With the move down a Lock Down level last week, some of the appointments which have been languishing in stasis could be ticked off the list; albeit under strict mask-wearing, social distancing, “First, I need to ask you a few questions…” conditions. Things like, happily, one of the Homestead fleet finally receiving it’s scheduled service. Unhappily, it needs a couple of teeny, inexpensive parts which are proving a bit difficult to source due to the parts departments being situated in another level of Lock Down, but we have great faith Macca and his team will sort it out for us because they always do.
Far more exciting, though, was a call from the Arborist. As long as we promised to keep our distance, under level three conditions they were able to carry out the long overdue general tidy up of the house shelterbelt thus alleviating my windy night insomnia. Trees are a bit of a mystery to us in that they can present as the perfect specimen right up until the moment they topple over, limbs akimbo, making us very happy to hand the task of tree maintenance over to the experts – particularly when it comes to the foliage we are sheltering behind.
Our chosen experts, Sam and Sami from His n Hers Tree Care, quickly had the Homestead driveway back to the required-by-emergency-services 4 metres, the Magnolia discouraged from reenacting the part of the forest in Sleeping Beauty outside The Resident Engineer’s window, and the Silver Birch from disrupting our television watching with frenzied percussion solos on the defunct aerial.
They also extended the life of our deer fencing by trimming up the Macrocarpas thankfully stopping the scary sleep-shunning creaks and groans in the smallest of breezes in a location where breezes are usually anything but small. But by far the biggest change has been caused by taking out the ancient, ill Tagasaste/Tree Lucerne which has left us feeling a little exposed to passing traffic
Tonight, all except the Auckland area move down another level; the haircuts are already booked in!
So, tomorrow The Resident Engineer packs up the laptop and toddles back to her office, The Farmer’s day job roster reverts to normal, and on Thursday Farm Girl is back in uniform.
Things are going to be a bit quiet round here for Colin and I
but, like the Homestead Hive, we’re sure to find enough to keep ourselves busy and out of trouble.
Union Homestead 
You must all be so relieved that things are moving in the right direction at last.
This variant feels very scary; Im hoping we’ve done enough
Fingers crossed for your haircuts. We are in a sort of limbo here with half the country thinking it’s all over and the other half worrying that it might be all going to start again.
We have pretty solid rules about mask wearing and social distancing – a haircut whilst wearing a mask is going to be an experience – but Im not convinced weve kicked this. Getting people to differentiate between Covid and “just a cold” is a very real problem. And then, just when we thought Spring had arrived, it starts snowing! World gone crazy!
The world has gone crazy, you are right. These are unsettling times. The haircut sounds as though it will be complicated.
Glad you went down to 3, but I hear it’s not exactly wild freedom just yet. Still, a definite step in the right direction. You lot took super prompt action, so hopefully it did the trick. We’re about to enter into the realm of the vaccine card and there is treMENdous uproar about it here in BC – it is being seen (rightly I suspect) as a government measure to encourage more people to get vaccinated – basically card holders can go to restaurants, pubs, fitness places, theatres, concerts etc and non-card holders (unvaccinated people) cannot. Most retail (incl grocery stores) and all health care and govt offices do not require the card. We’re holding more or less steady at 600+new cases/day in BC -this delta variant is a bugger. Long may your quiet days with Colin continue….
Im pretty happy we have the restrictions at level 2 as Im not 100% sure we’ve got this beaten. Something that has been proven though (I believe) is that all the mask wearing, social distancing, glove wearing etc etc works Farm Girl now has the agonising decision for tomorrow: to mask or not to mask…
Two? better than I thought (I guess that’s why the haircut possibility). That is a dilemma for FG – masks are mandated for age 9 and up on school property here (at the moment). But when it’s just a “recommended” it’s much harder – if some aren’t wearing it, the rest soon take them off…
The school seem to be appeoaching it all pretty sensibly. With only 730ish on the roll, its a little easier to spread folk out and they say they plan to do a lot of stuff outdoors. Having said that, it snowed yesterday so maybe the weather (which has been gorgeous during lock down) is going to act up 😁
This Delta variant is a troublesome one. Both my brother-in-law and his partner and a friend from church, all double-vaccinated, have had a bout of Covid. Fortunately they all managed to get through it without having to go to hospital but it was very unpleasant nevertheless.
Here, it is up to us whether we wear masks or not. Some establishments ask customers to wear them but obviously they cannot make them wear them or forbid them entry. I continue to wear my mask when shopping and when I visit the hairdresser. I find a mask full of hair quite unpleasant so I have learnt to bring a spare one with me to wear after the visit. My hairdresser is careful and asks me to unhook the elastic from my ears as she trims round. When she was allowed to get back to her salon after the first lockdown she admits to having snipped through a few masks by accident but we have all learnt to cope in these new situations.
In windy places trees can be such a boon in sheltering us from the worst blasts but they do need a haircut too if they are going to do the job properly and not cause even more damage than they were planted to prevent. We have an enormous silver birch that has grown amazingly tall since we moved here and is leaning away from the prevailing wind towards our next-door-neighbour’s house. We have taken advice and it is safe for now but I’d hate to be responsible for damage to someone else’s roof or worse. We must make a decision in the near future to have it topped or felled.
Good luck to you all as you cope with going back to the office/school or just getting on with things.
I also wear my mask whenever I venture out to crowded places. Apparently the South Island is still Covid free (apart from Managed isolation facilities) despite a few people trying to cheat the Auckland lockdown.
I was really impressed by the arborists we had in. They did a kind of risk management telling me basically when we were risking if a particular tree were to fall. We’ve got nothing threatening our home but our barn is in the fall line but all those threatening it are well established and healthy. Silver birches are beautiful trees but they get a bit big for their boots 😁
The haircut was an experience. Apparently people get very angry when their pretty masks are stained with hair colour products. Our hairdresser now has a stash of disposable ones😊
Your last paragraph made me laugh! Some women amaze me 😀
Oh, Yes! The luxury of a haircut! Parts of regional Victoria are out of lockdown and still plenty of restrictions …….but we can have a haircut! Yay! I almost danced into Sylvia’s to get rid of my overgrown mane.
There’s nothing like a haircut to make you feel like you’re properly living again