Sunday, November 10, 2019
I spent about 45 minutes after getting back from New Paltz setting up the new post - measuring its position multiple times to make sure it was in the right spot, then filling in around it with gravel, packing the gravel down, and then putting the dirt I had previously dug out of the hole on top of that and packing it down. Then the fun part - moving the two eight foot long sections of fence into position and securing them to the posts. It's not perfect - the new post wobbles a little bit and sticks a couple of inches above the pickets, and these sections don't quite match the other ones because my landlord had someone different purchase and drop them off - but it's good enough, and definitely better than the old one which was falling down. (Though I did notice that one of the cross-bars on the next section is rotting through, that that's probably the next one that will need to be replaced.)
(the hole on the lower right is intentional, to allow the skunks, possums, and raccoons in and out of the backyard. I suspect the local cats appreciate it too.)
Some reading this may wonder why I bother writing about projects like this (especially yesterday's practical application of a simple machine, the lever and fulcrum) given that I'm a "scientist" (really I'm not, I'm a teacher trained by studying science, but that a whole other discussion.) The answer is my actual training is as a theoretical astrophysicist, which is about as far from yanking post stumps out of the ground and installing new sections of fence as you can get without being Sheldon Cooper. Unlike Sheldon, I'm pleased to have some practical skills, especially since most of them are self-taught.
JMH
