News from Nelson – May 2 2009

Hi all,

We got the earthworks at Roses Road completed and the water tanks in just before the rain hit. The digger driver also excavated 75% of the cellar too, and got the gravel down on the road. So now all is ready for a spring kick off on the building site. And we got the bill for the earthworks and took a nice deep breath before opening!

However, we still need to get the fourth bay of the shed closed in, so we can move out there. Jan & I are meeting with Dave Singer this weekend to build a plan around that.

However, Jan is still working lots of hours on the C Saw & Sander at work.

We had Brad & Jacquie Jackson down here for a few days from 8-11 May, and had a great time. What a neat couple of people they are. Jacquie is a lecturer in Media Design with a strong interest in architecture, and was very interested to see our plans and to talk to Jan about a new type of composite board that she is interested in getting manufactured, whereas Brad & I spent all weekend discussing business and leadership (I can hear heaps of you groaning now with the boredom of it all!). Seriously, we had a wonderful time, and they have an open invitation to come back & visit whenever they have free time. They live in Wellington & Brad commutes to Auckland, and have also given us return open invites (I think the waffles swung that!).

I have had my interview with the Institute of Directors in Wellington, which seemed to go very well. I am so glad that I put in the study beforehand though (I had to skip the weekend in Chch for Tessa's birthday to fit some study in) as, although they didn't ask any tricky questions, going through their 180 page "pillars of governance" doc refreshed my memory about exciting things like the solvency test, NZSX rules and dividends. Karen T picked me up from the airport & ferried me around all day. We had a lovely time & drank far too much coffee! I also caught up with Jeremy briefly (and we did a hand-over of Nelson purchases in a café - for those of you who remember Cheech & Chong - ! - it all felt a bit like "Let's do a dope deal").

And speaking of Tessa, she had a good birthday celebration in Chch - even Mike D & Kara came down from Auckland (which she wasn't expecting) - so it was a good family catch up. Except me :-( She is planning some study next year - either in Chch or in Auckland, depending on how quickly Helen gets into the police force - on early childhood development.

We have put in our requirements to the solar water supplier & now have our quote back. It is easy to see why most people don't go through with any form of alternative energy; the numbers simply do not stack up - even over a 25 year payback period. But I guess we aren't 'most people' in that respect - which is why we are doing it... and why the deposit has been sent and the contract accepted.

I am also gearing up to complete another minor bit of study - Diploma in Career Counselling - in August, and ticking off another Certificate in Adult Teaching module - CAT 19: Working with International Students.

I mentioned in our last newsletter that Janet, Julie T, Murray, Jan and I went out to dinner at Havana's Café; the week after our dinner, I heard on a local news spot that the restaurant had closed. The owner had decided that the economic forecast was too bad to continue, and decided to close before they were forced to.

In a week I take on the President's role for the 2009-10 year for my Rotary Club - the Rotary Club of Whakatu. I have already been to my first local area 'President's Meeting' and upset the apple cart by asking "But why?" 50% of the time, and trying to find a nice way of pointing out smarter ways of doing things the other 50%. Never mind, they only have to put up with me for a year. I have an extremely able VP in Jo Gargiulo, who is great at sharing the work around and kicking me in the backside if I try to do too much within the club. She will be great as President the year after - she will be even more blunt with the other clubs in the region, I suspect.

So, next trips are in July 10-12 for the 20 year Canterbury Uni anniversary in Hanmer, and then Wllg at the end of September for Otto's birthday.

Right, that's all for now. Take care & alles liebe!

Sam & Jan

News from Nelson – May 2009

Hi all,

The weather has broken a little, but not enough to stop the earthworks at Roses Road. We now have the garage 75% excavated (the remainder will be excavated when we start the foundations in spring), the road realigned and the holes for the water tanks to go into. We got a bit of a nasty shock today though as the water tanks turned out to be $1500 each dearer than expected. Ouch. But we have to have water, and we don't want it in plastic.

A couple of trucks full of gravel will be rocking up there very shortly to cover the bare clay before the rains really kick in. Phew - just got all that done before the winter, so we are ready to kick off the build on 01 September.

Jan is still working 12 hour days on the C Saw & Sander installation at Nelson Pine. He is making gains, but it takes a lot of time for only one person. But hey, it is a recession, and he has plenty of work, so that's something to be thankful for.

