Some Chilly Dogs, Learning Curves With Fencing Installation & Overcoming Annoyances The Tricky Way
Each time that I awoke this morning it was raining so I just kept going back to sleep until eventually realizing that I could easily sleep the entire day away unless I roused myself from bed and got some coffee brewing. It is still drizzling rain outside and nearly ten o'clock in the morning so I am unsure if I will be getting any work done at the new shelter site today. Given the numerous aches and pains that I am feeling I am probably overdue for a day off but if the rain does slack up I will more than likely try to get something done even if it is just to prep more of that fencing mesh for installation by doing some of that tedious wire stripping that I mentioned yesterday. Honestly any little bit of progress that I can make will be worth the time invested (rain or shine) because it puts me that much closer to getting the dog yard finished which in turn means that I will be closer to the cabin building phase of things and ultimately to having my own little homesteading area to begin occupying.
Although I got off to a slow start I eventually made it over to the new shelter site and not long afterwards those three dogs (that had run off) showed up which was a massive relief because I had so much anxiety going on over them that I was having a hard time focusing on anything else. Since it was a mostly sunny day I wound up putting them in the temporary PVC dog yard at the new shelter site while I continued to work on things which was fine and all until late in the afternoon (when the sun dipped below the tree line) and the temperature dropped and two of them got so chilly that their teeth were chattering. Of course that was towards the end of my work day anyway so it did not last long before I wrapped everything up and headed back to the warmth of the tent. When I got back to the tent I immediately kenneled the dogs and they never seemed so happy to be in their kennels before so maybe they finally realized that the reason I have not been taking them with me is because it is too frigging chilly for them to be out in the weather all day.
As far as working on stuff goes, I spent the day getting the majority of the eastern section of mesh fencing installed and although the process was assuredly smoother than the day before it was still just as tedious and just as difficult to get the fencing stretched taut and secured into place. I hit a few snafus along the way because when I dug the trench for the bottom of the fence I did not dig it straight enough nor (in a few places) close enough to the line of the fence posts which made the bottom of the fencing mesh curve inward towards the posts slightly. When I was stretching the fencing taut I noticed that was going on in a few places and remedied it with some shovel work but after getting everything finished and removing the come-along (hand winch) and stretcher boards I noticed more of it but by then it was too late to make any further adjustments so I will need to go along it later and dig out the trench some which will hopefully fix the problem.
Instead of just using the come-along and stretcher boards to pull the fencing taut I also used two ratchet straps and attached one to the boards at the top and one at the bottom so that I could do more than just pull the stretcher boards from their center when adding tension to the fencing. Although that seemed to work well enough it assuredly added a lot more steps to the overall process but hell I am fine with a little 'extra' work if it means that the fencing installation will come out the way that I want it to. Hell, it is a lot of steps already but I basically have the process down to stripping those horizontal wires to wrap the corner post with, rolling out the fencing, attaching the stretcher boards, hooking up the come-along, adding a little tension and then standing the fencing up against the posts before applying more tension to stretch the fencing fully taut. It is worth mentioning that lacking a second person to help me get the fencing upright (and for it to stay upright) I got creative and used two small bungee cords to hold the fencing up by securing it with them to the tops of a few of the posts. Once I got enough tension applied to the fencing I was able to then adjust the bungees better so that they would not interfere with the fencing getting pulled the rest of the way taut.
Once all of that stuff was done I then used the ratchet straps to help pull the bottom and top of the fencing into place before securing it all to the posts with barbed fencing nails and then cutting lose the excess where the stretcher boards were attached. As a side note, after doing that same thing (cutting lose the excess) the day before I realized that if I made the 'excess' long enough that I could save those pieces and later use them for making the gates with which will amount to not wasting material and saving myself from having to do more wire cutting later.
