Zipper Perils, Clearing A Fence Line Or Two, Fat Lighter Stakes, Installing Fence Posts & Lifestyle Musings
After all my efforts to shift the time that I wake up each morning to be a bit later I wound up waking up at a little after twelve this morning which is probably way too damned early but I may as well make good use of the time that I have before dawn to get some writing done. Since I am already feeling kind of moody perhaps once I finish all the writing and unavoidable editing I will take a brief nap and try to start my day again. Considering that I just slept for ten hours I should be feeling well rested but I had failed to tie the zippers on the tent together (in my sleepy state I had tied only one zipper) so during the night the dogs had pushed the tent flap open and gone outside which is not all that big of a deal but dang was it cold inside the tent when I woke up which made for a 'moody' start to my day because once I got out from under the warmth of the blankets I got chilly rather rapidly before I could get the tent flap closed and the propane heater turned on.
Yesterday turned out to be a rather productive day once I bundled up in several layers of clothes and headed over to the new shelter site and things had warmed up a bit outdoors. As far as the weather goes I really do not have any complaints because being this far south (and out of the mountains) has made for a mild winter thus far and honestly aside from it dropping below freezing a few nights most of the days have been quite warm and sunny and nothing like the short, cold, overcast days of winter that I had grown accustomed to in the mountains. Being able to actually do stuff outdoors during the winter without all my joints (especially my hands) aching from the cold is pretty damned nice and just getting out in the sunlight more during this time of year has thrashed my usual seasonal affectiveness and made me feel much more chipper overall which is a rather awkward feeling but I can definitely get used to these kinds of winters!
I once again kenneled all the dogs so that they would not be miserable in the cold at the new shelter site while I was working there and this time they all promptly went into the crates without anything aside from a wee bit of reluctance on their part. In other words they went right into the kennels but they still gave me that same 'pouty' look that they gave me the day before when I kenneled them before setting off to go work at the new shelter site. I do not know if I explained it before but if I leave the dogs in the tent without being kenneled and something riles the chickens up, or if they hear my voice from afar the dogs will try to unzip the tent (yeah they are that kind of smart) and since the zippers were tied together they wound up unseating the zipper's slider from its chain on both the horizontal zippers of the tent which required a good bit of fiddling with them for me to get them operational again. As a side note I will eventually need to do some sewing on the zippers (because of how I had to cut them to get the slider back on the chain) but I am going to wait to do that until I am moving out of the tent because if the zippers get pulled loose again I will need to be able to get them back on their chains and once they are sewn together that would no longer be an option and I would have to un-stitch them which would just be a pain in the butt. The only downside to the current tent zipper scenario is that I have to take care not to open the zippers all the way and thus unseat the slider from the chain which is easier said than done especially if I am fumbling with them while half-asleep!
I did my usual routine of pulling out the tools at the new shelter site and walking around the area thinking about what I wanted to do for the day and going over the steps to do so in my mind before getting started which seems like a good practice to stay in because the entire setup of the site has been a bit of a 'rush job' and I did not spend a whole lot of time choosing the site itself, watching how the sun is in the area and all that other jazz that I do to both familiarize myself with a new site as well as get a good design/layout in my mind to work off of before I begin the site development. It is worth mentioning that I have drawn plans for the site several times now and in doing so I have caught a few critical flaws along the way that probably would not have occurred if I had given things more thought beforehand but like I have said a few times before 'I hit the ground running here' and have yet to really slack up on my pace and thankfully I caught the 'flaws' before they became irreversible!
After walking around the site and looking at things I noticed that what really needed to happen before I put more fence posts in was that I needed to remove a split-base oak tree that was near the new fence line so that I could finish that side of the dog yard. The tree itself was not all that big or anything but whoa did it have quite a bit of canopy to clean up once I got it felled with my electric chainsaw. The cleanup was rather slow going because a few days ago when I was moving the bar (workbench) I used the chainsaw to trim some lumber and inadvertently hit a screw which dulled the blade to the point where it made for some slow cutting. As soon as I noticed the dull blade I considered stopping and sharpening it but since it was still a bit chilly outside I did not really want to fumble around with the file and risk making my hands cramp up so I just made the best of things and switched between the axe and the chainsaw to buck the tree down and get the brush dragged out of the way so that I could pull the string line taut again and continue digging holes and installing fence posts.
