We are waiting for a new router bit before we can add panels to the north side fence. The land gradually goes uphill from the back corner of the yard, ending a full 12 inches above the corner where we have already put in the fence. We are glad that the yard is shaped this way because the water drains away from the house in the back yard; however, we knew that we would have to "step up" the fence on that side to accommodate the changes. In order to cut the new design of the top and bottom rails into the blank side of a post, Rick had to buy a router bit that would easily cut through 1/4 inch plastic. The bit should be delivered sometime today.
The lack of a bit did not stop us from working in the yard from 7:00 this morning until about 3:30 this afternoon, though. Did I mention yet that I am tired?
We began the day with an early-morning trip to Home Depot to purchase 30 more 60-pound bags of cement. We have gotten to know one of the workers in that department, so he kindly put 30 bags onto a skid and fork-lifted them into our truck. Of course, the problem is that we do not have a fork lift at our house to unload the bags from the truck! We put 15 into a stack at the front of the garage and hauled a few of them into the back yard to use today.
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| The boards with bricks on top each indicate a place where Rick dug a 48 inch deep hole for the next fence posts. |
Then we tackled the holes. In all, Rick dug three holes on the north side and two holes on the east side. The east side holes gave us no trouble, but two of the three north side holes had really compacted dirt that we had to almost chisel loose to take it out of the hole. That was hard work!
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| Rick dug two more holes to the right of the existing fence line on the east side of the property. |
We finished the last hole just after lunch. Then Rick decided that we should try to get at least one fence panel in before we stopped for the day. We used the transit to determine that we have about a 7 inch dip in the middle of the property line across the east side fence line. We talked about dropping the fence down, but since we have had so many loads of dirt from the holes we have already dug, we decided to fill in the lower part of the yard with that clay and dirt, and then just run the fence straight across the back. If we had not done that, we would have had to drop down two panels of fence and then bring the fence back up again as the landscape rose. We both thought dropping the fence and then raising it again would look rather strange, so I am glad that we agreed to just run the fence at one level. We can fill in the yard in front and behind it to level the dip in the property line.
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| The piles of dirt on the right hand side of the picture show where we have to add soil to build up the indentation in the yard. |
Since we could build no further on the north side, we added another panel to the east side. Unfortunately, we failed to understand how much water had really filled the hole due to all of the rain we received yesterday. As we poured the cement into the hole, the water rose and started making a royal mess of everything. We finally reached the top of the hole with cement, but we both feel that that particular post will be a weak spot in the whole structure due to all of the water.
A few days ago, I heard the little girl who lives in one of the houses behind our house say to her brother, "I wonder what they are doing over there. Mama says they are just making a big mess." Today, I would have to agree with that little girl's mama.
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| One more panel gives us just a little more privacy from the adjacent street and the neighbors behind our house. |
We learned our lesson. Tomorrow we have enough holes dug to put up at least three more panels of fencing. However, before we mix the cement, we will be sure to check for water and to bail out all of the holes.
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