What can I say? I'm finished my course! Yippee, level 4 Dairy/Ag all done and dusted, finally after this year long course it's nice to see myself getting a break for the next couple months. Yep, I probably could've gotten it finished sooner, but procrastination is my best friend - or frienemy? And leads by a bad example. Anyway. It sure was nice to put the last two assignments in the post box today, yep there might be a chance they might not quite pass, they were probably the most confusing assignments I've done but if they need modifying in a couple weeks when they come back, they do. I'm not too worried.
In the meantime, this is like recess! I'm giving myself a couple months of "me" time, no study just anything. My plans? Well Bee got me this really neat CakePop maker thing for my birthday that I've seriously been meaning to try out, but just haven't had any spare time, so next week sometime that is going to be on the list of "to do's"! That and those recipe books Mum and Dad got me for Christmas, all on baking and chocolate - Mum and I need to rally together and get into some baking and try out some new recipes. Should be fun :)
Mum's recently been down to Rotorua, Dad and I did the trip down there on the 15th, basically got down there at about 9:30pm and turned around and went back home again straight away after dropping Mum at Nana's. The idea was for her to be down there for Grandad's anniversary. So she was down there a few days until Dad picked her up again on Thursday.
The trip back was, interesting. Dad was super tired but obviously I couldn't drive - after not having driven a 6 speed manual before, let alone that ute, I wasn't too keen on taking over - not that he was going to let me, or ever will! But, we got lost in Auckland! At midnight! There was a detour as they'd shut the motorway, which was all well and good. They'd put out detour signs and saying what direction you wanted to go in for north, south, or west - until the signs just, stopped. Gee, thanks guys for assuming everyone passing through will know inner city Auckland like the back of their hand. -_-. So, around we went and somehow managed to get ourselves on the southern motorway again. Simply looking at google maps wasn't helpful, so Dad called up Siri - the iPhone assistant. "Take me home, Siri!" She's figured out our address, who knows how, I'd hate to think?! :/ and can direct you when you're lost, so that's helpful. Except that she doesn't factor in roadworks or detour signs. SHE was the one who got us onto the southern motorway.
Once we got back onto the detour, dearest Siri sounded pretty sarcastic with her directions as if she thought it was a marvelous joke, the detour signs had ended probably because there was writing in certain lanes, directing you to specific motorways. What's wrong with overhead signage or something?! Anyway, it took us a good half an hour to get back onto the motorway at the right place, and we must've gotten home about 1:30, quarter to two. Thank goodness I wasn't milking the next morning....
But things have been busy, work is coming out of our eyeballs, which is good. But it is a slightly uncomfortable situation, you know, posts have a bad habit of splintering and having them go through one's eyeballs isn't pleasant...Dad has recently redone/built/upstyled one of our trailers which took a good week worth of work between him and Nick. I have to say, it looks blimmen awesome! Much more useful than the previous one and much more user friendly too. To think, that originally my parents got an Auckland trailer building crowd to build this 4.5m trailer for them - but it was basically made of nothing, I've no clue how it has hauled as much as it has over these last 8 years or so...Only problem is, the first day using the upgraded one, Dad almost broke his leg!
The sides are framed up and half the height has ply, but the top half is open - a perfect size for a leg even. He and Nick were unloading posts, while Dad stood on some strainers that were also on the trailer, something happened, Nick dropped the post, Dad tried to catch it, the strainers rolled and then suddenly his leg was hanging out the side of the trailer. Oops, ouch, couple pulled muscles but thankfully nothing broken... o.O Better not be doing that again, I think he's gonna make a few amendments...
I'm getting plenty of milkings to keep me happy, all this week coming in fact, are only once a day milkings as many farmers have gone once a day, regrettably but I don't mind not having to milk in the heat and I'm sure the cows aren't too concerned either! Although that is good in itself now that I've finished my study I'll be back into helping with fencing, tomorrow I'm battening with Dad. Yay! Hopefully I'll be able to help speed them up a bit, even slightly. We've got so much fencing work it's not funny and get more phone calls every day...I think we're booked until mid April. Fun stuff!
In other news, I've decided to join the group of Young Farmers from our region and head on down to the Grand Final Young Farmer of the Year competition. This year it'll be in Timaru about mid July for three full on days, so I'm booking five days off to allow for the traveling down. From what I've heard of Grand Final, for the spectators it's pretty cool. There's lots of additional things, not just the typical competing of the competitors, there's a few other competitions too, like a photography competition that I'm entering a few photos in, and a tug of war competition, fencing competition, claybird competition etc etc etc, even Agri Kids and Teen Ags are competing too, the best teams from each region just like the Young Farmers. There's all sorts of stuff to do, Mystery bus trips, big black tie dinners, all sorts of cool stuff that you just need to go to if you wanna be a full on Young Farmer member. That, and they're also planning some major changes, so I want to experience the original experience before missing the boat...much like the flag debate. Hmm.
