Truck VS Fence: We All Win!

The driveway my girls park their cars on is next to one of the pastures we put the new High Tinsel Fencing on.  We had a lot of rain last weekend.  During one of the heaviest rains Oldest Daughter’s truck slid off of the driveway and hit the wire fence with the side of her truck.  She was able to drive away without any damage done to her truck or the fence.  How many fences can you drive into without causing damage?  I guess Darling Husband over built it for a reason.  

Thanksgiving

We can’t let the sheep free range any more until we finish fencing the property.  They keep visiting the neighbors.  It isn't safe for the sheep.  I don’t mind them eating my roses since they do such a good job trimming everything up but my neighbors may not feel the same, and I am amazed how fast they wander now.  The day before Thanksgiving we moved the sheep’s daytime area.  The youngest 3 and I moved 200 feet of their fencing in 1 hour.  I think that’s a record for us.  Yay Team!!!

Thanksgiving morning I got up thinking I would take care of the animals and let everyone sleep in.  Gave the cattle hay no problem.  Then I went to take care of the sheep.  They have 5 feet to walk between the new daytime area and their bedroom.  If I hold the door open in one hand and the gate open with the other hand and stand between them.  The sheep have about 1 foot of free space so I SHOULD be able to do this on my own.  So I stood their holding the gate and door and Blackwell looks at me confused.  I’m blocking the way to their daytime area!  So she pushes right past me and runs to the area that they used to be fenced in at.  The other 3 run following her.  I try a few times to catch them but they are having a great time enjoying their freedom.  Now instead of giving the rest of the family a relaxing morning it’s “Wake up, Get dressed, Help me CATCH THE SHEEP!” For the next 45 minutes, Darling Husband, the kids, and I chase sheep. 

After breakfast we started working went back to working on the fencing on the bottom of the property to give the cattle a new pasture.  Darling Husband and Teen Son worked on cutting some big dead limbs out of an ancient oak tree.  Pre Teen Daughter helped me work with the Hi Tinsel Wire; pulling the wire, crimping the ends, and cutting the ends.  Stick Boy helped hammer all the staples into the posts after I got them started.  We worked this way until we were due to be at Thanksgiving Dinner in 2 hours then we rushed to make the food we were taking, brushed the sticks out of our hair, changed into acceptable clothes, and left to enjoy the rest of our day with amazing friends.

Moving the Cattle

Darling Husband ended up working late and while we finished putting up the fencing as the sun was setting.  

DH wanted to fix some things and we put off moving the cattle until tomorrow, again. 

Then when dh gets home he tells me he has about 15 minutes worth of work before we make the big move.  An hour later he tells me 10 more minutes, half an hour he says about 10 more minutes so we go out and put the halter on Onyx and see how Ruby will do with a rope halter on her.  

She was not happy but took to it better than I thought she would.  Onyx’s leg/hip were healing nicely but she last weekend she went into heat again and with the cows jumping on her and her trying to mount the other cows she hurt herself again.  So her limp is back and she moves slowly. 

Finally we move the cattle.  Dh and Stick boy stop them from turning down the driveway, the girls block them from turning were the driveway turns.  Teen Boy walks Onyx and I try to lead Ruby.  Once the cattle realized they were out of the pasture the Dexters took off running.  I had no hope of holding Ruby.  When they got into the new pasture they ran around kicking up their heels, they were in heaven!

When we dredged the pond we dumped the muck in the pasture that 

was not being used at the time. 

My son uses it as an RC car and mountain bike track.

  He is hopeful the cattle will clean his tracks.  

Installing the Fencing Part 2

Monday I have to take Teen Boy to the Dr.  He is given permission to go back to school but has to take it easy.  It really is a sign of how hurt his head is that he is that he is taking it easy at all.  DH and I start working on the fencing and we run out of crimpers. Pioneers didn’t need them so we don’t either!  It isn’t pretty but HOPEFULLY we will not have any problems with tying the wire.

Oldest Daughter offers to help Darling Husband while I take Stick Boy to Cub Scouts and help with homework.  They run out of the special tubing that is supposed to protect the electric wire from the staples or other wires.  DH finds some air line (I am sure it has uses around here I don’t know about) and we use that.  He says it is braided nylon so should last longer than what we were using.  I go out and help them but I am not strong/coordinated enough to twist or tie the wire without help of the special crimpers so Darling/Poor Husband is doing most of it on his own.  About now a neighbor comes out and yells to DH how lucky he is to be married to me. 

