The Fencing Project

I have been working on my fencing for so long that it seems to me it should be equal to Hadrian's wall by now. But it isn't. It is a well measured, hopefully, well thought out, electric fence. It isn't intended to stay electric. Some parts will someday have cattle panels on them and then a hedge growing over them. Some sections will be replaced by wattle. If I could lay my hands on it, some sections would even be taken over by guardrail cable such as you find along the interstate. Sometimes you just have to say... good enough is good enough. At least, for now.

I am offering this prologue, I suppose, as an apology for my fence. An explanation before you look at it. I have promised myself that I will go out and get some video of my fence. Video is so much easier then photos to manage, but not to worry, there will be no wacky antics. No cats being interesting.... no toddlers... no men getting hit in the crotch. Just a fence, hopefully behaving itself.

Now when I look at my fence I marvel that it took me so long. Granted, over half of the holes I dug by hand. And last summer got so hot it wasn't safe to work outdoors oftentimes, but still, I look at it and think there should be more. I tell myself that it often takes three times longer to do things by myself. To bad I don't listen to myself when I am making excuses.

Well, that's it for apologies and excuses. Later today I will go take some video. Get it posted to youtube and then come back here and add the link. Then you can look at it and say, "That's all she has been moaning about for all these months?!!!" After adding the link, I'll probably apologize more. I know, I know, I apologize too much and it's irritating, but check back later and hopefully once links are added, you will be forgiving and just maybe, one or two of you might even be impressed...... maybe.

Later,
Louie

It's a Miracle!!!

Yup! Absolutely...it's a miracle!! I pulled the last bit of electric wire for horse lot no. 1 yesterday. I also started putting up post caps and insulators on horse lot no. 2. To get the lots completely closed in, I need to get the facing round pen fencing up as well. But I feel like I finally got over this big, giant, friggin' hurdle!

My run in shelter still worries me. I've got some open holes yet and I want to get posts into those so I, or the horses, don't fall in them and break a leg.

I actually even have some posts in for horse lot no. 3. This will give me a good start next spring. Next years goal is to get lots no. 3 and 4 done in the spring. Then win the lotto and put up a covered arena and some round pens..... winning the lotto will be so darned handy!

But for the next hour or so.... I will revel in the knowledge that I got that wire done!!! I feel like I've been pushing a boulder up a hill and I have finally made it! There are other jobs I need to get done, but they don't feel like such large boulders. I still need to get on the roof and get some stuff done but that doesn't involve hauling huge timbers. It doesn't involve going over the same area again and again. I am so happy. This feels so much better.

Finally...... finally, I made some progress.

Louie

AAARRRRGGGHHHH!!!

My filthy, messy house is driving me crazy! That's on one hand... on the other hand if I quit being obsessed by my out door work then I will totally be unprepared for winter. I am a soul in torment!

The girls have often asked how they can help with getting the house in shape. They don't usually like the answer, as the answer is, "help me put in fence and build a shed". I fear the shed is a necessity especially. I organized a lot of the construction "stuff" in the closet so things are better, but I still have a box of tools next to my desk. A stack of lumber on my stairs. Another box of building "stuff" in the hall, a 200 amp service box in the kitchen, more wood in the bedroom.... the list goes on.

Katie, my middle child, tells me that a cluttered house causes lack of focus and depression. I'm screwed. How does a person get the focus necessary to clean a cluttered house when a cluttered house causes a lack of focus? It's like being trapped in that Escher print with the stairways! I don't know which way I'm going!!

Then there is the refrigerator! If God were to doom our souls based on the condition of the interior of our refrigerators.... I'd be on the fast track to hell. It's scary (and somewhat smelly) in there! Altogether frightening.

There is nothing for it. I am simply going to have to take a day and....... finish my fencing, or I will NEVER be able to get started on anything else.

Louie

P.S. On the getting things done ...with luck, I will have some pictures of the fencing project to put up this next saturday when at my daughters , the one with the fast internet. Fingers crossed that I get to it.

Sylvia's Farm

I have recommended this book before... Sylvia's Farm. It has turned into my annual winter read. It comforts me. From the pages, she tells me that I'm not alone. Keep working. For every hardship there is a reward. It might only be the first flush of spring's green, but it lifts the heart.

