Did a bit of fencing today. Actually not real fencing but taking down some old and rotten trellis and putting up a picket fence between my house and the neighbour, Roger. I'm ashamed to say 3 years ago I said I'd repair this fence and after the last lot of wind it became apparent that the trellis fence would not last much longer. Up with the lark the old fence was down by 8am - as with a well known Fairy Tale, I huffed and I puffed and it all fell down. And then to the task in hand. I used to do a lot of fencing in the past and I've always enjoyed it. Garden fencing is easy compared to a high tensile wire fence. I remember once we had a 300 yard fence to erect and needed to get the top strand drum tight. Well fixed to the corner straining post, I tied the other end onto the fore end loader and reversed the tractor to pull the wire tight, so tight it could sing. The idea then is once its tight, 2 staples are hammered into the other straining most and the rest of the fence posts can be attached at leisure.
Except on that day somewhere along that length there was a fault and the wire snapped with the crack of a rifle shot, ricocheting like a coiled python towards me and across the cab of the tractor. Made one enormous bang as it hit the cab, but thankfully no one was killed (a real risk if anyone is in the way when that happens) - and a sobering reminder why safety cabs were fitted to tractors. Small fry today but I do love fencing, something therapeutic putting up something new and standing back in the dusk of the day with a satisfaction that I have put this up. Maybe I should do more fencing as a hobby come small business. Could be fun.
And unrelated but summer has finally gone. With the risk of heavy frosts this week, I've finally brought in the outdoor geraniums.
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