Puppies and Gumtrees

Next day early rise, as we where heading out to some relatives. James drove me along the scenic route of the area and it looks just as I expected it to look. Just a lot better. Rolling hills with creeks at the bottom. Gumtrees providing shade for the cattle underneath it in green/brownish Paddock. Small, isolated farms here and there and small town commutes. We stopped by a garage on the way to get some petrol but had to leave with less than intended as the petrol station nearly ran out of diesel. Meanwhile Cathering was visiting their Uncle Max and met up with us at the garage before going shopping. James and me carried on to the Post Office to do something and it was a pictures as you expect from a small town post office. Everybody knows everybody and a friendly atmosphere. We visited their Uncle Ray and had some pumpkin soup and muffins after James butchered a strung up cow carcass. There where some dog puppies around, so another farm atmosphere. After visiting them we visited Max and said hello before we went back to Breaside farm for some work. I got to know the mechanics of a chainsaw (which was sorely needed) and whilst I sawed up some more fallen gumtree wood, James ploughed the field for the grain. I had to drive to the farm twice in that time. The first time to get the chain saw fixed up as something had jammed. I couldn't work out the

 problem, so I took all the tool with me and James managed to fix it in a few seconds. The second time was for some fuel, as it had run out just after a few turns of the chain. The field was gumtree branch free at the end of the day, but a chainsaw had to be sharpened twice. Gumtree wood is not nice to cut. We took all the tinder back (crossing a creek full of water) and I got to splitting up the wood for fire use. James was preparing his boat, as we are going fishing tomorrow. After it had got dark and I had run out of manageable wood to split it was in for dinner. The water pump had stopped working, so we had no water for the evening, but that is what you have to live with on a nearly self sufficient farm (they have their own water tanks to store the rain). Had the most biological possible meal in the evening, a rooster from themselves. Tastes different than the supermarket ones you get. After that to three days of blog writing, as the past two day have been busy.

A beautiful sunny day to appreciate everything here (lots of puppies and calf's. Lambs are on the way).