Fencing continues . . . . . . slowly

Since we had some decent weather last weekend the boys and I set out to putting some more posts in the ground for our cross-fencing.  As my wise father reminded me "now is the time while the ground is soft".  With the old school post hole digger we use it is easy for the boys to help out.  I usually use the shovel to cut slice the grass off the spot where the post goes and once I get the hole about 10-12" down one of the boys can take over .  I was quite surprised to come back and find that Ethan almost had one down the to the required 3' depth in not too long.

Here Evan is digging the post hole and Ethan was measuring.  The white bucket off to the right is for catching spiders during their down times.  The gate you see leaning up against the post was one that came with the property and we are going to try and reuse at this break in the fence to give us access to the pasture.  The two larger gates will be farther down in either direction.  Someday we hope to put a little shelter just to the left in this picture to allow the cows to get out of the wind and rain.

Ethan emptying the dirt from the digger thingy (that IS the technical term).

After the posts holes were filled with gravel, and the gravel packed down with a piece of rebar we drilled the holes for the brace pins.  It was odd how easily the pins went in, and then I realized I had grabbed the 1/2" drill bit instead of the 3/8", so the holes were plenty big.

Ethan drilling the holes in these two posts.

After putting the horizontal post on we ran the wire and twisted the whole thing tight with a branch.  It is fun to use branch's for this kind of thing, kind of looks chic rustic, and they are cheap.

I am getting anxious to finish this project and Lord willing we will have some nicer weather this weekend, allowing us to get a little farther along.

Earlier in the day we had put up plywood on the interior of the pump room walls to keep the mice from tearing up the insulation we had installed.  This curious lady got to close and Evan grabbed her so she could see the pump room up close.

Speaking of chickens, it is about time to go get some more chicks.  Looks like the farm store has the 5 free ones next weekend, so we need to get everything ready in the nursery.  The kids vacuumed it out but we need to sanitize the feeder and waterer.  We have not settled on how many to get, but you need to make sure you over-estimate, just in case you have any unexpected losses.  15 or 20 ???