Heart of Texas Farms

Last week I spent 3 days with my tree guy trimming and mulching the fence lines. Trees and fences don't mix. A few had fallen and pushed down the fencing in various areas. I contacted all the neighbors but one, who happened to be on a long vacation, to let them know I would be in the area on both sides cleaning up the tree line. The operator of the heavy equipment was one of the hardest working guys I had worked with in a long time and so I pushed him from area to area at a fairly brisk pace. I cut the boundary fence and got what trees we could that had fallen onto my vacationing neighbor's property and then hastily threw a nearby disgarded gate against the exposed area and loosely wrapped two wires to keep in place until I could get back and re-attach the five cut wires and we moved on to the next area. 

The next day I remembered the fence, but it was opening day for the blackberry U-Pick.  Andrew and the rest of the family had life get in the way, and I was left to watch over the field for customers. Then the next day was church, a big lunch with my parents, and a trip to the store for relief from bug bites. Over the three days I had acquired no less than 200 bug bites. It looked like chicken pox. During church it was hard to listen. I squeezed my elbows, wrists and ankles and attempted to not scratch. My dad said to try a concoction of finely ground oatmeal, vegetable glycerin, coconut oil and a bit of water.  So I lathered myself head to toe and sat my sticky self outside in my swimsuit as flies swarmed around me.  My neighbor, just home from vacation called and said, the fence had been cut, didn't know how or why and also his cows were on my side. I told him the cows could stay on our side, I really didn't care at the moment, the remedy just needed to take effect, and I would be out there in an hour to fix it and it was my fault for not getting the fence back together. He said he would fix it and not to worry. So I ran the water hose over myself, wriggled jeans over my damp and slightly sticky legs, ran to the barn for tools/wire and met him at the fence with oatmeal on my upper body and face. He was so kind and we both were drenched in sweat and he with blood from the fence. I feel really bad about it all and wish I had just stopped everything earlier and fixed the fence.