The digging was pretty much on par with how it has been over the last few days (difficult) but at this point I have my technique down rather well and have been using stakes to help sturdy the posts when the densely packed clay impedes me from digging the holes as deep as I would like them to be. Since there is not any black locust in the area (to make stakes with) I have been using cherry and oak but then realized that I could make pretty good (and like black locust very long lasting) fat lighter stakes with some of the fat lighter wood that litters the property. There are actually a bunch of really old tree stumps here that I thought were eastern cedars (which I was thinking to make stakes with) but upon digging one of the stumps up) I found out that it was actually fat lighter which was mildly surprising given the stumps visual appearance. Staking around the base of the posts works rather well and especially so if I select the fence post first (before digging the hole) then dig the hole to as close to the diameter of the post as I can and once the pole is installed I thoroughly tamp clay around it inside the hole and use a mini-sledgehammer to pound in a stake (or three) if the post does not seem firm enough which is all quite the process but it firms the posts up well.
Anyway, I got all of the posts and corner braces for the southern side of the new dog yard installed and even added one post and a corner brace to the western (uphill side) of the fence as well before changing gears again and doing some more necessary tree removal along the northern fence line. This time though I took the time to sharpen the chainsaw blade and since it was much warmer by then my hands cooperated with the file rather well and I got the blade as sharp as I could get it given its heavily used (and abused) condition. Once I got the trees felled I began bucking them all down and dragging the debris into various piles around the shelter site (out of my way for working purposes) so that I can burn them and make more biochar over the coming days. Although I generally do not like to leave a mess at my job sites I wound up getting the majority of the tree debris moved before calling it quits for the day and deciding to deal with cleaning up the rest of the mess on the following day which at this point is mainly just moving the bigger logs of the tree trunks along with the need to trim a few more branches off of them.
Basically I spent half my work day digging holes and installing fence posts and the other half of it felling, bucking and hauling tree debris around. During the process though I cut a big 'Y' shaped log that is a little shy of two meters long and afterwards I would lean it against a post, set the end of a corner brace in its crotch, secure the other end of the brace with a landscape screw, then level the brace and screw it into place on the other post. This technique worked a heck of a lot better than using the angle brackets like I was before to hold the brace in place and I am kind of shocked that I never thought of it before because it is a hell of a handy trick for 'holding' the other end of a piece of lumber while working alone. It is kind of funny how I accidentally made the 'Y' while cutting up the trees because I am thinking of building something with all the oak poles that I have accumulated during the site prep process and only afterwards realized how handy it would be to make installing the corner braces easier.
All that jazz aside, I wrapped things up a bit early at the new shelter site because I was frigging worn the heck out and after hiking back to base camp I unceremoniously dumped all my layers of clothes (that I had shed throughout the day) into a chair in front of the living quarters tent, let the chickens out to roam around, ate a big bowl of oatmeal and fell promptly asleep. At some point I awoke just before dark, closed up the chicken coop (they always put themselves up in it as night approaches) and then got all the dogs fed. With how cold it has been just before dark the last few days I have taken to feeding the dogs inside the living quarters tent just so that they do not get chilly while eating their dinner outside and once I got them fed I fell right back asleep again. I recall waking up slightly at one point and letting the dogs out to go potty and after letting them back inside I guess that was when I erroneously tied the one zipper instead of all three of them together to keep the tent flaps shut.
