21 March 2010
Fencing
21/03/10 06:10
This week I'm writing from the stiff and sore corner of our little island. We've been working on several projects and, though we got a lot done this week, today is a day for recuperation. We're both feeling every bit of what we've accomplished
Most importantly we completed a huge project. OK huge may be an overstatement. We replaced 40 feet of smashed down overgrown, floppy 20 year old fencing along the back of our lot. This fence actually had done quite well but what was once a four foot tall deterrent to the deer in the neighbourhood hand devolved into a 2 foot high inconvenience. Seriously, I think the blackberries were actually keeping them out more than the fence. So over the last week we first ripped the old one out, not as easy as it sounds as the bottom foot was buried and the rest was tangled with blackberries and other nasty weeds. We literally had to cut it out of the landscape. Then we had to trim the weeds and assorted shrubbery away from the path of the fence.
Why is it that so much of what is considered a 'weed' has thorns? I blame the stigma of being called a weed that makes them prickly. Maybe if we were nicer to blackberries and nettles they would be nicer to us. You think? Maybe?
Anyway clearing all the weeds was interesting. Completely invisible inside all the vines we found several large pieces of driftwood, a huge stump, and several barbell weights. We only cleared a couple feet back from the fence line. One wonders what else might be in the rest of the lot. Jimmy Hoffa maybe? Perhaps Amelia Earhart crashed in our back yard. But I digress, again. One thing made the chore easier was that we had borrowed an electric hedge trimmer from the neighbour. One of those great ones with a bar on the front that looks like the nose of a sawfish that slices through blackberry canes with ease. The stakes and cables took all week but Friday was the big day. I hung the fence fabric and stepped back to admire my work. It was then that I realized that this fence was bloody well nearly impenetrable. Steel posts driven a couple of feet into the ground and tied together with steel cables. The fabric stapled to the cables seven feet above the ground, and to the neighbouring fences for a foot beyond on either side and tied to the posts and the posts from the previous fence which I had left in place for this purpose. At the bottom the fabric was held down with 30 two-foot long steel stakes driven into the ground so that nothing can burrow underneath. This is a seriously solid fence that nothing outside of a bear will be able to surmount. It was then that I also realized I was on the wrong side of it. I was outside the yard and the only way I could get back was to scramble over the low place in our neighbours fence that, ironically enough, I knew about because I had seen deer hopping over in that spot before.
The fence was not the only project we worked on. This week we also have been assembling stuff for Taxes. When I say we I mean that Marsha is doing all the real work while I hit myself with a mallet because I find it less painful than accounting.
This week Marsha also took the time to make me something that should prove very useful. How often have you been hooking up equipment only to find that you are just a foot or two short. It's annoying to use a 10 or 20 foot extension cord when you only need a foot or two. Well, this week Marsha made me a three foot long extension cord. She made it out of the fifty foot extension cord using the weed trimmer. Oh well it's the thought that counts, right?
I learned a big lessen this week. The Minnesota Gophers were invited to the NCAA tournament. This was very exciting, especially for Marsha who eagerly awaited their first game against Xavier. Unfortunately the Gophers didn't win. As it turned out, Minnesota was the very first Big 10 team to be ejected from the tournament. I've been told that this was not an appropriate reason to start chanting We're Number One!
Who knew?
Lastly Marsha learned a big lessen as well. On Friday we decided to celebrate the completion of the fence and the Gophers abbreviated run in the Tournament. Along with dinner I served two wine glasses a regular sized one and a teeny one. Marsha and I toasted the Gophers brief NCAA appearance with the tiny glasses and as I took a sip to my surprise she tossed back her whole glass. I guess I hadn't mentioned that the small one contained a shot of Sake and not wine. Marsha was very surprised to say the least, but to her credit didn't spill any. The lesson she learned was to not assume that I've told her everything about dinner.
D&M
PIX:
Here's a couple of shots before and after. Before has lots more shrubbery, assorted gardening tools stuck into the fence wire to try to hold it up, and nylon rope between the garden tools. It looked really bad.
After: The plants cleaned up, the old fence removed, the new one put in and bits of white ribbon tied here and there to let the deer know it's there, they cannot see black fabric very well.
