Goodbye Lady
Yesterday the butcher came to collect Lady. She was being taken to the abattoir and then back to the butchers to hang for a week. It was sad that Lady had to go but it was a decision that had to be made. She had been with a bull for two months without getting pregnant and then the AI girl said she didn't feel right inside. There's no point keeping a cow if she can't reproduce, even if we have had her since she was three months. Plus she was huge and would just step over or through fences. She was always very friendly, though, and would come over to say hello. This photo is one of the many taken the day before she went.

Twill Scarf
I have just finished my second weaving project. I finished it off with a Phillipine Edge, using the warp threads. The scarf turned out much shorter than I expected. I think I underestimated the wastage at the ends and maybe the take-up - something to take into account next time. I'm pretty pleased with the result all the same.

Pumping from back dam
Yesterday we started pumping from the back dam and as everything seemed to be chugging along and it was lunch time we decided to leave the pump and go back to the house. After lunch we discovered that the wind had blown the ladder against the pipe going into the tank and it now had a kink stopping incoming water and the pump was still pumping! Lesson - don't leave the pump and tank unattended. It may have only just happened, though, because two rungs of water had been pumped. So we left it at that. I have included a picture of the back dam in all its muddy glory and the path to the tank at the top of the hill, plus the pump hard at work.

Crutching & Fencing
Two weekends ago Paul crutched the sheep. I didn't take any photos because I was helping closing the sheep pen panels so the rest didn't get out and sweeping up the shorn fleece. Paul has also been mending 'holes' or 'gaps' in fences that the sheep get through. We also had the dam paddock windbreak fence finished ($400). When the cooler weather comes we will transplant some little pine trees sprouting next to the fence line near the road and hope that they take. Tomorrow we're going to pump some more water from the back dam to the tank at the top of the hill. We're very lucky to have that dam.