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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. |