I wish everyone knew sign language. At least all the workers here around such loud machinery and across long distances. I was trying to signal to Ben to see if they needed my help at the other module -Jon's climbin across the top of the tramper and Ben and Harry are lookin up at him (not sure if they were doing anything useful) and I wondered if they needed me but Ben couldn't decipher my message. So I've walked back to my own empty builder waiting for a load, which will take about twenty minutes. There's nothing else to do so I thought I'd catch up on this. 
Last night my builder needed a fix so I was helping pick up the cotton around Harry's module. Once I had most of it picked up off the ground, I went over to the actual crop and started picking just to get a feel for what it might've been like in the old days. It's definitely a hell'uva lot slower and I did get pricked a couple times in 5 minutes..so imagine doing a whole field! Mostly it just hurt my back to lean over like that. I'm certainly thankful for technology, even if in this case our technology is old rusty tractors! Which I'm really enjoying driving by the way! It feels great when I've successfully lined up the huge builder alongside the crop just so. Apparently this'll be the last year of it though because they've bought a picker that does all the work! It picks, packs and loads! So we're the last team of cotton pickers on the Elder farm. The days are long but some points feel like they go by quicker than the others. The morning disappears pretty fast and the evening after the sun has set is my favorite because the day is almost done. Other than whatever breakdown happens for the day, each day is basically the same:
First I wake up earlier than I need to so I go back to sleep (we need as much rest as possible, these days are exhausting.) When I do get up, I go and have a'cuppa (tea) while I make our lunches, which are generally about the same: sammies, fruit, a bar of some sort and some bickies or other treat. Jon comes and picks us up and we grab tarps for the day and drive out to the fields. Then I check the oil and water on the tractors and start em while Ben and Harry grease everything up. Then, we wait.
Once the pickings started it's on! At some point mid morning I slip in a break for lunch. After the first couple modules have been built, pulled and tarped, the excitement of a new day sort of wears off and the afternoon sets in.
First it gets really hot! I have lots of sunscreen and a hat and sometimes a light layer when it's really bad. (Last night I had a small, thin line of sunburn by my sleeve and one by my collar-today I was more thorough!)
Then it's the time of the day, as it seems to be a trend in most jobs, where the afternoon lull makes me sleepy. Sometimes that's when I'll have second lunch, or "tea." Actually I make some lady grey tea in the evenings which I pour into a tub with a block of ice and it stays pretty cold until I want it at 3. Around 4:30 or so the sky starts changing colors and I look forward to the sunset at 5:30. Then the bugs set in! Time for another layer! I've got bug bites all over. (It couldn't have anything to do with my sweet tooth I'm sure.) Yesterday afternoon I got stung by a bee but heeding everyone's warnings that things in Australia are deadly poisonous (during our Great Ocean Road trip I was wandering the beach and Ben said, "if it moves, it kills you!") when I felt the sting/bite I started freaking out and nearly tore my shirt off! It was in the middle of my back so I'm sure I looked like a lunatic. No one saw though, and it turned out it was just a bee sting. Damn bees. I do love em but not their sting. I also had a grasshopper hang out with me for about half an hour yesterday. She was beautiful! Eventually another load got dumped on her, I hope she climbed out okay. There are, of course, plenty of spiders too. The bug I see most often are dragonflies. They hover here and there above the cotton, always escaping the tramper. They're fascinating to watch!Time to get to work!
Anyway, after the bugs comes dark and I'll have another snack to tide me over til hot homemade delicious dinner at 9 (It's what I look forward to all day!) We work in the dark until about 8 or when Chris calls it quits. I don't mind though, when the sky is clear the stars are amazing!! The milky way goes all the way across and is fascinating to look at! The southern cross is very bright and Orion is quite upside down. It's also fun to watch the moon phases and see how it's slightly different every night. As long as the sky is clear nighttime is really lovely. Actually the sunsets are best with a cloudy sky. There are incredible colors and light plays off of and through the clouds, it's so beautiful. It has been getting a lot colder in the mornings and evenings and I'm coming out with 4 layers on and thick pairs of socks!
The last few nights as we've cleaned up for the day I've been helping clean out the picker. It has four sections of two mud and grease filled compartments where the gears and prongs run. It's a disgustingly fun and satisfying job! Playing in the mud for work! Yay!
So that's what I do for 12 hours a day. It's such an amazing experience.
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