So here we are at three in the morning and I have plenty of time before dawn to spell out my ponderous thoughts and get everything edited and posted. Instead of keeping things 'short and sweet' I think that I will use this time to do a bit more writing and see what emerges. I often wonder what the heck folks think of these musings and if the 'gist' of things is really conveyed or absolutely lost in translation. I do realize that most folks have no real experience living the sort of lifestyle that I find myself living and most folks would probably be miserable trying to live like this but hell that should not stop folks from at least fantasizing about such a lifestyle and sort of doing the mental 'arithmetic' along the way to put their mind through the 'paces' of it all and see what they come up with. Obviously I find the 'direct experience' of this lifestyle quite appealing and often it is the little bits of awareness (and self-awareness) along the way that can make or break my overall attitude and morale. The parts that folks miss out on by just daydreaming about this sort of lifestyle are the injuries, the rugged determination, the resistance to hardship, the callouses, the saw dust in the boots, the sticker burrs stuck all over the clothes, the lack of convenience, the maintenance of tools and so forth and so on ad infinitum! It is all the same kind of stuff that I mentioned a few days ago and how I always have to make sure that all the little difficulties along the way do not compound upon themselves and become overwhelming. I think that a lot of the time that simply 'accepting things as they are' instead of how I want them to be helps tremendously as long as I am working towards goals that will ultimately (in time) render the 'difficulties' obsolete.
The reality of my life is that I have gone from place to place and each time I heavily invest myself along the way thinking that 'oh yeah this is awesome' or even more frequently 'I can make this work out' but really here I am yet again starting all over and in this instance I am telling myself a combination of those two things because the words and the actions of the landowners actually line up which to be quite blunt seldomly fucking happens based on my own experiences. As much as folks might view me as someone 'making their own way in the world' that just is not the case because there are always a landowner or more often than not landowners involved. If you want to know what things are like for me just imagine plopping down your life (as well as your dogs and chickens lives) into the middle of someone (or several someones) else's life/lives and sort of always being at their mercy in one way or another because ultimately I am at a job and working for them. Just think of how squirrelly shit can get in those circumstances (even with the best of folks) and all the coping mechanisms and tactics/strategies/safeguards that I must employ not to rub folks the wrong way (or get rubbed the wrong way myself) and make sure that the long-view for a place is never lost, projects get done and everything remains amicable in the surrounding social sphere. As most humans learn at some point... dealing with other humans is absolutely challenging to start with and dealing with other humans in their own home can be severely challenging.
What I am getting at there is that for me 'doing the work' is pretty damned easy and the real challenges always lay in dealing with other folks and their friends and their families and their overall social life and all its ins and outs. For the most part I have learned to just 'be myself' in the confines of my own little area and the rest of the time just treat it all like the job that it is which I pull off in varying degrees of success depending on how difficult the landowner (or landowners) are to deal with and what sort of dedication that they have to the improvement of their property. I will of course do the stuff that I can do one way or another along the way but over the years I have learned to mostly do the things that will benefit the land itself regardless of the landowners actions or willingness to pony up the resources to get things done. In other words when dealing with a flailing landowner I will find things to occupy my time as long as they do not require me to invest my own resources aside from some time and calories. As crappy as all that sounds it is my way of not getting exploited in situations because like the old saying goes: Why buy the cow when you can get the milk for free.
All of that said, let me paint a picture of my current scenario and why I am much more stoked about it than I normally let myself be going into a new caretaking (land stewardship) gig. I guess the largest difference is that the landowners (like I said a few days ago) have been caretakers themselves in the past which means that they know all too well exactly what they are getting into by bringing a caretaker to their property and actually understand the dynamics/responsibilities that entails and treats it all with the dignity that it deserves. To be blunt these kinds of folks will never have the 'I am letting you live here rent free' mentality that so many folks erroneously laud over folks that they have live on their land with the goal of getting projects done in mind. That is a shit mentality and for those who have not yet caught on... no one in their right mind wants to fucking pay to live in a place that they also work at whilst also being subject to the whims of a landowner. The short path to resentment and hostility for me is to pay to live and work somewhere... especially in a scenario where I cannot even be myself because I am on the job!
The other big difference in this scenario is that currently there are a number of projects in the works with multiple material lists having already been created and some of those materials already getting delivered to the site and being put to use. As simple and straightforward as that sounds I gotta say that (again in my own experience) getting folks from the 'idea phase' of a project to the actual delivery of materials and the doing of the projects can be quite difficult and especially so when folks want to 'cut costs' and do stuff with insufficient materials or tools. The scenario that I am currently in is much more like 'lets do this once with the right materials and be frigging done with it' which is awesome for me because the likelihood that I will find myself 'working with junk' (unless I want to) is pretty damned slim. Hell, just arriving here and having an awesome base camp already setup for me and the critters was way over the top in regards to my usual treatment so that in and of itself should speak volumes. An even better example is the dog yard that I am currently building is not only 'priority one' but it will also be the largest, stoutest, tallest and most well-built dog yard that I have ever had.
