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February 6, 2005
Bob War
Bob War - a.k.a. "barbed wire" to city folk...
Seems like the past few months have been an exercise in trying to find the most wretched tasks I can get myself into. You may recall the CT kitchen demo (October 24th entry) which was definitely gross. Well today I began the charming task of removing the old fencing that borders Sagle road. This isn't a cosmetic initiative, I actually have to do this to prepare enough room along the road for the installation of our deer fence. So the first thing that has to come out is the bob war, because you can't have any left when you begin bushhawging. I ran over a length of bob war one time and it took about five hours to clean it out from under the bushhawg. Good times.
Of course the fence is buried in sticker bushes, so the process involves crawling into the stickers with wire cutters, cutting the wire then pulling out the sections, then pulling out the posts. If the wire weren't so rusty I could just pull it out with the tractor, but it just breaks. And of course when it breaks it often leaves pieces hidden in the bushes, to be found later with the bushhawg. Good times.
But as with all frightful, wretched chores, the level of satisfaction is high once the task is finished. View the after shot.
As soon as I saw how much nicer the land looked with all that crap mowed down, it was an instantaneous decision to not put up bob war again, but to create some kind of nice landscaped entryway heading out to the field. In the months/years to come we'll be having visitors coming out to the vineyard to see how we're doing, and first impressions count for a lot. There is NOT going to be some shitty rusty fence leading into our place, so we're conscripting Lupe Esmerelda Conchita Alonso (d.b.a. "Landscaping by Lupe") to create a landscape design for the entrance.
Note - Lupe is actually the stage name of Rebecca Mackey, horticulturist extraordinaire. She did the design for our wedding - have a look. Lupe is the rightmost bridesmaid.
Posted by Stephen at February 6, 2005 8:49 PM