We are having a meeting with Leigh tomorrow night, to correct the errors on the plans, and to make some changes, before they go to the council for approval. We have just found out that the man who did the producer statement for our waste system is no longer available; his wife has cancer and he is nursing her. What is worse, his first wife died of cancer. Makes you count your blessings - but leaves us in a bit of a hole over making changes to our producer statement, all the same. We still need to put together a list of items for the solar power supplier & get that through to them for a quote.

Janet was down from Auckland a couple of weeks ago for a play - she, Julie T and I went on a shopping marathon for Julie's winter work wardrobe. For FOUR hours. I didn't buy anything, but I was exhausted! We also took all the doglets for a tramp around the beach, and went out to dinner at Havana's Café (with Murray and Jan!). I think Janet had a good break away :-)

Last Friday I got a cold, so spent most of the weekend trying to sleep in bed. Jan got busy-itis and caught up on a load of jobs that he wanted advice and admiration for, so every time I had just gotten off to sleep, I got woken up again. Eventually I just gave the idea of sleeping up as a bad job and got up. However, Jan got the lights fitted in the kitchen (we have been waiting 6 & 1/2 years for that job to be ticked off the list - we have had bare bulbs dangling by their wires in the kitchen since we moved in), and has installed a new kitchen tap.

The new kitchen tap is a trial for the ones in the new house. We are trying out a cheapie Chinese one to see if it works OK, before we buy a house lot of them. The attraction (aside from a nice design) is that they are 80% cheaper than the European ones - and suit low pressure systems. We can't use many of the European ones as they are generally not suitable for low pressure systems; and the few which are, are phenomenally expensive.

This weekend we have Brad Jackson from Auckland Uni here to stay with his wife Jacquie - I got in touch with Brad about a book that he wrote on Leadership which my class were using as a text, and he kindly offered to come to Nelson (at his own expense) and give a lecture to the students. So he arrives on Friday, stays with us & enjoys the sights for the weekend, and then leaves on Monday avo. Jan is going to cook waffles on Saturday morning, which will definitely show them a good time!

My folks had a very exciting trip to the North Island on their guided provincial tour - my mother ended up in hospital on a drip; either a gastric bug or food poisoning. Not the way you want to spend your holiday. The amazing thing was that she was up and about a day later and they carried on with the entire trip. Braver than I am!

So, next trips are still Wellington for the day on 21 May (for my provisional accreditation interview with the Institute of Directors), then July 10-12 for the 20 year Canterbury Uni anniversary in Hanmer, and then Wllg at the end of September for Otto's birthday.

Right, that's all for now. Take care & alles liebe!

Sam & Jan

News from Nelson – April 2009

Hi all,

The weather is still pretty settled - it is an amazingly dry autumn. The non-natives are dropping their leaves (a very weird thing to do to eyes attuned to evergreen bush. Exotic trees always look so diseased in autumn - then it gets worse - they are dead in winter!). Jan loves this time of year, loves the autumn show; I don't like it, as it looks like those bits of the city are dying.

Jan continues to be busy at work with the installation of the C Saw at Nelson Pine. Most of the redundant workers have gone, and people are just getting on with things.

We have our working drawings, on which there are some errors. We will have to work through those by the 20th of the month, when Leigh is back from holiday so we can get them corrected. Then we just have to check our producer statements and put it all into the council for approval. We also need to put together a list of items for the solar power supplier & get that through to them for a quote.

Noot, the digger driver, managed to get himself entirely over-booked before Easter & didn't get our job done (note to self about his reliability for the build once we start). So he will have to realign the driveway, excavate the garage & excavate for the water tanks once Leigh is back from holiday.

Jan's cider was entirely drinkable - we took a bottle of it over to see Warren & Tracy, who were house sitting for friends of theirs in the Waihopai Valley over Easter. We drank a bottle at lunch, and it went down quite well. We suspect that only a little fermentation took place, but is was enough to make it drinkable. Warren sat down with us over the plans & came up with several ideas, which were really good.

