  Contact me at theyoungfamily (at) earthlink (dot) net |
|
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 |
