Howdy friends and neighbors. I apologize in advance this week if you have looked to my mess to gain wisdom over government policy, bailout head scratching, or a cure for a kink in your hot wire. Nope, this week is totally off the mark.
Have you ever considered what a day in the life of a t-post must be like? Now stay with me, valuable seconds went into the thought and preparation of this column. As I was making my bi-weekly, daily check of things around the ranch, I started to notice that all the t-posts on my place have a wide variety of jobs to do. Well, of course the obvious job is to hold the fence in place. But have you noticed all the different types of fence that must be held in place? Why, just on my tiny peace of blow sand on this vast earth, I have many different types of fence from seven-wire barbed to a single strand 12 gauge hot fence. I wonder if t-posts that get to stand in an eight-wire, fully stretched, all steel, double “H” braced stretch of fence are at the pinnacle of their profession? Or, could it be the pair of t-posts that get hand picked out of a tangled pallet load that get used as gate sticks? What about the single t-post that was the “chosen one” that gets tied to the bottom of the gate for “sag support” (not exactly the best brand name for a woman’s brassier) so critters can’t escape under the gate.
Other prestigious jobs held by t-posts might include being drove beside a frost-free hydrant only to be replaced in the future when they are run over by careless cattlemen, UPS drivers, school bus drivers, your best friend, your nosy neighbor, feed salesmen, nephews learning to mow, or yourself when your heard the commodity report and missed the brake. Anyway, what about the t-posts that just merely lean against the back of the shed for decades and seem to escape duty over and over again?
Ever give any thought to the t-posts that get re-used? Just think about if you were a t-post. There you have stood for years in the wind, rain, snow, dust storms, hail and fires. You have managed to survive brush beaters, section harrows, that lone covering disc on an offset that sticks out way farther than a tractor driver thinks, dove season, and seismograph crews. Then all at once you are plucked from you proud position and reused elsewhere. The life cycle is started all over again. I’m sure through the fencing network word travels fast when a brethren t-post goes down or is whacked by the above.
As one post talks to another, “Yep, ole’ gray top fought a good fight. Back in ott two he took a slap in the face from a sprayer boom, then in ott five he was smack dab in the middle of a raging bull fight. Them curly headed confused bulls left him a bit warped and covered with snot. The pipeline of o’ six was a rod short of taking him out like three others down the line. Word is they got re-used as tomato vine supports. Anyhow, last month ole gray top took a direct hit from a Krause chisel plow. Yep, nearly cut him in half, but he was still clipped on to the top wire.” “Yeah, I heard they used his bottom half beside a hydrant and his top half got welded to a hinge for a windmill shutoff.”
On the other side, I wonder if the lowest of t-post community stature would be the post that is used for a pry-bar, or a sewer line marker? Or the post that remains on the rancher’s flat bed under rotten feed and hay. But I would have to say the lowest of t-post jobs would be the ones that have to hold a politician’s sign that they just don’t support…..
I’m Monte Tucker, and that is what’s under my Sheffield #1.33 hat!
Let me know all the crazy things you have used a t-post for! monte@whatsundermyhat.com
