Oh your grandson is a wise wee pet grizzly. Children are not given enough credit for their insight in troubled times. The other night A heard some teenagers smashing the neighbours inorganic collection on the top of the road. She yelled out that she would ring the police if they did not stop. It was 11 at night. Anyway one of the neighbours did ring the police. This moening our new wooden fence had been tagged with the 4 letter word and DIC which means the police. The local Graffitti removal Non Profit Organisation rep visited and she took photos and told us she know who it is. Recognized the tagger by the graffiti. Our neighbour waterblasted the fence tonight for us but they used a solvent. The little shits!!!!!! Anyway our graffitti removal lady will be back to try and get the rest off. We are lucky we have nice neighbours. Tagging is rare up here.

makerealbany - 2010-09-13 20:51:00

Goodness me! Yesterday almost felt normal. There is still that underlying fear and feeling of dread now and then but it was good to be back to my normal Monday routine. And I was so tired after a full days work that we were in bed early and slept well. My son has been at his job for 10 years and is being shouted dinner tonight so I get to bring the boys home for the evening. They were good about me feeling nervous about going to their area so the compromise of bringing them here will work well. JUst had a nasty aftershock and I've completely lost my train of thought now and fingers not typing too well.

grizzly4 - 2010-09-14 09:15:00

Grizzly I must say you should be very proud of the way you have handled yourself during these tough times. I count my blessing that it was not us. Our supermarked shelves are quite empty today with signs saying lots of stock has gone your way so that is some thing. Have fun with your littles tonight, I have my two as well but they have had it easy. Hi 5 to you.

smartgirl - 2010-09-14 14:30:00

Funny that your supermarket shelves are empty cos ours are too, i have never seen such empty shelves, i guess a lot of the food in the warehouses got ruined.
I drove through Christchurch today on my way home from the supermarket, first time since the quake, what a mess, it is going to take a long time to fix up, all those shops and buildings ruined, people must be heart broken, i know my boss is.............

suzy59nz - 2010-09-14 15:44:00

It just goes on and on in Christchurch. I saw on the news all those people put out of their council flats because of the damage. So sad. All those old historical buildings lost. I dont care what anyone says I love the old buildings. Drafts and all. So much character. I am not a modernistic building fan. When will those after shocks stop? I never realized how long they went on. I do feel for you all grizzly. How bloody scary it must be. My language has become very colourful lately don't know why!!!! Lol.

makerealbany - 2010-09-14 22:15:00

Its cause we live in a colourful world. I am with you on the old buildings. I would take one anyday over a new one. It is very sad and the only consilation is that there were no deaths. That would have been dreadful. I cant believe the after shocks. I check each day the christchurch quake page and it actually shows the quakes and their size. Hard to believe anything is still standing. Take care everyone, Jo

smartgirl - 2010-09-15 07:02:00

Thats the site I check morning and night, smartgirl. I drive through the city to work each day and the buildings and cordons still change each morning because of the after shocks.
The children in our programmes are so resilient, I think they are as pleased to be back to school etc as we are to see them safe and well. Apart from grandson B5 there is only 1 child who has had major damage. HIs house has been taped off completely and they can't return. Luckily hubby had a house locally and it looks as if they may take that. Connections are everything, eh? Plumbers etc are returning to my son's house this morning to try and fix their water situation .
We had a wonderful evening with our wee boys with them fulling asleep in the lounge all cuddled up together in a big blanket till their parents picked them up.

grizzly4 - 2010-09-15 07:39:00

Just checked Geo net, we only had 10 yesterday (only?) and the last one was at 11.40am so none for over 12 hours,seems to me getting better, i know one woke me during the night, but was too tired to even bother to look at the clock, just went back to sleep. So far 5 today all small and 20k away from Chch. When will it ever end, i have everyone of them written down in a log, call me crazy but it is just something i wanted to do. I have been told that we cantabrians have lived through a part of New Zealands history. If this is what it takes to make history i would rather not bother lol

suzy59nz - 2010-09-15 12:22:00

I am with you on that suzy. I think it is a fab idea to keep a log or diary of the events. I love reading old books and notebooks. Have one written by a soldier in World war 2. It really takes you back in time. Probably why I love research so much. Which I do not seem to have enough time to do lately. Lol.

