All thunder so far, but no rain. Two loads of water yesterday, and I DO NOT want to be hauling water tomorrow.
Got the rest of the fence posts today, and I need to start looking for someone to drill a well.
Neighbor Kent came over today and looked over the shop project. I should be able to finish the ceiling insulation by the end of next week. Cool weather this weekend would really help.
The orchard has gone from being a swamp to a cracked lake bed. Some trees are stressing, so I’ll be pumping water in the a.m. even though there’s a promise of rain in two days. It’ll probably be too little too late if I don’t do something fast.
I finished wiring the braces on the fence corners yesterday, and I uploaded four videos to YouTube on some lessons learned. All I know about hi-tensile fences is from reading, so this is my video offering to anyone that might be planning to do their own fence.
Project intro: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b3Py7j7qwo0
Cheap fencing tool review: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_1vcxYd1Ink
Handy corner post stapling trick: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9vDzVHy0Lg0
Slipping wire tensioner: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=168ixdKTfV8
You can save yourself a lot of labor cost doing a fence yourself if you have the right tools and time.
Last, but not least, WEAR EYE PROTECTION! Hi-tensile wire flies around a lot and I was glad for my glasses and radio headphones. Keeping one hand on the bitter end is the best idea whenever practical.
Used my brain and tractor forks to put up the rest of the brace arms today. Waaaay faster and easier! I’ll put on the tension wire tomorrow and get my shopping list for line posts and hardware for the road trip on Wednesday.
Corner posts are in the ground, and cross arms and brace wires are going on! I expect to have all of the corners done by Wednesday when I go back to get the line posts :)
Temp drop stopped at 27F last night. Some damage, but most will likely be fine. Not sure if the salamander helps or not, but it gives me something to do at 1:00 a.m. Beside, I like to play with fire :)
I lit my solitary side-armed salamander as a burnt offering to a star-filled sky and went back to bed. What will be will be.
Making holes and planting fence posts today. Bobby-O did a great job of getting the corner posts set, and placing the brace posts. I’ll pin and wire in the cross arms tomorrow, weather-permitting. Life is good! Line posts and wire will go in as soon as the corners are set and solid.
and I am not amused. It also promises to be breezy, and I can’t help but think that makes it worse. The trees are everywhere from green-tip to full blossom, so I can only hope that Nature does not play a cruel joke on me. We had pea-sized hail about an hour ago…
Rex the Kubota BX shows his Coastie can-do attitude! About 670 lbs of fence posts on the way out to their new homes protecting the field. I had to use the discs as rear ballast to keep the rear wheels from spinning. Six posts was too much for the hydraulics, but Rex handled five nicely.
Happy Dog Farm
373 Townline Road
Russell, PA 16345
(814) 757-4451
al@happydogfarm.com
Happy Dog Farm is a family small holding dedicated to supporting community dedicated to slow and wild food.
