Long Hours Fencing

I've spent more hours fixing fence the last three days than I have in a year. I had neglected the fence this year so was "inspecting" it from the cab of the swather as I cut the field of oats. Shocked to discover that one stretch was pretty much gone. Being submerged in water for years will do that to a fence and this dry summer has taken away the water leaving no barrier except for the beaver trenches. Which the cattle could have easily walked through if they had tried.
Finished the field and figured I"d still have enough daylight to at least get one wire up. Turned out to be a major task. Jumping over the beaver trenches carrying a roll of barbed wire and various other fencing tools, stringing out wire through mud and over broken water killed trees, tangled and rusty "re-cycled barb wire" was a real test of patience but I got a couple of wires in place. Finished the job up next day and decided to inspect the rest of that field border. Again I was shocked to find places where dead fallen trees had put the wires down to near ground level and it was just pure luck the cattle had not found it. So, more picket pounding with the big heavy old hammer. Most locations were inaccessible to use the tractor and front end loader to drive the posts in so I got more than my share of exercise. Posts are hard driving when the ground has dried but that has not been a problem for years. Luckily we are past the wood tick season and there are very few mosquitos.
Had to fight my way through a veritable forest of bulrushes in some of the dried up sloughs. I literally used the chain saw to cut them down in one spot. These in the picture tower above the fenders of the Massey as I drove through.