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Welcome to another edition

Welcome to another edition of the SLF. I hope you all had a wonderful week. Not much news crossed my desk last week so this week might be a bit short of funny stories, but lets see how we go…..

A full life

I returned to the district Monday week ago for the funeral of Dot Drum, the service was in the “vast” Catholic Church in Horsham and then the burial was atop the Banyena “hill” (cemetery). It then all moved to the Banyena Hall, I would have to describe it as a very full day for someone who lived a very full life. Well done to all involved.

Season looking good

It really is a pleasure to drive anywhere in the Eastern part of this vast land these day, most are celebrating a wonderful season with rain gauges overflowing with above average annual falls. I returned later this weekend, in fact I am writing this column from my makeshift desk in the Kanya hills and I can tell you I haven’t seen a season like this for at least 15 years. One can only hope that nothing gets in the way of the harvest and farmers can fill their pockets with the $$$$ they deserve.

Steak at the lake

The Marnoo Blues Supporters Group celebrated the filling of Lake Batyo Catyo with a bbq and get together for the local community. Apparently about 50 people attended and from what I hear everyone had a great day. I think once the weather warms up some more this will be a very popular venue for the Donald, Marnoo and St Arnaud communities. I remember as a youth heading out there on occasions but I never over frequented the place, but I do know of people that used to live out there on weekends and for those people the memories will be rekindled this summer.

Flood of 74

I was talking to a friend of mine who has a sheep, grain and rice property on the Billabong Creek just East of Moulamein in NSW. As you may or may not know the Billabong Creek is in flood after up to 10 inches Friday week ago in the catchment area. Apparently the flood is that vast that it has affected over 150,000 acres of crop at the time of writing. My friend is getting everything to high ground as he is expecting a flood to emulate both the 1956 and 1974 floods. I have also heard that the flood is moving at about half the pace they predicted due to all the heavy crop and pasture the water has to get through. Someone said it is only moving at about 6km a day.

Farm Talk

A word from the sponsor – www.thefarmtrader.com.au has moved into the social media space through its Farm Talk mini blog. It’s sorta like twitter in that people only have 200 characters in which to write their post. If you log in you will get all the latest news and a wide range of comments from many farming people. However most people operate under an alias name so often you might not know exactly who is writing the post There is even a couple of locals who contribute regularly, one such local operates under the “dumb farmer” name. All you need to do to contribute is join the site and away you go.

MCC

Not sure what happened in the cricket over the weekend but I am looking forward to the season getting under way. I must touch base with Gary “Larry” Cameron to get a rundown on how the season is taking shape. One can only hope that the Noo picks up a couple of recruits to bolster the stocks this season. All the best to the lads, let’s hope this season they can reach the finals…

Saddling up for another season

I was talking to Ross “Mallee” Loats the other day and the veteran is pulling on the pads for another season. Fair dinkum he was in his 50’s back when I was pulling on the creams for the Marnoo team. In fact I can remember a lot of funny trips to Bendigo country week. One such story that I still laugh about was when fellow cricketer Dwain “Daryl” Duxson used to turn on Old Mallee’s electric blanket during the night. If you can image how hot it is in Bendigo in February and I remember Loats waking up in a sweat abusing Duxson on many occasions. When Duxson retired from country week the baton was passed to another former Marnoo player, the naughty Hayden “Howard” McLennan continued the tradition in great style.

That all folks