Chapter 57...How To Install A Barbed Wire Fence And Bracing Poles

Off Grid...Chapter 57 Sunday 4-12 Today was a beautiful day. Lately it seems like Sundays are our best days of the week. Even though today is Easter Mike and I can never resist working when it is this nice outside. It's another story about fencing but we are now almost done. Mike, Niki, and I head up top to get all of our tools ready to work and of course Niki finds the most comfortable spot on top of a concrete pier. It must be nice and smooth for her, lol. Mike really wants to work on our fencing in order so we are going to work on the next section that is behind the building. First we have to remove a couple of T-posts and wire so Mike can get behind the building with the tractor. This section had a lot of rock in the ground so we don't want to move many T-posts because we might not be able to bang them back into the ground. Here is the old corner post behind the building. This post has staples so Mike has to get them out. Unfortunately he is leaving big gouges in the pole from removing the staples. This is why Mike hates using staples because it is such a mess to fix and tighten wires. Next we dig 2 new holes and install the new poles. Then we add the bracing. Another corner done. After we get the tractor out and we reinstall the T-post and barbed wire we work on the pole by the well. We are going to add one more pole and bracing. The next 2 poles. The bracing is done. We are working our way around the property. Next we head down the hill along the side of the house. The next pole to work on is the one by the walk thru gate at the front of the house. We dig a hole and install another pole. Unfortunately we are out of material and we have to wait for tomorrow to continue. It was a very good day and everything went smoothly. We got 4 new poles in and cross bracing on 3 of them. Monday 4-13 So much for our nice weather. Today is much cooler and it is drizzling out. Yuk. Oh well, at least it's better than snow, lol. It's time for a dump run. Mike and I hook up the trailer and load up all of the trash. We drive all the way to the dump and find out they are closed. We have no idea why and the sign out front says they are open. Mike is not a happy camper but we have no choice but to go back home with our trailer full of garbage. On our way out of town we stop at the building supply and pick up more boards for our fencing. We strap it all onto the trailer and head to David's. We need one more fence pole. On our way to David's Mike suggests we try the other dump and see if they are open. Someone must be smiling down on us today. That dump is open and they let us in. Woo hoo. Now we don't have to bring the garbage back home. We pick up the pole and head home. It is too cold to start working so we have breakfast first. We go out to the small gate and start to work on the bracing. It's done. Next we tighten the barbed wire and clip them to the T-posts. Here is Mike working on the side of the hill. Yeah, our longest run of fence is done. We clean everything and put all the tools away. Our Realtor in FL called us about an investment opportunity in FL so we have to make a trip down. Tuesday 4-14 We picked up a rental car yesterday and loaded up. This morning I packed food, clothes, and Niki's stuff for our long trek to FL. About 12 hours later we make it to our hotel and we are exhausted. Wednesday 4-15 We go and check some real estate and make some decisions. Later that night we met with old friends. Thursday 4-16 While we are in FL we pick up some For Sale Banners for our other TN property. We will put them up next week and sell our piece that is close to town. We put an offer in on a house in FL and it was accepted. Woo hoo. We got an awesome deal and Mike and I are very happy about it. It wasn't the original house we went to FL for it was better. Friday 4-17 The dreaded long drive home but we are all very happy to be back on our mountain top. Saturday 4-18 We are so tired, lol. Mike has been working on the metal for our new solar mounts. He sanded them down and repainted them. They are now ready to go. Other than that we caught up on laundry and rest. Sunday 4-19 It turned cold and rainy again. So it's another forced day off. I know this bad weather has to end soon. I don't ever remember this long a winter here. I think the bad/cool weather will be done late this week. Yippee. I hope you enjoyed our quickie story.  Lisa