It’s gusty this morning, so much so that the strong wind helps the waking up process. The fact that I’m down the field moving the electric fence is incidental. I find the time useful to reflect on the events of the weekend, not that anything fantastic happened, but a new relief milker started and my job to try to train him into our ways of doing things. It’s not that we have the perfect way but it suits us. The new chap is called Chris from Welshpool and whilst he is only 17 and is 6 feet tall. By his own admission he carries more stones in weight than years and says he is not averse to being teased about it, and then adds “I put the brick under the trough at the other end”. He says wryly that the lightest he remembers is 6 stone, and not to miss out in this tit for tat banter, I inform him that the lightest I have ever been was 6lbs 7ozs. (It’s an old Frank Carson joke), Chris laughs sympathetically. In the milking parlour he struts up and down the pit whilst waiting for each side to finish not too reminiscent of a gun slinger who has just rolled into town in order to settle a slur on the family honour.
These thoughts are interrupted by a sudden gust of wind and a buzzard circling over a dingle behind Birch Cottage catches my eye. The bird finds it difficult to maintain position in the swirling air and occasionally having to swoop round to get back over the dingle. Then suddenly it is joined by a large crow who appears determined to ‘see off’ the unwanted visitor - perhaps there are young in nests in there. A buzzard/crow dogfight ensues. The crow gets behind the buzzard and with a feint to the left the buzzard turns right – a move of which Phil Bennett, Barry John or any flyhalf would have been proud. The roles are now reversed but I soon discover that I’m not the only one looking on and out from the dingle come carion reinforcements. The buzzard must have realised that staying on is futile and he then heads off up to Marton Crest perhaps to get his breath back.
As it bank holiday there is time to do some little jobs that have been literally piling up. One in particular to tidy up my office desk where there are piles of papers needing to be sorted out and soon the pile of paper to be thrown away is the largest. D suggests that a shredder should be purchased to which I agree. Her cousin has one and says its very useful and then throws the shredded paper under the cows!
We’re having not one but two computers. D needs a laptop for her history projects and the other is a desktop, which will replace the one we bought in the last century (that makes it sound really old). At the end of the paper sorting process I have gained more brownie points than I know what to do with – I shall have to get a new card to put them in. I also know that they can be lost in an instant!!
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How nice of you to visit my blog! I am delighted to find a farmer's blog and I will be sure to show it to Pa. He'll read and enjoy, but it is unlikely that he will respond since he's not much on computers. Our youngest daughter spent a year in Newcastle as a Rotary Scholar. She spoke to Rotary Clubs in the area and always told them about her bottle calf, Charlie Brown... you can find his story on my sidebar. We visited her and saw London as well as a bit of Scotland and Ireland.
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