Today was the day I actually started fencing…again.  I started at the upper path into the school house plot. I dragged the dirt cut and got rid of the big hump. Hopefully, now the truck hitch won’t drag when I turn onto the road.  I drug the box blade alongside the fence to clean a work area.   I filled a couple of preexisting rock cribs with rocks then using tractor moved a large dirt pile next to the fence.  I had to install 8 T posts and clip the wires in place. I finally got all the fence repaired to the culvert.  I had to cross the spring to get to the other side.  The water is still running so of course I slipped and fell.  I caught myself sorta so my keister did not land in the water.  The other end of the culvert has a wooden panel to keep the bulls out, but we had one this spring sneaking over to eat the grass.  I am going to string a couple of strands of smooth wire across the opening and clip a cattle panel in place across the opening.  

There was this wooden contraption at the end of the highway culvert buried in some very large thistles.  Once I cleared out the weeds I discovered it was an elevated rock crib!  I have never seen anything like it before. So I wired it back together, put some new floorboards in it and it was ready for rocks.  I wasn’t sure what was going to keep. It from sliding so I took a broken T post and jammed it behind the welded support on the metal wall and wired the rock crib main beam to the T post.  I should be able to use the fence tightener without any problems. It held a pile of rocks with no problems.  I pounded in another 14 T posts and am ready for wire.  

I did not do this, the rock crib was already in the air.  I just repaired it and added rocks.

Main hole the cows were escaping through.  You can see the area I leveled out on the right half of the picture. I repaired the rails and installed a new top rail. You cannot see it but just to the fight of this picture is a huge wild rose bush. I had to crawl into it twice, in two separate places.  It was highly unpleasant, involving much pain and blood drawing scratches and loads of colorful language. I am hoping it acts as a deterrent for the cows also.  There are two springs here, one is directly behind the rose bush in the picture. It used to be developed for the school but is no longer coming out directed. There is one in the trees also.  My plan is to get the fence cone tomorrow so I can get the cows down here.  I think there is three months worth of feed down here. 

Annmarie wants me to take a coworker’s son deer hunting. So I drove around at dusk last night.  I counted three more little bucks and over 100 deer! The upper wheat field looks like a deer parking lot.  I am bummed I didn’t draw a doe tag. The deer population is starting to grow exponentially around here. It is a stupid problem. 

Escape route down by school house next to road. I leveled off the hill.

Left side of driveway looking from front porch.  I figured it was time.

Jason came over to finish taking the scrap metal pile to recycle.  While he was here I got him to help me rearrange piles. We found the plow I discovered in the grass last year.  I thought it had been scrapped. We brought it down to the house and set it up for display.  Jason had to drive the tractor while I pulled the trailer up with the pickup.  There was an old seeder I wanted to bring it down to the house.  The wooden wheels would not let me pull it. Unfortunately, it weighed about 900 pounds so the limiter on my tractor bucket (800#) would not let me lift it.  I could turn the bucket and get about eight inches. We ended up with the tractor in the elevated field and the trailer on the low side.  We just barely got it onto the trailer.  I took the tractor and grabbed the back half of the wagon to go with the lonely front half. 

I ended up digging an unloading area so I could be above the trailer. I just barely managed to drag it off.  Both wheels fell off on the ride down the hill. I set it in place and made it as neat as possible. I like it. 

Old seeder at top of hill.

I just need to transplant some tall grass clusters from the upper field and throw out some more grass seed. It will be all ready for fencing in the spring. Once we get the new fence up we will start tearing down the chain link fence. 

Right side of driveway.  I want to get some tall grass starts from the upper barley field to plant around the equipment.

Another batch of gate latches ready to go.

Two ton of straw ready for a couple of winters.

Three hooks across my tractor bucket now!  I can really pick up stuff.

Rain drain

Apple tree third life.

I finished the front yard drain yesterday.  We had the under stair closet door shift this summer.  We realized that the rain pounding off the front corner of the house had beat the dirt away from the house and exposed the foundation.  I ended up putting almost 1.5 feet of dirt next to the foundation and another 6 inches of gravel.  To prevent the water from pounding through the rock and gravel we installed a four foot galvanized metal tank.  The tank is filled with another six inches of gravel.  Nothing is moving or shifting with that much gravel.  I still need to get some PVC fittings for the drain plug so I can attach a soaker hose onto the end of the tank. 

I also moved the apple tree from the front yard.  This is the third time it has been moved.  The horses and sheep almost killed it but it snapped back.  I have hopes it will survive this move.  I will put a cow panel around it to prevent the deer/sheep/horses/cows from eating on it for a few years.  The tree needs about five years of alone time before its trunk can be exposed to all those animals.  Sarah is going to expand the hole in the front yard and we are going to plant another tall shade tree.  Next month I should be planting all the yearling black walnut trees from Grandma Lane’s house.  I had two or three live from last year.  I will verify that when I am digging the new holes.  I am going to have to break down and buy cow panels to go around the small trees and roses to prevent the animals from foraging.  I would like to think this problem could be solved by moving the farm animals around, but not so.  The deer will cause damage just as much as the farm animals.

Tunnel stopper.

I finally got tired of Zeke just sprinting under the side fence bottom gap.  I moved a bunch of dirt from near the old chicken coop.  It needs a lot more dirt, but this will hopefully prevent Zeke from exciting the yard at a full run.  I will throw some grass seed on the dirt, but I need to wait until we have some straw.  Plus, the chickens are going to think the seed is feed. 

I am making arrangements to pick up 3 ton of straw today.  It has gone up in price again.  It is running $85/ton.  This should get us through at least two years, maybe three.  We will see.