Project Fence - All Phases Complete (Mostly)

We finished the fence! Just like the kitchen though, there are some minor details that might never get done, but for its general purpose - all three phases of the fence project are complete! Now we can just throw our kids in the backyard and not have to worry about them ever. -T

What made my thumbs totally raw the last week, became not only very simple, but almost fun! Totally bitter.

Double gate - complete - Backyard view
Front yard view

Single gate complete - backyard view

Front yard view

Our last major project before the circus comes to town

Project Fence Phase 3 - Educated Guesses, Or Just Guesses

We continued on the fence this week working Wednesday evening and Saturday morning. Wednesday, we put the top rail on the right fence and then put the gate posts in for the double gate on the other side, as well as put one section of top rail on. We ran into a few issues. The first was the fact that tying into our neighbors fence was not really possible since it was a corner post for them and had 4 tension bands at the top of the post. We love our neighbors though and they said they didn't care if we took the cap off to put our top rail there and then somehow glue the post topper back on. So, that's what we did. The next issue was the double gate was missing the latch. Instead of wasting time waiting, we just did our best guess of where the latch would hit just right. Eeesh. Saturday, we found we were DEAD ON with the latch! We put the last two posts up, did the top rail for it, finished the double gate and did the big section of chainlink on the opposite side. -T

Be sure you notice Todd's jeans!
After Todd sliced his leg working on the roof, his dad said,
"That's why you wear pants."
When my dad found out Todd had sliced his leg, he said,
"That's why you wear pants."
All this time I've never understood why my dad works out in the
yard--sweating profusely as we like to say--in jeans. Now we know. Thanks, Dads. You continue to teach us so much.
-L

Top Rail On

This is why we love our neighbors...a four foot fence wouldn't have worked if we had to go underneath.

Hmmm...I don't think it's level...this is us guesstimating

I always wondered what I would look like without a head and with a ghost behind me...now I know!

The single gate latch was 2 inches from the post, so...common sense said to do the double gate two inches from each other.




And on Saturday morning...we were right!
Putting up the chainlink

Detaching it at the end was rough - the instructions (which we read later) made it sound very easy. The way I did it was NOT easy and my thumbs were raw after this.

Just the tiny section to the house needs to be done and this side is finished!

Project Fence Phase 3 - Chainlink - The Final Phase

We bought our fence project materials over a month ago for Phase 3, but it's just been sitting in our garage because it has been so hot. The weather was cool for weeks and then when it returned to 90 degrees, we decided to start phase 3. Nice planning, eh? Might as well have started in August. Anyway, the ground was as hard as concrete. There was no way we could dig a 2 foot hole manually like we did for the wooden fences we put in. So, we rented a power hole digger. Help it did, but it was still a big time struggle to hit our mark. One our first day of work though, we were able to get all of the holes dug, 4 posts in, and the single gate attached - all before it got dark on a weeknight. Okay, so it wasn't all before it got dark, but that all did get done that day. -T

We still manually got in there though, baby! Just to clean out what the machine had done though basically.

We had to pull up some bricks from our sidewalk though!

This one actually ended up being the easiest hole to dig. Maybe because it's in the shade a lot?

24 inches...surronded by what feels like concrete...no lies.

I don't think gates are as effective without the rest of the fence...they're really just kind of in the way

It's going to be great though!

Pushing for Project Fence - Phase 3

So, we're not sure when we'll put the fence up in the front of our backyard, but this morning welcoming deer just might make us do it sooner than later. -T

"Hey! You haven't been eating our plants back here have you?!"

"That's right...you run away! But you can't do it in the back of our yard anymore sucker!"

"Oh that's great...taunt me...taunt me by taking a leak in our yard. You better hope you can hop fences if you ever wanna get in here again!" (seriously though, who knew deer peed like dogs pooped?)

Project Fence - Phase 2

After finishing Phase 1 - Lipnicki Fence - and taking a bunch of time off since our last project with vacations and stuff, we decided it was time to start our next project. That project is the Phase 2 of the fence project. We decided to do the wooden panels again, this time in the Ignoruson corner. We REALLY don't know these neighbors we share a back yard with because whenever we're both out they just ignore us. We gave them the good side of the fence again though. -T

The Ignoruson Corner

Placing the posts in was definitely the hardest - there were roots bigger than the Hulk's arm down there.

Lindsey always seemed to take pictures when I wasn't doing anything so I am acting like I am pouring concrete right here so it seemed like I wasn't a total waste (I did later pour concrete for real)

Complaint: There are bushes and trees in the way...Bright Side: It is totally shady here on this miserable hot day

Frame is up

Shhh...don't tell the tree huggers

Saved by the shade

We had to cut the top of this post off because we couldn't get this post planted as deep as we wanted to becuase of the roots.

Hopefully this isn't used as a step ladder to hop the fence

Three yards connect here - Dad dropped his pencil in "the other" yard three times. Luckily, Caden was there all three times to get it.

Almost done - the view the neighbors have from their yard

We kept most plants, some things did have to go though

The goggles were a hit

See told you...we kept most things that were there

Unfortunately, we found after we were done that we had built the fence over an elephant's trunk

Just kidding...it's not REALLY an elephant's trunk (got you Lindsey)

Ends are finished

As is Project Fence - Phase 2

And we kept most of the trees, plants, and brush

We'll Go On Vacation More Often If People Keep Wanting To Surprise Us!

When we got home from St. Louis, I went to throw trash out in the garbage can on the side of the house. I thought I noticed the fence being extended from where I left it. Sure enough, Mom and Dad came and finished our fence! They also put in a new bathroom door, a new knob for the basement, bought new smoke alarms, and put on the baseboards that were missing in the kitchen! We loved it and were so grateful for it! -T

The section on the far right was not there when we left

Nice work!

The green monster in full bloom

Where it's now connected

Spot #1 - Needed baseboards

Spot #2 - Needed baseboards
New knob
New bathroom door
Ah! It looks so much better than that nasty brown thing!

Not pictured: new smoke alarms