Showing posts with label work. Show all posts
Showing posts with label work. Show all posts
Thursday, 25 February 2016
Sunday, 27 September 2015
Good Things Come With Time
It's an absolutely gorgeous day today; the sun is shining, there's a very slight breeze. Birds are tweeting, the chickens are honking and hollering out in the backyard, and Pippa and I are home alone, basking in the sun. It's stunning. I really love this sort of weather at this time of year, it's just so perfect, not too hot, and not too cold, so I'm slowly starting to break out the summer clothing - "I'm lovin' it!"
Seriously though, it's great to have nice weather after weeks of seemingly constant rain. So having now two hot, sunny days in a row - bliss :)
Everything is plodding along as it should be, everything is looking exceptionally brighter this past week as we head from the busy season and into the silly season. Do you know shops like, The Warehouse, are already selling Christmas related items? It's crazy, they get earlier every year but in saying that, it's a good time of year coming up, so I'm not complaining too much over here!
But yeah, life is great these days, it's nice being able to see a light at the end of the tunnel. We've been told that we finish up the calves tomorrow (YAY!) so I'm trying not to sound too excited, (woohooo!!!) because it has been nice having a constant form of income these past around about 12 weeks (hehe). It will be sad, being the last day. You always feel a little bit sentimental driving down the road for the last time this season - until next year. Sure, it's a hard slog. Yes, I've ended up with a nasty form of RSI in my wrist from all the bucketing and lifting of milk (although these last four days I haven't been there as I've been working elsewhere, thank goodness it's healing up). But at the same time it's generally quite enjoyable, teasing the worker, having private jokes with Mum about things, raising some adorable calves and in the biggest aspect - doing what I love doing overall. So it has been great.
However it is funny doing it, because once we stop, we don't see the calves again until they start milking two years later. It is seriously weird not keeping up with them, not getting them through the final weaning stages, not helping with all of the lepto vaccinations, drenching, B12 injections. Not seeing them as yearlings, and then as heifers, dancing into a new paddock. I guess I do miss that, and then having our calves from three years ago now, in the yard during milking staring at us as if they know us, but can't quite remember where from. Nonetheless, it's a good job, but I'm glad it's nearly over!! hehe
Mum and I are going to celebrate being finished, by going out to lunch tomorrow. We've sorta had it in the plans, so it's exciting we get to finally do it. Over to our local chocolate shop cafe, with their delicious Panini and home-made chips. And real chocolate drinks :) Can't wait!
They say that good things take time, and yeah in general, sure. But lately, it seems that good things have just suddenly happened. Mum and I always run by, "everything happens for a reason". So when all this good stuff just pops up, you know that things are going well and you must be doing things right in your life, otherwise why would you deserve it, sort of thing?
For instance, almost all of the farmers in the past few months have shut their chequebooks, we haven't had a look in for most of the work we do at this time of year. But, that was no problem because fencing jobs just won't stop coming. It seems that we're working on the final touches in our last job in line, and the phone will ring that day, usually a couple times. More people wanting us for this or that. You stop and think, heck, we had no working going forward and now we're fully booked for the next few weeks again. It happens over and over again, just a continuous circle of work rolling in. Which makes me think, gosh, this is just continuously proving itself to be the right place to be at the moment, it's great.
But in more exciting news, we're getting some more land. This is what has suddenly popped up, and it's really awesome. Basically, the dairy farm right next door is going to be sold to the guy who is leasing it. The family who own it now, knew we were hoping for the next little section whenever it was on offer, so they called last week.
It's only a tiny section of the paddock next door, where we've already got a small portion of the last "parcel". This one has it's own title, but it's too small to legally have any buildings on it because of the boundaries being so close, so it's not worth much at all.
The family of siblings (the parents both passed away about four years ago from cancer), have decided to offer it to us for a very cheap price, like, exceptionally cheap, so long as we pay for everything that goes with the change of ownership and whatnot. We thought it would be at least 50 thousand dollars - land is not cheap, especially with a title. But, because of it's size, it is going to be much less than half of that. So over the next few months Mum and Dad will be getting that all sorted out, it's awesome to think our place is slowly getting bigger.
