Hello again,
This has been a very busy week. We are now starting to catchup on those jobs that get put aside when you are too busy. However, just like a good sheepdog sitting by the bike… they remain waiting for you.
So what have we done this week? Well we have done the 1200hour service on one of the tractors. That was a big one – not just an engine oil change, but fuel filters, diff oils, transmission and hydraulic oils. I have always wondered when they design components for machines like tractors, wether they give any thought at all to the placement of filters? Honestly, the hydraulic filters (of which there are two on this tractor) are up underneath the cabin where the get covered with mud. The filter’s sealing edge against the transmission is recessed up in a cavity (which has to be delicately cleaned so as not to contaminate the new filter and oil). At the end of the day, Dan and I came out from underneath the tractor looking like some kind of swamp monsters – covered in mud and straw which is bound to you by a liberal coating of oil. Yumm!!
But we got on to better jobs. On wednesday evening I was very pleased to have finished the last assessment of my TAFE Mig Welding course. Here is my prize winning (not really but it passed anyway) weld cross section which had to undergo a ‘nick break test’. It has been a really worthwhile experience and I have learnt a lot about Mig welding, which is a very handy skill for the farm. I certainly don’t claim to be a professional welder, but I i think I can weld most breakages I am likely to see on the farm.
I am also looking forward to having my wednesday evening free again.
Now if only our old electricity transformer can get replaced on the farm, I might be able be able to turn our welder up over half way! I’m really looking forward to seeing what it can do.
But apart from the what else have we been doing?
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We also started out loading grain from the grain shed (yes its still too wet to get at those darn grain bags). So this picture has the grain vac. It is powered by a tractor that runs a great big suction fan. As the grain gets sucked into the machine, it drops into an auger which then transfers it to the chaser bin. |
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And here is a picture of Dan inside the shed doing a bit of vacuuming. Man sized vacuuming, that is – No shark navigator vacuum for this job! The grain vac does a really good job for the shed and it looks like dealing with grain in the shed will be quite achievable. |
And our last job for the week was Drum muster. It was our drum collection day in Parkes on Friday. Drum Muster is a program (of which we pay for through a levee on each drum sold in nsw) where we can bring the empty drums back to a central location for collection and ultimately, recycling. So Dan and I spent friday morning checking (and re-rinsing if necessary) drums before loading them onto the back of our trusty old truck. Thanks to Roger, Andrew and all the other farmers helping to run the program here locally.
So thats about it for the week. I hope yours was a good one too.
Cheers,
NeilK