Fence Repair

Back from Missouri and was happy to get a chance to go back out to Rainbow Bay.  Gorgeous fall day so it was a great excuse to be outside for a bit.  We haven't had rain since a few days ago so there wasn't much to speak of in the buckets but it was a great day to do some fence repair.  Maintaining drift fences can actually be a lot of work.  Over time each bucket needs to be replaced, trees fall on sections of fence, holes show up under sections of fence etc etc.  The guys got most of the outer buckets fixed before the marbleds moved into the bay and now it's time to make sure all the inside buckets are in good shape before they come back out of the bay.  In the photos you can see the progression from upper left then clockwise where you dig out the old bucket, put in a new bucket--which needs to be flush with the fence, put a new sheet of fence over a worn out stretch and pack sand and dirt all around, and then replace all the leaf litter around the bucket so that hopefully you can barely tell anything happened.  sounds pretty simple but I'm always impressed with the care that goes into the process.  It's really critical that the bucket is as flush as possible to the fence, otherwise something the size of a salamander can walk along the fence and not fall in the bucket.  It's also really important to pack the sand and dirt down to make the surrounding area flush with the bucket top--even after rain and trampling--same basic reason--a salamander walking along the ground that bumps into the lip of a bucket isn't going to fall in!