One of the interesting things about moving to the country is a change in the junk mail that arrives in your letterbox. Brochures on the latest electronic gizmos and flyers full of supermarket specials still march in, but suddenly there are also glossy catalogues with pictures of rather more rural apparatus.
Our regular batch of circulars include enticements to buy ride-on mowers (we joke that we already own two of those), quad bikes, sheep drench, high tensile wire, and electric fence units.
Why just the other day this little gem arrived for the Forbearing Husband to drool over.
Porn for farmers
In the city we had a ‘No Junk Mail’ sign on the letterbox. We couldn’t be bothered looking at yet another batch of towels, microwave ovens and underwear. Somehow the farming circulars we are getting now seem much more interesting.
In a few years time probably the novelty will have worn off. By then I’ll be able to tell you off the top of my head how much you’d expect to pay on a good day for a 100 pack of 2.5mm HC2 Crimp Sleeves. In the meantime it’s quite an education to be appraised of mineral supplements for cows at different stages of the dairying cycle, or to view a picture of a Hayes Chain Grab Wire Strainer (with extra long chain), and know that I could pick one up for $139 from PGG.
Fencing items useful in the torture chamber. Number 3: The Wire Strainer.
The selection of things being pushed is also a clue as to what I should be getting on with in any given season. Spring — alkathene water pipe; Autumn — grass seed; Winter — fencing supplies… It’s a regular farming to-do list.
On the topic of winter fencing, and keeping in mind my aspirational 2016 achievement list, I had a bit of a tutorial last weekend from Our Neighbour Neil. Since then I’ve been practicing tying these:
Fencing items useful in the torture chamber. Number 27: The Termination Knot (yes, I know, it sounds bad).
And during the tutorial, when Neil asked me to grab the crimping tool from his shed on my way past, I knew just what I was looking for. Thank you rural junk mail, where would I be without you?
do you get mailers from Hunting and Fishing? Gun City? Peaches and Cream?
Dear me, your 14 year old self is clearly in control today!
My my, the Forebearing Husband’s eyebrows revealed in the blog. What next??
$20 gets you ears. Let’s work our way down from there … [sorry Forbearing Husband for selling you off body-part by body-part, but let’s face it, we’ve got fencing to fund].
The Readership looks forward to the Big Reveal of Forbearing Husband in The Calendar 🙂
I just read this aloud and Forbearing Husband is chuckling… He still thinks we are joking about The Calendar!
I see that Forbearing Husband still has all 10 fingers after playing with his Power Tools!
Toe count photo later this month 🙂
So he will pose with a smile on his face and a twinkle in his eye? The Readership thinks that will be most … appropriate!
I replied to the wrong reply. The Readership does appreciate a man with all 20 digits however …