Even More Fence

Scott returned yesterday from his most recent trip to Torrey. He spent four hard days at work on, you guessed it, fencing.

The first project was to design and build a gate that would provide access to the llamas.

To construct this gate, Scott ripped 2" X 4" rails in half with the table saw making them 1" X 4" rails. He then built two frames for the gate and sandwiched woven wire between the frames.  Adding the diagonal piece provided strength and support for the whole affair. There will eventually be three of these gates.

Next he strung the smooth wire on the cedar posts around the orchard and put two galvanized gates in place.

 

For part of the year, our neighbor keeps her horses in our big pasture. Horses can be pushy creatures. In the past, they've had more than one opportunity to spend a little up-close and personal time with us. A little too up-close for our tastes, thus the need for a fence that is a little more assertive than the electric fence that previously separated (or not) them from us.

 Here it is, ready to greet them after the hay has been cut this summer.

And our newest tree ... a honey locust whose blooms will eventually perfume our summer evenings.

More Fence

Our together trip to Torrey brought big changes to the landscaping.

The first thing we completed was the installation of the remainder of the treated posts that would be visible around the house as well as stretching the rest of the woven fence.

Looking back at Scott's proof-of-concept photo from his previous trip, we decided two rails, one at the top and one at the bottom of the wire would be sufficient to prevent the llamas from chewing on the shrubbery. Removing the middle rail would minimize obstructions to our views.

This is the west side of the house, the side from which the prevailing wind blows. Torrey is in Wayne County. Some folks (us included) often refer to it as Wind County because the wind does blow – and it is strong and frequent. We planted these Big Tuna Mugo Pines to create a wind break. In a few years, they should be between eight and twelve feet tall, a good separation between us and the blast.

We needed to build another fence to screen the propane tank from view. One day, while driving through the avenues in Salt Lake,  I passed a yard surrounded by a beautiful bamboo fence. Since we already were attracted to the material, and because it was so lovely, we decided that would be a perfect screen for our propane tank.

The tank...

screened from view...

and from the porch.

A third fence, on the north side of the house but out of view, will divide the orchard from the rest of the yard. This fence does not need to be beautiful because we won't see it, but it does, once again, need to keep the llamas in their place.

Cedar posts with smooth wire (not yet strung) are just the thing.

During this trip, we had just enough time to hang a bit of decoration outside Scott's office door...

before the snow storm hit.

This was probably more snow than Torrey received during the entire winter. Then it was time to head back to Logan.

Fences

When you have livestock, you need good fences. And when your neighbors have livestock as well, you need really good fences.

We have llamas, three burly guys who haul camera and camping gear into the wilderness backcountry for us. Stegner, Arion and Charlie work hard for part of the year but basically eat and loll about when they are off duty. Llamas aren't pushy fellows when it comes to fences, but, because they do enjoy nibbling on landscape plants, we need a fence to separate their space from ours.

After considering many possibilities and weighting the costs of each, we decided the best option for us would be a fence made from treated posts and woven wire. Since our household is arriving in Torrey soon, and llamas and cats are part of "we," the fence needed to already be in place on moving day.

In late April, knowing we would both return in early May to continue the project, Scott ordered and received fence-building materials and began.

The first thing to arrive was an auger for Orangejello, our tractor. I'm sure we could have dug post holes by hand, or hired a young, strong and spry person to dig them for us, but I've learned from Scott that you can never have too many tools, and the convinced me that the auger was a new tool we absolutely needed. (He was right.)

Scott placed posts on the south side of the house.

He stretched enough woven wire to make sure the concept would work...

put three rails in place, took a photo to document the concept and returned home to Logan, looking forward to our return in two weeks to continue working together.

Lists

Prior to each trip we make to Torrey, Scott and I make a list of things we hope to accomplish while we’re in town. We also attempt to coordinate our trip with what is scheduled for the hired crews to do. This last trip, over the 4th of July, we completed everything on our list!

For the yurt, I had purchased and refinished a fabulous, sturdy, round oak table to be used in place of our shaky camp table. That needed to be set in place. Check.

We planned to complete the entire electric fence system so Pat could put her horses in the pasture and we could bring our llamas down. Check.

We had to hang the two new 12-foot gates. Check.

At night, from the east window of the yurt, we can see the lights of Malfunction Junction, the only commercial development in town. We arrived with four cottonwoods to plant. In only a few years, they will grow to block those lights. Check.

The soil on the property is full of clay. Perfect for making plaster walls. Not so perfect for other things. The frost-free hydrant next to the yurt is squarely situated in this challenging soil. When it gets wet, we get a sticky mess. On the list? Build a four-foot square “box” full of gravel at the hydrant’s base which will disperse the excess water and keep the mud in check. Check.

As a gift when we were married, Scott and I received two “sling” chairs. Sky Chairs is the commercial name. Hang them from a tree, sit back, take a deep breath, close your eyes and relax all your cares away. In the middle of a building project such as ours, who wouldn’t need a sling chair? We have cares. We have perfect trees. They were on the list. Check.

Our list was completed. The only thing that didn’t get done was the walls and roof of the garage. The shipment of trusses was short by one. Double T did all they could and promised to return the following week.

Young Muscles

Prior to construction, our Torrey property was taxed as green belt. That meant the land was used to produce agricultural products. Our agricultural product is hay for horses. Pat, our neighbor, owns and operates Hondoo River and Trails, a guiding outfit that provides multi-day horseback riding trips. In the past, Pat has seen to it that our pasture is watered. She cuts and bales the hay and then puts her horses on the pasture. In exchange, we retain green belt status.

Now that we are building a house, we are required to remove one acre from the green belt property, and that will be taxed as residential property. The rest will remain in green belt. We needed to fence out the building site so Pat could put her horses out to graze.

When we first purchased our ten acres, Scott's parents bought the adjacent ten. We immediately spent many arduous days digging fence post holes, pounding t-posts, and stringing field and barbed wire around over 1/2 mile of perimeter. All of these years later, we find ourselves fencing again. But we've learned to give the toughest part of the job (digging holes for railroad ties) to someone much younger. Enter Tim....

Tim works for Pat, and she suggested Tim might be willing to dig. Sure
enough. When we asked, he was happy to dig eight 3-foot holes for railroad ties. We were equally happy to pay him to toil away while we worked on other, less labor-intensive tasks.