I have begun building a new yard fence. My close relative has always liked the looks of the chain-link fences she would admire in town.
We have cattle on this outfit and I never did think it would be wise to string up a city-fied fence anywhere on the place. Now, in the heat of summer, I am unrolling and putting up a chain-link fence.
We are out of the hay field until it rains and produces a second cutting, and I am determined to let the offspring do some of the manual labor around here. I like bossing from the saddle and I do that, but the older one is coming into his own and the younger one is behaving. I praise God for them.
That is the reason I am roped and tied to the yard. I guess I did all the bossing that needed done yesterday because I was in town early to gather up all this chain link. It didn't come cheap and it did not come with complete instructions. There is a sack full of extras and sundry stuff that I do not recognize as fencing materials, but I reckon I will go forward. I am close to the ice tea and that is a perk, the only one I can point out right now.
I measured off the post holes and marked the line so everything would be straight and perfect. My close relative supervised that part and grinned all the time. She swished around looking at the line from all directions, giving her thoughts each step she took. I wish I were a tobacco chewing feller, I could have at least spewed a little!
Post holes on this rock pile are to be dug with dynamite or at least a post hole digger on the tractor. I got it hooked up and augered out two holes before it broke off the end of the auger. My close relative went to the house rather abruptly and I calmly killed the tractor and brushed off my clothes.
It is my opinion, and everyone has one, at a certain point in your life you realize that things are just things. Money gets old and moldy if you don't spend it. New parts for a tractor make life easier and who cares if it is ridiculous to tear down a perfectly good fence and put up another one. The new one won't keep anything out or anything in, but it is wanted, so it's gonna happen. Oh yes, beauty is in the eyes of the beholder, and who is to say what another thinks is pretty?
You can bet the ranch I am gonna get this fence up and it will not matter if I have to go see my friend, the local banker, to get it done! We are gonna beautify this outfit!
Bill is the pen name used by a local writer and longtime resident of the Gravette area. Opinions expressed are those of the author.
Editorial on 08/06/2014