Labor Day Panic

And suddenly, it was September.

My hubby checking alignment before the final stretch.

Do you, as I, get a little feeling of panic when September roles around?  As hard as we work during all the long days of summer, there still loom ahead an endless number of home and farm projects to do before winter.

This is the time of year when I realize that they just won’t all get done, and I start to shuffle the priorities to make sure the essentials are completed. 

Twisited splice connecting two rolls.

For me, one essential this year is to finish building a safe, sheep pasture. 

Recently, we were working on the final 1000-foot stretch of fencing, the part on the horse side of the sheep pasture, using horse-safe field fence.  It’s 50 inches high, woven together with strong wire knots with two-inch by four-inch mesh, sized so horses can’t get their hooves through it.

The splice is almost invisible.

As we were stretching a 200-foot section, I noticed, in the horse pasture, a little pile of temporary fence poles and electric tape fencing that I had left out by mistake.  I had to laugh, because that little assemblage of fencing materials was what my husband and I had initially used in trying to contain the ram, Webbly.  That day, Webby not only easily slipped through the tape fencing, he also leaped into the air as high as my five-foot-five-inch-high head.  It was an awesome and humbling display, and it led us to stretching this expensive, tall and very sheep-proof fence along the 1000-foot pipeline right-of-way at the border of the property, a mowed area that is perfect for pasture.

This border fence is also, not coincidentally, suitable for keeping cows OUT.

Pete's actual cows.  Loose.

The sheep pasture is one project that definitely will be completed this year, and there are a few more “for sures.”   

Another is the board and batten siding and a proper door at the south end of the horse barn.  It will replace the canvas tarp that has hung there, in its military mustard-colored frumpiness, looking like a poorly fitting housedress, since Hurricane Sandy blew through.

Still another must-do is the running some electric to the new barn, a chore that will, no-doubt, cause my sister to accuse me, once again, of having a “wiring the barn” addiction.  

Are you feeling that urgency in autumn’s shortening days?  Here’s hoping that the last wire will be twisted and the last nail pounded on all your panic-causing projects before the first snow flies.

The sheep, performing their usual activity.

Apples = Autumn.