My neighbor, Roger Graham, put in my road and he did a fantastic job.I love the way he curved around the trees going up the hill even though it makes it a bit more challenging bringing a trailer in. He started the work in Jan but his wife was in a serious car accident and he had to postpone the work while he tended to her. She is fully recovered now, thank God. I did have to be patient because I could not move my barn in until the road was done but as it turned out developing my patience has been a huge benefit of this whole project. I have learned to wait on God’s timing and things actually fall into place. For now the road only goes to the top of the hill but Roger came out the other day and we are going to complete a turn around at the top of the hill that will allow big trailers to come in and out easily. While the road was a straight forward project, fencing is an ongoing challenge. I have all types of terrain from a small amount of bottom land, to pure caliche, to black dirt mixed with large rocks to solid rock. The challenge is you never know which you are dealing with until you start digging. Grant, there are some areas that are obvious like the bottom land but once you start up the hill all bets are off. One hole or T post may be great and the one right next to it a real bear. I have taken to testing with a metal stake and sledge hammer to see how far down I can go before I hit rock to find the best places to put my T posts. Most of the time I can find a spot with in a foot of where I need it but a few places are going to need a rock drill. for the post holes I have increased my appreciation of Sonny’s tractor. It can at least get the holes started even if we have to finish some of them by hand. Post hole digging is a fantastic way to clear any emotions of frustration. After about an hour beating away at a rock you tend to have a whole new outlook on life. There is nothing quite like the feeling of accomplishment of breaking through and getting into easy digging under it. I am putting pipe posts along the drive way and we had to have another tractor come dig the holes for this. The pipe is being cut now and when these posts are in I will be ready to string wire and hang gates. I seem to have the same challenges measuring gate openings that I have with length for cutting boards. Things never quite seem to be exactly the right length. My brain just does not hold a thought long enough to measure and then move to the area to make the cut or dig the hole. I have learned to accept this about myself and avoid carpentry and have gates made to fit the spaces I end up with. I am so thankful for my cousin’s help. I could not even begin to do all this especially the post setting myself. Those concrete bags weigh 80 pounds! In case you are wondering why I did not just hire someone I have 4898 ft of fence to put in and the going rate is $4 a foot. There is also something special about getting the property ready myself for the horses. When the fences are completed it will be a big milestone.