A Posh Base Camp, Installing Fence Strainers, Regional Differences & Thoughts On Shopping
It is a chilly morning here and I slept in a good bit but perhaps before it warms up outside I can get some writing done and not have it nagging at me all day. I guess that the big advantage to waking up super early in the morning is having plenty of time to write but on days like this where I have slept in I often feel hurried to complete the day's writing before the day wears on and I miss out on getting stuff done outdoors while the weather is favorable. Well, 'favorable' is of course a matter of perspective and all that jazz but for the most part if it is not raining, gusting wind and is above freezing then it is a fine day to be working outdoors even if the conditions are not all that ideal or even comfortable. It sure does take some real determination on some of these days to get outside and begin working but somehow I have managed thus far even though sometimes the conditions are just miserable and after a few hours of working in the cold I retreat to the warmth of the tent and call the days efforts 'good enough' even though I could probably eek out another hour or two of work.
Overall, things here have been going rather well and the new shelter site is gradually taking shape so I do not have any real complaints or anything in that regard. The endeavor of building the dog yard fence sure has been time consuming but like I have said before the fence is a heck of a lot stouter and of a better quality than any fence that I have previously used or built so the time invested is assuredly worth it because once it is complete I will have zero anxiety about the dogs being in it or 'escaping' from it. I guess that if my base camp setup was not so posh that I would be more focused on getting the cabin built first but at the moment it seems like it is good to prioritize the fencing first so that when I build the cabin I can do so with the dogs hanging out in the area and not have to kennel them at the base camp which is something that I still dislike doing even though it is totally necessary. Hopefully soon we will have some sunny (warmer) days and I can start bringing the dogs with me to work at the new site and they can hang out in the temporary PVC dog yard without getting chilled in the process. Given that not all my dogs have an undercoat (and thus get cold easily) I just cannot see the sense in subjecting them to that sort of discomfort when they can stay warm in the tent instead.
Once things warmed up a bit outdoors I hiked over to the new shelter site and got to working on the fence more which seems like all that I have done of late! The day's project was to get some of the wire ratchet brace 'strainers' installed on the 'H' braces for the corners and for the gates. Working with that heavy gauge strainer wire was a bit tricky because it was in a coil and I was working alone to pull it from the coil but all in all it was not too bad even though I had it spring back on me a few times after cutting it (when it was tensioned) but thankfully it did not hit me anywhere that was unprotected. Since I had never used that sort of strainer before I took my time doing it and had to learn the 'ins and outs' of it so I started by doing the downhill (eastern) fence line which is probably the least important one as far as visual appearances go. Honestly how the strainers 'look' is nowhere near as important as how they function but hell with this project (given the quality of the materials and the robustness of the overall fence) it is well worth it for me to try to achieve as much 'form' as 'function' which is at odds with my general rule of 'function over form' but since I am not 'working with junk' that rule should probably get tossed out the closest window!
It is worth mentioning that I did take the time to watch an instructional video on how to install the mesh fencing properly (according to the manufacturer) and whoa in doing so I learned a bunch of little tricks that will make things a heck of a lot easier when I get to that phase of things. Aside from having solid bracing in place (and stout fence posts) the general technique seems to be to nail in one or two fence staples on the H-braced post (just enough to hold the fencing upright) on the post beside a corner then strip out about a foot of the vertical pieces of the mesh and wrap and tie the remaining horizontal pieces back on themselves after they have been wrapped around the post. Once all of that is done the remainder of the fencing can be stood up (or just leaned against the posts) and the opposite end of the fencing is then attached to with a fence stretching bar which is then connected to a come-along (hand powered winch) and then pulled taut via cranking on the come-along. In the video that I watched they used two such come-alongs (one at the bottom of the fence and one at the top) and just applied equal tension with both of them until the fence was taut but not pulled to the point where it is stretched or otherwise malformed by the process. As much as the process seems simple and all it will require a good bit of setup each time (especially since I have to fabricate a fence stretching bar with two pieces of lumber fastened together) so I am anticipating it to be rather time consuming.
As much as I 'hit the ground running' here and did not spend much time on site selection or anything like that before diving into the site development phase of things... I feel like I am totally 'winging it' just because I did not spend some insane amount of time over-thinking the entire site project and all its various aspects. Something that has assuredly helped with that process is that the site ultimately is going to be a temporary one for me because I will eventually be developing another site for myself in a more secluded place like I have mentioned numerous times before. In other words this particular site that may or may not be used by someone else (I say that because the cabin will be on skids and the area may later become a place for animals) so I have been doing everything with that in mind and I am much more prone to do a stellar job on things when something is for someone else than when it is for myself. Maybe I should shed that 'making do' mentality that I have clung to over the last many years and begin applying the same rules that I do to other folk's projects to my own projects. As much as my own projects are always 'resource dependent' (meaning what materials I have available) perhaps I can somehow manage to start having nice materials for my own projects and eliminate that problem at its root so that I can have 'nice things' that not only do the job but are also visually appealing. I do not want to get my hopes up too high but in this scenario that seems quite an achievable goal.
Anyway, late in the day I got a ride to a nearby grocery store and got a few food supplies to hold me over until I do my next real store run. I am still undecided on whether I am going to order my next month's worth of supplies from online or brave the holiday crowds and actually go shopping but for now I at least have enough coffee to hold me over while I wrestle with my indecisiveness. Thankfully when I went to that particular small grocery store most folks were wearing masks and staying distant which is a massive improvement from the last region that I was doing my shopping in. For the first time in nearly ten months I did not even feel compelled to go out in public with that small hatchet on my waist which just amounts to me not finding the folks around here all that menacing nor hostile which is saying a frigging lot! It also means that I do not feel like I need to wear such gear to help enforce folks staying the fuck away from me while I am doing my shopping which makes for an overall better experience for me in general because I already disliked leaving the seclusion of the woods and wading through the throngs of consumers to get my supplies each month before the damn pandemic began so go figure! What I am actually thinking about doing this month is ordering stuff for a store pickup and avoiding both the high prices (and limited selection) of shopping online and equally avoiding the holiday crowds at the stores which would be nice on both accounts.
Well, I should get to wrapping this all up because the day is really starting to drag on now and it is about as warm as it will get outdoors today so I need to get to working on the fence project more and see what all I can accomplish. I hope that everyone is doing well and has a nice day/night.
My 'work truck' loaded with the fencing supplies and tools!
The first ratchet wire fence strainer that I installed.
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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-30
