Auntie Bridie was in good spirits and still has her sense of humour. The first visit started off a little frustrating, but improved drastically once we found her hearing aid and glasses. We had two good visits with her, as you never know if there will be any visits next year....I am sure that she will be around, but I might get run down by a bus.
We stayed the two nights with friends, John and Marilyn, who live on a farm about 15 Km out of town, where they primarily raise bulls, maize and a few sheep. It is very fertile land, and as you can see in the photo below, it is about as flat as Saskatchewan.
I got to ride the quad, with Marlene on the back, when we went out to feed hay to the bulls and again when we moved the electric fence the following day to give the bulls some fresh grass.
Marlene Waiting For Her Driver
I also helped John and Marilyn recover one of their son's bulls which had escaped into the neighbouring farm through a hole in the boundary fence. This involved making the hole larger, to get the quad through the fence, separating the bull from the neighbour's herd of cows, and coercing him back through the hole in the fence. Then we had to repair the fence! John and Marilyn then captured a sheep that needed some attention and took it away on the quad, leaving me in the field with 11 bulls for a half hour. But the bulls were more interested in hassling their herd-mate which had just returned than they were in me, so I didn't have to make any fight or flight decisions.
In his spare time, when not helping his son out or restoring old tractors, John makes little people out of wood scraps. The picture below shows a few of his creations on their back steps.
John's Wooden People
Thursday night we had a barbeque at Jen and Ali's farm, which is a few kilometres down the road. Ali is John and Marilyn's son, and Jen is the daughter of our neighbour from 1978-1980 when we lived in Palmerston North. Jen's Mum, brother and his family all came over, so we had a good catch up with them.
Overnight there was a big electrical storm, which brought 23 much needed cm of rain, but when we went to move the electric fence, we found one bull out beyond the electric fence, and a gate off its hinges - the storm had knocked out the power unit for the electric fence system, and the bulls had realized that they could do what they wanted without shocking consequences.
On Friday we went with John and Marilyn to the Central Districts Field Days in Fielding. It is a big farm show, where you can buy anything farm related, from a bag of seed to a new tractor, including electric fence power units. In addition to the equipment for sale, there are all sorts of farm-related competitions, where you can demonstrate your skills. In one competition they attach a kettle to the bucket of a digger, and the contestants have to pour water from the kettle into a cup, without spilling it, using the digger controls.
Even the police were there with their shiny new tractor, decked out in New Zealand Police livery, and complete with a flashing blue light on top. Perhaps an unmarked tractor would be more use in reducing rural crime, but it would be fun to watch the boys in blue on their tractor, in hot pursuit of criminals.
New Zealand Police Tractor
I also helped John and Marilyn recover one of their son's bulls which had escaped into the neighbouring farm through a hole in the boundary fence. This involved making the hole larger, to get the quad through the fence, separating the bull from the neighbour's herd of cows, and coercing him back through the hole in the fence. Then we had to repair the fence! John and Marilyn then captured a sheep that needed some attention and took it away on the quad, leaving me in the field with 11 bulls for a half hour. But the bulls were more interested in hassling their herd-mate which had just returned than they were in me, so I didn't have to make any fight or flight decisions.
In his spare time, when not helping his son out or restoring old tractors, John makes little people out of wood scraps. The picture below shows a few of his creations on their back steps.
Thursday night we had a barbeque at Jen and Ali's farm, which is a few kilometres down the road. Ali is John and Marilyn's son, and Jen is the daughter of our neighbour from 1978-1980 when we lived in Palmerston North. Jen's Mum, brother and his family all came over, so we had a good catch up with them.
Overnight there was a big electrical storm, which brought 23 much needed cm of rain, but when we went to move the electric fence, we found one bull out beyond the electric fence, and a gate off its hinges - the storm had knocked out the power unit for the electric fence system, and the bulls had realized that they could do what they wanted without shocking consequences.
On Friday we went with John and Marilyn to the Central Districts Field Days in Fielding. It is a big farm show, where you can buy anything farm related, from a bag of seed to a new tractor, including electric fence power units. In addition to the equipment for sale, there are all sorts of farm-related competitions, where you can demonstrate your skills. In one competition they attach a kettle to the bucket of a digger, and the contestants have to pour water from the kettle into a cup, without spilling it, using the digger controls.
Even the police were there with their shiny new tractor, decked out in New Zealand Police livery, and complete with a flashing blue light on top. Perhaps an unmarked tractor would be more use in reducing rural crime, but it would be fun to watch the boys in blue on their tractor, in hot pursuit of criminals.
The vintage machinery club were displaying some of their members' handiwork, including the collection of old pumps in the photo below.
After a pie and a cookie in one of the hospitality tents, we said our goodbyes to John and Marilyn and headed back to Wellington, our home until we head North on Tuesday.
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