A couple of days ago I was chatting with guests standing in front of the homestead. There was a low rumbling noise and a stampede of 40-50 cattle appeared coming down the road. That is not supposed to happen. I don’t own any and there are supposed to be fences containing them put up by neighbours who do own them. They were young and feisty charging by a few meters away, and disappearing round the house. There didn’t seem to be anything useful to do, like chase them and freak them out some more, so I said “That’s odd” and continued the nice little chat. Round the back of the house it is wall-to-wall rainforest and I was pretty sure they wouldn’t like the look of that. After a couple of minutes silence, the rumble started again and they came back around the house and ran back the way they came. It would be useful to know where they got through the fence, but they may not even remember. Cattle are bred for milk or beef and definitely not brains. Besides I’m too old to chase steers on foot.
A few hours later the washing machine wouldn’t work. This is a major issue when you run a B&B. I remember a snatch from the Goon Show from the days of radio where there was a sea battle between two prisons (don’t ask), “Repel boarders! How do you repel boarders? Stop changing the bed linen.”
My first attempts to rectify the situation, that is kicking the washing machine and cursing, did not produce the desired result, so I had to calm down and think. It was making a slight buzzing sound which is the water inlet solenoid which means it is supposed to be letting water in for the rinse cycle. A quick check reveals there is no water. All is forgiven wonderful machine! you were only faithfully waiting for water, and would have waited until the sun becomes a red giant. No water! I filled the tanks a couple of days ago. My first thoughts were that departing guests had carelessly left on a tap down at Blackbean Cottage. A search did not reveal any wet areas. I went round the homestead and could not find any leaks, nor by following the down pipes from the tank. Time for a cuppa. Then I remembered a remote disused standpipe behind the homestead installed to aid the construction more than 30 years ago.
Yes, the steers had knocked it over breaking an underground connection. I had to plug the broken hole. I needed a 42 mm tapered plug as a temporary measure before I could have water at Blackbean or the Homestead. When you have as much junk as I have, it turns up with a bit of searching. An ‘art deco’ chair leg. Just cut out the right bit, hammer it in the hole, and wire it in. Now just fill up the tank.
This was definitely not one one of the steers that invaded, but do you notice anything in the image?
And this is where the washing disaster begins. All the above was just preamble. Whenever a water system is disturbed, there is particulate matter, commonly known as mud, residing in every bend or nook and cranny of the system. When the system is recharged with water, this is flushed into the system. After waiting hours for some water to trickle into the tank from the ram pump, I turned on a tap to find…. no water. There was an air lock in the down pipe. I dig up the buried tap half way along the pipe and let it run coughing out water and bubbles. Having fixed that, the water at the homestead came out the colour of chocolate. Over the next day I bled of water to flush the system, but as the ram pump has low delivery, I could only do that at intervals. The washing piled up threatening to engulf the machine. I tried operating the washing machine but the filters blocked up in minutes stopping the machine. It took about 2 days before the water was clear and I was able to wash some linen.
Meanwhile I had attempted to inform the owners of the cattle that they were roaming. The property to the west has Holstein brown cows. The next property west has Brahman cross which are quite white, so the nearly black steers that invaded were from the property to the south. It is embarrassing to admit I had no idea who my neighbours to the south were. I did know that the property had been sold a couple of years ago. A bit of sleuthing discovered them living nearby, but not on the property so I went around and introduced myself. I did not mention my plumbing disaster. They had no idea they were missing 40 head. To date they have not been found, but there are reports of sightings on a nearby property.
I love living on a rural block, but there are problems. You just deal with it.
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