Panels, Gates, and a Christmas Preview

I am really tired tonight, so this post will be short.  I don't know if the fatigue is just from trying to keep up with my husband, or if my dropping down in medication is finally taking its toll.

At any rate, the work continued today.  Rick dug three holes for three more posts.  Thankfully, none of the holes had roots in them, so the digging was fairly easy.  We were outside by 7:45 this morning, so by 9:00 a.m. we had all of the posts set into the holes at the correct depth.  Since it was 9:00 a.m., we felt we could start to pour the concrete, especially since the mixer really is not noisy at all.

The first two poles went in with little trouble.  Once again, the south side hole gave us the most grief.  That is supposed to be the easy side of the yard, and the last two poles have fought us as far as positioning is concerned.  However, by 11: 40, all of the panels were complete, and all of the posts were set in concrete.

The east side of the yard needs only one more panel for us to be shut off from the street view behind us.  We still have about five panels to go, but adding a panel a day really eats the distance we still must enclose.

Another panel both on the north and the east side of the yard
continue to give us privacy and to define the yard.

The neighbors to the south are not too pleased that we are putting a fence back up between our yards.  The yard had a fence when we moved in three years ago, but it was falling apart and not safe.  We tore it down the first year we were here, leaving the yards open to one another.  While the expanded views made both yards seem larger, we now are ready to have some of our privacy back.  With the fence, I will not feel like I am in a fishbowl each time I sit or work in our Florida room.

Another panel almost entirely closes off our yard on the
south side from the back yard of our neighbors.

After lunch, we took a quick trip to Steve and Chris' house to see how they fastened the fence to their house.  We are now to the point where we have to design the final panel on the south side so we can position where we want to end the fence and to position the gate.

When we came home, Rick dug out the instructions from our gate kit on how to construct our gate.  We decided to build it since we cannot do final calculations until we have more exact measures of the gate. The instructions were poor, but with little effort, we were able to put the gate together.  We'll finish our calculations and hopefully add the final south-side panel tomorrow.

"Why did I ever start this fence?" Rick seems to be thinking
as he walks back to the gate we were constructing.

Now for the "Only in Florida" experience.  Our neighbor across the street has a huge evergreen tree in her front yard.  When I looked out today, I looked up and smiled.  Only in Florida does one see a Christmas tree topped with a white ibis instead of a star! This the season, I guess...

Florida decor for Christmas. This is better than two
partridges in a pear tree.

We hope to work on the south side of the house tomorrow in an attempt to have that side totally complete before we leave for Wisconsin in a couple of weeks.  If we only complete two panels a day, that will be fine with both of us.  We have pushed the project and actually are further along than we thought we would be at this time.  We'll be happy when it is finished; perhaps we can find time to relax in the new year.