makerealbany - 2010-09-15 17:24:00

That was a nice evening grizzly. Yep connections are everything. The Graffitti lady had a key to the fire Hydrant outside our house. She accessed it to waterblast the fence with some solvent. It took her 15 mins to get into the darn thing as it was all full of gunk etc. I said to her that lucky no one here had had a fire. By the time the firemen had got in the house could be burnt down!!!!! She said the council are supposed to maintain them. She did an excellent job of getting the residue off. Our neighbour has already waterblasted the fence but you could still see it. Not anymore.

makerealbany - 2010-09-15 17:30:00

The thing is Jo that the darn damage is insideous and it takes awhile in some cases to see just how bad the damage is. I am so glad I do not live in Christchurch at this time. Hawkesbay area is out as well. How are the girls?

makerealbany - 2010-09-15 17:33:00

Poor Kaikoura! last 5 after shocks all based there!!

grizzly4 - 2010-09-15 19:12:00

grizzly4 wrote:

Poor Kaikoura! last 5 after shocks all based there!!

Probably not even related to the one here as it is 150k away and prob on a diff fault line, that makes it scary. So much movement in both islands going on

suzy59nz - 2010-09-15 19:53:00

Oh and they say we are going to have a big storm up here tonight. SIL skyped from Papua New Guinea and told us to batten down the hatches. He and My other SIL check the news from home all the time. My mum says it is because of Global Warming that we are having all these probelms and nothing will convince of anything different. Yes NZ has fault lines all over the ruddy place.

makerealbany - 2010-09-15 22:08:00

3 Nasty ones during the night just as I was thinking we are coming right. I'll leave my emergency stuff right where it is I think. Had a later meeting last night and was able to drive through town on the way home without all the traffic. Lots of empty sections appearing now. Broken buildings and all the associated rubble being cleared really quickly and it it's even more devastating to have no sign of what was there for so many years.

grizzly4 - 2010-09-16 07:40:00

It must seem unreal grizzly, like living through a war. It must be. unnerving.

smartgirl - 2010-09-16 09:44:00

Yes the empty sections would get to me!!!!

makerealbany - 2010-09-16 14:16:00

i agree Grizzly 3 really hard ones last night, i have been so tired i have been sleeping through them for the last 4 days but last night i think i was awake from 3.15 onwards felt every little shake, then had to get up at 6am and drive in to work, takes me twice as long now that the residents are in the hotel. Lets hope we have a better night tonight.

suzy59nz - 2010-09-16 16:47:00

Our poor families at work are really struggling after last night. I think everyone was getting used to the shakes getting smaller and fewer but now they are shocked all over again. Some are sending their children away till after the school holidays. The others had started to move back to their own beds at night now everyone is back to sleeping together in the lounge. No one knows what to say to make anyone feel better any more. The general feeling is of defeat.

grizzly4 - 2010-09-16 18:12:00

I cant believe it got so bad last night. I just checked last 24 hours and you had 39 quakes. No wonder there is a feeling of defeat. Grizzly you have been so amazing at keeping positive.

smartgirl - 2010-09-16 18:48:00

Ok Griz, repeat after me" this will not defeat me, this will not defeat me" ok ? we are strong woman, this will not get the better of us. I am going to bed tonight with a view of sleeping all night, to hell with the quakes. Just remember , what doesn't defeat us just makes us stronger. Good grief girl if we get any stronger we will be down right dangerous lol.

suzy59nz - 2010-09-16 20:24:00

smartgirl wrote:

I cant believe it got so bad last night. I just checked last 24 hours and you had 39 quakes. No wonder there is a feeling of defeat. .

