23 Aug 2008 11:20 PM

Some call it frugal, others penny pinching - I call it dual purpose.
Our cooking facilities are principally the micro wave (morning milk), & the
Rayburn - a tribute to Scottish Engineering. Not only does it have  a constant
hot plate & oven, it also has a copper boiler behind the firebox, which produces
hot water - all for the cost of getting the wood for it.
Well almost - there is a maintenance function - wood produces tar/creosote
which builds up at the top of the chimney wehre the cool air strikes the smoke.
So perhaps twice a year the flue needs cleaning, & as you can no longer stick
children down them to sweep the chimney, one must do it one's self.
Tools for said operation are:
ladder, to get onto the roof
chain, to dislodge the gunk
vacuum cleaner, to remove whatever spills onto the roof -
              we collect the water for drinking
This job was performed with a minimum of fuss & mishaps, giving the
loungeroom heater a belt as well. Unfortunately, the bulk of the gunk falls
down the flue, and thus has to be removed before a fire can be relit.
This involves remocing a plate in the front of the flue, at the top of the oven,
sticking in the vacuum hose, & cleaning it out - a job of 3-4 minutes (there's
a fair build up of el crappo) The vacuum, not your Chinese stuff, good old
ShopVac (USA), fairly new, following it's predecessor's demise (another story)
was set to work - it could easily fall victim to a Nigerian scam - it's such a great
sucker, & the stove was cleaned in no time at all.

Then - upon switching it off - I looked up to see - refer picture.
Somehow the filtration system either doesn't exist or is unconventional.
The heavy ash etc was wonderfully deposited into the cleaner's barrel,
but the "fines" just kept coming out the return air vent.
The result was a mini Pompeii, with black soot covering EVERYTHING -
even the sugar! Not just in the kitchen either, a haze filled the house!

Fortunately, she who must be obeyed was doing something with roses
(outside), so I had time to consider the position. Open some windows at least!
each step evidenced my passing, with tracks across the floor.
A washed floor, vacuumed (Dyson, NOT the Shopvac!) loungeroom, bench wipedown & stove sponge resulted, to a man's view, success - HAH!
We men (well this one, anyway) don't think of railings, door trims, fridge tops
& the like.

MO "What HAVE you done?"
O "Cleaned up a bit of a mess - dear!"
MO "Where? - everything is black!"
O  "Well I did the floor 3 times"
MO "4 may be in order"

And who had forgotten that the heater in the loungeroom is still waiting its turn?
No vacuum here! - lateral thinking - one plastic shopping bag inside another, paper in the bottom - shovel it in - job done!
A fine plan! - a dismal outcome.
The coals & ash, though not stoked all day, were in fact still warm enough to
melt little holes in the plastic (which I didn't see- of course), and thus the
trip from fireplace to outside was marked by an ever-widening trail of wood ash that Hansel unt Gretel would have found perfect!

I thus abandoned indoor efforts & made & planted 2 beds of strawberries & raspberries to try to soothe the savage beast.
I did get tea, maybe it worked!

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18 Aug 2008 10:58 PM

I have never understood why Mrs Oth's brother arrives every November with
a bull or 2 in the back of his cattle truck. Well I know WHY, but why Nov.?
As with humans, the gestation period of cattle is 9 months, which equates
to the first calves being due July - shortest days & coldest month, except
this year - August takes the prize (so far) And as they cycle every 28 days,
that gives 9 weeks of both hope & concern - did he work out what goes where?
& why? (Stolen from "The Silver Streak") being the hope, concern for easy
deliveries  - always justified.
We have 22 heifers, notorious as problems, naturally, but with little feed prior
to delivery, large calves shouldn't be the problem; however we have lost 2 so
far, big buggers too.
Thus it was with trepidation we noted, whilst feeding, a heifer on her own.
Pic 1 shows why, is that a clump of grass behind her?
Quietly approaching her head on, no! a calf, but something was wrong.
The birth membrane had dried over his nose, & she was not quite delivered,
2 hind legs being still inside. Hmmmmm - a problem? not so - on approaching,
she got up, & gravity worked! Quickly peeling the dried gunk off his nose, he
breathed easily straight away. Now the tricky bit - heifers can be flighty, & if
she bolted - hard to get her to mother up. Gently does it - quietly stepping back
& covering her escape route she settled, & after a bit decided to check out
what the fuss was about.
"Did that come out of me?"  - the birth sac must aid in identifying by odour the
fact that the calf is hers, as a few sniffs & long licks later we looked to have a
bonding! (Pic 4 )  Well good girl, that saves a deal of effort.
Happy with that relatively easy success we then fed the cows - still potential
problems, but these girls are old hands. But as there was a silver lining,
there had to be a black cloud - one of the older cows - prolapse.
One can spend upwards of $500 getting a vet to try with no surety of success
a procedure, & she was in obvious distress. At least we can relieve suffering
of animals, humans must resort to medicine to prolong it.
So we had a win & a loss - that's farming.