Last night while reading, Sylvia posed the question, is it winter we fear or the not being prepared for it? I laid in bed thinking about this. I thought about having shelter for my animals... those here now and those to come. Safe fencing, of course. Continuing to plant my windbreaks and fence rows. Enough hay. Enough money for Christmas. Enough money to pay for heating. Coming out of winter with enough money to pay the spring taxes. I wonder if those things were taken care of if I could settle in for a good winter's hibernation. I wonder if my mind could rest. Would I crochet? Would I start drawing again? Would I bake?

This morning I look out on our first snow fall of the season. It is melting. I still have a little time. There are still posts to put in. I still need a run in shelter for the horses. The next weeks will be the test and then it will be time to cry "Uncle" and live with all that I have done... and all that I haven't.

Each winter I think of Little Finn, the mini, who died of the cold. Then I hope that no one will die or suffer as the result of my inadequacies. Do I do enough? Do I work hard enough? I have dropped in snow drifts when pulling buckets of water on a sled to the horses. I've gotten chilled through in freezing rains, sucked down by heavy mud. All small matters compared to Finn's death. I will never work hard enough. I can never make it right. And I can't let it happen again.

So I look out at what I have done, and I take a little time and look at Sylvia's farm... look through another's eyes. This winter has to be better then previous ones. We all have to be made safe and then we will tuck in for our winter's rest.

Louie

The Pit Bull Bite

I have heard that when a pit bull bites that their jaws can lock. Then the dog cannot release even if it wants too. Well, I think I'm starting to relate to that. Actually, my teeth are hurting. Some things I just can't let go of and with the weather turning, my bite increases. I have my grip on the hope of finishing my fence.

The fencing continues to slowly fall into place. I have posts in for about three quarters of the round pen. I have about fifteen tee posts to set. Then I need to make some decisions about gates.... still. Then string some wire and I have a horse lot and a round pen. If I can still get together seven more wood posts and around forty more tee posts and one more gate, then I have a second, larger horse lot. So close!! and I already have the tee posts.

I know I have become fixated. I know I rarely talk about anything other then fencing, but on a farm, fencing is more. It is safety for my animals... it is security. It tells hunters to stay the hell out. It means I won't go out this winter, wading through two foot drifts just to see Pip standing a quarter of a mile away behind the neighbor's house. It means my mind can be at ease and I can be free to think about something else. Oh God! I really, really want to think about something else. I promised my grandchildren to finish the upstairs so they have their own space when they come to stay. I want to think about that for awhile. I want to think about decorative painting. After two and a half years... I want curtains!!!

But for now, pretty isn't a priority.... safety is. My creatures must be safe for winter. Time is running out for the season, so my pit bull bite has intensified. My teeth are just going to have to hurt for a few more weeks.

Louie

Baby, It's cold outside...

Okay it probably isn't all that cold, but we have gone from upper eighties and ninety degree weather to temperatures around 68 degrees. Night temperatures in the forties. Nothing like a temperature drop to make you say, "Holy Shit! I'm not ready!!"

The good news is that yesterday was one of those days loaded with minor miracles. The weather started off as an issue. Gray, too cool and drizzly rain. At noon it cleared off and Neighbor Dan came to help me with fencing. I probably don't work hard enough. We ended up putting in only three hours but I was bushed. All but one post got pulled. All of them were reset. Out of twenty open holes only five remain open.

Kate and I had done our work in clearing brush and we will have a fairly easy job of getting in and cutting more posts. Post cutting should take place on either Sunday or Monday. Another miracle.

I'm not very sure which way to turn next. I need supplies for about any task I set my hand to. I just keep waiting for the hay to be cut so I have a bit of money. As soon as it is cut I will get Neighbor Dan's supply of cow manure and start spreading it out on the hayfield and the garden. I am ridiculously excited about this. Most people don't see the miracle of poo, but it will change my life! It will enrich the soil. Build mushroom beds and give me wonderful tomatoes next year. It has to be well spread before the ground freezes... that's for my benefit... not the manure's. Want to get it done before I need to be working out there with heated socks!

