Garden Fence Clearing - Part 4

While my pictures are not great of the progress today, I removed the remaining sections of fence.  In the picture below, the fence ran just below the tree in the lower left and then to the white shed before turning back to the left.  I removed the two corners and entire side this morning.  

The fence is now entirely removed....

After removing everything, I started the clean up process by rolling or folding up the removed sections of fencing.  

There are some newer fence posts which were on the side by the shed and older cedar posts from the remainder of the fence.  I drove  around loading it all up on the trailer.

I cut up all the cedar posts as they are old and I don't really have use for them.  While they are not great fire wood, I'll likely give them to our old Boy Scout Troop as they can certainly use it for fires in the evening this fall and this stuff is certainly dry.

Our city has a bulk trash and recycling program.  I was going to take the fence to the recycling center myself for the cash but would have only received about $3 and was just too beat.  I left it out and let the city handle the job for me.

The only task left is to remove the larger rocks from where the garden fence once stood.  It is not something I need to do immediately but I expect to handle that task in the coming weeks.

Brush Burning Progress

When I started the project of removing the fence, I began burning a brush pile that was in the garden.  I burned all the small items in the garden area and moved to the following pile which was created a little over a year ago.

Over the last few weeks, I've burned this pile down to almost nothing.

I'll need to finish burning this before long along with the larger pieces which are still in the garden.

Garden Fence Clearing - Part 3

Today I continued the long task of removing the garden fence.  The job is made especially difficult by the Texas heat.  It is now near 100 each day with high humidity.  I start early in the morning and end up completely beat by around 1 or 2 o'clock.

I removed the section of fence on the side of the garden which is closest to the cabin.  It was not very hard to remove but there was a large grape vine growing over it which took some time to remove first.  As you can see below, I rounded the corner to the right removing all the corner fencing which was left from my first weekend of work.  However, I did not get to removing those corner fence posts before calling it a day.

Before:

After:

The areas is starting to look much better already without the garden.  There are large berms of dirt where the garden fence was once located.  It seems they threw all the rocks along the fence while using the garden so removing the rocks and leveling the dirt will be a project for later.  I've probably got one weekend left to remove the left side of the fence in the picture below which runs behind the shed and down the left side of the garden.

Garden Fence Clearing - Part 2

I continued work removing the fence around the garden today.  Last time, I removed some of the fencing on the south side of the garden.  I picked up where I left of on the south side but then moved around and removed a bit of the west side of the fence.  While working on the fence, I've been burning a nearby brush pile which slows progress but is also something I need to do.

Before (fence to right of 4 wheeler):

After

After a bit of clean up:

Garden Fence Clearing - Part 1

One of my plans for the coming year is to remove the garden area created by the former owner.  The longer term goal is to create a large flat grassy area.  This area will then be fenced in long term as part of the home site.

To make this happen, I need to remove all the fencing and posts, burn the wood piles in the garden, and remove the rocks and dirt piled along the fence line.  Longer term, I will add the fence which will delineate the home site from the rest of the property.

I started the process a few weeks back by removing near thirty 8' tall t-posts placed around the perimeter.  These t-posts were not connected to the existing fence.  The previous owner added these t-posts so he could install taller fencing to keep deer out but I suppose that never occurred or it was removed as the top run of fencing was not in place when we purchased the property.

The picture above shows the t-posts before removal and below is as of the start of the day today.

I used an old water tough as a burn pit and was able to burn the two small burn piles leaving only the pile of very large stumps left to burn.  I also remove a bit of the fencing but that was more to use the t-posts for a different project.  

While not entirely related, I did take some time today to remove some barb wire that was run by the previous owner to separate the two tracts of land.  It was run many years ago and was not too hard to remove as it was rather rusty and there were only two strands running about 100'.

