A new month with old (and new) things

October means the middle of Spring, and that means it’s time to plan for summer. New Zealanders love living outside, even if it’s just in their own yards—maybe even especially then. That’s true for me, too, but I’ve never really been able to do that at this house. October is where that begins to change.

The Waikato Home & Garden Show is on this week (Thursday through Sunday), and I bought my ticket online last night, so I’m ready to go. I didn’t go last year because at that point I still wasn’t sure what I wanted to do with/about my house, and so, I didn’t see any point in going. This year it’s completely different.

The point of the show is to see all sorts of new and/or interesting products and services for the home and garden—which is kind of obvious, yes, but it’s a very general category that includes stuff for the house (like renovations, garden sheds, patio covers, landscaping products, ventilation systems, even spa pools and swimming pools), stuff to eat and drink (food ingredients, spices, gin, delivered meal kits, craft beer, various kitchen gadgets), and, well, other stuff, like miracle gadgets, vacuums, etc.

I’ve always thought shows like that are really interesting, and over the years I’ve gone to various versions both in Auckland with Nigel, and now here in Hamilton. In every case, I’ve kept my eyes open for products or services that would be useful for various projects, and this year is no different—in fact, I’m going back to my mission during my early years in this house: I’m looking for providers of stuff I want for the house.

First and foremost, I’m interested primarily in two things: Patio covers/roofs and whole-house ducted air conditioning. Companies that do those things will be at the show, and they often offer “show specials”, a price discount or some sort of perk, for people who attend the show. There may be providers of batteries for solar power systems, but I kind of doubt it, and it may not matter because I’m wavering on whether that’s a good idea or not (once I decide, I’ll definitely talk about whatever I decide and why).

There also may be decorating ideas/products/services that could be useful to me inside the house, which would be nice. There will definitely be other things I’ll think are interesting, too, but whether I buy anything or not—who knows?

There’s one last bit of business left from last month: September is now my new Number One, “most-blogged” month of 2025 (by one post…). Because this is now into the weeds of statistics and data, I realised that if I achieved 183 posts this year, it would amount to one post every other day, on average. While that’s still not as good in previous years, it’d be better than both 2024 and 2022, but, is it even possible? If I did an average of only one post per day for the rest of the year, it would amount to 173—better than 2022, but fewer than 2024. Good, bad, or indifferent? I don’t know. Still, if I managed to add just four more posts over those three months, the total would beat 2024, too, which is something—ignoring every other year since 2018, of course.

So, here we are: Nearing the midpoint of Spring, and I’m on the verge of launching into my various projects for my house. This year, for the first time, I think I may actually be ready for summer when it arrives, and that’s something I’m very happy about. And, for the record, wherever my blogging output lands will be fine with me.