Bruce's Journal

[Bruce]

Sorry @Mini Horses I think my hands are not all that far from boycotting more fencing for awhile

I try to keep reminding myself of that @Baymule Kinda concerned about those grounding rods since they are just outside the north end of the barn - the area I enclosed before the alpacas came. The same location where there is a massive amount of buried rock and concrete chunks barely under the surface. Digging a trench west may not be possible and I'll have to go up the barn wall over the double doors and down the west wall where I HOPE no one buried rocks. I certainly can not dig a trench east and hope to find somewhere I can pound a rod 6' into the ground 10' from one in the existing location.

 

[Mike CHS]

I dug 5 trial holes for my corner posts now that I'm almost on my bottom land and did not hit any rocks other than the first try (sheared two shear bolts on the auger but got it dug).

It's nice to finally be able to use the auger.

 

[Baymule]

All you can do is the best you can. Our fencing has been an on again, off again thing. We are so close to being finished, but life keeps getting in the way. Been babysitting 2 month old grand daughter and that puts the brakes on everything. At mid term (parents are teachers) she will go to day care, she'll be 4 months old by then.

 

[Bruce]

I dug 5 trial holes for my corner posts now that I'm almost on my bottom land and did not hit any rocks other than the first try (sheared two shear bolts on the auger but got it dug).

It's nice to finally be able to use the auger.

I've dug enough rocks that I think I have "paid" for others to be spared.

 

[Bruce]

Got the sheep and goat fence pulled to the H-brace for the gate in the east line. All wired to the wood posts and wire clipped to the T-posts. Need to get fencing on the gate and put in a couple of T-posts from the strike post going north for a single cattle panel. From there the fence turns east to the SW corner of the little barn.

I also remembered that gap in the south cattle panel fence line where it goes around the tree and rock pile. I ended up using the claw hammer to bend the wires on the panel that comes north 13' from the SW corner of the "riding ring" to make it turn west. Now I need to cut a panel in half and fill in the gap then the south line will be done except for the hotwire.

 

[Bruce]

Today's installment starts with a mini-rant. Mr. NOAA said .02" of rain between 8 AM and noon. How about .02" per 20 minute segment for a decent part of that time? He also said nothing about it spitting mini frozen bits of water later in the day.

Progress for the day -

• Got a piece of cattle panel in the south fence line gap, done except for hotwire.
• Got the posts and cattle panel in on the north side of the east line. Carefully avoided the underground power line that runs from the solar panels to the house.
• Got the fencing wired into the strike side of the gate for the east line and holes drilled on the hinge side. Dang this takes me forever! Hard on the joints too.
• Moved a roll of 2x4 wire fencing that had run from the NW corner of the "riding ring" to the cheesy fence that currently encloses the barnyard (to keep the chickens from going too far into the west field). It now closes off the space between the old fence at the SW corner to the gate strike post in the new west fence line. Pretty much a linear extension of the old fence. I will remove that when I get the north fence line done which will HOPEFULLY be early next week after the fence charger and insulators arrive.

Tomorrow morning I will rehang the gate and use the brace post on the H-brace to tension the wire on the gate before attaching the hinge side. I think this will be better than doing it in the shop like I did the last time:

• Ratchet strap from the metal work bench to the panel to keep it from moving when I tension the wire.
• Ratchet strap connected to the puller at the bottom and to a leg of the table saw
  
• Ratchet strap connected to the puller at the top and to side rail on the table saw
• Ratchet strap from a gap in the wood floor the other leg on the table saw when it started moving as I tensioned the wire.

Then I can let the boys out into the new area as far as the gate in the new west fence line. They have pretty much eaten down everything in their current area. While they are out (assuming the go out!) I plan to put in the cattle panels that run to the SW corner of the little barn to the panel I put in today to complete the east fence line. There are some fence posts and crummy fence I need to take out before I can put in the T-posts and 3 cattle panels. Best that the boys not think they want to come out into the backyard!

Isn't this just a dandy looking fence line? Glad alpacas don't test fences.


All weather dependant of course. Mr. NOAA says it is going to snow but only .1" between 10 PM tonight and 8 PM tomorrow. We will see.

 

[NH homesteader]

Mr. NOAA gave you our forecast apparently. It rained a teeny bit for about 10 minutes today. That's it.

 

[norseofcourse]

Today's installment starts with a mini-rant. Mr. NOAA said .02" of rain between 8 AM and noon. How about .02" per 20 minute segment for a decent part of that time? He also said nothing about it spitting mini frozen bits of water later in the day.

And yet, they make predictions for what the weather for the entire winter will be like...
They are really good at explaining why the weather didn't turn out like they predicted, but with all the extra technology that's been developed in the past several decades, forecasting is still often hit or miss.

 

[CntryBoy777]

Now a days all they do is Read what the Computer spits out, so it is really Decided by a computer Programmer....GIGO

 

[Baymule]

Wow....that really IS a Jim-Dandy fence ya' got there! I admire your perseverance in fence building. You will get it done and it will be so nice!