Chapter 62
Tess, Matt, and Terry were going to handle the loading onto the cattle truck and they had invited Russell to help. Even though Russell would be keeping his engineering job, he was going to be living on a farm and wanted to brush up on some of those skills. He wanted to be able to lend a hand wherever it was needed, so he was thankful to be included in the mustering and the loading of the cattle.
Kate went on morning chores with Jodi and her girls. Meggie and Katie could be a handful, so Jodi was happy to have the help. She also thought it might do Kate some good to see what having kids on a farm was like. Kate seemed a little overwhelmed last night when she started realizing how much her life was going to change with having kids. Jodi wanted to show her that it can be done, that it can be fun, but that schedules won't usually be followed.
Kate was happy to do farm work again and to have a brief reprieve from morning sickness. It felt so comfortable and, after theoretically speaking about farming techniques for so long, it felt good to actually be doing them again. She managed to keep toast and tea down and was thrilled to be able to do more than hug a dunny. Drovers had arranged for the sale of four hundred heads of cattle first thing that morning, and it was going to take the rest of the group to get that handled, so she was happy to handle the other chores with Jodi and her girls.
The first place they went was to the dam. The water was super low, but there was enough left to water the stock for the next couple days. Getting rid of four hundred head of cattle would help to relieve the pressure a bit, but Drovers had also decided to sell about two hundred fifty sheep. Tess was going to work on a buyer this afternoon after the cattle were dealt with.
"Any chance of rain on the forecast?" Kate asked, knowing the answer was no.
"I reckon not. I'm going to work on quotes from water transport companies this afternoon," said Jodi.
"I hope you can get a decent rate. But with supply and demand. I imagine many farmers are in similar predicaments in this region. I've seen more water tank trucks on the road in the last twenty-four hours than I did the whole time I lived here," said Kate.
"We at least have some help by partnering with Jaz and Stevie. At least the Drovers Empire is working together instead of competing on the water contracts," Jodi replied.
"Yes, families must stick together, especially in farming. When do you reckon you'll have a buyer for those sheep?" asked Kate.
"Tess should have a buyer lined up by the end of the day. We will hopefully muster tomorrow and have them gone before dinner. We need to conserve every drop of water we can. We don't want to water them anymore than we have to," explained Jodi.
Jodi went into the center of the pond with the tape measure. The water was now up to her chest. This time, she kept some clothes on since it wasn't a romantic rendezvous with Matt. Doing the measuring just wasn't as much fun when it wasn't just her and Matt, Jodi realized.
"That's 1.52 meters deep at the center. It was 1.6 meters two days ago," reported Jodi.
"The water went really quickly, with the heat, and the fact that you are not getting any runoff whatsoever, it does seem to add up I guess, but I'm surprised the creek went dry so quickly." Kate knew the remaining water wouldn't last long. The group finished the measurements and continued on their way.
Kate was impressed with how well Meggie and Katie rode. It had been a while since Kate had visited and the girls had grown so much. Meggie was on her first full size horse, a small, gentle, mare named Sunny. She had good control of the horse and paid it proper respect. Katie was on an adorable pony named Unicorn. She was a more timid rider and needed some encouragement from Meggie to get moving. By encouragement, it usually meant Meggie egging Katie on or taunting her..
"Come on, Katie. We can't all wait for you all day. Unicorn can go faster than that. Heck, a donkey could go faster than that. I reckon you put a saddle on Liberty Bell and she would move faster than you are right now," said Meggie.
"Meggie, lay off. Katie, come on, you can do it! Come on, let him trot! There you go!" said Jodi.
"Katie, I know galloping can be scary, but that's what makes it so fun! Come gallop with Sunny and I," said Meggie.
After they left the dam, the four of them headed to check some fencing on the border with Wilgul.
They found a spot in the wire that looked like it was close to snapping. Kate dismounted to run a replacement line, but Jodi stopped her.
"Kate, would you let Meggie be your helper? She isn't ready to use the tightener yet, but let's see if she can handle cutting out the damaged spot." Jodi turned to her older daughter. "What do you reckon Meggie? Can you use the wire cutters carefully? Do you remember all of the rules?' asked Jodi.
"I can do it! Let me get my tools!" said Meggie.
Meggie reached into a saddle bag on the back of Sunny. She pulled out some child sized work gloves and a pair of wire cutters with pink handles. She put on the gloves and carefully held the cutters while she dismounted. She walked over to the section of fencing where Kate was crouched.
"Okay. First, I have to look at the area and make sure there isn't anything dangerous around, like a sharp wire or livestock that broke through." She turned her head side to side, looked at the fence carefully and nodded.
"It's all clear!" She said as she approached the fence.
"Next, I need to look at the wire and make sure that if I cut it, it won't snap back and get me." She touched the wire to gauge its tightness and saw that it had some give.
"I reckon that should be fine. It has some bounce," explained Meggie. "Now I have to decide where and how much I want to cut."
She closely examined the wire and pointed at the part that was discolored. "This is the part that looks bad. I don't think I have to cut very much. I'll cut here and here" Meggie explained to Kate while pointing to spots on the wire.
"Now, I'm going to make sure I have a firm stance, focus on the tool I'm using, and carefully cut where I want." Meggie stood with her legs shoulder length apart and proceeded to carefully cut the wire in the two places she indicated she was going to.
"The last thing I have to do is pick up the wire piece I cut off so that no animals accidentally eat it or get caught on it." Meggie picked up the small piece of wire and walked over to Sunny and put it back in her saddle bag.
"I'm all done, Mom!"
Kate was impressed. Not only had she successfully used a potentially dangerous tool, she understood all of the reasoning behind the rules associated with it.
"Nice job, Meggie. You did that perfectly. Now, do you know what I'm going to do next to finish the mend?" asked Kate.
Meggie repeated every remaining step of fence mending and finished the list of steps by saying "But I can't do those parts yet. I'm too little and could get hurt. I have to wait till I'm fourteen, like Claire, to try using the wire puller and getting it nice and tight but, at least, I can help by cutting the wire," said Meggie.
"Yes, sometimes, as you pull the new wire tight to pair up with the old wire, things come loose and the wire goes flying. Why don't you stand back and I'll finish it up. Thank you for the help. You are an excellent wire cutter, Meggie."
"Thank you. My mom and dad and Aunt Tess taught me how to do it," said Meggie..
Kate smiled. She wanted to teach her own kids how to mend fences when they got old enough, She wanted her kids to love being in nature and on a farm just as Jodi's kids did. It was something to look forward to for her and Russell.
"You've taught her well, Stretch. Not just how to do things, but how to do them safely, and why the safety steps are important," Kate complimented her friend.
"I've found that if you explain why something needs to be done in a certain way, you get much better results. If you simply say that it must be done this way because I said so, they won't accept that and they will try to prove you wrong and go against what you say. When you talk about the things that could go wrong and how the safety steps prevent them, they can create a bigger picture of the situation for themselves." explained Jodi.