A paddock in the making - part 1

I missed my blogging yesterday, but it was all for a good cause...

RMan and I have discovered that we can be impulsive - even at our "advanced" age LOL

We purchase the Farmers Weekly whenever an article on the cover attracts our attention. Our smallholding isn't exactly a farm, but, as they don't publish the 'Smallholders Weekly', we have no other choice. Way back in April this year, RMan read an article, a link to which I will give you in part 2 or part 3 - giving it now would spoil the surprise... :)

He mulled over it for a while and then decided to share it with his other half. We talked about it, let it lie, talked about it, and finally decided, "yup, we're going for it".  It's quite an investment, so trust me - that is impulsive...:)

Once we make a decision it's all engines full steam ahead!

So, this week has been a very busy one.

Firstly, holes were dug 350mm deep at 2.0mtr intervals.  It's a good time of the year to dig holes in our ground - it is still s-l-i-g-h-t-l-y damp, which means it is dig-able - forget it in summer.  That would be like trying to dig a hole in a concrete slab with a blunt pickaxe and a shovel.

The holes were dug and the small split poles are
waiting to be put into position

Then we paid a visit to the local unoffficial ex-sawmill, which closed it's doors about 3 months ago.

This is the load we scored from the unofficial sawmill
up the road.  Bluegum is incredibly hard,
especially when it's good and dry, so placing
them on the split poles was quite a mission
and involved starting up the genny, so that
RMan could have the assistance of the power drill.

They had a fair sized pile of different lengths of bluegum wood which they were unable to use - the outer curved part of the wood with the bark attached.  It is very hard wood, and very heavy - even though it's good and dry, having sat out in the sunshine and rain for the past 3 - 4 years. But the scraps which were roughly 2.0 mtrs long were perfect for our needs.

This lot cost us a couple of hours and a few litres
of petrol - and that is all!

Just what we needed.

After unpacking the wood - and which is just like shopping - you enter the shop, choose the items, place them in your basket / trolley, go to the cashier, unload the basket / trolley.  Then after the cashier has rung them up, you load the goods into shopping bags, back into the trolley, schlep them to the car in the trolley, offload the contents of the trolley into the boot, go home, remove the bags from the car boot, take them to the kitchen, place them on the counter, unpack the shopping bags, and finally put them in the grocery cupboard / fridge.

Exhausting stuff.

Who needs to pay money to frequent a gym?  Just clean your house and do your shopping and you'll get a the exercise you need :)  Especially if you only shop once every week or two... <giggle>

Anyway, having sorted, chosen, loaded and offloaded the wood, we now set about putting it to the use for which it was intended...

Action stations

... that of making an fence for an enclosure - a stunning paddock!

The end result - thus far...
It is to retain "something" within, whilst
also preventing any of the four dogs (our one,
and Natasha / Wayne / Mike's three) from gaining
entrance from the outside

We love it!  Even RMan commented that instead of leaving the wood to rot away whilst, in the meanwhile, attracting mice (and thus snakes looking for a juicy morsel to eat), we have managed to find a use for perfectly good lengths of wood.

"Recycling" was the exact word he used.

I think I'm having an effect on him...

Even in the light of the full moon the fence looks outstanding!

Our homemade wooden fence in the
light of the full moon :)

But, our local unofficial sawmill has ran out of suitable scraps of wood, so, on our way to purchase "chicken" wire from the nearby co-op I had a brainwave...