Drafting Cattle and Running

Hi everyone,

 

It's been a good day here in most respects.  Indeed, in nearly all respects!

 

Because I got to bed late after Skyping last night, and had been up early from the get-go, I switched off the alarms on my phone.  I slept very soundly and until about 8:30am.

 

 

 

The morning was taken up with drafting and marking calves.  We had quite a team to do it: Dad doing the marking and tagging, Little Sister and Second Oldest Sister loading up the ear-tags and marking rings, and me, Michael and Barry S droving and drafting them in.

 

 

I lost count of how many cows went through for drenching and calves were marked and tagged.  At any rate it was a beautiful sun-drenched morning for it, and Michael was on his best behaviour.  It was good to have Barry especially: he handles cattle well and he's a very level-headed man.

 

 

We'd finished with the cattle by midday, which happened to coincide with the corned beef finishing in the pot.  Score!  It was as good a piece of silverside as I've ever had, eaten with lettuce and tomatoes.  Oddly, Michael stayed sitting outside on the verandah in a deckchair.  I don't know if he was sulking or just enjoying the sun.  It's just kind of awkward.

 

 

After lunch there was some activity on Fran's and my car - Michael volunteered to change the oil in

both(!) and I changed the tyre on mine that kept slowly going down.  Good to get that off my conscience.

 

At about 4pm I headed out on a long Sunday run, in a big loop to the east of here.  You know that I've been kind of avoiding the more awkward bits of the Little Sister - Michael situation, and on a long run bullshit can never catch up with you.  Never have I been so thankful that when the ex wanted out of our marriage, she zapped the relationship with clinical, hitwoman-esque efficiency.  Clean wounds heal fastest.

 

 

Anyway, it was a truly stunning day to be out.  The crops of canola and triticale are coming up everywhere, and the afternoon sunlight was positively golden.

 

 

 

When I got back I gave the dog a short walk and admired a pink-gold sunset.

 

 

This was about as good as the evening got: dinner was logistically awkward as Little Sister and Michael spent several hours on a heart-to-heart in the kitchen.  I don't know what the outcome was, although Michael came into the lounge room about 15 minutes ago (while I was typing this), leading to this exchange -

Michael: "Alright all, I'm off"
Mum: "Oh OK.  See you in a week or two?"
Michael: "No."
Mum: "No?"
Michael: "No."

 

And with that he left.  Sigh: I can understand a great many things, but I doubt I will ever understand people.

 

Not much more to add.  This week looks quiet at work and I may well spend some quality time looking for a second job, or a post-April 2016 job, or both.

 

Looking forward to updating you all!