So we’ve been working on building a backyard – carving one out of our 10 acres actually. We need to a secure perimeter around the house and a place where we can let our dogs out unsupervised when they just need to “do their business”. We are not of the mind set that it’s okay to just let our dogs roam and wander where they may just because we live out in the country. And then there is the huge issue we’re having with coyotes in the area lately.
We didn’t want to block our views any more than necessary, but we wanted something that would keep our furry kids in and unwanted visitors out. Based on examples we searched high and low for, we pretty much came up with our own design. We set 4×4 treated posts at 8 ft. intervals and installed three 2×4 rails in between. All the wood has been stained cedar toned. The progress has been slow going…hubby dug every one of the post holes by hand! But I’ll tell you what, that fence isn’t going anywhere and it will more than likely outlast us.
Now you may notice all the little tape flags along the bottom section. Well, puppy had been used to just flying through the wide open infrastructure at 100 mph. So of course, the first hour the wire was up, he headed right for it. I was yelling and waving my arms trying to stop him…to no avail. He crashed nose first into the brand new fencing and put a huge dent into our nice, smooth, tightly installed wire! Once we knew he was okay, it was pretty funny. And we immediately decided that we needed to install the tape flags to try and help him avoid future crashes. Now all that’s left is the gates. We are building those ourselves in a style to match the rest of the infrastructure.
This is just phase one of our master plan for fencing. Eventually, the fence will extended along the east side of the house to the front “yard” and someday will enclose the garden, orchard, and future chicken/duck coops and runs. The perimeter of the property is currently fenced with barbed wire. As we go along, we will install field fence around as much of the perimeter as we can. This will help keep all our future critters in and invaders out.
Another reason we want our backyard secured is for our newest inhabitants. We are now up to three barn kitties (sans barn…yet). One showed up about four months ago and her name is Two Socks. Two Socks came to us fixed, but in pretty poor condition – ribs sticking out, covered in bugs. She’s a happy, sassy, healthy girl now! Then just two weeks ago, we had a tiny little kitten show up. He couldn’t be more than 10 weeks old! It took a few days, but he started letting us pet him and now we can hold him. He’s the cutest little boy – he’s solid black with a few stray white hairs and golden eyes. We’re calling him Kicking Bird (KB to his friends and family). Then about two days later, another baby showed up. She’s a little older than KB, but not by much – probably about four months old. She’s orange with dark orange leopard spots. Her name is Nala. I finally got to pet her for the very first time last night. The two new babies will need to be fixed. But they’re all welcome to stay as long as they want. As we heard two separate packs of coyotes howling last night, we were more motivated than ever to get our backyard finished so they have a safe place. Below are KB, Nala and Two Socks.
Until next time, worms rock and bees rule. 🙂
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