There was a beautiful crescent moon this week. I took a dozen or more shots but at 80x this is the only one that came out halfway good.
Most importantly we completed a huge project. OK huge may be an overstatement. We replaced 40 feet of smashed down overgrown, floppy 20 year old fencing along the back of our lot. This fence actually had done quite well but what was once a four foot tall deterrent to the deer in the neighbourhood hand devolved into a 2 foot high inconvenience. Seriously, I think the blackberries were actually keeping them out more than the fence. So over the last week we first ripped the old one out, not as easy as it sounds as the bottom foot was buried and the rest was tangled with blackberries and other nasty weeds. We literally had to cut it out of the landscape. Then we had to trim the weeds and assorted shrubbery away from the path of the fence.
Why is it that so much of what is considered a 'weed' has thorns? I blame the stigma of being called a weed that makes them prickly. Maybe if we were nicer to blackberries and nettles they would be nicer to us. You think? Maybe?
Anyway clearing all the weeds was interesting. Completely invisible inside all the vines we found several large pieces of driftwood, a huge stump, and several barbell weights. We only cleared a couple feet back from the fence line. One wonders what else might be in the rest of the lot. Jimmy Hoffa maybe? Perhaps Amelia Earhart crashed in our back yard. But I digress, again. One thing made the chore easier was that we had borrowed an electric hedge trimmer from the neighbour. One of those great ones with a bar on the front that looks like the nose of a sawfish that slices through blackberry canes with ease. The stakes and cables took all week but Friday was the big day. I hung the fence fabric and stepped back to admire my work. It was then that I realized that this fence was bloody well nearly impenetrable. Steel posts driven a couple of feet into the ground and tied together with steel cables. The fabric stapled to the cables seven feet above the ground, and to the neighbouring fences for a foot beyond on either side and tied to the posts and the posts from the previous fence which I had left in place for this purpose. At the bottom the fabric was held down with 30 two-foot long steel stakes driven into the ground so that nothing can burrow underneath. This is a seriously solid fence that nothing outside of a bear will be able to surmount. It was then that I also realized I was on the wrong side of it. I was outside the yard and the only way I could get back was to scramble over the low place in our neighbours fence that, ironically enough, I knew about because I had seen deer hopping over in that spot before.
The fence was not the only project we worked on. This week we also have been assembling stuff for Taxes. When I say we I mean that Marsha is doing all the real work while I hit myself with a mallet because I find it less painful than accounting.
This week Marsha also took the time to make me something that should prove very useful. How often have you been hooking up equipment only to find that you are just a foot or two short. It's annoying to use a 10 or 20 foot extension cord when you only need a foot or two. Well, this week Marsha made me a three foot long extension cord. She made it out of the fifty foot extension cord using the weed trimmer. Oh well it's the thought that counts, right?
I learned a big lessen this week. The Minnesota Gophers were invited to the NCAA tournament. This was very exciting, especially for Marsha who eagerly awaited their first game against Xavier. Unfortunately the Gophers didn't win. As it turned out, Minnesota was the very first Big 10 team to be ejected from the tournament. I've been told that this was not an appropriate reason to start chanting We're Number One!
Who knew?
Lastly Marsha learned a big lessen as well. On Friday we decided to celebrate the completion of the fence and the Gophers abbreviated run in the Tournament. Along with dinner I served two wine glasses a regular sized one and a teeny one. Marsha and I toasted the Gophers brief NCAA appearance with the tiny glasses and as I took a sip to my surprise she tossed back her whole glass. I guess I hadn't mentioned that the small one contained a shot of Sake and not wine. Marsha was very surprised to say the least, but to her credit didn't spill any. The lesson she learned was to not assume that I've told her everything about dinner.
D&M
PIX:
Here's a couple of shots before and after. Before has lots more shrubbery, assorted gardening tools stuck into the fence wire to try to hold it up, and nylon rope between the garden tools. It looked really bad.
After: The plants cleaned up, the old fence removed, the new one put in and bits of white ribbon tied here and there to let the deer know it's there, they cannot see black fabric very well.
There was a beautiful crescent moon this week. I took a dozen or more shots but at 80x this is the only one that came out halfway good.