Australian Talk.

[diana55]

Not much forecast here Jilleroo. 80 to 90% chance of 1-5mm next weekend but we'll probably be in the 10% that receives <1mm. Optomistic aren't I? At least with the dry heat the evaporative air conditioner is reasonably effective. With humidity its hopeless and we have to resort to the reverse cycle. I agree that humidity is debilitating, it is for me at least. Not acclimatised to it I guess.
Had a bit of luck in late December. I renewed my car insurance online with NRMA and was a winner in their online promotion, receiving back my premium payment ( less $1) which is a nice save. I didn't even know about the promotion but the cheque has arrived. Normally, as the saying goes, "I couldn't win a scone at a Sunday School picnic". Maybe I should buy a lotto ticket....

 

[wbvs58]

I had all my insurances come in during December and one was the car and one the truck, I haven't received my cheque in the mail yet Diana, maybe later in the week.
Gee, be carefull Jilleroo, that is heat stroke when you start to black out like that. If you were to fall off and ended lying on the dirt in the sun, you would be, using your terminology, "deadibones" real quick. I can't imagine the water in in the troughs would have been very cool.
Our max temp today was less than half of what you have had lately.
Diana, those houses that were lost in the Warrumbungles, were they farm houses associated with working properties or are they homes for lifestyle people built a bit too close to nature?
Well I hope the interview went OK Suzie, I am a bit confused, is the job on the Gold Coast, Slacks CK or Boonah?
I got the mulcher finished today and brought it back home, hooked it up and gave it a bit of a trial run. All seemed to go well. I have a couple of hammers to replace but will wait to see how they cut in case I want to replace the whole set for something a bit more aggressive.
Here she is on the back of the tractor.

And here is Jed checking it out, note the baling twine dragging from his collar, that is to make sure he comes when I ask him, saves a lot of hassle and does not give him the opportunity to be disobedient.

I was going to get some sheep for him to start on but on having a good look at the couple of paddocks they were going into, I think there just might be too many holes to fix up and I could be in a bit of trouble with them, so I'll hold off till I wean the calves at the end of March. In the meantime when an opportunity arises I will let him have a bit of fun safely to keep the enthusiasm developing.
I had the cows yarded this morning and when I let them out and got the moving, I let him off the lead. He was very good, he followed them, did a lot of looking and thinking but nothing silly, just very interested.
Dale, we get a lot of cloud here that doesn't materialise into rain.
Ken

 

[Suzie Q]

No rain here either Ken.

Great photos. You could get some geese and start him on those.

The job is in Beaudesert which is why I had trouble finding it on Seek as it was listed in Gold Coast and not Western Suburbs.

The interview is tomorrow at Springwood as it is half way between the two people interviewing it. They actually say Slacks Creek, but to my knowledge growing up in Rochedale, Moss Street is in Springwood.

Dalson Park is in Slacks Creek so I am joining in an advanced lesson at 9am. This one we catch and tack our own horses. The group haven't seen me for over a year so probably 40 kgs ago!!!

From there the property I grew up in and my brother is in is at Rochedale and Papa and Ian's Sister are at Eagleby, so I can have shower at one of those and if none of them home I will have one at DP and go to the Interview at Moss Street at 1pm. Mum is visiting friends in NSW at the moment.

At the moment from the online surveys I have a $20.00 Bunnings Voucher and a $20.00 Target, KMart, Coles or Myer card so I can take my pick. I will fill in the time somehow. I think that lesson is the only lesson on a Thursday morning as they really start teaching after 5pm, however if there are some individual lessons I can stay and watch them.

Yes stay careful in that heat Jilleroo. On the news this morning an idiot couple who went walking from their bogged 4WD in 37 degree heat with no water and little food. They were lucky to survive.

Gee I wish we got our insurances for everything back Diana. What a win!!!