Where do you get 39 from? i follow Geonet and so far 13 yesterday and 11 today, they only tell you the ones that can be felt as NZ has thousands of quakes every year that can't be felt and no one ever knows about. I think posting every single one even if they are 100k deep and can't possibly be felt is sensationalizing it a bit , we have enough that can be felt without counting the others.

suzy59nz - 2010-09-16 20:33:00

From the christchurch quake map, I have just done one again for the last 24 hours and it says 42 quakes. It is a great source as it shows the size and where there they were.

smartgirl - 2010-09-16 23:36:00

Hope you got some sleep last night, Sue, 'cos I sure didn't. If I did doze off I woke up all tensed up. My girls weren't settled at all, we were all just lying there waiting for the next one. I see the last one was after 1am so I wasted a whole night, pretty much. It's going to be a long day and my task is funding!

grizzly4 - 2010-09-17 07:54:00

Hi, afraid the answer to that is no sleep, was up at 1.30 with my head in the loo lol, still went in to work this morning though, feeling ok now.
I would love to know where they are getting 42 quakes in 24 hours from? Geonet has the ones that can be felt and nowhere near that many, NZ has over 15,000 quakes every year and out of that only about 250 are felt, so if a site is plotting every single quake they are putting people wrong and to me that is scaremongering( is that right ) we have enough to cope with hearing about the ones that can be felt, and 18 Thursday was bad news, they were getting less and now the count is going up again, bummer.

suzy59nz - 2010-09-17 16:29:00

Please, please don't say that! I have to believe things are going to get better soon.

grizzly4 - 2010-09-17 19:28:00

I am so busy here with A having contractions on and off and rushing between two houses and babysitting, cleaning, etc, I am a bit behind with the news girls. Bugger the counting of the aftershocks. That would drive anyone crazy. I know that Counselling Services were stretched already well before the Quake but I think that the Government is going to have to provide some funding for a lot of Counselling in Christchurch. Social Services there will be working overtime as you most likely know grizzly. People are frazzled to say the lest and there will be many probelms that some people may not be able to cope with on their own. I am worn out with what is going on here and we have not had an earthquake. My poor daughter is having a hell of a time and it impacts on all of us. We had a storm earlier but there is a lull at the moment. Thank heavens I could not find one of my cats and the little devil was hiding in my bedroom. Has not touched his food bowl. Everyone is touchy. The dogs are hiding in their run and the darn wind has picked up again. My SIL rang earlier and wanted to know why we were not answering our phones. Duh!!!! A was in the bath trying to relax and stop the contractions and I was trying to feed Miss M who naturally knows Mummy is sore and so was a bit clingy. People who get offended if you don't answer the phone are so darn selfish. Featherbrains. !!!! Ok thats enough moaning.

makerealbany - 2010-09-17 22:26:00

Sounds like that baby has had enough, doesn't it? And of course they pick the worst weather!! You all sound exhausted. Hasn't been too bad here today. Lovely and sunny, but a cold wind coming through now. I had the family here since before lunch which kept me busy doing things other than worrying about earthquakes. A bit nervous again now it's just the 2 of us and another night ahead.

grizzly4 - 2010-09-18 19:07:00

I taught my DIL to knit this afternoon. She wants a pair of leg warmers. I'm not sure 2x2 rib is the easiest way to learn but she's about half way up the first one on 7.5mm needles.

grizzly4 - 2010-09-18 19:09:00

Good for you grizzly teaching your DIL to knit. If she started on that she will be away in no time. Isn't it great when you teach someone else to knit?. I just got home after babysitting. It has been very windy here and wet at times. Had my 7 yr old grandson's birthday today. That was nice. My Son's German exchange student cooked him 2 lovely big birthday cakes, so we all took cake home. Fab cakes. I am going to ring tomorrow and see if I can get the recipe. That girl is an amazing Cook. Cherry, coconut and a chocolate mix. Well I will just check my auctions and then I am off to bed.

makerealbany - 2010-09-19 01:14:00

Still windy but great for the washing as long as it stays on the line. Lost my SIL's truck keys. Have searched and searched. I locked his truck and then had to race up to the beach. I even looked in the garden near where I parked the darn thing. Ah well tomorrow is another day. I am going to sit and knit. Have to keep my fingers supple as I am losing feeling at the tips. The joints below are calcifying and I have had probelms slicing the end of my fingers when I am peeling veges. dUH!!!! I had to but warterproof bandaids that stay on lol.

