For the last few months I have been squirreling away money. I have a great second job that I love and allows me currently to put a bit away in savings. I had been putting it in there without real intent for a couple of months, and as the spring progressed we re-engaged in talks about putting up a fence.
Since we bought the house, almost three years ago, we have dreamt and designed the fence a thousand times. Sometimes it had port holes, other times it was a fancy mix of brick and wood, other times it was all stone work and yet other times it was varying heights and textures. We even had folks come out and give us an estimate of how much it would cost to have it professionally built, which was way out of our range.
Leading up to Alan's business trip to the Philippines, I initiated numerous conversations about "the fence." We would go outside together, look at where it would go, how high it might be, what materials we could use. We would sometimes agree and other times dreams of something fancier and/or more expensive would get in the way of agreement. Either way, we needed something that would allow us to open our front door without fear of Coco bolting out. We could enjoy the front yard without Coco on a tether, often wrapped around trees and uprooting plants. Something simple and affordable so that we could actually enjoy the end product, instead of dreaming about it until we sold the house.
I knew when I started the project it was either going to be received well, as in, "Oh wow, this looks great and I can't believe you were able to pull this all off. Thank you." Or, it was going to be, "Oh wow, I can't believe you did this. It's not what I wanted." It seems to have fallen somewhere in the middle of that. The good thing is it looks great, keeps the dog in the yard and outside - which seems to make him a happier pup and us happier pet owners. And, it was't terribly expensive, it's completely paid for in cash and we can always change it up as we have more resources and time in the future. Also, we have well over 300 more feet of property line that needs to be fenced in.
All this being said, on to the pictures!
First, the AMAZING Amanda Wright came to help me plan and then dig! We started with diggin' and sinkin' sooooo many posts. My poor arms ached for a week!
A few days later, lumber was procured!
Fence Day was a group effort! Amanda, my wonderful parents, even the kiddo helped out for a while!
Pa getting creative around the tree, Amanda building the gate and Nena taking a union break!
Just about done!
Nena got the flower garden in order and put in a new path.
A week later, with the fancy fence installed, I worked on a rose garden.
Tada! In a month or so we should have a beautiful array of flowers blooming!
Then there was the garden to be planted.
We will have tomatoes, kale, squash, strawberries, blue berries and cucumbers!
Coco enjoying not having to be on a leash!
Coco really enjoys not having to be on a leash! Much easier to frolic about!
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