork for an ultrasound of his leg got misplaced and we had an appointment at 11:15!

And, away we went for the fourth day in a row. We had some other appointments and plans in town already, so we worked it all out, one thing at a time, and got them all done--including picking up chicken so we didn't have to cook.

We both were exhausted when we got home and, of course, took a nap.

I'm just so tired of riding in the car for now, so I hope I can stay home for the next few days.

We are both looking forward to a little get-away that Hubby has planned for next week. I think we both will feel better after being home together for six weeks.

10/13/2022

The house with something special

We pass this house quite often and Hubby told me that it is a 'house within a house'. So, of course, I had to do some digging.


Fortunately (or not), there was a rather recent article in the local paper about it.


The future of a 170-year-old raupo (reed) whare (house) that has been sheltered inside a larger villa for 104 years has divided a South Taranaki whanau.

The wharepuni, or sleeping house, which has its celling and walls lined with reeds, is in the centre of the five-bedroom, two-story villa at Pihama that is set to be demolished by the family trust that administers the land it sits upon.


It was built as a place where whanau travelling from Whanganui and South Taranaki to attend monthly events at Parihaka could rest overnight, Ngāruahine kaumātua John Hooker said.

That whare is 150 – to 170 years old, it was built well before the homestead, the homestead was built about 103 years ago, it's just the shell around it.”

Nowadays, the room is used for whanau gatherings including weddings and tangi, and for meetings by the iwi kaumatua. At present there’s no natural light in the whare because the windows have been boarded up with plywood instead of being replaced.

The house around it is in desperate need of a new roof and other repairs, but has good bones, he said. The Te Hana Taua Trust decided to demolish the large five-bedroom, two-story villa after a property report in 2015 classed the building as a health and safety risk.

The dispute between the two groups from the same whanau has been underway for several years. The trust wants Elaine Warren, who has lived there all her life, to leave, so the building can be removed, but Warren, who has the role of kaitiaki of the house and the whare, is refusing to agree.

She is backed by kaumātua (tribal elder) from Ngāruahine iwi, who want the home repaired to ensure the wharepuni is preserved. They have had offers of help and funding from people who wanted to see the house restored, but no work can be done without the approval of the trustees, Hooker said.

We don't want it demolished, we want it mended, we want it protected for future generations.”

Warren, who is a Maōri warden, said the house was built by her grandfather, Pohe Tito, and she grew up there with her parents and 11 siblings. Tito is buried in the family urupa near the homestead. As kaitiaki, her role was to care for and protect the house and its special room.

The house is part of a larger farm which the trust administers on behalf of beneficiaries.

Hooker said the kaumātua (elders) are hoping the trustees will agree to setting up a separate, small reservation trust to look after just the house and whare and a small urupa (burial ground) beside it.

The ownership lists of all the current beneficiaries would remain the same, but the smaller trust could then attract its own funding to restore the property. This would absolve the trust of health and safety concerns and responsibilities, he said.

They have placed a rāhui (restriction) on the property to protect it, and a delegation of 15 turned up at a tenancy tribunal hearing in the Hāwera Court on Monday to voice their opposition to the demolition plan.

Warren did not attend, because she was unwell, adjudicator Rex Woodhouse said. Lawyer Susan Hughes QC, representing the Te Hana Taua Trust, asked Woodhouse for a possession order, so that arrangements could be made to have Warren evicted.

There is no doubt the trust is the legal owner of the land,” she said. She said a decision from the Māori Land Court in August 2020 and mediation between the parties had reached agreement that Warren would leave, but this had not happened.

Mrs Warren does not have proper legal authority to be in the building,” she said. Parts of the building that can be saved will be preserved,” she said. It has dealt with this matter as generously as it can, but needs to progress the matter and the demolition of the homestead.”

She said the trustees’ desire to see the building brought down was “not capricious”. They are feeling acutely the divisions within the whānau (extended family) that this brings.”

Woodhouse said he would provide a decision in writing “within the week”. Ngāruahine Iwi Authority chairman Hori Manuirirangi said the issue was not as clear-cut as it might seem.

Although the trust had a duty because of the health and safety issues, the elders also had a vested interest in the house because of the whare inside it, he said. This is an issue of tikanga Māori and tikanga Pakeha. As a marae trustee, under the law in the Māori land court we are viewed as owners, but we are not the owners, it is the people.”

There is a taonga (treasure) in that house built by the old people... we don't want to see that building trampled on.”