Wednesday, March 2, 2011

I am so awesome

hahaha, and I have no modesty.  Actually, I am forced to brag on myself because Matt followed me around the yard while I showed him all I had done and the whole time he was looking at his phone and doing things with it and asking me questions like, "And the fence will turn here?"  2 seconds after I told him, "I dug 2 more post holes, so the fence will go all the way to there."  And he did the 'uh huh' that people do when they are totally NOT paying any attention. 

So, today I dug 17 holes with the post holers that were all 2 feet deep and 2 more holes that were not.  I placed 7 wooden posts and need to buy 14 more.  We are fencing in the entire yard all the way around the house.  All the way across the front, I am using landscaping timbers as fence posts, mainly because they are WAY cheaper than fence posts ($3 compared to $8).  But I also like that they are so tall, it makes it look very daunting. 

In between digging, which did not really take all that long, I pulled up about 1500 (no exaggeration) privet sprouts in the side yard and clipped privet back like a crazy person.  Jake and I burned a HUGE pile of dead limbs and privet and leaves.  I raked the entire yard and moved the camper and raked up all the little bits of stuff from the repair job and burned that.  I cleaned out around the mailbox and transplanted 12 forsythia bushes, laid a brick path and dug up about 100 tiger lily bulbs. I still need to thin the lilac sprouts.

I plan to, once the posts are in the ground and set and the fence itself is up, run wire from one post to the next along the top (8 feet high) and string white lights across the front of the yard.  And hang baskets of flowers between each post.  Or maybe just train some jessamine to climb the posts.  I still don't have a working garden hose to water hanging baskets.

I think it will look awesome when I am done, I am thrilled with what I managed to do today.  We have the metal posts and all the fencing and already had 7 timbers and the post holers.  It will only cost the amount for the remaining wood posts and the zip ties to hold the fencing in place.  Then the roaming pack of dogs will not be able to get into the yard at all and our dogs will have a full 2+ acres fenced in and will be able to go all the way around the house and lounge on the porch and all of that good stuff.  They can even lay under the cedar tree and still be in the 'pen' and safe at home.

I am pretty excited about having the yard all in one piece again.  I am fencing the whole of what I mow, so now there's no separate dog and people space, it's all yard.  Luckily the dogs will only poop in tall grass, so I can leave a section for that and not have to dodge or scoop to use the yard.  Having a fence across the front will make it feel more snug inside, too.  I am leaving a section of fence at the old driveway that can be opened so we can push Poppy into the fenced area to store her.  I may even put up a covered storage area at some point in the future.  Jake and I walked out a place to put a sitting area and fire pit.  It all feels more homey with a fence going up, like it's an extension of the house.

I took some before shots and a few today with the posts leaning all kinds of ways in the holes.  I will post those later, I am beat and then some.