makerealbany - 2010-09-19 14:47:00

That sounds awful! And b#%*y painful! We have done all our housework today and then went out for lunch. Still lovely and fine so planted lettuce and spring onions in my green house. While I did that (The easy job) I. finished the part of the garden to be put into potatoes. Looks great and I have to say working on our garden has been when I'm the happiest at present. I guess with gardening you are always working on something for the future and that's been the hardest at present, not being able to think past the next shake and how big it might be. My daily therapy now will involve watering the new plants and watching them grow and plan the next part to be planted next weekend. Way ahead of schedule, I have to say, so will have to be careful there are no late frosts. Haha.

grizzly4 - 2010-09-19 15:16:00

well what do you know, acording to Geonet, no quakes since 10.32 saturday evening , yeahhhhhhhhhh dare i say the end is in sight, no more sleepless nights.

suzy59nz - 2010-09-19 15:47:00

Suzy if you google christchurch quake map you will see where I got the info from. According to that you have had 13 in the last 24 hours but depennding where they were you may not have felt all of them. Have a look. I am so glad for you girls that it is settling down. I think of you all the time.

smartgirl - 2010-09-19 17:25:00

Gardening is so therapeutic grizzly. Too darn wet, windy and cold here to even contemplate gardening. Sigh. I am off to watch New Moon on Tv soon. My daughter is taping for me in case I fall asleep. HA HA.

makerealbany - 2010-09-19 20:25:00

Must have been on Sky was it? didn't see it advertised. Biggie again last night. Woke us up after only a couple of hours sleep. Every little noise woke me from then on. We are so sensitised to the slightest movement if a cat flicks an ear it feels like the bed is shaking! Haha.

grizzly4 - 2010-09-20 07:35:00

Well! Went to a meeting last night that wound me up more than the quakes! Honestly why some people are on committees is beyond me except to hear the sound of their own voice! And God help the rest of us that challenge their opinions, eh, Sue?
Had a relatively 'quiet' couple of days shake wise, thank goodness. Although I think people are so on edge it starting to affect the everyday lives. Hubby's boss told him yesterday that if he doesn't go to the conference in Wellington next month then he didn't want his job anymore. Good grief he was trying to explain that he was concerned about a panic attack so far from home! It was stressful enough affair last year without the rest of what he's going through.
I actually found myself telling him to look for another job!

grizzly4 - 2010-09-21 19:53:00

Yes I know what you mean about meetings grizzly. I have been toa lot of those. We have a new facilitator for our monthly meetings and she pushes thru the agenda like a knife thru butter. It is so good. I facilitate our Employment Meetings for one of the committees and I am the same. I just love saying"How is this relevant to the issue at hand? or "Your point is? or my favourite " That issue has already been thoroughly disected, digested and dealt with, did you not attend that meeting" There are lots of people who love 5 to 6 hour meetings but I am not one of them. Challenge all the time. I do and I am amazed at how people fall apart when you know your facts. I always read the agenda plus previous meetings and I research if I have to. That Boss is a b^**!!dy bully. That is Harrassment. Managers always want their teams to attend the conferences. It makes them look good and it is also to motivate the hell out of his staff. Brainwash them, fed them up, ply them with drinks and pretend they are all successful. Tell him to look for a new job. Real Estate Companies are always looking for property managers. If you suffer from any stress related illness Real Estate really is not the place to be. As if you don't have enough to deal with!!!! Hugs to you both.

makerealbany - 2010-09-21 20:41:00

Took miss 2 to Dancing today and all the way there she kept asking for her Mummy. She did not enjoy dancing and was in tears on the way home. When her Mum arrived she was as happy as a lark. She is getting so clingy and it is so hard on her mum. My daughter is exhausted and this will most definetly be the last baby. Thank Heavens says Nana. Lol. Did some christmas shopping later this arvo before the GST increase. Need to get a warrant on the car soon so have to check the tyres in case I need to buy a set. Poor South Island is really getting the worst of the weather lately. Still stormy here but nothing like down there.

makerealbany - 2010-09-22 20:33:00

grizzly4 wrote:

Well! Went to a meeting last night that wound me up more than the quakes! Honestly why some people are on committees is beyond me except to hear the sound of their own voice! And God help the rest of us that challenge their opinions, eh, Sue?

