MENDING FENCES

4/28/99
My hands are as rough as the weathered hemlock boards I'm replacing
on my neighbor's fence. Leather gloves are behind the seat of my
truck but the wood feels like a friendly handshake after installing
vinyl siding last week.
 

About the time the original boards were put up around this small pasture
I became a carpenter. I chose that career because I enjoyed working
with wood. I liked the feel, smell, and sight of knotty pine, curly maple,
and black walnut. Nowadays most of the construction material I use
is plastic, aluminum or engineered lumber made from sawdust and glue.
It's well worth a few slivers to get back to the basics.


This fence held beef cattle before the horses that are tagging along
behind as I work. Cattle tend to think the grass is always greener
on the other side. Three strands of barbed wire are attached to the posts
to help keep them inside. I'll remove the wire after the boards
are in place. Horses have more respect for their owner's property.


All the posts were leaning outward from the strain of the steers reaching
through both wire and boards for a taste of the forbidden. Some
of them were rotted off at ground level.  New posts now replace the
broken ones and the rest have been straightened.
 

It has been a long week but I hate to see it end. I lean against the
fence and watch the young filly roll in the grass. A bluebird lands
on the post beside me and sings. Somewhere in the woods a ruffed grouse
putts his mating call.

 



My next job will be building a deck. Yes, it will be working with wood,
but pressure treated wood is more dangerous than slivers. I'll
have to wear gloves, goggles, and a dust mask. The jobsite is right
in town and cars will replace these horses. The natural peace
I feel now will be shattered by human activity.
 

That job has already taken weeks to prepare. Estimates changed three
times before signing the proposal. A copy of the contract and
a drawing had to be sent to the planning committee for a building
permit. An insurance certificate had to be sent to the owners. The
final draw could take up to a month to arrive in my mailbox.


A simple handshake sealed this fence repair bid and a check will be handed
to me when I finish.
 

I go back to work, but the sights and sounds around me will be played
back in my mind when the hustle and bustle of city life tries to rattle me.