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9 Aug 2008 9:43 PM

The lady of the house asked "What are your plans for next Saturday?"
Unthinking, I replied "cut some more wood, depending on the weather"
So a quick reference to the forecast indicated inclement conditions, which
results in one staying inside (or at least in the shed), or - ahh wondrous are the
workings of a woman's mind - "Well there's a craft fair in Canberra, & I'm sure
Beatrice would like to come too."  Too! - Too! ?? I never said I wanted to!
Oh - she & Beatrice - "You can come as well". Now I went as well LAST year,
& if you can imagine wall-to-wall women, you have it! All in buying mode!
A lion in a den of Daniel's I think is apt.

But if you're handed lemons - make lemonade.
The day dawned frosty, normally a sign of a fine day, which proved true.
We left late, not a great problem, unless you are to deliver a finished
patchwork quilt at a pre-arranged time; but fortunately Beatrice was ready.

Somehow we picked up 10 minutes in the hour & a half trip - maybe they shortened the road? As the picture shows, the queue was snaking back to the road, & no shirts with buttons on the right side were in sight, a good argument
to allow a temporary decamping - "when will you have had enough?"
"I suppose 2:30, why?"  "Well that's when I'll be back!"

First stop a gun shop - almost as good as a book shop - for?
See pic no 3 - a neat little target system, hit all 4 yellow targets, & they fly up & stay in the overhead position - hit the silver one & they fall back down again!
Small things , small minds, but it should help one's accuracy.
Add a knife sharpening system - A blog in progress????, book a return visit to
upgrade the scope on the 22.250, hmmm - the day's getting better!

Now - where is that new BigW??? Not quite Walmart, but Woolworths equivalent.
The shopping complex has been built in a new subdivision, & they appear to be
allowing dwellings to creep in at their own pace - thus there is a virtual island
of commerce, stuck in a big empty paddock! Reminiscent of "Blazing Saddles".
Pic 4 is taken from the car park - 15 mins from the heart of Canberra.

Wow! - A DVD sale! - heaven! - scanning the cattledog disclosed a weeks wages
worth of DVD's; nonetheless, caution to the winds! In with a basket.
A big GRRRRRR - many of the listed titles appear to be other's favourites, too.
First scan revealed few, until I spotted a rug rat picking up titles  & sticking them at random in front of others!
His mother , (as some do)  was uncaring, but by looking behind I did find some,  but no Jeremiah Johnson, Shenendoah, Josey Wales, Conan,  My Fair Lady nor Calamity Jane.

But the day was worthwhile (pic 2) - I can give them to the kids to give me for Christmas! -
at least I'll get what I like!

All this and not an item of footwear in sight!!!

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27 Jul 2008 11:09 PM

Last night's sunset - red sky at night - shepherd's delight.
This morning's frost - to freeze the nuts of your tractor!
But heralding a glorious day - cutting firewood in shirtsleeves -
must have been 20 degrees (that's celsius) - so I lit a few fires,
to remove wood to small or too old to be firewood. But nothing untoward
to report!  (Ohhh they all sighed) - well I can recommend a good fire to save
the trip to the beautician - bikini line? - no problem! -
if it looks like my hands, anyway - bare as a badger's bum.
The afternoon did bring scuds of drizzle, but it cleared.
Then -  come sundown, that strange quiet descended, as sounds muffle
when the air is filled with flakes - no, not corn - snow!

It only lasted an hour, but no rain has fallen since, & the cold night will leave
it pristine, & who knows what the early morn will bring?
certainly not feet, as you Yanks (excludes Ga, NC & WV) experience, but it
will certainly add moisture for the Spring, so I can put up with the slush.

the sunset, frost & snow are illustrated in "More Photos"  - if you care (to look)

If we did get a foot - snowbound, & a payroll due to be calculated tomorrow!

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22 Jul 2008 11:29 PM

Always on the lookout for something to blog about - doesn't need to be much,
as you have observed - I was leaving this morning for a root canal appointment,
allowing just enough time for the hours drive, & in came the fog.
Not a pea souper, but certainly not to drive into at any pace; thus I wheeled out
of the drive onto the road, hadn't gone but 50 metres when out of the whiteness
the sides of the road came alive.

At least 30 kangaroos, disturbed by the sound of the car, gave up their feasting
on fresh shoots after the rain & decided the best way to avoid (or aggravate) me
was to bound along the road!  Now these are unpredictable critters & can turn
on a dime, so trying to push through them is fraught with danger. Following too
close can result in a broken headlight (I found out the hard way)
as their bounds toss rocks into the air.
They started to peel off, jumping over (the 6 footers) the fence, or under (the
also rans) until only 4 remained, but their course seemed to be charted on the road.
So it occured to me - "well - use the time - get out the camera!"
Attempt 1 was an abject failure - the flash went off in the poor light-
bouncing off the windscreen. Thus we ended up - steering with the left knee,
right foot on throttle, right finger on shutter, left finger keeping pop-up flash
down; right eye at eyepiece, left eye closed - not freeway driving material.

And the results? - Ansell Adams would say "A kindergarten class?"

But I stuck them in "more photos" so as not to waste the effort.
Yep, I did make the dentist - 1 min to spare

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