With the chill, the race is on! I want to get cuttings from some of my tomatoes. Still need to finish trim. Still need to fix the roof vent so it doesn't suck in snow. Still need to finish my windows. Still would like to get my outdoor fireplace built.... dare I say, my oven as well? I really, really need a shed! Of course, still at the top of the list, my fencing.

So for today I will try to burn a ginormous brush pile in the hope that I can clear things out enough to get to more posts. Not exactly what I wanted, but I do have matches already purchased! Perhaps I'll get a big enough fire going to rally against the chill.

Louie

Good Things

Yesterday was a good day. It allowed me to believe that good things are about to happen. I had a hard time getting out there to start digging yesterday. A mental battle ensued. I lost. So, I ended up out in the tall grass digging fence post holes again. I had just finished up my first hole of the day when my neighbor pulled into the yard. He inquired into my activities. I told him, rather proudly, that I had just finished up my twentieth post hole.

"Well, what did ya' do that for?"

"I need to put up some decent fence for a change."

"You DO know there is a tractor down the road with a post hole auger on the back of it?"

I did know that but I hadn't seen our neighbor, or his wife, since May. I had made the assumption, probably as the result of my dysfunctional family background, that he was extremely pissed off at me. I hadn't figured out what I had done wrong, but in my family, doing something wrong had little to do with a person's feelings toward you. So now what?....... I lied.

"I just thought you were real busy or you'd hurt yourself again. After all, I hadn't seen you all summer."

Well, more country banter ensued, the upshot of which is that neighbor Dan had me start every hole that I wanted and he would be over today and we would finish up the holes with his tractor.

I worked straight through. Forgot about lunch. Forgot to drink. Did lots and lots of measuring... actually got a blister on my finger from rolling up the 100 ft. tape measure. Twenty seven additional post holes have been started. I need a few more but there's no point right now as I don't have the necessary gates. Actually, I don't have any gates but that is something that I hope to change soon.

There is a chance of rain today. An increased chance for the rest of the week. But I hope we can make this happen. I am in dire need of some good things. This will be a very, very good thing.

Louie

Oh, Bugger!

Last night I decided I needed a more detailed sketch of my pasture layout. I have been digging enough holes that I was going to include every possible hole that I might need. Then I would put an X over each hole already completed. It was mostly an exercise to make me feel better about myself. To show how much was done. To show myself just how damn good I am.

The sketch is very tidy. A neat little diagram indicating that I have dug 19 holes to date, which is more then I thought I had accomplished. The down side is that the neat, tidy little diagram indicates I have a minimum of 25 more holes to dig. Oh, bugger!!

It seems I forgot a couple of brace posts and hadn't decided on gate location. Each gate takes a post on each side and each gate post requires a brace post, so four posts for each gate..... bugger again.

I am two post holes and a gate away from being able to fence the small pasture lot. I am an additional gate and ten more post holes from having the second pasture lot ready to fence.

When the hay gets cut and I get paid.... please, God, let the mennonite dude have a good check..... then I can pick up a gate, hopefully two... with a lot of luck, maybe three.

I'm getting tired and sore and I am sooo ready for a project other than fencing. Burning off the garden and loading it up with grass clippings and horse manure sounds fun! Burning the big brush pile sounds even better!!

So much to do and so little back bone! Oh, bugger!!!

Louie

Today

Today I have to go to town. I need to go and pick up this month's groceries and will also need to get Mac's prescriptions filled for the month. I need to buy dog food too. Should probably put a little gas in the truck. I know that by the time I get home I will have spent around two hundred dollars. This makes me very stressed and on occasion, ill.

Today, this post, is my three hundredth post. Who knew I had so much gas!? That's a rhetorical question... don't answer it.

Since I started writing this blog, my rage level has dropped somewhat. Confrontation with the right kinds of people still send me through the roof. I can't blow things off like I used to. However, fears of Mac dying have diminished. The farther away from the doctors, the better I feel.

I'm not so far along on the little farm as I had hoped.... especially when it comes to fences. Fences and sheds are the back bone of a farm. You just HAVE to have them to get anything done. I still don't have a round pen, or a chicken coop, or the garden laid out the way I would like.

Too much takes either money, or physical strength or proper tools. I find myself lacking.

