Farming

Part 2 - Farming we have both moved after getting training

Now five years later John is working as an assistant farm manager and I am already independent pipeline welder earning dam good money, John and I keep in touch by Email almost daily. John seems to be really happy in his work and from what I gather his views are all well respected. I should also say that I am enjoying my experience up north. The biggest thing is I don't see my brother very often and he also says the same thing.

John has been in his job about 4 years and the owner of the farm asks him to come and see him. John makes contact with Jim Fielder the owner, are you free right now yes I am OK I am coming over and we are going for a ride in my truck.

I should mention I have only meet Jim once and that was when I got the job here but I know he is getting updates on personal on regular basics.

I am waiting out side on the office porch and I see him driving into the yard hence I get up to meet him. He pushing the passenger door open and calls out, hi John please get in. Once seated Jim takes off to high ground once there he shuts down the engine and we get out and sit on the tail gate. So John how are you making out working here, I said good however I don't see enough of my brother who is two years older than myself so what does your brother do? He is a welder and has his TQ including his pressure pipe line ticket – oh that is very interesting.

I will come straight to the point but what we discuss here just remains between the two of us. I have been watching how you have performed in your job, now you may not realize I also have three different farms in Australia out there they are called stations now I would like you to consider taking over the operation of the smaller station which has only 750 sq miles, plus a number of families and there kids some families are white the others are Aboriginal and they love dealing with the animals. There will be times when you sleep out under the stars using a swag now we will go back to the office as I need to know exactly where your brother is as I would like to meet him and once you have had time to think over my proposal we will take this further. Oh Jim there is one thing I would like to know is where is this station located, good point I will get a map and show you where all my stations are located – sorry I forgot all about that.

A couple of days later I decided to take this offer one stage further and after contacting Jim he said good, do you know the where the nearest airport is to your brother's work. I said you go to Fort St John and then rent a 4 x4 truck. OK I will let your station manger know you will be away on business next week, please go ahead and let your brother know but do not tell him anything about my offer to you.

I Emailed Roger telling him I was coming up with my Boss as he wanted to meet you and at the moment I can say nothing else. I send off the email and within five minutes my cell phone is going and I see its Roger, hi brother how are things, bloody cold and make sure you have some good warm clothing and please wear good boots and Hi-Vis clothing and have a wool torque I can provide you with hard hats. So what day are you arriving, not sure at the moment depends on the air flights and we will rent a 4 x 4 truck for transportation.

John I will make arrangements for two rooms in the bunkhouses, all rooms are singles and it is a dry camp.

I Email Roger telling him we will be arriving mid afternoon on Monday and most likely stay three days, Roger Emails back saying the camp is called Farm Acres and we will be in block "E" and if I'm not there just see the cook and he will get you your keys, the Cooks name is Peter.

Well we both head out and fly north arriving in Fort St John about midday; we had a truck pre-booked so our transport was ready for us. After getting direction to Farm Acres and a stop at the liquor store to grab a bottle of scotch, we head off out into the countryside. Jim's first comment the scenery is really beautiful and I can understand why folks live up here.

We arrive at camp and locate Block "E" and meet up with Peter the cook and tell him who we are. OK Guys let me show you around and what we have, firstly the showers you will notice they are totally open the reason being the guys all help each other getting clean by scrubbing each others backs, they also do there hair cutting here and you will see at dinner to-night most guys have either shaved heads or very tight haircuts.

Don't be concerned if you need to use the bathroom at night as you will more often than not see a guy heading for the toilet and he is totally nude. There are no ladies about so no one gets offend either now your two rooms are just down this corridor. Roger's room is a couple of rooms away, so I will leave you now and I am surprised that Roger is not here must have run into a problem.

Well we both get sorted out, I decide to have a shower and while there Roger show's up and all I say hey you ugly bastard come over here and we hugged and kiss each other.

Rogers first comment what is going on. You will be told shortly so how is the work going? Long hours and shitty conditions and before you ask I am thinking of moving on – interesting was my comment. So how is your job, really very good great folk to work for and lots of respect for the job I am doing, well that is fantastic however there is one down side we don't see enough of each other so these three days we will have to make the most of it.

Roger says lets go and meet up with your Boss as it is close to supper time, I knock on Jim's door and he calls out come in please. We find him reading a lot of papers.

Jim please meet my good brother Roger, Jim gets up and they shake hands, take a seat please Roger and I will tell you I have heard a lot about you mostly from John here who says he wished you were both working closer and therefore see each other more often and would like to add that means you love each other.

There was total silence in the room for a few minutes then Roger gets up and say little brother come here you little bugger and laughing, Roger grabs his brother hugs him and then plants several good kiss on him. Jim gets up and says Roger it is an honor to meet you in this situation and with that he does the same thing, Roger is astounded, and then John flings his arms around everyone present saying thank you for a fantastic reception.

Roger says we need to go to the cookhouse, as supper will be severed about now, once in the cookhouse we get our suppers that were was very good and once the first course is over. Roger stands up and calls out hey everyone I have two guests here my brother John and a good friend of his Jim so if you see them about please do not be concerned – thanks guys.

Roger asks do either of you wish for tea or coffee if so it is over there, if you prefer ginger ale and ice it is next to the tea counter. Jim says get ice and grab a can of ginger ale and we will head for my room because I would like to know more about you Roger if you do not mind. Firstly is the room next to us in use Roger says no – thanks.

