“New year—a new chapter, new verse, or just the same old story? Ultimately we write it. The choice is ours.”
May the Lord keep you in the palm of His hand, and never close His fist too tight!
Happy New Year – Athbhliain faoi mhaise duit
One of our earliest resolutions back in 2015 was to have the old second house wholly gone, and finally, we have nailed this resolution on the last day of 2021. Yes, it took us a long time to do this job by tearing, pulling down the house by two of us. What was left was the concrete porch and part of the fireplace base.
First, we thought about what to do with the old second home and is it impossible to turn it into a bed and breakfast business or use a part of the house into a studio as my office. We had a look at the plan and the finances for our long term. In the end, we decided to pull down. There is a bed and breakfast business across the main road from us, and I learnt they charge nearly $200.00 a night for one bedroom along with rules such as no animals like the dog in their property.
My partner keeps the good woods such as mahogany, rimu and oak and the rest of the woods goes into the barn to store as firewoods. The good woods will turn into something like a frame, replacing the rotted wood in our house, toys, outdoor chairs.
We thought about using heavy machinery such as tractors, bulldozers and paying someone as a demolition team. What is the point of spending a lot of money hiring or paying someone with extra labour and hours of using the machinery? We have the skills of labouring and using the pieces of equipment and tools, and we went ahead to do this job. Hip hip, hooray!
Our works and course led us away from this project over COVID-19, Lockdowns between 2020 and 2021, bad weather through many seasons, garden jobs such as tree fellings and health issues, and two surgeries. We are grateful to have entirely and made away with the final garden project except for a battle with wild rabbits. What is next to come?? Who knows? There is a never-ending idea or something to do around our home here, for we love this place and enjoy our time away from the city of Hamilton.
Mmm, entering the new Year 2022 made us no different in our lives by living each day and night.
Note – you may notice the first two aerial photos of our current property. There were three houses in the first photo and in the second photo left two houses standing until we bought. In the earliest days, the property belongs to one of the families, including my late great granduncle’s wife – Joy Hinton’s granduncle, his wife and children. It was a farmer’s owner, and the men used the first original house, which we pulled down as a farmhand house, while the young family used the second house where we live now. The family member sold to Hooper’s family, and they ran a business as Eureka Transport around the 1920s in Hooper Road until no room to run the depot as they took the contract from Horotiu. The depot grew in Hinton Road in 1949. This business was to cart fat cattle to Horotiu and back to Eureka. One of the family members of Eureka was Charles (Bill) Edwards, who married Minny Hooper and took charge of the business by 1949. Unfortunately, Eureka Transport Business which you see in the aerial photo, was sold, and the company folded a few years later. We have no idea what happened to the third house, which sat in the field we owned a sizeable vast land.
Life in Eureka 