Finally, a major step done.  We got all the posts set in gravel. Luckily, we had enough gravel left as my ordered delivery was delayed twice and won’t be here till Thursday. We only had to do over one hole it needed to be moved a paltry 4 inches.  It took us almost an hour to move that hole!  There was a huge rock in the way. It did not want to come out of the ground. I kept trying to remember to bring out the gates to make sure we got the spacing correct.  Nope, I forgot one. Instead of the opening being 10 ft 2 in wide it was 10 ft 8 in, too wide.  Instead of ripping it out and spending an hour fixing it I will just have a custom gate made. Packy was already going to construct two others so a third addition will be easy.  I can use the already purchased gate elsewhere on the farm. We even cleaned up all the tools. I figure three more days go get the corral cone. Once we are done I will have Packy come out and measure for the custom gates. I want to make bird houses to go on top of all the posts. I hope the birds actually use them. 

Spring storms have continued unabated. 

Post holes dug and ready for posts to be set.

Well we managed to get the holes emptied and in the correct spot by noon. Some of the holes have to match up for gate operation so we had to move the holes. This was painful. I remembered why I only usually do heavy farm labor in stretches of three days. By the third day my body is screaming at me. I start looking forward to going back to work so I can rest from being at home! 

Phil was dissapointed that we used the tractor to move l the railroad ties into place. Some were so heavy that it took both of us to move them once they hit the ground. Even Phil was getting tired. There is going to be a lot of the posts sticking up. I will be able to stabilize the top with boards across the chute so the cows won’t be able to spread it out. I think it is going to turn out nice. I am even thinking about building some bird houses to go on top of the posts!  

15 of 32 posts set in the ground.

Another summer storm.

Day two, can you see the progress?

Well, my plans for a quick project completion are officially shot.  We spent all day drilling holes in the dirt.  The ground was so hard it had to be broken up with a breaker bar then drilled out with the tractor.  My neck was so sore this morning from spending yesterday looking over my right shoulder to watch the auger that I had to look over my left shoulder today.  Now both sides of my neck hurt and the ibuprofen is dulling the pain.  We had one hour left after getting the holes drilled to hand dig the holes clean and line them up with our string marking lines.  We managed to get 2/3 of the holes all cleaned out and aligned.  I am hoping we can get the rest in an hour in the morning then get all the railroad tie posts set in gravel tomorrow.  If we can get all the posts set then I can drag the leftover dirt out of the way and we can install the cow panels and 2×6 boards.  It will be done in no time!  I have Phil for tomorrow and Tuesday only.  I need to be done by Tuesday or it will be another week before I can get back to this project. 

On a plus side, we have a bird building a nest just outside the kitchen window.  It started today.  We are still trying to figure out what kind of bird.  It is not one we recognize. 

Old Corral soon to be remodeled.

Old corral torn down.

The corral project started yesterday.  Phil is helping me so I don’t take two months.  We started by tearing down the old one and removing all the posts.  The little four inch round posts were rotted off.  We noticed that the posts were not buried very deep.  Once everything was cleared away I started to drag the area flat with my tractor.  This went well except I drive forward and look behind to watch the box blade so I drag an even depth.  I ran over the gas weedeater!  I crushed the plastic fuel tank.  Now I need to get the weed eater to a repair person.  So much for using the weed eater around the house. 

 

New Corral spot leveled off.

Phil and I marked out the post hole spots with ground paint and a tape measure.  I was sure I could just dig all 31 holes and then we could be done and onto installing posts. We hooked up the post hole digger and we started digging holes.  It was awful! The soil was straight clay.  We only managed to dig a few holes to finish off the day.  Not the 31 I was hoping for.  My vision of having the entire corral done in three days is quickly sinking.

The tractor is holding together!  I have mowed for two days straight and the weld is still intact.  I managed to knock down the cheat grass around the house. The field that needed grass seed planted is a weed jungle.  The 2-4-D killed some things dead but the thistle was not one of them. I will mow it back to the ground then hit it with milestone when it starts to grow again. After that kills the weeds I will disc it all under. Yesterday I saw a hundred voles at least.  Four baby killdeer running around and momma trying to distract me, some quail and a rooster pheasant. I don’t mind sitting on the tractor for hours at a time but the dust is awful. It gets everywhere!  I don’t hit as many rocks as I use too but from looking at the mower deck you would never believe it.