The great part with this section is that it has another access-way, so we'll be able to put all the big equipment over there, and away from the house, which will be nice!! I did say since we'll get a little bit more area, could we have a sheep or two....Mum said maybe a goat? I kind of like that idea, at least then it wouldn't be eaten, and it'll be a lawnmower - apart from potential harm coming upon our many fruit trees. But...
So even after having an hour less sleep today, I'm feeling relatively bouncy - it must be the good weather! So a busy week is coming up, going out tomorrow with Mum. I've got all of Tuesday OFF, yippee!! Saturday night I'm going to an old friends' 21st party and Sunday I'm going to a stock judging skills day. Oh and I've got to plan a trip to Gizzy, as Dad has agreed to me going down....exciting times are ahead!!
Seriously though, it's great to have nice weather after weeks of seemingly constant rain. So having now two hot, sunny days in a row - bliss :)
Everything is plodding along as it should be, everything is looking exceptionally brighter this past week as we head from the busy season and into the silly season. Do you know shops like, The Warehouse, are already selling Christmas related items? It's crazy, they get earlier every year but in saying that, it's a good time of year coming up, so I'm not complaining too much over here!
But yeah, life is great these days, it's nice being able to see a light at the end of the tunnel. We've been told that we finish up the calves tomorrow (YAY!) so I'm trying not to sound too excited, (woohooo!!!) because it has been nice having a constant form of income these past around about 12 weeks (hehe). It will be sad, being the last day. You always feel a little bit sentimental driving down the road for the last time this season - until next year. Sure, it's a hard slog. Yes, I've ended up with a nasty form of RSI in my wrist from all the bucketing and lifting of milk (although these last four days I haven't been there as I've been working elsewhere, thank goodness it's healing up). But at the same time it's generally quite enjoyable, teasing the worker, having private jokes with Mum about things, raising some adorable calves and in the biggest aspect - doing what I love doing overall. So it has been great.
However it is funny doing it, because once we stop, we don't see the calves again until they start milking two years later. It is seriously weird not keeping up with them, not getting them through the final weaning stages, not helping with all of the lepto vaccinations, drenching, B12 injections. Not seeing them as yearlings, and then as heifers, dancing into a new paddock. I guess I do miss that, and then having our calves from three years ago now, in the yard during milking staring at us as if they know us, but can't quite remember where from. Nonetheless, it's a good job, but I'm glad it's nearly over!! hehe
Mum and I are going to celebrate being finished, by going out to lunch tomorrow. We've sorta had it in the plans, so it's exciting we get to finally do it. Over to our local chocolate shop cafe, with their delicious Panini and home-made chips. And real chocolate drinks :) Can't wait!
They say that good things take time, and yeah in general, sure. But lately, it seems that good things have just suddenly happened. Mum and I always run by, "everything happens for a reason". So when all this good stuff just pops up, you know that things are going well and you must be doing things right in your life, otherwise why would you deserve it, sort of thing?
For instance, almost all of the farmers in the past few months have shut their chequebooks, we haven't had a look in for most of the work we do at this time of year. But, that was no problem because fencing jobs just won't stop coming. It seems that we're working on the final touches in our last job in line, and the phone will ring that day, usually a couple times. More people wanting us for this or that. You stop and think, heck, we had no working going forward and now we're fully booked for the next few weeks again. It happens over and over again, just a continuous circle of work rolling in. Which makes me think, gosh, this is just continuously proving itself to be the right place to be at the moment, it's great.
But in more exciting news, we're getting some more land. This is what has suddenly popped up, and it's really awesome. Basically, the dairy farm right next door is going to be sold to the guy who is leasing it. The family who own it now, knew we were hoping for the next little section whenever it was on offer, so they called last week.
It's only a tiny section of the paddock next door, where we've already got a small portion of the last "parcel". This one has it's own title, but it's too small to legally have any buildings on it because of the boundaries being so close, so it's not worth much at all.
The family of siblings (the parents both passed away about four years ago from cancer), have decided to offer it to us for a very cheap price, like, exceptionally cheap, so long as we pay for everything that goes with the change of ownership and whatnot. We thought it would be at least 50 thousand dollars - land is not cheap, especially with a title. But, because of it's size, it is going to be much less than half of that. So over the next few months Mum and Dad will be getting that all sorted out, it's awesome to think our place is slowly getting bigger.
The great part with this section is that it has another access-way, so we'll be able to put all the big equipment over there, and away from the house, which will be nice!! I did say since we'll get a little bit more area, could we have a sheep or two....Mum said maybe a goat? I kind of like that idea, at least then it wouldn't be eaten, and it'll be a lawnmower - apart from potential harm coming upon our many fruit trees. But...
