Back to Work

After a day off it's time to get back to the routine. A not so quick check of the 7 Springers on the river. They decided not to make it easy and stand near the road but instead I found them on the hill overlooking the river. They weren't taking in the view because the whole valley is shrouded in mist and remained that way until after noon. No new babies.

Remembered I hadn't used the neighbour's tractor for a week. Took it out of the shed and let it run for 10 minutes before putting it back to bed. Have you ever driven some else's car and found the controls are different from yours? You know, where the indicators are on the opposite side and you keep engaging the windscreen wipers instead of indicating you are turning right. Well it's the same with tractors. At the moment I'm driving three different tractors and the gears are different on each. A year ago I was using six different tractors during the week, that's a challenge.

The 50 HP 4 WD tractor from our work property, the forks are really handy.

Our 30HP 4WD with 4 in 1 bucket

80HP 4 WD with Bale Handler

Having finished at the neighbour's it was a quick trip across the river to put out silage and then off to the local guy who fixes broken metal things. The boss had driven one of the silage feeders into a fence post and it needed some panel beating. Brought it back (after a long chat) and put it out with some more silage.

Home for breakfast and a look around the Orchard. The Tropical Nectarine is in flower - this is a bit early?


Tropical Nectarine flowering in July?

Took the pushbike and rode back across the river to finish a 100 metre stretch of replacement fencing. Pulled the first wire and used it as a string line to bang in the steel posts, attached the insulators and pulled the second wire and ditto. Tensioned both wires and attached all the electrical connections. Drove over to the cut-off switch located over the rise about 300 metres away and found one of the poplars had come down during the week right across the first stretch of fence we had completed two weeks ago.  Cut up the tree into 3 metre strips and cleared the fence line, repaired the damaged section, tensioned and turned on the power and tested everything. All clear.

At least it missed the water trough

As it is Friday and the boss is arriving tonight, did a quick clean up of the RTV and put away any tools I'd used during the week. Packed all the silage wrap into the garbage and rode home, pushing hard to get some aerobic activity. It's about 8 kilometres home but the worst bit is the 300 metres from our front gate to the house. It is extremely steep. I've only ever ridden up to the top once as it really hard going and I'm sure I need more gears. Anyway I make it worth my while by walking up briskly and gasping.

The work vehicle

The reward at the top is a glass of wine, cheese and biscuits. The end of a good week.