 

[jilleroo]

Well we missed out on the big rain last night! There were recordings of up to 250mm (10 inches) in places. Longreach had 78mm but some places had 100mm or more, mainly to the E and S of town. It spread out as it moved north and W of Muttaburra received some great falls too. The little townships of Jundah and Stonehenge were fairly well wrecked - the premier is in Jundah today I think. Cattle roadtrains were blown over, and a water truck, as well as other vehicles. We had a lot of thunder and wild lightning but it saved up the rain until it got up over the highway and then dumped it there. Oh well, that's life on the land......at least its cooler. Only about 34 degs now. Hubby says we'll get a storm today but I think he's dreamin'.

Diana I heard on the Country Hour about the Braford cattle lost in the fires. Friends up the road lost a mob of heavy in calf santa cows last year, they just got caught up against a fence. There were brahmans in the paddock too but they outran it.
Your mulcher looks the ticket Ken. That pup has grown too. Our new dog has been born - she is by a JR out of a King Charles x foxie mum. Little grandson is going to go across and pick one for MaMa - she had 7 pups. These folk just let the dogs breed two litters a year as an interest for the kids....can't say I agree with that at all, but we're going to relieve them of a pup (they're free.) We've got one from the last litter at our Winton place and she's gorgeous.

 

[jilleroo]

Congrats on your insurance win too Diana...... I won a fruit tray recently and thought that was pretty good, but your win is much better!

 

[wbvs58]

At least things are happening with the monsoon now Jilleroo. That usually means that we will have a dry spell for a couple of weeks untill things start to filter down to us, but at least things are starting to happen.
I went around to the other block and did a bit of maintenance. A fence through a dam has disappeared and cattle are getting through so I had to replace that one, the water is very low at the moment. I just used hi tensile barbed wire, it will probably last for another 5 years. I might pick up some galv cable and do it like a flood gate. The other job was to dig a hole next to a post in the yards that was falling over and put in a good ironbark split to support it, should hold it a while.
Ken

 

[Suzie Q]

On the news they said that Brisbane has had 2mm of rain so far this year. Let's hope it picks up.

 

[diana55]

Another nice job with your mulcher Ken. Everything you do is to a high standard. Jed looks to be growing nicely. I believe the Warrumbungle fire has burnt 49 properties, 110 outbuildings, a lot of machinery and thousands of livestock. A lot of working properties and perhaps a few 'lifestylers'. Very tragic for all concerned.

Your new pup should be lovely Jilleroo. Should be a good 'snaker' with the JR in it. When I was a kid we lost all our 'foxies' to snakes. The DTD has 'relocated' 3 blacks in past month. They were heading to house yard for moisture I'd say so I'm very cautious when moving the garden hoses.

 

[wbvs58]

Well we are over half way through summer now, it's downhill from now on. We ended up getting a shower this arvo 10.5mm, won't last long but we'll take it, still a bit warm and muggy so you never know.
I brought my grain auger around this morning to see if it will reach to the top of the silo. I bought from a neighbour for a carton about 3 years ago, it had been extended a fair bit and made it very unwieldy and out of balance so I cut it back down to what it should be. Just got to see if it does the job OK. I don't know much about grain handling in bulk, you might be able to help me Diana, is there an angle that they stop working at or do they just keep pushing it up, that is, can you make it too steep.
Here is a photo beside the silo, at that angle it will just clear the top opening, the photo is a bit deceptive. Do you think it is too steep?

And I just can't resist posting another photo of the boy.

Ken

 

[diana55]

Ken, the DTD said the angle would be OK- just takes more power to lift it when the angle is steeper.What is the diameter and length of the auger? What size motor does it have?
Very photogenic pup with big ears so he should grow into a big dog.

 

[wbvs58]

Thanks Diana, I did some rough measurements, she is just under 8" diam about 35' long and I suspect by the physical size and the effort to turn it over, the old B&S motor is about 10 hp.

 

[wbvs58]

Warm today but going to be warmer tomorrow but looks like a change coming through tomorrow arvo, hopefully being well south we will get it sooner rather than later and hopefully with a storm.
At the moment I am just going around the paddocks for lovegrass, a bit boring but actually not too bad in the heat, with a good hat on you create a bit of breeze and keep cool.
Ken

 

[Suzie Q]

It looks good to me Ken, but of course I know nothing!!!

The interview went for half an hour and they gave nothing away. Just said they had a set of questions to ask every candidate and took turns reading them out and taking down my answer.

