Fence farm

Looks like we're growing posts around here, doesn't it?

This picture is looking toward the back left side - they're about 1/2 to 2/3 of the way back there.  In the picture above, that truck is parked about where the gate will be between the horse pasture and the "drive" area -- directly to the side of the cottage -- and where the fencing will change from 4-rail BLACK horse fence (yes, Mark finally came around and we're doing black - yippee!) to 5-wire electric fencing that will run all the way around the back pasture. 

The guy who gave us that low bid on setting the fence posts , along with his two helpers, were going to do it with a little bitty post hole digger.  Each of those holes needs to be 3 feet deep!  It would have taken them 'til the next millenium to dig a couple hundred holes 3 feet deep with that thing.  And with a heat index of 110, they probably wouldn't have lived that long!   Anyway, Mark felt sorry for the poor guys, so he went out and rented a huge auger.  Even so, they just managed to finish the canal side of the property by 7 this evening.  And that was just digging the holes and setting the posts in there -- obviously, they haven't cemented them in yet.  Looks like it will take them another two days minimum to finish the holes, then another couple days to set everything in concrete.  Once that's done, we may let them do the fencing for the dog yard, but they will have to wait until Mark gets home to begin installation of the actual horse fence.  We don't trust ANYONE that much!  Mark wants to be there to supervise every aspect of that fence construction.  So since he's going back to work on Tuesday evening, the horse fencing will have to wait for him to get home again in a couple weeks. 

No problem.  In addition to the dog yard fencing, we want to get more dirt hauled in to raise the elevation of Bug's paddock, and to fill in some low spots in the front of the barn porch.  We also need to remove the stall grid from the barn so Mark can fix the barn drain line that that last guy broke when he was grading around the barn.  So tomorrow will be "plumbing day" around here.  Seems the parish didn't run the sewer line from the road to where it makes the 90 to the house very straight, so these guys accidentally drilled into it in THREE places.  Sigh. 

Anyway, after the plumbing lines are all fixed, Mark will have to put the grid back into the stalls and get that last layer of crushed granite poured on top and tamped down good.  Then we just have to line the stalls with 2 X 12's and do the stall dividers. 

Mark wants to put cementboard on the walls of the stalls above the wood, but that COULD wait until after the horses come home -- as can the finish of the tack room and porch.  There's still a LOT to do, but I'm really hoping to have them home by Thanksgiving.  And I will be incredibly thankful if that's the case!

As for Ladybug, we pulled that tubing out of her ear tonight.  I forgot to take a picture before I applied the ointment to her skin, though, so you really can't see much in these pictures, but there was barely any bleeding or fluid from the two tubing openings once it was out.  It's still somewhat swollen at the base of her ear but I'm hoping, now that the tubing is out, that the swelling will be absorbed.  She's still on 16 antibiotic tablets a day, so . . . we'll see. 

And here - just because I'm tired of seeing that ear and I'm sure everyone else is, as well, is a picture of my girl from her "good" side.

I tried to turn her out this evening, but she pulled back and didn't want to go so I said, "Fine," and left her in her stall with the fan on for the night. She deserves to be wherever she wants to be.  She's going to LOVE being home where she can come and go as she likes every single day.