James is a busy man.  He is threshing, logging, slaughtering animals and selling meat and other agricultural produce.  He is a Justice of the Peace and Deputy Returning Officer in the local election in 1895.  His other civic activities include church and school meetings.  Sometimes one of his teenage children makes entries in the diary on his behalf.  His brief entries suggest that he used his diaries in 1895 and 1910 more for keeping track of his busy life than because he enjoyed writing.