Post Pulling 101

Since we moved here to Westwood, we have not been short on home improvement projects. That may, actually, be the understatement of the year, but it's true. Each week, we put up a few top priorities on the fridge. Projects we would like to accomplish in the week ahead. There are so many of them, that it helps us focus on the task at hand and actually getting SOMETHING accomplished along the way. Instead of starting a dozen projects and feeling like we are getting nowhere...this has really worked for us.

One project we completed this weekend was pulling the random posts found around our 65 acres. They were left nekked in the hay fields after pulling down all the wire fencing last summer. These posts were used to fence and cross fence the property to contain the plethera of sheep belonging to Weswood's previous owners...those posts look lonely, don't they? We'll take care of that...they belong with the rest of the posts awaiting VIP status at our fall bon fire!

First, our oldest Brat must scoop up a good amount of soil into the front end loader. Her Daddy assists, as she is new to tractor driving...she took like a fish to water tho...she is a very capable young lady, and it seems, also a natural at driving tractor! This dirt will be used later to fill in all the holes left after the posts are pulled.

Here they come now....a load of dirt on hand, they are headed to the first victim of the day. Post #1. Poor little post....never saw them coming!

The Brat has to be real careful here, as she backs her Dad's tractor up to the post. Tractors, at least this old John Deere (JD), are not as simple to drive as cars. There are a couple more gear shifters and they don't start and stop quite so fluidly either...it took a great amount of finesse for her to get it just right. Daddy guides her infor the kill.

Now it's my handsome man's turn. He wraps a chain around the post. Quickly honey! Before it gets smart and run's for it! This post didn't have a chance! As you can see, this home improvement project is a family event. Let me introduce our key players...Oldest Brat on tractor, Middle Brat on shovel, Handsome Daddy on chain, Little Brat (also known as the biggest brat, not to be confused with the oldest brat) as supervisor, and Blue Dog as just another pretty face. That's the lot of them! I am standing in today as chief correspondance officer and media development specialist. Pretty important, huh?

After Daddy pulls the post out using the chain, Kaiti turns the tractor around and Tyler guides her back over the hole with the fill dirt. He scoops out the dirt and fills the hole left behind. This is an extremely important task, because if the holes are left there, a horse, human or just about anything could come along and step in them, causing a great deal of pain or even a trip to the hospital! Middle Brat is saving lives here, man! Go Middle Brat!

I bet you are wondering what happened to that ole post after Daddy man-handled it? Well, if I weren't the media specialist on this task, you might see me helping him get it loaded into the back of our truck. But I am, so you can see him do it, instead. WOW...I'm impressed. What a handsome man...and strong too...I like this pic...I like it a lot.

I like this one too...what a catch! Has a dirty, sweaty, stinky man carrying a shovel EVER been so handsome? Hmmmm, maybe it's just me...That's OK.

We basically repeated this process about 1277439958448 times until all the lonely posts were huddled together in the back of the truck. You'll just have to take my word for it, but I did unload them all by myself into the burn pile...I DID!

Just another day of family bonding. Perhaps the brats might have rathered do something a little less hot and sweaty, but I think in the long run this is just what the doctor ordered.

Happy Trails,

Leah