  Contact me at theyoungfamily (at) earthlink (dot) net |
|
10 April 2008
Fence Photos
 07 April 2008
Please Fence Me In
 Well, it's done. (Actually, it was done before 3:30, but I've just had the time to post about it now.) I don't think photos are necessary, since it's just your garden variety "dog ear" top six-foot privacy fence. If I take photos it will probably be after we have it stained. Besides, you don't want to see outside right now. The yellow pine pollen covers everything with a thin, gritty coating. It's disgusting. The leaves on the bushes out front are coated and I can't even rinse them off. If you look out the window, everything is suffused with an icky yellow-green glow and when you come in you have to wipe off your shoes because they have yellow dust stuck to them.(The one mistake I did make was keeping the side and front windows open while they worked. They raised a lot of pine dust out there and now the sills and on things close to the window everything is coated with yellow dust. Ugh.) The crew came, worked to music which didn't bother me much since I had the windows in the rear closed, cleaned up, and left (they didn't even ask for the check; I assume either the supervisor will come back for it or they will send me a bill for the balance). They did put in the second gate, and when I went out there to inspect I was astonished to find it perfectly counterweighted so it doesn't swing all the way open on the slope. You can open it to any angle and it stays there. Wow. Anyway, once I had inspected I snapped on Willow's leash and took her out back. When she encountered the fence she tried to go around it and I had to tug her out of the neighbors' yard. I let her off the leash once inside the fence and she did her business and sniffed around, and came both times when I called. I had to watch her since the back fence is high enough off the ground so that she can get underneath it. We are going to buy wire edging and put it along the fenceline to solve that problem, but for now she behaved quite well. They cleaned up nicely and the only problem I did see was that there are already two ant beds out there. !@#$#$!@$#$$%!! bugs! Please Fence Me In--The Installation Edition
We had a bobble on Friday, when they were supposed to come. As I explained elsewhere, they need electricity and water to install the fence (water for the concrete and electricity of course for the saws). At the morning job they had Friday, the electricity failed and they had to use a generator to finish the job. The supervisor told me they would definitely come today, and they have; working as I "speak," so to say.He said I didn't need to be here, but it was a good thing I was, since there was some question on where to put the gate so that Willow would not get under it. (If they put it in the middle, there would have been a big gap underneath.) Once they finish, we will need to go get some wire edging (which we looked at at Lowe's yesterday) to set out the length of the back fence that separates the property from the trailer park, since it is some inches off the ground and Willow could easily get under it. Willow has at least quit barking, although she lets out an occasional "woof" when the sound gets loud enough. I had to shut the side window where they were installing the corner fencepost since the sound of them driving it into the ground was making Schuyler nervous. Labels: yard 03 April 2008
Please Fence Me In--Interval
Well, now we know it's going to happen: the grass is covered with red marks showing where the utilities are buried.Labels: yard 02 April 2008
Please Fence Me In--Part 2
27 March 2008
Please Fence Me In
The "fence estimator" has come and gone. Maybe I am naïve, but I never realized a fence would be that inexpensive, since I have never had to get a quotation for that sort of thing. The fence behind the house I grew up in was existent when my folks bought the property and my dad replaced it himself when it was nearly 50 years old and falling down (but we had chain-link and that was easy for him; we can't have chain-link here), and there was a picket fence between our property and the Santamarias' land. I was expecting something like $3000-$4000. Of course, we don't need a fence on one side, either, since Josh and Susan already fenced in their property. I guess if we had had to order an entire fence it would have been quite a bit more. I am told the company uses "Yellowwood" and the fence itself is warrantied for 20 years. (You can have the fence stained for an additional amount, but that does not affect the length of the warranty.) They have also advised we have a gate on either side, which we both think is sensible, and will make sure we have at least one wide gate so if we ever have someone who mows the lawn who uses a ride-on mower, they will be able to get through.The fescue in the back yard is getting quite scruffy, so I will have to call the new lawn-mowing guy. The Bermuda grass in front is just starting to emerge from hibernation. Any day the pine pollen will start sifting in little drifts on the deck. We figure since we can't hose down the deck this year due to the water restrictions, once the pollen deluge is over we are just going to have to sweep it off best we can and take all the lawn chairs to the car wash. The tassels on the pine trees around the building at work are fat with yellow pollen, but I don't see any tassels on the pine trees in our yard, just cones. Still, I found my car with a fine sprinkling of yellow on it Tuesday. Spring is galloping in apace anyway: all the trees are in bloom except for the dogwoods, daffodils wave from yards and around Smyrna city center, some places the forsythia and the snowball-like Bradford pear trees are even leafing out. I have all the windows open today (it's about 73°F right now), but no fans since I don't want to deliberately pull that muck in here. 23 March 2008
Happy Easter!
Easter was so early I didn't get to post my St. Joseph's Day altar. Happy Easter!     Foyer things:  The rose I bought for Mom on Valentine's Day:    Dining room:      These goofy-looking chicks are from JoAnn, I think (either that or Hobby Lobby):  These more traditional chicks are from JoAnn, sitting on the satellite box:  Stuffed animals guard the Easter candy on the hearth:  "PLEASE can I have some chocolate?" "CERTAINLY NOT!"  Schuyler had watermelon for the first time today. She loved it!  Labels: decorating, Easter, St. Joseph's Day 21 March 2008
Around the House
Actually, "behind the house" describes the upcoming project better.We feel it's time to get a fence around the property, or, more properly, the back of the property, since by the terms of the covenants, the fence can't extend past the back wall of the house. (I wonder how negotiable this is since the president of the homeowners' association has a fence that does come closer to the front, but it is an iron post fence rather than the privacy fence that surrounds the rest of the property. He did so to fence off the A/C unit away from his two big dogs.) It would be nice to let Willow run free in the back yard. Kristi and Kelly across the street had quite a nice-looking fence put up around their property, so I was asking her about it at the homeowners' association meeting. She highly recommended the fencing company; while it wasn't the cheapest quote she got, they came on time, didn't leave a mess, were very professional, explained everything, and found the property line. Sounds good to me. I have arranged to have someone come over for a quotation next Thursday. In the meantime, we have finally found homes for Mom's two end-tables that we brought home, but were displaced at Christmastime by a new side table next to James' recliner and a new night table on his side of the bed. One I had already placed in the library to hold the lamp next to the papasan chair. Yesterday after work I got a wild hair and replaced the table next to the futon in the spare room with the other end table. Now if we have guests, there is plenty room for them to put their things next to the "bed." I used the smaller table for the retro Crosley "Musician" that I bought a while ago, since my stereo system didn't play 78 records and I wanted to play Mom's old records. It's tucked nicely in a small corner of the spare room. Labels: decorating, yard |
