We're only 3 days in sure, but 2017 is off to an interesting start.
On the first I was up reasonably early (5am) and onto the trusty Abeni Special. Taking a realistic appraisal of my fitness, i decided to just ride to the top of the Kin Kin range and back, only about 20kms.
My Garmin has disappeared in the course of moving house, so i nicked Mrs LDR's fancypants phone, and as it has a fancypants camera i stopped to take a photo of Ferris' hills (Ferris was one of the last dairy farmers in Kin Kin).
On the first I was up reasonably early (5am) and onto the trusty Abeni Special. Taking a realistic appraisal of my fitness, i decided to just ride to the top of the Kin Kin range and back, only about 20kms.
My Garmin has disappeared in the course of moving house, so i nicked Mrs LDR's fancypants phone, and as it has a fancypants camera i stopped to take a photo of Ferris' hills (Ferris was one of the last dairy farmers in Kin Kin).
While I was playing photographer I got the fright of my life as a cyclist rode past. A cyclist! In Kin Kin! Back when I was commuting from Kin Kin to Pomona I would be lucky to see more than one other cyclist a year. Not one to miss an opportunity, i shoved the phone back in my pocket and gave chase.
Or to be more accurate "gave chase". The spirit was willing but the flesh, oh the weak, pudgy flesh. But my prey was clearly on a very gentle recovery ride, so I still managed to catch him before the bottom of the range. I had a nice chat with the pommy bloke and admired his carbon BMC before we parted ways at the top of the range.
Once I was home the priority was to finish off the outside run for the cats, and while it took getting heat stroke and mangling 3 of my fingers with the hammer, I did get the job done. Then it was off to Warriwillah to rebuild a fence and castrate some goats. The latter is normally very straighforward, but on this occasion the ring came off the applicator before I had it positioned properly. Or in plain english, I only got one nut.
Naturally, this was the one time I had left home without my pocketknife, so ensued a hasty search for a suitable tool, and when i came back with my father's folding knife (a behemoth that would make Crocodile Dundee jealous) the kid let out a bloodcurdling scream. With a great deal of care, it did the job though and all ended well.
I waited a day before heading out on the bike again, and when I did it immediately started raining. It was light enough not to get my socks wet (there are few things that I hate more than riding with drenched shoes and socks) and it cooled things down very nicely.
Today was to be another rest day, until I got a call from a rather serious Mrs LDR....
We've had our eye on the old Moreton Bay Fig for a while, as it has suffered from borer attack and was clearly in it's twilight years. 6 months ago we contacted Energex to have it trimmed back from the power lines, and as you can see they did a marvellous job of that. To be fair, the old girl has completely split in half, but the idea is for it to avoid the powerlines regardless of what happens.
Mrs LDR's first call to Energex was met with the none-too-confidence-inspiring response of "It's logged in the system, thanks bye", so she rang 000, as there were sparks showering down from the broken line threatening to set fire to the smorgasbord of flammable materials underneath.
That got a much more energetic answer, but funnily enough the fire brigade got there at the same time as the Energex crew.
I'm now leaving work, so I'll soon see just what sort of mess I have waiting for me.
Like I said, it's an interesting start to the year.
Fair Winds,
LDR.