We finish again as the sun is setting rushing to feed the cattle and put the sheep in their night enclosure. 

We are confident we will move the cattle tomorrow!

Installing the Fencing...The Beginning

Went to water the cattle after Morning Duty and the hose was gone.  Someone stole my HOSE.  I go driving around the property to find a hose long enough to reach across the driveway and fill the cows water.  GRR  As I am filling up the water I go to grab my vinegar bottle (apple cider vinegar in the water is supposed to keep flies away) from behind a the rock and it was stolen too.  How nuts is that to steal an open bottle of vinegar!? 

Friday the fencing came in finally!!!!  Woo HOO!  BUT I had to go to a Puberty Class with Pre-teen's Girl Scout Troop.  Great class I highly recommend it!  But, not exactly how I was dreaming of spending a Friday night with no band performances.  I wanted to work on fencing.  Since I wasn’t going to be home DH took the boys motorcycle riding.  D Husband called me once around Stick Boy’s bed time the teacher of the class had a no phone policy so I didn’t answer it and I didn’t get a text or message didn’t worry. 

I didn’t worry until I got home and the cats were still out.  As I call DH Preteen drops the Crockpot full of sweet and sour meatballs on the floor, it’s a lovely broken glass, meatball, saucy mess and now I get a call from my husband telling me Teen Boy is in the hospital with a concussion.    They should be leaving soon.  3 hours later Dh and the boys get home. 

Saturday we get a MUCH later than planned start on our day.  I leave Stick Boy and College Girl in charge of Teen Boy who cannot remember anything and is supposed to be kept quiet.  We finish behind schedule but Darling Husband is confident we will move the cows Sunday.  

Sunday DH and I leave the youngest 2 to make sure Teen Boy takes it easy.  We installed all the cross wire supports.  A few neighbors stop by to appreciate our work.  We talk with them for a while.  After we get started on the top section of fencing a friend stops by needing help so DH and I get to a stopping point.  I check on the kids, make them lunch then go back to work to see if I can do it without my man!  I can it isn’t easy.  It is a lot better with 2 people.  DH gets back and as the sun is setting Sunday night we have installed wire for the top section of fence.  

But we are confident we will move the cattle on Monday!

Fencing

The fencing on our property is a mess. 

 

The Husband calls it Taco Fencing because it is curled in at the top and bottom.

 

I wonder why he can't find his glasses.  hmmm

What we have is a patchwork that is older than I am in many places.  Darling Husband and I decided we should do High Strength Tensile Wire with 2 or 3 wires charged.  We thought buying the wire and parts would be easy.  We decided to use telephone poles as our upright fence posts because we have several.  We start digging the holes using an auger on the back of our tractor and the forklift to push down the auger because the tractor doesn't have much downward pressure.  

I am not good with either the forklift and had never even sat on the tractor before.  DH (you decide what the D stands for) got rather frustrated with my lack of driving the tractor ability then I didn’t respond fast enough with the forklift.  He decided Teen Son would be a MUCH better helper than I am.  Have I mentioned I love Teen Son?  We went to cut the poles but our telephone poles have been lying in the dirt too long or are just too old so they are mostly hollow and rotten.  Now we have to find telephone poles.  We spend time looking on Craigslist and calling friends.  Fortunately we have friends with some on their property and we don’t need to buy them for the first part we are fencing in anyway.  Thank YOU, THANK YOU!

Friends stopped by and ended up helping us unload the trailer.

We go to the local hardware store and discover they don’t carry the wire or hardware we need for the fence.  We start the search for high tinsel wire and finally decide to purchase off of the internet.  We are paying a small fortune in shipping but it still ends up costing less than what we could find locally.  We order our fence charger from 1 company and the wire and parts from another.  We get a call from the wire company with a tracking number and I think yay it is on its way and think I do not need to do any more. 

10 days pass.  We finish installing the posts. 

A thunder storm struck as the guys were working.  They are pretty rare here so we sat outside and enjoyed it.

 I call the freight company and get told they will call me back to schedule a delivery I should have called to schedule it already.  No call back.  I called this morning and after some research I get told it was sent to another freight company.  I call that freight company a little more research. Then they call the first freight company.  No they don’t have it.  Now I have two freight companies looking for my wire and the rest of the fence stuff.