So even after having an hour less sleep today, I'm feeling relatively bouncy - it must be the good weather! So a busy week is coming up, going out tomorrow with Mum. I've got all of Tuesday OFF, yippee!! Saturday night I'm going to an old friends' 21st party and Sunday I'm going to a stock judging skills day. Oh and I've got to plan a trip to Gizzy, as Dad has agreed to me going down....exciting times are ahead!!
Tuesday, 8 September 2015
Colouring In
Steptember is coming along nicely, the weather has turned nutty and life in general is pretty darn busy, but hey, things are well!
Steptember wise - I seem to manage my 10 thousand steps each day, I think there was one day where I didn't get it? But typically with feeding the calves, and/or milking every day, it's a pretty easy target to meet. Especially if I add in running up our flight of stairs in the house a good few times, or jumping on the treadmill which is really convenient - I gained an extra 2 thousand steps for 15 minutes walking.
It's also helpful that my third study course arrived in the mail yesterday - a week late, but it means walking and studying for a standard on pasture is pretty simple! The next stage of Steptember is beating Andrew at his 18 thousand that he did yesterday, I mean, come on! haha :D
We're half way through our eighth week feeding calves, and hopefully the end is in sight. There are still about 40 cows left to calve, some of them I'd bet aren't even pregnant or they're weeks away. Typically we're getting two or three newbies in each day, but I'd hazard a guess that we don't get any for tomorrow. And you do have to feel sorry for those cows who have dead calves, we drove past them this morning and the mother was looking at us, then at the calf, then back again, as if she's asking us to do something - I hate it when they do that. It puts you on a major guilt trip that for once you can't do anything for her.
Although I enjoy feeding them, I'll be glad to see the end of the job for this season. It's good being able to work with Mum every morning, both of us know what the other is doing, both of us reading each others' mind - "That makes 90 so two more tens" we both said in unison this morning, then, "get out of my head!" we both say again. It's great, that. However it's only so often that I enjoy getting myself showered in old, sour milk, because when one has a jug of milk, then drops it straight back into the drum by mistake - it does get a bit messy. But Mum's always saying - "it's good for the skin!" Ha ha ha.
Also these days I'm milking quite a lot - it's funny how the rush starts at the end of August/beginning of September time, calving is mostly finished, sharemilkers are beginning to want a little time off here and there because the work is getting slightly easier. You also have workers being made redundant, or staff getting sick or injured, it's getting pretty busy in that sector, but it's good to be able to do it.
It's also nice to be able to help people out, and even amongst all the stress of being over worked and under paid, the weather turning nasty from the first day of spring and life in general being a stressful place, everyone is stoked to see us. I think it's good for them to see different people for a change, tell us their calving stories and general issues - knowing that we won't pass it on but it's someone new to talk to. Which is good, as it keeps people level headed, the most important thing!
That does however mean that we are working, working and working. But for us, it's good. We're on the right side of the farming sector lately, and the more continuous flow of work we get, the better. We've never been busier!
The weekend was awesome as I milked at one of my favourite sheds, got delivered a nice hot drink by the farmer during milking - hot drinks in the morning during milking is typically the norm at this farm. It's awesome!
This time was a little different, he didn't take milk from the vat, or a jug in the fridge or however they normally do it - he handed me the mug and told me to choose a cow. hehe, it was a crack up, holding a hot mug under an udder, and hand milking the cow until there was enough milk in it. I've never done anything like it before, always joked that I wanted to, but never did. And I had a bit of a flash back to being a kid - about 3 or 4, one Christmas morning Dad had a bowl of cornflakes or Rice bubbles, can't remember, for Nick and I. Got the milk straight from the cow and sent us off to have our breakfast somewhere. As I think I mentioned to Andrew the other day, it was back in the good old days where little kids may as well have crawled amongst the cows without OSH calling a red card! Hot milk on cereal isn't great though, but for the hot drink it went all white and frothy!!
Currently, life is pleasant, a little on the wet side, but that's spring for you in Northland! This is the time of year we catch as much water as we can to prepare for the summer drought. Paddocks are jolly muddy, but that's OK as we don't often have to deal with them too much. Also I mentioned in my last post that I was wanting something to occupy my spare (ha!) time with. Usually I'd find myself a good book, get out my cross stitching or if I was exceedingly bored - have a play around on the keyboard (musical one, that is). But my mind is too far away to try reading lately, my hands are surprisingly coping quite well this winter and so far aren't coated in the usual eczema and split joints so I'm not risking the cross stitching cotton - sadly my hands will turn into a withered mess after handling it :(
SO, I discovered the new adult colouring in books! Sounds odd, right? My brother jumped to the conclusion that it would contain R18 images - really?! -_- But it's just highly detailed pictures, that are quite nice to just DO. Sitting there, colouring, colouring, colouring. I loved it as a kid, so it's nice to do a bit here and there and just take some time. :)
Steptember wise - I seem to manage my 10 thousand steps each day, I think there was one day where I didn't get it? But typically with feeding the calves, and/or milking every day, it's a pretty easy target to meet. Especially if I add in running up our flight of stairs in the house a good few times, or jumping on the treadmill which is really convenient - I gained an extra 2 thousand steps for 15 minutes walking.
