Around the farm

Shearing in mid summer

by cjj on January 9, 2013

: Sheep waiting for shearing.

: Shearers at work while 1 fleece is being picked up.

: Patterns in the wool from the shears

: Throwing a fleece onto a wool table.

: When the wool is sorted by wool classers, it’s put into these spaces

: The roustabouts are waiting for the fleeces.

: The power for the shears is provided by one engine.

: Smoko.

: All finished.

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Home from summer in Europe, to winter! At 9 this morning, this was the view from my backyard. A beautiful white frost on everything. The temperature was obviously less than 0 Celcius, and this afternoon it was warm enough for me to wear a t-shirt … about as warm as it was in Europe just a few weeks ago

[audio:http://carmeljames.com/myblog/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/Typical-Winter-day.mp3|titles=Typical winter day]

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Fixing the fence

by cjj on April 13, 2012

Me doing a little knitting on a wire fence!

This is the back fence of our yard. Before we can go away, we have to be confident that the fence is going to keep out grazing sheep and cattle. It is an old fence, so there are always places where the wire has broken, and we just do our best to fill the holes with more wire. It usually looks like very untidy knitting

[audio:http://carmeljames.com/myblog/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/Fixing-the-fence.mp3|titles=Fixing the fence]

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The back paddock

by cjj on April 11, 2012

Horseman and 3 dogs in the back paddock

Once again I can only comment on how long it has been since my last post. And how dry it has got since then. That period of rain was very special, I really love it when everything is wet. The colours are always so rich. But I love the colours in this photo too, the summer grasses I call them, and so thick this year because of that rain a few months ago.

All of this year I have been incredibly involved in my hobby of learning Mandarin. To be honest, I was quite tired of learning it, so I really wanted to get that bit over with. I wanted to start using it! So I set myself a goal of being able to speak by the end of March. And that’s why I haven’t made any posts. Up until a week and a half ago, that is all I did all day and all night … and I achieved my goal! (http://carmeljames.cajo.com.au/learningChinese/)

But I still have a ways to go because there is goal 2: to learn to speak well

However, before I start on that mammoth task, I am going to have a holiday … in Europe. And I will be documenting it here as we go.

[audio:http://carmeljames.com/myblog/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/the-back-paddock.mp3|titles=The back paddock]

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Rain!

by cjj on February 1, 2012

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Cleaning up with fire

by cjj on September 5, 2011

Burning off the side of the road

Last Saturday morning a few locals got together and tidied up the side of the road outside our place with fire. The grass was very long and thick. It hadn’t been cleared in anyway since it was last burnt 10 years ago. The smoke was quite spectacular, and they did a good job, keeping it under control, and not doing too much damage to the living trees.
On Saturday evening we saw a whole lot of quail walking across a cleared area towards our house yard. It was a shame that they also saw us, and they flew back into the long grass in the paddock. We have never seen quail near the house before. We thought that maybe they had lost their home in the fire.

[audio:http://carmeljames.com/myblog/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/Cleaning-up-with-fire.mp3|titles=Cleaning up with fire]

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Mowing outside the garden

by cjj on April 20, 2011

Me mowing

We spent most of today just outside the fence, pulling up young thistles and mowing. It is not good to have dried grasses right up to the fence mainly because it is a fire hazard. But we are very keen to have mown lawn because it looks so good, and we can walk out there. It was lovely weather today, and that work was good exercise. J took this photo of me because he liked my hat. It is just a big sun hat, but it bends down easily under the ear muffs. I did feel a little like Bo Peep!
See the sheep in the background under the tree!
BTW that tree is the shape it is because galahs flew in one year and stripped the bark off it, nearly ring barking it. The tree recovered by growing branches from low on its trunk. I think the birds do this to encourage branches to die which eventually gives them hollows to nest in.

[audio:http://carmeljames.com/myblog/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/mowing-outside-the-garden.mp3|titles=mowing outside the garden]

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Maintenance on an electricity pole

by cjj on April 20, 2011

: Workers just arriving to fix the electricity pole

: View of the work from our place as the sun was setting

As we worked outside today, all these vehicles kept arriving on the property.
Just a few days ago there was a helicopter inspection of all the power lines in the area. Obviously they found something that needed fixing near here. I didn’t notice it before I looked at my photo tonight, but it shows an obvious problem. There is a dangly bit at the top of the pole.
This team of people worked until after dark fixing the pole. This meant that we were without electricity for a few hours. It was good that before they cut off the power one of them stopped by to tell us what they were doing. I was able to fill a thermos with hot water for tea. It only meant that we worked outside until they finished. I’ve mowed lawn in the dark before.

[audio:http://carmeljames.com/myblog/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/maintenance-on-an-electricity-pole.mp3|titles=maintenance on an electricity pole]

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Irrigation

by cjj on April 5, 2011

Irrigation in the Peel River Valley at Dungowan

We had another very enjoyable weekend at our cousin’s hay farm at Dungowan. Being late autumn, the farmers only have 1 more chance to cut their hay before it stops growing over winter. The paddock in this photo has just been planted with a new lot of lucern. It is being watered to try to give it a head start. It won’t be cut till next spring.
This animated photo is a series of 18 photos that I took with a hand held camera as the irrigation was turned on. The real thing looked a lot better than this because it was a very long pipe and the water pressure varied until it got to full pressure. I still think it looks rather interesting though, so here it is.
[audio:http://carmeljames.com/myblog/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/irrigation.mp3|titles=irrigation]

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Another severe storm

by cjj on March 2, 2011

A wet road in the front paddock.

This is the same road as in the previous post when it was dry and covered with birds eating the spilt grain.

This evening it’s very wet because we have just had another big storm. You can see the road is blocked by some fallen branches. It was still raining when I took this photo, but nothing like during the storm. We couldn’t see the other side of the paddock at all because the rain was so dense. There’s a lot of damage in the garden too, big branches down every where. Tomorrow will be another day of cleaning up with the chain saw.
Oh boy, will we have a lot of fire wood for next winter!
[audio:http://carmeljames.com/myblog/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/another-severe-storm.mp3|titles=another severe storm]

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