Earthquake off Vanuatu

Crikey another big Shake-up for the Pacific.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/world/south-pacific/2944170/Two-earthquakes-off-Vanuatu

While it’s great that we know when a wave might hit NZ it’s also equally important to know when one might hit islands closer to the epicentre.  Perth Now reports that a tsunami, if there is one, should hit Vanuatu within an hour of the quake http://www.news.com.au/perthnow/story/0,21598,26181623-5005521,00.html

That was about 15 mins ago…

My weather obsession

Apologies for my obsession with the weather however livelihoods depend on it; and not just mine.  Hawke’s Bay is a primary production town and at the moment grapes (your wine!) are shooting, stonefruit has set, and the apples have just finished blossoming.  When I hear helicopters and wind machines at two o’clock in the morning (and 3 and 4 and 5…) I am glad that growers have the tools to save their income, and that of Hawke’s Bay.  This morning’s frost was not a bad one and I am hoping many will have coped.  The snow is very low on the foothills of the ranges and more is set to come.

Growers are resilient folks  and while they spend alot of time planning for the future, watching market trends and wishing they had a crystal ball they live very much in the moment, protecting their crops (your food and wine) from the here and now.

Here’s a snap shot of what’s to come. for more info go to www.metvuw.com

The power of Kiwiblog

I had let my blog lie dormant since the last election and the visits toodled around in the low double digits on a daily basis – mainly people looking into the No Asset Procedure Law and the Credit Crisis Explained (are these two linked? )

However I sent Kiwiblog a link to my blog showing pciture of the snow on the Napier Taupos and WAAALAAA, 1500 hits in a day

Cheers!

Tree + Car = ….

We had spent most of the night helping people on the Napier Taupos and were driving home.  Unfortunately due to all the rain a LARGE Redwood had fallen across the road …

Everyone OK This why people in the who live in the country drive 4×4’s

Pictures of Napier Taupo Road Chaos

Yep we were there in the beginning and got ourselves out. We could see it turning to custard so forewarned the 4×4 clubs.  Hubby and friends then went back in and spent till 12.30 at night ferrying vehicles and people and then they spent the next day helping out too.  We had all three of our 4×4’s in the midst of it all at one time or another.

No tax cuts; that’s good

I will looking with interest at the comments surrounding Bill English’s announcement that tax cuts are deferred.  Handing out money in the form of tax cuts, in the current economic climate, would be as wrong as not giving tax cuts when the economy was good.  Both actions, giving tax cuts in a recession and not giving tax cuts in the good times, have the effect of strangling the economy and suffocating productivity.

My 2c worth.

How to peeve people off….

Just received this email from a trusted source.

Hi folks, we’ve just found out about NZ Post’s “PO Box Direct List” – which they’ve told us they are selling for direct marketing purposes. When we asked them, they said it was a case of PO Boxholders opting out, rather than them asking you if you want to receive all the junk mail … So if you have a PO Box number, you might want to email this guy Geoff.Pearce@nzpost.co.nz or someone like him, and tell him, no thanks!

Watching with interest

I am watching with interest the by-election in Mt Albert…curiouser and curiouser. Lee vs Shearer; interesting….the result may just reflect the mood of the country. 

The results for the 2008 election were that Labour got 42% of the Party Vote and Helen C got 58.6% of the candidate vote, National however got 35% of the Party Vote but only 28.5% of the Candidate Vote.  Here are a few questions.

1. if both candidates are unknown will that affect how people vote?
2. Will voters vote more for along party lines because of this?

I think so.  (Yes I know there is no PV in a by-election). It’s only going to take a 7% swing in people’s voting to change the colour of this electorate to blue.  Go Melissa.

Well that’s a bloody shame

http://www.stuff.co.nz/business//2379814/4000-land-agents-lose-jobs

4000; how many were there to begin with?  Did they increase at the same rate as Labours bureaucracy? How many used car salesmen are now redundant? So many questions.

Should it be TAHINI Virus?

Or TiAH1N1 virus to be more correct, since the WHO has instructed us to call it The influenza A H1N1 virus.  Would stop all this stupidity.  Still that would probably put sesame seeds at serious risk