But we have hung on. We are stronger. The land is better. The weeds are down and the grass is thicker. We have started at clearing woods. Slowly, slowly we make a difference.

Today the high will be around 72 and last week it was in the 90's. We had an over night low in the low 40s. Today before I go to town, I'll try to work on digging post holes. Where there is life, there is hope. I really hope to get some fence in!

Today.... a lot could happen today.

Louie

What Shall I Do Today?

I had a list of things that I wanted to get done today. It was all outdoor chores. Then this morning, we were awakened by a spectacular lightening display. Then a pause in the pyrotechnics for a sudden downpour, then the fireworks resumed. I have never lived anywhere that compared to the lightening activity here. The closest was one night when the family camped in the Smokey Mountains when I was a child. We were closer to the heavens that night, but lately it seems that the heavens have felt a need to be closer to me.

One chore that was slated for today was the laying out of the new fence line and round pens. I had it all figured out.... finally. There were just a few more lines that needed measured out. The twine was outside the door .. ready for me to snatch and pull between stakes to mark the line for the tee posts. I had already mowed access in the grass to begin the fence line. Today I was going to mow the round pen circles and get a feel for how they lay.

I was going to do the last measurements and find the center then mow a circle while I held on to a twine measured the distance of the radius. If there was time I was thinking of marking the four small round pens as well. Today was going to give me a sense of order and well being. I needed to feel closer to my goal, but then, the heavens visited.

I sit here and watch the continued dripping of the rain. Wonder about the possibilities of the day. What shall I do? I need to have something to show for my time. Winter will come and I fear I won't be ready.

Louie

Keys to Success

I'm sitting here and drinking coffee... thinking. That is how I begin my day. This is enough of a routine that it feels unnatural if my day doesn't start with coffee and thinking. While I might not get too many places, my brain is quite the traveler. Others cannot see it but some of my most difficult work, some of the most rigorous work, takes place while I sit here.... sipping coffee. The cleansing part of the operation is in the doing, the sweating, the fruition.

It has been a bad summer to try and get something done. First unrelenting rain and then unrelenting heat. Bugger! So, I am having coffee. Sipping and thinking. There has to be a way around this.

I went out the other day to change out the handles on my post hole digger. I wanted to get to work. It was the age old problem. I had round ended handles and I needed square ended replacement handles..... round peg, square hole= I'm screwed.

There is something in my nature that keeps screaming out that post holes should not be this difficult!

I don't know what else to do but go back to the beginning and try to rethink this. Get another cup of coffee and think. If I even had a decent hand saw I'd start working on an above ground fence, like a buck fence. There is a way past this. I just have to figure it out. Just find my keys to success and there will be fireworks, angels will sing and I will be ushered to the next level of he game and a new problem...... and a fresh pot of coffee.

Louie

I'm thinking...

I'm thinking about what I need to try to accomplish today. It isn't easy. I reviewed my to-do list but since that heads in so many directions, it confuses me more then clarifies. I think I will let crisis management take over. The horses need access to more grass... as usual, so I think fencing has to go to the number one spot right now.

I have a project in mind to get some fence up next to a row of hazelnut starts. This is what I hope will someday be a hedgerow. I think I have enough supplies to accomplish this one section. It will be a start and it will be the start that I want. So, post holes in the morning.

This afternoon I think I better get some weeding done. Things got away from me while I was auditing the horse clinic. Weed and mow and get after the bugs again. The little bastards relocated to a different tomato plant. So I'd better try another method of extermination. I think it will be picking and drowning in soapy water today.

I think the best part of today will be not having unbearable heat and working where the horses and I can watch each other.

I'm thinking, maybe, the best part of today will just be taking it slow.

Louie

Air Conditioning and other Regrets

Mac broke down and put the window air conditioner in last week. Since then, it seems, the humidity has gotten fairly unbearable to me. I wonder if it is the humidity or if it is the difference between going out into the heat and coming back in to the cool. As always, being in air conditioning leaves my bronchials feeling like someone went over their interiors with a brillo pad. Warnings persist for people and animals exposed to the heat. I feel horrible. Don't know which is worse... the heat or the air conditioning.

