Bruce's Journal

[Bruce]

Got fencing on the gate for the east fence line yesterday, ran some fence from the gate strike post in the new west line to the SW corner of the old fence line. I opened the fencing from the existing area to the new part south of it. Figured the boys would be interested in seeing if the grass was greener on the other side but even though I went through it several times they didn't venture out. But this morning they were over in the "riding ring" area so I guess they got brave. They spent most of today in the "new" area but bedded down near the pond in the old area.

This was taken from the kitchen window this morning.


Got the T-posts in for the north line today. 13 posts but I "installed" at least 20 - kept hitting immovable objects about 18" down.

Old north fence line and posts for new line. Mine isn't perfectly straight but I think I did better than he did:


And finished the section that runs west from the little barn with all the "maybe this will keep the chickens in" stuff removed. I expect it was a bit straighter when he installed it but a scrawny post a foot in the ground just doesn't hold up. 8 more posts and 2+ cattle panels there.

Old fence line to little barn:


The fence charger came yesterday and the insulators, etc from Premier 1 are scheduled to show up tomorrow. It will be dark based on when UPS comes by our house so I will start the hotwire on Tuesday.

 

[CntryBoy777]

Sounds and Looks like all the Work and perseverance is starting to 'Pay Off' for ya....and the Boys will appreciate the 'New' area to roam around in....Good Job!!

 

[Baymule]

All your hard work is paying off. Opening the fencing into the new area for the alpacas is HUGE!!!

 

[Mike CHS]

As always, I can relate to your "immovable objects" but you are making some awesome progress.

 

[Bruce]

Thanks all, it does feel like the light in the tunnel may NOT be the light on a locomotive after all

I hope to have it all finished by the end of the day Thursday. I would like it to be sooner but since I figure the hotwire will take a day and using my wife's "everything takes 3X what you think it will" factor, Thursday is probably a safer bet.

I have to rewire the outlet where the charger will go. Prior owner was an electrical "wiz" NOT! There is no ground according to my tester. In fact he shouldn't so much as touch a switch to turn lights on and off as far as I'm concerned. Easy enough to do tomorrow. And I need to see what I can do with the 3 existing grounding rods that are much too close together to be of value.

NOAA says skies clearing tonight then going right back to 100% by morning and snow all day. Oh well, at least today was dry.

Once they got brave, the boys spent most of the day in the new area. They bedded down near the pond, to the right of where they are in the picture. I've seen them in that spot many a morning. Earlier I saw them running full tilt from the south end of the new area to the old area. Gotta be more fun to go "pedal to the metal" when you don't have to hit the brakes as soon as you get to top speed.

 

[Baymule]

Doesn't it give you great satisfaction to see them enjoying the fruits of your labors?

 

[Latestarter]

Really looking great Bruce. I'm sure you'll enjoy the "cleaned up" view much more and of course your new hobby - alpacas, are going to have so much more room to enjoy! Might even give you enough fenced pasture to consider dairy goats or something I can't remember... is your DD1 against dairy products too?

 

[Bruce]

She isn't against dairy products. However there is the small issue of how one gets a dairy girl ready to milk - what do you do with the offspring that are not female? Unless there is a big market for field and forest clearing wethers we have a problem. And yes she distances her brain from that fact when we buy dairy at the grocery store.

 

[NH homesteader]

There is a fair amount of a market for wethers in NH and VT. For Nigerians anyway.

Buying from the grocery store is way worse than what happens to farm raised offspring. I know that you know that... And of course you can't control what the buyers do with goats you sell them. It is hard. If I could milk without having kids that I have to sell, I would do it too!

 

[Bruce]

That is the problem. Not only could she not tolerate us eating any animal we raised here, she couldn't tolerate someone else doing so.