New Fence!

I really want to make this a post. You know, thoughtful words about the results of fencing in your gardens. Maybe some griping about how if you hate the very idea of using treated lumber and/or chain link in your yard--and cannot afford anything cool and sustainable like bamboo stockade (do they make that?)--your choices for fencing are very limited.

But frankly, I am "one whupped puppy," as the saying goes. Brian dug all 16 of the holes by hand with the help of Dad's old post hole digger. Mom and I mixed most of the cement in the wheelbarrow that I trashpicked from a guy down the street this spring, and I shoveled it into most of the holes while Dad made sure the posts were level and in line.

Dad and I handled the first 8 or 9 panels, with Mom making sure we were level, and then Brian took over my job when he finished digging the holes. (He encountered many rocks, and even a surprise brick embedded about 6 inches underground, so that was quite a task.)

These pictures were taken while there was still some light on the back half of the longest fence side, but before we finished up. After the picture, the posts were all topped off at the same height and we worked on cleaning up our mess.

I will probably stain my side of the fence eventually, but it all should sit and "cure" for a while before that happens. That's a good thing, as I doubt that my back could take much more work! But tomorrow, we have one more project to complete: We need to build a gate out of fence panels (because I'm a pain in the butt and want it all to match, dammit) and hang it.

Sounds like fun, no? Well, it could be worse... without my Dad, and his general expertise, and all of his fun toys (who knew that they made cordless circular saws?) we would probably still be trying to figure out where the fence posts should actually go, and what to do first. It always helps to have a good foreman--somehow, I was lucky enough to be born to one!