We really need a fence!

I've not done much around the property the last couple of weeks. I've been taking advantage of the rainy season to finish my book, which I'm happy to report is done! Yay! Now, I'm rereading and editing, so it's not completely done. Once I feel satisfied, I will get an editor to review it to get a second, more objective, perspective. I can't wait to publish it on Kobo. It's all very exciting and a little scary, too, but I rarely let fear get in my way.

And while I've been writing, Kevin has been working on the garage door. He's adding barn wood doors to add some rustic flair to the place. It's looking awesome so far.

At about 9 am, I go out to bring eggs to Clara, who is just getting ready to leave from her two-hour weeding job. Kevin notices a black and white cow on the hill where our avocado trees are. He and I pick up two walking sticks and mosey on over to usher her off the property. We've done this before: we tackle it like pros now. As we get closer we notice another cow, then another. There are five cows happily eating the lush, wet grass on the hill. Martin's not cut it for a while so the grass is long and from what we can see ... delicious. For a second, Kevin and I consider letting them graze, but think better of it. The earth is so soft, the cow's hooves are making huge indents and making a mess of things. Kevin, Clara and I manage to corner them in such a way that they leave the same way they came in ... through the trails by the river. Grr. We now know who the cows belong to and we know he doesn't own any land to put his cows on. What a strange set-up. Who buys cows without land? No wonder they roam around looking for fresh, green pastures. Who can blame them?

Our property officially borders the road and river. A few months ago, Kevin and I were walking around doing an inventory of all the things we need to either fix or add to make the farm run more smoothly. One of the items on our list was to build a fence at the entrance to our trail, which starts close to the road, right beside the river. The river does not belong to us, so we cannot stop or block anyone (or anything) from walking through the river. We can, however, make it a little more difficult to walk through our private trail.

It looks like building a fence to prevent unwanted guests from making their way onto our property has become a priority. We'll ask Martin to get started on that right away—not only to keep cows away, but also to deter people from meandering onto our property. We've had found people meandering onto our property, probably thinking it's a public area. To be fair, there are no signs to tell them otherwise. We don't really mind, as long as they keep the trail by the river clean and tidy. Unfortunately, some do ... some don't. So, we'll make it clear they are trespassing if they go beyond the fence. Mostly, we just want to keep the cows away. We'll see what happens.