...... all this doom and gloom reminds me of a poem
Enjoy http://www.middlemiss.org/lit/authors/obrienj/poetry/hanrahan.html SDF _____ From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Terry Neumann Sent: Saturday, 22 November 2008 12:09 PM To: Discussion of issues relating to Soaring in Australia. Subject: [Aus-soaring] Farmers and rain (a cautionary note) 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" <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "Discussion of issues relating to Soaring in Australia." <mailto:[email protected]> <[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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