Good neighbors

Father's day activity



This is why I prefer to fence in the spring, three snakes later no rattler found.

I had to work late last night so I decided to sleep in this morning.  After a long talk with Annmarie on the phone I was contemplating going back to sleep.  It was later in the morning but I had only had 6 hours of sleep so it was still an option.  The phone rang and Donna was calling me to say that one of the neighbors had called her and stated our sheep were out on the road.  The neighbors all know we have the weird animals and always call when someone gets out.  It is very nice of them to give us a heads up. I have learned that no matter how often you fix a length of fence the animals eventually figure out how to get through it.  This happens 1-2 times a year.  I got dressed, grabbed coffee, both dogs and loaded them into the truck.  Zeke was bouncing all over, he loves riding in the back of the truck.  I had to trick Mouse just to get a hold of him to throw him in the cab with me.  He hates any vehicle!!  He tries to crawl in your lap and drools all over everything.  We pushed the sheep up the road and back into the pasture.  Donna made sure no one barreled over the top of the hill at a high speed.  This is when I discovered that the sheep have been bedding down inside the old school house during the heat of the day.  It is a concrete enclosure and much cooler inside.  There is a bunch of old wood debris on the floor that needs to be moved.  I will get that cleaned out soon. 

I walked the fence line and found multiple loose wires and wooden stays.  I blamed the Bull initially but after starting my repairs I realized that the deer are making paths up to the fence and washing the rocks down onto the fence in certain places.  It took me a couple of hours to get all the fence secured and back into place.  I drove four new posts, and the 12 hours of rain we just had did not soften the soil at all!  I had to move several loose rocks that had piled onto the lower wire of the fence.  This reminded me why I like to do this task in the spring.  I found three separate snakes while moving rocks.  I let them be, they eat mice and mice are bad.  No rattlesnakes that I recognized.

 

I fed the bull some extra food tonight.  He looks lonely, I need to move him next weekend.  I am going to try and let Zeke roam the yard tomorrow.  I have installed another section of woven wire tonight in the yard fence.  I hope I have all the holes covered now.  The only true test is to let him run around and see if he is out of the yard by the time I come home.  I did not see the cows today.  It is time to lay some eyes on them so we know where they are hanging out at. 

Old school house basement.  The sheep have been hanging out as it is much cooler in here. 



Good looking fence now sheep proof, again.