Fencing and Welding

Hi Everyone,

  The last two weeks have just flown by.  Last Monday and Tuesday Belinda and I stayed at the house while the guys went out fencing.  Belinda had office work to do and I helped her with maintenance on some of the machines.  On Wednesday Dan and Belinda worked on fixing the tractor.  Jeremy and Brian went out for a ride around the property and found a Black Headed Rock Python.

Brian with his snake

On Thursday Jeremy and Brian left and we continued fixing machinery and doing maintenance on the motor bikes.  Belinda went to a friend’s Birthday party and made a supply run over the weekend.  So on Friday just Dan and I went out fencing.  I drove one of the motor bikes myself.  Some of the dogs wanted to come with me, but there just wasn’t enough room for them all. 

Molly, Moby, and Babe ready to ride

 The terrain was fairly rough, but the greatest challenge about driving was weaving through all of the scrub and little trees while trying to watch the fence for any breaks.  Along the way Dan helped me improve my fence mending skills.  I now know how to make a figure eight knot between two pieces of wire (and make sure it holds) and I know how to tighten up the fence by running the wire through the pliers and then using the pliers as a lever to strain the wire up tight. Through the dust and haze of riding we did see some interesting wild life. 

Wild piglet running across the road

Getting my photo with a large stick bug

  It was a very long day, but the beautiful purple and pink sunset at the end was gorgeous.   

Saturday morning I helped Dan finish the boundary fence.  In the afternoon Dan checked the nearby holding paddocks while I did some chores at the house.  Every night we have to feed and lock up the dogs, chickens, and orphan calves.  Some of the younger calves are feed powdered milk and like human children, the calves can be a bit sloppy and let the milk dribble out of their mouths while feeding. 

Rocky making sure none of the milk goes to waste

Sunday was a wonderful day of rest.  I watched TV and ate plenty of my favorite Banana Chocolate Chip cookies. 

On Monday Dan continued fencing and I did some baking.  The country here is full of surprises.  The land looks harsh and barren, but then you are surprised by the natural beauty and the fragile animals that manage to exist here. 



Little Green Frog

Butterfly with transparent wings

We spent Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday repairing more machines, cleaning out radiators, and doing house chores.  I know I seem to constantly write about maintaining and fixing machinery, but it is important to keep machines in top shape here because if a machine fails, there is no one else out here to come and rescue the stranded.

  Belinda is preparing the station for mustering the cattle, which will begin in a few weeks once all the fences have been repaired.  On Friday and Saturday I helped Belinda to add some improvements to the cattle yards.  A few weeks ago the guys poured a concrete slab underneath one of the cattle crushes.  So Belinda spent the weekend welding in the steel frames for the roof, tool bench and rack for the propane bottle used to heat up the branding irons. 

Belinda welding

We worked under the supervision of the dogs.  They found our work to be absolutely riveting.

Moby

 Belinda showed me how to check that each length of steel is level and the corners are all 90 degrees before welding.  I also learned how to use the large angle grinder so I could cut the next pieces of steel while Belinda was welding. 

Using the smaller angle grinder to cut through
a sheet of steel

  All my Best,

    Hana