I get along great with my neighbor, Curtis, and he was fine with it. So, rather than reconnecting the strands of barb wire, I put a gate in the fence.
Now.. with all my experience with gates (this was the 5th gate this year [I've yet to blog about the two gates and fence rebuild I did in July]), one would think I would have this gate done in three days. Nope. It took me two weeks.
I only could find time to work on the gate usually and hour or two before sunset.One day to: select three railroad ties as posts.
One day to: select the two gates and move some stuff away from the fence area. I didn't like the two gates as they were 10 ft gates each. The space between the trees was 18 to 19 ft. A 20 ft gate would mean the railroad ties for the gates would be right next to the trees. I didn't like that. Also the two gates were different styles and colors and didn't really match. I only had one 16 ft gate left and that gate was planned for the hayfield/south pasture fence. I slept on it.
The next day: I switched to using my last 16 ft gate. I'll put the two 10 ft gates in the hayfield/south pasture fence. I took down part of the fence. I partially dug a hole for the railroad tie to hold the gate.
The next day: finished the hole and set the railroad tie. Got several boards I planned to use between the gate and the hayshed. They were castoffs to their burn pile of a building company.
The next day: found another railroad tie to use between the gate and the hayshed. Dug a hole and set the railroad tie.
Next day: nailed the four boards to the railroad ties. Drilled holes in the supporting railroad tie and hung the gate.
Next day: dug a hole and set the railroad tie on the other side of the gate.
Next day: I like how the original four boards looked. I had two more of that length (14 ft) and two more that were longer (18 ft). Decided to use them on the other side of the gate. Got the boards. Also selected another railroad tie.
Next day: dug a hole and set one railroad tie.
Next day: partially dug the last hole for a railroad tie. Talked with neighbor Audrey till dark.
Next day:finished the hole and set the last railroad tie. Curtis was outside so he helped me as I nailed the last four boards to the railroad ties. That made hanging the boards go much quicker.
Next day: dug a short hole for a short railroad tie. This tie is used to support the end of the gate. The gate is 16 t long and heavy. Even adjusting the supporting bolts it is difficult to make the gate hang level. it just wants to droop. And droop more so over time. Hence, the supporting tie. Then it rained.
Next day: cut to the new length and reattach the strand of barb wire and also the remaining snow fence. Start wrapping up the now unused barb wire. Then it got dark.
Last day: finish rolling up the unused barb wire. Get rid of the old now unused snow fence. Roll up a short section of the snow fence still - kind of - good. Clean up rest of work.
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The gate to the hayshed is 12 ft. I ran the extra two feet of boards past the railroad tie. This way it provides a block so the cattle won't try to squeeze past the last railroad tie post.
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