Squirrel!

Saturday morning, just like most mornings right about now, Daddy was digging a ditch, somewhere between 5 and 6 AM, and he looked at where the ditch started…

And where the ditch was going…

and realized that this is more or less the line where we want to build a gate across the driveway. This will allow us to give the chickens the ability to forage in the barnyard or the orchard without them getting into the lawn and garden.

And I thought to myself. Why dig twice? I have the post, I have the cement already, why not just put the post in while I’m at it. So I dug a little hole off to the side of the trench at the corner of the shop.

Dropped the post in, plumbed it, and tacked it to the eaves of the barn with Uncle Adam’s help.

Then I learned that I didn’t have any cement. Adam had used it to build a footer around the old well so that we can cover it with a steel plate for safety instead of a sheet of plywood.

So we moved the steel plate with the help of the (free) hand cart Mommy found for us on the side of the road.

Once the edge cures, we’ll slide that on there.

So after breakfast Daddy and Uncle Adam measured, plotted and laid out the locations for the three posts that will make up this fence/gate. Uncle Adam got a little digging on before he had to leave.

Daddy and the kids went to Wilco to buy posts and concrete.

Look who is big enough to move a sack of concrete all by herself!

She is getting big and strong and helpful!

Some scrap cardboard made a passable pier block form, and then it was time to pour.

As long as you support the sides of the cardbord adequately…

With lots of good help from the kids, we got the first post set in about 20 minutes. Then we moved to the second one.

After measuring we determined the hole was about six inches too close to the shop, so…

More digging.

Finally got that in place, then braced and plumbed it.

Now time to build the form, and pour more concrete.

We had Seppi running the hose at first, but he doesn’t really know how to control it yet, or pay attention to where it is pointing.

He kept washing the cement out through the cracks between the cardboard and the dirt. So we had to sub Evie in again, and build a berm around the base of the cardboard.

After that it went much more smoothly.

Winnie wants to help too!

Not bad for one morning’s work. Of course the trench didn’t get dug any further into the driveway, but, we’ll get there. A little digging now will save us a lot of digging later.