Big Hair Psycho

Noah got hold of the camera this morning and took 86 photos. A catalogue of the Dairy and garden from three feet high. He came running in from outside, “Can I have the camera? I’ve got a great shot!” He’d seen some galahs in the chook pen and snuck up on them, camera poised.


I keep thinking about improving our pasture for the dairy cows. This morning Em, Noah and I helped our neighbours Steve and Anne look for a new calf in the bracken in the river paddock, giving me a chance to talk to Steve about getting the Dairy paddocks aerated. He thinks he might be able to borrow a homemade aerator from a friend to do his paddocks and I’d like to run it over ours too. I haven’t seen it yet but he describes it as a spiked roller that digs in a little as it rolls and then gives a bit of a twist on the way out, opening up the topsoil, breaking up the crust. We would use a chisel plough, which would penetrate much deeper, but we have too much rock in the soil profile. Steve let Noah drive his big Massey Ferguson tractor, leaving me to take a photo, maybe just a little jealous.


Em and I have just finished watching Season One of Twin Peaks. There’s a lot to like about it – the music, the saw sharpener during the opening credits and my favourite, Special Agent Dale Cooper. Cooper lets fly with little gems like this: “Harry, I'm going to let you in on a little secret. Every day, once a day, give yourself a present. Don't plan it. Don't wait for it. Just let it happen. It could be a new shirt at the men's store, a catnap in your office chair, or two cups of good, hot black coffee.” Today, after lunch, instead of going straight back to work I had a little siesta on the bed next to my wife. There’s wisdom everywhere, even in early 90s big hair psycho tele-dramas.


Rob thinks there’s a leak in the water tank. The first step in finding it is to establish that there actually is a leak so tonight I’m going to rug up warm, take a torch and walk up to the tanks and measure the water level. Tomorrow morning I’ll get up early and test it again. I’m looking forward to the walk in the dark, eyes wide to let in every little bit of light, trusting the path that I will only barely be able to see, the sound of frogs calling next to the tank, shining the torch in and seeing if there’s anything inside. An extraordinary experience to savour.


“I’m grateful that I checked the eggs and there was one egg.”
(Confused? Look)