Back in this post, I introduced the new project/airstrip property.  Since that time, a name has revealed itself!

Cielo Grande

Cielo Grande means “Big Sky” – and it has plenty of that!!

New Mexico is a ‘fence out’ state.  As ridiculous as this sounds, it’s true.  ‘Fence out’ means that if you don’t want your neighbors cattle on your property you have to fence them out.  Yeah… I know – seems reasonable for the owner of cattle to be responsible to keep them on their own property – but that’s not the case here. Cattle are such dirty, nasty creatures to begin with – add in how quickly they could destroy my airstrip and I am clearly not a fan.  My fence was in need of attention to keep my neighbors cattle out, so armed with the necessary equipment, I sprung into action – in about eight months.

The old fence corner posts were pretty nice railroad ties.  These were still in great condition but were falling over due to poor installation.

There is some interesting ‘science’ (or at least geometry) to installing barbed wire fence corners – or ends of a run, commonly called an H-Brace. Basically an interesting way to resist the pulling forces of the tightened barbed wire.  There are some good articles and videos online if interested in the details.

When I arrived, I spotted this forest fire on the nearby ridge.

It looked like this at night. My phone really doesn’t like long range night photos – sorry…

Here is the starting condition. Well… mostly. At this point, I had just finished knocking the posts over.

This is one very useful piece of equipment – a gas powered post hole digger/auger from Harbor Freight.  Another Harbor Freight gadget that was very useful was an electric chain saw.

Posts back in the ground and installing the cross post.

All braced up and now tensioning the barbed wire.

 

The yellow thing is a fence stretcher. It grabs onto the wire (either one or both ends) and allows you to crank in the tension in the wire.  Works pretty slick – keep your fingers clear!!

My loyal stuff hauler full of stuff!  Seems like a lot of stuff to repair fence!!

Up next was a corner without a gate.  The start was a real mess. Hard to see in this photo but all kinds of wire twisted in amongst that mess. It took a while just to clear it out so we could move forward.

New posts, properly planted!

And done…  Looks strong, feels strong, probably is strong.

Driving home, I spotted another forest fire near the VLA. These forest fires are caused by lightning strikes from thunder storms. We sure do love the rain that the storms bring but could do without the lightning/fire.

A couple of good hard days work. I was exhausted but feeling better about the odds of my neighbors cattle getting onto my airstrip and destroying it.