It's also helpful that my third study course arrived in the mail yesterday - a week late, but it means walking and studying for a standard on pasture is pretty simple! The next stage of Steptember is beating Andrew at his 18 thousand that he did yesterday, I mean, come on! haha :D
We're half way through our eighth week feeding calves, and hopefully the end is in sight. There are still about 40 cows left to calve, some of them I'd bet aren't even pregnant or they're weeks away. Typically we're getting two or three newbies in each day, but I'd hazard a guess that we don't get any for tomorrow. And you do have to feel sorry for those cows who have dead calves, we drove past them this morning and the mother was looking at us, then at the calf, then back again, as if she's asking us to do something - I hate it when they do that. It puts you on a major guilt trip that for once you can't do anything for her.
Although I enjoy feeding them, I'll be glad to see the end of the job for this season. It's good being able to work with Mum every morning, both of us know what the other is doing, both of us reading each others' mind - "That makes 90 so two more tens" we both said in unison this morning, then, "get out of my head!" we both say again. It's great, that. However it's only so often that I enjoy getting myself showered in old, sour milk, because when one has a jug of milk, then drops it straight back into the drum by mistake - it does get a bit messy. But Mum's always saying - "it's good for the skin!" Ha ha ha.
Also these days I'm milking quite a lot - it's funny how the rush starts at the end of August/beginning of September time, calving is mostly finished, sharemilkers are beginning to want a little time off here and there because the work is getting slightly easier. You also have workers being made redundant, or staff getting sick or injured, it's getting pretty busy in that sector, but it's good to be able to do it.
It's also nice to be able to help people out, and even amongst all the stress of being over worked and under paid, the weather turning nasty from the first day of spring and life in general being a stressful place, everyone is stoked to see us. I think it's good for them to see different people for a change, tell us their calving stories and general issues - knowing that we won't pass it on but it's someone new to talk to. Which is good, as it keeps people level headed, the most important thing!
That does however mean that we are working, working and working. But for us, it's good. We're on the right side of the farming sector lately, and the more continuous flow of work we get, the better. We've never been busier!
The weekend was awesome as I milked at one of my favourite sheds, got delivered a nice hot drink by the farmer during milking - hot drinks in the morning during milking is typically the norm at this farm. It's awesome!
This time was a little different, he didn't take milk from the vat, or a jug in the fridge or however they normally do it - he handed me the mug and told me to choose a cow. hehe, it was a crack up, holding a hot mug under an udder, and hand milking the cow until there was enough milk in it. I've never done anything like it before, always joked that I wanted to, but never did. And I had a bit of a flash back to being a kid - about 3 or 4, one Christmas morning Dad had a bowl of cornflakes or Rice bubbles, can't remember, for Nick and I. Got the milk straight from the cow and sent us off to have our breakfast somewhere. As I think I mentioned to Andrew the other day, it was back in the good old days where little kids may as well have crawled amongst the cows without OSH calling a red card! Hot milk on cereal isn't great though, but for the hot drink it went all white and frothy!!
Currently, life is pleasant, a little on the wet side, but that's spring for you in Northland! This is the time of year we catch as much water as we can to prepare for the summer drought. Paddocks are jolly muddy, but that's OK as we don't often have to deal with them too much. Also I mentioned in my last post that I was wanting something to occupy my spare (ha!) time with. Usually I'd find myself a good book, get out my cross stitching or if I was exceedingly bored - have a play around on the keyboard (musical one, that is). But my mind is too far away to try reading lately, my hands are surprisingly coping quite well this winter and so far aren't coated in the usual eczema and split joints so I'm not risking the cross stitching cotton - sadly my hands will turn into a withered mess after handling it :(
SO, I discovered the new adult colouring in books! Sounds odd, right? My brother jumped to the conclusion that it would contain R18 images - really?! -_- But it's just highly detailed pictures, that are quite nice to just DO. Sitting there, colouring, colouring, colouring. I loved it as a kid, so it's nice to do a bit here and there and just take some time. :)
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