We have been taking the advice of many, many parents and enjoying the last few weekends child free by pretty much doing nothing. Saturday was my birthday so we went down to a local winery, with good mate Ryan and had a lovely feed on an old classic Queenslander over looking some grapevines and some cows. The food was nice if not amazing but the view was fantastic especially with the recent rain making everything a nice English style green.
The rest of the afternoon was spent watching a bit of cricket, bantering with some cricket tragics on twitter and reading a few books before The Wife cooked a lovely quiche and we watched The Fantastic Mr Fox. I liked it but The Wife is not really a fan of quirky so lucky it was my birthday and I could get away with it. Oh and I got a chainsaw from The Wife, Ryno and the Paul Manttan family. Sweet! More gear to tame Lantanaland.
Today was also fairly lazy, I only just got a bit of lawn mowing in before the rain hit, but this afternoon we got an unexpected and welcome visitor. The neighbour that shares a back fence with us, the mythical back fence which I have only glimpsed once and never walked the full length of. He wanted to fix it up and was wondering if we could pitch in some funds.
We got to chatting and it turns out it is his cattle that wander all over the block to the right of ours. Not only that but he kills and ages his own beef. Of course I then mentioned I worked for a butcher supply company. There was a moment where we looked at each other and realized a fellow follower of the 'I know a guy' principle. It's quite simple, a bit like bartering. I trade or use my skills and contacts with yours. Never at market price of course.
Turns out that the cattle are just a sideline, he has an earthmoving business and keeps all his stuff on sheds on the land. Mentioned that he thought about buying our place when we bought it so he could run power up to his sheds. I reckon I know a guy that could help him there.