We caught up with Jen Ladley when she was up in Nelson a couple of weekends ago - we went out to Karanga & saw both her & her folks, which was great. Jen had kindly brought me up a food parcel from Chch (Goan Cuisine Green Chilli Jam - the most divine thing you can ever have with cheese in the universe... obtainable from Cashmere Cuisine in Chch). And a tiny thank-you food parcel on its way back to you in Chch via Warren & Trace, Jen!

Jen Cooper was over again for my birthday celebration last week at Trailways, another early morning breakfast, which was great. Dawn was there too, along with Gisella, Mo and Amelia (though Amelia is a little young for grown-up style breakfast yet, being in the twos!). Julie B and Julie T were both apologies - too much work on for both of them.

Janet is down from Auckland at the end of this month for a play - she is staying with Julie T for a few days. It will be great to catch up with her.

We have heard from Ana Silvia again; she is keeping busy with her schoolwork and sounds like she is slotting back into her life in Brazil. My folks are currently away in the North Island on a guided provincial tour - their itinerary sounds great - Martinborough, New Plymouth, Napier...

I am up in Wellington on 21 May as I am applying for provisional accreditation with the Institute of Directors and have to have an interview - I am just flying up for the day & then have to get back by 4 for a lecture at NMIT. Karen T is going to take the day off and play taxi-driver for me (very nice!). Jan's & my next trips away will be in July for the 20 year Canterbury Uni anniversary in Hanmer and then Wllg at the end of September for Otto's birthday.

Right, that's all for now. Take care & alles liebe!

Sam & Jan

News from Nelson – March 2 2009

Hi all,

The weather is still pretty settled, but it is colder in the mornings, and you can tell autumn is on the way. I go to play tennis at 7.45 two mornings a week, and it is pretty chilly at that time now; there are clouds of condensation puffing out of our mouths!

When I said last time that Jan was busy at work with the installation of the C Saw at Nelson Pine, well, he is busier now. His hours have got even longer in trying to keep the project on schedule. There has been no news yet about which operators will leave Nelson Pine yet; I don't know when the management team will make a decision on that.

I too have been busy; NMIT asked me to pick up a couple of extra contracts, which, considering how quiet everything else has gone, I have done. It will keep me busy until the build starts in September.

As some of you will know, I will be project managing the build. I am aiming to wind back a fair amount of work in the latter half of the year so I have an appropriate amount of time to manage the process. I think we will be looking at a labour only deal; I am worried about being affected by contractors going bust & not having paid for materials, leaving us out of pocket... so labour only in this market seems safer to me. I will be will be starting price negotiations on materials just after mid-year, when the recession is really biting. I suspect we will get some good deals then, when the work has dried up, and the effect of the tail for all the already planned construction jobs has gone.

To cut back the work I am stepping off two boards, and not teaching summer school. Not to mention building a business plan to manage the process (also under construction). So any suggestions, pointers and hints, please let me know directly. While I have done this once before, I am always happy to get some new ideas.

I don't think that Noot, the digger driver, has managed to get to the site yet to realign the driveway, excavate the garage & excavate for the water tanks, but there is really no rush yet. The engineer is currently working on construction of the garage (which we have already fed-back on) so I think that is the last stage of the working drawings. The we can submit to council for building consent. The building consent process is currently only taking 3 weeks! Jan and I are going to tally our existing timber this weekend for our list of exclusions as part of our tender documents. Then we put the job out to some local builders for tender.

We made our Cox's Orange Pippin apples into juice & cider. The cider looks FOUL at present, but hopefully will turn out to be drinkable!

We still haven't gotten around to using our voucher for Happy Valley or our voucher for Wilson's Abel Tasman Experience; we might have to leave the Abel Tasman trip until next summer as it is getting a bit cool now for larking around in boats.

Jen Ladley is up in Nelson this weekend and we are aiming to catch up with her & her folks on Saturday morning, which will be wonderful.

Jen Cooper was over for a birthday celebration on the 17th, so we had a breakfast out at Trailways, which was great. We have organised another get-together session for the week after my birthday - it has been ages since "The Breakfast Club" met!

I have heard from both Steph Jackson and Ana Silvia; both are busy, happy and well. All you can ask for!

We are also looking forward to the 20 year Canterbury Uni anniversary in July, in Hanmer. Then it is Wllg at the end of September (26th) for Otto's birthday.

Right, that's all for now. Take care & alles liebe!

Sam & Jan