Excellent Quotes on Goals and Direction in Life

Be motivated to determine for you what is important and what is not.  Be motivated to do the important things with excellence.  Be motivated to stop doing the unimportant things.
- Ernie Zelinski

Perhaps happiness is always found in the journey uphill and not in the fleeting sense of satisfaction waiting at the peak.  Much of happiness is hope regardless of the depths of your starting point.
- Jordan Peterson

Dreams without goals turn into disappointments.
- Unknown

Too many people are working harder than they want, at things they don't like to do... why?  So they can afford the existance they don't care to live. 
- Bradford Angier

Our brains become magnetized with our most dominant thoughts.  This 'magnetic' force attracts the people and circumstances with our dominate thoughts. 
- Unknown

Being too far ahead of your time is indistinguishable from being wrong.
- Howard Marks

If you think you can or thing you cannot, you are right.
- Steve Davis

Choosing yourself right now in how you treat yourself, how you treat those around you, how you treat your efforts and your loves.  Nothing is more important than these.  Because when you rush to get to the mythical 'there' one day you will arrive and realize you missed all the pleasures and mysteries along the way.
- James Altucher

All men dream, but not equally.  Those who dream in the dark recesses of the night awake in the day to find it was all vanity.  But the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they may act their dreams with open eyes and make it possible.
- T..E. Lawrence

I always sought to win whatever the game was and only now do I realize how much I have been played by the game.  I played the game hard and willingly, always thinking I was winning something.  In the end, there was really nothing to win, or what I did win didn't really matter in the end.
- Unknown

A fool never understands what a wise man is doing.  If he did, he would be doing it himself.
- Unknown

Land Development Planning

After some consideration, I created the attached plan for developing our land over the course of the next four years.  I hope to complete the projects in order but may change things up some as opportunity presents itself.  

1) Garden Fence: The garden fencing and fence posts all need to be removed from the property.  The garden fence is quite old and is an eyesore, which blocks the view of the valley area just below the cabin.  This project includes handling the remains of the fence by recycling the fence wire and burning the fence posts.  This is best done first as the garden soil will need to be leveled when the skid steer is available.

2) Front Gate: We need to finish the new front gate area by adding field fencing which matches the rest of the fencing.  This needs to be in place by November 2019 to reduce the likelihood of trespassing hunters.  This will require a generator and my welder to fasten a mounting rod for the field wire which matches those on the rest of the fencing. 

3) Identify Home Site Area: We then need to determine what exactly is the perimeter of the home site area.  This will require that I clear a narrow lane over to the north property line.  The purpose of the cleared lane is not to be wide enough for the addition of a fence but to locate a straight line for a future fence and to delineate the area we will focus on improving.

4) Removal of Wood Pile: A small pile of wood is valuable for when I plan to cook my meals or for when we are staying out at the property.  We have accumulated much more wood than we need and it will ultimately be in the way.  We need to move what we plan to use and give the rest away so that it is no longer taking up space.  I plan to give a fair amount to our former Boy Scout Troop as they use wood quite regularly on campouts.

5) Brush Burning: We will need to spend time burning the brush which has accumulated from previous projects.  This is needed as our next phase will add a considerable amount to the burn piles.  We need what currently exists burned so the entire area is not essentially a large burn pile.  As a part of this process, we need to determine the best location for future burn piles and that should not be in the home site area or visible from the home site area.

6) Yaupon Clearing: The big project would then be clearing all the yaupon and brush from the home site area.  This project will begin with manual work to clear paths of entry for the skid steer.  Once the area is accessible by skid steer, the skid steer would be used to finish the project.  The earlier this is done the better as the land will look like a war zone for some time afterwards.

7) Fence Clearing: While the skid steer is available, the garden area should be leveled and the fence lane should be cleared to a reasonable width.  If time allows, the skid steer can be used to make holes for the metal fence posts.

8) Grass: The spring following the removal of the yaupon would be the best time to work the land and add grass under the trees.  This would obviously need to be a shade tolerant form of grass.

9) Home Site Fencing:  The home site area should be fenced with the remainder of the field fencing.   As part of this process, I will need to align the existing fence with the property line as it currently runs over on to my property.  This will take some work and discussion with the neighbor as the fence is now grown over and into a tree so it would have to be cut in order to be moved. 

10) Shed Removal: The shed is an eye sore and does not add value to the property.  The shed and the yaupon which blocks the view of it should be removed.  This will likely require the skid steer in order to remove the telephone corner posts.  As part of this process, we would need to decide if we would want to buy a pre-made shed or if we want to use my dad’s trusses to build a larger barn.

11) Water Line: I’d save this until the end as it will be the most expensive.  I’m not sure if we will recoup our money during the sale of the property.  It is hard to arrange due to the price.  While we have a water meter, we need to run a line 2000 feet up a easement road.