I went to Mums and had a swim afterwards as she was home from NSW. So lovely in the pool as it was so hot.

A phone call from the couple who have the Bazadais on the way home and it was a terrible connection so I said I would call in as I was going past.

He is losing sight terribly and she slipped coming out of a spa bath and has broken 2 bones in her foot and was in a wheel chair.

They were shocked to here about David and said they wanted to come to the Bowls Club last night. So hubby picked them up after work in their car and brought them home. I drove them in so as they didn't have to get out of the car while he had a shower. Then afterwards I drove home and he drove them home.

I fell asleep in the chair and didn't hear him come home. I was worrying that he hadn't come home when I flicked on the light and he was in bed!!!!

 

[burglar]

Returning to Stanthorpe on Tuesday as our container is finally delivered on Thursday. Meeting with the builders on Wednesday to find out our final move in date. Our container has the wood flooring for the house that we imported with our furniture etc. So time to get those installed do a clean up and hopefully move into our new house. It has been a long wait and I am definitely ready to leave this Brisbane humidity.

 

[wbvs58]

Supposed to be storms this arvo, clouds have rolled in, plenty of thunder but not one drop of rain.
I have been trying to keep Jed away from any hunting. This morning Bo got a wallaby cornered and Jed was nearby, when Bo grabbed it a joey popped out of its pouch and Jed was straight onto it. I had no chance of getting it off him, he quickly had it dispatched, it was about 12" long, had fine fur on it. He is going to be right onto anything that moves now.
Ken

 

[diana55]

Ken, the DTD says the 10hp motor should be OK as long as the grain isn't feeding into the hopper to fast. Our auger is 42 foot x 8" diameter and has 12hp motor and works well on fairly steep angle. Good luck. Jed has the hunting instinct (you don't have chooks do you?) but at least he isn't a wimp.
Burglar, what type of wooden flooring did you import?
Better here today- cloudy, fine mists of rain a few times and only 30C, bliss....Had dust storm yesterday and 2mm rain, with humidity....perfer dry heat.

 

[burglar]

Diana, we are bringing in a hickory wood floor, saved us around 14k to import verses buying a local product. Already having a container with free freight made the maths work out for us.

 

[wbvs58]

I gave Jed a bit of a go with a couple of heifers, a young bull and a quiet cow and calf. They are 3 females that have returned to the bull so I have them running in a couple of small paddocks behind the house. I wanted to shift them this morning so thought it would be a good opportunity to let Jed have a bit of a play. We brought them up to the outer yards and I let him work them a bit in a large yard, he held them in a corner and we moved them around a bit and let him hold them again. He is very keen to head them, I haven't had to encourage him to go there. I then opened the gate to let them into the new paddock and I couldn't get them out, he went straight to blocking them even bluffed the older cow going in close towards her nose.
I was very pleased with him, he has all the natural instincts and is very game. The book I have that I am working from is "Training and Working Dogs" For Quiet Confident Control Of Stock by Scott Lithgow. He takes a very rational approach to the training. Jed is not ready to start any real work yet but Scott recommends to set up easy situations like this on about a weekly basis to get them interested in work. By the time I wean the calves at the end of March things should be just about right to start the training with the calves. Meanwhile I just have to keep working on the obedience side of things. Being obedient doesn't seem to be a Kelpies strong point but we are getting there.
Dale, I hope they don't leave your container at your front gate. Are you putting your floor down yourself?
Ken

 

[burglar]

Ken, looks like you are doing great with Jed. We take delivery of a border collie later in Feb and sounds like I should be reading the same book.

The 40ft container will be repacked into 2 x 20ft containers so they can get them up the hill. Andersons are laying the floors for us, We have a wooden staircase as well which makes it a little hard for a DIY job. We will have to have you over for a visit once we move in and get settled.

 

[Australian]

Finally finished marking our calves and NLIS tagging after a few delays, yesterday. Have some rippers of calves both stud and commercial. Going to be a long hard winter if the rains don't soon come and the heat settles a bit. Will be getting another supply of hay in soon, before the supply tightens up.