So it looks like I am now on year two of the great fence project. Once again everything else must take a backseat when it is dry enough and warm enough for me to get out and work on this never ending fence project from hell.
If you remember right the last time I did any fence work was in late November when I set the posts for the main gate between the hay field and useless old nag pasture and the East corner posts for the ram paddock extension.
I hadn't counted on the fact that the mudgate (which is what I call the opening between the hay field and the pasture) would be so wet when I sank the posts. Apparently it has dried enough now that the dirt has pulled away from the posts and they are extremely loose. So I had to put an X support on the gate post which required a trip into town for longer pressure treated support boards.
It's amazing no matter how much stuff you load up to take with you I always forget something or more to the point end up needing something I didn't bring.
I ended up hanging this gate wrong actually so it will need to be redone. I should have placed the gate hinge screws on the outside of the post so that it would open all the way against the fence. The hard part is finished though and the spacing is set so moving the hinge screws won't be that big of a deal.
The donkey was not too happy about the gate going back up because she knows that means their access to the hay field will soon be restricted once again.
I can't believe the donkey is still alive and made it through yet another Winter. She has been on this place at least 27 years that I know of and she wasn't some youngster when she arrived. You can still make out the old BLM tattoo in her ear too. We feed her beet pulp and ground grains twice a day now and she still can't keep any weight on and can barely move maybe 20 yards an hour at full speed. I don't think she can see very well either because she had to get up to about five foot from me before she realized it was me this afternoon.
The donkey doesn't like me very much. She put her ears back and shuffled away all pissed that I had the nerve to come out to her pasture.
Tomorrow weather willing I will be hanging the fence wire on this little stretch of fence then it will be laying out the next part of the project and figuring out the three way gate layout I need. Until I get this fencing situation finished all other large projects are on hold just like last year. I will only stop for routine bee hive checks and swarm season at this point so I guess that means another small garden and Buckwheat planting this season.
I can't really do anymore on the tractor until the winds calm down and I can count on nice days to clean her off and paint the last parts anyway. The fence and my planned three field rotation for the sheep is the top priority now though. I had hoped I would get it all done last year but as it turned out I only got it about half done. Hopefully this will be the year it's finished.
Keep Prepping Everyone!!!!!!!
Some jobs just seem to drag on forever don't they? Perhaps an investment in some hired help would speed things up leaving you free for t'other projects PP?
ReplyDeleteJohn - Even if I could find someone willing to help they would want an arm and a leg for it. Even at minimum wage I could buy two gates for just one day's work out of em.
DeleteThat donkey has acquired the same old pale look that Bill Clinton has, oh now I have done it, insulted the donkey. I need to walk my fence as the December pasture has grown some grass and I suspect the deer have torn up the fence. I will put the horse in there as the last place before spring comes.
ReplyDeleteSf - As soon as I can get the last few posts in I am moving the horses back and going to let the sheep out in the hay field for a few days before I lock em up for shearing. They are looking at that grass longingly. Once they are sheared it will be at least a month before they are allowed out again because lambs will start coming.
DeleteI'm slowly replacing a fence that came down in a tornado a few years back. We don't normally get them here but one august we had one. It disintegrate 200 feet of fence panels design to reduce the north wind. The kids play center survived intact but I ended up with the neighbours grain silo in my yard. It tumbled about 1.5 miles or so.
ReplyDeleteThe worst was it destroyed everything in the garden a weekbbefore harvest.
Exile1981
Exile - Ouch. We had one last Summer that knocked half a tree down in the yard and cut a big swath through the neighbors woods. Took out the barn down where I keep some bees and blew chunks of roof everywhere.
DeleteThe wind and stuff here is just horrible this time of year.
Do you know what happened with harry flashman's blog?
ReplyDeleteAnon - Not a clue. Haven't followed his blog in quite some time actually.
Deletewe will be starting a big fencing project once we sign the papers for the new land we are buying, there will be a 4 paddock rotation for the Alpacas as well as boundry fences and new gates that you can open instead of messing about with string, no doubt when its finished it will be time to start some where else :-)
ReplyDelete"Until I get this fencing situation finished all other large projects are on hold just like last year"
ReplyDeleteYes, this is my personal Hell as well. I hate hate hate hate fencing.