A Lay Day

Cool morning, there are frosts on the flats of the property across the street. Drove down the road to where the cows and calves are strip feeding and wound up the electric fence. They were grateful to get some more green feed. There is a stray animal  from another property further down the road breaking into two strips ahead. That property is feeding silage only and the green feed is just too enticing. Will need to speak to its owner as it runs away when approached and its gender is not clear. The cows and calves are accompanied by a bull and the stray is quite young and we don't want any unlawful goings on.

Overnight a calf had been born to one group of cows on the river. Mother and son doing well. Need to tell the Bull responsible so that he can break out the cigars. Topped up their feeder with a fresh bale of hay.

This morning we are heading off to the Maitland Farmers Market to see about buying some chook food from a grower who comes from Dubbo. As it turns out he is not organic and only fumigates with phostoxin when weevils become excessive. Organic grain mix for poultry is twice the price of normal chicken food and available from the local produce stores. We can get a one ton bulka bag of mixed organic grain grading's for a reasonable price but the challenge is storing and caring for it for such a long period until it is used. Storage would be in 200 litre drums using a candle to remove oxygen and add CO2. This would need to be repeated regularly and weevils monitored. No decision yet.

The markets are very large, produce limited to some Apples, Bananas, Strawberries and the usual Winter vegetables such as Cabbage, and Cauliflower and cucurbits. All of which we don't need. Lots of lollies, soaps, clothing, jewellery, tools and scented products. Quite a few home made products such as pet beds etc. And of course lots of plants. Our support was limited to a bottle of wine and a flowering shrub.

The trip home was via a large hardware chain for some urgent supplies i.e. Rose food and sandpaper.

Our 20 year old TV finally died a few weeks ago and we invested in a new flat screen model after a lot of research. The size is correct for the viewing position but with digital transmission we had a steep learning curve to understand what is needed to record and/or store programs. It should have been simple but the sales people were not that helpful. The problem seems to be that if you are not purchasing new every few years your knowledge gap grows to the point where you are completely ignorant. It should have been as easy as outlining your needs and having them filled. Not so. You need to return to basics and learn all the technology and associated language to make sure you get what you want. Even the salesperson got it wrong. The first unit we brought home would not record (PVR). Why? They gave us the wrong model. Add $100.  Anyway the next challenge is recording while watching another channel. Yes, add another $100 and another electronic box. Well at least its incremental not replacement. Don't let me get onto buying a car or tractor which we had to survive earlier this year.