I am starting to have my summer regrets. Worrying about all that isn't done. I think my biggest regrets are that I haven't gotten in more, better fencing and I don't have my small flock of laying chickens. I am now a firm believer in the importance of pasture rotation. Fencing just keeps taking on a greater importance every day. Fencing and a round pen. I could almost croon it like the lusty desire for the most current magazine heart throb. Round pen .... doesn't it just evoke the imagery of wantonness?

Mac wants to retire and I can't seem to figure out how to make that happen for him. I'm sorry. I don't know what to do.

If only the heat would stop. I could work on post holes. Maybe my neighbor would see me out there working and feel sorry for me and bring his tractor with the post hole auger ... maybe. Maybe I'll get a couple of baby quilts sold and I could get some chickens yet this year..... maybe. Summer isn't over, maybe there's still a chance..... maybe.

Louie

I need PBS.

I was thinking again.... and I decided that I need my own PBS show. I can do educational TV! I'm nothing if not educational. Then I would get stuff done. I would be funded! and maybe even a salary! How cool would that be?!

I have so much to teach people. The traditional oven would take several episodes, but I want to do a sculpted clay oven as well. The hobbit house would take at least five episodes. Tree planting would take an episode. Starting chickens would take another one. Building different styles of fencing could go on for awhile, God knows. Actually there could be helpful suggestions for digging post holes in 90o weather in clay soil. There would be some bloopers in that one!! Gardening would be ongoing, of course.

The real drawback would be having me as the host. Imagine, if you will, crossing Kathy Bates with Professor McGonagal and that person having enough beers that they feel comfortable sharing their opinion, no matter what it is. Not that I really drink... I just believe in letting loose. Granted I would probably only have a cult following. That's okay. It would rank me up there with all of the other PBS shows.

I could do this! Not only do I think I need PBS, I'm starting to think PBS needs me too! Don't act surprised by this.... you all know I'm a bit self delusional. Who isn't?

Louie

Half Full, Half Empty

I just realized that today is the fifteenth. The month of June is half gone. It leaves me with a bit of an anxiety attack. I have two weeks to raise two hundred dollars. That is for my annual dues for the Parelli Savvy Club. While to many it doesn't seem an important thing, I don't believe I can handle not having the connections that it affords. My Parelli friends and my children have been my support during Mac's illness. The idea of not having access to them again is quite upsetting.

And while being upset, I made a mental list of my building projects... perhaps not a good idea.

I need at least one run in shed before winter. The fencing has to start this week, as soon as hay is cut. (Please! rain stop for awhile!) Then there is the garage, which would be nice to have done just so we don't have piles of lumber and detritus laying about. Now I have a friend's house to add to the list. That shouldn't be too bad... I have five years to build that one.

Then there is the hobbit house. I am still battling flooding in the foundation. The big problem being that there is just so much other priority stuff to do. Then there is the issue of concrete. Once I have the foundation prepped, I will want to pour immediately. The rest won't take long. I have begun scavenging materials.... oh God , I need a shed too! Forgot about that one.

Oh well, empty of money but rich in ideas.

Louie

Spring?

Well, it's spring.... I think. It's looking like spring again and if we don't get another snowstorm to shake my enthusiasm, then I guess it really will be spring.

With spring, my thoughts turn to , you guessed it! FENCING!!!! What I wouldn't give right now to have a good man with a chainsaw!! We would be cutting fence posts out of the hedge trees like crazy! I think that owning and being able to run a chain saw should just be considered part of the definition of a "good man".

Mac never considered chain saw prowess to be a real man virtue, at least, not from what I can tell. That's too bad. But that's life isn't it? I also have a can opener that doesn't open cans most of the time. Yet for some reason I hang on to the darn thing thinking some day it will start working and fulfill it's calling. In the mean time I crank away and get an inch of the can top open. Then eventually another inch and then another. Then I pry the damn thing open with a butter knife and tell myself that some day I am going to slice my wrist open on the bent up jagged lid.

Oh well. I will probably continue to use.....(edit) TRY to use, the can opener. I'll probably hang onto Mac as well. But how I wish some nice fella would show up and volunteer to cut posts for me. Wouldn't that be something?!!

I'm glad it's spring.

Louie