Currently the main goal in this scenario is to get the new shelter site developed, install the dog yard and get a small (but larger than my last) cabin built before the winter drags on too much further. This sort of prioritization on the landowners part is awesome because they know that as soon as they get me squared away (and albeit comfortable) that I will be able to transition to working on all of their projects for them. I will of course (between now and then) continue to help with whatever I can but at the moment all of their projects for me are in a holding pattern which is nice because I can focus on the tasks at hand and not feel stressed along the way that I am neglecting (or not getting done) other projects that are more directly beneficial to the landowners. A lot of folks get pretty myopic about that sort of thing and are like 'well that is your project and although it improves my property it is your project' which again is a shit approach to things. The bargain that I/we struck here for my own site and its projects is basically if I do the labor the landowners will provide the materials which is fine by me because by the end of it I will have a cozy cabin to stay in and a really nice dog yard to boot while I scout out a more secluded area to construct my own little homestead in.
Once all the initial setup is done and I get myself (and the critters) moved to the new area I will be able to focus on the other projects around the place like finishing the horse fence, finishing construction on a building that will act as a horse run, building a well house over the well and perhaps then moving on to doing a bunch of deadfall cleanup, establishing of pastures, trail/road creation and general site development so that it can accommodate folks wanting to camp or just use the place recreationally. As much as I have my work cut out for me with all that jazz I think that things will just continue to fall in line here and I can help make the place into something very nice given enough time and resources. With the amount of paid work that I already have lined up here perhaps I can even turn around my financial situation and open up new possibilities in my own life by actually being able to afford doing some of the things that I want to do. It is still too early to be that damned hopeful but a fellow can dream!
It is surprising that after living on so many sites and doing what I am doing for so long that I can still hold out the hope that one day my travels will end and I will wind up somewhere for a long-term period. Each time that I go into a scenario I ask myself 'is this the place' and although I have yet to find that place I wonder further if perhaps all that I must do is let the place find me which really does not do anything for me aside from getting me to chuckle about it all and marvel at my own dedication to finding a place to call home. The thing is that the entire notion of 'home' has gotten rather skewed for me at this point and I seldom use it aside from referring to whatever shelter that I am living in at the time and even then I do so sparingly. After all life happens, things change and I need to be capable of changing also and attachments to even the notion of 'home' are just impediments to moving forward. While I am on the 'home' topic I also think that folks get all too damned entitled in their perceived 'home' as well as clinging to some sort of false sense of security mixed with absolute authority which is actually a rather piss poor combination of things that fosters ungracious behavior and all sorts of abuses to folk's selves and others. I do not romanticize nomad-ism or hermiting away in the woods but damn it given the options I see why I find them both to be so appealing!
Folks often say 'no man is an island' and I guess that I would have to agree with that because hell just bugging out to where I am now was not something that I could accomplish on my own and done so with all my gear intact. So, sure 'no man is an island' but I think that it is important to be an island at least unto myself and rely on me for my own happiness and overall attitude regardless of the situation that I find myself in. I mean hell isn't life all about exploring our own happiness and fostering a sense of well-being coupled with some peace of mind rooted in pragmatism instead of a bunch of hippie-dippie horseshit that cannot withstand the scrutiny of rationale, logic and any kind of deeper inspection. The thing is that out of a few decades of empirical evidence (my experiences) I know that the path of productivity is not sugarcoated in the satisfaction of the end result but in the actual process of learning and doing things which often come at a price of blood, sweat and tears so to speak. As I have said before the process of growth is often uncomfortable and even painful but hell so is hard work and my inclination to both are only as strong as my commitment to doing them is so go figure!
Alright it is now six in the morning and I should just wrap this all up and call it good enough. I hope that everyone is doing well and has a nice day/night.
One of the fat lighter stakes that I made!
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That Is All For Now!
This post was originally posted to the Hive Blockchain here:
https://peakd.com/homesteading/@jacobpeacock/apocalyptic-homesteading-day-16
