Removing fences, installing fences

Over several evenings I had made some headway with the fencing on the new paddock. We’ll call it the East paddock, but there was still quite a bit to be done. Up to Saturday morning I had attached wire fencing to all the pipe fencing already in place up to the point where I was reworking the corner of that pipe fence at the shop. I still have that to complete but as I was working on that Friday evening, I used up the last of my cutting wheels for the grinder and dulled the last blade I had for the bandsaw. I was at a standstill on that part of the project. But I did have everything I needed to weld up the pipe fence extension on the other side of the gate I had installed on the back of the east paddock. The posts were set in concrete and the cuts had been made for lengths of the pipe to be welded in place. But before I started that I decided to remove the fence outside of the pig building.

I hurriedly installed that fence more than two years ago so we could separate our goats. I made the enclosure secure but not necessarily nice looking. Mama and I had dealt with it for a long time and it was time to take it down so I could use some of that wire in the back of the east paddock – after the fence was welded up properly. That little chore took less time than I had anticipated. The area looks different without that fence. I not only needed it down to reuse the wire, I needed access through that fence to place the trailer so we can load the pigs in a few days. My plan is to back the trailer up to the door on the pig building and walk the two pigs into the trailer. That’s the plan. We will see if that works when we try it. As it stands today, I am still waiting on our trailer to be returned. But we have until the 10^th to work that out. After I pulled the fence and all the posts, I left it sitting where I rolled it up until I change the implements on the tractor so that I can move it into place to be restrung.

Once I started welding on the redesigned corner and the new short string of pipe fence I did not want to stop. In total there were about twenty or so welds that needed to be completed. Since it was all in a thirty-foot area I set the welder up in the middle of the action as I got all the pipe laid out and clamped in place. I am not a good welder, but I improve as I go. It took three hours to get it all done. Some of the welds I will have to touch up over the next couple nights, but everything I needed on the fence is hanging on the welds I made Saturday. At least that is how I left it when I walked away Saturday afternoon. I was pleased with the outcomes. Now I have only about three hours of works needed to complete the fencing on that paddock. I did not have to reform the corner by the shop, but I did so to give the big dogs a path to the back of the property when the east paddock is fully enclosed. Other wise they have to run around the entire enclosure to respond to something on the backside of our property. I hope it was worth the effort.

While I was taking up the electric fence we had set up in the back yard – the one we have not used in a couple years – I noticed that my face was hot with a sunburn. I was wearing a hat, so l largely ignored it as I continued to work. I regretted that decision later that evening. As is common in sunburn events, I did not realize how badly I was burned until late in the evening. Mama was alarmed by the burn on my face. As I thought back through the day, I could not see how I had been so badly burned. Especially on my face. I was in the shade much of the time as I worked on fences. It took me a while to come to the conclusion that the sunburn was from the welding I had done. I was using goggles instead of a welding helmet. That exposed my face to the brightness of the weld on each of the thirty-five rods I burned on the fence. I had to laugh about it.

I started applying Aloe Vera liberally and the burn has softened and disappeared for the most part. I took a piece of Aloe Vera from the plant, cut the skin from the top and smeared the gel directly onto my face using the plant cutting as my applicator. I was surprised that the gel soaked into my skin in a few minutes. When I felt the skin burning or tightening, I smeared my face with the piece of Aloe Vera applying the gel liberally. One piece lasts a long time. In fact, I am still using it today. My face has never been so smooth. No one mentioned it to me at church yesterday, but I was one of many men with a slight sunburn since the men had been on a fishing trip all day Saturday.

By this morning, the sunburn is all but gone.