Sometimes the weather has a huge part in dealing with what goes on the to-do list next. Like last November, when a windstorm showed our tired, gimpy fence who was boss. And also showed our brand-new puppy how to escape after the wind blew out enough boards for him to get through. And also just like this September, when the sun finally decided to start giving us a fabulous summer, and enough time to build a new fence. Huzzah!
Behold! Our sad, sad fence (notice the emergency puppy-containing patchwork):
So, a bit of destruction ensued (thanks to Bryan, our neighbor with a Bobcat, and a bit lot of help from my parents):
Pouring concrete and replacing the doors in the fence-- we've decided that no one should ever park in the backyard. No bueno. Not going to let it happen in the future either.
All day Saturday, and all day Sunday. What we learned?:
1) If the previous owners of your fence have planted their 4x4's in a row of concrete, do NOT try and dig out the 2+ feet of rotten wood out of, well, cement.
2) September in Washington is hot. 90 degrees outside of manual labor? Yewch. Still convinced I'm made of part moss.
3) HGTV is nearly always right. Projects never finish as quickly as you hope they would!
Documenting the headache that is trying to dig out old boards out of concrete:
So, a weekend's worth of work to show some unevenly planted 4x4s, but many lessons learned! (Ok, more than listed, but still! +3 homeowner points for us. Woo!) Tomorrow? 2x4 horizontal boards and the actual fence goes up... wish us luck!
