Almost - on several counts

On my way home yesterday evening I was stopped by a serious accident at the intersection of 1810 and 1655. There was no way around. All lanes were blocked, and all traffic was routed out 1655 to Bridgeport. I ended up following the traffic to Bridgeport and back around through Chico to come west on 1810 towards home. As I was making the trip the long way around, I paced through alternate routes I could have taken and the time cost of each route. All were about the same since I do not know the back roads in the area. By the time I got to the intersection I needed, traffic was coming from the direction that had been blocked. Oh, well.

I was supposed to get the front opening of the shop ready by the time Zach could come that evening, but I knew there was no particular hurry since he had a meeting at the school at 6 pm that had to be taken care of before he could meet me at the farm. I worked on taking down the panels I had installed to temporarily close the opening and got all the fasteners in place so we could get right to the task of raising the new rollup door when he was able to help. By the time Mama got home at 7:20 I began to realize he might have been held in the meeting much later than he expected. I had Mama text him at 7:40 and he responded that he had just gotten home and was getting ready to change and come over. We postponed the installation for that night. His children’s bedtimes were rapidly approaching, and I hated to interrupt that contact time. My door is not that important. It is a simple thing I can add to Saturdays activities. I suggested to Mama that she and Victoria and I could do the installation since it is a relatively simple process. It is not something I can do by myself, but it does not require much additional help.

Saturday morning, I will have help getting the fence moved.  My coworker has gotten his welding rig and is planning on being at the farm in the morning to start cutting apart the old fence so we can relocate it. Neither of us was able to get hold of a cutting torch so we are borrowing a gas-powered metal saw from Norman. It is one of those that can be used for cutting metal or concrete depending on what blade is used. It is heavy and awkward, but it beats grinding every weld off the rails we want to preserve for resetting the fence. I am seriously tempted to go to Denton and buy the metal cutting band saw I have been looking at, but I will restrain myself.

While waiting on Zach, I finished the holes for the portion of fence Nate and I took out from behind the shop. Right now I have the front loader of the tractor resting on top of the fence as it stands in place. I was about an inch shy on one hole when I manhandled it into place. I figured I could mash it into place the rest of the way this evening. To do that, I soaked the two holes it is resting in to soften the hard clay in the bottom of the holes. That portion of fence has a five-foot gate built into it. I needed a gate on the driveway side of the fence, so Mama would not have to walk around the shop to tend to the goats we are going to keep in the enclosure. There will be an additional large gate in the back that we can also use, but I did not want that to be the only access for Mama. She is not very adept at climbing fences at this stage of her life. If I have thought it through thoroughly enough, we should be able to get the fence cut and reset in about four hours.

The unknown factor is the time it will take us to make the needed cuts.