Farm Life - 11. FAR Chapter 11

At the end of the week, Gertrude was making final preparations for the start of her first year in high school, and Mum was busy making sure that the twins, Gertrude and Nick had everything that they need for the start of a new school year that would begin this coming Monday. When Monday did arrive, I arrived in the homestead early to help with preparing breakfast, so as to make things a little easier for Mum and Gran.

Dad had taken Gertrude to her new school yesterday afternoon, and we heard that she was in tears when he left her there, Mum spoke to her on the phone last night, and Gertrude has said that she had already made some friends, and she wasn’t feeling so bad about being away from home, which I think everyone was pleased to hear.

The next few weeks Dad and I kept busy with building the new fence that will separate the nature strip from the 10 hobby farms that are closest to the beach, we had decided to have a 25-metre fire break between the trees and the hobby farms, so theses 10 hobby farms would be four acres smaller than the others.

An earth moving contractor was getting the 2 main and 6 smaller new roads built for the new sub division, twice a week we used the fire-fighting unit to water all of the new trees and shrubs, since it was still summer, and in the hottest month of the season.

In the afternoons, after arriving home from school, Nicholas would call me up on the two-way radio to find out where I was, and he would often come out on the quad bike to help me and dad, and he would often drive the Landrover, when we were watering the trees. I took a few photos of the cottage, some of Ernie and his family, and some more of areas of the farm, which I sent to Preston, so he could see what the farm was like.

Late one afternoon, soon after arriving home from work, I heard the familiar sound of scratching on the front door, and I was surprised to see just Ernie and one of his puggles with him, and I soon realised that the little fellow was not very well, grabbing my felt hat, I carefully picked up the little fellow and placed him in the hat, and placed the hat on the kitchen table. When I turned to see, what Ernie was going to do, I saw that he had already started to wander away, to be with the rest of the family.

Once I had found a pair of work gloves, I carefully picked up the little echidna and turned him over to look at his belly, the echidna stayed stretched out, instead of curling into a defensive ball, and I immediately saw what the problem was, a large bush tick had latched onto the little echidna and was making him very ill. Placing him back in the hat, I left it on the table and I raced over to the homestead.

Going to the store room, I looked for and found some mineral turps, next I went to the cupboard where most of the medicines are located, and I retrieved a small bottle of iodine, the tweezers, some gaze and some tape before I raced back to the cottage. Once I had everything laid out on the table, I carefully turned the echidna, so he lay on his back, and using a gauze I placed some mineral turps on it and placed it over the bush tick.

Repeating this a few times, I then used the tweezers to carefully pull out the bush tick, making sure that I didn’t leave any of it behind. The echidna tried to get back on his feet, but I gently placed my hand over him to keep him still, and with the tick now out, I used another piece of gauze to put some iodine over the area, where the bush tick had been, before taping it into place, to try and keep the area clean.

Turning him over, so he was back on his feet, I put him back into the hat, and I went to get my animal rescue gear out of the cupboard, and I made up a sweet food mixture for him which I place in a saucer, that I placed in a cardboard box with a towel on the bottom, and I transferred the echidna into the box.

Next, I retrieved the eye dropper, and with some cool water, I tried to get the echidna to drink some water, which he did a little bit, before curing up into a ball. I carried the box to my bathroom, where it is quiet and dark, I quickly washed up before heading over to the homestead for dinner.

When Mum saw me still in my work clothes, I smiled and explained that I had a little patient that needed the bathroom to stay quiet and dark, as he was not very well, due to a bush tick and I repeated the story when the rest of the family joined me at the table. Nick and the twins wanted to go over and take a look, but I suggested that we should wait for a day or two, to allow the little guy to recover a little, as he was very sick.

When I arrived back at the cottage, I was pleased to see that the little guy was eating some of the food that I left him, and I gave him some more water, before placing the box on the floor in my room, so I could use the bathroom to shower.

When I had finished, the little guy was curled up and asleep, so I left the box where it was, and I went to the study to catch up on some more reading of the farm diaries, which I hadn’t done at all since returning from the holiday.

“December 22^nd 1944 – Lewis Grantham. The war is still going, it is now the fifth Christmas since it started, rationing was still happening, with flour, tea, sugar and butter being the only main items that would be purchase from town, as we are growing our own fruit and vegetables, we also kept some of the wheat and oats for us and also for the chooks, and we slaughtered our own meat, and we have been selling stock every month, for slaughter to keep the district fed.

When we had excess fruit and vegetables, we would sell it to the local store, which had been battling to survive since the war began. The army was still based on the farm, but in very reduced numbers, we have had to speak to the Colonel a couple of times about army vehicles causing damage to fencing.”

“May 12^th 1945 – Lewis Grantham. Wonderful news, the war in Europe is over, but the Japanese have refused to surrender. The army is now packing up its camp, and slowly leaving the farm. I had a long meeting with the colonel yesterday, the bunkers will be covered with sheets of corrugated iron and dirt, and all equipment have been removed”.

