Patching wrote:
Hi John,
It should be a very good omen, particularly for the farmers, tell them
that it is a sure fire way to make it rain by holding a gliding event.
They will keep asking you to hold more.
Best wishes to all at GVGC. May it be strong for the future.
Regards
Patch
----- Original Message ----- From: "John Giddy" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: "Discussion of issues relating to Soaring in Australia."
<[email protected]>
Sent: Saturday, November 22, 2008 9:33 AM
Subject: Re: [Aus-soaring] Goulburn Valley Soaring Open Weekend
Hi all,
Unfortunately the weather has conspired against us :-(
The Goulburn Valley Soaring Open weekend has been cancelled.
Too much rain. Great for the farmers, but bad for our field...
John G.
Mr Chairman, fellow gliding folks,
I need to sound a note of caution here.
It can be extremely fraught to assume that farmers are always delighted
- or perhaps even ecstatic - to experience a rain event.
The facts are that farmer's need for rain - and his/her reaction to it
when it comes - will depend almost totally on what stage they are in the
farming program. A fairly safe exception to this can be made in the
case of livestock farmers, most of whom are happy to see as much rain as
possible, and whose unbridled glee is moderated only when their
livestock start floating down the creek. I need to further qualify
that however by pointing out that summer rain and humidity can initiate
serious problems for sheep farmers whose animals then become vulnerable
to attention from flies (and we won't go any further down that road -
it's most unpleasant....).
For other enterprises, rain can be a blessing or a curse. For those in
grain production, rain is good in the growing season, but a curse if the
harvest operations are under way. Rain and humidity are most
unwelcome in the pre-harvest stage of grape growing, and rain will stuff
the entire cherry crop if it comes at the wrong time. So you see it can
be difficult to make a blanket statement about how welcome rain might be
in respect of farmers in general. Mostly it's welcome, but not always.
If you have the misfortune to outland, the owner of your temporary
airfield will probably be a farmer. Comments about rain - and the
weather in general - are best played with a cautious hand until you get
a firm hold on how they see things in respect of the current weather.
The way you steer the conversation here may influence whether you are
offered a cold beer, or a cup of water out of the garden tap. It can
decide whether you are chauffeured back to your stranded bird in the
Landcuiser with the air-conditioner on, or asked to hop on the back of
the ute after the sheepskin is pushed to the front amongst the bits of
hay, baling twine, dagging shears, fencing wire and other rural
miscellanea, and the two blue heelers with the worrying hungry look and
suspicious smell have already staked their claim in the back of their
vehicle, and look upon your intrusion into their patch in a way that
would cause a rhinoceros to take fright and flee. (Perhaps I
exaggerate slightly here, but you get the drift ...)
So please be careful when talking about the weather to farmers - broad
assumptions may be quite wrong.
Regards,
Terry ;-)
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