Chain Link Fence Project

One of the projects we had on tap for this year and we mentioned in a post at the beginning of the year was a chain link fence around the front yard. We eventually may want to free range the chickens and we often have visitors who bring their dogs so we wanted to enclose the front. Additionally, we consider a fence across the front as a secondary fence in case the main perimeter fence for the cattle gets breached....so we took several bids and chose a local to do the job.

Now in the Ozarks you have to be patient and not in a hurry, we accepted a bid from a young hard working guy back in early May and we just got busy with other things and figured it would eventually happen and so it has.

The temps have been in the 100s and each post hole was dug by hand...could we have done it ourselves? Why yes we could have but it was sure nice to have these guys take on that burden. We have a tonne of fencing to do yet and this is one project we were happy to farm out.

Every post was set in concrete 2.5 feet down.

At the far end in this picture we will pick up the front fencing with field fencing and one strand of barbed wire which will cover across the rest of our road frontage.

One of the reasons we selected this contractor beside the fact he was a local was the fact he used a heavier gage material. This chain link fence is heavy duty and is what is called "dog tight" in that it has wire along the bottom course of the fence hat keeps dogs from going under it.

Some of the bids did not include concrete for each post...concrete is good...concrete is what we required.

So here is the end product. We have a gate to the front door and its open to the French Door (if we need to enclose a dog we will just put a cattle panel in place temporarily). Note it also is nice for the produce stand sign.

We put some heavy limestone rocks in the corner to protect the corner post and moved the planter box to in front of the fence. Eventually the fence will be covered by honeysuckle and other vines and fences are good to plant against.

Its mostly psychological but having fencing that defines an area is very pleasing and gives you a sense of security. We are pleased with the result and now just need to install the field fencing and eventually we will put a gate across the drive...Zombies don't like gates.,

Quick Update on the Garage Window Project

Its March 13th and today we had 83 degree temps.....I hate to rub it in but we have had so much sun this early spring that we all have tans! We completed the garage window project today among other things and though we are satisfied with how it turned out it was way more of a project that it should have been (no wonder I have been putting ot off for so long). Also today we had a very nice older couple stop buy and tell us that the wife was born in our house (in the front bedroom) and that her parents had built the place in 1938 at the height of the depression. They were able to fill in some details of how the place used to be and she promised to try and find some old pictures of the place. We enjoyed the visit and she even related that Maybelle and a very young June Carter had visited our little homestead when they were in the area for a revival show....wouldnt that have been something?

Before I post a couple pictures I wanted to share that for the most part I like old time country/gospel and usually feel that the original versions are the best but this Kenney Chesney rendition of the old Bill Anderson tune "A Lot of Things Different" is really exceptional in my opinion. If you have the band width check out this song....its very moving. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G-MXWa9puPQ

The old windows were rotten and we ended up having to reframe almost the entire window frame...and on a concrete block or stone house that is a bit of an undertaking.

You can see the size of the old casement windows leaning against the garage in this picture. Basically you rip out the old, build a frame to suit the windows you have then concrete to fit. All you need is a little wood working ability, a little concrete experience, and a deft hand with glass and poof....

You get experience quick with concrete if you have a stone or concrete block house...we have both.

Its a lot brighter and quieter inside with the new windows. We still need to frame and trim out the inside but that will be easy.

Project completed. The windows are different sizes and that is the way it was built. To change that would have been a massive undertaking that we just didnt want to go through.

We still need to put hardiplank lap siding where you see brown in this picture and treat the stone garge roof and do some other things (including landscaping) but we like the fact we have reached this point.

This is just to brag about our spring, the Daffodills ar eup everywhere and in full bloom.

And lastly, Maybelle is growing up and doing well. Next project is more fencing, county sewer, electric to the pole barn, getting the Allis Chalmers running and back working, renovating the dairy barn....and then in April we will............