You know you want more fencing pics…. a few more recent highlights from D to C and C to B!
Luke
Tendai
George
Artwell
Team work
Garikai walking home on the other side
Garikai walking home on the other side
George and Ramius after a good day at the fence
Arrive at D, turn the corner and we are heading for C. Now we have to practice our downhill fencing skills.
Dogs at fencing D to C
D to C just before the decline
George checking the fence
A serious Garikai
Ramius nailing while the end of the fence is stretched strand by strand
Ramius up close
George manually tensioning for Ramius
Looking back on progress D to C
Last pole before the decline
George holding barbed wire strainer
Pulling the extra strainer between high and low poles
The team tackles the high to low problem
Tightening the high strainer
Bottom support for the same pole
More supplies arriving down the steep section
Garikai
A taste of things to come in C to B
And below the Hornbydale entry in the all Zimbabwe Adventure Fencing Competition 2015.
The C to B Adventure Fencing Challenge Competition
It has really arrived! The day we start putting up the 2.1m mesh fence supplied by Fence Secure of Msasa Harare and made in Zimbabwe (also termed Veld Fence or Bonox Fence).
I will post under the alphabetical boundary sections. We are starting from point E (close to the house) and heading off to D about 250m away to the east.
Ramius and Tendai on Day 1 of fencing
100m of fencing rolled out in front of the poles
I’m sure there is a technical name for this device – ‘fence grabber’ will do for now!
Using our custom made fence grabber for the first time
To pull the fence tight requires the use of a fence puller. The puller is tied on to the grabber (which is temporarily screwed down onto the fence) and then itself wraps around the straining pole (right of picture below). The straining pole has extra (barbed) wire tied down to a large stone(s) buried in the ground. You can just see the barbed wire below top right.
George attaching the fence puller to the fence grabber
As we learnt the hard way – the chain must not be twisted or else, sooner or later, the puller cannot grab any more links as they are twisted out of alignment compared to the jaws.
The chain must not be twisted!
George happily inspecting the fence grabber
The whole lot is tightened using the jaws, one by one, to grab and slide over successive chain links. There is a lever coming off to left below which provides the manual driving force.
The fence puller jaws
Manually helping the fence puller create that tension
Helping the fence puller along
Fence held tight by the puller
Hold the tensioned fence against each post
Nail the fence up everyone!
Nail it Garikai!
and repeat for 4.5 km
And if you must be tarred and feathered at least don’t do it to yourself ‘Hamletta’!
Tarred and feathered
New litter of five Jack Russell puppies
New litter of Jack Russell puppies
And, finally, more of our home made poles ready to continue the fencing journey.
Our lovely home made poles
In clearing the fireguard area more completely this year we have been able to tackle a large area of Wattle trees and make our own fencing poles and droppers (narrower supporting poles).
The Wattle is a highly invasive foreign species i.e. a weed in Zimbabwe that is out of control. Seeds can stay dormant for 50-70 years so its not going away anytime soon. Based on the clearing of the fireguard last year I can see new saplings (from previous roots) growing to 2.5m high in a single year! That is no joke when it comes to trying to control the spread and growth of this tree.
Wattle trees on the boundary
Loading 3m droppers on the trailer
Loading 3m droppers on the trailer
Wattle droppers loaded up
Arriving at their temporary resting place to be skinned by hand
Below right you can see the already de-barked poles left to dry in the sun.
Ramius and crew unload
Off they come
Mid air wattle
Garikai with de-barked pole
Wattle pole before drying
Still very heavy as you can see
Wattle poles after a month or so of drying in the sun
OK lets end with a true local botanical – at least in the foreground (wattle and pine in the background of both pictures below – you see the challenge!)
Indigenous aloe in winter bloom. Mufenge to left and right.
Aloe arborescens blooming on Hornbydale
Eastern Highlander 