West side corral, day 3

The day didn't turn out as bad as forecast.  While we had rain overnight, the rain ended in the morning, and by afternoon the sky became partly cloudy.  I took advantage of the good weather to work more on my loading corral.

Naturally the young fillies came to "help" me again. They were up to their old tricks including trying to get their head in the pail to get a mouth full of nails. This time I was wise to them and kept the nails and tools away from them.  Instead they played with some short pieces of wood, first knocking them over onto the ground, then pawing them with their hooves to move them about.

One filly had to check out the dirt from a recently dug hole.

The horses do show their displeasure with my keeping the tools away from them as I later discovered several piles of fresh manure left in my work area while I was away getting something I needed.


I added two more railroad ties as posts today.  I find with each post I double check less and less.  My third post needed adjustment after I slid the tie into the hole.  Fortunately I was able modify the hole with the tie inside it though it took more effort to work around the tie.

I could have used my rancher girl here to help me as it was a challenge at times to hold the tie and then use a level to check on how to tilt it north or south and/or east or west to ensure the tie stood straight and in line with the rest of the ties.  Then once I had the right position I had to get dirt into the hole while holding the tie in place.  One tie I didn't use the level on and the top of the tie leans a little out (to the west).  With the dirt in place I can't move the tie by hand.  The lean is small and may be only noticeable when looking at the tie a certain way.  Still, it brings out the perfectionist in me and I may try pushing it slightly using my pickup.  *shrug*  We'll see.

I only have the corner post left to replace (for now) and have hopes to do that tomorrow if the weather holds.

Photo 1: where I ended last night.
Photo 2: part way through Sunday's work

Photo 3: Where I ended up Sunday night.
Photo 4: view from inside the corral.

While it looks like the bottom board is too close to the ground, when I started the first bottom board it was an appropriate distance from the ground.  As I've gone from south to north the ground has risen. I decided to keep the board level even if it means for some of the corral the board is close to the ground.