Today we have a special treat! Tyler (my husband) has written a post about fencing in the yard this weekend 🙂 Enjoy!
If there is one thing that became obvious while playing with Dolly in the back yard is that the pup can run! Not that we were surprised that a greyhound / pointer could get around pretty well, but the energy level is rather intense. Emily and I had discussed fencing in the remaining 20’ or so of yard at the top of the driveway when we got Dolly, but that kind of got put on the back burner when Spring decided to have an identity crisis and snow in late March.
This past weekend was the first day above 60 since sometime in December, so we were roaring to go with the fence project. I built up some good will to get Emily to help me by making her some felt flowers for her wreath the night before. The next day I used that as leverage to get into Lowe’s for a spending splurge (Not that I ever need leverage to get Emily into Lowe’s, right babe?).
I ended up talking to an employee at Lowes for 4-5 minutes and had all the pieces and parts I needed for the fence project. We got 6 posts, 4 tension rods, 12 tension rod clamps, 1 Gate, 1 Gate hinge assembly, 1 gate latch assembly, 40 bolts / washers, a sledge hammer, 2 potted plants, and a kneeling pad. Now some of you expert fencers are laughing now, who gets 6 posts and only 4 tension rods??? Come on Tyler! Yeah, my bad. Also, forgot to get a longer bolt for the gate hinge, but in my defense, it wasn’t labeled on the color coded assembly chart. So 1 strike against me, and 1 against Lowes.
I got home and found the rubber mallet I had laying around, which I planned to use to get the posts started. I don’t care who you are, slinging a 8 pound sledge hammer above shoulder level and trying to have any efficiency is a losing battle. We got Dolly hooked to the shed somehow with Emily’s ingenuity. She loved just sun bathing and smelling each new piece and part I got out of the bag. Meanwhile, Emily has taken her new gardening gloves and kneeling pad around the front and begun weeding the flowers we planted a while back! She got all the weeds out and arranged her new potted flowers on the front porch to her liking, and came around back to help me out! In between straightening posts, or assisting in applying the clamps, she rested with Dolly and they enjoyed the 60+ Degrees! Woo!
Cutting the fence was something I hadn’t really planned for too well. However, my mediocre limb choppers eventually got the fence cut ha-ha. It was quite a scene. The movies make that look so easy! Once we finally got all the posts set and fence tied off and clamped together, we are only missing 3 pieces to be done! We need to get those last 2 tension rods, and a bolt for the hinge. All in all it was a great Saturday of fencing, and now we can let Dolly run as much as she wants back there chasing squirrels and cats (her new hobby); and not worry about her taking off across the street to meet the neighbor dogs, like she did a few days ago.. Bad dog.
-Mr. Glover
[…] We bought everything we needed to finish fencing in our yard! You can read all about that on Tyler’s blogging post, his first contribution to the blog. And he is a good writer and funny so I will be having him do […]