Shoot thought we were going to have to get the boxing gloves out, some of them can be real @#%$*&%$.
Makerealbany ,I have to remember some of those lines of yours lol, they would have come in useful, not sure what the point is of having a committee when individuals take it upon themselves to make decisions

suzy59nz - 2010-09-22 21:48:00

Thank goodness the storms seem to be missing Christchurch, we have had nice sunny days, cold winds though as plenty of snow on the hills and on the alps, be there for a while i would say, the weather has gone crazy.

suzy59nz - 2010-09-22 21:52:00

Yes, we have been very lucky with the weather, thank goodness. I really feel for the farmers and all those wee lambs. It's heartbreaking.
Got a very rude awakening this morning with a 4.5!!!!! I'd almost been lulled into a false sense of security. But what am I saying there is always enough drama within this house that should keep me on my toes.... hubby doesn't have a job any more!!!!!!!!!!!!! After a meeting with his boss yesterday he is allowed to work out some undefined notice until he gets another job. All very unclear as usual and of course it's an ABSOLUTELY WONDERFUL time to look for a job in this city!!!! I am completely over 2010, believe me.

grizzly4 - 2010-09-23 07:59:00

Grizzly, you will be wondering what is going to happen next. It will take some pressure off I once he has a new job, at least he is working till he finds one. I am sure he wont want to stay there too much longer. It is awful working where you are not happy, I have been in that situation myself. I am abit over 2010 too. After a full blown asthma attack a couple of weeks ago I went to the doctor and have sinus and asthma so back on antibiotics and steroids again. At least I am going away for a week or so to recover. A friend and I are off to Papamoa tomorrow, not sure if I will take my laptop or not.

smartgirl - 2010-09-23 14:30:00

I was in the lounge this morning just about to leave for work when we got the 4.5, my little dog was across the over side of the room and came running over to me as if to say " what the heck was that" poor little thing, usually they don't bother her but it did this morning, they don't bother me anymore, i tend to ignore them, just another shake in an already shaken world. Roll on 2011.

suzy59nz - 2010-09-23 18:39:00

Grizzly sorry to hear about I, probably for the best, always seemed like such a strong capable man untill he joined that firm. I know he will find something soon, he's a worker.

suzy59nz - 2010-09-23 18:42:00

Yeah, well guess what now?! He has to find a job by 8/10 'cos thats when he's out of there. I must have been a really bad person this year, is all I can say!

grizzly4 - 2010-09-23 19:47:00

WHAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!bloody hell thats not good, poor I , poor you.
Any plans as to what he is going to look for? if you need any help with ANYTHING $$$ please let me know ok

suzy59nz - 2010-09-23 21:20:00

Hells bells girls. You really have all the rotten luck going on down there. Blardy rocking and rolling all over the place. Just when you think things are calming down. It is a lousy year for you alright grizzly. Well when you are down girl there is only one way to go and that is up. Hubby will get something. His health will improve once he is out of there. I know this is a difficult time for jobseeking in Christchurch. Hey lets be honest it is difficult to live in Christchurch at this time. There is so much going on there and Real Estate will be slow because no one will want to buy property there for awhile. Too many unseen probelms. So those high roller bosses of his may get a nasty shock when their pay packets start to shrink.

makerealbany - 2010-09-23 22:52:00

Suzy the thing I detest about meetings is when they are unproductive and clear pathways are ignored because of emotions. I must have attended a few of those. Lol.

makerealbany - 2010-09-23 22:54:00

I hope you have a great time at Papamoa smartgirl. We used to go there for the xmas holidays years ago. After we got a bit tired of going to Raglan.

makerealbany - 2010-09-23 22:56:00