Fencing - So Close!
We did spend a lot of days over the holiday working on the dog fence. Before Thanksgiving we'd gotten posts up half way down the West fence, and still had the entire North side to do. In about 5 days we got in 30 posts, completing both those sides!
We'd thought the over a week of 50 degree weather would have been a boon to us in thawing the ground, but we had a heck of a time with the North side fence. That section is the lowest part of the field, and our neighbor pointed out that it is an agricultural field so the lower you go the more moisture there is in the ground. Yep, he knew what he was saying. They were buggers, to be sure. We used water to help thaw and loosen up ground, we alternated between the auger and hand digging. We definitely took Marshall up on his offer to help as it took both he and Dave hanging on the auger to give it enough force to work down through some of that ground. Even with all that, we still ended up digging a couple holes by hand. Post hole digging vs concrete removal? Sure seems like a toss up by now.
Truely, a vision of beauty
For Christmas Dave got a pneumatic stapler to help with the wire fencing. But we didn't want to wait until it arrived so we started putting up the wire on the 30th. The biggest question we had was about fitting it to the ground contours. Upon inspection, and finding over a foot difference in the height of the middle of that north fence vs either side (the field has quite a crown on it, aparently) we decided to tackle that side with three sections of wire, each with a different angle. In all, it went very smoothly and we finished that edge over the weekend. Well, it will be finished as soon as the stapler arrives and we can complete attaching the wire to the wood rails.
The fence seems structurally sound as well as being attractive. You can't even see the wire from most vantages, and it is so nice to be able to see through it, vs the picket screening fence to the East. In fact we've wondered if we'll have any dogs assume that there isn't a fence and run into it... Lets hope not - I'd hate to have that conversation with the owners!
We're not quite done with posts - we have about 6-10 more to connect the fence to the dog barn on 2 sides. But heck, that's practically nothing! That then, will give us a perimeter fence. At some point we'll have to cross fence to make separate yards, but we'll have to see what our demand is for that before diving in.
Oh, and we lost our first section of picket fence to the wind this weekend. That section is at the end of what has become a wind tunnel next to the dog barn, so it isn't surprising it went first. I think when we rebuild that we'll take Mike Moser's suggestion and put gaps between the pickets to relieve some of that wind pressure.
We've been greatful to hear from neighbors that the wind has been absolutely horrendous this year - hopefully this is out of the ordinary.
~*~
HA! This morning on the radio I heard that 2 semis blew over driving down the highway - somewhere near Ft. Collins yesterday. Yep, I think these winds are extreme.
We'd thought the over a week of 50 degree weather would have been a boon to us in thawing the ground, but we had a heck of a time with the North side fence. That section is the lowest part of the field, and our neighbor pointed out that it is an agricultural field so the lower you go the more moisture there is in the ground. Yep, he knew what he was saying. They were buggers, to be sure. We used water to help thaw and loosen up ground, we alternated between the auger and hand digging. We definitely took Marshall up on his offer to help as it took both he and Dave hanging on the auger to give it enough force to work down through some of that ground. Even with all that, we still ended up digging a couple holes by hand. Post hole digging vs concrete removal? Sure seems like a toss up by now.
Truely, a vision of beauty
For Christmas Dave got a pneumatic stapler to help with the wire fencing. But we didn't want to wait until it arrived so we started putting up the wire on the 30th. The biggest question we had was about fitting it to the ground contours. Upon inspection, and finding over a foot difference in the height of the middle of that north fence vs either side (the field has quite a crown on it, aparently) we decided to tackle that side with three sections of wire, each with a different angle. In all, it went very smoothly and we finished that edge over the weekend. Well, it will be finished as soon as the stapler arrives and we can complete attaching the wire to the wood rails.
The fence seems structurally sound as well as being attractive. You can't even see the wire from most vantages, and it is so nice to be able to see through it, vs the picket screening fence to the East. In fact we've wondered if we'll have any dogs assume that there isn't a fence and run into it... Lets hope not - I'd hate to have that conversation with the owners!
We're not quite done with posts - we have about 6-10 more to connect the fence to the dog barn on 2 sides. But heck, that's practically nothing! That then, will give us a perimeter fence. At some point we'll have to cross fence to make separate yards, but we'll have to see what our demand is for that before diving in.
Oh, and we lost our first section of picket fence to the wind this weekend. That section is at the end of what has become a wind tunnel next to the dog barn, so it isn't surprising it went first. I think when we rebuild that we'll take Mike Moser's suggestion and put gaps between the pickets to relieve some of that wind pressure.
We've been greatful to hear from neighbors that the wind has been absolutely horrendous this year - hopefully this is out of the ordinary.
~*~
HA! This morning on the radio I heard that 2 semis blew over driving down the highway - somewhere near Ft. Collins yesterday. Yep, I think these winds are extreme.
Labels: Ranch
posted by Monica at Sun Pony |
8:25 AM
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