Te Puke octogenarian Margaret Vant has agreed to share her rainfall figures.
The spritely 85-year-old has recorded daily rainfall and measured temperatures "for a few years now".
Her records are meticulous and we are happy to publish a summary at the end of every month, with a comparison to previous years.
For instance last month, saw overall rainfall of 5.5mm on January 6, 13, 14, 15, and 17.
In January last year, of the total of 104.25mm most was on January 7 when 67mm dropped in the gauge.
January two years ago remains in our memories as a soggy month with a total of 241.75mm - most of it on January 22 with 87mm during the day and 97mm that night while on the next day only 3.5mm fell.
January, 2010, saw 86.25mm with 21mm on January 31 and the first month of 2009 saw 56.5mm with the most being 15mm on January 3 and 25mm on January 14.
Miss Vant grew up in Te Puke and attended the high school when its roll was 64.
Her father was a teacher at Te Puke Primary and "we were a family of gardeners" so it was no surprise she completed a two-year study course for a horticulture qualification at Massey.
After working as a florist for a while, she took a variety of jobs, including four years in India as a housekeeper at Hebron School.
Miss Vant isn't into computers but helps keep the post office going with letters to friends and relatives. Recently, she trimmed her personal list of correspondents down from 100.
She has carefully placed her rain gauge far enough away from the birdbath so the regular avian bathers don't splash drops into it and give a false reading.
The thermometer has been hanging in front of a sunny wall on the house but it may soon shift to beneath a shady tree, now the tree has grown a bit.
The hottest daytime temperature she recorded this past January was 36.5C on January 7.
We look forward to seeing her records next month.
