We’re surrounded by dogs. That is to say, the neighbours on either side both have dogs. On one side is Monty, who sometimes barks a bit but soon settles down. Although a fence panel came down a couple of months ago and is currently replaced with a flimsy plastic mesh, he knows his territory and has stayed on his side of it even when the wind has lifted it up at the bottom. On the other side is Edie, another small dog, who barks and growls more and settles down less. The fence on that side is also not in a great state and yesterday, we discovered that she could get through.

My task this afternoon was to secure the fence. I was able to tack the mesh on that side back to the frame with those hammer-in staples but I wanted to reinforce it. We’ve got some branches in the back garden that were broken on one of the trees and we got permission to saw off earlier in the year so I took a few straight lengths and used my hatchet to knock off side shots and then fashion the ends into a point to make it easier to drive them in the ground.

Hatchet? Making pointy sticks? Yes, ladies and gentlemen, this afternoon there was a hack at stake! Pun aside, the hatchet did a decent job, especially after I got the technique sorted out.