Tuesday, June 01, 2004

Old MacDonald had a farm....

HAPPY BIRTHDAY HELEN. VERY BELATED CARD IN THE POST!


Poor Eric, do you think he has taken 'comments' to heart?!

As it is there is very little to report today. I had another mega-boring day tied to the computer. I made little progress on the report but got my database up to date etc. I tried to phone Richard and Robyn several times and left a CONGRATULATIONS message on their phone once. I have mentioned before that they have purchased a farm, well they took possession of it today. They have been sharemilkers on Richards fathers farm for years now and have been looking for a farm to buy for awhile. Their ideal scenario was to buy the one across the road from them and lo and behold it came on the market. We have yet to see it but have booked a guided tour on Saturday. Eric got very excited when Richard said there was a chiller there (in need of repair) and they have a piggery - all very interesting. R and R, like lots of dairy farmers, keep pigs during calving to turn the excess milk/colostrum into pork but they only keep pink pigs. Anyway they will continue to sharemilk and have bought in a farm manager to run 'their' farm. It is all very exciting and we have great admiration for them for pulling this off. Buying a first time farm is no easy task these days.

Anyway, having decided that they were not at home, we popped up anyway to deliver a card and bottle of bubbly anyway when we found Robyn in and looking very stressed. Her brother was moving today and the truck had not turned up to shift them. He had gone with the stock to the new farm and left his wife, toddler, Richard, Robyn and their son Matt, waiting for the truck to do the house move. Anyway, by 2pm it had not arrived and Robyn had to leave to meet Sarah and Kathryn from school. At 5.30pm, when we arrived she got a call from Richard to say the truck had just pitched up, but was stuck on the drive! Now Robyns brother is also a sharemilker and from what I can gather all the sharemilking and farmwork contracts run from and to the 1st June each year. So on the 1st June there is huge movement around rural NZ as everyone moves their families and their herds, farm machinery etc from one farm to the next. Last year we had 450 cows walking past our place on their way from one farm to another. It was a lovely sight.

On top of all this we when we arrived at Robyns I saw birthday cards up and on asking find out it's her birthday!! We had no idea!!! I shouldn't forget in the future though with 2 of my best friends having birthdays on the same day. Anyway all I had to offer was a hug and a promise that we will celebrate on Saturday.

Tonight was spent on that dreaded task going through the bank statements. God I hate it. And it doesn't matter whether we keep up to date with them or not we still seem to be broke all the time. Roll on to Eric being a 5 year qualified solicitor on $140,000!!!!!!!! Well a girl can dream can't she?

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