After reading that bit about the end of the war in the farm diary, I decided to check on the echidna and head to bed. I prepared some more food and placed it on the dish, and I managed to get him to drink a little bit of water, he was looking very weak, and I was worried that he won’t survive the night, I just hoped that he would stay strong and pull through.

When I woke the next morning, I was pleased to see that the little fellow was still alive, but he was still weak, I encouraged him to eat a little and I made sure that he drank some water, before I dressed and made my way over to the homestead for some breakfast. When Nicholas and the twins entered the dining room, the first thing they asked me was how is the little echidna, and I informed him that he was still very ill.

Today was the start of a new week, and with the new western fence completed, Dad and I discussed what needed to be done, apart from the watering of the trees later in the day when it cools down a little. The gravel roads had been completed, and are ready to be sealed with bitumen, and contractors are now installing the underground power and telephone services to all areas of the sub division.

After the boys, had been driven to the bus stop for school, Dad and I went for a drive around the sub division, to see how it is all looking, as a real estate agent would be coming on Friday to have a look and discuss a marketing strategy for selling the hobby farms. The trees in the nature strip were all doing well, but it would be a few years yet before they grow high enough to create a wind break from the coast.

As we came to the end of the road that stops at the western boundary fence, we walked the 500 metres through the nature strip to the beach, where it was wide and a small reef not far out, provides a good sheltered swimming area. “You know dad, it wouldn’t hurt to have carpark where we are parked and establish a footpath down to the beach” I said as we looked out to the Indian ocean.

I guess it could be a good extra marketing tool, when selling the hobby farms, ok that sounds good, how about we go back to the firebreak and work out how much of it we need to set aside for the carpark, and we will have to remove some trees to make way for a footpath” Dad said.

After some looking around and some more discussion, we decided to have a winding footpath, so as to reduce a wind tunnel effect, when the trees start to grow, and that we would have forty metres on each side of the end of the road, with parking spaces for up to 30 vehicles. Once back at the homestead, I checked on the echidna, and he still looked quite sick, and I made him drink some more water, before I went to the homestead for some morning tea.

Dad and I returned to the end of the road at the sub division, with heaps of steel pegs to mark out the proposed footpath through the nature strip, and we also dug new holes for fence posts to mark the ends of the carpark area. We returned after lunch, with fencing wire, two gates and smaller spacing posts, and we got to work to finish off the job of fencing off the carpark area, with gates to allow access to the rest of the firebreak area when required.

By the late afternoon, we had completed all the fence work, with the fence opened at the end of the road to provide access to the new carpark, and Dad had contacted the earthmoving contractor to get more gravel in place for the carpark, and the two-metre wide, winding footpath to the sand dunes and beach. When Nick called on the radio to find out where we are, I asked him to fill up the fire-fighting unit with water, and we would be there soon to collect the fire unit and him, to water the trees.

When we arrived back at the shed, Nick was there waiting for us, and we connected up the fire unit and with Nick driving, we headed to the nature strip which runs the full length of the western boundary. The job of watering all the trees and shrubs take just over 2 ½ hours to complete, with two refills required, Dad remained at the homestead to do some office work, while Nick and I did the watering, and when we had finished, I checked on the echidna, where there was no change of condition, and I had a quick shower before heading over to the homestead for dinner.

The next morning, I woke up to the sound of scratching, so I automatically got up and went to the front door, but there was no Ernie there, and I was about to close the door when I heard the scratching coming from inside the house, and I quickly raced to my bedroom, and found the young echidna scratching a hole in the cardboard box, I was so happy to see the little fellow up and about, that I forgot to put gloves on when I picked him up.

Putting up with the pain of the spikes, I held him close to my face and smiled, and in return I had a long sticky tongue lick my face, and I laughed. Carrying him to the kitchen, I placed him on the floor, while I quickly made up some food for him, plus I placed a saucer full of water with a little bit of honey mixed in with it, and I was pleased to see the little fellow tuck into the food.

As I stood there and watched, I suddenly saw Ernie and the rest of his family walk into the kitchen, as I remembered that I had left the front door open.

I grabbed my phone and took a heap of photos, as I watched the echidna family share in the food and sweet water, and once both dishes were empty, the whole family wandered outside and disappeared into the garden. Realising that I was still in my boxers, I headed indoors and got dressed, and made my way over to the homestead.

“Any reason why you were in the front yard in your boxers?” Gran asked me as I walked into the kitchen, where the family were already gathered for breakfast, I blushed with embarrassment, before sitting down at the dining table. “Thanks for that gran, just what I needed at this time of the morning” I responded, and I accepted a cup of tea and a side plate of toast from mum and began eating.

After leaving the family to hang for long enough to Gran’s question, I gave a short laugh before explaining what had happened in the cottage when I woke up to the sound of scratching. After telling everyone the whole story, I handed over my mobile to let the family see the photos that I had taken.

With breakfast finished, I drove Nick and the twins to the bus stop to get to school, and on returning to the homestead, Dad was waiting for me, and we set off down to Rivervale, to do some final checks before the real estate arrives.