Hog Pen

Tim has been hard at work on the fence, with the help of neighbor Mike, racing against the Memorial Day Deadline. My husband claims that I do not fully appreciate his talents, but I do. Just look at this guy build fence! And it's not just any old fence. It's straight as an arrow, with the added difficulty of having to step down the grade (yet remain level). And it is perfectly square. I mean rectangular. Well, not perfectly, but it's within an inch so I'd say it's perfect.

In fact, I chose him, in part, for his constructing capabilities. Anyone knows, that when a farm girl is looking for a mate, and she asks to see his equipment, she's not talking about the family jewels. She's talking about his implements. Because it's pretty likely she's going to want him to build something. What we want to see is, at the bare minimum, a front end loader, a back blade, and a brush hog. Bonus points for backhoe attachments, box scrapers and 5 foot tillers. And we perfectly understand of he finds it necessary to have one tractor for each implement. Stopping to change implements will only slow the project. Besides, we don't like helping with the three point hitch. And as a reminder, because I know you're reading this Dear... if you stand between the tractor and the implement, it is not your wife's fault if your foot gets run over. It says so in the safety manuals. And yes, I read them. All of them.

On Saturday, I would pause in my house work and look out the window to find Tim and Mike bent over their work, with string lines and levels, putting in each post to exact specifications.



What we remembered as fertile topsoil, has mysteriously morphed into hard packed clay with a tough shale ledge at about 3 feet.



More than once I went out there to find a freshly dug post hole mysteriously smoking. Not actual smoke, but clouds of stone dust would come rolling out after the assault by the auger.



Then he spent two days chipping away at this miserable clay to put in the skirt boards, and staple the panels to them to keep critters from scooting under. Yes, I see that this fence, as it is, is not rabbit proof, chuck proof, or even deer proof. But don't you worry... we have plans. There will be electric run down low to discourage the bunnies and chucks... a wire above the top panel to discourage the deer... and the whole fence will be grounded in case a coon tries to climb it, because sooner or later, they will cross an electric wire, while hanging on the panel and have a very illuminating experience. We did this previously with the chicken yard, and the results were quite satisfactory... in a sadistic sort of way. But the coons stayed out. In fact, it was years before we saw them again.



And if I ever give up gardening, we can always raise hogs, open a small zoo... or a concentration camp.