OK (Boomer) Corral

 

So here is the original structure to the round pen, with only side "bars" to be added. Don't tell the horse that the "rails" that will run along the side are only electric fence tape (2" wide) that are (obviously!) NOT electrified. The appearance of fence will work because she's not a young, crazy horse and isn't going to be throwing herself at the fence like a mustang fresh off the range. Nico/Neko is a level-headed 9/10 year old who just needs tweaking and bonding (with me!) through ground work.

Here I am on Nico/Neko who is listening to me and saying, "Whaa?!??!" She didn't get that I wanted her to just stand there so I could take this photo; this is yesterday where she's still at the horse farm. Just wait until she gets home! She has no idea how nuts we are!!! Hahahhahahhaha!!

And here's the (almost) completed round pen:

Looks pretty good, right? All I need to do is make a gate that fills this OK Corral-type opening:

Maggie (remember her?) seems to get that this is a somehow horse-related intrusion into her grazing area. She's been flirting with walking around the edge, grazing and giving the fence the side-eye. Just wait until SHE sees me and Nico/Neko playing in it!

More of What Artists Do in Their "Free" Time

(And exactly what is "free time", anyway? Bob and I seem to specialize in lurching from one major project to the next. I admit to lying about all that free time we'd have after the chimney.) Here it is the end of November and we're still finishing up the horse fence. Which involved plenty of digging and driving in of all kind of fence posts. Remember us digging holes, several months back? Lots of holes as previously announced in another blog posting, in almost another life time...
So far, it resembles a mini Christo (and Jean Claude) project. We have hundreds of feet of electric poly-tape horse fence festooning the "back forty" awaiting final connection to the posts. As we are using several varieties of posts- mixed metal and wood- we need different insulators. Those are the plastic devices that afix the tape and wire conductor materials to the posts. Imagine my surprise when I discovered that the company that sells you poly fencing doesn't sell all the various shape of connectors needed... thank goodness yet again that Bob and I are clever and capable and will create our own insulators and adapt those that are available. Bob thought to use those little plastic electrical tapes that are used to bundle wires. We found them at Home Depot in exciting neon colors (they were out of black)and it made the job that much more festive and entertaining. I think The Horse will likewise be amused at our sense of playfulness:

I am being ironic here, as it was a pretty miserable day to be doing this relatively lightweight job. It was drizzling and chilly and we were chilled to the bone.
Oh and an aside to all of our tasteful friends who no doubt will shudder when they see the screaming white plastic fence bisecting our property: we will replace the white tape with nearly invisible wire in the future. We are also sensitive to the graphicness of this tape fence, BUT as it offers superior visiblity, The Horse will see it and not try and run through it. It's a temporary fix to get Crispin home and carefully contained.