s e v e n i s a j o u r n e y

Time to… bury the body. Last night we set up the two Timms Traps, and this morning we have a dead possum. It feels pretty weird to be killing these cat-sized critters, and both Tam and I had a twinge of guilt. But it is what must be done if we are going to be good to environment. I am not going to bother trying to skin this one, as I dont have a proper knife or any experience. I am just going to bury it by the want tank (mmmm, fertilizer!). Once the traps are clear and disarmed I will let the cats out, we don’t want to take the chance a curious cat will stick his head in the plastic yellow box. They are baited with apple, but knowing Slow’s propensity for liking weird food, you never know.

The Timms Trap works like a giant mouse trap, so at least it is humane. But watch those fingers,a trap that big can seriously hurt your hand!

Thinking about the traps as I slept resulted in a weird dream about “The Possum Queen”. She was a giant possum, nearly 6 feet long with a long thin body. And six legs. And three tails. It was the extra tails that had me worried. She was going from trap to trap pulling the apples out with her big paw. Weird dream.

A few weeks ago we got a notice in the mail that there was a local planning meeting happening to discuss changes to the Wellington City Council (WCC) zoning and land-use plans, particularly regarding hills and ridgelines. Everyone in the valley was invited (they were having meetings for the various valleys and rural areas in Wellington- Karori, Ohariu, Makara, etc).

So we went last night up to the Grenada North community hall. In attendance there were 4 city councilers, the planning chief for the north-city development, and three other consultants and zoning planners. And us. Yes, we were the only residents that showed up. Outnumbered four to one, the meeting went ahead. We leanred about the law changes, and took the oppotunity to ask some questiongs about general development in the rural region (the shed and barn we want to put up, putting a small bridge across the back stream, the nuclear reactor, the black-helicopter landing-pad).

And we had tea and cookies. And they gave us a copy of the big planning map for the region! (Though we should not metion the freebie map to the neighbors). We also got to meet a bunch of really nice city council employees (chatting afterwards). We traded numbers and cards. Always good to make new friends!