What's the phrase?............
You cant teach an old dog new tricks!................. I beg to differ.
With various work that has needed to be done on the drive and around the croft, I have been studiously ignoring 70 fence posts and 100m of high tension fencing wire delivered over 4 weeks ago. This was mainly down to other work previously started really, REALLY needing to be finished. It was not, I say again NOT the fact that every time I looked at said posts and wire, I would glance up the driveway and think it was too difficult ,as I had never put up an stock fence before never mind tension it correctly.
However Saturday was such a beautiful day that I pulled my act together, strode out to the hardstanding/driveway and cracked on !! With much nashing of teeth, a few (lots) of swear words accompanied by shreaks of pain from various body parts colliding with the fence maul, I hammered my way up the field. After 6 hrs I had managed 40 fence posts, 6 for the standing fence and the rest up between the field and the drive - and they were as straight as could be. Rory came over to admire my handy work, commenting that for a first time effort it was nearly perfect.
"How did you manage that?" he said.
"Pure determination, blood sweat and tears", I replied lying in the ditch.
Sunday, was touch and go whether I could be arsed to go that pain again but cracked on once more. I whimped out and drove the wire up to the top of the drive in the Jeep (100m of HT Rylock weighs nearly 60 Kg). I rolled out the fencing back down the drive to measure out 65m to be met by Rory with " the tools of the trade". He showed me what to do, how to use the wire tensioner and griplocks, and buggered off to have his lunch. By the time I have phaffed about getting the fencing in the right position and knocking a few marker hooks in, the fence went up, and stayed in position while it was tensioned and the finishing touches was to tack each post with 3 hooks. The next run was only 25 m to go round the hard standing, but had to negotiate 3 strainers with tension being applied on 2 angles (bit like a S shape).
4 hrs after I had started, the top 2 fields were stock proof once more, the top access gate was back together with the wind reducing fencing panels back on and I could look back down the drive with astonishment on how much I had managed to do in such a short period of time and with no prior knowledge of how the chuff to do it.
To finish off the whole project I still need to:
a. Hang a 12 ft and a 4 ft gate #
b. Spread out 32 tonnes of scaplings (arriving Wed/Thu) = 58 tonnes in total for the drive!!
c. Paint all woodwork before winter finally strikes
d. Build access walls around house gates #
e. Wire in the flood light and access lights
f. get drunk - alot.......................