Struan Farm

Just a Bit of Wood

We called in the cavalry to Struan Farm this past week to deal with the clean up of the big trees taken down at the new house site: Piopio local Roy Simpson and his seriously efficient wood splitter.

Of course we now have a mountain of black wattle and redwood split firewood to put away and find storage space for....yes, there's always something!

Hedge Happening

Now that the sheep have been closed out of the new house site at Struan Farm I can start planting and landscaping. Last week it was more camellias and rhodos at the extension of the redwood grove at our front entrance. 

Here's the latest installment, our hedge up/down the driveway. I'm planting "griselinia littoralis."

I must say that this work does require taking a breath and having a cup of tea every so often!

The Workshop: Something Old, Something New

John is making the transition from Maurie's workshop up to his new workshop at Struan Farm. Given the number of tools, cans of paint, hardware, etc. etc. etc. this hasn't been easy. Our builders mucked in to help set things up, thankfully.

I'm hoping this can stay clean and organized for as long as possible, but have my doubts about that!

What's special to us is that while John has a huge new workbench, the guys also brought up Maurie's old bench for the center of the room. It's well worn and was built by Maurie, we love the fact that it's made the move too.

John decided to sand the top, and it's come up beautifully, good wood can last forever!

 

Over the Moon About Larry

John insisted we research this after my earlier post this week about being "happy as Larry" that I was "spoilt for choice." He really thought we should know who Larry was, if there was a Larry; this must be investigated.

We're "over the moon," having found out that "happy as Larry" is a New Zealand and Australian expression. The first printed reference was made by G.L. Meredith in NZ in 1875, "We would be happy as Larry were it not for the rats." There is one view that it was derived from the English word "larrie," meaning joking or jesting, or "larrikin," a mischievious youth. The other theory refers to an Australian boxer of this period named Larry Foley who never lost a fight. Either way this is an expression that's been around for "yonks."

I'd thought that the phrase "over the moon" came from the Mother Goose nursery rhyme, the one where the cow jumps over the moon. While there is some validity to this, it came into modern usage via English football, when managers starting using the phrase in interviews after a victory.

Now for "yonks." Yet another expression adopted from the Mother Country, meaning a long period of time. To put this into context, you won't hear from me on colloquial expressions now for yonks!