Actually I didn't mind it so much. I really wanted to go riding, but also knew that it was a perfect day for using the nippers and the saw to chop down those nasty barbed briers and multi-flora rose bushes.
This was a tangled mess. And it is on a steep hill that runs into a little gully.
You can't bring machinery into the area and trying to use a blade attachment on the weed wacker would prove pretty difficult as the footing can be tricky also.
I brought a handsaw and a pair of heavy duty nippers.
I ended up using the nippers exclusively.
It is not a job for the faint of heart, the briers and thorny rose brush grab your clothes, your gloves, your pants...
I swear they are attacking you.
Bit by bit I nipped and tossed and went for the base of the bush. A few times I wondered if I shouldn't have hired this done and then discarded that idea. If you want something done to your satisfaction you have to do it yourself.
I spent 6 hours bending, nippering, and tossing small saplings and the thorny brush off from both the electric line and the barbed wire line fence.
I've convinced my husband that the Dexter Cattle should be rotated into this wooded lot. Dexters are excellent 'cleaners', they will glean most of the weeds that the mules and horses won't touch.
So we'll run an electric line on the inside of the hard wire to keep them from pushing on the elderly fence.
My neighbor has cattle also and his cattle rarely mess with the fence. However, the line fence does need replacing and that is a job that should be hired out.
I certainly am not one for stringing up 4 strands of new barbed wire for a half mile on each side of my property.
However, the job I did yesterday is done. Whew. That was some back breaking work.
Just some minor adjustments to these fence lines and things will be ready to move some animals out of their winter lots.
I hope the rain eases up too as things around here were still quite muddy as of Saturday.
The winds and low humidity yesterday helped dry out things quite a bit.
Next big job? Moving the gravel piles out of the yard and putting it back on the driveway.
Tuning up the lawn mowers, tilling the garden...
I guess there is never a day that I can't be busy outside.
Maybe that is why I like winter so much?
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