Impatience

I have been feeling impatient lately with my slow progress on things. Being sick last weekend (and I’m still not feeling totally well), being busy with the fair, and reading a lot about sheep have left me feeling like nothing concrete is getting done. And, working a lot of hours at work takes its toll, especially since one of my peers at work has been caustic lately, making the hard work seem less worthwhile. I try not to let it get under my skin, but it does get me down sometimes; engineers can be a tough crowd.

I did manage to find a local dealer of the Wedge-Loc T-post brackets today, and purchased some parts that would enable me to fashion quick shelters for sheep. (The store owner did say that he sells quite a few of those things, and that they do make for good corner braces on short runs, or for quick, temporary fencing.) I am realizing that if I get a ram now, I need to make him separate quarters asap! I had hoped to buy bred ewes and worry about a ram next fall, but I may need to accelerate my plans if I do end up purchasing this whole herd.

I tried out my new gigantic socket wrench on the grass cutter to tighten the blades, and had no luck–the bolts won’t budge. I even stuck a 2-foot pipe on the end of the wrench for more leverage, and then Kirk tried-not a mm of motion! So, I’m stumped, I don’t know how to tighten those blades, the owners manual doesn’t have further advice, so I’ll have to call the dealership to ask for suggestions. I’m anxious to mow the center field before the rainy season, so this is becoming my top priority.  

We are finishing up the movie series on John Adams and enjoying it. I like period dramas, and these kinds of movies fill in for my pathetic American education, which is totally lacking in history and geography-even though I always got excellent grades!

I probably need to slow down and enjoy life– things will get done, in good time. But, I really wish there were more hours in the day to finish all the things I’d like to be doing!

Fencing little by little

Wednesday night I got a wee bit of fencing prep done, I went out and measured and marked the post locations on a whole line. But then, I realized I made a math error (darn those, I seem to be challenged in that area) and had to re-do several of the marks. That’s annoying, trying to orange-spray-paint not-so-little notes to myself on roughly mowed grass, “Ignore this post marker, wrong spot, use that one over there…” Hopefully I can remember how to interpret my notations when I go back to place the posts!

I was also vexed to see that one of the wood brace posts I’d concreted-in had somehow shifted, it’s 2″ off the string line, and I had them SO perfect when I set them! Maybe some deer leaned up against it for an hour smoking a cigarette there, 😉 I don’t know; I can’t imagine how they could have moved! So, now I’m debating whether to ignore the flaw and let the fence be crooked there, or to add a 2″ board onto that post to fix the line. Hmm.

After this chore, and after wrestling Old Chessie back to the house (poor, senile dog, he tends to just wander, and fall down, in the field) we watched No Country for Old Men, a Cohen Brothers film. It was violent, which I don’t like, but still a good watch. They have such a weird style, it’s hard not to appreciate their oddity, I guess.