Anyway, since I was going from 'corner to corner' on that section of fence I decided to break it up into two parts and only ran that piece of fencing to the point where there was only the corner's 'H' brace and one post (where the fencing terminated) remaining which I can finish with a small piece of fencing later. I deeply considered doing the entire run of fencing in 'one fell swoop' but there are several trees in that corner of the dog yard and I would wind up having quite the time trying to wrangle a long piece of fencing (when it is rolled out on the ground) around all the trees without malforming it along the way. Since the section of fencing that I got installed terminated on a single un-braced post I used a piece of rope and a ratchet strap to hold its top in place and prevent the rest of the fencing from sagging until I can get the remaining section of fencing along that fence line installed.
On a different note. I am now a month into my endeavors here and although the progress has been slow due to the weather (and the time of year) it has been remarkably steady progress and each time that I hike over to the new site I am like 'oh wow I actually have gotten a lot done' which I immediately disregard because I have yet to get 'enough' done to actually begin inhabiting the place. Perspective is a funny thing and all but sometimes I should just cut myself some slack and acknowledge the achievements that I have made and perhaps not beat myself up so much about what I have 'yet to do' ahead of me. I am actually not all that hard on myself (definitely less than I have been in the past) but there is a good bit of knowing my tendencies and working with them (instead of against them) going on which amounts to keeping my morale high, enduring the hardships of camping, coping with the rigors of physically demanding work and all the little inconveniences/annoyances that pop up along the way... and not letting them frigging compound into more than what they really are.
I have struggled with that last bit a lot lately and it is little things like my keyboard's space bar breaking, my mouse wheel being dodgy, the hole in my thumb where one of the barbs from the fencing nails gouged a hole in it, the screen on my french press being total shit and letting a bunch of coffee grounds get into my coffee, the images that I take with the phone camera all coming out like crap for the day and having to choose the least crappy ones for posting with, my main stereo amp finally 'giving up the ghost' and dying... and on and on ad infinitum the little things of late have been really grating on my nerves... and meanwhile each day I have to just keep plugging along and remember to shake my boots (and clothes) out before putting them on, avoid letting the batteries on my devices get too low, remember where my flashlight is, keep my pocket knife, gloves and safety glasses with me at all times and yet again on and on ad infinitum!
In other words I cannot let myself get too damn distracted (or annoyed) along the way or even let it all get to me too much because otherwise what the hell am I doing with my life. Thankfully I have been making time to enjoy life each day and that usually amounts to playing my favorite video game in the evening with some friends on there and that seems to balance things out a good bit and makes life seem rewarding so go figure! Of course without the human interaction aspect of the gaming I doubt that I would find it so fulfilling and surprisingly I have not binged out all that much with it and been keeping a good balance with the other stuff that I have to do each day. Do not get me wrong because it sure is tempting to just turn on the heaters in the cozy canvas tent, put on some music and zone the fuck out for the remainder of the winter... and yet here I am day after day spending several hours writing, then several more hours working outdoors and doing the old 'rinse and repeat' each day so I must be doing something right!
Well, the day is starting to get a bit more sunny outside and although it is chilly I should probably get to wrapping this up, doing the inevitable editing/posting and see what I can accomplish outdoors if the weather holds. Although I am feeling inclined to just take the day off I will probably work a little anyway just so that I have something to write about. I hope that everyone is doing well and has a nice day/night.
The roll of wire with the vertical sections removed at the end so that I can tie it to the corner post.
These are the little buggers that I have to remove individually with pliers from the remaining horizontal wires.
A wire wrapping tool makes attaching the fencing back on itself rather easy.
The rig that I used to pull the fencing taut.
Thanks for reading!
Follow me on the Hive blockchain here:
https://peakd.com/@jacobpeacock
Please check out the Homesteading Community On The Hive Blockchain:
https://peakd.com/c/hive-114308/created
A playlist of my Jacob Goes Off Grid Videos can be found here:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL8CsWYxlqp36dEFkg5mnlzgY41bE761oK
Please consider becoming a patron on my Patreon page!!!
https://www.patreon.com/jacobpeacock
Contribute via Paypal:
https://PayPal.me/jacobpeacock
That Is All For Now!
This post was originally posted to the Hive Blockchain here:
https://peakd.com/homesteading/@jacobpeacock/apocalyptic-homesteading-day-32