So Roger how do you enjoy to work and the work location, well frankly I am getting depressed the work condition are bad and feed up with the cold, interesting so what do plan to do about it. Well I have another two weeks on this job and then I plan on taking a break and head south, visit my brother John here.

One question Roger are you self employed; yes I am and you own your welding truck yes I was able to get it secondhand and it has done me well. So would it easy to sell to someone else if the occasion was right. Oh no problem at all, there is always someone looking for such a beast which is fully loaded.

Well Jim spills the beans about moving and says John would be with you, however I would like you both to come back with me to Australia for a month and I can show you all three stations that I own. Now Roger I know this is rather sudden so would you and your brother go and discuss this privately, any questions just ask. There is one thing please this stay's between the three of us.

Now before we all hit the bunk get a glass from your room, on return the ice is split up and a good shot of scotch is poured out. Jim says a little toast, to the future. Roger says I must leave you both as I need to be up at 5:30am and hopefully I will be back here around 3:30 pm sounds good Roger and don't be surprised if we show up on the job site. Roger says stop by the office trailer and grab two hard hats they know you will be coming over there.

Night Roger we will see you in the morning, he and John have a good hug and go there own way; just hang on a minute please John. So what do you think John very interesting times and the fact my brother knows we can be closer together will help him in he decision making; that's my feelings as well so lets see what tomorrow brings. Night Jim and thanks for what you have done

Next day we went out to see where Roger was working. It was interesting Jim had no problem with the mud etc that was on the site. Jim took a number of photos, after seeing Roger's area they look around at other work sites and they were all in a similar condition plus there was a biting cold wind blowing.

We returned to camp and got cleaned up, the time was about 2:00 pm so after the clean up we went and had some tea and discussed what we saw, in the end Jim said I can fully understand your brother wish to move away so all we can do is wait and see how things work out.

Suddenly we hear Rogers voice calling hi Peter can you get me a mug of tea please with just a dash of milk – coming up Roger. John gets up you got away early that is great, do me a favor come and scrub my back please sure thing would love too. I turned to Jim and said, see you later.

Well Roger gets stripped off, throws all his dirty gear into the laundry machine, and turns to me and asks have you washed your Hi-Vis gear. No we have not; well go and get it all cleaned up and grab Jim's as well and gets it into a machine pronto; hence I quickly got the gear and carried out Rogers's request.

I get stripped off and start scrubbing my brother back and say it really looks as if you have been rolling in mud to-day, he says that's what happened when you have lie on your back and weld above you.

Roger heads to his room with his brother; so what do think of the offer of re-locating to Australia asks John, well the fact it appears that you accepted the offer and I'm assuming you must have good respect from Jim. So what sort of accommodation do you have on your present farm? I have a two bedroom home all on one level and I hire one of the ladies to do the house keeping for me. I do my own cooking but sometimes I join the crew and eat with them in the cookhouse. I have TV, Internet and radio phone, I also carry a radio phone with me at all times and you would be doing the same thing I'm sure. How is the pay and what about expense when away from your home. Pay is really good and reasonable expenses are all covered on the company credit card.

Well John I want to visit you first for about 1 to 11/2 weeks prior to looking at the Australian trip. Oh that's a point we will both need passports, we need to get on with that quickly. Roger says we have plenty of time before supper so let's make love, it did not take long before we fucking each other and I tell there was nothing better for both of us.

I said we have nothing to hold us here as there are no relatives as far as I know and therefore we need to be together through rough or smooth we must look after each other.

I know that Dad would be proud of both of us if he was here right now. We hugged more tightly and both start crying and almost said at the same time I love you mate. I think we both need to get dressed ready for supper but first we collected our laundry from the dryer.

We knocked on Jim's door no reply, so we headed for the cookhouse and spotted Jim sitting on his own; we got our supper and joined up with Jim.

Roger asks Jim; so what did you think about what you saw out on the job site to-day, everyone was in similar conditions how would I describe it YUCK.

So guys how was your meeting this afternoon good it was sure nice to have some brotherly love time as it had been a long time.

Well we had a great meal again and said we will visit you if we may after supper, no problem but tonight we will get three glasses of ice and ginger ale.

Once in Jim's room we told him what we wanted to do and also we both have to get passports, Jim agreed and accepted what was put to him. Roger when will you be down south to visit your brother. Not later; than 2 weeks time excellent so what will, you do with your welding truck while you are away; sell it and I have been asked by several guy's to let them know if wanted to sell. I will travel in my personal truck with all my gear so it obvious you are quitting the working in north; you got that right mate.

Well I look forward to seeing you at John's home, thank you Roger for being so straightforward with me.

Jim and I returned back to the farm, Jims comment was interesting by saying that brother of yours is very sincere young man and the fact he was working in bad conditions did not appear to effect his work, you should be proud of your brother.

Well when we had the farm, he did most of the maintance work including welding on Dad's equipment and kept things running. We both worked on the farm doing work everyday from about the age of about 10 yrs old but we never missed a day of school and I did the ploughing and many other jobs we all worked as a team.

We in general got up at 5:30 am everyday of the week Dad always made sure we had a good breakfast and all three of us were in bed not later than 9:00 pm.

Dad also taught us how to cook a good meal; this resulted in who was ever home first got on with getting the main meal of the day.

Once back at the farm I went to the office see what sort of paper work need dealing with, I was surprised to find my in tray was empty. I phoned my manager to let him know I was back home. His first question how did the trip go very well and I had an interesting time but please do not ask where we have been I have been ask to say nothing by Jim Fielder as he will advise you and those that need to know, no problem John.